Screen Rant's 2023 Game Of The Year

screenrant.com:

2023 picked up where 2022 left off when it comes to video game releases. Just like the year prior, there were no shortage of excellent launches; unlike last year, however, 2023 features a slew of Game of the Year contenders. The selection is so strong that taking the five most popular choices for 2023 GotY and stacking it against any 5-year span of actual winners might not look out of place. In a year that began with a bang in and ended with an even bigger one-two punch of and, one game stood tall: , Screen Rant's 2023 Game of the Year.

For anyone somehow unfamiliar with Larian Studios' epic RPG, is a sprawling fantasy narrative set in the universe. Its world is populated by several iconic characters woven into the history of, but the main story is a unique tale of universe-spanning body horror and political scheming. Players can choose to occupy the role of one of several pre-made characters with deep and interesting back stories, or they can create their own character and recruit those characters into their party.

The best part of is that no playthrough feels identical — whether it's because of different player choices or a roll of the dice, things can go awry in a heartbeat. That's both planned and pure chaotic chance in a system of mechanisms that produces wild combat. So many factors go into each experience, whether it's a player's class, alignment, current position on the map, attributes, skills, items, or even minute factors like whether they chatted up an NPC one whole Act ago.

Of course, there's plenty more to than just its variety. At its core, is Larian Studios' best narrative to date, blending the personal concerns and desires of an eccentric party into a quest to stop a world-ending threat. Each character