Our indie games of the year, 2023

2023 was the year our list got loud. Where 2022 was full of clever, quiet ideas, this year the games that stuck with us were bigger, faster, and more generous, sometimes to a fault.

The shortlist

Dave the Diver was the great "wait, it does that too?" game of the year, a diving sim wrapped around a sushi restaurant wrapped around ten other things. Sea of Stars was the prettiest comfort food we ate all year. Cocoon was a puzzle game with an idea so clean it felt illegal. Dredge turned fishing into quiet horror. And one game just would not sit still.

Pizza Tower won because nothing else even tried to move that fast.

Game of the year: Pizza Tower

Pizza Tower took it. It is the most alive a platformer has felt in years, a hand-drawn sprint that turns momentum into music. It is exhausting on purpose and brilliant because of it. Read the review for the full love letter, and the warning label.

This turned out to be the last full year list we published. If you want to see how the taste evolved, start back at 2021 and work forward through 2022.