“Whatcha Playin’, Pixels?” – December 2023
17 min read
A monthly roundup of games enjoyed by the writers of The Pixels
2023 draws to a close and what a year it has been. We’ve had an absolutely stellar year in terms of releases. A truly astronomical number of GOTY contenders. And a nebula’s worth of content, critiques and editorials, over 130 posts here at The Pixels. (See what I did there?)
As the editor of this column that you’re reading, I am privileged to bring together our immensely talented and tireless writers and squeeze out what games they’ve been playing, month after month. Can you believe that we used to do this on a weekly basis?! Incredible, right?
That said, I want to thank you – the readers – for taking the time out of your busy schedules to check out what our writers have been up to, whether it was weekly or monthly. Since we started this column nearly two years ago, putting this thing together has been the highlight of my week. When we switched to a monthly format when my daughter was born last October, it became the highlight of my month. I truly hope you all have enjoyed this year’s columns, whether four or 14 of our writers submitted entries.
Speaking of our writers, I am grateful to Red and Prof at The Pixels for letting me put these together. Thanks to the both of you for putting your trust and faith in me. An extremely big Mahalo to Red for taking over for me a few times this year. I truly appreciate it. As for the rest of the writing team, I want to thank you all for your entries this month and months previously. I’ve learned a lot about each of you from what you’ve been playing. I hope you learned something about me at the same time. I’m not exaggerating when I say that you all are illustrious, talented and amazing in every post I’ve written: it’s because you are and someone here has to spread the word about it. Might as well be me. *wink*
Alright, enough of my soapboxing. Let’s close out 2023 and see what our writers have been up to in this holly, jolly month!
Happy holidays, Pixels! With NaNoWriMo over, I had the time to focus on my games list. Mostly small hidden object games and games for review, but I got a few others under my belt. I finished up achievement hunting in Potion Permit. Mail Time and Smushi Come Home were two games I’d had my eye on that dropped in an indie Humble Bundle, so I took advantage of the sale and enjoyed myself for a few hours on some cute exploration games.
We haven’t had much time for streaming due to holiday obligations, but I still managed to beat ElecHead in one sitting this week on stream. What an excellent little puzzle platformer. I definitely had an easier time with it because I’ve seen it played before and remembered some of the more complicated puzzles, but it still got me with some of the tricks.
So, it’s the end of the year. I started in January with a goal of beating 100 games in 2023. That might explain all the small and cheap games on my list, don’t judge me. There’s still a few days left, but I don’t know how many more I can fit in under the time limit. I won’t call it my final total, but as of writing this, my total is 88, just barely surpassing my previous best of 87. I think I can get to 90 before the final countdown to 2024 starts. Not perfect, but close enough to be satisfied.
All told, 2023 was a great year for games. It’s hard to narrow down a GotY for myself of the ones I’ve beaten. Ultimately, I think I’m going to have to go with Dave the Diver. It had a bunch of elements that I love bundled up in one complete, enjoyable package.
Wow, have I got a lot to talk about! After missing last month’s Whatcha Playing column due to illness, let me just roll off a quick list of games and one-word verdicts before I get on to what I really want to talk about: The 7th Guest VR: magnificent. The Room VR: outstanding. Super Mario Bros Wonder: incredible. The Talos Principle II: genius. Alan Wake II: unbelievable. Assassin’s Creed Mirage: enjoyable.
Right, now that I’ve caught up: I’ve had a couple of hours on Flashback 2 today. Considering the original Flashback is an all-time masterpiece and that no positive reviews exist for its brand new 2023 sequel, I was hesitant to say the least. Well.. it’s buggy.. very buggy.. and the 2.5D-ness doesn’t really suit it. It’s especially fiddly for combat but I’ve also lost count of the number of times I’ve had poor Conrad walking into banister rails as opposed to swiftly down some stairs. Other than that, I gotta tell you, there’s a potentially decent game here! It may not hit the same high mark as Lunark did earlier in the year, but I’m not hating Flashback 2. Ask me again when I’ve finished it, of course but the story is engaging enough so far, with a neat little twist that seems to make both this and Fade to Black canon. It’s not a game I’d recommend to anyone but a hardened Flashback fan, but it’s certainly a pleasure to play another Conrad Hart adventure.
Now, can we get the Lunark developer on board to make Flashback 3? Pretty pretty please?
December was full of finishing final edits on my remaining wedding videos from this year, but we still managed to get lots of gaming in! Currently near the end of the second DLC for Pokemon Violet and wrapping up the last 4 DLC adventures in Overcooked: All You Can Eat! Also started a duo playthrough for Lies of P with an online friend, as well as making good progress through the final act of Baldur’s Gate 3. As someone who has never played DnD but loves RPG’s, this game has been stellar. I have my sights set on hitting credits for BG3, Super Mario RPG, and Super Mario Wonder before the new Prince of Persia releases in January.
