‘You may play it for 5 minutes or you possibly can play it for 5 hours’: Guardian readers’ greatest video games of 2023 up to now | video games

Resident Evil 4

That is one 2023 remake The sport that obtained me into motion video games in 2005. Third-person over-the-shoulder shooters have been new on the time and the motion style was the primary time I began liking it. It now has a contemporary polish and environment that’s steeped in horror, lastly, controls that do not make you’re feeling such as you’re caught in a tank. Leon is as foolish and dashing as ever and the blood and gore is dialed as much as 11. It is clean, gradual, sick and only a great expertise. I have not loved a shooter this a lot since Resident Evil 4. Leslie, 37, Manchester

A shout

Aki Ara is a remake of a Eighties Atari arcade machine that was by no means launched. Atari requested the legendary Jeff Minter (and Giles) of Llamasoft to reimagine the sport and what they got here up with is pure arcade bliss. The trademark Llamasoft visuals: black backgrounds, block textual content, easy geometry, mixed with fashionable psychedelic particle results – with a trance soundtrack – create a recreation that mixes tower-defense technique and arcade capturing. It may be as relaxed or as advanced as you need. Minter, in his lengthy profession, has mastered the artwork of making video games which are simply enjoyable – you possibly can play it for 5 minutes and have a blast or play it for 5 hours and lose your self. Paul, Stuttgart, Germany

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

It is fairly an achievement to enhance on Breath of the Wild, however right here it’s. Particularly, for a recreation from a serious writer, it would not simply push the boundaries by way of the most recent fashionable graphics. That is why 99.9% of AAA video games commit all obtainable assets to as of late – and why so lots of them are ineffective, boring and pointless. Tears of the King is releasing because the participant’s creativeness and bravado are rewarded. What you assume will not work…truly does! Scaling the heights for the primary dungeon, within the air above Rito, is without doubt one of the most thrilling moments I’ve skilled in over 35 years of gaming. This open-world strategy makes titles like The Witcher III look complicated compared. Jareth38, Manchester

Pizza Tower

Pizza Tower is like no different recreation I’ve ever performed. It is a quick, frantic 2D platformer the place you play as a creepy middle-aged Italian pizza chef and it’s a must to climb a tower with pizza-inspired ranges filled with pizza enemies and destroy its helps. Possibly a large pizza face referred to as Pizzaface. Do not destroy your pizzeria with a large laser. You may’t die, however getting injured lowers your rating. Your aim is to get to the assist pillar named John and destroy it, then stroll off the identical stage as you probably did because it falls round you and a timer ticks off at an uncomfortable price. Should you take too lengthy, Pizzaface will come and kill you immediately if he touches you. Every stage is filled with character and every recreation is completely different from the final. One minute, you are exploring area, the subsequent minute you are enjoying golf with an emotional ball of cheese. It will likely be tough to eradicate them. Aaron Durning, 24, Dundee, Scotland

Diablo IV

I’ve by no means performed any of the earlier variations of Diablo, however heard they have been fairly good. These days, as a really middle-aged gamer, I are likely to play video games for a very long time after which lose curiosity, which is okay. No recreation has gripped me the way in which Diablo has maybe the GTA collection again within the day. I like wars; You may really feel your self bettering as you stage up your recreation, and it is simply the precise stage of pleasure for me to play with my gear and construct that edge. Permit to do. My 10 yr outdated self (enjoying Golden Axe) would have been very jealous of this recreation…oh, and it is fairly too. Dominic Foote, 47, Ringwood, Hampshire

Ghostland Yard

Ghost Land Yard gives us an incredibly tough health platformer, like Super Meat Boy. I appreciate games that respect my time and it does that with its level design. It is quite challenging and addictive though, so I usually spend some time playing it. I don’t even find myself saying “just one more go”; The next level is just so immediate and I’m enjoying the challenge. It lends itself to people of a competitive nature with its global and local time classifications and tight controls. It also has options to unlock all levels and “infinite jumps”, which are great ideas to help struggling players at any point. I’m still not sure on the story… I know there’s meant to be one, but haven’t learned enough about it yet. Morgan, Melbourne, Australia

dead space

There have been some amazing games so far this year, but for me dead space Remix has made it to the top of my list (so far). I didn’t play the original game, mainly because I was too much of a scaredy cat. From the quests to the fights, I was on the edge of my seat throughout. A few very sleepless nights followed me, however, making it to the end credits. It confirmed that I’m still a scaredy cat but I had a “bloody” good time in the process. Yunus, 39, London

Cassette Beasts

Pokemon is my first gaming love, but its recent games have felt stale while other developers have ventured into the RPG genre. Enter the cassette tapes. From its primarily adult cast to the story themes, the game feels as if a Pokemon game was allowed to target an older audience. I’m playing on the Switch, where Cassette is a drop-in/drop-out co-op game of beasts to play with friends. Unfortunately, the Switch version has some performance issues, but patches are on the way, and I’m still completely addicted. Nick, 32, Melbourne, Australia

Street Fighter 6

Street Fighter 6 A revelation has happened. I’ve always been an average player so could never pull off some of the more unusual combos, but the system uses them here with advanced controls and drive gauges, adding a chess-like quality to the matches. Hub World for Online brings back the arcade feel of yesteryear. The battle system has a lot of depth that I can see new and veteran players alike enjoying. Nathan Hall, 44, Dublin