Sunburned Albino's Top 20 Games of 2023

[@worsethanyouthink]

To people that have said "starfield is realistic because its empty on the moon" I raise you that the people who went to the moon had vehicles. They had rovers. They have already designed helicopter rotors for mars' thin atmosphere, and we dont even have a plan to send humans there yet.

[@burnout713]

Fantastic video as always. You are so good at condensing your thoughts on these games down to bite-sized nuggets mixed with a dry wit that I really connect with. I particularly appreciate being introduced to smaller games that probably never would've been on my radar through these videos and am happy to say this list includes a fair number. Your top 10/20 year-end lists are something I look forward to each year, so I hope we can continue to expect them for many years to come! I know it's a big commitment time-wise, especially as you get ready for new games in the new year, but I highly recommend you give Octopath Traveler II and Chained Echoes a try. I am a huge fan of the JRPG genre and I would put Octopath Traveler II among the very best games I've ever played. Unlike Final Fantasy XVI and Sea of Stars, the game really nails the RPG mechanics you mentioned you missed from those games. I don't know if I've ever had a JRPG party that felt like they grew as much as my team in Octopath has, and the highly flexible job system encourages experimentation in a similar vein to Final Fantasy XVI's skill system since you are never locked into any one path and can mix and match a set of four secondary skills per character. I don't like Chained Echoes quite as much as Octopath, but if Octopath is a 10, Chained Echoes is a 9.75, so it's not a massive discrepancy. What Chained Echoes gets so right is its combat system, which really forces you to pay attention in every fight, but is balanced in that there are no random encounters and you are insta-healed after every fight and thus encouraged to leave everything on the field every time. So to Sunburned Albino or anyone else reading these musings that is a fan of the JRPG genre, give these two underappreciated gems a try and I can almost guarantee you will not be disappointed.

[@roninace213]

10:36 how is this a fresh Concept ? Isnt this Papers Please just in 3D ? The Story sounds Similar.

[@isabellataylor8810]

I haven't finished but I'm really happy about the Cassette Beasts shout. It's my calming comfort game and I feel like it didn't get enough attention

[@troyboy811]

Quick point of correction: Team Ninja is making Rise of the Ronin next year, not Black Myth: Wukong

[@Travisaurus]

looks like i wasnt fast enough smh

[@Jianichie]

Dang. Not even an acknowledgement for Armored Core. Fair enough and all that, but dang.

[@firstorderblade4432]

Armored code 6 is easily the best game this year in my opinion

[@aguacatedealer]

i'm sure contraband police is a fine game but how is it a fresh concept? it sounds literally exactly the same to papers please. if not for the "people blowing over the gate" mechanic, if the average gamer listened to your description of it they would think you're talking about papers please

[@Jambola_]

I think starfield is a prome example of "intentional does not equal good" Which a lot of people seem to think when tbey throw out the term "but thsts the point '

[@fairenoughmedia]

*Nods head in recognition and agreement of the Completionist line

[@Trio3224]

I'm curious, did you play Remnant 2 or Armored Core 6 this year? Those are both in my top 5 for the year as my own list goes 1: Resident Evil 4 Remake 2: Armored Core 6 3: Lies of P 4: Remnant 2 5: Jedi Survivor Been loving your content and opinions, subscribed with all the Lies of P content.

[@christaggart5687]

I just started playing Jedi Survivor. I honestly feel this game is being slept on. So great!

[@AriaKyuKyu]

I'm happy that you gave Lies of P the love it rightfully deserves. This game should have won Game of the year

[@dragoslayer1327]

This listade me realize, I didn't played 20 new games this year. I don't think I even played 10, honestly.

[@djlarrylar7905]

Sea of stars was sooo good. I'm glad it made it in your top 5 it was in mine

[@RepublicOfBridger]

Seeing Lies of P warms my cold puppet heart

[@andreweaston9889]

@sunburnedalbino I've loved your videos for the last three years! Thank you for the amazing continuous content! I was wondering, will there be a boss and suit ranking for Spiderman 2 any time in the future? I'd love to see your take on this all.

[@tamim3319]

Kinda weird you didn't even try Armored Core 6 when your whole channel got popular because of Fromsoft boss rankings and yet you played a million other games.

[@mikeclark7026]

His channel got popular cause of KH boss rankings.

