Feature: Your Top 10 PS5, PS4 Games of 2023 So Far

Crazy that in a normal year I could see almost any of these winning major GOTY awards

Expected Final Fantasy XVI would take it by a considerable margin. And it's deserving, really enjoy what I've played, though there's a few games I'd still have ahead of it, including RE 4 remake.

Payday 3 might be my goty after d4. But remnant 2 I'm very interested in. This might be the best gaming year on a long time. That's great. And we're not having to wait until holiday season for great releases.

Definitely agree with the top 2. For me I'd have Octopath II in 3rd. Man I love that game.

@Sekijo combat is beastly!! Especially after mastering the Eikons !!

FFXVI deserves its spot. I haven't finished it yet, but I am never dissatisfied after a session of playing it

No Monster Hunter Rise??

I would put Jedi Survivor and Diablo 4 ahead of Hogwarts, but otherwise I agree with the list. Very strong first half of the year in gaming in general.

Recency bias lol. A lot of these games came out within a few weeks of each other. Especially SF6, Star Wars, Diablo and FFXVI

Also yeah it's weird seeing people complain about diablo tier loot but the apparent inspiration for said design choice is in the top 5 xD. I for one love this type of loot especially in Nioh. And hope it stays

It's a genuinely impressive list, but I find it significantly disappointing that there is only one Sony first-party item on here and it's DLC, not a full game. I understand that FF 16 is technically a PS5 exclusive (though it's not a first-party game).

@Mauzuri Video games is the only entertainment medium where most popular always means better. I've bought lesser systems before and it sucks (I learned this lesson as a wee lad with the TurboGraphx16). The one that wins the generation has the most 3rd party support ergo the most diverse sets of gaming.

Movies, music, canvas art is more subjective where someone might create for the sake of art instead of dollars. Never really in gaming. It is always business first and it always chases the largest market.

I'm just happy that 2023 is packed with games in multiple genres. At the same time, kinda sad that I cannot play all of these due to budget and time limitations.

Hogwarts is mine so far. It genuinely surprised me with how enjoyable it was considering I'm not into its source material. Still got Starfield, Phantom Liberty and Baldur's Gate 3 yet to come though.

Surprised Final Fantasy XVI is at number one considering that it supposedly doesn’t have a lot of women in it according to some of the vocal minority!

In all seriousness though, from what I’ve seen of it, it looks to be a very well polished game — as are a good few of the titles on this list.

Fantastic Top 5. However. I personally cannot peel myself away from Dead Island 2. Not sure why tbf but hey ho, zombie mashing i go.

Street Fighter 6 takes the crown pretty easily for myself. Literally might be as close to perfect as it gets for fighting games.

Jedi Survivor would be number 2 though. I enjoyed that one much more than I thought I would. Hogwarts Legacy is a close 3rd spot.

I'm not done with FF16 but the more I play it the more it's kind of slipping for me. It feels like it's over-staying it's welcome a bit but hopefully it finishes strong.

1.Final fantasy 16.2.octopath traveler. And 3.dead space remake.word up son

Boss Battles 😁 since Elden Ring every game needed to up it's game, and FF16 is scratching the itch for me with an endless supply. It's a completely different style, yes, but it's visually epic, it's an utter joy to link a bunch of finishers & abilities, dragging down a behemoth of a monster by its face before going crazy once again with Eikonic punishment.

And I still really suck Vs Dragoons 😁 But they keep me on my toes nicely when I'm not battling the giant beasties and regular field bosses, and linking insane dodge/counter/parry combos and generally flying about the battlefield like a loon.

And I was worried about the combat and enemy types in this game beforehand, but playing it, just feels nice. And much more rewarding than if it was turn based, imo.

@Sekijo yeah, I love em, just not got my dodge and parry timing down for those ones, so end up having to use potions instead of doggy commands 😅

Final Fantasy XVI, Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, Dead Island 2, Hogwarts Legacy, Star Wars Survivor, Street Fighter 6 are all excellent Im yet to finish them all. Dredge and Ghost Trick deserve a mention also. What a year for gaming!

