Opinion

2023 retrospective: the games I played the most

20.12.2023

Translation: machine translated

There was no shortage of quality games this year! Here are the top 10 games I played the most.

It's been a great year coming to an end for video games. I'd like to take this opportunity to look back on my own experience over these twelve months. This time last year, I was fretting about the insurmountable backlog that had accumulated. So this year, I'm choosing not to think about all the games I didn't play, but rather the ones I did.

These ten games occupied most of my time in 2023.

10th place: "Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores"

Platform: PS5
Game time : 22 hours
Why have I played it so much
? I've already finished the main game and got a platinum trophy. I really like the unique post-apocalyptic world and the strange metal dinosaurs. The expansion has given me even more of it and propelled me into a new tropical universe, I couldn't have wished for anything better.

9th place: "Super Mario Bros. Wonder"

Platform: Switch
Game time: 25 hours
Why did I play it so much
? Not being a fan of the new 2D Mario games, I was all the more surprised by my enthusiasm for Wonder. The game and the visuals are incredibly fresh, and it's full of surprises. I didn't finish the game, which has never happened to me with a Mario.

8th place: "Spider-Man 2"

Platform: PS5
Game time : 28 hours
Why did I play it so much
? Spider-Man 2 is a cinematic gem to play solo. Perfectly polished, the game strings together spectacular missions interspersed with a few side quests in New York. All the activities are great fun, and the more you do, the more upgrades, costumes and missions you unlock. This ideal gameplay vicious circle pushed me to do everything to get a platinum trophy.

7th place: "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time"

Platform: Switch
Game time : 30 hours
Why did I play it so much
? After spending countless hours on Tears of the Kingdom, I needed an extra dose of Zelda. So I decided to fill a major gap and play Ocarina of Time, an N64 classic that I started three times but never finished. This time, I finally did it, even if I did find myself rather silly on some of the puzzles. Which Zelda should I play next? There are still a few classics I haven't finished...

My unfinished Zelda games

Which one should I play next?

«Zelda II: The Adventure of Link»
5%
«The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past»
28%
«The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask»
42%
«The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Ages»
3%
«The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass»
5%
«The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks»
4%
«The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds»
12%

The competition has ended.

6th place: "Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name*"

Platform: PS5
Game time : 34 hours
Why did I play it so much
? I love the Like a Dragon series of games, formerly Yakuza. According to development studio Ryu Ga Gotoku, Gaiden is really just an amuse-bouche before the main course due in January, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. The reason I've spent so much time on this snack is that, as with Spider-Man 2, I've done everything to get a platinum trophy. The battles against hordes of enemies, the mini-games, the absurd side quests, it's all great!

5th place: "Baldur's Gate III"

Platform: PC & PS5
Game time : 35 hours
Why (haven't) I played it as much
? Admittedly, 35 hours on Baldur's Gate III isn't a lot. My editorial colleagues Phil and Martin spent 90 and 130 hours on it, respectively. But when you consider that I didn't even intend to play Baldur's Gate III in the first place, that's quite an honest achievement. I ended up stopping because I got distracted by the next game. Maybe I'll come back to it over the holidays.

4th place: "Like a Dragon: Ishin!"

Platform : PS5
Game time : 36 hours
Why did I play it so much
? Development studio Ryu Ga Gotoku has released two Like a Dragon games this year. Ishin ! is actually a remake of a spin-off that had never been released in Europe. The story takes place in Edo period Japan, so samurai duels replace yakuza brawls. Once again, I was completely taken in by the game. But that wasn't enough for the platinum trophy, I would have needed a hundred more hours.

3rd place: "Pikmin 4"

Platform: Switch
Game time : 36 hours
Why did I play it so much
? I never thought I'd spend so much time on a game like Pikmin in 2023. The franchise had never really interested me before, but the fourth opus appealed to me immediately. I reach a state of flow that makes time go by at breakneck speed. The real-time strategy gameplay is fun and the upgrade system keeps me playing... And that's why I finished Pikmin 4.

2nd place: "Starfield"

Platform: PC & Xbox Series X
Game time : 54 hours
Why did I play it so much
? After a rocky start, Starfield fever got the better of me after about ten hours of play. Bethesda's old magic kicked in again and I thought I was going to spend hundreds of hours on it. But in the end, I'd had enough after about 50 hours, I don't know why. Maybe it's the annoying loading times, the repetitive quests and the empty planets. The New Game Plus didn't convince me to invest any more time in it either.

1st place: "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom"

Platform: Switch
Game time : 105 hours
Why did I play it so much
? No other game has made me want to lose myself in its world so much. As in the previous game Breath of the Wild, exploring the open world is brimming with new things and rewards me for my curiosity. This immoderate taste for discovery is what makes the new Zelda games so special. With Link's awesome new skills, Tears of the Kingdom is a perfect playground, with more freedoms than any other game on my list.

And you, what did you play the most in 2023?

It's your turn to give me your list. Specify in the comments which games you spent the most time on.

How to see your game time

All the major platforms have launched their retrospectives in recent days. By clicking on a link to your account, you'll get a summary of the hours you've spent playing on the platform in question. Here are the links to the retrospectives:

The reviews only mention some of the games you played this year. For detailed play times, you'll need to consult the games' saves, although not all of them will tell you how much time you've spent on them.

Third option, look at game times in the platform system:

Epic Games Store allows you to see the play time in the library, you must first enable the list view.
The Switch displays the number of hours played in your profile, but only ten days after the first session on a game. You'll only see the last 20 games in your list. If a game doesn't appear in the top 20, simply launch it and it will appear in the list. You can also use the Switch parental control mobile app on Android and iOS. It's theoretically aimed at parents who want to monitor their children's gaming time, but it could very well serve as a tracking app for big gamers.
On the Playstation, the time spent on each game also appears in the profile. You can sort the results by game time, genre and platform.
Steam makes it even simpler: the library automatically displays the number of hours played.
Things are more difficult on the Xbox side. Press the Xbox button, then select "Game History" and "All Hits" from the menu. Select the game you're interested in, then click "Statistics". Alternatively, log in to account.xbox.com and go to your profile. Click on "Success", select a game, then "Success" again. The game time will be displayed in minutes.

Headline photo: Bethesda

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Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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