Best of the Year 2023

2023, has been among the best years for video games, if not the best overall. But I would argue it has been an especially good year for culture in general, Here are some of my favourites.

Video Games

it’s quite impressive that in a year where what is arguably the best game ever made has come out in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, that is not my favourite game of the year, because Alan Wake II is one of these experiences that feels like it has been specifically been designed for me, and it might be my favourite piece of media as a whole for the entire year. There is something about the way that Remedy marries tone, interactive design and narrative that made me feel deeply immersed in ways that I have not experienced since Outer Wilds and Death Stranding, even if the game has a lot of rough edges. The new Zelda is truly a marvel, perfecting Breath of the Wild by giving the player a massive sandbox filled with smart challenges and wrapping it in a wonderful and moving narrative. A massive shout out to Hi-Fi Rush, which also felt like something that spoke to my specific interests with amazing accuracy. And I loved Street Fighter VI, the remake of Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Wonder, Bayonetta Origins, Dave the Diver, and Final Fantasy XVI. And I am very much looking forward to sinking my teeth into Baldur’s Gate 3.

Music

More than possibly any other art form, most of the great music released today operates outside of any real idea of the mainstream: new releases might matter to some extent, but it’s not surprising that older artists and songs often dominate the charts: music is timeless, and years matter little for its impact. That said, I loved Catherine Polacek’s new record, Desire: I Want to Turn Into You, a stunning work of sensual and groovy pop. Nourished by Time’s Erotic Probiotic 2 is a homemade soul record that seems to find the gates to broadcast to the universe from a bedroom. Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS is a very confident and varied pop record that plays well with Paramore’s new release, This is Why. Somehow I realise that in the past few years, most of the best new artists I have discovered are mostly female. There is a hunger to be heard that shows that, indeed, barriers are breaking down, and the sound they make is delicious.

Television

I almost forgot that The Last of Us came this year, and it’s not because it’s a bad show - it’s amazing, just as good as the game that it’s based on - but because there have been so many good shows since then. I am not a big fan of Succession, a great show that focuses on unimportant people, but the last season has a couple of fantastic episodes and consistently great acting. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has landed a fantastic final season, wrapping up one of the greatest shows of the last couple of decades. Ted Lasso also ended a great run, just like Barry, which turned into its darkest possible version at the end.

As a massive fan of The OA, I was very excited about A Murder at the End of the World, but it didn’t get me right away, mostly because I just don’t care for whodunits (the same issue that makes me go back to Poker Face a little at a time, even if it’s excellent). But the show is fantastic overall, and it manages to be extremely on point about current things without any lazy cliche plaguing some half-brained doomerist takes on our chaotic world. Also, Takeshi’s Castle came back and it’s a triumph of everything that is right with humans.

And then there is The Bear season 2, which is the best show of the year. Its seventh episode, Forks, might be the best anything of the year for me. It’s quite unbelievable how much it accomplishes in less than 40 minutes.

Movies

Oppenheimer and Barbie have dominated a very good year, and it’s funny to me just how hard that duo has slammed every lazy opinion piece about cinema being in trouble to the ground, very hard. Watching these movies back to back on the same day, surrounded by excited crowds, is an all-time-greatest film-watching experience; and both movies are very, very good.

Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon are also two prestige movies that show the skills and strength of some of our greatest directors, and the strange role of streaming platforms in this phase of the history of movies: a massive threat to the theatrical experience on one hand, on the other an amazing lifeline for feature films from great authors.

Guardians of the Galaxy 3 has also been a massive highlight. James Gunn’s GOTG movies are my favourites in the whole of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and this third entry has ended the trilogy with an incredible emotional punch, Rocket Raccoon is an extraordinary character, and this is one of the greatest cinematic trilogies of all time. The new Spider-Verse movie has also been a standout, and I’m looking forward to watching the sequel to it.

Italy had some good movies (probably more I have not seen). C’è ancora domani is a wonderfully surprising refutation of nostalgia; Io Capitano is one of the most harrowing Golden Fleece narratives ever put to screen, but it never loses sight of hope, even in its darkest moments. And staying inside Europe, Anatomy of a Fall is a perfect piece of dramaturgy.

It has been a great year for action movies. Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation Part 1 is an incredible film, and so is John Wick 4; and Extraction 2, while not quite at the level of these other two, is a really strong film. And while cinematic comedies are not especially frequent lately, Bottoms is one of the best of the last 20 years. Dungeons and Dragons, a very underrated gem, has shown how much comedy can seep into other genres, and elevate anything.

Other Stuff

I am not a massive reader of long-form material, or better, I tend to read novels and essays over the years, and I rarely dive into a new release as it is out. I have finished 19Q4 this year, and I have started it around 2014. it’s very good! I discovered the books of Gay Hendricks, which kind of changed my life. I read the excellent Deep Play, by Diane Ackerman, in a continuous quest to put into focus the way play intersects with life. I read an excellent biography of Bruce Lee, titled Bruce Lee: A Life, a very good overviews of one of the most insightful minds in modern history.

Podcasts have been my main source of information, as I continued to look to ingest news more slowly in the past, something that has helped me become radically more informed than before. I am a big fan of Decoder, a podcast from the editor-in-chief of The Verge, Nilay Patel, whose focus on understanding how systems and structures impact our digital lives is often enlightening. On Purpose with Jay Shetty is another excellent podcast that talks about spirituality and life choices in deceptively practical, down-to-earth ways. I have also really enjoyed video essays on YouTube from OliSUNvia, a young student of philosophy who does a great job of analysing the complexity of the present without getting bogged down by the seduction of grand narratives.

In Italy, Il Post keeps being the only website that is consistently worth following if one wants to make sense of reality. Still, I am noticing more and more small outlets that are embracing a similar level of commitment to quality, specificity and insight in a country that usually favours fabulism over accuracy and honesty.

What I have been noticing as a larger trend in everything that is non-fiction is that looking at things from a bird’s eye view, today leads to cynicism; diving into communities fills one with hope. And that is a pretty good sign that a lot is going well, but also that we need to rethink the way we tell our stories; many already are.