Why 2023 in Video Games Will (Probably) Never Happen Again

2023 was one of the best years to be a gamer in video game history. Gamers were graced with a multitude of well rated, high production quality titles that were either finally delivered after years of anticipation, or came seemingly out of nowhere to steal the attention of players, awards from the ceremonies, and dollars from gamers’ wallets. Each one took a considerable amount of time to develop… and they all happened to converge on 2023. So how long did it take for all of those projects? Let’s start with…

Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 won approximately 6 billion awards and reinvigorated global interest in Dungeons & Dragons as well as turn based RPGs. Production on the game began in 2017, then enjoyed a lengthy early access release on both PC and the now defunct Stadia streaming platform. Six years might actually seem like a short development time considering the game contains fully voiced dialogue (a humungous feat for a story driven game) and 17,000 different endings, but Baldur’s Gate 3 was built with Larian’s proven Divinity engine. Baldur’s Gate 3 is most likely the closest we can get to a digital D&D experience, and it might be a long time before we get something that competes in that space.

Hogwarts Legacy

Development on Hogwarts Legacy began around 2018, two years before Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling decided being a respected writer and billion-dollar icon for women was too much, instead opting to become mired in controversy and come out as a TERF. Regardless, Potter fans have been clamoring for an open world game in the Wizarding World for a long time, and after at least five years in development, earned its place as 2023’s best selling game. The combat is clever, the main story is overshadowed by side quests, and the map is repetitive. But — the school is very fun to explore, and you can visit the Ravenclaw common room.

Alan Wake II

The story of Alan Wake 2 takes place 13 years after the original. Just like the story, the development took approximately 13 years. This was perhaps broken up while Remedy Entertainment developed their other award title, Control. Regardless, it’s been a long wait, but the new entry is scarier and more engrossing than ever. Alan Wake 2 is perhaps the new poster child for a perfect marriage between great writing and great game design. But seriously I’m still spooked after playing it.

Storyteller

Storyteller is a unique indie puzzler released this year that happens to be my personal pick for the mobile game of the year (also available on Steam). Storyteller took an earth shattering 15 years of development, on and off, according to its developer. It’s a short but immensely satisfying puzzle game that asks you to change pieces of famous stories (from Adam and Even to Hamlet) to build a new ending. If you have an active Netflix subscription, then you can already download it on your phone.

Starfield

Some expected Starfield’s release in 2023 to be a life changing event. For the developers at Bethesda, perhaps it was, after a long eight years in production. It was likely not a life changing title to many, offering neither the immersive depth of an Elder Scrolls game nor the seamless exploration found in No Man’s Sky, but it certainly delivered a pretty cool space game that lets you build a school bus shaped starship if you so choose.

Diablo IV

The fourth entry in the Diablo series had an enormous legacy to uphold. Blizzard claims it took six years to develop, but from the initial concept to the final release, it may be closer to ten years. Despite this long development time, the main campaign can be completed in about 25 to 30 hours. Diehard fans will appreciate near infinite replayability if they’re okay with how seasons work (creating a new character each season). The game did not impress everyone, but certainly had high production quality, a satisfying battle system, and excellent voice acting, leaving many players happy. Six to ten years might seem like a long time, but the production was still supposedly cursed with crunch.

Sea of Stars

Sabotage Studio took five years to build one of the most visually impressive pixel graphics games ever. It borrows from some of the best RPGs of all time — like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG — to create something new and wonderful.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

Hot on the heels of Elden Ring (championing a plethora of 2022's game-of-the-year awards) is Armored Core 6. Developed in tandem by the talented FromSoftware team, production took about five years. Filled with some unforgettable moments, From handily delivered one of the best mech games ever made.

Lies of P

Even though this title has one of the lower development times at “just” four years I cannot emphasize enough how high the production quality is in Lies of P. This soulslike carries the story of Pinnochio to the forefront, but focusing on the dark side of the original Carlo Collodi story as opposed to the Disney flavor most are used to. The admittedly straightforward path in the game reveals many enthralling boss fights as well as a story that is easy to follow (a rare find in soulslikes). I was most impressed, though, with the sound design — you can hear your clockwork powered puppet protagonist winding up each gear in his arm before releasing a huge, satisfying sword slash. I’m already looking forward to Round8/Neowiz’s next title.

Lords of the Fallen

Lords of the Fallen was produced in four years. Another soulslike, its initial release was buggy and messy, but the developers have been extremely active in addressing issues, as well as adding new content at an impressive rate. It offers many player build options and paths to explore, and can perhaps feed that hunger for another online soulslike title. It might not be the highest rated title of 2023, but personally, it was my most played.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was, somehow, developed in “only” three years. It expands on the unabashedly fun lightsaber combat, but for many it will be remembered as one of the most emotionally charged stories in Star Wars — and video game — history. Using a blaster and a lightsaber at the same is cool and all, but it hardly measures up to the unforgettable cast of characters and intense interactions the game introduces.

Pikmin 4

Pikmin 4 started development right after Pikmin 3… but still took seven years of development time. Pikmin 3 didn’t garner the level interest Nintendo was hoping for, so #4 in the series needed to be bigger and better. That came in the form of Oatchi the space dog! In addition to building for new hardware and juggling other projects, Pikmin 4 seemed to be in production limbo for a long time. Its release paid off, though, having sold more than 2.6 million copies.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The other Nintendo juggernaut took six years of development time. Like many other titles in this list, that means developers had to slog through Covid like the rest of the world, which surely impacted productivity for at least a little while. Still, the Switch sequel expanded on an already impressive open world Zelda experience with a bigger map (now with a spooky underground!) and more abilities.

Super Mario Bros: Wonder

Nintendo apparently wasn’t done yet, because they also released Super Mario Bros: Wonder after three years. This was an interesting development process for Nintendo because no deadline was placed on the project in the beginning. They were given ample budget and pretty much allowed a team to be creative. It worked — Wonder is the first original 2D Mario platformer to get a score higher than 90 on Metacritic since Super Mario World. If those three huge games don’t do it for you — Nintendo also released a remake of Super Mario RPG in 2023.

Final Fantasy XVI

Juggling between their MMORPG and Final Fantasy XVI, FFXIV took a staggering seven years to develop, much longer than the estimated three to four years of development time for FFXV. It’s got moogles and Ifrit and Garuda and a very likable Cid but the story leans more towards Game of Thrones and the battle system is closer to Devil May Cry. If you can get past all that and are willing to try something new, it’s another great Final Fantasy entry.

And so much more…

It’s obvious that somehow the stars aligned for players looking to play something new in 2023 — and there’s even more stars.

The puzzle game Cocoon from Jeppe Carlsen of Limbo and Inside fame took about 6½ years. Avatar: Frontier of Pandora attempts to make an interactive world for the Avatar films flavored with the usual Ubisoft style quests; it took 5 years to develop. The colorful, unique, music-fueled action-packed Hi-Fi Rush took 4 years.

Pizza Tower took around 5 years. Humanity took approximately 5 years. Street Fighter 6 took about 5 years. Atomic Heart took around five years. Honkai: Star Rail took 4 years. Wild Hearts took more than four years. Wargroove 2 took at least 3 years. Dave the Diver took 2½ years. Dredge took about 2 years. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty took around 2 years.

Here’s hoping 2024 has some amazing things to offer, too. If not, most gamers probably have a sizable backlog of titles to get to.