Digital Foundry's Best Games of 2023: The Oliver Mackenzie Collection
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
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It's been a tumultuous year for games development - and yet the quality of releases has been absolutely phenomenal. In this video, Oliver Mackenzie shares his thoughts on 2023 and offers up his top five titles for your viewing pleasure.
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00:00 Overview
00:35 Game #5
02:08 Game #4
04:48 Game #3
06:46 Game #2
10:27 Game #1
15:09 Thoughts and Looking Ahead to 2024 
Игры
Oliver has added so much value to digital foundry. It’s really amazing how well he’s integrated in with the team. Thanks for a great year Oliver!
calm down boy-o!
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Oliver is my favorite Digital Foundry character.
They should make trading cards. I'll trade you my grumpy Rich for your holographic gamecube Oliver.
*bespoke GameCube Oliver
The most underrated DF crew member for sure
His monotone voice actually irritates me
Nah he is just awful same as Spiderman 2
I like how Oliver offers criticism to each of these titles for a balanced outlook on the title, also I never played Dead Space back in the day, so going through it the first time with this version was a real treat, and one of my favorite game experiences this year.
It was scary....
Just don't try to play it on PC...
I freaking love Oliver as a team member. Not only did he drastically beef up our output but he’s just such a nice dude. I’m so thankful that he joined the team. I don’t know if he even realizes how much we all appreciate what he does. 😊
@@dark1x The man himself! I’m a big fan btw.
@@dark1x The highest praise I can give Ollie is that he feels like a part of the team and this team is very special. You remind me of Greg Kasavin in many ways and that's about the highest praise I can give to any game reviewer.
Finaly someone appreciated ff16. Fantastic game and it does look like cgi at times
Bruh, its a masterpiece. Rarely besides FF7r, a FF game stunned me so much. Underrated gem
Yeah not sure why it seems to flown under the radar somewhat. It doesn't seem to have been as big a hit as previous Final Fantasies even though it's clearly a better and more cohesive game then most recent entries. I guess it's being over shadowed by the remake of 7 and the medieval FF meets Game of Thrones setting is just not what people want or expect from Final Fantasy at this point even though medieval fantasy is how the series started these days it's just so strongly associated with futuristic science fantasy ever since 7 codified that direction and 16 is a massive departure from that.
My most disappointing game of the year to be honest. I’m jealous of you guys loving it. Sucks to be me, I guess. Oh well, we can’t like every masterpiece.
I thought it was a significant step back for the series so it was interesting hearing the opposite view point in the video.
My main problems with it are as follows:
Gutting out good RPG battle mechanics and upgrades. GOW and HZD have better rpg systems and it’s shocking to say that for a main FF game.
The combat is fun, but the game is far too easy and doesn’t encourage exploring that combat. FF7 remake’s side quests could be pretty bad, but here they are some of the most pointless and banal I’ve ever played. There is little reward for exploring and finding secrets.
I enjoyed the start but the plot fizzzels out towards the end. The voice acting is excellent though and I prefer that to FF7 remakes anime style. I have to say, I wasn’t surprised it didn’t win many awards this year.
I hope ff17 brings back some of the fan favorite and liked components of the series, personally.
I think I’m more likely to appreciate rebirth next year overall. I do hope they sort out the quality of the side quests though.
@@makasete30 I do get why people might be dissapointed with it. This is definitely not an RPG with a deep and complex gameplay system which core Final Fantasy fans might have wanted. It is very stripped down and plays more like an action game which does make it easily the most accessible and least punishing mainline entry. Of course it's easy to judge it for what it isn't rather than look at whether it succeeds at what it's trying to be and in that regard it's easily the most accomplished entry in 20 years. The only thing I think really let's it down is the fact that there's not a harder difficulty to select for those who do want a more punishing experience and find the default far too easy.
