The Best PC Game of 2023
Winner:
Baldur
‘s Gate 3
It might’ve seemed inevitable, given that Baldur’s Gate 3 received a 10 in its review where the other three you just read were “mere” 9s, but a review is just the opinion of one person. To win any of IGN’s
game of the year
categories a game needs to
strike
a chord with a broad audience and bring in the majority of votes from the dozens of our staff who identify as PC gamers – and in 2023, it’s fair to say that the odds of that were stacked against a turn-based fantasy CRPG that was heavily inspired by BioWare classics of old, the likes of which had all but disappeared after the genre’s original leaders chased more
action
-oriented audiences.
But if anybody could accomplish this heroic feat, it’s
Larian
: a studio that, with the extremely popular Divinity: Original Sin 2, had already proven its team could craft the sort of epic-scale adventure that reacts to our decisions in compelling ways that so many of us will line up to sink entire work-weeks of hours into, even if it meant buckling down and learning the ways of a deep turn-based combat system that rewards patience and tactical thinking. With Baldur’s Gate 3, it proved that it was just getting started.
There simply aren’t any other RPGs out there that can match the scope and scale of Baldur’s Gate 3 when it comes to complex, well-written characters that will challenge you with choices that make you sweat because you’ve learned the hard way that your choices matter, much less presenting so many of them in such an elaborate level of cinematic detail. With this much ambition on display, it’s no wonder that so many are willing to brave the hazards of harrowing bug reports and forge ahead with their adventures, especially as Larian continually inspires confidence with frequent and aggressive patches. It’s that kind of unwavering dedication to what this type of RPG can and should accomplish that inspires the loyalty of gamers, including those on IGN’s team of voters who – by a wide margin – selected it as our PC game of the year for 2023.
VIA:
ign.com
