Backloggds's Best Reviews of 2023, Selected by YOU!

December has still a couple of days left, but the arrival of 2024 is imminent, and I wanted to, in some way, celebrate all of the amazing, incredible reviews published by many of the users on here. I had a couple of ideas, maybe looking back and talking about the reviews of mine that I feel a bit proud of, maybe talking about and celebrating the fantastic write-ups that I've had the pleasure of reading made by the people I follow, and maybe I'll make those ideas a reality before the year ends. However, I thought taking it from another perspective, a more community oriented one.

I think that some of the crucial things that people that take the time and effort to actively write, be it original work or about the games they love, such as this case, is to be both critical with what they produce... but also feel proud about it, and that latter that it's perhaps the most important one, I think. It's good to want to improve and see the flaws in your own work to try and make even better pieces, I myself realize this is practically mandatory part of the process, but so it is realizing that what you do can be and it's great, that in some way or another it's worth to be admired the same way others do when reading it.

And so, this time it's an occasion to do it, I want you to share and talk about the review you feel most proud of that you've made this year, whether because it's the most personal, the one that required more effort, or any other reason, and I'd be pleased to add it to the list, of course linking the review and your profile. I think making this into a community list can be the best possible space for everyone to share their own work again, and maybe I'm not the better suited to do this, but nonetheless, I'd feel honored to help everyone share their reviews in any shape of form.

Thank you so much for sharing, reading or even if you are just stopping by!

LordDarias' Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
moschidae's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
DeltaWDunn's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
AlphaOne2's Best Review of the Year!

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faea's Best Review of the Year!

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psychbomb's Best Review of the Year!

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MiraMiraOTW's Best Review of the Year!

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paq250's Best Review of the Year!_

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PitSolitayrh's Best Review of the Year!

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Detectivefail's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
Detchibe's Best Review of the Year!

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Cadensia's Best Review of the Year!

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DeemonAndGames' (Me!) Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
curse's Best Review of the Year!

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theia's Best Review of the Year!

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Lynxelot's Best Review of the Year!

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BEAUTIFULBRUTE's Best Review of the Year!

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hilda's Best Review of the Year!

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MegaTheRealOne's Best Review of the Year!

You can give a read to all 5 parts by clicking in each of the numbers!:

1
2
3
4
5
Snigglegros' Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
Oshha's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
BlazingWaters's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
Consciovs' Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
SkeletonGrimm67's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!

You can also give a read to his Resident Evil 4 Remake review here!
Momoka's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
Kijimoshi's Best Review of the Year!

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Undercover's Best Review of the Year!

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ConeCvltist's Best Review of the Year!

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Lag0n's Best Review of the Year!

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Nightblade's Best Review of the Year!

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Weatherby's Best Review of the Year!

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cowboyjosh's Best Review of the Year!

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SpikeTheStupido's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
GodOfMediocrity's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!

You can also give a read to his Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls review here!
Fauxscerf's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
BrightGalaxy's Best Review of the Year!

You can give it a read by clicking right here!
Kam's Best Review of the Year!

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radradradish's Best Review of the Year!

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straylight's Best Review of the Year!

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poyfuh's Best Review of the Year!

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ZapRowsdower's Best Review of the Year!

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TransWitchSammy's Best Review of the Year!

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iyellatcloud's Best Review of the Year!

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PasokonDeacon's Best Review of the Year!

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Nerdietalk's Best Review of the Year!

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akanta's Best Review of the Year!

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FrozenRoy's Best Review of the Year!

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111 Comments


5 months ago

@Detectivefail Thanks, that genuinely means a lot to me

5 months ago

Wasn't going to participate because I don't especially like plugging my own stuff, but that Bomberman Act:Zero review might be the one thing I can look at and say I feel pretty good about.

5 months ago

Great list idea as always Deemon! I really appreciate the positivity and good vibes you always bring, and what a great example of that!