[@tamim3319]

@@mikeclark7026He has some KH videos early on with decent views. But his first million from what I see is Bloodborne boss ranking.

[@HoonterKuron]

If he put it there and forced himself to play it simply because of that then it would not be genuine, so I don’t know why you’d want him to do that. It’s perfectly fine he doesn’t want to play ac6 given it’s a completely different thing compared to the soulsborne games.

[@joshuaweston6531]

Lies Of P is your number one, eh? If it is everything you say, I gotta give it a whirl! Also, here's to hoping I one day get to play Jedi Survivor...

[@Malthael22]

No Hi Fi Rush? Bummer, was a great game

[@LadyFrost17]

Will say, I’m shocked Remnant 2 wasn’t said at all,

[@ВячеславШолохов-ф9п]

At first. i was pissed that BG3 is not top 1, but your choice for top 1 was a great surprise)) Respect))

[@spencerniessner4072]

Also look forward to your rankings because you put actually thought into the placements and elaborate on them where as if this most other channels this would’ve a 7 minute video

[@ian2714]

Starfield feels so bad because if it didn't exist we probably would have had The Elder Scrolls 6 already and Fallout 5 might only be a few years out. Instead it's like 2026 and 2030 or some shit.

[@burnout713]

My immediate reaction was "Oh man, this guy is delusional enough to think Elder Scrolls VI is going to make 2023" and that is not a slight on you, that is an extremely damning indictment on what used to be easily my favorite and most-played video game studio.

[@UlumogTheDestroyer]

Fuck yeah, lies of p was so good and I'm glad you saw the potential in it too. It amazes me that this was neowiz' first game (besides mobile games) and they managed to nail the genre so well

[@Kudos2_Me]

It's pretty awesome that your top two games are from South Korean dev teams

[@TheStoneTargaryen]

Yeah Lies of P blew everything away this year. It just doesn’t get old

[@tripleaaabattery8480]

As someone who had never finished any souls-like (or even a souls game period) Lies of P surprised me immensely. A compelling story to go through that doesn't require you to look at the descriptions of every item in the game to understand, all the great music as well as a fun and customizable combat system meant that of all the great games that came out this year, Lies of P was one of the only games I would actively think about when i'm not playing it, which i haven't done for games since Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (even if that isn't the greatest game ever) and before that, Persona 5 Royal. All that to say, I agree with Lies of P at number 1 lol. I'm now more willing to go back and try and play other souls/souls-likes because of this game

[@jkitty542]

After multiple false starts and failed attempts, I finally beat Lies of P this week. It honestly feels like Bloodborne 2. I have a few complaints, but in the grand scheme of things they feel like nitpicks. What a special game. Can't wait for the DLC.

[@ericsaculla8501]

Lies of P was my favorite of this year as well. You definitely need to play Chrono Trigger though.

[@darknessemp2398]

I can totally agree with this list. It's a shame Like A Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name wasn't on here but I can see why - playing 6 other games to understand what's happening doesn't sound too appealing

[@justinpaglia616]

I love getting 100% achievements in games, so I put off Lies of P for a while because I knew you needed to do multiple playthroughs…. Well I’m currently on my 3rd playthrough, getting my last achievement, and loving every second of this game.

[@indralyehga8211]

Armored Core 6?

[@coletrainhetrick]

It's a shame you don't mention Hi fi rush at least as games you don't prefer but understand

[@randyspear9646]

I totally agree with your number 1 it’s sucks a freaking good souls like and I u fortunately got Lords of the Fallen which I regretted for the full game. Though I will say I absolutely hated fighting several bosses it was still a blast to play

[@thomaswilson1544]

I think TOTK is also a marvel in its own right, but I understand you seem to be playing shorter games and it seriously demands 200 hours+ to play the whole thing (I think I spent 300)

[@dylangarza1237]

BASED

[@kylerockwell9573]

sad to see hogwarts legacy so low and totk not in the top 20 but very happy to see lies of p where it is

[@Mishu777]

Im 50 hours into BG3, and i agree DOS2 was way more fun as a game. LoP is a goated souls-like, I didn't enjoy Elden Ring at all, it gave me hope back in the genre.

