The platformer genre is one of the oldest experiences within the gaming industry, commonly associated with classic franchises likeMarioandSonic. Over the years, the genre has continued to evolve and grow from the classic days of simply running and jumping, typically incorporating additional mechanics such as the running and gunning ofContra, puzzle-style obstacles ofBraid, or even theRPG features in titles likeCastlevania: Symphony of the Night.
This year saw an extremely diverse set of platforming games, giving fans a wealth of options to pick from puzzle platformers, music-infused experiences, first-person action, and everything else in between. For those who wanted a more traditional platforming experience, even Nintendo managed tolaunch a brand-newSuper Mario Brosexperience. With so many options to pick from, here are the10 best platformers that launched in 2023, in no particular order.
Astral Ascent
Astral Ascent takes the classic 2D side-scrolling platformer style and mixes it with Rogue-lite elements inside a modern fantasy world. Players can pick from 4 different heroes that can be fully customized to their preferred play style thanks to dozens of upgradable spells to pick from or combined for different style effects. Oneelement ofAstral Ascentthat players have raved aboutis its impressive boss battles, putting players up against the 12 Zodiacs. Better yet,Astral Ascentnot only supports solo players, but it has a 2-player option as well.
Players continue to get stronger even after defeat, as each run presents new opportunities to upgrade abilities or unlock new ones. Characters will continue to offer new details about the world or themselves, pushing the game’s narrative forward through successive runs. In addition to combat, each level features plenty of platforming across various handcrafted worlds to explore hidden secrets or utilize abilities to overcome some light puzzle elements as well.
Disney Illusion Island
A classic platforming experience,Disney Illusion Islandis a 2D side-scrolling platform titlethat also manages to combine a light amount of Metroidvania-style gameplay. As Mickey, Minnie, Donald, or Goofy, players will be running and jumping their way through Monolith Island. There are no direct combat options, so players will need to avoid attacks, even during various boss battles. Instead, players can engage with platforming-specific moves to indirectly damage the boss.
While progressing through the game, players will also unlock new abilities for the characters, like being able to wall jump, swing, and more. Not only do these open up new possibilities for traversing through a level, but players can backtrack to previous levels with these new abilities to track down hidden collectible items like concept art, backstories, and other digital Disney memorabilia.
WHERE TO PLAY
Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy embark on a new adventure to find three magical books and save the mysterious island of Monoth. You’ll meet unusual allies and dangerous foes as you play solo or with up to three friends as the Fab Four in local co-op*. Work together as you run, jump, swim, and swing your way to victory!
Experience a brand-new Mickey & Friends adventure with hand-drawn animation, a fully orchestrated original score, and featuring performances from the authentic voice talents.
Ghostrunner 2
A nominee for Best Action Game at The 2023 Game Awards isGhostrunner 2, a sequel to One More Level’s debut title in 2020. Retaining the first-person perspective gameplay and lighting-fast, one-hit-kill combat,Ghostrunner 2take the franchise forward, including the addition of a stamina meter, a ridable motorcycle, and new special abilities like Shadow, which turns protagonist Jack invisible.
Between the action, players will betraversing the newly improvedGhostrunner 2worldthrough a variety of abilities like dashing, wall-running, sliding, and utilizing a grappling hook to reach higher ledges as well as swing through the levels. Unlike the previous game, levels inGhostrunner 2are non-linear, meaning that players can plan their routes to avoid tricky spots or potentially get the drop on waiting enemies.
Hi-Fi Rush
One of thebiggest surprises of 2023 isHi-Fi Rush, a game that was announced and then released all on the same day. However, the most shocking aspect ofHi-Fi Rushis that it was developed by Tango Gameworks, a studio founded by the formerResident Evildirector Shinji Mikami and is primarily known for its survival horror franchise,The Evil Within.Hi-Fi Rushis about as opposite as a game could be as not only does it utilize a much brighter color palette and feature loads of stylish charm, but the biggest gameplay mechanic revolves around music and matching player actions to the rhythm of each level.
