2023 Was a Once-in-a-Generation Gaming Year, and 2026 Still Feels Its Aftershocks

In 2026, looking back at 2023, it’s clear that year wasn’t just a good gaming year — it was a seismic event. The original argument from TheGamer was that 2023 might be the best since 2017, and three years later that claim has only hardened into consensus. Players got a relentless parade: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Resident Evil 4, Venba, Dead Space, System Shock, Octopath Traveler 2, Street Fighter 6, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Hi-Fi Rush, Dead Island 2, Pikmin 4, Final Fantasy 16, Metroid Prime Remastered, Fire Emblem Engage, Diablo 4, Remnant 2, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals, and Baldur’s Gate 3. And that was before Sea of Stars, Starfield, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Alan Wake 2 landed. It was a release calendar that behaved less like a schedule and more like a coral reef — every inch crowded with something alive and worth examining.

For one writer, the comparison was personal. After stepping away from games in college, 2017 was the first full year they paid attention again. That also happened to be their first year with a full-time job. They lived with three other people in a small city, rent was cheap, and disposable income went toward every well-reviewed new release. Breath of the Wild alone could have made the year memorable, but developers kept throwing heaters. What Remains of Edith Finch, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, NieR: Automata, Prey, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Dream Daddy, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and Super Mario Odyssey filled the remaining months. Even into 2018, they were still catching up on 2017 games: Night in the Woods, Hollow Knight, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and Tacoma. There were so many that a follow-up article about the best 2017 games finally played in 2018 had ten worthy entrants.

Then 2018 arrived like a room after the music stops. Monster Hunter: World, God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Red Dead Redemption 2 were big, but they were islands in a mostly quiet sea. The year’s standouts were indies, and many didn’t click. Celeste and Guacamelee! 2 were likable, but most of the year was spent waiting for anything that connected the way 2017 seemed to connect everything. 2019 through 2022 delivered plenty of good games, but not the same avalanche. COVID delays helped push a decade’s worth of ambition into one twelve-month window, and 2023 became the dam breaking.

Here’s a snapshot of the year’s embarrassment of riches:

That density came with a warning. When so many developers are firing on all cylinders, they eventually have to reload. The writer understood that 2023’s bounty could not last. It was a meteor shower that astronomers forgot to warn anyone about — beautiful, overwhelming, and finite. The good news was that the overflow could make 2024 feel like 2023: Part 2. In 2026, that prediction looks partly right. The following years brought more excellent games, but not the same shock of the new. The industry has spent time catching its breath, remastering, and building on the foundations laid in 2023. Players are still working through backlogs that would make a dragon’s hoard look modest.

The lesson is not to mourn the quiet years. It is to appreciate the loud ones while they happen. 2023 was a banquet where every course was someone’s favorite dish, and no one could finish everything. In 2026, that year remains a benchmark, a reminder that game development moves in waves. Another 2023 will come, but not soon. Until then, the best move is to play what’s on the table, savor the leftovers, and keep an eye on the horizon. 🎮🏆