The editorial team’s ten favourite games

Baldur’s Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Dead Space, Spider-Man 2, Cities Skylines 2. This year offered something for everyone’s taste in games. A few lesser-known titles also made it into the Digitec and Galaxus editorial team’s highlights.

Philipp: Alan Wake 2 – nerve-wracking but unforgettable

Alan Wake 2 is one of those games where I constantly had to tell my wife about all the crazy things that happened. Not that she was interested. But with so many unusual things going on, I needed an outlet. Alan Wake 2 is a gripping, creepy psychological thriller that took me on a rollercoaster of parallel worlds, forest sects and books that become reality. Visually, the game is one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen. The way the Finnish studio weaves in video sequences with real people makes the whole thing a unique experience.

Available on: PC, PS5, Xbox Series

Domi: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – infinite freedom

In my opinion, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom isn’t just the best game of the year, it’s also one of the best games of all time. Its crazy mechanics set new standards for open-world games. No other titles give me as much freedom when it comes to solving puzzles and moving about in the game world. This is mainly thanks to Link’s Ultrahand abilities that let me rewind time, teleport through obstacles, as well as create deadly weapons and wacky means of transportation. The kingdom of Hyrule is my playground for letting off steam and letting my creativity off the leash. Speaking of Hyrule, Nintendo has significantly expanded the game universe that was already huge in its predecessor Breath of the Wild with a floating sky world and a dark underground domain. I’m excited to see what direction the Zelda series takes after this masterpiece. Because I can’t imagine it can get any better than Tears of the Kingdom.

Available on: Switch

Debora: Smalland: Survive the Wilds – big things come in small packages

Smalland entered early access in March and ended up being an unexpected survival hit for me. Essentially, you’re a few-centimetre-tall elf exploring different biomes, including a forest, beach and post-apocalyptic street. Smalland boasts day and night as well as seasonal changes and really beautiful graphics. I took screenshots every ten metres for my next desktop wallpaper. You can kill insects and other creatures to turn them into weapons or furniture for your grand base. Or you can tame them to use as fighting aids or transportation. When you host a game, up to nine other players can join in – and even incorporate their own bases.

Available on: PC

Ramon: Backpack Battles – fighting the inventory

I only play sporadically and when I do, it doesn’t involve any triple-A games. My latest discovery is the instantly addictive Backpack Battles, which is just a demo. It’ll run on any lousy Microsoft Office computer. Backpack Battles is an inventory management auto-battler. You fight against other players by filling a backpack with strategically picked items. Each item has its own shape, size and power, which means its placement in the backpack is crucial to your success. You can buy, combine and upgrade items to create powerful synergies and unique builds.

Available on: PC

Kim: Toasterball – one ball, two goals and toasters

Three years later, the wild and crazy tennis-like sports game Toasterball finally left early access on 3 May. It used to just be a hidden gem, but it quickly won my heart and that of several of my friends. Each player takes on the role of a toaster and can throw the ball to score points. But you can also use your toast to fend it off. The game is very much reminiscent of Blobby Volley and Pong, but it also has other gimmicks. Each time a point is scored, it triggers a random gameplay variant. For instance, you might end up with new ball physics, portals or two balls. The full version now also provides an AI opponent if you’re gaming alone.

Available on: PC and Switch

Samuel: Diablo IV – inject it straight into my veins

Diablo II turned me into a basement beast as a teenager, and Diablo III saw me truant as a student. More than ten years after the last instalment, I once again succumbed to absolute addiction this summer. I was perfectly prepared for the release at 1 a.m. and sunk over 100 hours into Diablo IV within a week. The action RPG plays smoothly, feels powerful and looks great.

I joined forces with a few old friends to slaughter my Rogue to level 100. It was amazing. And then there was just emptiness. Blizzard didn’t offer enough endgame content at release, which caused disenchantment in the community. I soon lost motivation to even log in. After two months, I wiped the game from my hard disk. The following lame seasons and addon announcement after less than a year show that Blizzard is only interested in maximising its profit. Nevertheless, those first two weeks remain my game highlight of the year.

Available on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series

Simon: Baldur’s Gate 3 – successfully bucking the trend

There are games that do pioneering work, such as Minecraft, Super Mario 64 and Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The type that change our understanding of what video games should be as a medium. Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t one of them. It’s simply an incredibly well-made role-playing game with insane depth. Nevertheless, Baldur’s Gate 3 shows the entire video game industry how it’s done.

The tenor among major publishers has always been that there’s no money to be made with complex role-playing games with a focus on storytelling and single player. Developer Larian proves the opposite is true. In a time of half-baked releases and money squeezes à la Call of Duty, Diablo IV and EA FC, this is unfortunately a rarity.

Who would’ve thought you could earn money by listening to customers instead of shareholders?

Available on: PC, Mac, PS5, Xbox Series

Kevin: Sea of Stars – a declaration of love to 90s JRPGs

Finally, I feel like a teenager again – minus all the problems that come with growing up. Sabotage Studio transported me back to my youth this year with Sea of Stars. The throwback JRPG was the first game in a long time that kept me glued to the Switch for over 20 hours. Something I hardly ever get to do now I’m a dad.

Sea of Stars takes all the things that made 90s JRPGs so great and modernises them in many areas. Now you get to explore beautiful pixel landscapes, fight your way through hordes of monsters and experience an epic story. My only criticisms are of some of the skills and the fact that the main characters Zale and Valere seem quite shallow. But that doesn’t matter as the secret star and very heart of the game is actually supporting character Garl.

Available on: PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series

Luca: Hogwarts Legacy – a dream come true

«Where are we?» asks my character, a 15-year-old who just escaped an exceptionally powerful and nasty goblin. Professor Fig, an old, odd man with greyish-white strands looks around, puzzled. We’re in a dark forest. The Dark Forest. «Impossible!» he exclaims, before turning back to me, with a mischievous grin. «Come on. The new term ceremony awaits us.» The camera turns away from my character, pans over the treetops, flies through the night past steam trains and owls until I catch sight of Hogwarts in the moonlight. John Williams’ famous music fills my living room in the background.

Honestly, I couldn’t help but clap my hands like a drunken idiot in front of the TV during this scene. Stunned, I squeaked, «What am I even clapping for?», but let myself get taken away by the euphoria of it all. My expectations for Hogwarts: Legacy were so high that I was sure I’d be disappointed. But it was actually the opposite; the game surpassed everything I’d dared hope for.

It includes all the locations from the films, just bigger and more interactive. And places we didn’t see in the films were created so faithfully that I was moved to tears again and again. The various common rooms, for instance. Or the house elf kitchen under the Great Hall. The magnificent astronomy tower. The Owlery. The Great Lake. The secret passageway behind the one-eyed witch to Hogsmeade. The Room of Requirement. The fields and dungeons outside the castle. Oh, I could go on and on. No other game this year came close to evoking such strong emotions for me. Not even Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Available on: PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series

Michelle: Stray Gods – the role-playing musical with rocking gods

It’s a modern world with Greek gods, and a murder that needs to be solved. Did I mention the whole thing is a musical? Stray Gods is my favourite of 2023, quite simply because of this absurd mix.

In this role-playing game, I take on the character of Grace, a college dropout. Amazingly, the entire plot depends on my decisions. I don’t just affect Grace’s character and love interests. During the individual musical pieces Grace and her antagonists perform, I choose additional lines of song lyrics and all of a sudden a ballad becomes a rock song that makes Olympus shake. Or something like that.

Available on: PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series