Taking place across multiple linear style levels, players will be running, dashing, and jumping from area to area, with action-based fight sequences and boss battles mixed in. Players can also upgrade their abilities to unlock new moves, abilities, and other perks though they’ll need to find hidden collectibles and other resources by navigating and exploring each level all while trying to stay on beat. Completionists can also go back into a level select menu to uncover any secrets, complete challenges, and anything else they may have missed the first time through.
Feel the beat as wannabe rockstar Chai and his ragtag team of allies rebel against an evil robotics enhancement megacorp with raucous rhythm combat! From Tango Gameworks, the studio that brought you The Evil Within® and Ghostwire®: Tokyo (no, really) comes Hi-Fi RUSH, an all-new action game where the characters, world and combat stylishly sync to the music!CHAI VERSUS THE WORLD: Labeled ‘defective’ after a shady corporate experiment mistakenly fuses a music player to his heart, Chai must now fight for his freedom in a slick animated world where everything – platforming puzzles, enemy attacks and even the colorful gags & banter - are synced to the beat.OPEN UP THE MOSH PIT!: Take on armies of corporate drones (read: actual robots) in satisfying, rhythm-amplified combat. Time your moves to pull off flashy Beat Hits, hard-hitting special abilities and even combination attacks with your allies! Want to show off? Go further and tap into the beat to amp up your skills and earn those covetous S-rank scores.ROWDY REBELS VS. BADASS BOSSES: Lead a squad of colorful teammates and take the fight to the heart of an, er, heartless corporation. Square off with each department’s boss, from Production to Marketing to Finance, each more ready to protect the company’s bottom line than the last in over-the-top battle sequences accompanied by their own music tracks!GRAB YOUR HEADPHONES: Tap your toes to a killer mixtape of original music, as well as songs by Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy, The Joy Formidable and more! Want to show off your skills to a live streaming audience? Fret not: Hi-Fi RUSH includes a streamer-friendly alternate audio mode which replaces those licensed songs with original tracks made especially for streaming Hi-Fi RUSH.
Jusant
Arriving from Don’t Nod, the French developer responsible for IPs likeRemember Me,Life is Strange, and the upcomingBanishers: Ghost of New Eden,Jusantis a puzzle platformer that tasks players with climbing a desolate tower. This massive structure is so big that it incorporates multiple biomes, each one adding unique mechanics and traversal methods. Without any dialogue,Jusantrelies heavily on the environment to tell the story, with players learning more about the civilization as well as what happened to them.
Unlike many other platformers on this list,Jusantutilizes a unique climbing mechanicthat requires placing the character’s hands on raised surfaces to ascend. There’s also a stamina meter that needs to be maintained while climbing, tools like pitons and ropes to make backtracking easier, as well as utilizing the environment and solving puzzles on occasion. A companion character named Ballast not only reveals clues to the player when needed, but it’ll open new paths by waking the nature trapped in these areas, opening new paths and adding a splash of color to the world.
Jusant is a brand-new action-puzzle climbing game and a meditative journey to the top of a tall tower. Challenge yourself at your own pace, explore different paths, and unravel the secrets from a bygone civilization.Master your climbing tools and watch your stamina meter to successfully navigate this mysterious and changing tower. As you go higher and hone your skills, you’ll have to figure out how best to use the tools at your disposal to get to where you want to go. Explore alternative paths to find clues about what happened here.Play at your own pace. As you climb, you’ll come across breathtaking biomes full of flora and fauna, accompanied by a peaceful and atmospheric soundtrack. Brace yourself on arid, windy slopes, seek refuge in tunnels lit only by bioluminescence, and more.Meet the mysterious Ballast. This creature will help guide you throughout your journey by waking nature along your path and helping to reveal clues that will help you piece together the tower’s past and reach the top.
