Dot GOTY: Action-Adventure Game of the Year 2023

This article is part of Dot Esports’ Game of the Year 2023 series. The Dot Esports team have voted for their favorite games this year across a range of genres, including sports, indie, and fighting games. You can check out the other winners here. 

Dot Esports presents to you our Action-Adventure Game of the Year for 2023. We’ve tallied up the team’s votes, and after a titanic struggle between some of the most incredible games in 2023, one title has scooped up the award.

The action-adventure market is more jam-packed than a Tokyo subway in rush hour. Open worlds are bigger than ever, stories are getting more ambitious, and a whole array of weird and wonderful combat systems are shaking up the usual formula. The scale, the detail, and the depth of 2023’s action-adventure games almost beggars belief.

So, it’s only right we honor this year’s best action-adventure games. Did Ubisoft’s assassins sneak their way to glory? Or was the force strong elsewhere? After a long and carefully considered voting process, I can now reveal Dot Esports’ Action-Adventure Game of the Year in 2023.

Dot Action-Adventure Game of the Year 2023: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom officially takes home Dot Esports’ Action-Adventure Game of the Year 2023 award.

It’s a testament to the caliber of 2023’s portfolio that Tears of the Kingdom had some stiff competition for the top spot. But there could only be one real victor here. Nintendo’s illustrious Zelda franchise practically lives in the annals of Metacritic’s hall of fame.

But there was more than a hint of apprehension that TOTK couldn’t live up to the hype, with fears that we’d be returning to the exact same version of Hyrule we’d chalked up a ton of hours in back in 2017. Breath of the Wild was a technical marvel, a clinic in how to execute engaging gameplay, and raised the bar so high it was practically touching the sky. So you know what? Nintendo said: “Let’s just put you in the sky.”

As part of a colossal overhaul of its systems and intricacies, TOTK adds a whole new layer of verticality to the series with the Sky Islands. Its action-adventure credentials are only magnified in the sequel, too. 

A bunch of fun new abilities allow you to rewind time, ascend through surfaces, and fuse objects together—with the creative liberties taken by players to design outrageous vehicles proving to be hilarious and breathtaking. The action is sensational, with combat being as tight as ever. As for the adventuring? Hyrule is still an open world full of hidden dungeons, cheeky collectibles, and sumptuous side quests. Its story isn’t tacked on either and, as usual, carries the weight of a serious video game telling meaningful tales with legendary characters.

With a 96 rating on Metacritic, and easily passing 20 million sales before the end of the year, it’s just a no-brainer that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a worthy recipient of this accolade. This game simply Hy-rules!

Honorable mentions

Now that the dust has settled and congratulations have been directed toward The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, let’s take a look at two games that were close runners-up in this category. 

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

From its early work with Spyro to Ratchet & Clank to Resistance, Insomniac is adept at making must-play games. Spider-Man 2 is the cream of the crop in the new franchise, and like TOTK, it reuses its predecessor’s setting but refreshes and revitalizes everything else. There’s real heart in this game, and it features the most fun traversal mechanics I’ve probably ever seen. The combat is as refined as ever, and making punching bags out of criminals will make anyone’s Spidey senses tingle. Spider-Man 2 is a stellar follow-up that rightfully earns its plaudits and definitely packs some Venom.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon

Boy, FromSoftware is relentless, isn’t it? Not content with unleashing the Souls games on the world, it thought it’d dust off an old favorite in Armored Core for 2023, add a splash of its trademark “broken controller sauce,” and throw its name in the hat for the best action-adventure of the year. AC6 is fantastic and, at times, an exercise in futility as it packs a mean, robot-sized punch—especially its bosses; oh boy, those bosses, let me tell you. Fires of Rubicon condenses its action into multiple action-packed missions and presents you with a wealth of customizable options to give you the mech you want. While not as accessible as Spider-Man 2 or Tears of the Kingdom, this is a punishing yet pleasurable experience that hammers home that FromSoftware is not a one-trick pony.