Super Mario RPG remake by far but also the surprise drop of Hi-Fi Rush! Lowkey I feel Hi-Fi should be considered for GOTY.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Sea of Stars, absolutely adored that game.

There was the exceptional Hi-Fi Rush as a shadow drop this year.

Easily Baldur's Gate 3 being one of the greatest games ever made. I had barely heard of the series and the game wasn't on my radar before release.

Cocoon was the biggest surprise for me. Amazingly polished mind bending puzzle game, balanced to perfection. What seems impossible and confusing at first, always clicks in the best possible way. Not once did I get stuck to the point of wanting to look up the solution or made to feel dumb for missing the obvious. Such a clever game.

Biggest disappointment was Baldur's Gate 3 split-screen. What a terrible time that was. I'm still not ready to pick up where I left off with my single player trek. I should have just bought it for PC as now I'm stuck with the horrible controller UI. It's also not like Baldur's Gate at all.

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty being as amazing as it is. The game (or DLC) surpassed my expectations and is among my favorites of all time; as with the base game. The massive overhaul update helped as well and has some of the most memorable moments in gaming I've had in a long time. Seriously some brilliant stuff from CDPR and a great send-off to 2077.

If we go the other direction, the less favorable surprises are Alan Wake 2 and Diablo IV. Both didn't really didn't do it for me, and I was heavily anticipating both. Alan Wake 2 was the opposite direction I like my action games from Remedy go, as in the the action is scarce and the slow, idk even the story just doesn't do it for me. And D4 was just uninteresting to play, from the gameplay of the classes, the visuals to the non-engaging end game. A big step backwards from D3.

Wanted Dead as a game I liked immediately, need to get back to. Been busy with my 2022 games or retro ones mostly.

I liked the ideas in Atlas Fallen/Immortals of Aveum but not played them. WRC 2023 looks awesome and more exciting then Forza Motorsport 8 by gameplay features alone. So yeah I won't be playing Forza Motorsport 8 at all.

Clive n Wrench was 'fine' not great, not bad either.

Disgaea 7 not felt much with the demo story/mechanics/no idea about full game yet.

Not bought/played Bayonetta Origins yet but will.

Disappointed (trailers yep good new additions, oh character creator, oh controls, oh these things hmm) I didn't like Pikmin 4 even though enjoyed Pikmin 1 on Wii before it, some aspects of Pikmin 4 annoyed me, the controls/other details. I got more frustrated in some areas as it went along. Pikmin 3 Wii U to 1 to 4 and 1&2HD has controls I'm looking for 'thankfully'. I'll get 1&2 HD eventually.

Another Code DS/Wii. Never would have expected, same with Famicom Detective Club prior years. We have no Rhythm Heaven yet for fair reasons but Another Code wow. Cing games live on.

The biggest surprise was a Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake announced. I expected a remaster eventually or just emulation on a potential GameCube NSO App.
As for some other surprises
-A creative 2D Mario announced and launching the same day as Spider-Man 2.
-Super Mario RPG Remake announcement
Negative surprise
-PS Plus price hikes by 35% in the USA (I'm not exactly sure how bad they are in other countries and regions). I figured price hikes were inevitable, but I expected 10-25 percent.

Super Mario RPG Remake, easily.