Can't wait for the PC port 🤤
Great list Oliver. Thank you for all your hard work over the year. Your calm, composed and articulate presence is a real credit to the channel.
The Mackenzie Collection has a nice ring to it
Just wanted to echo what a lot of others are saying. Oliver, I really enjoy what you bring to the table within this Digital Foundry group. Your perspectives are just different enough from the rest of the team, and your insights consistently blow me away. Nicely done this year! Hoping for a great 2024!
Theres no way someone pick only mainstream triple A games as their personal top 5 best games of 2023, thats just lazy and shows how much video games this guys actually play.
@@danielgremio3You know he analyse technically games for a living, his top ten is what he played to its fullest.
@@danielgremio3 Hi-Fi Rush isn't AAA
@@danielgremio3this was one of the best years since the early 2000s for AAA games, I beat 30 games this year and my top 5 is all AAA also. It's not surprising.
@@danielgremio3 I haven't used the word "hipster" in a long time but what a hideously hipster thing to say. lol. *List your top 5.*
This is one of the best years for bigger games since 2007. The only smaller game I've played this year that could make a top 5 is The Talos Principle 2. If I hadn't played that, not a chance in hell. Chants Of Sennaar could maybe make the top 10.
Forcing yourself to say that smaller games were your favourites is clinically lame.
Thanks for all your work this year Oliver! Always happy to see you pop up with videos or appearances on the main podcast!
Hell yeah. Oliver was a total MVP this year. Took care of a large number of games and did it extremely well, which let John, Richard and Alex have time to do their thing.
Oliver thank you for all your contributions in 2023. Your AI Revolution video from April was one of my favorite DF videos of the year. Best of luck in 2024.
Finally, someone appreciated FF XVI. Many people making top lists did not include it. It is also my favorite game of 2023 and one of the best in the series. Thanks Oliver.
Oliver you have been the highlight of 2023 for DF. Heres to another year of fantastic content my man thank you for all your hard work
Happy new year when the time comes, Oliver! You've been a wonderful addition to the team, especially on the podcast episodes, even though it's a bit of an ordeal to appear on them due to the time difference! :D
Very glad to see Dead Space in here. After Baldur's Gate 3, it was probably my second favorite game of the year, even though I had played it in 2008. Shame that in such a packed year it sort of got lost beneath other (amazing) games.
That alone says it all: That something as excellent as the Dead Space remake gets utterly overshadowed.
Even with those stutters that make it almost unplayable?
@@TheNerdHe might have played it on console were it runs fine.
The sounds in dead space when wearing a headset is an experience lol
Amazing games and breakdowns Oliver, can't wait for all of the games and coverage this year!
Oliver has been the perfect addition to Digital Foundry
Thank you for putting Dead Space on the list, Oliver! Its a shame it seems to not be mentioned so much, as its one of the most accomplished games of last year.
I appreciate the unashamedness in making FF16 your #1 pick despite the haters that come with every post-90s FF
Couldn't be that a lot of people simply don't like the game, could it? It was, surprisingly yet easily, the worst thing I played this year, but that doesn't make your enjoyment of the game any less valid.
Oliver came in to his own this year. Brilliant content and insightful contributions to all the discussions 👍 keep it up next year. My only constructive suggestion would be to take some pause between gaps in the video and let it breathe a bit more, for example once you've finished talking about favourite game #5, let the music and video breathe for a moment, before moving on to #4. Otherwise it feels a bit too non stop. But, that's just my two pennies!
Nice to see Zelda get some love from you guys. My personal pick for best of year, as boring of a pick it may be.
Looking forward immensely to hearing your thoughts Oliver. Thank you for all your efforts and insights this year! Have a good one sir.
Yes! Love the FFXVI appreciation, was my GOTY as well, an unforgettable experience.
i like how everyone best game of 2023 list is different. yeah some games overlap like hi fi rush but thats because the game is that good and fun. Oliver your videos are great to watch and you bring a different vibe to DF that is a great addition. wish 2024 brings more fortune to you
Congrats on another great year Oliver. Really enjoy what you bring to the DF team!
