Runner-Up: Hi-Fi RushIt wasn’t just that Xbox and Bethesda shadow-dropped a first-party game to kick off 2023 during January’s Xbox Developer Direct. It’s that they shadow-dropped one of the best games of the year. No warning, no hype train, no preorders. Just straight onto Xbox Game Pass. Not only was the game itself a surprise, but the kind of game Hi-Fi Rush is was a total 180 from what the horror masters at Tango Gameworks (The Evil Within, Ghostwire Tokyo) had done before. Hi-Fi Rush is colorful, bubbly, upbeat, and simply radiated joy. Its fast-action combat synced up perfectly to the beat of the music – not simply by coincidence, but as a gameplay mechanic! – and its characters were both lovable and memorable. Hi-Fi Rush set the tone for a great Xbox year – a much better trip around the sun than 2022 was, and right up there with Xbox’s stellar 2021.
