The 10 Most Mid Games of 2023

10 Most Mid Game of 2023)

Welcome to MojoPlays and today we’re looking at some games that weren’t bad but they weren’t great and just kind of fell somewhere in the middle.

“Forspoken” (2023)

Outside of Final Fantasy, Square Enix has been having a rough time lately. Alongside recent failures such as Marvel’s Avengers and Babylon’s Fall, and despite the enormous marketing push, Forspoken landed with a thud upon release. While the game itself is mechanically solid and the gameplay does have some great moments alongside its inventive traversal, the rest of the game felt empty and boring. These issues easily could have been overlooked had the story been there to drive players forward, but instead players were forced to listen to cringe CW-style dialogue from two unlikeable protagonists who can’t ever seem to stop talking. The fact that there’s even an option in the menu to turn down how often Cuff and Frey spout their awkward and terrible dialogue kind of tells you even the developers knew this was an issue.

“Exoprimal” (2023)

Fans have been begging Capcom for a remake of Dino Crisis for years now and instead Capcom gave them a different version of time traveling dinosaurs. Yet another hero shooter chasing Overwatch’s coattails, Exoprimal did little to stand out from the sea of other copycats with generic shooting that not even the surprisingly excellent dinosaur designs could make engaging or fun. Mowing down hordes of portal invading dinos quickly became boring and the microtransaction heavy systems in place for cosmetics and suits in addition to a battle pass did little to keep players engaged after the initial novelty wore off. The fact that this heavily monetized shooter was also released as a full priced game doesn’t do it any favors with potential fans either. Capcom, just give us the Dino Crisis remake. Please, you’ve teased us long enough, just take our money, you know you want it.

“The Crew Motorfest” (2023)

Ubisoft’s The Crew franchise has had some trouble finding an audience ever since its initial launch back in 2014. And while the prospect of a fully traversable USA by car, boat, or plane is a novel concept, in practice the results were always somewhere in the middle. With their 3rd entry, Ubisoft attempted to change the formula by copying someone else’s. Namely the Forza Horizon series. While the map size saw a significant drop and the Hawaiian style locale was a nice change of scenery, the rest of the game was just kind of “meh”. The game itself still plays well enough but lacks the depth of the Forza Horizon games and doesn’t have enough of an identity of its own to stand out with not enough variety in the cars. Chasing collectibles across a giant map isn’t exactly pushing the limit.

“Immortals of Aveum” (2023)

With some heavy hitters of the industry at the helm, Immortals had a decent chance to surprise everyone. Unfortunately, even despite the talent behind it as well as an interesting gimmick of using magic spells instead of standard firearms, the game was extremely generic and hampered by a predictable story, arrogant protagonist and cringey dialogue set in an uninteresting world. The game was also technically unimpressive for being a next gen exclusive game with much of the spell casting not having the expected impact or visual flair as well as simple and mediocre puzzle design and uninteresting boss encounters. There’s still some fun to be had with the game but much like the Callisto Protocol last year, we had higher expectations from some of the creatives behind high profile games like Dead Space and Call of Duty.

“Fort Solis” (2023)

To be quite honest, Fort Solis easily could have slipped under a lot of gamers’ radar had it not been for the star-studded cast. Making full use of the Unreal Engine 5, Fort Solis is an isolating exploration of a deserted Mars base strengthened by the performances of its main cast led by Troy Baker and Roger Clark, but the rest of the game honestly isn’t much of a game at all. Players are led down a surprisingly linear path with very little room for detours outside of a couple areas and there’s very little to do beyond slowly walking the empty corridors piecing together the story’s short but albeit interesting mystery. The title is worth a play for its story and performances, but most gamers will find very little reason to revisit Fort Solis after the credits roll.

“Horizon Call of the Mountain” (2023)

Guerilla’s Horizon series has become a surprise hit for both Sony and the developer with Forbidden West managing to far surpass the stellar original so there was quite a lot of hype and expectation for a new entry in the franchise that brought the robot dinosaurs closer than ever. Released as a launch title for Sony’s new PSVR2, Horizon Call of the Mountain was also a spectacular showcase for Sony’s new more powerful tech and the game itself made great use of the PSVR2’s new features, but it's overreliance on climbing sections and limited combat mechanics didn’t quite measure up to Guerilla’s proper mainline entries. The lack of variety in gameplay made the journey up the mountain a gorgeous but repetitive one and while the game’s story did fit nicely into Horizon’s overall lore, it felt more like a side quest than a necessary entry even for die-hard fans of the series.

“Dead Island 2” (2023)

When a game enters production hell the way Dead Island 2 did, it's a miracle if the game ever sees the light of day. However, after numerous developers attempted to resurrect the game from the grave, Dambuster Studios finally managed to get the game out the door and the long in development sequel managed to surpass many players' expectations. The problem however, is due to the game’s long gestation period meant most of the first game’s audience had long since moved on and with nothing beyond some impressive gore tech to get player’s attention, there just wasn’t enough meat on these bones to keep gamers invested let alone interested. There’s a fun time to be had here, it’s just built from the remains of a shuffling corpse.

“Assassin’s Creed Mirage” (2023)

Fans have long been hoping for a return to form for the Assassin’s Creed series that had long lost its way by constantly reinventing itself and leaning more and more heavily into RPG elements and even forgoing the iconic hidden blade in some entries. Mirage answered many fan’s complaints and brought the series closer to its glory days than it had been in quite some time, but the charm of those older titles was still missing, particularly when it came to the game’s narrative. With previous titles, only a cursory knowledge of the series was necessary but since Mirage ties directly to Valhalla, those who didn’t manage to complete that Viking epic were left confused by the game's end. There might never be a return to the classic Ezio trilogy days, Mirage got pretty close but just narrowly missed surviving its own leap of faith.

“Starfield” (2023)

Okay before you get your pitchforks, just hear us out. Starfield is a great game. It has all the hallmarks to be one of Bethesda’s best: the world building, factions, new game plus options, its here! That. Being. Said. From a technical standpoint, Starfield is at least 2 generations behind, and when compared to other contemporary titles the issues become even more obvious. Whether simply boarding your ship or entering a separate room adjacent to a much larger area requires a loading screen, the immersion the game is attempting to create is immediately broken. This is in addition to the vast sections of emptiness made more obvious by the lack of vehicles simply because their aging CREATION Engine couldn’t handle it. There’s still a solid game here to be enjoyed but it might be worth waiting for the modding community to fix all the issues for the best possible experience with this one.

“Atlas Fallen” (2023)

Like most of the games on our list, Atlas Fallen had a lot of potential and can still offer a fun experience, but you’re going to have to endure a lot of its shortcomings to have a good time. Developed by Deck13, Atlas Fallen has a surprising amount of lore behind, but unfortunately very few if any of its characters or story beats are memorable or meaningful enough to get the player invested. Sand surfing around the admittedly barren deserts is endlessly entertaining and the combat is impactful as players face down hulking beasts even if the camera can end up fighting them more than the actual enemies. Atlas Fallen is a throwback to old school action games like the OG God of War and Darksiders and for those looking for decent combat and not much else, Atlas Fallen will provide some weekend entertainment. But it is far from the summit of what we’ve come to expect.


Which game from 2023 was just okay to you? Let us know down in the comments.