Game of the Year 2023 – Best PlayStation Game
2023 was a huge year for PlayStation 5, with Sony finally able to cut loose and produce consoles without any of the constraints of the last few years. There’s now over 50 million PS5 consoles out in the wild, as they’ve taken a firm grasp of this generation, and then there’s the launch of the PlayStation VR 2 to hopefully rekindle their ambitions for virtual reality.
But compared to last year, this was actually a surprisingly quiet one for Sony’s first party studios,
Some risks are worth taking, even when it takes a beloved franchise in a new direction. After the Marmite of RPGs, Final Fantasy XV, was released five years ago, a change was definitely absolutely needed.
Final Fantasy XVI is very different to its predecessors. First and foremost, it’s a lot more grown up, with the sex, swearing and everything else that its muse, Game of Thrones, offers. Then there’s the set-piece Eikonic battles, where players duke it out as the Summons the franchise is famed for. It looks and sounds utterly spectacular.
This PlayStation-exclusive game is a must-play for all action-RPG fans who want something a little more grown up. It shines for its lore and its lack of exposition for the sake of it, with reams of backstory hidden just a button-press away, offering a flow that feels more natural than any other Final Fantasy game to date. Its characters are fantastic, and as you grow to love them, their moments of sacrifice hit in a way unfelt since the likes of Final Fantasy X.
– Nic B
Spider-Man 2 had a lot to live up to, not only following up a defining superhero game and its excellent spin-off, but to weave both of them into one story with two Spider-Mans. Unsurprisingly Insomniac knocked it out of the park, with Spider-Man 2 being bigger,
Read more on thesixthaxis.com
