I didn't get to play a lot of new games, but of all the stuff that came out in 2013 that I actually played in 2013, these are my ten favorites.
Check out my retroactive full Top Games of 2013 list, which gets updated as I play 2013 games in later years.
I actually didn't love GTA V when I first started playing. It seemed disjointed and the city seemed too big to be legible. But about halfway through the game, something clicked. A series of exciting missions mixed with great writing and voice performances caused me to understand what the whole thing was "about." Much like the animation that accompanies character switching, GTA V is a macro-view of a society that demands cohesion but is nothing more than a series of incidental encounters. Los Santos is a world of entangled whims, and I took delight in letting it push and pull me in all different directions.
This is the best Zelda-like game I've ever played. It's kind Link's Awakening meets Fez. Fun combat and puzzles, an intriguing mysterious world, great writing, and superb music. You have to play this.
It had its detractors, but I liked it a lot. Good speculative fiction, another curious setting, and fun skyhook combat.
A late entry into my top 10 list (since I just got a 3DS), I purchased A Link Between Worlds on everybody's recommendation. I haven't really liked a Zelda game since Wind Waker, but Link Between Worlds' combination of streamlined adventure and SNES nostalgia has pulled me in like a hookshot. The 3D is well used for puzzle solving in dungeons and the ability to flatten out to explore parts of the world has given me the adventuring bug.
Okay, the game itself is from last year, but the DLC has proven to be great. Both Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt and Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep came out this year, and each took a fresh perspective on the game. Tiny Tina, in particular, managed to use the narrator trope surprisingly well without suffering from the writing problems I felt plagued the disc campaign. Borderlands continues to be the gift that keeps on giving.
I played for 10 hours on my Vita and another 5 on my Nexus. Not bad for a game that's actually pretty simple. There's a lot about the game I would tune if given the opportunity, but it sucked me in and that's what matters.
Aside from that crappy Jaguar Javier fight (a product of the Vita's small control pad) this Metroid-inspired game was tons of fun. Fortunately I don't get many Internet jokes, so that stuff didn't distract me, but the rest of the humor was spot-on.
Brothers falls into the category of "nice" games, which I equate to reading a good short story. The sensation of coordinating two rotating sticks was a unique experience, and though I don't know if it's repeatable it definitely worked this time.
For four days I was sucked in by 868-HACK. I'd get in bed and two hours later emerge from under the covers wondering where the time went. I never got good at it, but it felt rewarding all the same.
I feel kind of bad because I didn't like Gone Home as much as everyone else. Like Brothers, it's a "nice" game. An enjoyable experience of audio-log hunting and environmental narrative, my favorite thing about Gone Home was that it was good to have a high profile game about a gay relationship.
I'm not interested in learning a fighting game deeply, but Divekick simulated this experience in a goofy, competitive package. If it was easier to get into online matches this could have been ranked higher.
