I debated for a while about how I would weigh the releases that made the list on technicalities. Ultimately I am pretty happy with the compromise that I did, by leaving out FFXIV from the top ten, and having SMT: IV still be on the top ten given that it would be number 1 if it didn't make it on a technicality. Kinda sad Hotline Miami 2, Mewgenics, or Yatagarasu didnt come out this year, but hopefully they will be better games because of it.
Crazy Interesting year.
While a previous version of this game has been floating around for a while, the newest version (World Ignition) was released this year. A really good bullet hell game, that has a variety of modes and is super accessible.
Whereas Wings of Vi nails the difficulty and challenging spirit of the 8-bit era, Shovel Knight gets the whimsy and applies some modern sensibility into an 8-bit package. And, holy moly the OST on this is probably the OST of the year.
It plays well, and has a frantic bullet hell-ish pace, while not being overly punishing for failure. Also has a favorite feature of mine which is the changing BGM with the ship.
A great free to play card game that leans more on the meaty in depth mtg side than Hearthstone or Solforge does. Has a decent enough campaign that helps you get acquainted with the factions, and is fairly generous with giving out cards for a free to play card game.
If we are going to be super reductive, this is adds bigger levels, more stuff, makes the controls a tad crisper, and changes the aesthetics. Considering the original was already good though, all the above make this a great game.
Yup. Its Smash Bros.
A video game with the type of slapstick humor you dont see anymore.
I have my issues with the story, but Transistor as a game is pretty good on almost every other account.
A hard platformer done with the mentality of I wanna be the guy games. Scratches the super meatboy itch of a good hard game.
Came out in Europe this year, and I'll use that as an excuse to include it in my top ten this year :P If ya want a hard JRPG that'll last you forever, this is it. Definately 2014's 2013 game of the year.
FF14 just keeps getting more and more content. This is ironically one of the best Final Fantasies and mmos to come out in a while. Came out last year, but the patches this year made the game especially great, and can technically be included due to the console release.
This had the potential to be a huge contender on this list. But capcom really screwed the pooch on the online functionality of this game on PC. Still the largest fighting game out there for a reason, but its starting to show its age at this point.
Was around for a bit last year but was officially released in 2014. Very accessible, and a game that you can sink a lot of hours into.
This is an interesting take on what a 2D monster hunter would look like. There are some flaws with it, but the game pulls off what it sets out to do.
The official release was this year, though this has been swimming around in early access since last year. An interesting take on the sword fighting genre.
