2013 Community Game of the Year - The Winner Is...

I'm really struggling to even think of 10 games I've played for the first time this year. I really need to get on that pile-clearers anonymous and stop hoarding classics. :/ I'll have a think, but it'll likely be a top 5.

Sigh, I didn't realize I played and finished this many games this year.... going to be hard to put numbers on them. I think i will do my list closer to the end of the month, as I will have a solid week off to game during xmas break.

TempestBlayze wrote:

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*Games and game order are subject to change before Dec 31
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[size=2]Just be sure to let me know if they do. Cheers![/size]

ClockworkHouse wrote:
TempestBlayze wrote:

[size=2]
*Games and game order are subject to change before Dec 31
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[size=2]Just be sure to let me know if they do. Cheers![/size]

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Will do!
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I'll add that there were others that I played but I didn't feel deserved to be on the list, hence 9 rankings

Edit: oh shoot, forgot pencon sportsfriends. I'm editing my list.

1 Antichamber
2 XCOM: Enemy Unknown
3 Risk of Rain
4 Mark of the Ninja
5 Pineapple Smash Crew
6 Gone Home
7 Super Pole Riders
8 Proteus
9 Gunpoint
10 Bari Bari Ball

Although League of Legends was by far the most played...I really haven't played many single player games this year. It's been a downward trend.

Edited in Sportsfriends

1: Tomb Raider (2012)
2: Solforge
3: Thomas Was Alone
4: Rogue Legacy
5: Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten
6: FTL
7: The Swapper
8: Final Fantasy XIII-2

What's really telling about that list is that there's only one 360 game on there (tomb raider) - I think my ongoing conversion to a PC gamer is really taking hold....

carrotpanic wrote:

Edit: oh shoot, forgot pencon sportsfriends. I'm editing my list.

GET ON TOP!

Get on honorable mentions.

mateofalcone wrote:

4) Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - What an incredible game. It's still on sale right now on PSN for about $10 if you don't have it yet.

Thanks. Now by backlog is bigger. Filthy enabler.

farley3k wrote:
mateofalcone wrote:

4) Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - What an incredible game. It's still on sale right now on PSN for about $10 if you don't have it yet.

Thanks. Now by backlog is bigger. Filthy enabler.

+1

1) Civ V: Brave New World

2) XCOM Enemy Within

3) Mark of the Ninja

4) Hearthstone

5) Rogue Legacy

6) Don't Starve

Game I played of lot of that could not possibly be considered new but is still great fun: Team Fortress 2

Is it just me or was this year an odd gaming year. Most of the games on my list turn out to be from last year.

Saints row was a real surprise for me as a game that put fun back in gaming.

I loved bioshock infinite so much that I payed for it twice so I could have it on my xbox and my mac, but still believe the original was better.

Guild wars 2 wins if I use value for money as a factor.

I should also point out that even though I didn't make a list last year, I played Hotline Miami the week before 2013 started and thus it wouldn't be eligible. Or it would be #1.

Klorhammer wrote:

Is it just me or was this year an odd gaming year.

It's 2013, so yes.

MyBrainHz wrote:

Game I played of lot of that could not possibly be considered new but is still great fun: Team Fortress 2

ClockworkHouse wrote:

The stipulation that it be new-to-you is really to discourage people from posting, as they have sometimes in the past, "I played Team Fortress 2 for another 700 hours this year, so that's my Game of the Year", because that's boring.

See!

Spoiler:

I know you didn't rank it, MyBrainHz. I'm just poking fun.

Consider it a form of absurd meta-Clocking

I'd do another thing like I did last year but I'm REALLY not in the mood right now so a boring old normal list will have to do for the moment...

I'll expand with further descriptions as I go, but this is the basic list for now, in no particular order.

1. Assassin's Creed 4
2. Tomb Raider (2013)
3. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
4. Metro: Last Light
5. Outlast
6. Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller
7. The Dark Eye: Memoria
8. The Last of Us
9. ZombiU
10. The Brigmore Witches (DLC)

Honourable Mentions:

Magrunner: Dark Pulse
Kentucky Route Zero
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Gone Home

stevenmack wrote:

I'd do another thing like I did last year but I'm REALLY not in the mood right now so a boring old normal list will have to do for the moment...

Steam did the cards for you this year (for the games that have em).

