Patrick Klepek's Top 10 Games of 2013

Cant lie, i chocked up a little seeing Ryan. Your list closely resembles mine, i only have 1 AAA title and the rest are either small and unknown games. A great year for gaming and a brighter future ahead. I am sort of disappointing that you, along with everywhere i look is neglecting Sly Cooper. Easily the most underrated title this year that is getting absolutely no love. Maybe its becasue it was the first time i ever played a Sly title, but it wouldnt matter its still a great title and one of the best this year.

FOR RYAN!

Excellent list, almost as good as Zoe's.

where is zelda! Good list looking forward to the Goty podcast.

That picture is beautiful. It always seemed like Ryan was stoked to have Patrick around. We miss ya Virtua Davis!

In 2013, Patrick branched out and tried some really different stuff. To see such a wonderful mix of games in that top 10 is something I enjoyed reading. Delightfully surprised to see that number 1!

good list i have not played much of these.

I miss that big man...

Merry Christmas, Patrick! Great picks. Was surprised to see Papers, Please! at the top, but it's inspired me to revisit it. I don't think I ever made it more than 12 days or so.

Nice list Scoops.

That photo of Ryan and Patrick. Priceless.

Ryan :(

The whole time I played through Gone Home (given what I heard I made sure to go in as blind as possible) I really expected some sort of killer or supernatural thing to jump out at me. The fact that I thought that, but it didn't happen is a real testament how well crafted the game was. It took me to a different time when I was young and those thoughts would pop up in my head if I was in that situation.

I'm starting to cave on Brothers. Not that I thought it'd be bad, just that I decided it was one of those games that I just didn't have time to try. That quick look didn't help either. It's pretty cheap on 360 today... Hmm...

Loving the Papers Please appreciation, coming into GOTY talks I was very worried that nobody in the office had ended up finishing it because they never seemed to talk about it beyond the demo version.

Great photo, hope there is some kind of Ryan GOTY something or other, he's missed.

Aw, that pic. <3

That picture is fantastic! Found myself staring at it for a good minute.

Also - that's a nice list Patrick. Keep up the good work next year!

awesome list, patrick. thanks.

Daaaamn. No Metro? That's dissapointing.

That picture broke my heart

Wow, nice picture of Ryan.

Papers, Please huh? Interesting. Everytime I see that thing on sale I ask myself if I'm in the mood for stress.

Noooooooooope.

Nice list, Patrick.

Thanks for all the great work you put in this year. It means a lot to those who read/watch it :)

RIP Ryan.

Man. That picture. Struck a chord so badly... Great list, though. Most of these games are on my backlog, and I'm waiting for Year Walk to release on PC, but I definitely agree that these games are some of the best this year.

I haven't played TLoU, though. I probably never will.

Play Xcom:EU on something like ironman/classic without realoading all the time then you will care about your dudes too. I still have a thing for my impossible/ironman squad, enough to immortalize them with some sweet screenshots :)

And really reloading the missions from start is pretty much save abusing, except your saves are just way further apart. :P

This top ten list almost mirrors mine as well. God damn Papers, Please is incredible.

Best picture of the year at the top.

Great list. It's a nice mix of some well-polished AAA stuff and imaginative indie titles. Oh, and that picture is wonderful.

Ooh! I dig this list quite a bit. Thumbs way up for Fire Emblem and Paper, Pls at top stop!

And oh my god that picture is the best. :'D

Wow, that picture really got to me and I didn't think it would. Great list.

This is a collection of games I love, in an order that weirds me out. Not to say i'm trying to invalidate your list in any way, but it's very unique compared to how i'd order things (Putting Fire Emblem in the bottom five, Papers Please over the Last of Us, etc).

Year walk representing!

Way to overshadow your list, Patrick. Miss you, Ryan.

While I agree with what Patrick said, I don't necessarily find that much of a gameplay dissonance with TLOU and the narrative that plays out in the cutscenes. Joel's easy to reconcile considering the life he has lived prior to the game starting (after the prologue of course), and the fact that it's constantly reinforced in the cutscenes by how much of a cold-blooded person he can be.

Although some might see Ellie's turn to murdering dudes when you get to control her as troublesome, I don't have a hard time rationalizing it because of all the shit she went through before she had to go out on her own as well as the way she was treated by David. How she lashes out at the very end of Winter is completely justifiable when it dawns on her the sickening plans David had for her. Of course, the whole cannibalism thing didn't help either!

Her breakdown at that end proved that she herself was very much deeply unsettled by everything she had to do to survive. The way the rest of Spring rolls out echoes a profound change in her after that experience.

There's even an argument to be made that having you control Joel at the very last part where you have to get Ellie out of the operating room is an inspired moment marrying narrative and interactivity. You are forced to play out Joel's sociopathic selfishness by violently rescuing Ellie and damning the world as a result. That part could have been a cutscene because you don't really have a choice in it, but Naughty Dog intentionally made it so you had to pull the trigger.

Merry christmas Patrick <3 Nice list

@mormonwarrior: The impression I got was that no one on the podcast thinks that games can't have good stories, it's just that most games don't even try. I'm sure that the best stories in games could rival movies or books, I just haven't seen it done. I agree that Papers, Please and Brothers are good examples of storytelling done well in games, especially Brothers.

On the subject of Vinny... I think it's ridiculous to say that games can have a good story and then point to Bioshock and Gone Home as examples. Gone Home does atmosphere so well and I really enjoyed exploring the house, but if you extract the story it's basically a cliché teenage drama. The reason people praise it so much is because it's unique in games. Gone Home doesn't have great gameplay either. Bioshock is even worse.

Biggest surprise of the year: Patrick turns out to be the dude that I agree with the most. Did not see that coming!

Well, someone has to be a cold hollow shell of human I guess.

Why should i care about my actions or characters in the game in such a way?

Patrick, you were the only one willing to prop up Metro:LL...and you didn't. :((

Good assortment of choices nonetheless, and the pic of you and Ryan at the top is priceless. TY for that.

Man that picture makes me both incredibly happy and sad :/

Great list Patrick & such a lovely photo of you with Ryan Davis.

Thanks for that picture of you and Ryan, Patrick, that's really sweet. Been a noticeable lack of lack of Ryan mentions lately (to be fair, I've been reading oldest to newest, so i could be off base here). I'm sure everyone's still coming to grips with it and are dealing with it the best they can. But nothing has defined 2013 for me more than that terrible day I read the news. I appreciate all you guys and all that you do. And I've been role-playing Papers, Please, one day at a time. Fantastic experience.

Fuck, that picture. Fuuuuuuuck.

@patrickklepek

You might enjoy this ;-)

Good to see The Swapper gettin' some love. Fantastic game.

Good list.

Thanks for the Ryan pic. I really miss him.

That lead picture...man. I really miss Ryan.