The best action-adventure games of 2023 on PS5, PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC

This 2023 has been an unforgettable year as far as video games are concerned. Every month has had one or two releases that have caught our attention. And today it’s our turn to review the best action and adventure games through a list of the most diverse. Some of its components have more shooters and others have more puzzles. Some focus on narrative and those prefer to give us a dose of playable adrenaline. Third-person shooters, survival horror, hack and slash, platforming and exploration blockbusters... Everything and for every taste. Cocktails that, ingredients aside, are just that, memorable adventures for their story or for what they allow us to live at the controls. Here are our nominees:

Alan Wake 2

Can a Triple-A be an auteur game, and is there still a place in the market for classic survival horror? Sam Lake believes both, and Alan Wake 2 is the manifesto to prove it. A game that fans of ‘True Detective’ and ‘Twin Peaks’, Stephen King readers, and those who long for the Resident Evil and Silent Hill of yesteryear will fall in love with. Action, exploration, puzzles, and plenty of scares make up a top-notch production (in graphics, sound, and gameplay) that focuses on storytelling, giving us one of the best and most exciting stories of the year.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon

Woe to those who doubted From Software. After Elden Ring, Hidetaka Miyazaki’s studio decided to take a break from so much soulborne and returned to its roots by resurrecting Armored Core. Considering that the franchise has always been niche, consisting of more than 20 games, and that it has never had a great critical reception, many dared to speak of Armored Core 6 as a minor project and only for die-hard fans. This installment (for which it is not necessary to play the previous ones) collects everything from Software learned in Lordran, Yharnam, and the Lands Between. Memorable final bosses, a difficulty at times crazy, a feeling in the control of the most precise and genuine... This is the most exhilarating and challenging action-adventure of the year. One that grabs you by the chest and lets you go hours later, trembling and sweating the fat drop.

Hi-Fi Rush

At the beginning of January, Xbox held a “Developer Direct” in which it was expected to announce news about Forza Motorsport and Redfall, two of its big bets for this year. More or less, we all suspected that the event would bring us some surprises, but no one imagined that one of them would be a new IP that would be launched the same day and that would exude quality on all four sides. A colorful hack and slash whose mechanics are based on fighting to the rhythm of music, for which it had the collaboration of bands like Prodigy or The Black Keys. An original and varied proposal that also came out at a reduced price. Hi-Fi Rush became a jewel that is still etched in our retinas (and eardrums) twelve months later.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

This is the big PS5 exclusive for 2023. Confirmation that Insomniac Games is now the fittest studio in the PlayStation factory. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was everything expected (and not little). The perfect sequel. A more and better handbook. An adventure that surpasses its predecessors in everything, absolutely everything (and considering that they were already almost outstanding, you can imagine the result). The game does not invent the wheel or discover gunpowder, but it looks exciting. It has a much darker, more violent, and mature story with two memorable villains (Kraven and Venom). Its combat and open world have improved a lot, it is still a spectacle on an audiovisual level, and as hard as it is to believe, it is now even more fun to swing around Manhattan. Simply essential.

Resident Evil 4 Remake

It has been a great year for remakes and remasters. There’s Dead Space Remake (which could have easily made the list) or Metroid Prime Remastered (which is more remake than remaster at times). But if we had to pick just one, it would be Resident Evil 4 Remake. Capcom has followed in the footsteps of the remake of the second installment, and has taken good note of what happened with the remake of the third. No cuts, just additions. That’s why, in addition to a remarkable visual facelift, this version is full of design improvements and gameplay tweaks that make what was always Leon’s nightmare worthwhile: a masterpiece that has been a benchmark for the industry for years. Even if it missed the opportunity to address the perennial weakness of its final section, Resident Evil 4 is one of the best remakes ever made.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

An adventure of yesteryear, one that will have you fighting as well as jumping from platform to platform. There is room for everything in the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor formula, including echoes of its time in the form of Soulsborne and Metroidvania mechanics. All of which makes Cal Kestis’ adventure even more varied and fun than the original, and even reminiscent of Uncharted. In fact, when it came out, it could hardly be faulted for the technical aspects, as it was convincing and even surprising, with deep combat, a galaxy to explore, and a mature story that made good use of the richness of the universe in which it was set. From now on, instead of saying “May the Force be with you,” we’ll say “May Respawn be with you.” It’s just as good.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Billed as the most ambitious game in Nintendo’s history, Tears of the Kingdom is a game as stunning as Breath of the Wild and Ocarina of Time were in their day. It presents an unprecedented open world, not so much for the endless hours of content it offers, but for the infinite ways to approach it. It is a master’s degree in video game design. A parade of tools, mechanics, and innovations that never cease to amaze, and that bring to life some of the best quests and dungeons in the entire saga. If it is not the definitive Zelda, it is the closest thing to it.

The Talos Principle 2

And we close our list with one of the most recent and unknown releases of this list, which already speaks of its quality because even without the marketing machinery of the rest, The Talos Principle 2 is as worthy of being here as the rest (or even more). In the case of Croteam and Devolver’s game, the action gives way to the puzzles, the true protagonists of an adventure that enters through the eyes, stirs the soul, and awakens a real intellectual attraction. We are faced with a technically impeccable game, with beautiful artwork that is also unusual, but also with a succession of puzzles that manage to keep the pace up for more than 30 hours and keep us glued to the controls while we are being told a fascinating story in which philosophy and existentialism go hand in hand. For those looking for something different. For those who are looking for something unforgettable.