Mine is my Hellblade review; it's the only time I've felt like I really had something meaningful to say with the right personal angle to make it interesting. I also just sat down and typed it out with hardly any editing; it came out smooth and easy like a high fiber dump.

I've only started to scratch the surface of these but I'm going to read all of them; it's a great collection! Have a great holiday season and happy new year!!

5 months ago

Any chance non-english reviews are allowed? @DeemonAndGames

5 months ago

@Weatherby That review was GOLD, easily one of the best I've read all year, you did an amazing job with that one, as you do in every write-up. Super glad you decided to share something, your reviews are always a joy to read, I'll add It as soon as I can and sorry for the late response!

@cowboyjosh Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful words! It really means a ton to me, and thank you so much for always been there and bringing so much positivity too, it's always wonderful to see you on here :D! Your Hellbade review was incredibly beautiful and deeply personal, I'll add It to the list in a moment, and again, sorry for taking so long to respond and happy holidays!

@Robot_Rock Of course! This isn't a english only list at all, I'm more than happy to add reviews of any language, so feel free to share! :D

5 months ago

This idea is really sweet! I'll throw my hat into the ring with my Majora's Mask review. This is the most personal review I've ever written, the most experimental review I've ever written, and is the first time I've ever cried at my own writing. I managed to make a thematic tie to everything that I'm really proud of as well!

5 months ago

@SpikeTheStupido Thank you so much! It sounds absolutely wonderful, managing to write something like that, something that expresses things you feel perfectly captured through words while also experimenting beyond the comfort zone is a commendable effort; I'll read just after adding it to the list, I can't wait to enjoy it for myself :)))))

5 months ago

My review output was a bit more sparring this year since I’ve just become a lot more busy, so my selection of genuine reviews are limited and I’m not really super happy with my reviews this year.

There are two that I’d really like to mention, though. The first is my DmC: Devil May Cry review. I’m usually kinda… disingenuous(?) in my reviews. Like, not that I’m not saying my opinion, but I often feel like I’m talking under a layer of plexiglass, like I’m a fictional character giving the review. The DmC review feels more genuine to me. I went into the game expecting it to be funny bad, ended up feeling insulted even as a non-DMC fan, and it kinda shows. I don’t think I’ll ever do some emotional, meaningful reviews that others do, I’m not really capable of more, I don’t get emotionally attached like others here do. But this is the closest I’ve gone

That being said, I do like my Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls a bit more as a review. I also went into this game and left feeling insulted of my time, but I instead opted to keep my normal tone, and this is probably my best “normal” review. I like it more than the DmC review but it means less to me, ya see why I value them equally? It’s best representative of the reviews here I generally like to make, and showcases my normal style better than DmC.

If I had to pick one to display, I’d say DmC, but I hold both on equal grounds. I like the Ultra Despair Girls review more but the DmC review was me opening up more than usual, which is just something I don’t normally do.

Either way, cheers to another year of good reviews from y’all!

DmC review: https://backloggd.com/u/GodOfMediocrity/review/1037670/
Ultra Despair Girls: https://backloggd.com/u/GodOfMediocrity/review/1133557/

5 months ago

Just realized how much I clogged up the chat, sorry about that

5 months ago

@GodOfMediocrity They seem to be awesome reads by the way you describe them, even if you don't feel as happy with all your collective output, every effort is commendable and a thing to celebrate, and I'm sure they are all fantastic reviews, and I'll be sure to read just after adding them. I'll add your Dmc review as the main one, but I'll also link the Danganronpa review so both get the spotlight. Thank you so much for sharing and no need to apologize at all, love to see everyone talk about their work and this is no exception, no use as many words as you need :D

5 months ago

@DeemonAndGames Thank you for putting it on the list and thank you for reading! And you're right in your assessment, it's the closest I've felt to saying exactly what I wanted to say with a game, and even then, there's still so much left to say!

