20 Best Video Games Of 2023 - RANKED

3. The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

There is a LOT of Breath of the Wild in Tears of the Kingdom, from Link's animations to the overall structure of the game. However, by reusing so much of the foundation, it allowed Nintendo to spend six years perfecting a level of mechanical ingenuity no other team has ever pulled off.

Devising a new set of powers around various building and movement-based tools, Tears of the Kingdom is THE gameplay-forward game. It does rely to a degree on just how well you can think your way through physics puzzles, 3D navigation and improvised Macguyver-machines for enemies, but the payoff is ALWAYS equally hilarious and rewarding.

From making a giant death machine on wheels that pirouettes through an encampment firing laser beams, to strapping balloons to quest pieces and flying them to the goal, Tears of the Kingdom - like Breath of the Wild - is a return to video game purity, the likes of which only a fraction of developers would fund, or could even get right.

Also, shout out to the sheer Dark Souls influence on this game's Ganondorf. The final fight here is one of the most cinematic duels in Zelda's entire history.