The greatest game of the decade

So, 70 dollars – and you have the most grandiose game in Nintendo history, built on a combination of arcade, RPG and quest. Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild. However, do not rush to think that you will have to re-explore the already walked far and wide Hyrule. The landscapes remained the same – yes, but at the same time, two new huge worlds were added at once. The first is the archipelago of islands levitating over Hyrule. The second is the caverns beneath Hyrule and the abandoned mines there, somewhat reminiscent of the mines of Moria from the Lord of the Rings. But the main innovation is, of course, a carefully designed plot. If in the first game, it was as simple as possible: there is a princess in the castle – go and save her, now we have such a puzzle that the best screenwriters in Hollywood will envy.

The plot is as follows. A few years after the finale of Breath of the Wild, the cities of Hyrule are slowly recovering and, it seems, and nothing seems to bode ill. But then poisonous miasmas begin to ooze out from under the castle. They hover in the air and take strength from any living being. Wanting to find out, Zelda and Link descend into a dungeon, where they discover the remains of an ancient civilization, as well as a mysterious mummy supported in the air by an even more mysterious neon hand. Then it gets worse – the mummy comes to life, calls the guests by name and sends darkness, after which an earthquake begins. For some reason, the castle rises into the sky, and the mummy falls into abyss. Then Zelda breaks into the abyss too, flashing a bright light for the last time. Link is saved from this brawl by the same neon hand.

Having recovered, the hero finds himself on islands in the sky, where he meets the mysterious ghost Rauru, about whom the mummy said something indistinct to him and Zelda. There are more questions than answers. Where did Zelda go? What are these islands that have appeared in the sky? Who is Rauru? And who was that nightmarish mummy in the dungeon? Link and you, along with him, will have to find out all this step by step. But you will get to the first story quest only 5-7 hours after the start – and all because the lore of the game is huge and full of distracting activities, which you plunge into with your head, forgetting where you ran at all and why.

The developers have upgraded not only the boundless world of the kingdom, but also the main character. Immediately after the beginning, the hand that saved Link replaces his own and grants superpowers. Now he is subject to such miracles as Ultrahand (collecting objects into mechanisms), Fuse (combining finds with weapons to improve it), Ascend (jumping through the ceiling) and Recall (returning objects back in time). As a result, you want to live 24/7 in Tears of the Kingdom and constantly experiment, testing local mechanics for strength.

However, "Zelda"– although adored by millions of adults – still looks like a "cartoon" for children. If for some reason this distracts you, then 2023 has already pleased (and will still please) with no less cool releases for, let's say, a more solid audience.

For those who are attracted to the ever-growing atmosphere of fear and anxiety, we recommend paying attention to the remake of Resident Evil 4, released in March this year and received universal critical acclaim. You will enjoy not only the mission to rescue the daughter of the US president from the slums of a Spanish village ruled by a cruel cult of an ancient parasite, but also the magnificent "chest physics" of characters Ada Wong and Ashley Graham. Capcom Corporation received special respect from the male audience for carefully developing this exciting effect.

Fans of the "Star Wars" franchise and especially the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" series (which made a lot of noise last year, beating even the public's favorite "Mandalorian" at the start) will definitely be interested in the game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The plots of the game and the series develop at the same time. And the main difference between Survivor and the previous release – Fallen Order – was the giant planet Koboh, where the local population suffers under the yoke of Bedlam Raiders gang. Koboh not only fascinates with its landscape, but also becomes the starting point for the adventures of Jedi Cal Kestis. He has chosen a local saloon as his headquarters, where various unpleasant visitors visit, so if the opportunity to wave a lightsaber left and right is your erogenous zone, then the new Survivor will satisfy this thirst in full.

Having made a lot of money from the Original Sin dilogy, the Belgian company Larian Studios set itself a super-ambitious task – to create the best role-playing game of the decade. Baldur's Gate 3 is based on the fifth (last for today) edition of the iconic Dungeons & Dragons board game. In the story, the character finds himself a prisoner on board of Illithids – eight-legged creatures that reproduce by laying larvae in the bodies of other races. One such larva is just stuck in the brain of the main character, and his main task is to escape from the illithids at all costs and somehow pick the vile creature out of his head. How interesting all this will be, we will find out immediately after the official release of the game at the end of summer, but in the meantime, we buy a wall calendar and cross out the days remaining before this event.

Well, what about something new? Those who are tired of years of gruelling franchises can only wait until September, when the new Starfield will be released. This hard-core RPG from Bethesda Game Studios (famous for the hits Fallout and The Elder Scrolls) fuels interest in what will be the company's first original franchise in the last 25 years. The action of the space opera will unfold in the distant future, when the nuclear war has long been over. And the main character will be a member of the organization of space explorers. The lion's share of gameplay will be, what we all love so much in open-world games, traveling the Galaxy, exploring secret planets, interacting with strange races, and encountering frightening and incomprehensible anomalies. Oh, can't wait to see.