As someone with only so much time, only so much money, and a lot of different media I’m interested in, it’s rare for me to play all the big new releases in a year so I like to do GoTY a bit differently than most. Game of the Year lists are a very personal thing and consequently I think it’s appropriate that instead of a list of my favourite games released in 2014, I instead produce a list of what are roughly the top 10 best games I’ve played for the first time since making my 2013 GoTY list. So in purely alphabetical order, here are my approximate favourites from the last 12 months.

Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode Two

In general I’d follow the rule of excluding downloadable content from a selection like this, but with a different environment, different gameplay, different characters, and a somewhat divorced plot from Bioshock Infinite, Burial at Sea Episode Two becomes a kind of game in itself. In fact I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a DLC break from its base game as much as this one does. Its tense, creeping stealth combat is a perfect match for the decaying dystopia of Rapture and for the delicate but formidable Elizabeth. I’d usually say I’m adverse to game franchises doing too much recycling of their classic content, but the arsenal of non-lethal attacks and the smoky jadedness of the protagonist let you returned to the beloved setting of the original Bioshock with a whole new spin. The objectivist propaganda and sunken skyscrapers of the underwater metropolis also comprise some of the most impressive environments I’ve seen in a video game. It’s the kind of thing that really makes you miss Irrational Games.

Cook, Serve, Delicious

Cook, Serve, Delicious is one of those games that nails the easy-to-learn, hard-to-master formula. It’s about activities which in themselves are simple, a breeze to complete, and have few gameplay frills on top, but become dizzying when they come at you in varying combinations and at high speeds. The game can be intense and yet remain somehow lighthearted, giving a solid emulation of both the franticness and sense of accomplishment that can come with restaurant work. While a lot of games feel like they need to make you the saviour of a grand kingdom or a futuristic superweapon to make you feel like you matter, Cook, Serve, Delicious lets you find heaps of purpose in just preparing good food for people. I doubt I’ll ever get bored of putting in that button combination to make lasagne.

Jazzpunk

There are few truly funny video games out there and video game humour has always been a bit hit-and-miss, but Jazzpunk just makes me laugh. It’s madness and yet madness within a logical framework. It filters a series of disparate, non-sequitur jokes through a delightful half-cyberpunk, half-spy movie theme and comes out with a constant assault of comedy and surprises. It’s like a gallery of easter eggs; levels are densely packed with discoverables meaning there’s always something funny around the next corner to see. Jazzpunk is dumb, weird, insane, and deeply into its own mindset, all in great ways.

L.A. Noire

There’s a lot of marketing spin out there about how high-end technologies are going to radically improve games, but usually this just means “We’ll have pretty decent graphics”. For L.A. Noire however, the tech means something to the rules of play. It’s an experience that asks skills from you that other games rarely do, making you study facial expressions and body language as a key part of the gameplay, and it’s a game that while littered with puzzles, gets further than most in making sure things are always moving forwards and that you can’t get eternally stuck. Cutscenes are carefully directed and a killer UI and sound design allow the more technical elements of the same to slot in smoothly. It also manages to carry a general air of class and suaveness without sweeping the rampant bigotry and widespread discrimination of the 1940s under the rug. Carefully trimmed mission lengths and a tight format make the game easily consumable and damn near addictive. The conditions this game was made under should be condemned, but it’s good to see that Team Bondi’s efforts were far from wasted.

Outlast

Horror is an unusual genre for video games. It’s hard to develop for and there’s a lack of titles in this area that feel like they’re doing something genuinely original, exciting, and substantial. That makes Outlast all the more exceptional. It manages to take some of the best aspects of recent horror games while still being full of original ideas, it’s lengthy for a horror game and yet doesn’t burn itself out, it reuses concepts but remains tense until the end. Its level design is well thought-out and its scripted frights impeccably timed. It’s masterful at making you expect a scare when there’s none coming and scaring you when you feel safer. Some of my favourite moments with Outlast included emerging into pitch black rooms with no clear direction where to go, being followed around by unnervingly docile asylum inmates, and having to loudly splash my way around a pump room while being hunted by a maniac.

