Today we come to our third and final section of TheGamer Aces, our awards designed to celebrate the smaller cogs that whirr and spin to give video games life. After looking atCharacterandPresentationearlier this week, we move today onto the Feature Aces. Instead of thinking about the more ephemeral parts of gaming like Creative Direction or Character Writing, those sorts of elements that build and develop as we go through a game, the Feature Aces are a little more concrete.
That means looking at the Best Level, Best Expansion, Most Creative Gameplay Mechanic, Biggest Technical Achievement, and the Most Impactful game for our editors this year - you can check out the video above for our discussion, or scroll down to see the winners.
Best Level
Many games have ditched the traditional level structure, so we looked at this award as any specific and succinct part of a game from last year. And when it comes to singularly standout experiences, We Sing fromAlan Wake 2is the definitive example. If you haven’t played the mesmerisingly iconic level for yourself, you’re able to watch it below. Although if you tuned in to The Game Awards last year, you already saw it…
Best Expansion
Games evolve after release these days, adding on new levels, areas, missions, skins and, in some cases, endings.Baldur’s Gate 3’sPatch 5 just sounds like a regular patch, aimed at fixing bugs and giving it a polish, but when you think of the depth to the additional ending, and the much-anticipated arrival of Honour Mode, it seems like a much bigger contender - thoughPhantom Libertymissing out is a major upset.
Most Creative Gameplay Mechanic
WithZeldaand Alan Wake in particular, they both have several innovative mechanics that could have made the cut here, and it’s therefore only fitting that one of them takes home the crown. Zelda’s Ultrahand snatches it, in part because of how rapidly iconic it became as it underlined the creativity at the heart of Zelda’s design direction. The fact Ascend could have easily been here as well is a testament to how loaded TOTK is with spectacular ideas, and is a gloriously confident send-off for theNintendo Switch.
Biggest Technical Achievement
Take everything I wrote above and slap it here too.Tears of the Kingdomhas a technological prowess many games can only dream of on a console far less powerful than most of 2023’s big guns had at their disposal. It’s not just that Zelda was able to introduce so much user-led creativity, but how little it broke down, no matter what people tried. Physics is usually an area ripe for comedy in gaming, but Zelda’s is so faultless no matter how far it was stretched, it snapped right back into place.
Most Impactful Game
Baldur’s Gate 3 was our overall game of the year by a landslide, so it’s perhaps no surprise to see it here. In the last two years, we gave that honour toCitizen SleeperandThe Forgotten City, so these smaller and more inventive titles have left their mark on TheGamer in the past, but there really is nothing like Baldur’s Gate 3. With so many stories that resonated with so many people in so many ways, no matter who you are or what you’ve been through, you’ll probably find something in Baldur’s Gate 3 that speaks to you.
That’s a wrap on TheGamer Aces, see you next year when we’ll be celebrating everything gaming brings in 2024.
