HowLongToBeat's 2023 in Review Shows Best Old Games, New Games, and Most Abandoned Games

HowLongToBeat is the ever-famous website that stockpiles all things length of gaming, giving users around the world the capability to know how long games are going to be before they even purchase them! Though this nifty resource has been used by completionists around the world and those who can't play games for longer than 30 hours, every year we get a look at the Year in Review released on the forums, which gives a view of the year's overall releases.

Though there's no question that we had a disastrous 12 months for new releases, it's interesting to see what reception there were to all of the games. It's easy to predict some of the appearances given the best releases of the year and the like, but it's always nice to have a refresher on what was good and what was... not so much.

Before we get into the specifics, it's worth noting that this information is based on the users that utilise the website. HowLongToBeat draws most of these numbers from those who have profiles and keep them updated, which also means that the data might not be perfectly accurate worldwide but gives us a scope of some gamers that keep their profiles up to date and a view of how some gamers felt about them.

The first category 2023 in Review features is the Top Retro Games, for anything that is 20 years or older. This includes an obscene amount of Nintendo titles and — unsurprisingly — the Valve title that recently celebrated an anniversary: Half-Life. Here are the specifics:

1. Metroid Prime (2002)
2. FINAL FANTASY (1987)
3. Half-Life (1998)
4. FINAL FANTASY VII (1997)
5. Pikmin (2001)
6. Kirby's Dream Land (1992)
7. Super Mario Bros. (1985)
8. Metal Gear Solid (1998)
9. Super Mario World (1990)
10. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992)

An interesting assortment of titles made their way to this year's Top Retro Games, but it really comes as no surprise that most of these are Nintendo-owned, and even less so that Half-Life made it so high up the list despite its age (its 25 years, now!). Our next category explores the Top Games NOT Released in 2023, which is a look at anything that isn't quite retro but isn't quite new, either.

1. ELDEN RING (2022)
2. Portal 2 (2011)
3. Portal (2007)
4. Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
5. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)
6. Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018)
7. Hollow Knight(2017)
8. Tomb Raider (2013)
9. God of War (2018)
10. BioShock (2007)

Unsurprisingly, one of 2022's best games made its way to the top category, with ELDEN RING taking #1 above behemoths the like of Cyberpunk 2077 (which received a DLC this year), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Red Dead Redemption 2, all of which don't seem like they're going anywhere.

Next up is the category of most "Retired" games, meaning all of the games that were abandoned over the course of 2023. These are marked by the user as titles they no longer seek to revisit, and it's all 2023 releases (so no old titles here!), and in this list, we have:

1. Redfall (18.6%)
2. Minecraft Legends (15.9%)
3. Forza Motorsport (2023) (14.6%)
4. The Last Case of Benedict Fox (11.9%)
5. Humanity (10.3%)
6. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (9.5%)
7. Wartales (9.2%)
8. Atomic Heart (8.3%)
9. Darkest Dungeon II (7.7%)
10. Terra Nil (7.6%)

Surprisingly (perhaps unsurprisingly?), many of 2023's most hated games didn't make it to this list, though it might be more of a testament of how few gamers genuinely put their time into 2023's worst. After all, these titles were infamous from the start of their release, meaning that many gamers would have avoided them, anyway, making a lower retirement rate than those that released to genuine hype and maybe weren't seen as "bad" but "middling".

Next up we have Most Backlogged games, which is a category wherein users put the game in their "to-play" list but haven't actually gotten to them. The list within a list all gamers with over a hundred games have includes games you own that you are "definitely" going to play versus the ones you'll "one day" get to play. And, as no surprise to anyone, the gargantuans lead the charge in this one, featuring:

1. Baldur's Gate 3
2. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
3. Hogwarts Legacy
4. Resident Evil 4 (2023)
5. Starfield
6. Hi-Fi RUSH
7. Final Fantasy XVI
8. Dead Space (2023)
9. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
10. Sea of Stars

After all, who wouldn't put two games with 100+ hours in their backlog for later? But from most backlogged to the ones where most games actually  finished, here are the Most Completed Games of 2023:

1. Hogwarts Legacy
2. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
3. Resident Evil 4
4. Hi-Fi RUSH
5. Final Fantasy XVI
6. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
7. Super Mario Bros. Wonder
8. Baldur's Gate 3
9. Dead Space (2023)
10. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Surprisingly, many of the most backlogged made their way into this list, too, showing just how grand of an audience these games found. They are both the most anticipated and backlogged games and the ones that most people actually completed over the year, which shows that all kinds of gamers are looking at these to play currently and  to play in the future.

Next up is the Most Played Platforms, which though the leaders might surprise no one, have some surprising stats that we didn't see coming:

1. PC
2. Nintendo Switch
3. PlayStation 4
4. PlayStation 5
5. PlayStation 3
6. Xbox One
7. Xbox Series X|S
8. PlayStation 2
9. Xbox 360
10. Nintendo 3DS

It may come as a shock to many that previous-generation consoles are still being used more than their current-gen counterparts, but our writer did explore why last-gen games keep releasing, and this might be another reason to factor into the decisions. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One keep surpassing their current-gen brethren, so we might see support go on for quite a bit longer.

Next up is the Longest Games, which really is rather self-explanatory — the longest games released over the course of 2023. With so many open-world experiences, all-encompassing RPGs, and Baldur's Gate 3, these entries aren't shy to enter the triple digits.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (110 hours)
2. Baldur's Gate 3 (105 hours)
3. OCTOPATH TRAVELER II (80 hours)
4. Starfield (65 hours)
5. Fire Emblem Engage (63 hours)
6. Final Fantasy XVI (58 hours)
7. Hogwarts Legacy (46 hours)
8. Diablo IV (41 hours)
9. Lies Of P(37 hours)
10. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (35 hours)

These numbers aren't exactly connected to HowLongToBeat's estimates for Main Story, Main + Extra, or the Completionist categories, which means it's likely gathered from everyone who ticked the games as "Finished" on their profile and gathering a median from all of these (which, unsurprisingly, very closely resembles the Main + Extra category).

From longest games to the games that all players should look at for quick completions to raise their Average Completion Rate, we have the Quickest Completions, featuring 10 titles released in 2023, starting with:

1. Pineapple on Pizza (22 minutes)
2. Cats Hidden in Paris (26 minutes)
3. I Commissioned Some Bees 0 (one hour)
4. An Arcade Full of Cats (one hour and 28 minutes)
5. Venba (one hour and 35 minutes)
6. WarioWare: Move It! (two hours and 15 minutes)
7. Storyteller (two hours and 20 minutes)
8. The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (two hours and 25 minutes)
9. Slay the Princess (three hours and 20 minutes)
10. Dordogne (three hours and 40 minutes)

And there you have it! 2023 in a review from the point of view of many gamers' hours spent playing. Overall, many of these make sense when looking closer, including remasters released over the year, some of the most beloved titles, and even the most hated. If you want to join the conversation, check it out on HowLongToBeat's forum right here!