Papers, Please

One of the reasons that Papers, Please is a great game is that it could only do exactly what it wants to do in the medium of video games. It succeeds at giving a steady sense of productivity while also drilling into you a sense of oppression through a framework of dry and technical rules and a narrative about rote pencil-pushing. The game isn’t about whether or not you want to be a detached cog in a system, you don’t have a choice, instead it’s about what kind of cog you want to be. It says that even if your potential to change the world is small that doesn’t mean it’s not important. Despite the doom and gloom of this Communist nightmare, there are scant moments of humour and occasions where you can connect with people and feel like a good person, which are all the more impactful against the bleak backdrop of Arstotzka’s totalitarianism.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

This is a DS classic that I passed up for far too long, but one that fast found a place in my heart. Phoenix Wright’s crime investigation format doesn’t just allow it to play host to some pleasant adventure game fare, it’s also an evocative way to explore the game’s charming, colourful cast. It gives us cute and lively characters which don’t overstep the mark into becoming grating or one-dimensional. You go through a process of discovery with them and some of the late game is particularly touching. The court cases are the game’s crowning glory however, not just because of some strong puzzle design but because that setup allows for a steady and powerful increase in pacing. Having you square off against other characters in a puzzle game also gives a greater sense of empowerment when you get things right. You’re not just solving problems, you’re outsmarting other people.

Saint’s Row IV

As an absurdist, bombastic comedy action game I loved Saint’s Row: The Third, but at best Saint’s Row IV had a lukewarm appeal to me. The long wait for the game had dried up a lot of my enthusiasm and I wasn’t thrilled to find out they were recycling the same map from the previous game. Minutes in I found myself trudging through a send-up of modern military shooters that wasn’t all that funny, but then all of a sudden I was climbing a nuke as part of a suicide mission as my team gave their sorrowful goodbyes and Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing blared. At that point I was convinced Saint’s Row was back. Once again the jokes work not because there’s a bunch of “random” stuff being thrown at the screen but because of the dedication and creativity Volition show in their humour. In addition, the characters remain loveable and the powers like super-speed and being able to jump the height of a building mean that the gameplay of Saint’s finally gives a sense of ridiculous freedom in the same way the story does. You’re the President, you feel badass, this is a great game.

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

I’ve come across no other game which quite manages to evoke the same tone that Superbrothers does. Like many fantasy titles it’s a hero’s journey, but it’s a quiet and sombre one. There are grand, majestic battles against forces of darkness but a lot of the game is about being part of a relaxing naturescape with a strongly earthy colour palette. The heavy pixelation in Superbrothers’ art style makes it one of those experiences where the lack of detail seems to paradoxically give what you’re looking at a greater degree of authenticity, because it creates such an atmosphere. The game occasionally breaks the fourth wall, but not for purposes of cracking wise like most media, instead it’s about giving the sense of something larger than the events in the game and a meta-presentation in which the game describes itself as a cure for sickness of the soul. It’s all rammed home by Jim Guthrie’s excellent soundtrack which like the rest of the experience manages to land in a divine place between the natural and the electronic.

The Walking Dead Season Two

Note: Some moderate spoilers.

The Walking Dead games are a great exploration of the zombie apocalypse genre as an exercise in drama. They say that you see who people truly are in a crisis and that’s what this franchise is all about, a world where people are more monstrous than the undead that plague the earth, and where you could so easily become one of those monsters yourself. Season Two manages to bring so much of what made the first game an emotional rollercoaster surging back. Character deaths are often not just quick and fairly random, but also meaningless, people die just because, and morality is not only grey but often the lack of a hard moral ruling on what you’ve done leaves you introspective and constantly doubting yourself. Carver serves as a great antagonist, being a fascist brute but one with an ideology and motive you can understand, and Kenny became perhaps my favourite character, alternating compassion and self-destructive anger in a way that makes you unsure whether you should love him, hate him, or pity him. The game builds to an enormous emotional payload at the end which hits with the kind of force we’ve come to expect from Telltale.

Duder, It's Over

And that was 2014. I feel like my lists are never concrete because there are always other games you want to include, and games that hurt to cut from your list, but that speaks to a lot of the quality of what we get to play. We’re lucky to be able to live in a time and be in a circumstance where so much media like this is available to us. Honourable mentions go to Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Nidhogg, and Tomb Raider. I hope you have a great 2015 and thanks for reading.