Literally carried the channel for multiple stretches of 2023, always with very interesting takes, also touching topics and platforms that haven't been much under DF's spotlight. Another much appreciated thing is the neutral, unbiased yet very passionate, approach when it comes to discussing graphics technologies in video games, no matter the brand or the engine involved. Big thanks to you Oliver, definitely the DF MVP of 2023 for me.
I do appreciate Oliver here, while I enjoy the others, it's nice to have a more console oriented, less obscure, middle ground take. Alex is very PC and John is very retro, and both their lists usually consist of super low profile Indy games. Rich and Tom is usually in the middle too though, but Tom is less in front of the camera. Plus the video is short and sweet.
Excellent, as always, Oliver. You've been the DF MVP this year! And, I'm overjoyed to see FF XVI come in on top of your list - incredible game, and one I'll be returning to over and over.
Great list! You've been an exceptional addition to DF, look forward to seeing more of your work in 2024! I really liked FF16 aswell, the Eicon encounters in particularly were speculator and definitely the singular highlights of the year for me
Glad to see Spider-Man 2 getting some love. It's a joyful Masterpiece without question. It and Resident Evil 4 remake are my favorite games of the year.
It's been ridiculously overlooked by many media outlets.
Its a rehash of the first game that's why @@BIGNOIDS
Great picks, Oliver! 🙂
Nice list nice content, pleasure to listen.
Great picks for Best Games of 2023 (I also loved all these titles)! Just want to say how amazing your videos have been this whole year (along with your contributions to the podcasts). Your in-depth analysis of various console versions of games has been instrumental in my purchasing decisions. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much for appreciating ff16 as much as I did this year. Some of the best boss battles iv ever seen in games. Love the videos as always
Oliver is that one Npc in every video game that slowly becomes ones your fav characters in the game
Oliver is a great addition to the DF cast. I’ve loved his videos and DF Weekly appearances this year. Can’t image the channel without him now.
Oliver has done great analysis and editing. I love your contents. Please keep it up.
I completely overlooked ff16 this year. Gonna have to give it a go next time it goes on sale!
It's one of those games that will consume you. Get ready to stay up until 3 AM because you want to find out what happens next.
@@May1stBurst last FF game to truly grab me was FF10. I'm so ready for another one!
@@peshkybee7721for me personally is probably the best single player ff game since 10 (the best one story wise since 10 is probably 14 Shadowbringer expansion). The game is great but it has flaws (very noticeable flaws) and like oliver said they should probably could have done a smaller number and more meaningful side quests (76 is just too much when the quality is so uneven), I have other issues with the game but the end result is that I really enjoyed even though it was not the masterpiece I was waiting for many years (it was my most anticipated game for like 3 years since the first announcement). It still a good game though.
@@Siul_987 from what Ollie described sounds like a great FF game with some hiccups which I can deal with if the overall experience is good 😊
@@May1stBurst where are all of the black people in the game?
You're amazing Oliver keep up your excellent work
Cot damn! Your criticisms of TOTK were spot on 💯, yet it also made my top 5 of new 2023 games (partly because i didnt even play 5 new 2023 games this year, though i plan to). But it is good regardless!
My game of the "year" is Paper Mario Thousand year door which i played for the first time thia year (with HD mods and widescreen hack on Dolphin.... beaten just before the remake announcement haha). Damn that game is a masterpiece!
This is the correct pick for number 1.
I definitely respect Oliver as a member of digital foundry, the only thing I'd have to argue is the lack of patches for Dead Space remastered which is most disappointing from EA; e.g. the traversal stutter and performance on PCs is quite disappointing still even on top-of-the-line hardware. While the graphics and atmosphere are great, EA's lack of commitment to games after release is poor at best.
