*Makes a Best and Worst games of 2023 video *starts talking about a TV show What would you pick as your BEST and WORST game of 2023?? Also, I thought I'd include Overwatch 2 in this video since it came out on Steam in 2023 and Blizzard also revealed they wouldn't be making the Overwatch 2 they told us they would.

I still want you to bring back the water splash transitions from Redfall 😂

E3 being permanently canceled was such sad news. I have a lot of good memories watching E3 and seeing so many awesome trailers and reveals from all kinds of different developers and studios over the years. Truly the end of an era.

Saying AC6 doesn’t have a story is just wrong, period. It legit made me feel such a connection to characters like Rusty, Walter, and Ayre even though we don’t even see their faces.

Surprised Lies of P wasn’t mentioned. That game felt like it came right from FromSoft. And what really surprised me the most was the level design. Soulslike games usually struggle with that aspect.

Armored core 6 was one of the most unexpected game launches for me, really glad that the mecha genre is getting a more mainstream appeal

I really like this format of talking about all the high profile games that came out this year rather than a basic top 10 best/worst list. It feels a lot more conversational

Armored core had one of the best stories this year, you only need to pay attention to the mission introductions, hell even the small amount of cutscenes present in the game are easy to understand

AC6 has an in depth and fulfilling story if you’re willing to look deeper than what most AAA titles provide these days. The voice acting and faceless story telling is what’s really brought me in, and the game pushes you to contemplate the greed of man and how far we’re willing to go as humans to inflict our will. It’s a story of greed, change, and how fighting to maintain the status quo will result in failure. I know I’m a small drop in the ocean of comments, but the game is more than “robot shooting time”

I can understand why some people might think Armored Core 6 doesn't really have a story or that it's confusing, but it's one of those games where the story is presented to you as the character you are playing it would experience it. Your character is basically a pawn in a much larger game, and for the most part, the people you meet in the game only tell you what they want you to know. In order to understand what's happening and why it's happening, you need to look and listen to the smaller details, gather the puzzle pieces, and put them together in order to see the bigger picture.

18:13 - "The only downside is: the story is non-existent." Which Armored Core 6 did you play, ActMan? Because the one I played told the story about how corporations will always vie for control over everything with their corrupting and self-serving interests, and all that stands between that nefariousness is the power of the individuals which can change the course of history based on their actions and relationships. PS: This is a tiny summary of Fires of Rubicon's story.

Not acknowledging Lethal Company seems like a crime. It topped the newest COD in sales on steam. Its community is massive and big streamers/youtubers are all playing it and having a blast. That’s an incredible achievement considering it was made by a single dev like the original FNAF.

For me, dead space was my favorite game of the year. The original 3 held a lot of sentiment to me. As I lost my uncle in October, I used to sneak down stairs at night and watch him play them. Eventually, I was old enough to play them, and he would talk me through the levels. I remember when the reveal of the remake came out, it had been out for like 30 minutes, and he sent me the link, and we talked about how we would have to play it together again. Unfortunately, we never got the chance to, but it holds a special place in my heart. Miss you, Jay.

The tragedy of Gollum is that Daedelic, the developer was once incredibly beloved for making beautiful click-and-point adventures and for being one of the few german game development studios that genuinely made good games. Man...

Its diablo 4, going down into my top 10 dissapointments in my life

AC6 has no story? What are you talking about? It's one of the few FromSoft games that outright tells the story to you in cutscenes and dialogue...

The “armored core has no story/ bad story” narrative needs to die

I'm a little surprised Lethal Company didn't get mentioned, I know it might not be your sort of game but man it was also a certified banger, and an example of why indie titles and developers are sometimes so much better than triple A

18:16 The story in Armoured Core is far from being absent, all you need to do to get a good understanding is listen to the mission briefings. I'd go as far to say it's one of the best stories this year, no shitty "you were going to bring strangers" motivations (looking at you Jedi Survivor)

21:11 "-we'll see what happens but for now, probably better off playing Payday 2" Literally almost the whole fan base, me and my friends.

I think saying that Armored Core 6 has no story is pretty heavily misrepresenting the game. Even at surface level you can immediately tell it has solid worldbuilding and a clear and meaningful story path, deep enough to allow for three diverigng endings. On top of it there are very memorable characters, many even having story arcs despite their brief and sparse appearences. In short a lot of story beats and key moments for such an action packed game. What you could rather say is that they are easily missable if you just focus on the most flashy aspects of the game.