01 - XCOM (Great Strategy Game)
02 - Distant Worlds (4x Space Sim)
03 - Borderlands 2
04 - Battlefield 4 (and some Battlefield 3)
05 - Shadowrun Returns
06 - Plants vs Zombies 2 (iOS)
07 - Star Command (iOS)
08 - Crimson: Steam Pirates (iOS)
09 - Ace Patrol (iOS)
10 - BF4: Commander (iOS)

I really want to play Metro last Light before the year is over but I just don't have the time. I'm am pretty sure it would be up on my top 10 from the things I hear.

#1. The Last of Us - Hands down, the clear winner. I haven't played anything like this before. A game that didn't pull punches, left more unsaid than said, and was pretty great to play as well.
#2. XCOM: Enemy Unknown - I didn't pick this up until February this year. Man, what a treat. Many nights, I couldn't put it down. Hopefully, more of these come to the consoles.
#3. Brothers - Just a great story, artfully told. Also, it knew not to wear out its welcome.

I wish I could add GTA5 to this list, but there was just too much broken with the game itself. Also, I'm probably going to sink a bunch of time into BF4 between now and the end of the year. If they patch it up so it runs better, maybe I'll add it.

Somebody's gotta go next-gen, right?

1. Dead Rising 3 (Xbox One): Yes, I like it that much. I combine a steamroller and motorcycle, and I get to squash hundreds of zombies effortlessly under my giant spinning wheel while dual flamethrowers attached to the front spit fiery death. I stick some gems and a flashlight together, and it's a lightsaber, and I'm hacking my way through. Battery and a sledgehammer? Electric maul, and zap they go. "Personal massager" and leaf blower? A giant gun with a 90-shot clip that leaves pink dildoes sticking out of the forehead of zombies as they fall backwards. This game is fun. It's dumb, ludicrous, campy, silly, stupid, and childish, and I honestly think it's the most fun I've had this year.

2. Terraria (Xbox 360): It's a new platform, so I'm calling it a new game. The fun of Terraria, but while doing couch co-op with my kids. Hundreds of hours. I still remember my daughter's war-whoop of joy when we beat the Destroyer.

3. Saints Row IV (Xbox 360): It didn't compare to Saints Row the Third, but nothing will; that's the singly most fun game ever created. SRIV was still ridiculously fun, and genuinely made you feel like a superhero. I mean, a depraved, sadistic, horribly murderous superhero, but a superhero nonetheless. The romance options were hilarious, the combat was great, and I loved it. I didn't really want to go back, but that's OK--it was a great time.

4. Fable III: I didn't much care for Fable or Fable II. Xbox Live gave me Fable III free and I really liked it. Found the combat really engaging, didn't get sucked into doing too many repetitive crafting activities for money, and I thought it was really good. The ending was far from satisfying, but I thought it was excellent.

5. X-Com: Enemy Unknown:: The original X-Com is the best game ever made. This was really good, and a worthy game to use the name, but maybe I'm just poisoned by my deep and utter adoration of the original. Liked it a lot, never finished it.

6. Puzzle Forge (Android): Could not. Stop. Playing.

7. Bioshock: Infinite: Loved Elizabeth as a companion. Great open world, interesting alternative history and social commentary. Didn't really care for the combat, and haven't bothered to replay it. Easily my least-favorite of the Bioshock series.

8. Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Think I liked the world far more than I liked the game itself. Some insanely frustrating boss battles I was happy to use glitches to beat, because (A) boss battles always suck, and (B) DX: HR's bosses sucked more than usual.

Most disappointing game of the year:

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. I wanted a fun, lighthearted, engaging action RPG. Instead, I got a button-masher that was so fascinated by the ridiculously overwrought history the game had that it never stopped talking at me. It's not that the voice acting was bad, it's that it was endless, and I rapidly tired of the ridiculous levels of self-importance the developers were apparently feeling in their constant attempts to impress me with how OMG TEH AWESOMES their world was. It got frankly annoying, I could button-mash through 99% of the combats without thinking about it and then hit a massive difficulty spike, and seriously, just call them "wood elf" and "dark elf" and all. Don't make new names.

Like the PS3, 2013 has no games. That was my thought when I started on the following list, but maybe it isnt totally fair after all. It just feels that way compared to previous years.

1. Last of Us - Great story and presentation. Surprisingly good gameplay (considering Uncharted). By far the best game of the year for me.

2. Civ5: Brave New World - I could get trapped in Civ5 and just play it forever. Never really got into it before the newest expansion, only playing a couple of games originally, before I saw the trap. Played Brave New World a ton this year though. 3 weeks of summer vacation are lost to the ages.

