GOTY 2012

So now is the time for GOTY creations. I figure, I've got time to kill (too much, actually) and I'd like to cement my thoughts in some form for future perusal. Thusly, my list of favourite games that I played in 2012.

This year has felt pretty odd overall, in a way. It was almost a weak year, in many ways. There weren't really any stand-out, blow-your-socks-off games, at least none that would stand up terribly well pitted against games of earlier years. There's no bangers, really. It's kind of telling that I used this year to play a lot of old games.

But then again, trying to pick 10 from the games I played last year was kind of tough. From the 25 games I played this year, 17 were still looking to make it into the top. And a whole lot of them are really good for reasons that are uncommon for games; story-telling, and especially decision-making and consequences, were addressed in incredibly interesting ways. Spec Ops: The Line was a middling shooter, surrounded by a stellar story that is very rare in shooters these days. No less, a Call of Duty game did very similar things, apparently with great success.

So, without further ado, my games in descending order, ladies and gents:

List items

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  1. The Walking Dead

  The Walking Dead is the pinnacle of story-telling in games this year. It allowed for player agency to feel legitimate, even if underneath it was linear. It created characters who were complicated and believable. It had me, and many others it seems, coming back time and time again for more episodes. Even though the actual gameplay left a little to be desired, this was my favourite game experience of 2012. It is also one of the few games that has brought me to the brink of tears.

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  2. Sleeping Dogs

  And to think I almost didn't play this. Even though Sleeping Dogs doesn't do anything particularly new, it manages to do all of what it does (and it does a lot) in such a way as to be constantly satisfying for me. It was sombre, with a heavy narrative filled with interesting, flawed characters. It was crazy, with the mechanics allowing for ridiculous shit to happen in the blink of an eye. And it was so much fun, that it'll stick with me for a long time.

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  3. Mark of the Ninja

  While I don't think the narrative of Mark of the Ninja is particularly stand-out, the gameplay is the closest to perfect I have yet seen. The ease with which you can be a stealthy bad-arse, the options you are afforded to play however you like, the difficulty presented and the myriad ways to overcome it, are astounding. This is potentially the best 2D stealth game that has been developed in a long time; it is certainly one of the best games of the year.

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  4. Dust: An Elysian Tail

  Maybe I like this game more than I should because it was made by one guy, essentially. However, that doesn't discount the vast, varied and deep mechanics, the fast, fluid and often high-soaring action, the touching and in some ways unique narrative, the everything, really. Dust: An Elysian Tale is superb, and Dean Dodrill should be proud of his work.

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  5. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

  XCOM: Enemy Unknown is an entirely new experience to me, in many ways. It's difficulty, as well as its unwillingness to compromise (particularly on higher difficulties), should drive me mad, but it doesn't. Instead, it feels very rewarding to struggle against so many odds and eventually come out on top. Even on a console, it feels so right, and appealing, and you're so constantly immersed in the world of XCOM, that it is hard not to recommend it.

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  6. FTL: Faster Than Light

  I actually was pretty cool on this game at first, since it just never clicked. Slowly, though, as rogue-likes do, I learnt the systems better, made better choices, and almost defeated the final warship. Ultimately, FTL is satisfying, which is the best thing it can be. All the actions, consequences, difficulty, all lead to it being an incredibly satisfying experience, which has kept me going back to FTL more frequently than I thought possible. And I swear I'll defeat that warship arsehole on Normal. Eventually.

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  7. Super Hexagon

  The perfect mobile game, in many ways. Each playthrough is self-contained, it lasts less than a minute usually, and it has a hugely addictive quality. Terry Cavanagh has done something wonderful with this seemingly simple little thing, which for a time was a zeitgeist within gaming. Games that grab such popularity so quickly deserve recognition; the fact that it was a superb game is a triumph in ways.

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  8. Diablo III

  I may be criticised for this pick here, but I honestly love the hell out of Diablo III purely for its capabilities as a time-sucker. I love the combat, the loot looks and feels great, and there are so many different systems that help streamline the process for a new player of action-RPG's like me. Is that why I like it so much? Whatever, it's #8.

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  9. Mass Effect 3

  I'm on record for being highly critical of how Mass Effect ends, since I believe the player agency they promoted throughout the entire series shouldn't have been nullified. Despite that, I have to acknowledge that ME3 is a superb game in many ways, and I highly enjoyed it. In ways, ME3 was a fitting tribute to everything it had done before, and it is in ways sad that the Shepard trilogy has concluded.

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  10. Katawa Shoujo

  So can a visual novel really be considered a favourite game? I'm including Katawa Shoujo here because it was one of the more touching experiences I've had in a very long time. The characters were complicated, it approached its material in a clear but very candid sense, and it managed to provoke both highs and lows in my emotional state.