Played in 2023, Ranked

Games that I either finished, or started and ended up dropping in 2023, ranked based on my personal enjoyment + some more 'objective' factors.

10/10. What a stellar finisher to the trilogy. Best combat of the three, incredible music, and kept the momentum of the characters and story built from the first two games. Misty-eyed (to say the least) through the entire end sequence. One of, if not my absolute favourite video game casts.
10/10. Still my favourite Zelda game to this day, and the only one to get me emotional (so far). Favourite setting, dungeons, items and companion. They need to bring the spinner back one day dammit
10/10. wow. Every single thing paid off incredibly. Just go play it.
8.5/10. Fantastic set of cases, with none of them feeling like filler

EDIT: After finishing Resolve, could easily justify a 9/10, it just set everything up so nicely whilst standing its own purpose beyond being just a set-up device.
10/10. Can't tell whether I prefer this or the first game more. I do kinda miss the structure the first game had with the progression of slowly starting at bigger sizes. However, the greater levels of variety in this game is equally fantastic and I couldn't consider the lack of 'structure' a fault. Banger soundtrack one again.
(REPLAY) 10/10. Just an incredible game all-round: the artstyle, gameplay, music, everything is just so FUN. Could revisit this countless times and I'd never get sick of it.
9.5/10. Score might get bumped up whenever I replay it, but man. I don't think I can say anything that'll do it justice, just go and play it.
9.5/10. Great step up overall from BOTW, though it does still have its issues. Wish the sky islands were more fun to explore, but the overworld and particularly the Depths were so much fun. Hope to see this refined to bring in some more traditional Zelda aspects if they keep the open-world style formula.
9/10. Can't speak too much about the changes from the original, but this was a fantastic experience overall. Love the setting and the 3-day gimmick. Tells a wonderful story and is one of my favourite Zelda games. The main issue I had was with some of the boss fights, but I know that's a change from the original which I'll get to at some point.
9.5/10. Would be a 10 but for some pacing weirdness but the way this game affects the metanarrative of the xeno series as a whole is fucking fantastic, absolutely loved the way they wrapped it all up and hinted at what may be next. The way exploration and combat was intrinsically tied to character growth made this my favourite exploration experience in the series.
9/10. Never got sick of the gameplay loop, and it always felt like dying ≠ losing, as it always unlocked more dialogue / lore. The Pact system also helped keep things interesting after completing the main story.
8/10. Bit of a step down from the first game; overall felt easier and the huge spectacle setpiece fights were so common they kind of lost their awe factor. However I still really enjoyed the story and gameplay, and it's still a very solid game overall.
9/10. Definitely some annoying levels (wait until x time or the right pattern), but overall really fun. Appreciated that the story mode was there to ease in to the levels, rather than getting thrust straight into playing with lives straight away. Minigames are also top tier.
9/10. I don't really have nostalgia for this era of the internet (2001 baby) but I was so immersed in this game; I could imagine this existing in the late 90s. Astounded that they were able to develop really interesting and compelling characters through just a few web pages.
8/10. Really great, though the backtracking and sea traversal did get a bit stale by late-game. Really enjoyed the story overall, and one of the sickest Ganondorf fights in the series.
9/10. Really fun gameplay - not crazy hard but not too easy that it lacks challenge. Impressed that they managed to make the controls work AND feel as comfortable and natural as they did. Beautiful artstyle too.
8/10. Really enjoyed this one, one of the stronger Zelda stories IMO. Some of the backtracking did get old, but the dungeons and items were some of the best in the series. Not too fussed on the motion controls but the final boss went HARD AS FUCK with them so idk.
8.5/10. Really solid golf game, some of the courses were a bit gimmicky but overall had a really nice learning curve. Controls and feel of the game were also great.
8/10. Great start to the series, although it does kinda suffer from issues of repetitiveness. Bring back villagers just outright insulting you
7/10. Went in expecting a bad time, ended up really enjoying it. Wish there was more story and less filler with the side quests, but the story that was there was phenomenal, and kept the momentum that the first game created. Overall enjoyed the combat, although it tended to drag a bit in some normal battles and the boost system definitely felt unfair in battles with 4+ enemies. Can't wait to see how this all ends in Episode 3.
7/10. Another step down overall after 2. Enjoyed some of the changes in the combat, particularly each weapon having its own moveset, but still frustrated at the overuse of huge setpiece fights. Pretty mediocre attempt at a multiverse story. Not a massive hater of the ending but definitely felt way too forced. Some interesting new concepts (new playstyle, kaiju fights, Jeanne's side chapters) but they all felt kinda underbaked and left more to be desired.

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