3. Fallout New Vegas - No, its not old! I finally got around to play it. Modded to the max and everything. It was really awesome. Stupid of me to skip it for so long.

4. Tomb Raider - Great surprise. Was a joy to play. Would have been even better with more tomb raiding though...

5. Rogue Legacy - Fun little game. So much easier to accept dying in a rogue-like, when it can involve degenerating into dwarfish colorblind paladin.

6. Dust: An Elysian Tail

7. Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen - Fun "old school" RPG. Also weird. One of those games that feels great but unpolished. Unpolished might even be considered a feature. Will be very interesting to see what they can do with a sequel.

8. Final Fantasy XIV - Had a bunch of fun crafting in the game. Another one of those MMOs that are fun to play for the first month or two.

9. Bioshock Infinite - Gameplay was lacking. Still a really nice experience, just a shame it came from a few great set pieces and a lot of mediocrity.

10. Ni no kuni - Actually I like it less and less when I remember it. It was cute, but the combat got really repetitive, annoying and unchallenging (especially when my OCD took over and platinumed it). Could have been so much better with better combat.

Tried their best:
Crusader Kings II . Never really figured out the details of how the game actually works... but damn the stories that are created in the chaos while you play, with backstabbbing, murdering family members, marrying daughters away to that stupid guy you are going to invade soon. Kinda fun.

To The Moon - Steam says I bought it january 4 2013, so it counts. Lovely. Arguably not a game.

Dishonored - I played it, I enjoyed it. Typically not my type of game, so it must have done something right.

FTL

Journey - Just realized I play it this year. Cute little game. Not much more than that.

Playstation Plus - Game subscription service of the year? Yep.

Honorable mentions:
Dark Souls. Didnt play it this year. Pretty sure I said last year that this game deserved to be mentioned every year though.

Less honorable mentions:
Path of Exile. Some day I will return to this. Some day...
Torchlight 2. Fun for a while, but it just lacks something.
X-com. Meh, fun in short sessions, but the combat never clicked for me.
Hearthstone. Well, it's fun. The system of paying/grinding to play arena is not. I still despise microtransaction games.

1. Tomb Raider (2013): I just loved everything about this game from the graphics (hair porn - TressFX....hmmmm ok that sounded way wrong) to the pacing, story, writing, music, voice acting, seamless cover system, satisfying melee, etc. Everything was just top notch and then put in the best bow implemented in any game and it's game of the year for me.

2. The Last of Us: Another incredible experience with a story that I still think about. I actually liked the ending just fine and the combat worked for me too. This is hands down Naughty Dog's finest game. It also helped that it had a fantastic soundtrack.

3. GTA V: You can do triathlons.

4. Heavy Rain: Talk about digging deep into the backlog. The story definitely wins over the QTE gameplay but what a story it was and another amazing soundtrack. Can you tell I like game music?

5. One Finger Death Punch: The most fun you'll have for a $1.

6. Forza 5: I don't usually play that many racing games but Drivatars really are a game changer for me and really feels next gen. And the pretty...oh the pretty....

7. Ryse: I didn't ready any of the reviews, and I'm glad I didn't. It's an amazing looking game with a combat system that just really clicked for me. The copious amounts of blood and gore helped too.

8. Borderlands 2: I've sunk many hours into this game all in 4 player co-op with RL friends and it's a blast.

9. Assassin's Creed 4: I haven't finished an AC game since 2 but so far I like what I see. I'm not far enough into the game to really give it a fair judgement but I suspect it would probably be higher on this list if I had more time.

10. Bioshock Infinite: Overrated in my book but still a solid game.

Edit: And thank you, Clock, for taking this massive bit of number crunching on again. I thoroughly enjoyed digging into your dissection of last year's results, and look forward to doing so again.

1 - The Walking Dead - Yeah, i was late to the party on this one, but who can deny it's utterly fantastic, even late. Primarily (and in light of some comments about Season 2) i love how they managed to make a game about choice where every choice mattered, but they were choices about who you were. Had they tried to work in branching storylines they surely would've ended up with the Mass Effect 3 issue where everybody wants their own hand crafted uniquely personal ending that validates every choice they made up to that point. With Walking Dead, i felt like i had control over who Lee was, but it all worked within the framework of the story they laid out. It was a masterpiece.

2 - Gone Home - No comments for fear of spoilers. Just go play it.

3 - Saints Row: The Third - Late to the party, but holy crap so much fun. It's a shame i'm cheap, otherwise Saints Row IV would surely be on this list as well.

