Games: Simon Parkin’s five best of 2023
1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomNintendoA miraculous achievement of design and engineering, the greatest wonder of the latest Zelda game is how its dazzling suite of interactive possibilities – from hunting wildlife to engineering motorboats, gliding across mountain ranges to quivering through the depths of its rooty underground domain – remain compelling after hours of play. It’s a feat no competitor has yet matched.
2. Baldur’s Gate 3Larian StudiosA perfect companion to this year’s vastly enjoyable Dungeons & Dragons film, the latest Baldur’s Gate draws together a ragtag team of flawed, perhaps mentally ill adventurers and shoves them into a world in which the success of every choice hangs on the rattling outcome of a dice roll. Sturdily written and deliciously accommodating.
3. Dave the DiverMintrocket
A game of two halves. In one, you plunge into the warm sea and hunt seafood, avoiding the snapping perils of the deep. In the next, you help manage the sushi restaurant that sells what you caught earlier. Complications follow. The result is forcefully compelling.
4. VideoverseKinmokuThis visual novel explores the emotional impact when a virtual world is switched off: a soul-shaking loss for a young person for whom the game has provided solace and community. A cautionary tale emerges of the risk in finding connection on commercialised platforms. 5. VenbaVisai Games
In Venba you explore an immigrant family’s history, at a domestic and cultural scale, by restoring lost recipes from their home country. A moving exploration of Tamil culture through the elemental lens of cuisine.