Once again, this year I played 26 games. Why 26? Well it was essentially going to be 25 but I shoved Poker Night 2 in there just to round it up to the same as last year. Also here is my list of games I still want to play but never got round to this year for context. The year has certainly been strong for gaming, seeing the release of another Bioshock, GTA, two new next gen consoles and a new Naughty Dog IP. But it has also been the most crazy diverse year for indie and smaller games, which will make everyone's GOTY list completely different.

I can't imagine anyone will agree on a unified top 10 games of 2013 but I do suspect GTA V and The Last of Us are the clear favorites for the big prize among most gamers. What GB pick on the other hand could be anything. I'm hoping for Bioshock personally and I know Jeff really liked it. I was real bummed out by the lack of AAA fantasy RPG's, Dragon's Crown being about as close as I could get at finding one. This meant I ended up playing more Skyrim and Dark Souls this year than I did anything else, but hey, turns out those two games are still amazing, who knew? Anyway, without further ado, here are the 26 best games of the year(but obviously not really).

1. BioShock Infinite

Once again Irrational Games has delivered a great world filled with interesting characters. The horror themes of the original are mostly gone, but Columbia is still an equally messed up, atmospheric setting. The gameplay feels roughly the same, however the pace of the combat is a lot faster.

BioShock Infinite's story telling may be flawed but nothing this year has come close to absorbing me into it's world and characters. Well other than my number 2 pick, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

2. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

After not being sold at all on the game after the quicklook, I waited for the steam sale, but man did they not do the game justice. The mechanics are solid and kept fresh throughout but the best part of this game has to be it's world.

The atmosphere and world building is perfectly executed and gave me goosebumps walking through all the stunning set pieces. Probably my favorite part of the game is the creature designs, which are fantastic and very unique. Also for a game with no understandable dialogue, it's filled with a bunch of happy and sad moments that really tugged at my heart strings.

If you enjoy games like Journey, Ico or Shadow of the Colossus, this game is for you.

3. Dragon's Crown

Don't let the 2D brawler looking combat or jiggling boobies fool you, this is probably the best action RPG of the year. Brawlers with loot seem to be a thing this year but Dragon's Crown is easily the best on the market.

4. Forza Motorsport 5

I won't deny that this game has some major issues. The biggest being the crazy prices for the high end and rare cars which are pretty much impossible to get without paying real money, a LOT of real money. That said there are plenty of affordable cars to drive and the driving is fantastic.

If it wasn't for the issues this game would easily be my GOTY. I love playing this game, but I hope they fix the greedy pricing model.

5. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Rock on cyber commando elite super soldier dude! This game has a great sense of humor and being built on top of one of the best games of last year, this bite sized Far Cry 3 is a lot of fun.

6. StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

Great gameplay, fun characters and a good blockbuster story = really good game. Doesn't have the same impact as the original and probably not GOTY material but I had a good time with it.

7. Dead Rising 3

With the slightly relaxed difficulty, this Dead Rising is a lot less stressful and considerably more fun because of it. Stripping away the time constraints does however show up the gaping flaws in game design that this series has. I feel any future instalments really need to change things up, as I don't think I could play another game like this without it feeling stale.

It's far from perfect, but a good time none the less.

8. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

A perfect setting and lead character brings this stale franchise, back to life. It still has all the normal AC issues but the pirate setting easily makes up for its flaws. It's easily the best AC since Brotherhood and one of the best games of the year.

9. Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

A strong JRPG of this generation but gets reptitive thanks to some rather boring side quests and a combat system that is a bit clunky and awkward. Thankfully it has a great setting and an interesting world to explore. The graphics and presentation give off a very heart-warming feeling that is very much missed in this age of dry military murder sims.

10. The Last of Us

Naughty Dog's obsession with adding way too much combat and poorly placed difficulty spikes, doesn't end up ruining the great characters and dark story of Last of Us. Also one of the most interesting openings and endings to a story I've seen in a while.

Great game, but a bit dark for my tastes.

11. Tomb Raider

A great game and by far my favorite Tomb Raider. Decent characters that are not super memorable for better or worse, but the story is serviceable enough.

