![]() This invites a ton of creativity, as sometimes more than one solution exists. In Viewfinder, you'll place Polaroid-style photos in the world to create new environments and solve platforming puzzles. With the room-by-room structure of Portal, the winking-at-the-camera of The Stanley Parable, and a central mechanic that is wholly its own-and utterly dazzling-Viewfinder is a memorable experiment that makes a heck of a demo, but manages to build on its foundation so that the full game stands up proudly, too. It's unconventional even in a sea of indies that are constantly trying new weird things, but it works." - Mark Delaney "What memories or feelings was I conjuring, even subconsciously, that led me to present Estelle's world in the ways I did, and what did that say about how I see my own world? Season asks a lot of introspective questions, provides few definitive answers, and hopes players are willing to breathe it in, consider it carefully, then exhale slowly as they reflect on both the game and themselves. "As Estelle pieces together her scrapbook made by my hand, I often found myself asking why I took a particular image, what I liked about a specific sound," critic Mark Delaney wrote in our Season: A Letter to the Future review. Season is as close to a mindfulness practice as one might dream up as a video game, making it a uniquely calming experience. And then seeing the entire scrapbook in the game's conclusion feels like a trip down memory lane even as you only just arrived there yourself some hours beforehand. ![]() As she pauses to rest in a firefly forest, it feels like you, too, are given a chance to just breathe and exist. It's poetic, soft-spoken, and meditative like nothing else I can recall having experienced.Īs Estelle cruises down the cliffside on her bike, the wind feels welcoming. ![]() As you decide what to immortalize in your sketchbook, you'll create your own narrative, choosing which images, phrases, drawings, and more you feel are crucial to telling the story of the land. You'll photograph people as they move to safety and places long or recently abandoned and, through it all, tell your own story by documenting the sights and sounds of a place soon lost to time. In gameplay terms, this translates to Estelle biking the countryside with her sketchbook, audio recorder, camera, and freedom to explore the world as you see fit. In her world, "seasons" don't just bring new weather patterns they are wholly world-altering and usher in essentially new societies, making them more like a (potentially) gentle apocalypse. You play as a young woman named Estelle who sets out from her home to document her world on the eve of tremendous change. Season is nothing if not niche, but it's a good thing it exists. Indie games tend to explore spaces deemed too risky for publishers or too niche for some players. (Note: Our picks were made prior to Baldur's Gate 3's surprise release on Xbox Series X|S on December 7.)įor more on the best games of 2023, be sure to check out our top 10 games of 2023, along with our Game of the Year winner, Baldur's Gate 3. ![]() But all of these games are console exclusive to PlayStation, making them well worth a look if you have access to the system. This list does contain a few games available to play on PC as well, and that's a good thing for getting these great games in front of the widest audience possible. Third parties rounded out the PlayStation library this year with a number of great games that you can't currently play on any other console. Though Forbidden West also received a PS4 version, the PS5 exclusivity of the expansion let developer Guerrilla really spread its shiny metal wings. Similarly, Horizon Forbidden West's PS5-exclusive Burning Shores expansion. That means we got to see the power of the new hardware really shine this year like never before.Īs first-party offerings go, it doesn't get much bigger than the blockbuster action of Spider-Man 2, which as an exclusive takes full advantage of the PlayStation 5 hardware. This is also the year that PS5 came into its own, with many of its biggest games no longer sharing cross-generation releases with the PS4. 2023 was no different, offering a wide range of games you can play first, or play best, on a PS5. In looking at the year's best PlayStation 5 games, it shows once again that PlayStation has built a reputation for strong platform exclusives, with a combination of prestige first-party games and third-party offerings from developers like Square Enix.
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