5 months ago

Failed every little promise I’d made to myself to properly write on here this year but I’m gonna put my review of Stasis : Bone Totem up for consideration, not that I think it’s any good - I spent two weeks on it before accidentally deleting at while at work and having to rewrite the whole thing in a frenzy one evening - but I really, really want more people to play this game and meet Moses <3

4 months ago

I'm gonna say my Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded review is my best one of the year. I put a good amount of effort into writing it and I'm proud of how it turned out.

4 months ago

Hello! Just saw this list and I think the idea is amazing. I think my best review is my Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops one, and people liked it too apparently! It's here: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Kam/review/1008311/

4 months ago

@BrightGalaxy I'll add it as soon as I can; really happy to see here and thank you so much for sharing! :DDDD

@Kam Hey, thank you so much for the kind words :D! Will add it in just a moment and I'll give it a read right after!

4 months ago

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4 months ago

Not quite sure which one I'd say is my 'best' — I'm generally not the kind of person who can really look at their own stuff in that sort of lens — but looking over what I've done this year I definitely can vibe with picking this one. Maybe not the best I've written (so many em-dashes), and I think I've definitely hit a bit more of my stride since, but I'm definitely happy that I was able to capture basically all the thoughts I had of what's ostenably a rather long game. especially given my personal context with it and how, compared to the two other big JRPGs I 2000+ worded a review for this year, my feelings on it ended up considerably more complicated than a simple "I liked this!"

4 months ago

@radradradish Added! It's important to recognize the strengths and successes as much or even moreso than the errors and mistakes, especially if it's something so different to other work and when managing to word all of the thoughts into the review. Will give it a read for sure, thanks for sharing! :D

4 months ago

i want to shout out some of my favorite mutuals on backloggd. @BlazingWaters is already here or else I'd recommend his Tomb Raider write ups ;)
@straylight dropped a december entry for best review of the year https://backloggd.com/u/straylight/review/1178602/
and @curse didn't technically make this one this year but this deserves a lifetime achievement award https://backloggd.com/u/curse/review/1108084/

4 months ago

@gruel
I couldn't be more grateful for this award. as you all know no review is made in a vacuum, so I'd like to thank everyone who helped me along the w-

4 months ago

@gruel thank you so much for the kind words 😭don't think i would have enjoyed playing the game or elucidating on my thoughts nearly as much if not for having you around to talk about the game with

4 months ago

@gruel Even if the purpose of this list is to recommend one self's reviews and appreciate our own work, it makes super happy and it's nice to see seing others recommend the work of their mutuals and friends, it's such a nice thing to do :D. And hey @straylight, if you wish so and it's the review you heel the happiest about this year, I would love to add it on here (I just want to be sure that the every author of review on here knows it and doesn't have any problems with it)!

4 months ago

@deemonAndGames i'd be honored c: thank you again

4 months ago

@straylight The honor is all mine! Added and thank you :DDD!

4 months ago

Aw man I didn't realize this was happening before. Still time to get in on this?

4 months ago

@FrozenRoy Of course! I don't plan to stop submissions any time soon, so please, if you wish to participate, I'd be more than happy to add your review on here :)

4 months ago

Alright I'll think about which one to put in later, especially since I might wanna finish one I am sitting on before the end of the year.

4 months ago

If I get to pick my own shit from this year it has to be Persona 5 Royal. It was definitely my favorite review to write formally but I think it’s probably the most interesting thing I’ve done in a while too. I decided this morning that I’m just gonna keep writing that review indefinitely, for as long as it holds my interest. Pretty happy with how it came out.

4 months ago

@poyfuh That is such a cool way to keep updating a review, super cool decision and idea! I'll add it as soon as I can, thank you so much for sharing! :DDD

4 months ago

My review for Blackstone Chronicles. https://backloggd.com/u/ZapRowsdower/review/638502/

I just think that I expressed the game and its themes well and I just really enjoy the way I worded it all. The game deserves a lot more love so I just wanted to get that out there most of all, especially because the only other review before mine was from three years ago.


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