As far as the GOTY discussion goes, how does one pick from the 25+ easy options from this year? I had to go with The Legend of Zelda: TOTK for my choice. Going with one of the most obvious choices isn’t intentional, it’s just that it feels too difficult to give it elsewhere with how solid of an experience this sequel was. It improved on most of the weaker aspects from BOTW in very memorable ways and brought with it very impressive gameplay mechanics. I can’t wait for 2024 to be filled with more incredible releases!
We all have those games initially played as a kid, but for one reason or another, we never got around to actually finishing. Now that I’m older, I’ve made it a mission to return to my childhood staples and give them proper conclusions. This holiday month, I was feeling comfort food, so I looked to Super Mario Bros. 2. While I grew up with the NES version, the save-states provided by the GBA adaptation Super Mario Advance proved far more accessible for brief bouts of play after work. The amount of new content was a pleasant surprise. I expected graphical improvements reminiscent of Super Mario All Stars for SNES, but wasn’t aware the GBA take on Super Mario 2 added a slew of additional features. Levels feature super-sized Shy Guys, who while no harder to take out than their regular counterparts, provide vital heart icons to replenish health. Each of the four characters now has stats listed at the select-screen, giving you an idea of the best choice for each level. Note: I can’t confirm, but I swear they nerfed-down Princess Peach’s iconic float ability. Hidden red coins are included in each level, providing an additional objective as you make your way towards the falcon-head doors. I also had no idea a whole new boss was included. All the classics like Mouser, Tryclyde, and FryGuy (who now have actual voices!) are here, but a gigantic Robo-Birdo makes their debut as the boss of World 3. An updated version of the original Mario Bros. arcade game is included as a fun arcade-style alternative to the more lengthy main adventure.
At the end, I was successful in defeating Wart and saving Subcon, only to realize it was all a dream. Oh well, at least Wart would go on to have a helpful cameo in Link’s Awakening.
Oh, and did you know that Super Mario Bros. 2 is actually a reskin of Doki Doki (kidding, kidding!)
During the oft-stressful holiday season, I tend to turn to the familiar and the comfortable when it comes to my gaming time. For me, that often means MMOs. Their, well, massive size means that even though the basic structure is familiar, there’s nearly always something new to do, whether that’s new content, old content from a different angle, achievement chasing – whatever catches my interest at the time. I dabbled with my two usual standbys of Lord of the Rings Online and Final Fantasy XIV some, but it was Guild Wars 2 and its comparatively faster-paced combat that took the bulk of my interest this month. I rolled up an alt and stopped to smell the roses a bit as I moved him through the story – I almost always stay laser-focused on the main plotline on a first playthrough, which means I poke about all the corners I rushed past on a subsequent one, and find all sorts of fun things hidden away in the metaphorical margins. Really enjoying rolling with a mesmer, too, a class that works via illusory clones that can distract, damage, and daze when deployed strategically.
…I swear that alliteration was entirely unintentional. Look, I’m a linguist, okay?! These things just kind of happen sometimes.
Anyway, as far as my favorite 2023 release… Sea of Stars was a very strong contender, but I’m going to give the “personal GotY” nod to my dark horse candidate, because it’s the one I can’t stop thinking about. That would be Chants of Sennaar, a little point-and-click with an excellent language-learning central puzzle mechanic, intriguing setting and worldbuilding, and some fantastic environmental storytelling. It’s not a long game, but it sure left a lasting impression. A real gem of the genre.
This entire month has been rather insane, like the last few others. I’ve been playing a significant amount of Lethal Company with friends, randoms, and even solo which has honestly been a blast. I really don’t know what it is about gathering garbage at random prices, but it’s awesome and I’ve been loving it. I also went through the Pokemon Indigo Disk DLC, which was a fairly nice (albeit predictable) storyline. The new paradox mons are going to be insane, and I’ll be trying my hand at serious competition by going to the Knoxville regional in February.
As for GotY, I didn’t actually buy that many new games this year. Hi-Fi Rush, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Lethal Company are it. With that said, I’d have to give it to Tears of the Kingdom. It added a lot more to the original Breath of the Wild formula to bring about a different feeling world, despite the same basic map. The story was more in depth, the final boss fight was FAR more satisfying, and the entire world has a darker mood surrounding a conflict that actually felt urgent. Hi-Fi Rush was a great game, but it doesn’t hold up to multiple or continued playthroughs, while Lethal Company doesn’t have enough in it to compare well to the other two.
Here’s hoping you all had a great year, and good wishes for the next!