Armored core 6 is my game of the year. I rarely 100% games and I blasted through all 4 playthroughs I needed and all the achievements without batting an eye. Definitely the most underrated game of the year in my opinion.

Armored core 6 got me into a new series that's in my top 5 now. And it had the story I cared about the most this year, lol. Those endings had me thinking for a long time.

Sea of Stars is also worth mentioning. An indie RPG that pays homage to and also sometimes parodies the beloved SNES era of JRPGs. Despite its derivative nature, it manages to form an identity of its own, being a worthy successor to Mario & Luigi combat with an expansive and beautiful 2D environment and gorgeous music from Yasunori Mitsuda and Eric Brown.

Santa Monica humbled Activison in terms of true gaming when it released a DLC completely free of cost, with a gold standard plot and making it longer than COD MW3 campaign. In a year where companies are greedy asfk, I salute SM and Sony to respect players and giving us this.

Definitely the year with the most Gollum-like games

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon actually has quite a bit to its story. You just have to dig and do a lot of reading to get it. Vaati and Aromored Core Lore cover it pretty well.

Thank you for the clarification on your Payday 3 video as well, it means a lot to hear it! Love your content.

RIP Mitten Squad💔

I'm surprised he never mentioned Remnant 2 and Lies of P. Those two were phenomenal games to add to the Souls like genre.

Alan Wake 2 was, for me, a true masterpiece. We probably won't get a game like that again for a while...

Love your content and yeah we had both good and bad games this year. Lets hope 2024 brings a lot of good guys. Great video.

Homie seriously played AC6 and said the story is non-existant BRUH

Surprised Lethal Company wasn't mentioned. Such an influential game made by a singular person.

I disagree about Armored Core 6 not having much story. The thing is you gotta play it three times through and find the collectables... So I understand where you are coming from. The story starts with you as a regular independent mercenary trying to make a buck and ends with you literally deciding the fate of an entire planet and potentially solar system (they weren't too specific on the potential impact of the coral explosion from what I recall).

So many great vids, thank you for the entertainment. I already can’t wait for the D4 expansion review 🤣🤣🤣

“Armored core 6’s store is non existent” Say you have no media literacy without saying you have no media literacy

Hi-Fi Rush is an absolute blast! Must play if anyone is interested in action games like DMC and rhythm on beat!

Actman: I feel like I forgot something. Mischief: If you forgot about it it probably wasn't important. Actman: Yeah your right. Cuts to Spiderman 2 sitting out in the rain.

Loved the video as always and I think you did a great job summarizing the many great and terrible games of 2023, something that I had honestly wanted but didn't know it. One thing I wanted to point out though was that there was no mention of Lethal Company. Obviously it was one of the biggest (indie) games of the year and I don't think anyone would disagree with me there. I only recently got into the game but I have been having so much fun with it and I feel like it is not often we get a game that occupies so much praise in such a short amount of time. I am assuming you simply forgot to include the game but either way I still enjoyed the video, thank you!

"Armored Core VI's story is non-existent." My dude, I'd say your eyes and ears are non-existent, if that's what you think.

The dead space remake was so good it inspired me to begin to make my own. After experiencing a small slice of what actual game developers do, it brings a whole new level of appreciation, even for the games that weren't so well rated.

Glad you addressed the Payday 2 stuff in a video, rather than leave it in community notes. It's probably really awkward to have to do, but explaining the context of how an early review happened can really color how a watcher interprets it. "I got sent a review copy" is usually preferred (as it gives the dev the least amount of chance to influence the review) it can also lead to game issues that are system specific. A review produced at an event is one people should take as a "best impressions", assuming that there could be issues hidden from the reviewer.

Baulders Gate 3 came out of nowhere for me. Never heard of it, barely knew anything about DND but it blew my mind and everything else out of the water.

Forespoken was really fun to play on mute

Shout-out to Gamemil for making alot of terrible games/publishing them this year, they never fail to disappoint us

Man, 2023 has been a heck of a year. Thank you for all the content act man and can’t wait for this years!

The boycott of Hogwarts Legacy was so huge that the game sold 2 million copies between Black Friday and Christmas.

