The 2023 Esquire Gaming Awards

Unlike the Nintendo Switch or the Steam Deck—which are bonafide standalone consoles—the PlayStation Portal is unusable unless you own a PlayStation console. It also only works with a Wi-Fi signal. (Sorry, bluetooth.) You need to know those cons first, because this isn’t a $200 portable PlayStation. But if you’re a PlayStation owner and have the cash to spare, you should absolutely pick up the PlayStation Portal—because there’s never been a better way to share the TV with your housemates. Does your roommate or significant other have a problem with you hogging the screen for 10-plus hours a week? This is your solution. It might not be a device for everyone, but the PlayStation Portal will save relationships. —J.R.

For everyone who’s not a PlayStation gamer, Razer came through. Look, is it the revolution Razer promised? No. But is it a huge step in mobile gaming? Absolutely. Like a regular PC, you can load and stream whatever you want from Steam. But if you’re like myself and already rock Xbox Game Pass, you can just think of this as your own version of that PlayStation Portal. It’s a console on the go. The AMOLED screen is lovely, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon chip is—despite a minor rollout scandal—powerful enough to run big titles. It’s a great handheld entry, and a canary for how big the handheld industry will become. Read our full review here. —Luke Guillory

This isn’t really news: HP’s Victus series has been everyone’s favorite budget-friendly laptop for years now. What we’re rewarding is HP’s enduring commitment to offering a solid gaming laptop at a fair price. You can pick up a base model for under $1,000—and that will handle 75 percent of the games you want to play for the next five years. If you want to play AAA games on a laptop, the pre-configured “Esports Pro” build is capable of running big titles on their max settings, and it only costs $1,200. PC gaming is intimidating to anyone who’s not already into it, but HP has continued to offer it up to the masses. —L.G.

Yes, the Sony PlayStation VR2 is an unholy $549. And yes, you don’t want to pay that amount money to strap a fancy doohickey to your face. This is the Gaming Awards, though, and the PlayStation VR2 is the best option out there. I can only describe the image quality as: That’s the tall lady from Resident Evil Village and I just pissed my pants. The PlayStation VR2 also sports a built-in front-facing camera, which means that you can actually see what’s in front of you when you’re getting situated. As for the games? Between Resident Evil Village VR and (my personal favorite) Gran Turismo 7 VR, you have two genuine showstoppers. Sony! Just knock a little bit off the price tag and we’ll never take the thing off.—B.L.

In last year’s Gaming Awards, we christened Xbox Game Pass the best deal in gaming—because you get a massive library of old (and new!) titles with one monthly payment. If you have Game Pass Ultimate, you don’t even need a console, because Samsung’s gaming hub—pre-downloaded on new monitors and TVs—can stream Xbox games directly from the cloud. Given the Freestyle 2 is small enough to fit on a carry-on, it’s practically a pocket-sized console. The device isn’t without its faults; you can only use it in lower light settings. Still, it’s a massive leap forward for cloud-based console gaming.—L.G.

The SecretLab Titan Evo was our Best Gaming Chair last year—and they’re back here again with an even more comfortable model. Their new SoftWeave Plus fabric is soft, breathable, and, supportive. Rep all your favorite competitive video game characters and anime, too including design collaborations with Overwatch, Jujutsu Kaisen, Demons Slayer, Fortnite, and more. The Titan Evo can also look just like an office chair, balancing the needs for those who turn their work desks into gaming setup at night. Or, for those who stay up so late toiling away in Spider-Man 2 that their gaming chair becomes their work chair by default.—J.R.

The most maddening aspect of gaming headsets is the fact that they aren’t cross-compatible between consoles. (Xbox and PC bluetooth connections are different from PlayStation, etc.) If you play across multiple devices, you might have to own three separate headsets. Logitech G has ended this dilemma with its newest Astro model. The A50 X uses a proprietary adapter box, which allows you to route your console or PC through the box and to your monitor. That box uses its own bluetooth connection—and lets you connect your headphones to three devices at once. Simply switch channels when you’re playing on a different device. It’s insane that this has never been done before, and if you have multiple consoles and headsets, this is the only way you can consolidate.—L.G.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a truly innovative controller. Not since the Nintendo Wii’s nunchuk, at least. Sure, the next-gen controllers feature haptic rumbling and a speaker, but they mostly still function just the same as their predecessors. The coolest part about PowerA’s new controller? The button section detaches from the controller, becoming an even smaller handheld device for those on the go. It’s as if PowerA designed it for the player who thinks, Forget all that fancy shit and just give me the damn buttons! Frankly, that guy is me. I’m glad this exists. —J.R.