The Last Faith
Taking inspiration from Konami’sCastlevaniaseries isThe Last Faith, a game that originally began as a Kickstarter campaign. As a Metroidvania experience,The Last Faithmixes combat and platforming together, while gradually unlocking more and more upgrades that allow players to go back to open previously blocked doors or paths. The game mixes melee and ranged combat, alongside specialized abilities and magic, giving players plenty of options for how to deal with the Gothic horrors and bosses awaiting them.
Players take on the character Eryk, who seemingly awakens and is unable to remember his past. Struck with an affliction that is seemingly causing his mind and conscience to deteriorate, Eryk takes on a cursed mission to find answers as well as a cure. In addition to unique boss encounters, The Last Faithwill push players to find ways to traverse its landscape, with new skills helping to take what’s possible even further.
The wicked and the blessed will be judged the same - let nothing stand in your way.Often brutal, always empowering, The Last Faith is an unholy alliance of metroidvania and soulslike.The Last Faith thrives on merciless and precise combat, with a huge range of custom executions to perform.Discover a formidable arsenal of melee weapons, arcane spells, and long-range firearms, allowing you to carve a path your own way.Nonlinear exploration is at the core of The Last Faith. Gorgeous pixel art depicts an imposing gothic landscape. Journey along snow-dusted mountains and castles bathed in moonlight. Discover and upgrade a formidable range of tools for destruction.Step into The Last Faith’s ravaged world as Eryk, who awakens with no recollection of his immediate past. Soon he will discover he is in a race against time as his mind and conscience begins to deteriorate. His desire for salvation from this affliction sets him on a cursed mission that crosses paths with ancient religions and divinities.
Pizza Tower
Seemingly coming out of nowhere early in 2023 was the indie gamePizza Tower,which quickly went on to become a viral hit and also one of thehighest-rated games on Steam following its release. A classic 2D side-scrolling experience, players take on the role of Peppino Spaghetti, who sets out to defeat his rival Pizzaface after the latter threatens to destroy his struggling restaurant. The tower serves as the hub world of the game, connecting players to each of the five floors, each containing four levels and then a boss fight.
The pixel art title takes inspiration from Nintendo’sWario Landseries, giving Peppino momentum-based abilities like shoulder charge, roll, and slide to help get through enemies, run up walls, and get past obstacles. Levels hold plenty of secrets to find, some even granting new abilities or cosmetics, and even creatures that help unlock boss fights. The end of most levels triggers a “Pizza Time” event that challenges the player to backtrack through the level to the beginning before a timer reaches zero. Finally, the player is then graded on their performance, getting a letter grade based on how well they performed.
Pizza Tower is a fast paced 2D platformer, with an emphasis on movement, exploration and score attack. Featuring highly stylized pixel art inspired by the cartoons from the ’90s, and a highly energetic soundtrack.Peppino Spaghetti, a surprisingly agile and powerful fat balding italian, is on a mission to destroy the titular Pizza Tower to save his restaurant from annihilation. Follow him through his rampage across the many wacky floors of the tower, collecting toppings and beating up monsters!PLAY as Peppino Spaghetti, the supersonic italian middle-aged man! And sometimes Gustavo.EXPLORE up to 5 floors leading to many levels, discover all of their secrets!FIGHT some monsters and other weirdos!DESTROY everything in your path, including those stupid rats.BECOME the Pizza Tower!
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
While technically considered an action-adventure game,Star Wars Jedi: Survivordeserves a spot here thanks to its level design, which places a heavy emphasis on running, jumping, and using Jedi abilities to navigate platforms and terrain. There’s certainly no shortage of lightsaber, though between these action-heavy moments, players will largely be navigating and exploring various and larger open levels to reach new objectives or push the game’s narrative along.