So, I’m still playing World of Tanks with my dad and brother, and wow these freemium, games as a service tactics to part me from my money are pretty vile! Do you know how much a new tank costs, hidden behind premium currency? £70! I could buy a real 1950s Soviet tank for that… probably! So instead I play it with the sole tactic of not spending more than £5 a month! It’s very slow going, but screw you, ya greedy mooks!
I’m also closing in on the ending of my second Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough. This has been an epic playthrough, the 2.0 shakeup and Phantom Liberty both have elevated a fantastic (if flawed) game to legendary status for me, and my netrunner nomad’s tale is slowly coming to it’s conclusion. Next – a Corpo samurai with a penchant for swords!
Game of year for me had to be Resident Evil 4 – I wrote about it on this very site in great detail and won’t bore you to death here, but any remake of a game I loathed on original release, that is able to turn that hate into (somewhat terrifying) love with a new coat of paint? Gotta love it!
Merry Christmas and happy New Year, y’all! See you in 2024!
The holidays have been treating me and my gaming quite well. I’ve spent a lot of time playing games with friends lately. Mostly the same things as last month, some Inkbound, Roboquest, and new to the party this month was Apocalypse Party, a new game in the survivors-like genre that has an emphasis on the traits you pick as you level and how the interact more in more silly ways than the usual area, speed, and quantity upgrades a lot of those games use. Rogue-likes have proven the kings for me yet again for weaving games in during limited time between events and holiday parties. When I did have time to sit and play games to myself for a bit though I started Etrian Odyssey through the remastered collection that came out earlier this year, and man has that been fun mapping everything out with my little party of explorers.
I was going to lead into something saying how Vampire Survivors was one of the greatest value games that came out this year and how I’ve been replaying it for all its new DLC lately, but then I looked at its release date and realized it came out in 2022. So I’m instead going to tell you all that Crab Champions despite its goofy name, is an amazingly satisfying fast-paced arena shooting roguelike that is actually my favorite game of this year. Oh, and it’s also developed by the musician behind the song Crab Rave which makes it even better.
See you all next year!
For a small chunk of December I spent some time wrapping up Super Mario RPG for the Switch, tackling its challenging post game content, as well as playing a bit of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. I did dabble a bit in Sonic Superstars and continued my slowly paced playthrough of Sea of Stars.
Stepping away from games beginning with the letter S, I’m still spending some of my time living on Hydaelyn in Final Fantasy XIV, and I don’t see that changing very soon with the next expansion, Dawntrail, coming in the summer of 2024 to begin a new tale now that Endwalker has wrapped up basically every loose thread that began with A Realm Reborn.
I still need to work through Baldur’s Gate 3, and still wish to play a campaign with friends. While I would probably consider it my personal GOTY if I had more time invested in it I’m going to have to give that honor to Super Mario Bros. Wonder. While I didn’t start gaming with Mario (Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man were where I really cut my teeth) he has been a fixture of my gaming development for ages. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a lovingly crafted game that takes me back to two of my favorite entries in the series (Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island.) Capturing that magic again is what puts the game at the top of my list for 2023.
OK, OK, I know I said “No more games will be added to my backlog” after picking up Sonic Superstars and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Buuuuuut then I got a PlayStation 5 with Spider-Man 2 bundled with it. And then I got Final Fantasy XVI. And then I picked up that Square-Enix title that everyone loves to hate: Forspoken. Now, in my defense, I was intrigued at the game despite the negative press surrounding it. I want to judge it with my own eyes and hands. Plus, I got it on sale for less than thirty bucks! That’s like highway robbery as far as I’m concerned haha. But seriously. That. Is. It. No more new games until 2025!
So, quick recap: Finished Sonic Superstars’ final-final boss fight at the beginning of the month. Holy heck, that was a tough one to deal with. I am not a fan of the boss fights in Superstars, that’s the weakest and most frustrating part of an otherwise excellent Sonic game. I turned to Super Mario Bros. Wonder next and ohmagosh, THIS GAME! I haven’t felt this elated to play a Super Mario game since I played Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time nearly 31 years ago in 1992. It just made me so happy! I was even ear-to-ear during the Final-Final challenge in that game. An instant classic, that one. Next up was the Valhalla DLC for God of War: Ragnarok. It was the perfect footnote to what was already an incredible and epic journey for the former God of War. Here in Valhalla, Kratos comes to terms with his past self through a gauntlet of battles akin to a rougelike game. With each death, Kratos learns, understands and even comes to terms with his actions back in Greece. He is truly not the man he was before. He became better, and that resonated with me with such force that I’d like to take a stab at Valhalla myself to see if I can become a better person too.
Rounding out this month, I’ve decided to play Final Fantasy VII Remake on the PS5 from scratch. No previous saves, just a fresh start. I’ve stalled a bit on Book II of the fanfic and playing Remake may be the thing I need to overcome my current writer’s block. It’s looking likely that I’ll be publishing sometime in June 2024.