300 hours in Baldur’s Gate 3 and I still find new stuff. The amount of content is fucking unbelievable

E3 dying is what hits the hardest… It’s not even fully about the event itself dying, but really feeling like that era of gaming we all grew up on being truly dead. The things we loved when we were younger will have to be replaced with new things for the new kids on the block. Bittersweet.

Armored core 6: "the story doesn't exist" Has to be your worst and most factually incorrect take ever...

Loved the video and especially the starship trooper reference!

Act man, I love your content and have been watching you for a long time. You’re DEAD WRONG about armored core 6. That story has so much more depth than you think and I implore you to go back and give it another shot.

To those who like Jet Set Radio/Future, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk also released and it was absolutely fantastic.

I am really sad my dad didn't live long enough to see Phantom Liberty. He really loved Cyberpunk 2077 and when he passed in 2022, he had a Cyberpunk 2077 wallpaper on his desktop/PC. He would have also loved Starfield, I am sure he was waiting for that. I am sort of glad he didn't live to see that train wreck.

Nice list. 2023 was truly an interesting year, having so many high-profile wonderful games and high-profile horrible games. Also good on you for owning up to the Payday 3 stuff. It is such a shame they screwed up this badly.

Awesome video as always! Big thx!

This was an absolutely fantastic recap of the year and wholly unexpected! I had almost gone into 2024 forgetting Forspoken ever existed so it hurt to be reminded of it.

Armoured core 6 should have gotten way more love. What the hell do you mean the story is non existent? My favourite characters this year are from armoured core 6 and i remember everyone's names. Rusty is the best buddy i ever had

The heck....... "Stories Non-existent" are we even play same game☠️

"AC6 story is nonexistent" shows how well you pay attention to the games you "review"

Great vid as usual Act! Gotta say tho, criminal that Alan Wake 2 doesn't at least get an honourable mention! Sets a new bar for survival horror imo! Easily my personal GOTY

Armored Core VI DOES have a story, and an amazing story at that. The choices you have to make are really heavy and difficult being forced to side with very deep characters on every side of the games conflict.

If you’re into puzzle games, The Talos Principle 2 should be on this list. An amazing example of a sequel done right!

I couldn't get that into Bg3 when it first came out but I started playing it again this last weekend with a new save, and I'm glad I did. The game is a breath of fresh air as far as RPGs go. It's so easy to just start up a rpg and get really strong way too quickly, resulting in a lacking feel of challenge. Even in Elden Ring you can just go overlevel at the start of the game and find a powerful weapon that will carry you through most of the game. Baldur Gate's limited action economy due to turn based systems forces the player to actually use their brain, sure you could go into a boss fight and beat it with a bunch of healing potions and hard hitting characters, but you could also cheese it entirely if you're smart enough. Maybe a boss that has been kicking your ass can be trivialized by doing something like surrounding it with a bunch of explosives and then setting them off, maybe you can lure a powerful enemy out into the open and then jump them with 4 characters. Maybe an enemy is too strong but you really want their weapon? You can command them to drop it and hope it works, getting one of the best possible weapons up to act 3. The exploration is also second to none, the world is not only massive but its also full of stuff to do besides fight enemies. I went down a cellar door in a goblin camp and I found a mirror, which led me to a hidden room where I found a powerful magical artifact in the Necromancy of Thay, and a little ways down into the cellar there's a whole ass boss fight with a magical Spider. Raising a goblin camp? Well you can just poison their alcohol, or you could systematically assassinate their 3 leaders. This is all just shit I've done in act 1 of the game, and it already does RPG mechanics better than any other game I've played recently. I have a few complaints but overall it deserved its goty title for sure. I wish character customization had more depth to it, like face sliders instead of preset faces, and I wish some areas like the swamp had more stuff to do in them. My only major complaint is that there are sometimes bugs that can completely lock you out of stuff forcing you to reload an earlier save, potentially losing a few hours of progress. For example I was completely locked out of Karlach's character progression as I never triggered her dialogue options despite giving her infernal iron.

Baldur’s Gate 3 felt like how buying a game in the 90s and early 00s used to feel. You’d buy the game from the store and it worked. It had tons of content and that’s that. ❤

Gollum as your #1 best game of the year was a pretty bold take

A fellow Metroid Fusion enjoyer... YOU are my favorite KZfaqr now. Without a doubt. I keep an old GBA SP just so I can play Fusion on it... and when Dread came out I was so happy that it's the continuation of the story!