As far as the game I’ve had the most fun with it’s probably HL and I’m not even a Potter fan.

But when it comes to the GotY contender on this list it has to be FF16.

I also started Diablo IV a few days ago and I am liking it. It’s my first Diablo game so I have nothing to compare it to.

Also, Octopath 2 deserves to be in the top 5 imo.

The game that would rather get rid of all people of color than slavery is #1?
What does that say about the player base?

Street fighter 6! It doesn’t seem so but it is underrated. Finest game I played in years.

Baldur’s gate III will probably be awesome as well.

FFXVI is a great game but it is missing “that something” for me.

@Cordyceps middle eastern and south asian people are represented in the game, as are various sexual orientations, so it is hardly about bigotry. Let’s not just jump into ready-made bandwagons. As the director explained, the small geographical setup and restricted travel featured in the world building would just be a lot less believable and powerful if the population was highly multiethnic and cosmopolitan.

Dead Space is my #1 game so far this year but that's just my tastes. And I fully expect that to change shortly with the release of Remnant 2. REALLY looking forward to that!! And there's still others yet to come out that I'm quite hyped for as well.

@Anke I wouldn’t call XVI boring by any means but yeah XV was a far more ambitious, complex and interesting videogame for me too. XVI is very good at what it does but it’s like we are applauding a guy for walking in a straight line while booing another because it did not land elegantly after a triple backflip.

Only played Forbidden west and FFXVI but both are fantastic in my opinion. On the final stretch of FFXVI now, going to do side content before heading to the big finish.

I was enthusiastic about FFXVI based on the demo and the early goings when the poll dropped. Now 66% through, and I'm not sure I want to finish.

The spectacular boss battles are fewer and further between than I thought they'd be. Most of the fights are push X to win. The story gets weaker as it goes on, and the characters' dead MMO-style facial animations don't help.

I hope Square uses FF7R as a template for the next mainline FF. Way better game.

I'm a little sad to see Octopath Traveller 2 not appreciated more. It was such a refreshing and fun game. Just loved it! I hope it sold enough for them to continue with the series.

Final Fantasy 16 at no 1? 🤣🤣🤣

@VaultGuy415 Even the bosses are pretty meh as they're basically either overlong MMO style fights or QTE. The dire combat also doesn't help. Bringing in the MMO guy who doesn't like JRPG's to make this was such a poor move and i feel over time this game will not be looked on fondly.

PS5 wise either Diablo 4 or RE4R are my favourites so far, of course overall this year Zelda is top.

For my $ the best new PS5 experience from this year is GT7 using VR2. It's satisfying and addictive enough to justify the headset's price. Hasn't recieved nearly enough attention imo.

Sad that there was no love given to Bramble: The Mountain King, truly one of 2023's underrated gems, and I can see it already being one of my GOTY contenders. If you're a fan of Little Nightmares games, you'll love Bramble: The Mountain King. I also recommend the once STADIA Exclusive game Gylt that just released on all platforms, it's dirt cheap and a great little game, 11 hours over 3 days and 2 playthroughs later, I got the Platinum for it 2 days ago.

Seriously people, show Bramble: The Mountain King & Gylt your support, both great games made by great studios that deserve your time and money.

@Cordyceps - Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't seem to remember there being any people of color in FF15 either, and no one cared then, so why is it an issue now in FF16? Honestly it doesn't matter either way, because someone is going to be offended regardless, if you're inclusive "Oh no they have an agenda! They're pushing for inclusivity in my video game" or "Where's the inclusivity in my video games? Oh they must be racists, sexists, transphobic etc".

So what's the point of getting upset over this? It just comes across as if you're looking for a reason to be offended, it's just a video game, but the fact you just tried to shame people for liking it, it makes you come across as just as bad as those who shamed people/gamers for liking Hogwarts Legacy, when at the end of the day, it's just video games.