On a final note about GOTY, I made mention way back in May that Tears of the Kingdom was, hands down, my GOTY pick. It’s safe to say that my choice has not wavered, despite what else dropped for the rest of the year. You can check out the rest of the columns from May to August on my thoughts; I need not rehash them here. Were I not so busy bustin’ my backlog, I’d go right back to Hyrule and check out the remaining side quests that I’ve missed.
Happy Holidays and best wishes for 2024!
It’s the end of the year and I’ve been playing quite a lot of different games this month. Unfortunately for me, I’ve been playing in some Fortnite with close friends. I didn’t think it’d happen but this game has been taking up a lot of my free time. We all even bought the battle pass on day one of playing. It’s been a really enjoyable multiplayer experience nevertheless and I’m glad to be here.
I’ve also started playing Lethal Company, a multiplayer indie horror as many people might already know. It’s about excavating artifacts for a company (that is lethal) on different moons. There are many different encounters that can be found in the dark, plenty of monsters and jump scares. It’s a really goofy game for a horror game, there’s lots of fun to be had with friends on this game.
I’ve also played more American Truck Simulator, there isn’t a whole lot for me to say here other than I’m slowly building my truck fleet and my wealth. I usually play this when I want to play something mindless.
I’ve started One Step From Eden, a roguelike that resembles similar gameplay to Mega Man Battle Network. The combat is tile based with lots of strategy in play via different spells and effects from player and opponent. I’ve enjoyed it so far but there’s a lot going on in that game that I don’t quite understand. I’ll keep digging at this next year.
Lastly, I’ve started Cosmic Star Heroine, an indie RPG reminiscent of the classics such as Chrono Trigger. So far, it’s a very honest game with a straight-cut cast and engaging battle mechanics. The story is moving quickly with progression but the narrative has been pretty straightforward. The characters seem to be designed to play specific tropes to fit the story. I’m most impressed with the combat in this game, it’s really thought out and it feels like every decision can be crucial. Hyperduck Soundworks did a good job on the soundtrack as well.
Finally, my GOTY for this year of the games I’ve played in 2023 is Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. I’ve played like three new games this year and this definitely is it. I hadn’t finished it, but piloting a robot in a video game is something that vastly appeals to me and that’s enough reason alone. Nonetheless, the game was engaging and it felt like a very healthy difficulty despite the reputation of FromSoft.
Happy Holidays everyone!
A new year is here again and with it comes new promise, new potential, and new video games! Before we bid hello to 2024, though, we have to say one final adieu to 2023, a year in which I failed to finish the games I started: Armored Core VI, Super Mario Wonder with the kids, Final Fantasy XIV (my fourth attempt) courtesy of a gift from Nate for Christmas, Sea of Stars, Tears of the Kingdom…
However, I did manage to beat some games! Here’s everything I beat in 2023.
25. Robotrek
24. Lagoon
23. SimCity
22. Dungeon Master
21. Atomicrops
20. Brandish
19. Arcana
18. Final Fantasy II
17. Quest 64
16. LEGO The Hobbit
15. LEGO Lord of the Rings
14. We Love Katamari Re-Roll + Royal Reverie
13. Brain Lord
12. JRR Tolkien’s LOTR Vol 1
11. Metroid Prime: Remastered
10. Earthworm Jim
9. Super Mario Bros.
8. EVO: Search for Eden
7. Pokemon Scarlet
6. Dragon View
5. Drakkhen
4. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals
3. Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
2. Super Mario Land
1. Lufia & the Fortress of Doom
For December, that meant Robotrek, a creative and endearing but awkward mech-building RPG from Quintet. That takes me one step further on my journey through every Super Nintendo RPG as part of a big secret project. I have a lot I’m looking forward to this year. I hope it’s a productive and successful year for us all!
Oh that’s right and I’m supposed to tell you my personal GOTY for 2023… I’m really not settled on this one, to be quite honest. I feel like if I’d played BG3 that it would have been that. Seeing a turn-based RPG sweep the awards after being told for years that I’m an anachronism for wanting more TB RPGs over button mashing ARPGs just feels good. But I have to give the nod to Metroid Prime: Remastered which, as a staunch traditionalist, is everything I think a good remaster/remake should be. Give me the game that’s in the title!
And so ends December and 2023 in its entirety. What have you been playing recently? What did you finish? And what’s next on your backlog? Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you all again in 2024!
Ryan Cheddi – our friendly, neighbourhood caffeine addict – is a man of many talents: an engineer, a gaming historian, a fiction writer and a streamer. He is also a self-avowed Sonic the Hedgehog fan. You can check out his cool beans at his site – Games with Coffee – or find him on Bluesky as @GameswCoffee, and Instagram as @games_with_coffee. He streams on Twitch, also as GamesWithCoffee.