4 - The Wolf Among Us Episode One - Firstly, it's one of the few games i can get my wife interested in. Secondly,

Spoiler:

how can you not love any game that gives you the option to rip off Grendel's arm (which of course you have to do), only to then feel utterly horrible about what you just did.

5 - Thomas Was Alone - Another late to the party game. This game is proof positive that clever writing and narration can take something from solid to special.

6 - Unfinished Swan - Beautiful and imaginative. It plays with video game visuals in ways that really only work because they're video game visuals. The puzzles weren't anything to write home about, but walking through those various worlds was just plain fun. Also didn't outstay its welcome.

7 - Rogue Legacy - So much gameplay for such a relatively simple set of variables. Fantastically constructed.

8 - inFamous 2 - Got it as a free packin with my PS3 and was surprised at just how fun it was. Combat was a bit shaky, but it had some fun power variations, smooth traversal skills, and kept offering me different options of things to do or ways to handle things if i hit something that hit back a bit too hard.

9 - Proteus - Both a beautiful world and a clever conceit.

10 - Tokyo Jungle - Fantastic game, very clever and stylish, but i really wish they'd worked on the difficulty curve of the story missions a bit more.

Special Mention For Being Awesome But I Didn't Play, I Just Watched It On Youtube
Last of Us -
I liked what i'd heard about it, but i knew that it wasn't my type of gameplay and that i didn't want to devote 15+ hours, so i watched an edited version on youtube and was captivated. Even without extraneous gameplay it was still nearly 6 hours and i couldn't stop watching.

Special Mention For Really Wanting To Have Loved It More
Bioshock Infinite -
As has been said by many, many others, it was a great game but that darn shooting kept getting in the way.

Special Mention For Wishing I Could Give It Negative Points
Brothers: Tale of Two Sons -

Spoiler:

I've heard the praises, but i just have so many problems with this game. The controls were novel and interesting, and the vistas were fantastic, but the story was telegraphed, rote and misogynistic, halfway through there was a level that turned my stomach and felt like it belonged in a completely different game than the level where you're jumping on haystacks to dodge a cute dog. I pushed my way through because i'd heard so many people just laud it, but by the time i finished i was just angry at the game.

This has been a banner year in gaming for me. I actually finished a dozen games, and played lots more. So, I'm going to keep my top 10 list just to the games that I started and finished in 2013:

1. Tomb Raider. What a fantastic game...pacing, graphics, and a believable (except for the insane badassery), likeable main character.

2. Gone Home. I loved how the accumulation of visual artifacts told its own story, even without taking into account the journals and recordings.

3. Bioshock Infinite. Great story and setting, on par with the first Bioshock (I'm in the minority that thinks Bioshock 2 didn't quite live up to the original).

4. Max Payne 3. IIRC, this game got a lukewarm reception. I don't get why--it's fun and appropriately gritty.

5. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Came out of left field for me, and I ended up really enjoying it.

6. Risen 2 Dark Waters. Gothic in a pirate hat. What's not to like?

7. The Walking Dead (Telltale). Good story, made me genuinely nervous at times.

8. Game of Thrones RPG. This was a much better game than I thought it would be--or than is indicated by its shoddy graphics.

9. LOTR: War in the North. Fun ARPG with great graphics. And Frodo!

10. Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Why did I never play this before?

Some others that I enjoyed but didn't quite make the top 10, or that I just haven't finished yet:

Assassin's Creed Revelations
Dungeon Siege 3
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
LA Noire
Bastion
Shadow of the Colossus
Saint's Row 4
Batman: Arkham City
Dishonored
Assassin's Creed 3
Sleeping Dogs
Divinity 2
Far Cry 3

Man that was the most fun 4 pages for forum I've read in a while. Really diverse stuff here. I love reading what other adults, parents and nerds enjoy playing and not just what the masses are playing. On with my list!

