GotY 2013
...There are too many good/interesting games this year!
List items
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Gone Home is something special in the video game medium. It's plot would be nothing special if it was any other entertainment media. Regardless it left me with a lingering feeling afterwords in a way that few other things have.
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The Stanley Parable had me smiling the whole way through. It subverts so many things in games and is too damn clever for it's own good.
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Gunpoint is wonderfully written. The main game play is an interesting take on more puzzle aspects of the stealth genre. Sometimes it's just easier to punch a dude.
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Game Dev Tycoon has it's problems and most of its appeal is actually smoke and mirrors, but I'll be damned if I didn't enjoy the roleplaying a game dev. It was very easy to get into a GDT hole only to emerge 10 hours later wondering where the day has gone.
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This one kind of came out of nowhere. I picked it up on some Steam Sale sometime after it was released and completely forgot about it. One night I was feeling kind of down and was browsing my steam library when I noticed it. Booted it up and couldn't stop playing it for a couple days!
It's a metroidvania that's more Vania (very combat focused, very RPG focused.) There's a surprisingly deep skill tree and a limited amount of levels meaning you'll never be able to max out the entire thing.
It's got great music, sweet boss battles, and a decent story. My only grip with it is that some of the platforming is a bit too tight for my skill level. Unfortunately often times punishment means going all the way back to the bottom of an area. Those parts were very frustrating. Those parts never deterred me from continuing however.
If you're looking for a great Metroidvania game for PC than you should pick this up. It's a damn shame it has gotten little to no coverage.
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I have not played a Zelda game to completion since A Link to the Past. I could not stand the N64 and lost all interest in any Nintendo first party games once it came out. A Link Between Worlds is the first First Party Nintendo game I've bought since Kirby Super Star on the SNES and I really enjoyed it.
While it was the nostalgia hooks put a smile on myself it was really the great level design and some great bosses that made me kept on playing it.
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I played a lot of Rogue Legacy. While I certainly had problems with it, much of those issues were addressed in patches as I played. I hope that they expand upon this idea in a sequel as there is a lot more that could be done with it.
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Risk Of Rain is good chaotic fun. It's at its best when there's 10 bosses on the screen and everything is running at half speed and you're wondering how you're going to survive.
However I think the game has some major issues with it classes. Too many of them are too similar and so few of them can attack in other ways than horizontal. It made it so that I only really play the game with either the Engineer or the Huntress.
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As Portal-likes go, Antichamber is probably the best non-Portal one I've played. It's has wonderful art and audio direction. But it's far from prefect. I found many of the puzzles to be poorly designed. Many of them often had long set ups that could be easily messed up or were repetitive (how many times did that "climb this tower" puzzle need to be there?)
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DIVEKICK IS THE REALEST THING SINCE REALITY, SON!
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I bought this game because I thought it would be a dumb/creepy visual novel that I could laugh at (which is a horrible reason to buy something, but I was having a particularly bad night.) What I discovered was that it's more of a text-based RPG and is surprising fun and interesting.
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When I play SMT games I go through long breaks in between play sessions. SMT4 is no different. In fact, it's new improvements on the older designs allow this style of play to be done easier. While I may only play it once every three or four weeks I always enjoy my time with it. It scratches that SMT itch and was the whole reason I bought a 3DS.
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Saints Row 4 is great fun, but I found I didn't enjoy the core gameplay as much as I did SR3 for whatever reason. Still, the only game this year to be a more clever commentary on video games was the Stanley Parable.
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As far as free to play competitive multiplayer strategy games go, the Banner Saga: Factions is probably the best (any only) one I've every played. It's simple to understand core battle mechanics makes this game a lot of fun to play and comeback to.
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I have a love/hate relationship with this new Simcity. There are elements of it that I just love to death, but then there's nonsense attached with it that I can't stand. Every now and again I found myself booting it up and playing for 6 hours straight.
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In a year where a ton of fun simple multiplayer games came out, Speedrunners is one of my favorites. It's combination between Mario Kart styled power ups and the 2D looping nature of the greatest SNES game, Uniracers, makes it an easy hit for me.
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