Games That May Have Flown Under Players’ Radars in 2023

2023 has been an incredible year for gaming, much to the chagrin of many players’ wallets. Between new entries in the Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Diablo franchises and an exhaustive list of long-awaited sequels and new IP still set to release later in the year, it’s safe to say that no one could claim there being a dearth of content to dive into. While the year has been jam-packed with incredible AAA releases that seem to be dropping nearly every week, indie developers have also been busy crafting some of the most compelling and enjoyable indie games of the year, many of which might have gone unnoticed by players with their attention drawn to the next big marquis title.

Earlier in the year many were hopeful that Hollow Knight: Silksong would see the light of day in 2023, but with a lack of concrete updates and a continually slipping release window it’s probably best to assume it won’t be gracing players’ screens until 2024. Silksong aside, though, 2023 has still brought some of the best indie titles in years, including a few that are already contenders for best-of lists in one of the busiest gaming years in recent memory. These aren’t just quality indie titles; they’re experiences that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with AAA’s best.

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Dredge

Arriving at the tail end of March this year was the unexpected fishing/survival-horror hybrid Dredge. Similar to publishers like Devolver Digital, Team 17 has made a name for itself by finding and publishing some of the best work coming out of small indie studios. Dredge is no different, with an addictive fishing mechanic, beautiful art style, and inescapable sense of existential dread as day gives way to night and players can no longer trust their senses. It’s doubtful that anyone had a fishing game being one of the scariest games of the year on their 2023 bingo card, but Dredge somehow manages to pull it off.

Cassette Beasts

Despite some changes to world design and a variety of generational gimmicks, the core Pokemon formula has remained largely consistent for more than 25 years. Developer Bytten Studio has fully realized an evolution of the Pokemon formula with its own game — Cassette Beasts. Not only is Cassette Beasts one of the best indie titles of the year, it’s maybe one of the best monster taming games, period.

Warhammer 40K: Boltgun

A quick browse through the Steam storefront reveals that there’s no shortage of quality Boomer Shooters for players to rip and tear through, but this year’s Warhammer 40K: Boltgun is both one of the latest entries to the genre and one of its best. Making perfect use of the Warhammer extended universe and absolutely nailing the feel of classic Doom and Quake gameplay to a fault, Boltgun is a perfect fit into the Warhammer game library and also a true “old-school” shooter. Many Boomer Shooters are modern FPSes with a retro aesthetic, but Boltgun actually feels like playing an ID Software title from 25 years ago.

Dave the Diver

Although Dave the Diver technically entered Early Access in October 2022, it wasn’t until late June of this year that the game reached its full 1.0 release. Since then, Dave the Diver has become a viral sensation, and spending just a few minutes playing the game makes it easy to see why. Dave the Diver seems like it absolutely shouldn’t work, thanks to the sheer amount of competing systems at play, yet somehow the developers made each of them work in concert with one another to support the core gameplay loop while also remaining interesting and fun to play. Dave the Diver is a triumph of originality and some of the most fun to be had with any title released in 2023.

Dave The Diver is available now on PC, with a Switch version currently in development.

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