Hearing you say AC6 story is non-existent, makes me question if I should take any of your video game takes seriously. At least I'm glad you clarified PayDay 3 situation.

Craziest part about hifi rush is it's from the developers of the Evil Within

Im surprised Lies of P isnt on this list. Game goes hard and is one of the few non-Fromsoft soulslikes worth playing. Also, considering its a small indie studio making it, who have only made one other game in the past, and LoP being their first foray into soulslikes, I think it deserves a spot.

Love ya Actman, but saying Armored Core 6 didnt have a story is absolutely wild💀

Very well made video, but no mention of lethal company is absolutely crazy 😂

Hearing act man give Pikmin the respect it deserves makes me happy

I know it was very late, but seeing GoW Valhalla get a mention for having a free dlc should've been something worth praising. Mostly because it's a dlc that actually expands on the story and adds to the mechanics and drip that you can have in the main game. Just something worth encouraging.

You didn't understand armored core :(

5:27 what song is that? Edit: Found it, it's I can feel it coming in the air tonight by Phil Collins.

I think Alan Wake 2 was a genuine masterpiece and one of the most incredible narrative experiences I've ever had.

"Story is nonexistent" tell me you skipped all the cutscenes without telling me you skipped all the cutscenes

Loved the video, wish you would’ve touched on Alan Wake 2 though.

I never experienced cyberpunk before the 2.2 update, but I just finished the game and it is probably one of my favorite games of all time just based on its style and storytelling, personally a masterpiece to me!

Glad Hi-Fi Rush got the love it deserves!

I appriciate the clarification regarding Payday3. I don't understand how you totally missed Lies of P as a soulsfan :)

WTF! Armored Core 6 story is amazing the game has 2 diffrent endings and then you unlock the true one, you have to get used to the story telling but it has a really deep story. Edit: I'm so fucking mad right now !

The fact that Alan Wake 2 isn't included in the discussion is criminal. It's like the Godfather 2 of video games.

Absolutely amazing video. The only thing I would add to this video was a section about my favorite indie title this year, Lethal Company, the game that can be absolutely terrifying while being hilarious and with probably the best proximity chat integration, in any game. Keep up the great work, and I hope you have a great 2024. ❤️

Ngl I don't get the whole "AC6 doesn't have much in the way of story" thing. It had more of a playable narrative than most (if not all) other FromSoft games. I was hella invested in what was going on.

I had been prepared to comment that Spider-man 2 was so mid it didn't deserve to be mentioned. Turns out I didn't need to... because it wasn't 💀

I love your videos and just realized, are you dipping in these vids???

The Jedi Survivor issues were predominantly on PC, but were not exclusive to it. I encountered severe frame drops and texture popping fairly regularly on PS5, but it played good enough for me to Platinum it without too much problem.

I absolutely loved this video, I really do wish marvel's Spider-Man 2 and lethal company were included in this video. Take care man! Very excited for your next video!

Dunno what music that was when you brought up dead space @5:27 Anyone know? its stuck in my head now lol

Ngl 2024 is gonna be fire for indie games, silksong, killer bean, new game by cruelty squad dev, etc

Goodluck with 2024 actman, cant wait to see the new content, always enjoyable watching you when times are rough

"Video games are the only thing that brings me joy in life..." -Bilbo Baggins

I love the video! But the game my friends and I have spent the most time playing wasn’t even listed, Remnant 2 was definitely worth more time this year than any others

At 28 I was in the theatre singing the DK Rap with kids looking at me like I was a genuis for already knowing the song. Then I was joined by all the dads who beought their kids to see the characters they grew up with

About Pizza Tower, I've been following it's developement for the past 5 years via Vinesauce. I'm glad that game came to fruition and you acknowledging it as arguably one of the best Indie games does put a smile on my face

20:25 "At the time..." I am happy you included that critical point. It's easy to label something, avoid putting a date on it, and the untrained human mind will assume "for all time". I was one of the people who was 'hmmm...' after the PayDay 3 launch. Glad you addressed this.

The fact that you were honest about payday 3 makes you awesome in my opinion 👍 been a fan of you and your content and will continue to do so 😎