Today we kick off the second stage of our Game of the Year 2023 vote, which sees Starfield attempt to silence fellow Bethesda Game Studios title Hi-Fi Rush. These two defeated RoboCop: Rogue City and Dead Island 2 in the first stage, respectively.
Both games are certainly very different in terms of gameplay, with Starfield sporting deep RPG mechanics and Hi-Fi Rush bopping to the beat of rhythm-based action, but each has the power of Xbox Game Pass behind them. Starfield might have become the biggest Xbox release of 2023 before it even launched, but it doesn’t appeal to everyone. Hi-Fi Rush, on the other hand, was a surprise hit with players when it shadow-dropped into Xbox Game Pass at the beginning of the year. We expect this to be a pretty tight round with no clear winner to predict.
In an attempt to offer a fair tournament, our first stage saw AAA games make up the top bracket while smaller indie games occupied the second tier. With that now completed, this second stage of the tourney will see the winning games battle it out for a position in stage three.
This is just for a bit of fun to encourage conversation around 2023’s best Xbox games, and we’ll be hosting a more traditional TrueAchievements GOTY vote later this month.
Starfield
Starfield is the first new universe in 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next-generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity’s greatest mystery.
Hi-Fi Rush
Feel the beat as wannabe rockstar Chai and his ragtag team of allies rebel against an evil robotics enhancement megacorp with raucous rhythm combat! From Tango Gameworks, the studio that brought you The Evil Within® and Ghostwire®: Tokyo (no, really) comes Hi-Fi RUSH, an all-new action game where the characters, world and combat stylishly sync to the music!
