This year has been a crazy year for gaming. We’ve released Astrea, Behind the Frame VR, Universe for Sale, and Zoeti. We also announced many games that have joined our library that will be released at a later date like Everafter Falls, Sorry We’re Closed, Cryptmaster, and Airframe Ultra. Before we move on to 2024, I wanted to share the games that our team has enjoyed this year and that they would pick for game of the year in 2023.
Gravity Circuit
Luis, the awesome video editor and creator of many of the amazing trailers behind our games, brought up Gravity Circuit! Gravity Circuit is an indie action platformer with tons of inspiration from the classic games of Megaman!
“Gravity Circuit understands perfectly what makes Mega Man so special, not only of the original NES games, but the entire legacy it originated; the world of the original Mega Man, the characters of Mega Man X, the tone of Mega Man Zero, and an intrinsically shonen feeling reminiscent of Legends and Battle Network. It also understands what makes a modern 2D platformer so special, particularly movement. The main mechanic being a hookshot instead of a blaster is very engaging, and not only is it used for traversal, it also is incredibly useful for combat and the dozens of abilities you can unlock.
Add to all that the highly customizable playstyles, as well as incentives for repeat playthroughs, and this is a game that not only has me thinking about it every time I’m not playing it, but also planning the countless playthroughs I’m gonna invest in this game. Gravity Circuit released in July, and I didn’t play it until late November, but I’m more than confident in saying this is easily the best Indie game I played this year.”
What the Dub?!
Our very own lasagna loving, Tetris pro, producer Lilianda voted for What the Dub?! A multiplayer party game where every player places their own dialogue in different movie scenes, outdated PSAs, and bizarre industrial films! Most points goes to the funniest responses.
“What the Dub?! Provides a unique community experience that I haven’t been able to replicate via any other game lol. It’s such a unique concept that I always circle back to it. It’s my choice for the Golden Tort because they released a major update literally 3 days ago, which includes Workshop Content. Huge
The gist of the game is that you are using TTS and SFX to put dubbed lines over old time-y movies. It makes for some really hilarious moments and this game is beloved to me (and a necessary tool as a community manager/person who likes to host digitally)”
The Last Case of Benedict Fox
Xavier, the resilient person going through content creator emails and talking to the press as Akupara’s influencer relations put up The Last Case of Benedict Fox, a metroidvania action platformer with a twisted world of secret organizations, forbidden rituals, and cold-blooded murders.
“The Last Case of Benedict Fox fills that metroidvania hole that has left me empty since the releases of GRIME and Hollow Knight. With an ungodly amount of metroidvanias being released every single year it’s increasingly difficult to make a name for yourself and Benedict Fox does just that. It has fantastic voice acting, subtle humor, lovecraftian horror, early 20th century jazz, and many other W’s that just set itself apart and that’s not even talking about its spiderman venom-esque gameplay mechanic that allows for much innovation. One of my favorite standalone aspects of the title is that it dives fully into puzzle elements that you’ll use in the “homebase” as well in your journeys in the dark depths. I feel as if most metroidvanias use exploration and backtracking to keep players in-game and interested but Benedict Fox takes this one step further and introduces heavy puzzle elements that mix the “real world” with the “darkness” making them feel more interconnected instead of separated areas.”
Lethal Company
Joseph– oh hey that’s me! I’m the community manager who bridges the communication from players to developers and writes a lot of the weekly blogs! Lethal Company is a co-op horror where you go to different dangerous moons to collect scrap to sell to the company.
“Lethal Company has been very very fun with friends. We have been getting together and really trying to collect as much scrap as possible and learning how to deal with the different creatures and planets. The way the different creatures interact with the player is unique and each creature has different ways to counter them that you learn through experience and the game doesn’t directly tell you. It’s a game where you will die over and over again but each death you will learn something new and improve your survivability.”
Idol Manager
The wonderful person behind the Akupara Game socials Fae putting up Idol Manager for best game of 2023! Even though Idol Manager got released in 2021 Fae never got a chance to play it until 2023. Idol Manager is a business sim about conquering the entertainment industry.
“Idol Manager is an addictive management sim complete with idol groups, subgroups, managers, trainers, coaches, random events and an overarching story to get you hooked on a fantasy music industry and mysterious masked performers. I first played in January of 2023 and remained intrigued with multiple save files and branching storylines as I raised my groups to success across different genres and morality choices.
It also features mods to replace idols with your favorite real idols across vtuber genres and more.”
Saltsea Chronicles
Buddy, the Head of Marketing and glue keeping the marketing team together, first game he published was Mutaizone which is a beautiful story rich game. When the same developers released a new story rich game, Buddy was all over it. Saltsea Chronicles follows a crew trying to rescue their kidnapped captain.
“The first game I ever published with Akupara was Mutazione, a game I’m sure I will love to the very ends of my days for all of the heart and wit packed into the seaside community there. Saltsea Chronicles, the next release from the same developer Die Gute Fabrik, hits me right in that exact same spot. Following the tale of a seafaring crew finding a way to come together to rescue their kidnapped captain, Saltsea Chronicles doesn’t tell the story of a singular hero, chasing down a singular villain of the week. It’s about the complex web of relationships that come from competing motives, heightened emotions, and deeply held beliefs. And because the game is structured as a “choose your own adventure” experience, sometimes it’s up to you to untangle those dramatic conflicts in a way that best meshes with your own moral compass. I’d pay for that kind of experience from the skilled storytellers at Die Gute Fabrik any day of the week.”
Ugly
Harri, the organized producer watching over projects like Rain World: Downpour and Astrea, voted for Ugly! Ugly is a 2D platform puzzle where you use an innovative mirror mechanic to solve challenging puzzle rooms.
“This game was published by my old publisher and it was my favorite project on our slate. It’s a haunting puzzle platformer that surrounds its entire design on one mechanic: Reflections. You carry around a mirror through a (sorta) abandoned mansion, allowing you to create a ‘reflection’ of yourself that can travel through walls and it mirrors your movement. This is the crux of the puzzles, using the level design to push this mechanic to its limits, allowing it to stay fresh through its~ 6 hour runtime. Not only are there puzzles to solve, there are bosses to overcome. This takes the mechanic to its height, forcing the player to use it in ways unconventional to the normal trains of throught as you try to survive. The story unfolds as you traverse the haunted halls. Through crud drawings and hallucinations, it all paints a picture of trauma and torture, uncovering a crud, troubled past. The game flawlessly weaves this narritve into its design, both in its amazing art direction and level creation. This is an incredible example of how powerful storytelling vehicles indie games can be and I implore everyone to play it.”
Signalis
From our talented artist, Drew, who designs tons of thumbnails and art pieces over many different projects, put Signalis as their top played game for 2023! Signalis was released in October of 2022 but Drew didn’t play the game until 2023. Signalis is a sci-fi survival horror set in a dystopian future.
“Signalis is a really great homage to classic survival horror games. All the staples of the genre are there and they do it really well: inventory management, conserving resources, fight or flight combat, inventive puzzles. All of this combined with interesting setting, characters and a Lovecraft-esque story where you’re not sure what’s real and what isn’t adds to the already excellent horror aesthetic of the game. As someone who really loves these kinds of games, Signalis is one of the best.”
Those were our picks for the best games of 2023! If you want to tell us your favorite game of 2023, then join the Akupara Discord!