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Games of the year

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
What did you play this year? What did you enjoy?

This page list a fair bunch of games released across most platforms in the past year: 2013 in video gaming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Of the ones listed there I really only played the following ones:
Defiance
Fez
Dust: An Elysian Tail
The Last of Us
Diablo III
The Cave
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

I'm pretty happy with D3 on the console, but apart from that it seems a disappointingly short list. I played other games that are listed on the page above, but I mostly played them on the PC where they were released in 2012 - such as XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Gianna Sisters: Twisted Dream.

What about you?
 

MVV

Scribe
I'd definitely say Path of Exile.
Not that well known, it's an atmospheric dark fantasy Diablo-esque online RPG.
And - believe it or not - absolutely free. Worth a look.
 

Sam Evren

Troubadour
Even though it's from 2011 I played the daylights out of it, I will second Skyrim. An absolutely fabulous way to get lost in another world.

From 2012, but played in 2013, Far Cry 3 was really rather enjoyable - and amazingly well thought out and assembled. I found it to be an incredibly cohesive design that far exceeded what I'd come to expect from a AAA shooter.

Far Cry 3 has something that I've seen in only one other shooter - a game in which the player, themselves, "level." The player must change as the game progresses, and its that progression, that change in yourself that makes Far Cry 3 so poignant. A masterful blending of intention, theme, and style of play.

The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot was fun. Got to try that in an open weekend. A curious cross of Diablo and Dungeon Keeper - you maintain a castle and try to raid those maintained by others. You can actually watch replays of other players trying to assault your keep - and then tweak the defenses. It's a right hoot.

Mount and Blade: Warband and With Fire and Sword took up a fair amount of time. The first/third person horseback combat, the storming and defending of cities and keeps, and the strategic level of taking and holding towns for your faction - or the faction you create by rebellion - keep me constantly coming back.

At the end of last year I found War Thunder. A free-to-play MMO with 30's-50's era historical aircraft, War Thunder was literally like playing deathmatch with model airplanes! Along with the easy to get into "arcade" mode (start with the starter planes, trust me - higher planes will only put you against higher tiered players), there's a realistic/historical mode and a simulator mode - for those who want the full-bore experience.

I've always been leery of free-to-play, but War Thunder is pert-near sinful amounts of fun for free.

Finally, I'd give most honorable mention to Papers, Please! A game where you play a border agent in an Eastern Bloc country doesn't really sound like fun - and I'm not sure it is. It does, however, dramatically tell a story through the simple process of, basically, a matching game.

As you inspect passports, listen to stories, you're constantly aware that you're paid based on the number of entrants you allow into your country. Each day you're also billed the needs of that day - food, heat, rent, medicine for the wife or son... Will you let a potential threat through to save your child?

It's hard to express how well Papers, Please! does its job, but it's definitely worth a look!
 
I don't think I've played any 2013 games :( I really need to start moving books so that I can afford games before they go on sale :p

Oh oh! Ni no Kuni's awesome!

...although I switched to playing FFXIII-2 before finishing.
 

Rinzei

Troubadour
Finally, I'd give most honorable mention to Papers, Please! A game where you play a border agent in an Eastern Bloc country doesn't really sound like fun - and I'm not sure it is. It does, however, dramatically tell a story through the simple process of, basically, a matching game.

As you inspect passports, listen to stories, you're constantly aware that you're paid based on the number of entrants you allow into your country. Each day you're also billed the needs of that day - food, heat, rent, medicine for the wife or son... Will you let a potential threat through to save your child?

It's hard to express how well Papers, Please! does its job, but it's definitely worth a look!

Definitely agree. Surprisingly addictive for how simple it seems. And it has a ton of replay value, since you have plenty of decisions available that have an affect on your livelihood and the state of, well, the state.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Path of Exile is pretty cool.

As for my favorite game that was released in 2013 - probably Bioshock Infinite. I also played and enjoyed both Dishonored and Skyrim, but they were released prior to 2013.
 