FF16 is one of the best games I’ve played ever
Again Ollie brings that smooth Geoffrey Smithesque voice from Jazz Record Requests on Radio 3 to proceedings that make his videos a pleasure to listen to. Nice.
Ohhhhhhhh, a collection of selections. Very good
Such a great point about games being too long these days. Give me a succinct, polished game without any boring padding!
Yes! yes! Sadly we won’t see much games like that.
My only problem with length is that I'm working. For someone with plenty time on their hands, no problem, but for someone with time consuming responsibilities, new games will release & you're 30 hours in with 5% done after a few months go by. It's pretty tiring.
@@1meen1 you don’t make any sense? But I agree smaller AA or A titles are in order something like a snack before dinner.
Oliver has been a roll in 2023. So many great videos. My favourite DF member.
Oliver is the best thing that could've happened to DF.
Awesome video Oliver. Love your clear and concise communication style
I like ya Oliver, I think you're a real smart guy, I find that you have interesting things to say about games and gaming, and you seem to be an excellent video editor. Man, do you and I have wildly different tastes in games, though. LOL
Hi Fi Rush is amazing
Correction: Hi Fi Rush is trash
@@Michael-jr3gz Playstation has no games buddy lol
@@XBX1MASTERit does have some cool exclusives imo, but I don’t know why that guy is shitting on Hi Fi rush so much. Just reminds me of Jet Set radio on the Dreamcast. Now if he truly didn’t like it as a game that would be understandable and fair, but judging from the comments, he would have given it 10/10 if it was a PlayStation exclusive, but no it’s a Xbox exclusive. Hmm wonder why he’s calling it trash
After John's eclectic choices, glad to see Oliver's more traditional take on the years best games!
Oliver !! hell yes!! My fav DF crewmemb. Wish u the best for 2024 king.
Oliver’s list is 100% to my liking. I can’t agree more with the #1 spot, definitely my GOTY as well. Thanks for all the great work Oliver!
Way better than John's for sure
yes this list makes sense
Great work Oliver 🙌🏼
This is why I like Oliver. Gives a different take than John and Alex.
I'm playing through Dead Space at the moment and I'm pretty sure it'll be my second favourite game of the year too, after Tears of The Kingdom
dead space was a very pleasnt suprise i did not play the original game as by the time i did grahfics had eveolved big time so being able to play an updated version was a treat.
Just want to appreciate the comparison between FFXVIs ingame graphics vs FFXIIIs CGI. Wow
Great work on everything DF Oliver!
I'm glad someone on the DF team had the same GotY as me.
Excellent video, as always Oliver. You’ve been a great addition to the team!
I love FF16 so deeply, great video.
Fully agree with #1. I am Glad there a people out there, who think the Same way as I do.
Oliver is now my favorite DF personality
I love videos with Oliver and them.
Great list!
I think this list is closest to mine for the year.
Oliver you absolute beast. I mean that as a complimentary term of endearment. You absolute goddamn beast. You brought so much to this channel over the last 18 months, more than any other single contributor. You have our undying respect and gratitude at this stage.
Ollie coming through with the FFXVI GOTY pick ❤
It’s so nice to see FF16 get some love.
Nice list!
Congrats on an awesome 2023, Oliver! Great list too!
Great video Ollie!
Easily the best list from DF, honestly I think the others had one too many Christmas tipples judging by their choices lol.
Finally Dead Space remake sees some love.
Great list Oliver
Can't say I agree with any of these picks but still a great video Oliver!
FF16 was my fave too, thought I was weird with it not being Baldur's Gate 3 lol.
Oliver you’re the best and I’m so glad to have you on Digital Foundry! Your work is awesome and I love your positivity!
Glad to see some well deserved FFXVI love!
We've had a great year of gaming 😊😊😊😊
ooo, an ff16 enjoyer, my favorite game of this year and recent years
Oliver’s games align a lot more with mine then John’s did
I haven’t even watched the video, I know from the thumbnail, it’s the best one
Hi-Fi Rush is my GOTY 2023. Thank you for including it here!!
