Game of the Year 2023 – Best PC Game

thesixthaxis.com:

The PC Master Race has been a meme for a good 15 years now, but it’s truer than ever in 2023. A top tier gaming PC might be horrendously expensive when stacked up against a PS5 or Xbox Series X|S, but these days it gives you the best of all worlds. Almost.

You have all the cutting edge big budget gaming from giant third party publishers, but now we have day and date first party Xbox games on PC, and PlayStation games will traipse along onto PC after a couple years of being steadfast console exclusives. Then there’s the hive of creativity that is the indie gaming scene and early access, which is far more prevalent on PC than it is on console.

Oh, and then there’s Steam Deck, which makes non-Nintendo gaming handheld once again. Surely Microsoft and Sony need to take another look at portable gaming again?

All of which brings us to our Best PC Game award, drawing from across the breadth of what PC gaming can offer.

With Dave the Diver you should prepare to be constantly surprised. On the surface, this is a game about diving with a portly man called Dave. You know he’s out of shape because everyone comments on it within the opening moments of the game, but it soon becomes clear that this is a man, and a game, with hidden depths.

Yes, you need to go diving, and using your harpoon gun you’re soon in the business of catching an array of beautiful pixellated fish and other sea fauna, which is supposed to stock a nearby sushi restaurant. What Cobra – totally an 80s action asshole – doesn’t tell you is that you’ll need to also muck in on the other side of the counter, helping to serve customers in the sushi restaurant, while also setting the menu, hiring staff, and helping to pacify an extremely talented but aggressive chef.

To be