Shacknews Top 23 Games of the Year 2023

Which games made the cut for the Shacknews Top 23 Games of the year 2023 list? Please take a look.

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#1 Game of the Year 2023 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Shacknews Game of the Year 2023 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

In a year of amazing video game releases, one game stood above the rest. Nintendo faced a serious challenge in creating a sequel to Switch launch title The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom answered all of the doubters head on with a new experience that built upon every Zelda game and provided a wonderful conclusion to the latest story.

The story of Tears of the Kingdom starts off with Link and Zelda appearing underpowered against a reinvigorated Ganondorf. Link lost his arm and Zelda in the introductory battle, setting the stage for a wild series of events that ends in the finest boss battle in the history of Nintendo games.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a game dripping with themes of sacrifice, faith, and courage that puts the titular character on a righteously high pedestal. Zelda's belief in Link fuels players to take on new challenges with brand new gameplay mechanics that turn Hyrule into one of the best video game sandboxes ever created. Experimenting with Fusing items and weapons and building new vehicles with Ultrahand may not be for everyone, but the amount of systems that flawlessly interact in Tears of the Kingdom is a true marvel of game development.

By the end of Tears of the Kingdom, players will understand just why it's Zelda who is the legend, and why Nintendo so frequently finds itself winning awards. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom perfectly bookends the Switch era that started with Breath of the Wild, and it's no surprise that both games took home the #1 game of the year spot here at Shacknews.

Check out the Shacknews Game of the Year 2023 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom article to read more!


The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available on Nintendo Switch.


That's the Shacknews Top 23 Games of the Year 2023. What games should have made the list? What games should be ranked higher or lower? Let us know in the Shacknews Chatty comment section below. Congratulations to all of the games that made our list this year! 

Be sure to read over the rest of the Shacknews Awards in our Year of the Games: 2023 feature.

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group. 

From The Chatty
  • reply
    December 31, 2023 9:00 AM

    Shack Staff posted a new article, Shacknews Top 23 Games of the Year 2023

    • reply
      December 31, 2023 9:06 AM

      Glad to see Remnant up there, would have liked to see it higher but honestly I haven't played many (any?) of the games ahead of it so who knows!

    • rms legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
      reply
      December 31, 2023 9:39 AM

      woot! great list!

    • reply
      December 31, 2023 9:44 AM

      The only entry I don't agree with is Cities: Skylines 2. I don't feel it should be on the list. Honestly It shouldn't have been released this year.

    • reply
      December 31, 2023 6:19 PM

      What a year for videogames!
      To my everlasting shame I haven't played any of these games this year.

    • reply
      May 2, 2024 1:36 PM

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