1. The Last Of Us. I cried at the opening and was so angry at the end. It takes a lot for me to beat a game anymore and this one I didn't want to be over.
2. Xcom (reboot). Never heard of the original, never played the original. Went into it never having played anything like it before and came away from it so glad I played it. P.S. if you reload when ppl die you are doing it wrong...
3. DarkSouls. Couldn't beat Demons Souls and didn't think I'd care for DarkSouls. However every time I made it 5 minutes further in I felt like I was master of the universe. Having beat that game with no guide and no Youtube would be on my proudest gaming achievements list if I had one.
4. The Walking Dead. Great interactive story. Hopefully (and it appears so) the direction Telltale continues going.
5. Planetside 2. I tried it when my PC couldn't run it early in the year and hated it. Went back after a modest upgrade and wondered why I would ever look at the Battlefield games ever again. Just too much fun and set in Scifi.
6. Max Payne 3. Played the first when it came out a long time ago and never touched the series again. Until I got this beauty on a random Steam sale. It sat for months before I even tried it. Man I almost missed out on playing an awesome game.
7. Sleeping Dogs. In my opinion what the GTA series wishes it was. Controlled like the Batman Arkham games and set in Hong Kong.
8. Just Cause 2. Never felt like playing it because it always looked like "Expendables: The Game", and you know what, it kinda was. I just couldn't get the grin off my face the whole time I played it. Just like the movies.
9. Hotline Miami. That soundtrack. Those controls. The insanity. Just a weird game that I can't seem to explain that was a joy to play.
10. DMC. From the opening I knew I was in for a ride. Best of the series in my opinion and if they make another I'll be there on day one to pick it up. (also plus 1 for introducing me to Combichrist).

I'm posting my list before I go back and read everyone else's comments. I want to avoid the possible influence of hype.

1. ZombiU - This game made the exploration of mundane environments compelling. I really wanted to keep each character alive, and I felt a genuine sense of frustration when I'd screw something up and get a character killed. And the story was pretty decent, too -- for a game, anyway.

2. Antichamber - Just the right level of difficulty for me. Some solutions would come to me in the middle of the day, and I'd wish I could be home to test them out right then.

3. Dishonored - To me, this is the epitome of a *cool* game. The visuals, dialogue, and sense of place were all kinda steam-punk rock, in a good way. And the DLC was excellent.

4. The Last of Us - More effective as a story than a game, in my opinion, but that opening sequence really got me.

5. Metro: Last Light - A great sense of place that felt real almost the whole way through.

6. Little Inferno - Intriguing and bizarre. I can't imagine where the idea for this game came from.

7. Skyrim - Crazy amount of very good content. A great game and an amazing technical achievement, but I found myself wanting to see more variety in the foes. Too many draugrs...

8. Tomb Raider - So-so story, but maybe the best movement through a game ever. I really enjoyed the simple process of getting from one place to another.

9. Fez - Took a couple starts for me to get it, but I really enjoyed it once I got past some early boredom with it. I loved how the music enhanced the mood of some areas.

10. The Ball - Another one that gave me a couple of false starts. I had fun with the puzzles, and the simple story had a rewarding payoff at the end (something most games handle poorly).

The biggest surprise of the year for me was that I didn't like Bioshock Infinite as much as I had hoped. The gameplay was good, and the story was good, but they didn't feel right together. I couldn't get past having, say, an emotional moment with Elizabeth followed immediately by her casually tossing me a coin she found.

I got a lot of game time in this year, though I've spent more time writing up this list than I have playing games in December. Stupid work and obligations and stuff.

It wasn't till compiling this list that I realised I haven't played a single 2013 game (at least not to the point of considering it in a top 10 list).

1- Walking Dead (PC) - Basically a linear game but gave me all the control I needed to feel like it was my Lee.
2- Corpse Party (PSP) - I wouldn't have thought a 16 bit retro style overhead adventure game could be so creepy.
3- Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time (PSP) - Still a sucker for a good JRPG and this had everything I wanted. Great art, interesting story, enjoyable battle system.
4- Dark Souls (PS3) - Probably prefer the original, Demon's Souls, but only because this one seems to require me to Gamefaq it even more than the previous game.
5- Dead Island (PS3) - Classic more fun than good type game, lots of jank. But I finished it which is saying a lot these days.
6- TWEWY (iOS) - Beautiful re-imagining of the original DS game, all the art looks great at higher res. Square-Enix gets too much sh*t for their iOS efforts sometimes. This was well worth the money.
7- Yakuza 3 (PS3) - If you've played 1+2 you probably won't be surprised by this game.
8- Infinity Blade 2 (iOS) - Enough of a story and upgrade path to keep me plodding through the occasionally monotonous combat. Still, an impressive evolution of the first game's mechanics.
9- FTL (PC) - Didn't like it at the higher difficultly levels but thoroughly enjoyed the aesthetics and atmosphere.
10- Silent Hill: Downpour (PS3) - Perhaps the best effort so far by a western developer in tackling the SH franchise. Sorely needed a Akira Yamaoka score though.