GOTY 2012 (Adjusted)

Same deal as the other "GOTY (Adjusted)" lists, filling a few gaps in the below table to ensure I'm all up to date. There's a few unplayed stragglers from 2012 I'm curious about but I think after a decade and change I'm fairly set with this list. The last monumental addition was Tales of Graces F which I played only as recently as 2021; most were either played on the year in question or the one immediately after.

2012 was the last year that the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii dominated the gaming scene (that is, if you don't include the increasingly robust PC gaming market): the Wii U showed up right at the end of this year, disturbing very little given its lukewarm reception, and then the PS4 and Xbox One made bigger splashes when they landed in the following holiday season. An imminent new generation would tend to have companies focus on current-gen swansongs that pull from those outmoded systems as much as they could while the rest of the industry geared itself up for pastures new, but I find that most of my own list is comprised of smaller or niche games. There's a lot of beginnings and endings here too: Game franchises that got their start in 2012 that are still going strong today—if not through direct sequels than at least by leaving a legacy of imitators—while others were promising new IPs that sadly proved to be one-and-dones.

GOTYs	(Adjusted)
2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
2019	2020	2021	2022	2023

List items

• 

  1. Spelunky

  (First Played (FP): 2013)

  Though Spelunky technically got its start earlier, 2012 was when it really garnered attention via its cartoonified XBLA debut. The first, or at least the most influential, of the "roguelite" genre that defined itself by taking the brutal, run-based nature of its namesake ASCII RPGs to a new format (in this case, a platformer), Spelunky had a claw-like grip on our ba-, uh, hearts as it defied us to uncover its secrets and survive long enough to see its deepest depths. A whole other route, twice as hard to find and thrice as hard to complete, ensured that even if we stomped that giant golden head we were far from considering ourselves Spelunky masters. Between Patrick Klepek's daily Spelunky attempts and an achievement set that extended the difficulty to masochistic levels, I was glued to this thing for the better part of 2013. I'm still not sure if I love it or despise it, but I can't seem to argue with the amount of time I was willing to spend getting hurled into spikes or shotgunned after every miscalculation.

• 

  2. Tales of Graces F

  (FP: 2021)

  This was a really pleasant surprise, and I continue to kick myself that I had a copy of Graces F for damn near eight years before I finally decided to play it. Look, I'll be frank: the story and characters, usually a high point of any Tales game, aren't exactly stellar in this case. Everyone also has the weirdest looking costumes, from protagonist Asbel's Disco King popped collar leisure suit or Hubert's baby blue trenchcoat with dress-like trains, and the prologue with the kid versions of the characters felt mostly superfluous and could've been presented in one flashback or several. Yet the gameplay. The gameplay! Tales has rarely been bettered before or since (the dodge rolls of Arise might've put it on an even level) with its combination of melee A-Arts and conditional B-Arts, distinct for each character, and the regenerating technique points that made throwing out strong combos a breeze. On top of that you have the way titles are built into the character progression (something else Arise brought back) and the mighty Eleth Mixer: a means of producing items from thin air, including post-battle restorative meals, thereby making item usage that much more palatable for someone like me who always hangs onto anything in finite supply in any given RPG. A seriously underrated entry in the franchise and very close to the top of my personal Tales ranking. Why'd I put it off for so long??? Agh!

• 

  3. Sleeping Dogs

  (FP: 2012)

  Sleeping Dogs represents, to me, the zenith of the open-world crime game started long ago by GTA and its ilk. The combination of gunplay, martial arts, driving, and general faffing around made its version of Hong Kong such an appealing location to explore, either while the streets were slick and reflective with rain or the sun was shining brightly down on its colorful harbor and marketplaces. The undercover cop story was strong too thanks in part to supporting roles like the protagonist's unlucky childhood friend and the various underworld figures you'd either work with or bump heads against (or both). I never did play any of its DLC, giving me ample reason to revisit if I ever get the urge.

• 

  4. Ys Origin

  (FP: 2016)

  If a Ys game came out in any given year you better believe it's making my top five. Ys Origin is perhaps the only one in the series with a small barrier to entry—it's a direct prequel to the first two games, relying on the player recalling aspects of the lore regarding its central Tower of Darm location—but the focus on a single dungeon that escalates ever further into the sky and its triple protagonist structure incentivizing multiple playthroughs gives it a personality unlike most of the more generically adventuresome Ys games to follow. It's also one of the three Napishtim engine games, ensuring a very fluid and rapid action-RPG experience bolstered by a sublime synth metal soundtrack (seriously, its rearrangement album by Falcom's in-house live band is one of my VGM all-timers, especially "Silent Desert"), making it a hard game to dislike unless you really shy away from a challenge. When you're in its flow, nothing tops an Ys.

