GM GOTY Awards 2023 – Game Of The Year

The big one. As it says, the Gamer Malaya and Gamer Matters Game Of The Year 2023 award. The game we collectively believe to be the best released this year

It all comes down to this.

Every year, we have to declare a Game Of The Year. 2023 has been bountiful when it comes to game releases. Plenty of good games. A lot of great games. And definitely a good handful of exceptional titles.

For better or worse, the crew here didn’t play all the big heavy hitters that surely crop into most Game Of The Year lists. And due to this, the results for our GOTY has always been fascinating picks. It’s something we are well-aware, but rest assured we’re not being contrarians for the sake of it. It’s a whole process to get three people unanimously agree who can be place to the top of the spreadsheet. Let alone have a ranked list for a Top 10.

Previous winners: Need For Speed Unbound, Psychonauts 2, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Control, Monster Hunter World, Nier Automata

Game Of The Year Nominees

  • Against The Storm
  • Alan Wake 2
  • Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon
  • Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Dead Space (2023)
  • Final Fantasy XVI
  • Hi-Fi Rush
  • Lies Of P
  • Starfield
  • Street Fighter 6

How The Winner Is Decided (Deliberations Summary)

Inconveniently enough, we decided to let 12 games be shortlisted for the award and have to spent time arguing which two games can’t make the list, which added a few headaches. (Why we didn’t consider locking only a 10 like last year? We forgot, honestly.)

The methodology of ranking these games is simple. We stare at a spreadsheet with a blank ranking and all the games in alphabetical order, and start sorting from the bottom. And that requires sorting through which can hang in the Top 10, and the ones that must be in the Top 5 of the list.

Dead Space, Street Fighter 6 and Lies Of P are games the crew unanimously agree can rank in the Top 10, but nobody rose up to fight for these games to go any higher. They ranked 10th, 9th, and 8th respectively.

We decided that there will be only one cinematic, blockbuster game to be on the top 10. There were at least three, two were considered to be on the top 10, but only one made it, Final Fantasy XVI made the cut. But the biggest supporter for the game would only support it to be somewhere in the Top 10 but not Top 5. It settled at number 7.

Against The Storm may not win Best Indie Game, but it’s the only indie game to reach the Top 10 list. Results of previous category awards do not hold weightage in ranking the games here, and this isn’t the first occasion (See 2022 and 2021). It reached this high thanks to the experimental nature of the game. That said, it didn’t garner enough support to go any higher, so it placed sixth.

It would be remiss if we would booted out Baldur’s Gate 3. While there isn’t a strong enough support to win GOTY, the site has been celebrating mechanics-heavy games with intricate systems. It has to be there, somewhere. And it landed at the bottom of the Top 5.

Alan Wake 2 has a strong support, but from only one person, it can only go so far as fourth.

Depending on who you ask, Starfield is either a 10/10 game or a 6/10 game. It’s a the video game equivalent of an RPG character with a lopsided stat distribution. It’s video game Marmite.

Starfield is the only example in this list where some wheelin’-and-dealin’ were occurin’. In order for Starfield to stay in the Top 10, which it has to given how it’s the only game in the list where everyone on the panel played and spent ridiculous amount of hours in, but cannot go further than a certain rank. At most, it could go to the second place. It landed at third, as two leading games emerge for the title.

The finals hours of the deliberation was a close call between Hi-Fi Rush and Armored Core VI. Both titles being underdogs in their own way, successfully executing what they envisioned, and have their own little niche fanbases.

Making a call was tough, as it’s not two different people arguing the game they championing deserves the win. The main person championing for either two titles are the same person. So it’s an odd back-and-forth for the rest of the crew to justify one or the other. And even then the room was still split between the two: Hi-Fi Rush is just so polished out of the gate and delivered more than we ever expected (considering the expectations for the game before the releases is, well, zero). And it’s game that stuck in our minds since January. Armored Core VI’s visceral action combat delivered through flying giant robots is something you never seen in the mainstream for a good number of years (the previous Armored Core was a decade ago).

At the end of the discussion, the killer, deciding question was “given the choice, which one would you rather not exist?”. And the person that tweeted “I HAVE COME” when Armored Core VI was properly announced, the loaded question has an obvious answer.

Game Of The Year 2023, Gamer Malaya And Gamer Matters’ Top 10 Games Of 2023

  1. Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon
  2. Hi-Fi Rush
  3. Starfield
  4. Alan Wake 2
  5. Baldur’s Gate 3
  6. Against The Storm
  7. Final Fantasy XVI
  8. Lies Of P
  9. Street Fighter 6
  10. Dead Space (2023)

For all these years, the Armored Core games were the defining series for FromSoftware, a jack of all trades game developer. But it has never gotten enough love or respect. The past games has flaws, can be daunting to get into and unforgiving at times. But underneath it all is a solid action game that marries the fun of creating builds and the intense rush of adrenaline you can get in short bursts from fighting games.

Its bleak story is beautifully captivating. Its array of mech parts available to purchase, find , collect and try out is staggering. The stagger system works well with the action gameplay.

Games about mechs and mecha are niche. But if there’s anyone that can make us all dig giant robots, it’s the makers of the popular Dark Souls series. And guess what, they also used to make mech games.

For the Armored Core fans and the mecha fans who were left sitting in a cave for so long, Armored Core VI stands as vindication that an action game with big, giant robots are good, actually. Great even. And this one is truly exceptional.

Now an experienced and well-loved developer, FromSoftware revisited the game series that carried them into greatness. Armored Core can now fly high, on borrowed wings, perhaps. But like the pilot 621 who borrowed the name of Raven before earning it outright, Armored Core VI benefitted from a higher reputation FromSoft, but the game can stand on its own merit.

May it soar higher in new games to come. And perhaps The Adventures Of Cookie & Cream deserves a revisit as well.

Congratulations to Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon for winning Game Of The Year 2023!

Check out the GM GOTY Awards 2023 hub for the rest of the categories and winners.

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