VR, AR, and now XR? I can already project Pokémon onto my front lawn and put on a headset that transports me into virtual worlds. Where-R we possibly going next? (Sorry.) Well, XR superimposes a screen over whatever you’re looking at. Need to game but don’t have a monitor? Put on these glasses and the screen will appear on the wall in front of you. Want to lie down and watch TV while looking up at your ceiling? The XR glasses work for that, too. Eventually, this will likely be possible via a microchip in our brains. For now, we have fun glasses! —J.R.

Ever tried explaining keyboards to someone who doesn’t really get it? Excruciating. Key wobble? Sound test? Latency? A normal person would look at you like you’re from one of those dumb duplicate planets at the end of the Starfield universe. But! For anyone who cares—or is just beginning to care, really—listen up. Logitech G released its first new keyboard in quite some time, the Pro X TKL Lightspeed, and it’s an out-of-the-box masterpiece. It’s reasonably priced, easy to connect, RGB-capable, and it sounds (and feels) amazing. It’s not a beautiful, custom, perfectly lubricated keyboard. But as far as an easy-to-use and reliable big-brand option you can buy on Amazon, it’s a real triumph. —L.G.

Nearly every online multiplayer game has gone cross-platform, meaning Xbox, PlayStation, and PC gamers can play on the same servers. We needed a cross-platform communication service. Enter Discord—everyone’s de facto option. The instant messaging-slash-party voice chat platform is the online gathering place for gamers, niche Internet communities, and at-home day-trader types. In regards to gaming, the only stress point was the lack of on-platform console apps. Xbox and PlayStation players had to use a separate device to join parties and send messages. In 2022, it launched on Xbox, and earlier this year, Discord finally landed on PlayStation. The Big Three gaming platforms are now connected in-game and on voice chat. It’s been the biggest leap in cross-platform gaming since… the debut of cross-platform gaming.—L.G.

OK, sure, this isn’t a gaming-specific product. This is actually an under-desk bike that’s technically designed for real nine-to-five work, but I use it as my gaming hamster wheel. Instead of slumping on my couch playing through the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty DLC for five hours on a Tuesday night, I sit in this thing—getting a pretty major quad workout. Plus! The Ampera generates power. I charge my phone on it. My laptop, too. Once or twice, I’ve plugged my Xbox controller into it, so that I can only continue playing if I’m pedaling, too. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s the most genius thing I’ve ever done. —L.G.

Before I could walk, talk, or wipe my own ass, I was tooling around in Madden‘s franchise mode. It’s the ultimate sedative for a lazy Sunday. Why scrub the mildew from your shower floor when you can spend 10 (virtual years) retooling the New York Jets? Quality time with your significant other? Ppphh! I’m trying to trade three sixth-round draft picks for a 2028 fifth. This is my drug. Like clockwork, though, many a Madden fan bemoans the mode every year, accusing EA of copy-pasting the prior year’s version into the next. Whatever. If you ask this amateur GM, Madden’s franchise mode is—brace yourself for an obnoxious and slightly misplaced Taylor Swift reference—the Mr. Perfectly Fine of video game experiences. Don’t fix what ain’t broken.—B.L.

Reader, gamer, whatever you are: Welcome to the Year of the 100-Hour Game. Whatever the reason—technological advances, the evolution of the medium, more ambitious storytelling, or all of the above—2023 was the year that video games truly demanded all of your time, for better or worse. It takes almost 40 hours to watch the entirety of Succession—and an estimated 104 hours to 100 percent (read: beat, complete, and finish everything) in Baldur’s Gate 3. Add behemoths such as Hogwarts: Legacy, Cyberpunk 2077, and Tears of the Kingdom to the mix, and I can confidently tell you that it’s officially impossible to keep up with the industry past the age of 14. Sorry, olds.—B.L.

2023 was the year video games finally delivered truly unhinged character creation systems. Street Fighter 6 lets me be a guy with toothpick legs and massive arms. It also allows the reverse: a T-Rex of a man with unusable arms and thighs. Starfield has so many facial texture sliders that my jaw can extend past my nose. NBA 2K24 has LeBron James looking so real that you can convince someone they’re watching a real Lakers game. The same goes for Baldur’s Gate 3, where you’re presented with multiple options for your genitalia. I’m not kidding. I haven’t decided if we’ve collectively taken this too far—or still not far enough. Having to choose between four different kinds of penises will do that to a guy. —J.R.