GOTY OF THE YOTY 2023

my favorite media of 2023

At a stunning 107,000 km/h, over 203 times faster than the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut (the fastest sports car in the world), we completed this latest lap around the sun… Happy new year!

While our planet barreled through the cosmic void there were a bunch of things that I really liked:

🐐 GOTY OF THE YOTY🐐

1. The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood (Deconstructeam)

   One of my favorite games this year was this exceptionally written and exceptionally witchy narrative adventure. The choices you get to make are A) heavy hitting and full of consequences, and B) constrained by a clever tarot-crafting mechanic that adds a great new spin to “choose your own adventure”.

2. Subpar Pool (grapefrukt games)

   Taking pool and minigolf and turning them into a highly replayable run-based roguelite is simply genius! The whole run structure alone is worth checking out, besides the simple fact that bouncing your little guy around feels incredible.

3. Puzzmo (Zach Gage & Orta Therox)

   So much respect for launching a whole daily puzzle platform filled with classics like Spelltower, Really Bad Chess and the 1910 GOTY “Crosswords”. But where it really hits me is how this combines “simple” daily games with complex scoring: global, friend and even group leaderboards, and every game is scored across a variety of very different metrics. Do you want to play fast, play accurately, or even just try and form the longest possible word? To each their own, and Puzzmo presents it all in a beautiful way.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Venba, Mosa Lina, Storyteller, Music League

STILL WANT TO PLAY:

Buckshot Roulette, Anthology of the Killer, Knuckle Sandwich

🎥FOTY🎥

Although seeing TENET again three seats in front of me on a long flight was definitely a highlight, it did not make the cut.

1. The Boy and the Heron (Studio Ghibli)

   Miyazaki finally follows in the footsteps of cinema titans like Hitchcock, Spielberg and Miller in making a movie about fucked up birds. Besides the beautiful animation (they are FLEXING!) the story and metaphors hit me on a personal level.

2. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson)

   Classic puppet story as stop-motion puppetry and antifascist roguelike? Sign me up!

3. Scavengers (Joseph Bennett, Charles Huettner)

   You can take 8 minutes out of your day and watch this short sci-fi animation right now, and then be pleased to know that they just released a whole animated series called Scavengers Reign!

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

How to Blow up a Pipeline, Geographies of Solitude, Half-Life: 25th Anniversary Documentary

📚 BOTY 📚

1. Vermis I & II (Plastiboo)

   Vermis is an art book, fictional game manual, and extremely atmospheric little story all in a beautiful one-of-a-kind package. Highly recommended.

2. When I Sing, Mountains Dance (Irene Solà)

   Do you like magical realism and little Catalonian towns and generations of tragedy and grief and forgiveness? Each chapter in this moving little book is told from a different perspective, from hunting teenagers to snobby hikers to the ghosts of witches of the past, and even a brief chapter told by the mushrooms in the forest. A wild thing to attempt but it lands it perfectly.

3. Afterlives (Abdulrazak Gurnah)

   This one actually won a Nobel Prize so liking this book is one thing the inventor of dynamite and myself have in common. It’s a haunting story set in what is now Tanzania during World War I and the end of German colonial reign.

4. Lijmen/Het Been (Willem Elsschot)

   Lijmen/Het Been (or Soft Soap/The Leg in English) is about a scam artists’ coincidental apprentice, and while this book is almost a century old it’s still an incredibly on point satire of commerce, marketing, and the world of business. It reminds me a lot of B. Traven’s writing, people had some sharp thoughts back in that day.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

The Dispossessed, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief, A Short Stay in Hell, Norstrilia

🎵 MOTY🎵

1. Jasmine (Arlo Parks)

   You’re gonna sing like this and it’s a Jai Paul cover? Let’s gooo!

2. Unavailable (Davido ft. Musa Keys)

   If you’re not scared of pop music, 2023 was undeniably the year of Amapiano. This song perfectly captures the vibe of “please do not send me any more e-mails” and “I am not picking up the phone” that we can all use in our daily lives.

3. leavemealone (Fred again.. & Baby Keem)

   If Davido’s Unavailable was not enough, you can add leavemealone to the introvert bangers playlist! Last year was all about setting boundaries, that’s right.

HONORABLE MIXTAPES:

Chase & Status Boiler Room: London, glittertape #7, 10

Wrapping up

Looking back, 2023 was an uphill year for me, in that it was difficult but also ended in a better place than it started, with good perspective. I got to go on some inspiring trips, learnt how to replace flat tires, tried out scuba diving and finally took a first aid course!

In between all that we also released Ridiculous Fishing EX which happened to be TouchArcade’s iPhone game of the year (thanks Zach, Greg & KO_OP), dropped all-for-charity Minit Fun Racer on Switch (thanks for the port Thalamus Digital), and Kitty Calis and I’ve been steadily working on our new project with a lovely team.

She recently compared it to a jigsaw puzzle, where the edges are all in place, and it’s now time to fill in the middle. (I couldn’t agree more, super stoked for the game we’re making!)

So yeah, expect some big announcements soon!

If you want entertainment and good company in the meantime, you’re very welcome in the jwaaaap discord.

Wishing you a lovely year,
JW