Ophiucha

Auror
By happenstance, most of the gifts I received this past year were gift cards to either Steam or Best Buy, so I've actually played a fair few games that have come out this year.

Ni no Kuni is a classic JRPG, with an obnoxious English dub but an endearing cast of characters and a great combat system. It's from Level-5, a studio I love, and much of the art is from Studio Ghibli, so obviously it tends to be quite high quality and charming. Biggest flaw I have with it is that it can't seem to decide if it's a children's game or not - very light-hearted story full of hope (one of the key mechanics is giving people pieces of heart to restore them), but it's also bloody hard even on Easy and has a relatively complex system in place for the familiars. Bit jarring at times, I guess.

Bioshock Infinite had some serious flaws in the worldbuilding and execution, but it played well and I adored Elizabeth too much to care.

Deadly Premonition, which technically came out a few years ago but hey, HD version. An absolute favourite game of mine despite the fact that it controls worse than Superman 64 and looks like it was made for the Playstation 1. It's like Twin Peaks if the second season didn't suck, what more could I ask for? (The answer is fewer quick time events.)

Europa Universalis IV is much like its predecessor, with some necessary improvements. I could spend the rest of my life playing nothing but this and Crusader Kings II (with the DLC that lets you transfer your 'Europe' over to the other game) and be happy. This is probably my game of the year on principal.

Dota 2, I have been playing since it went on beta ages ago. Great game, much prefer it to LoL.

Saints Row IV was an odd kind of game, a bit of a departure from the series' storyline, but hey, the dubstep gun was cool and I love a game where I can play a fat person. Definitely the funniest game I've played all year, too.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf barely constitutes a game, but I've played like 80 hours of it since June, so...

Pokemon X/Y was a solid game in the series. The story was mediocre, particularly compared to the surprisingly excellent one in Black and White, but the new Pokemon - few in number though they were - were well-designed and the transition to 3D was flawless. It opens the door for future games in the series. Also, clothes and hair styles for my trainer! At last!

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was... just good fun. ACIII steered the games a bit away from... assassination, as a trade, and ACIV even more so. You're not even really an assassin for half of the game. But the stealth was improved despite that - eagle vision in this game is amazing - and honestly who cares at all about the story when you can go pirating. I spent more time just pillaging ships than doing anything else... and a cute side story for Aveline, too.

And finally, Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Easily my favourite Zelda game in quite a while... possibly since Wind Waker. Just amazing gameplay, nostalgic worldbuilding and level design that also really utilized the 3D, some great minigames, and the story made me cry towards the end. Great game, would be my GOTY if I weren't addicted to my grand strategy games about the minutiae and tedium of European colonialism.

And the games I'd like to play but haven't: Shin Megami Tensei IV, The Wolf Among Us, The Last of Us, and The Stanley Parable.
 
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I...really struggle to think of any games from 2013 that I would consider for my GOTY list. The majority of games that I played that were released in 2013 disappointed me. Even GTAV (which I wasn't expecting much from anyway) and The Last of Us (it's basically Uncharted with slightly altered graphics). Most of the games I really enjoyed were released previously.

Spec Ops: The Line takes first place for best military shooter ever though. It's such a powerful narrative, and it really forces the player to think. It definitely rekindled the idea that shooter games can have storylines, and good ones at that.
 
Best games I have played from 2013?

BF4 (despite the campaign being EXTREMELY easy, even on the highest level, the multiplayer was again, the best of the year)
GTA 5
AC4

on the X360. Game of the Year would probably have to go to GTA 5 as I prefer open worlds and it had the best graphics of any game on X360/PS3 consoles. AC4 would have got it had it actually had multiplayer ship battles - for some insane reason they cut this from the game, and chose to focus on another (imo) useless multiplayer. And the puzzles weren't as hard as the ones in AC2/AC:Brotherhood (this is the first AC game I've played since those two), but nevertheless, the setting was interesting and new.
 
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