[@kylerockwell9573]

hoping to see lies of p high on the list. just started the video

[@michaelgarner4423]

I fucking called it that lies of P is your number 1 game of 2023 I’m glad you support spider man 2 because it’s is a goty no matter what people say it and it wasn’t a buggy mess ( like starfield) I also knew you weren’t the biggest fan of totk but you also understand why it a great game of 2023 even though it does deserve goty in a vacuum Also no dishonorable mentions that a good sign So your picks for the 6 goty nominees to you were Star Wars: Jedi Survivor Resident Evil 4 Remake Sea Of Stars Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Dave The Daver Lies Of P

[@thegamewin100]

Spiderman 2 was pretty buggy not gonna lie but still it was way better than starfield at least it doesn’t take 12 hours to start enjoying the game

[@michaelgarner4423]

Spider man 2 doesn’t have bugs that break your game and make the game unplayable and the bugs that people are saying are bugs that people are actively finding for clout like your not supposed to do that in that in the game starfield has bugs just you playing the game

[@burnout713]

I enjoyed the game and am not even sort of a clout chaser and I experienced more bugs in Spider-Man 2 at launch than I have in any game I've played in years. Didn't play Starfield, so can't make the comparison. I have no doubt Spider-Man 2 is superior, but I wouldn't defend it as a particularly stable game, at least in its immediate launch window pre-patches. @@michaelgarner4423

[@michaelgarner4423]

But no game is perfect I have experience minor bugs in spider man 2018 and miles morales and still think they are some of ps4 great games and playing spider man 2 possibly in the future will be no different

[@thefreshtowel9815]

Spiderman 2 was my buggiest game of the year but I still love it to death. But I definitely had 2 hard crashes and had multiple glitches that caused me to reload my save or restart my game to fix which is why it's not my personal goty

[@humanpotato17]

I too am butthurt about the new game plus removal from Fire Emblem Engage

[@thecasualcanuck4590]

I thought house flipper 2 looked really cool, so I checked it out on steam, but it was 54 bucks CAD on sale. I added it to my wishlist, it looks promising, but not nearly full priced game promising.

[@colebedesky6888]

Very very mid take on TOTK. Absolutely wild that Honkai was on your list as well LOL

[@HoonterKuron]

Recommending immortals fenix rising over tears of the kingdom is insane

[@QuiteBlackpilled]

Hot take but I’d rather have a wakanda side quest than a “preserving black history” side quest. But that’s just my controversial ass. It was sloppy as hell.

[@cletokings4302]

I disagree about your lies of p takes. It has the most boring level design I have ever played on a soulslike. The combat doesn’t feel as satisfactory as team ninjas souls likes or Nioh. The bosses are for the most part good but I never felt the need to fight them again which is not the case on any from games.

[@falgalhutkinsmarzcal3962]

Lies of P is extremely overrated, even if it is an Indie game. It is not as bad as Lords of the Fallen, but I found it quite unremarkable.

[@Travisaurus]

10:50 black myth wukong isnt even made by team ninja, not even in the same country 😂😂 note: this is sarcastic and i know you probably meant rise of the ronin, but i wanted to comment this so some other loser doesnt have to

[@SingingInferno]

"Don't like or even respect DnD as an entity" How come? Is it just because WotC/Hasbro is proving to be a garbage company that doesn't respect their fans or do you just not like tabletop games?

[@codyboyyy]

Bruh that Smurf joke deceased me 🤣

[@keithfilibeck2390]

Diablo 3 is a far better game because of the synergistic builds you can do and reach absurd heights, Diablo 4 is so solved by the dev's that everything is perfectly curtailed, its why its boring after awhile "oh wait, that's all the legendaries for my class.. that's it?" and off you go to other games.

[@aandrew4562]

First

[@pissant42]

Man y'all really out here sippin' the lies of P kool aid huh. I mean its a good soulslike dont get me wrong but its not on the same level of any of From's games. The level design was really boring and disappointingly linear. It lacked the interconnectivity from dark souls or bloodborne On top of that the combat feels unfocused. Its clearly taking inspiration from bloodborne but also has a heavy emphasis on parrying like sekiro. But the s on the dodge arent as generous as bloodborne and the window on the parry is tighter than sekiro making both options not feel great. Its like the game is caught between two opposing playstyles and doesnt quite nail either one

[@bodacious117]

When super Mario wonder isn’t in a top 20 least of 2023 you know this guy has zero taste in video games

[@jenniferhunter5433]

Fire ♨now 🌼😄