• 

  5. Dust: An Elysian Tail

  (FP: 2012)

  Though speaking of flows, the one thing that's easy to forget about Dust: An Elysian Tail is just how smooth its wuxia-inspired swordplay feels as you run around gliding and spinning your sword to produce more effects than simply a defensive barrier. What often gets the most focus when talking about this game is how it's a solo project by newcomer Dean Dodrill, even though the hand-drawn art style is stellar and the gameplay and length are both industry veteran tier in their quality. The year's best explormer by an easy margin.

• 

  6. The Last Story

  (FP: 2012)

  Operation Rainfall's big success story was Xenoblade, which debuted in my part of the world the previous year, but its other two localization wins were no slouches either. The Last Story has the best pedigree of the two, developed by Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi and given a synonym-heavy name that isn't fooling anyone. Narratively similar to FF9 (and, uh, Aladdin) and mechanically more akin to a Gears style cover shooter, the game may be on the short and sweet side but there's some really imaginative ideas going down in what might've been mistaken for a Final-Fantasy-but-not also-ran. Though speaking of, Uematsu's more unhinged here than ever and I'm all for it.

• 

  7. Pandora's Tower

  (FP: 2013)

  Then there's the other OpRainfall game. Much like its heroine, Pandora's Tower requires one to develop an acquired taste in a hurry due to its very time-intensive structure as you explore a series of towers in a Zelda-y action-adventure kinda way while ensuring that you come back home promptly with a quality piece of monster flesh in tow whenever the in-game timer beckons. It feels restrictive at first but the level and game design is built with it in mind given all its various unlockable short-cuts and efficiency-boosting upgrades. I also just like any game that factors chain weapons into its gameplay, whether you're whipping dudes around or latching onto parts of the level to launch yourself upwards. All in all, it's a deeply strange game that found a fitting home on the Wii like so many others.

• 

  8. Binary Domain

  (FP: 2012)

  Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios are happy enough producing three Like a Dragon games a year now but back in 2012 they took a chance on this third-person cover shooter about a task force of anti-android commandos who infiltrate Japan to locate a reclusive robotics genius after one of his "hollow children" (robots indistinguishable from people) shows up on American soil. Fitting the theme, the game attempted to live demo a few AI-assisted notions like a voice recognition system and a conceit where you could grow trust with NPCs by not shooting them in the back repeatedly. I just remember the game being a whole lot of chaotic fun, with viscerally pleasing sound design whenever you shot a robot to pieces. Also, Big Bo.

• 

  9. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

  (FP: 2012)

  The first Theatrhythm was quickly made obsolete by its remaster/sequel Curtain Call (and again much later by Final Bar Line) but it still figured out an ingenious way to craft a Final Fantasy rhythm game that was entirely apposite to the charms and conventions of the franchise while ably celebrating its vast legacy of high-quality music. Building these musical stages around character parties of the player's choosing and factoring in a bunch of RPG mechanics gave the game a depth and longevity beyond just replaying each track until you mastered it.

• 

  10. Dishonored

  (FP: 2012)

  Dishonored was where Arkane finally hit the big time (for as much as I liked Arx Fatalis) and found a real bizarre inspiration for its supernatural stealth-'em-up Thief successor by couching everything in some speculative Moby Dick universe where whale oil became some miracle phlogiston super-fuel and its 19th century setting was suddenly capable of mechanical steampunk marvels like combat automatons and fatal laser force fields. Add to this already compelling setting an engrossing and personal revenge story and no end of magical powers that make your quiet murdering all the easier (unless you skipped them for the sake of an achievement, like I did), and some weird business with rats eventually rising up and taking over if you were a little too kill-happy and you have one of the most darkly memorable games of the year.

• 

  11. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

  (FP: 2013)

  Just a really solid remake that retains everything that people loved about the original, which unfortunately in my view also includes a hideously unfair difficulty curve. Its novel cover-based tactical turn-based system is still being recycled in new games every year.

• 

  12. Hotline Miami

  (FP: 2013)

  A psychedelic killing spree simulator that, despite the heavy beats and (deliberately) garish and ugly visuals, had a deeply cunning core that demanded reflexive and strategic perfection through trial and error for each of its floor-clearing levels.

• 

  13. Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

  (FP: 2014)

  The second Zero Escape game took the strengths of the first (999) and expanded on them, providing even more outlandish pseudo-scientific reasons behind everything, big narrative swings, and a set of absorbing escape room puzzles that would help launch a cottage industry of weirdos turning their disused warehouses into themed rooms full of easily breakable puzzle pieces.

• 

  14. Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack

  (FP: 2016)

  Speaking of absorbing, we have a game where a blob eats everything (and everyone, eventually). It was hard to imagine at the time what would later be in store for DrinkBox, now one of the more inventive Indie developers out there, but you can clearly see their mischievous, misanthropic sense of humor on display here as well as their propensity for colorful and festive graphics sometimes at odds with their games' grim tones.