My 2nd place would go to Resident Evil 4 Remake.
Obvious xbot
Hi-fi rush >> soyderman 2
I do trust Oliver with his opinions on games.
16's Kaiju fights are really neat to watch but, as fights well, they're so non-interactive they could have just been cut scenes. You just press a button every so often to auto-win the highly scripted fight. Sort of like quick time events on super easy mode.
What was the song at 15:03
This is such a unique top 5 and I love it. FF16 definitely earns that spot
this isn't unique at all lol.
FFXVI revitalized my interest in the franchise. I'll buy it once its price drops. Good list, Oliver! It was nice seeing Dead Space there. I'm a big fan. It's a shame EA dropped the game and never solved the stuttering issues.
I unironcally think GTA V still looks better than the recent Spider-Man games. There’s something with the attention to detail and the world design in that game that still looks amazing to me. The Spider-Man games doesn’t look nearly as alive if that makes any sense.
Love this dude so much. DF truly remains to give superb quality videos with an enormous amount of quantity releases. Geniuses each and everyone at DF.
Massive Dead Space fan here since day 1 of the OG release. That being said, as great as it is, there's just no way I'd rank the remake over Alan Wake 2. Sure, different games and different settings but they're both 3rd-person horror titles with enough similarities that I think a comparison can be made.
A game I think got overlooked this year: Aliens: Dark Descent was a sleeper hit that's right up near the top for me. What an awesome surprise that was.
Gameplaywise dead space remake is much better, more enemy variety and difficulty.
I like how each of your lists are different reflecting your different tastes.
Great list. This has convinced me to take the plunge on the Dead Space remake for PS5. I almost got it for PC but then I saw it made Alex's list for one of the worst PC ports of 2023 😬
I've been wanting to get FF XVI as well but when I learned the performance mode couldn't hold a consistent 60fps I decided to wait for the PC port. Here's to hoping that turn out well 🤞
It’s fantastic on pc, i played it at release on a 3070 and it was great.
Doing new game plus now after getting a 4080 and its been running brilliantly.
Yeah the PC port for 16 should hopefully be quite good since it's running on a version of 14's engine which I think runs great on PC. On PS5 the part that matters most the battles run pretty close to a locked 60, though some boss fights might make it drop a bit, and the resolution does drop quite a bit when you initiate battle but IMO it still looked fine, not like Jedi Survivor where image quality in performance mode was horrific at launch.
I clocked in 30 hours in my first playthrough of dead space remake in hard difficulty. Got every penny's worth out of that game and enjoyed it a lot! Im not even a horror fan.
Im surprise there is no Baldur's Gate 3 in your list
If you look at Oliver's list it's all console games. While BG3 is on consoles, let's be honest it's best played on a PC. That being said I bought BG3 but it's a hard game to get into if you are not into DnD or other games like it imo. I mostly play JRPGs. BG3 is the complete opposite of those types of games. More methodical, slower paced gameplay. I don't think it's for everyone.
So? Not everyone has to like that game. You gonna see it on Alex's list don't worry dude was hyping it up on twitter while throwing "movie games" under the bus
@@apoclypse Bg3 sold really well on PS5.
In reality no one give sh*t about bg3 outside of the reddit and twitter crowd. Reviewers bowed down the twitter crowd for the game awards and most of them didn't even include bg3 to their personal list.
@@hododod246 it's way better than the botw dlc, totk...
So cool to see Final Fantasy XVI in first place! It's my number one of 2023 too!
Love 2023, but I can't agree on the comparison with 2022. Elden Ring AND God of War Ragnarök would have both removed Witcher 3 as my top 1 game of all time, so now they are in my top 1 and 2 spot. Nothing released this year came even close to what those games delivered.
Finally a list without BG3