The Game Awards 2023 arrived at a pivotal moment, capping off a twelve-month stretch that many still refer to as one of the most blockbuster-filled in interactive entertainment history. As the industry now looks forward to the next console generation in 2026, the list of Game of the Year contenders from that night remains a frequent subject of analysis, celebration, and spirited debate. The six titles that made the cut were not merely commercial heavyweights; they collectively exemplified the creative breadth of a year that juggled horror, role-playing depth, superhero spectacle, and nostalgic reinvention. Looking back with three years of hindsight, it’s clear that each nominee helped shape the design trends and player expectations we see today.

Among the most daring of the bunch was Alan Wake 2, which launched only weeks before the ceremony on October 27, 2023. Remedy Entertainment’s survival-horror sequel immediately won praise for its layered storytelling, split between the returning writer protagonist and newcomer Saga Anderson. Drawing heavily from the surreal atmospheres of David Lynch and Stephen King, the title wove together threads from Quantum Break and Control to solidify a connected universe. Critics in 2023 called it one of the most experimental major releases of the decade, and its influence has only grown. By 2026, Remedy has expanded the saga with two acclaimed narrative expansions, and the game’s blend of live-action footage with in-engine sequences is now a frequently cited reference point for studios eager to blur genre boundaries.

Equally transformative was Baldur’s Gate 3, the role-playing behemoth that ultimately walked away with the 2023 Game of the Year trophy. Even though it was only available on PC and PlayStation 5 at the time, Larian Studios’ epic had already built an enormous following thanks to its three-year early access polish. The core philosophy—that no decision is too small to matter—resonated far beyond dedicated RPG fans. Its mainstream success proved that a turn-based, dialogue-heavy format could dominate sales charts and Twitch streams alike. Three years on, the game remains a fixture of the modding community and has received multiple free content patches that add new subclasses, companion quests, and even an epilogue chapter. The “Baldur’s Gate 3 effect” is now industry shorthand for the hunger for player agency, and countless 2025 and 2026 releases have tried, with varying success, to replicate its reactivity.

Nintendo’s double entry—The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder—underscored Kyoto’s ability to dominate a year without chasing photorealism. Tears of the Kingdom faced the unenviable task of following Breath of the Wild, a game that redefined open-world design. It answered with verticality: sky islands, sprawling underground depths, and the revolutionary Fuse and Ultrahand abilities. Those systems did more than add mechanical depth; they spawned an entire ecosystem of player-created contraptions and viral TikTok builds. In 2026, Tears of the Kingdom is still the Switch’s highest-selling exclusive, and its construction engine has inspired educational spin-offs and university game design courses.

Meanwhile, Super Mario Bros. Wonder reminded everyone that 2D Mario could still be an event. Lavish hand-drawn animations, the reality-bending Wonder Flower sequences, and a focus on co-op chaos propelled it to become the fastest-selling game in the franchise’s history. While some pundits originally questioned whether a side-scroller could stand beside 3D giants in a Game of the Year lineup, the title’s enduring online speedrun community and the recent 2025 deluxe port to Nintendo’s next hardware have silenced those doubts. It remains the go-to example of how to modernize a classic formula without losing its soul.

Sony’s first-party flagbearer, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, arrived as a technical showpiece for the PlayStation 5. Insomniac Games doubled down on the fluid traversal and kinetic combat of its predecessors while introducing both Peter Parker and Miles Morales as playable leads alongside the menacing Venom. The rendering of a near-photoreal New York City—complete with ray tracing enabled across all graphical modes—was a benchmark in 2023, and it remains impressive in 2026, even as we’ve moved into the mid-generation refresh era. The game’s commercial success directly paved the way for Insomniac’s 2025 standalone Venom title, which reused and refined many of the same city assets. Retrospective discussions often note that Spider-Man 2’s greatest legacy was proving a superhero sequel could feel fresh by deepening character relationships rather than simply inflating the map.

Surprise was the sentiment that greeted Resident Evil 4 Remake’s nomination. Remakes had rarely broken into Game of the Year conversations before, and some argued that honoring a retread risked overshadowing original work. Capcom defied expectations by rebuilding the 2005 classic from the ground up, delivering a tense, impeccably paced action-horror hybrid that felt wholly contemporary. The modernized controls and fleshed-out character arcs won over veterans and newcomers in equal measure. Since 2023, the RE4 Remake has become the template for Capcom’s subsequent revisits—Resident Evil 5 and Code: Veronica have both received similar treatment, with the same philosophy of preserving the core identity while overhauling the feel. In 2026, it’s hard to find a player who doesn’t consider this version the definitive one.

For all the accolades, the 2023 field also became famous for what it omitted. Starfield, Bethesda’s sprawling space RPG, landed with a sizable player base but only managed a Best Role-Playing Game nod. Many reviewers cited a lack of the seamless exploration that had defined previous Bethesda titles, and though subsequent patches improved planetary traversal and added vehicles, the game’s momentum had stalled by the time nomination ballots were cast. Even more glaring was the total absence of Hogwarts Legacy, which became the best-selling game of the year in the U.S. despite receiving zero nominations across any category. The Harry Potter spin-off’s snub ignited ongoing discourse about how awards shows weigh cultural controversy, creative ambition, and sheer unit sales. In retrospect, those conversations foreshadowed the broader reckoning over nominees’ criteria that led to rule changes in 2025.

Three years removed, the 2023 Game of the Year bracket reads like a time capsule. It captured a moment when horror, RPGs, platformers, and blockbuster sequels all spoke the same cultural language. The winner, Baldur’s Gate 3, didn’t just earn a trophy—it reset the industry’s understanding of what a blockbuster game can be. The rest of the nominees continue to resonate through sequels, remasters, and annual retrospectives. If 2023 taught us anything, it’s that the games we celebrate in the moment can go on to shape the next generation of creators, proving that a single year’s competition is never just about one night in December.