Thick Thighs Save Lives
NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Best New Character
Venom | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
New faces solidified themselves as instant gaming icons in 2023. Baldur’s Gate 3 adventurers faced tough choices in who to bench back at camp as they journeyed across the Forgotten Realms, new challengers slotted easily alongside long-term mains in Street Fighter 6 and a gravelly-voiced Cid won hearts across Valisthea and beyond. Yet it was Venom – a powerhouse pairing of powerful physical presence by way of Insomniac’s character design and an unsettling performance by horror legend Tony Todd – that took the top spot.
Astarion | Baldur’s Gate 3
Kraven | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Clive Rosfield | Final Fantasy XVI
Best Story
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 packed a lot of heart into the breadth of its story campaign. Regardless of whether we were absorbing quieter character moments or swinging ourselves into bombastic, blockbuster-level beats, all were supercharged by an emotional core. Insomniac’s ability to make us invested in the cast and their story arcs meant revelations and reveals hit all the harder. And you clearly agreed: with votes totaled, it won Platinum Trophy for Best Story of 2023.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Alan Wake 2
Final Fantasy XVI
Best Graphical Showcase
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
A larger, denser Marvel’s New York to swing and soar through. Ray-tracing regardless of what your graphical setting of choice.Visually dazzling set pieces that highlight the next-gen heft of PS5. An SSD-powered fast travel option that needs to be seen to be believed. For all those and more, it’s little wonder that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 earned top spot for Best Graphical Showcase in 2023. Hats off to Insomniac.
Alan Wake 2
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Final Fantasy XVI
Best Art Direction
Alan Wake 2
Remedy blends the realistic and surreal to deliver striking, dreamlike visuals. Alan Wake 2 innovatively merges moody in-game graphics with live-action footage projected into the game world. The result is an unpredictable, reality-bending world where anything could happen. The effect ranges from startling, screen-filling flashes to climactic set-piece moments like an unforgettably dramatic musical sequence that must be experienced to be believed. This is Remedy’s visual storytelling at its best.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Diablo IV
Sea of Stars
Best Audio Design
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
The raging howls and unearthly voice of Venom. The solid, wet smack of a web shot. The energetic crackle of Miles’s bioelectric powers. The ever-present background hum (and snippets of conversation) of a living, breathing city. The perfect placement of enemy positions through 3D Audio. Insomniac’s audio teams earned the studio the well-deserved accolade of the Platinum Trophy for Audio Design.
Alan Wake 2
Hogwarts Legacy
Resident Evil 4
Soundtrack of the Year
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
From the very first chords of EARTHGANG’s “Swing” energizing our first web-swing towards the opening clash with Sandman to the subtly discordant version of Peter’s Hero theme representing his continuing corruption by the Black Suit, returning composer John Paesano smoothly crafted Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s soundtrack to embody our heroes’ respective journeys and brought us along for the ride. And between, licensed tracks providing the perfect accompaniment to some big emotional moments.
Final Fantasy XVI
Baldur’s Gate 3
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Best Accessibility Features
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Not only did Insomniac double the number of Spider-Men you could play as in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, they also doubled the number of accessibility options to a spectacular 70+. New additions and updates to old favorites include challenge level modifiers and gameplay assists, shortcut buttons, game speed, and audio frequency controls. And with a post-launch update in early 2024, including audio descriptions, screen reader, and high contrast outlines, Insomniac is committed to making sure that anyone can wear the mask!
Resident Evil 4
Street Fighter 6
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Best Use of DualSense controller
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
If you looked disconcertedly at your DualSense controller during a Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 session, you weren’t alone.Insomniac can be commended for their versatile use of DualSense features, be it a punch thrown or web line slung, asymmetrical pressure on adaptive triggers to fix particle colliders, a Super Slingshot feeling like the world’s best rubber band flick and more. Yet it was a primal-like roar emanating from the controller’s speaker as a Black Suit-clad Peter let loose in combat that provided arguably the biggest thrill, an unsettling foreshadow of what was to come.
Hogwarts Legacy
Alan Wake 2
Resident Evil 4
Best Multiplayer Experience
Baldur’s Gate 3
One of the best examples of choice-driven RPGs of this year (and any other) gets even better if you venture into the Forgotten Realms in the company of friends. Even aside from the intense discussion that’ll stir prior to any dice roll, the resultant chaos of multiple voices shaping your quest lines gives adventurers with solo campaigns running in parallel the opportunity to witness Larian’s careful craft playing out: from different incidental dialogue to entire scenarios previously unseen, it showcases how much thought and work has went into the game. Incredible stuff.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
Mortal Kombat 1
Street Fighter 6
Best Ongoing Game
Fortnite
2023 was Epic’s full-court press for Fortnite, a game that already sets a high bar for innovative content updates. Early this year Epic rolled out a new graphical overhaul for Fortnite, tapping the power of Unreal Engine to boost Battle Royale’s vivid visuals to new heights. But the crowning achievement in 2023 is the introduction of a whopping three new titles to the Fortnite ecosystem. LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival all launched this month, introducing new ways to play with friends. Fortnite now has you covered whether you’re into racking up VIctory Royales, surviving and building in a LEGO wilderness, speeding to first place, or rocking out with friends. Fortnite players’ cups runneth over.
GTA Online
Final Fantasy XIV
No Man’s Sky
Best Expansion
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
When an expansion pushes players to start the game over from the very beginning, you know you have something special. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty incorporates a morally compelling spy thriller into a world where right and wrong have lost all meaning, adding nuance to every decision and making your actions hold weight in ways that the base game only scratches the surface of, along with a plethora of gameplay improvements, new weapons, and cyberware, Phantom Liberty brought structure to a world filled with chaos.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways
Destiny 2: Lightfall
Best Independent Game of the Year
Sea of Stars
Sea of Stars pays homage to the RPGs of the 16-bit era by setting a new standard for the entire genre. It asks what made the turn-based adventures of yesteryear so good and pushes to make all those qualities great. From a combat system that’s engaging to traversal that’s thoughtful, it constantly reinvents how you interact with the world without ever losing its identity, showcasing that the passion for the genre is alive and well in both design and appetite.
Blasphemous 2
Dredge
Humanity
PS VR2 Game of the Year
Resident Evil Village VR Mode
While it’s late-in-the-year release excluded Resident Evil 4 VR Mode from running in this year’s Awards, Capcom’s survival horror series still proved a towering presence in the PS VR2 Game of the Year category, with Resident Evil Village VR Mode stealing the majority of the votes, Horizon Call of the Mountain coming a close second. Yet with the rest of the votes split nearly evenly across the majority of an extensive nominee list, it highlights how many of PS VR2’s diverse range of experiences are resonating with players worldwide.
Horizon Call of the Mountain
Nock
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge
PS5 Game of the Year
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
2023 was a great year for games, and any of the extensive list of nominees had a fair chance of securing the top spot for PS5 Game of the Year. Yet as polls closed, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was voted as players’ favorite title of the past 12 months, adding yet another notch to Insomniac’s incredible run of PS5 releases.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Final Fantasy XVI
Alan Wake 2
Studio of the Year
Insomniac Games
Any number of teams could have rightly earned the nod as Studio of the Year. Yet even as players made tough choices as to who earned their vote in this category, it gave us time to reflect and savor again the fantastic work by creatives across the industry and the world, who have given us all such wonderful gaming memories over the past 12 months. Insomniac’s work in crafting the blockbuster return of Spider-Men Peter Parker and Miles Morales resonated with enough players to take the Platinum Trophy, but congrats as well to all the other nominees who fans voted for.
Larian Studios
CD Projekt RED
Square Enix
