Was this the best year for big-budget, single-player video games ever? The staff of The Escapist thinks there’s a case to be made. Here are The Escapist’s best PS5 games of 2023.
Making a list of “best PS5 games” is tricky, as there were few titles exclusive to the system this year. We think of the PS5 as the home for these blockbuster single-player experiences, the kinds of games people often complain “they don’t make anymore,” thanks to the system’s ace-in-the-hole: the astonishing DualSense controller. If immersion is your thing, nothing beats the feedback you get from that little white-and-black Batarang.
The Escapist staff tried to limit ourselves to five picks, but I threw in some honorable mentions for the best PS5 games of 2023 at the end. I mostly played Baldur’s Gate 3 on PS5, but it feels like a PC game, you know?
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Is there anything better than a good Star Wars sequel? Jedi: Fallen Order was a wonderful riff on the Dark Souls formula with a strong emphasis on storytelling led by great characters. It told a surprisingly intimate story about a small family struggling to find joy during suffocating oppression. Even with its narrow scope, Fallen Order has its issues, and many people hoped the sequel would get the time and money needed to live up to the promise of the first game.
Jedi: Survivor is the result of that time and money. As expected, it’s bigger and more complex than Fallen Order, but what’s surprising is its story is even more focused, and its characters are even better developed. As modern Star Wars on screen suffers from overlong slogs stuffed with boring characters and weightless action, Survivor tells a low-stakes story with good writing and performances. There are still some technical issues, even on PS5, but the exploration and combat loop is so much fun, and the story is so engaging that it’s worth enduring some fuzzy visuals. Now, where’s the animated Turgle spin-off we all deserve?
Best moment: No spoilers, but getting to indulge in the full Jedi Master power fantasy midway through the game is awesome — especially how it ends.
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil has been on one hell of a tear the last few years. After returning to its horror roots with the terrifying, Texas Chainsaw Massacre-inspired seventh installment, Capcom surprised again with a ridiculously high-quality remake of Resident Evil 2. When they released a remake of RE3, gaming culture was equally excited and nervous: was Capcom really going to remake one of the best games of all time?
Well, they did, and it rules. The remake of Resident Evil 4 keeps what works, throws out what doesn’t, and updates the story and characters for 2023 while maintaining the midnight madness cheese of the original. Some smart gameplay improvements and a fresh coat of graphics make this the definitive way to play a classic.
Best moment: The opening battle in the village is still an all-timer.
Spider-Man 2
If anything beats a good Star Wars sequel, it’s a good superhero sequel. Spider-Man, in particular, has a legacy of great sequels: Spider-Man 2, Far From Home, and Across the Spider-verse (damn, what a year to be a spider-fan) expand on the timeless story of our beloved sticky boys. Hell, even Amazing Spider-Man 2 has its moments!
The PS4 Spider-Man (which I think I’m technically supposed to call Marvel’s Spider-Man, but I’m not gonna) was such a triumph of design, narrative, and performance that there was no way Insomniac Games was going to botch the sequel completely — but no one saw this big an improvement coming. Spider-Man 2 has a bigger world and tells a broader, smarter story, but what I can’t get over is the sheer technical skill on display. Insomniac is the true master of the PS5, and every game it puts out, from Ratchet and Clank to Miles Morales, is better than the last. Of course, Spider-Man 2 has hyper-detailed character models and brilliant effects, but the near-instantaneous loading times and smart use of the PS5’s controller features make this another Insomniac game that feels truly “next-gen.”
Best moment: Couple’s therapy.
Sea of Stars
One of my favorite things about following video games as closely as I do is when a developer levels up. The Messenger was a fun riff on Ninja Gaiden with a cool mid-game twist, the kind of game you boot up on GamePass and maybe spend a weekend on. I never would have imagined Sabotage Studio had something like Sea of Stars waiting in the wings.
Sea of Stars isn’t groundbreaking, but as a modern riff on Chrono Trigger, one of the best games of all time and arguably the best Super Nintendo game, it’s sublime. The story is basic, and the characters thin, but the gorgeous pixel art, great music, and fun gameplay make this a great diversion when you need a break from all the incredibly high-quality AAA blockbusters we had this year.
Best moment: The smooth end-of-battle music transition to the level-up music hits every time.
Alan Wake 2
Honestly, I’m not sure I’m ready to write about this game — and part of me hopes I never will be. The game industry may have a lot of problems, but it’s very special that one of the most successful, resilient studios in the business is based out of Finland, of all places! The expert game developers at Remedy Entertainment have been making technically impressive, narratively complex games since the original Max Payne way back in 2001 — and they’re all super fun! How do they do it?
Alan Wake 2 marries tense, methodical survival horror gameplay with a twisting story about stories and asks us to question the overlap between lies, memory, heritage, and legacy. It’s like Inception with a weird, distinctively Eastern European sense of humor. Remedy continues its experiments, blending live-action FMV and cutting-edge graphics to blur the lines between the artificial and the real in a way I haven’t seen since Blade Runner 2049. What’s even more astonishing is that it uses Alan Wake 2 to officially kick off a shared universe, where all prior Remedy games exist in the same reality. The studio even addresses the fact that it doesn’t have the rights to Max Payne anymore!
Alan Wake 2 isn’t just another game developer trying to stretch a TV series’ skin over a video game skeleton — it’s a group of experts in their field pushing the medium forward.
Best moment: I’m a sucker for a good opening. The first hour of this game is elite.
Best PS5 Games of 2023 Honorable Mentions: Season: A Letter to the Future, Final Fantasy 16, Dead Space, Cocoon, Diablo 4, Baldur’s Gate 3, Lies of P, Street Fighter 6.
For more of our Best of lists for 2023, check out the following:
Best Action-Adventure Games of 2023
Best Nintendo Switch Games of 2023
Best Apple Arcade Games for 2023
Best Xbox Series X/S Games of 2023
Published: Dec 15, 2023 01:31 pm