Top PlayStation 4 Games 2023

While Valkyrie Elysium is certainly not the next coming of the beloved PlayStation JRPG Valkyrie Profile, there are parts that shine. Sure, it's not a visual powerhouse, it suffers from some occasionally aggravating camera issues, and the tale it weaves doesn’t leave you and your friends with much to discuss and dissect. But Elysium’s new take on combat does eventually grow into something fun and satisfying to play, and that’s enough to carry it through – just not to stand out.

Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is often fun, but it's no better than its predecessors — and, in some ways, it's worse.

NHL 21 is at its best when I’m playing the wacky modes in World of Chel or the new HUT Rush where I can just go end-to-end while trying to pull off skill moves. The new Be A Pro additions are also significant and help to get that single-player experience more in line with other modern sports games. However, it’s aggravating that during this whole console generation EA never managed to move past legacy issues like ping-pong passing, a lack of creativity in the offensive zone, and a narrow set of player ratings make that the gameplay feel stagnant. On top of that, there is still no roster share feature, so there’ll be no fixing the fact that NHL 21 already feels out of date due to the lack of a real 2020 season until the real NHL season kicks off in January. With that in mind, I would probably wait for the new season to start and the sale price that would hopefully come with that before giving NHL 21 a look.

Madden NFL 21 is a great example of why competition breeding innovation is a good thing. Without a comparable NFL experience on the market, EA has allowed its marquee sports franchise to fall behind in almost every significant way. In a world where its contemporary sports games continually evolve with innovative new game modes like NBA 2K20’s Neighborhood, deep franchise options like MyCareer, MyTeam, and MyLeague in the NBA 2K series, or even the cinematic story mode from EA’s own Fight Night Champion -- a boxing game from 2011 -- Madden’s lack of innovation has reached a tipping point. There is no excuse for Madden’s stagnation. I appreciate the tweaks to the core gameplay and the chaotic novelty of The Yard, but that isn’t enough to make me want to sing its praises.

Buy Man of Medan if you liked Until Dawn and want to see how The Dark Pictures Anthology might shape up. Avoid this game if you can't abide performance issues or slow gameplay.

Of course, fishing’s need for patience is also a counterpoint to the drama of a catch. Entrenched calm can suddenly give way to the hectic dance of reeling in a fish and netting it. Those moments can be heart-racing precisely because they’re a contrast to all that time deep in blissful nothing.

Shadow of the Colossus is a must-have for fans of the original game – it’s stunningly gorgeous, both in terms of the open world environment and the 16 Colossi that you come across during gameplay. But as good as it looks, I don’t think that there’s enough on offer to entice those that didn’t play the original, as it may seem a little bit basic compared to more recent games of a similar nature.

It’s a shame these four games and one sightseeing trip aren’t sold separately, because as a mismatched hodgepodge it’s a lot harder to recommend as a whole than the good parts would have been on their own. The entertaining shooting gallery and drama of The London Heist carries the other three short and less interesting games and the passive Ocean Descent, and is likely the only one I'll remember.

Onechanbara Z2: Chaos offers up a campy, but repetitive monster-slaying bloodbath. Gameplay is straightforward enough to allow button mashing, but the underlying systems give action game fans something more substantial to sink their teeth into.

Advanced Warfare introduces exoskeletons, laser guns, and double-jumps to the Call of Duty franchise, but the online lag, odd animation, and overall sameness that comes from annual releases prevent the game from living up to its potential.