20 Best Video Games Of 2023 - RANKED

7. Starfield

Starfield is a fascinating game to dissect. At any given time a tactile FPS, seeing you trade fire over cover and play the angles game with enemies, an outpost-builder so you can be an interplanetary business magnate, an alien photographer being paid to catalogue a galaxy of species, or a game whose main campaign is about the pitfalls of endless discovery itself, and the final notion that contentment at some point, has to come from within.

It is all of these things, as Bethesda's first new IP in over 20 years launched to largely mixed reviews, yet character writing and individual location density remains the best in class; its cities bustling with life and incredibly memorable side quests; its lore a rewarding springboard off our own history and future projections, to depict how we might best navigate the stars.

In a strange turn though, Starfield has struggled to hold up to closer scrutiny. Its 1500+ planets were revealed to largely follow the same procedurally generated rules, meaning if there's no authored influence on an area, you can see the same tilesets and repeat areas time and again.

Still, for those of us who found that right balance of main campaign pull, crew-building, ability unlocks and meaty gameplay, Starfield can "work" in that way only Bethesda get so right.