As a reader, I tend to be drawn to books that look as if they’ll take me somewhere new, and I’m glad to report that I was taken to a great many new places this year. This has been a particularly good year for innovative, fresh-feeling horror, which seems like an excellent place to start.

I’ve always considered myself a voracious reader. This year, however, I don’t think I’ve finished more than half a dozen books. There are a lot of reasons why, but outside of writing my own, the biggest one is because I spent most of my free time playing video games. In my defense, I tend to play games that have strong narratives, so it’s not like my life is without stories, and crawling out of Covid seems to have necessitated, for me at least, a huge shift in habits.

So, with that in mind, let’s kick things off the best games I played this year, starting with The Last of Us Part I & Part 2. I’m not sure I’ll ever experience stories as impactful as these two brutal, beautiful games, especially playing them back to back. It’s rare that I feel like replaying games, but I will absolutely return to these two on a yearly basis.

On the opposite end of that spectrum is Elden Ring. Don’t get me wrong, it’s one the best games I’ve ever played, but after devoting over 150 hours to it, I’m not sure how often I’ll be diving back into the Lands Between. There are far too many other games calling out for my attention, like God of War Ragnarok, which was equally amazing and a great way to cap off the year.

As for books, I’m a sucker for stories set in gritty cities. Throw in a magic system built on deranged gods and manic saints, add in a badass thief and a heaping handful of stunning prose, and I’m in book heaven. If that sounds like something you might be into, then look no further than Gareth Hanrahan’s The Gutter Prayer. It’s one of the most immersive, imaginative fantasies I’ve read in a long, long while.

If heartfelt and funny is more your bag, then I highly advise checking out Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. Imagine your favorite rock band coming out of retirement and embarking on the most amazing tour of their career, only instead of a rock band it’s a group of grizzled mercenaries carving their bloody way through a fantasy world that feels both comfortably familiar and altogether new. That’s Kings of the Wyld.

Outside of games and books, I spent a lot of time on YouTube watching (surprise, surprise) loads of gaming channels as well as the current campaign of Critical Role. I also finally caught up on The Boys, and just finished the first season of The Peripheral. I highly recommend both.

While I have no doubt that gaming will continue to dominate my free time, I’m definitely looking forward to making a dent in my TBR pile. Chuck Wendig’s Wayward and Tamsyn Muir’s Nona the Ninth are at the top of the list for sure, as well as Nicholas Eames’ Bloody Rose and Christopher Buehlman’s The Blacktongue Thief. In more personal book news, I’m crossing all my fingers that I’ll have some new projects to announce soon. Here’s to 2023!

Bio:

Ron Walters is the author of Deep Dive, an adult sci-fi thriller, and Calix and the Fire Demon, a middle grade fantasy.