@JustPlainLoco who said I was upset for pointing something out?

@Cordyceps - If you didn't feel some type of way about it, you wouldn't have said anything about it. And given you're the only one (so far) who even pointed out this quote unquote 'issue' and then proceed to question the 'player base' who just wanted to play FF16 much in the same way people wanted to play Hogwarts Legacy, it's obvious that it bothered you, not sure why though, it's really not that big a deal.

@JustPlainLoco That's a hell of a lot of assumptions.

@JustPlainLoco - Can we try and keep this to the topic at hand? No one benefits from trying to start another flame war. (And before you try to claim “they started it” that doesn’t justify your response, which escalated the situation far more than it needed to)
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I gotta say, as someone who has Street Fighter 6 in my top 3 for the year, I’m a bit disappointed to see it rank even lower than the Horizon expansion dlc. I get that it’s mostly a genre thing, but still, I would’ve thought it’d at least rank higher than an expansion pack (though to be fair, I guess it’s still a lot better than Wo Long, which isn’t even in the top ten, despite presumably being a solid Nioh clone).

That aside though, yeah, it’s been a pretty packed year so far, which is always great to see. Kinda curious to see how the final end-of-year lists turn out, and where the currently upcoming games end up (including the heralded Starfield), but either way, I’d say this year is an overall successful one for games.

@VaultGuy415 100 %

@B_Lindz I mean Sony hasn't put out anything this year so that's their fault. Everything they got is second half of the year (Spider-Man 2, Helldivers 2, Firewall Ultra.)

@Cordyceps Go take your agenda someone else like Kotaku or Polygon. So tired of these checklist people. If a developer doesn't want to include a race or certain sexual orientation type in their game then that is their choice. Don't like it? Go find you a game that does have what you want.

Do people also care for good ones?
Season, Bramble, Planet of Lana to name a few

@Anke Yep, Dredge made my top 3, shame it wasn't in the poll as it was completely refreshing and different from anything else this year so far!!

FFXVI was my biggest disappointment this year so far, it just wasn't a FF game, graphics and fighting was great but it just didn't have what makes FF in it, it lacked a soul. And don't get me started on that ending.

Sorry but We Love Katamari has to take the top spot so far this year for me.

Not suprised FF16 is no1 on a PS site, Was good but no more than an 8/10 for me. I feel by the end of the year you'll be looking at TOTK, Starfield or Spiderman 2 as the top 3 contenders. Hogwarts Legacy will sell the most out of any of these games and will only be behind Fifa and COD.

Took a week off to play 16, and I liked it, did not love it. My no1 for now was a surprise to me in Jedi Survivor despite the poor state it launched in. Got a plat, and I can't force myself to replay the whole of 16 for the plat there.

Good call, my fellow Push Square reader team! FFXVI is certainly my favorite game of the year so far, narrowly nudging out that giant game on Switch that came out a month prior.

It's SF6 for me. What a phenomenal fighting game

No VR2 game on the list, if everyone have a VR2 Resident Evil Village would be on the 1st place.

No clue if I voted in this but my top three in order are 1. FFXVI 2. RE4 = Octopath Traveler 2 (tie). All 3 completely different games. All 3 are fantastic in their own regards. 2023 has been a great year for gaming. I have SWJS & Hogwarts Legacy bought but I’m still waiting for future updates before I play (got them $40 each).

2024 will be loaded with FF7 Rebirth, LAD 8 and Persona 3 Reload. Even more if Death Stranding 2 and others come out. Us gamers have it good!

I'm happy to see ff16 in first place. There's been a lot of complaints from fans saying it's not a final fantasy game or an rpg. I think General audiences enjoyed it a lot more and that's probably the reason it's so high on the list. As for game of the year, FF16 will probably be nominated, although I am highly doubtful it will win due to the amount of fantastic games released this year. Honestly the winner is most likely going to be tears of the kingdom. A 96 on metacritic is something that even great games like diablo 4, jedi survivor and ff16 are going to find tough to beat.