• 

  15. Asura's Wrath

  (FP: 2012)

  This game's really just a series of spectacles, with a gossamer-thin character action game big on QTEs just about holding it all together. If streamers had been much of a thing back then, I bet this game would've been much more popular than it was. Just a shame it decided to lock away its ending as paid DLC.

• 

  16. Borderlands 2

  (FP: 2012)

  We weren't all collectively fed up of Borderlands's achingly poor approximation of humor yet (though its garrulous antagonist and his fixation on "butt stallions" certainly got us close to the line) so this remains, I believe, the best game in the series if we're talking a combination of gameplay and story and one I spent quite a lot of time playing. Get guns, kill things, get better guns, kill bigger things. Hard to argue with that loop.

• 

  17. Fez

  (FP: 2012)

  That Fez has so few imitators a decade later is a testament to the risks it made and the miracle that was having them pay off by getting the whole internet feverishly taking notes and deciphering languages to plumb all its well-concealed mysteries. I sometimes wonder if it's been long enough now that I've forgotten all its tricks and can enjoy it as much as I did the first time.

• 

  18. Cargo Commander

  (FP: 2016)

  A run-based cosmic haulage game where you run around stealing from spaceship debris before the zombies or a lack of air can abruptly end your shift. Has that scrappiness many games of its type can take on if you're really desperate to get back home and net all the cool stuff you've found without dying, discovering a resourcefulness you never knew you had.

• 

  19. Mass Effect 3

  (FP: 2012)

  A shaky ending and some rapid thread-tying doesn't quite negate the conclusion to one of the best action RPG trilogies on the market, sci-fi or otherwise. Doesn't hurt that its DLC campaigns are excellent and gave the game a needed second wind. I worry that this was current BioWare's peak, since it doesn't seem like they're on the road to recovery.

• 

  20. Journey

  (FP: 2012)

  A deeply emotional trek in the desert, with or without some internet stranger by your side helping you along or just rushing ahead in their impatience. Beautiful, haunting, mysterious, and just look at those sunse- oh, you're three dunes away again. Lemme catch up already.

• 

  21. The Cat Lady

  (FP: 2018)

  Dark, bleak horror adventure game that's like Silent Hill mixed with a Mike Leigh kitchen sink drama.

• 

  22. Analogue: A Hate Story

  (FP: 2013)

  Tough read at times about the social regression of the crew of a generational seedship but the heavy worldbuilding and structure makes it work.

• 

  23. Thomas Was Alone

  (FP: 2014)

  The first Bithell game was certainly minimalist but exhibited his flare for sardonic storytelling.

• 

  24. Legend of Grimrock

  (FP: 2014)

  Decent enough real-time dungeon crawler of the Dungeon Master mode, faithfully brought back to inspire other imitators. Sequel was better.

• 

  25. Primordia

  (FP: 2014)

  Post-apoc adventure game with a suitably grim outlook albeit with some levity, exploring a robot's relationship to the dead world of humans.

• 

  26. Botanicula

  (FP: 2015)

  Amanita being their usual whimsical selves in this nature-based point-and-click game driven by curiosity.

• 

  27. Rainbow Moon

  (FP: 2019)

  Too repetitive by half but oddly compelling as you systematically wipe its maps of monster encounters.

• 

  28. Risen 2: Dark Waters

  (FP: 2012)

  Piranha Bytes RPG which, well, if you know you know. This one's got a pirate theme and is overall a bit more silly and laid-back compared to its predecessor.

• 

  29. Far Cry 3

  (FP: 2012)

  Ubisoft finding another tower-climbing money-maker for the next decade and change. When you aren't making wallets out of warthog nutsacks it's usually some chill FPS open-worlding.

• 

  30. Crimson Shroud

  (FP: 2012)

  RPG legend Yasumi Matsuno's contribution to Level-5's "Guild" game jam, this one plays like a tabletop game session where the dice rule the school.

• 

  31. Resonance

  (FP: 2012)

  The other Wadjet Eye on this list, after Primordia (above). Multiple perspectives to trick you in this sci-fi potboiler.

• 

  32. The Unfinished Swan

  (FP: 2012)

  An ode to unbridled creativity and the lack of focus that often comes with it, its innovative ideas for levels are rarely explored in full.

• 

  33. Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit

  (FP: 2012)

  Explormer about a dead rabbit ruler of hell putting his wayward residents back in their place; chaotic and edgy.

• 

  34. Darksiders II

  (FP: 2012)

  Taking the Zelda blueprint of the original and making a huge open-world game with multiple weapon types out of it instead. Like that'd ever work for Zelda.

• 

  35. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

  (FP: 2012)

  Kinda have to know what to expect with the Lego games. They don't change much.