Not only that,Star Wars Jedi: Survivorfeatures plenty of collectibleslike datadiscs or essences, many of which are hidden or specifically placed within tricky-to-reach areas within the world, testing the player’s platforming ability and skills. There are no better examples than the optional Jedi Meditation Chambers, which typically feature heavy platforming and puzzle-solving elements that eventually lead to perks and lightsaber-related cosmetic items. To help with exploration, Respawn even attempted to improve on some of the shortcomings from the first game by adding ridable mounts, as well as fast travel, to help players navigate these larger open spaces beyond just using their own abilities.
The story of Cal Kestis continues in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor™, a third person galaxy-spanning action-adventure game from Respawn Entertainment, developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. This narratively-driven, single player title picks up five years after the events of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order™ and follows Cal’s increasingly desperate fight as the galaxy descends further into darkness. Pushed to the edges of the galaxy by the Empire, Cal will find himself surrounded by threats new and familiar. As one of the last surviving Jedi Knights, Cal is driven to make a stand during the galaxy’s darkest times - but how far is he willing to go to protect himself, his crew, and the legacy of the Jedi Order?Explore an Untamed Galaxy – Discover new planets and familiar frontiers in the Star Wars galaxy, each with unique biomes, challenges, and enemies. Master new skills, equipment, and abilities that will augment the ways you explore, fight, and roam. With larger areas to explore and more to discover off the beaten path, players who adventure beyond the horizon will find hidden rewards.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
For many gamers, “Super Mario” is synonymous with the platforming genre, and Nintendo surprised a lot of fans when it announced a brand-new 2DMariogame in summer 2023.Super Mario Bros. Wondertakes players to the Flower Kingdom to visit with Prince Florian and see their treasures known as Wonder Flowers. Unsurprisingly, Bowser shows up, steals a Wonder Flower, and essentially merges with Florian’s castle to cause general chaos across the land.
Gameplay-wise,Wonderchecks all the platforming boxes, returning Mario and friends to the classic side-scrolling gameplay through beating worlds and their various levels. In addition to standard Mario powerups, players can interact with a fruit that turns them into an Elephant, a drill allowing them to burrow under or through ceilings, and a flower that grants bubbles for trapping enemies or to be used as temporary platforms.Super Mario Bros Wonderplayers can also unlock special badgeswhich provide bonuses or change up normal gameplay such as the ability to go completely invisible, grapple to ledges, or speedrun the entire stage. One other trick up Nintendo’s sleeve is the previously mentioned Wonder Flowers, which trigger unique and outright bizarre effects in each level.
The next evolution of Mario fun: Classic Mario gameplay is turned on its head with Wonder Flowers in the Super Mario Bros. Wonder game! These game-changing items can make some wonderfully weird stuff happen. Witness pipes coming alive, wreak havoc as a giant Spike-Ball, and lots more!Loca: Up to 4 players can tackle courses together, share power-ups, and revive each other. Yoshis can also carry other players on their back to help each other overcome challenging courses!Online: With a Nintendo Switch Online membership**, you’re able to share your adventure with players from all over the world or play online with up to 12 friends in a Friend Room, with 4 players per course. Help each other out or see who can finish first! If you place a standee while you’re playing online, other players can use them to revive!
Vernal Edge
Featuring 2D-style pixel art,Vernal Edgemixes Metroidvania-style platforming with fast-paced and precise combat one would typicallyassociate with Capcom’sDevil May Cryseries. The combat system is fast-paced and mixes melee attacks and abilities with magical powers, letting players not only string together attacks but juggle enemies in the air as well. Players do have some defensive options at their disposal, reflecting attacks, parrying, air blocking, and more, opening up a wealth of options for overcoming the numerous challenges and boss battles.
Exploration is a key part ofVernal Edge, as players traverse the environment using double jumps, sliding, dashing, and wall jumping to move around the levels to discover secrets, powerups, abilities, and much more. There’s even an airship that players can take to travel to new areas of the fragmented kingdom, opening up a brand-new map to explore through, eventually leading to more fast-paced one-on-one boss fights.
