A consensus holds that this has been a par ticularly strong year for games, and in pure statistics, based on the average Edge review score, you’d need to go back to 2013 to find a better one. That may have been skewed by the volume of reviews in 2023, though: reflecting the glut of releases big and small, and our desire to cover a wide spread, we delivered verdicts on more this year than at any time over the past decade.

Another pair of maximum scores for the second year running – heading up a top ten that would have extended to 13 had we included ever y 9 – reflected, in part, the positive side of pandemic delays. Teams were given extra time to not just finish their games but to send them out in their best possible state. There is a tendency toward more cerebral fare, with three outright puzzle games, and three more featuring brainteasers of sorts. Yet we also saw standout entries in the competitive FPS, platformer and fighting genres. In other words, whatever your poison, 2023’s games had plenty to surprise and delight.

Over the next 18 pages are example after example of the creativity of developers large and small – from intensely personal, poignant stories to blockbuster adventures as expansive as they were expensive. If we could judge the progress of the medium on its output alone, the quality and variety on show would suggest we’ve never had it so good.

PLAYSTATION GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2

Developer/publisher SIE (Insomniac Games)

Format PS5

Has Insomniac quietly become Sony’s most valuable asset? Certainly, there is a confidence and flair to the game-making here that suggests a studio operating at something close to its peak. And beneath that glossy surface lies a blockbuster of rare charm and charisma, making a rather stronger case for ongoing superhero sagas than the MCU itself has of late.

RUNNER-UP SEASON: A LETTER TO THE FUTURE

Developer/publisher Scavengers Studio

Format PC, PS4, PS5

A delicate elegy for good things coming to an end, Season proved sadly prophetic for its developer, the controversy-mired Scavengers, which laid off half of its staff after the game failed to find its audience. A cautionary tale, perhaps, for indie exclusives on Sony’s machines – but you shouldn’t let any of that sour this transportive, heart-piercing journey.

WINNER HUMANITY

Developer Tha Ltd

Publisher Enhance

Format PC, PS4, PS5, PSVR, PSVR2

At first glance, this puzzler might not seem an obvious hardware showcase. But not only does it makes great use of DualSense haptics – Enhance never misses a chance to put good vibrations out into the world – it’s a spectacular advert for PSVR2, which has you towering over these DIY art installations, driving home their hypnotic power.

XBOX GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP FORZA MOTORSPORT

Developer Turn 10 Studios

Publisher Xbox Game Studios

Format PC, Xbox Series

Limited? Sure. Bafflingly old-fashioned? Occasionally, yes. But set aside Forza’s conservative campaign structure and focus on what’s beneath the bonnet: never has Microsoft’s flagship racer felt quite so good in the hands. Against the vastly improved AI or, better still, human opponents, complaints melt away during the exhilarating races.

RUNNER-UP HI-FI RUSH

Developer Tango Gameworks

Publisher Bethesda Softworks

Format PC, Xbox Series

We could do with more surprises like this: here’s a new Tango Gameworks game and, oh yes, you can play it right now. Yet Hi-Fi Rush was much more than a novelty shadowdrop: a combination of rhythm action and character action so potent that Shinji Mikami paid it the ultimate compliment by quitting assured his studio’s future was bright indeed.

WINNER PLANET OF LANA

Developer Wishfully

Publisher Thunderful

Format PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series

Charm is a difficult attribute to qualify, but Wishfully’s puzzle platformer possesses it in spades. In the growing bond between its intrepid lead and the cat-like creature she befriends, it captures the Studio Ghibli spirit for which it’s clearly aiming. But it has a character of its own, too, refusing the easy crutch of simply copying from the best.

NINTENDO GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

PIKMIN 4

Developer/publisher Nintendo (EPD)

Format Switch

Among the many very good games Nintendo has released this year (not to mention two copper-bottomed classics), the fourth in its undervalued pastoral strategy series gets the nod from us for its expansive postgame. Belatedly, the game bares its tactical teeth, demanding more thoughtful marshalling of those adorable, flower-topped minions – and is all the better for it.

RUNNER-UP

SUPER MARIO BROS WONDER

Developer/publisher Nintendo (EPD)

Format Switch

What should a Mario level be? A perfect example of quadripartite kishotenketsu design, perhaps, or a challenge complex enough to keep speedrunners busy for years? Wonder instead puts forward a compelling argument for the Mario level as pop song: a killer hook, delivered and disposed of in three minutes or less, but lodging itself in your brain for hours afterwards.

WINNER

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

Developer/publisher Nintendo (EPD)

Format Switch

We carp when sandbox sequels equate bigger with better, when we’d rather they were denser. Trust Nintendo to do both, expanding Hyrule above and below – sky, ground and catacombs offering three distinct flavours of Zelda. Then, of course, it hands over the most wonderful set of tools with which to set about solving the puzzles stuffed into every bit of it.

PC GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

DARKEST DUNGEON II

Developer/publisher Red Hook Studios

Format PC

Red Hook’s approach to sequelcraft is laudable, going beyond refinement to offer a true alternative experience. The simpler campaign structure is matched with a greater clarity of systems, characters with personality and delightfully gruesome animations. What hasn’t changed, meanwhile, are the tough decisions and steep challenge, but then despair has always been part of the fun.

RUNNER-UP

COUNTER-STRIKE 2

Developer/publisher Valve

Format PC

After a year that left us wondering whether service games were worn out, a PC classic returned more ingeniously reinvented than we could ever have anticipated. The beloved CS:GO is entirely overhauled and given a second lease of life as Counter-Strike 2, novel mechanics fundamentally altering the rules of engagement while gorgeous maps showcase Valve’s environmental design.

WINNER

BALDUR’S GATE 3

Developer/publisher Larian Studios

Format PC, PS5

Well, what else could it be? While this feat of RPG-making is also available on console – where it not only contorts admirably to thumbstick controls but also supports crosssave between formats, which continues to feel something like magic – it’s hard to think of a game more marbled through with PC DNA, a meeting between one of the platform’s most beloved developers and series.

MOBILE GAME OF THE YEAR

RUNNER-UP

LAYA’S HORIZON

Developer Snowman

Publisher Netflix