Tomb Raider's strongest elements are where it tends to play a lot like Arkham Asylum, with super cool animations, exploration and semi-open areas allowing for some detailed, atmospheric environments(where Arkham City failed in my opinion).

12. Grand Theft Auto V

Once again the story and insane characters are great. Unfortunately the gameplay is the same as it was in previous instalments, meaning the shooting and driving gets very mundane. Sadly The GTA open world experience is starting to feel a little dated.

That said the main story is very engaging and worth the price of admission even if all the other stuff they crammed in isn't.

13. Gone Home

A short and sweet story about the goings on of your family while you were out travelling the world. The story isn't anything ground breaking but the way in which the story is told is a well implemented evolution of what Bioshock started. Instead of audiologs, you discover letters and diaries that tell you the story in a mostly chronological order, dictated by the layout of the house.

I did really enjoy the authentic 90s motif. The game does a good job selling you on the time period and making the house feel lived in. Overall not really a GOTY contender or breaking any new ground but what it is, is a well told and interesting take on the adventure/horror genre.

14. The Stanley Parable

A clever game that really makes you want to play it over and over to discover its many hidden secrets and jokes. The game is designed to poke fun at common game design tropes that, if you have been playing games for years like me, are quite entertaining.

It's not the second coming of jesus, nor is it anything that original(Portal made the same jokes back in 2007), but as a short-form comical gaming experience that tries it's best to subvert your expectations, it's a lot of fun.

15. Pokémon X/Y

The pokemon are in 3d now and look fantastic and this instalment seems to be the most streamlined and well designed in the series. I'm enjoying it but a very strong feeling of Deja-vu lingers.

16. DmC Devil May Cry

An action game with a well implemented combat system but not much else. Levels are pretty bland bar a few really awesome set peices and the characters and story a rather forgettable. DMC3 is still a far better game but I enjoyed this more than DMC4.

17. Dead Space 3

If this were the first game in a series I would cut it some slack as I enjoyed it most of the way through. But seeings as everything about Dead Space 3 is inferior to the previous entry in the series, it ends up a disappointment.

The biggest issue with the game mainly being the encounters are super generic. An example being that the developers took monster closets to an absolute extreme. Every room has at least 3 monster closets and they use a lot. Zero scares, zero thrills. The best comparison to this game is Dragon Age 2. The same environments repeated over and over.

18. Rogue Legacy

A pretty flawed game but a great hybrid between a roguelike and platformer but with an progression system. The idea of a roguelike is super smart and although roguelike veterans probably like the hardcore nature of the rogulike genre, I certainly like rpg progression knowing I haven't completely wasted my time dying over and over.

19. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

My first monster hunter game. It does appeal to my addictive personality when it comes to improving my character with better loot but it just has so many flaws I can't ignore.

I love me some Dark Souls but I feel that games animation priority is spot on where this game goes a bit too far. Being continually knocked over and taking a few seconds to get up every time is painfully irritating. Grinding the same monster to complete gear is also boring.

20. Battlefield 4

BF4's multiplayer suit is the best its ever been(when it works). The maps look amazing and are well designed, giving the player a lot of variety per map. Loads of modes so you can play it how ever you want, small scale death-matches to large scale 64 player conquest battles.

21. Animal Crossing: New Leaf

A laid back time sink, that may not really be my kind of thing, but it acts as a good cleanser for my bad Dark Souls habit.

22. Sacred Citadel

A short but decent downloadable experience. Just don't go in expecting much and you'll enjoy this modern Golden Axe style adventure.

23. Path of Exile

Fun, but I have played way too many games like this recently that I am full, very full of this kind of experience. The combat is just so boring compared Torchlight 2 and Diablo 3. For me its chosen to stay in the past, a past that I have very little interest revisiting.

24. GRID 2

After playing it for a while, I really lost interest. The driving controls just feel off and the PC issues that prevented me from playing it full screen were never fixed. I can't say I'd recommend this over a game like Forza 4 or 5. Just like Dirt 3, GRID 2 was a huge disappointment compared to games like Dirt 2 and the original GRID.

25. Don't Starve

Well this ever changing survival game has an interesting premise, but not one that hooks me in enough to keep me coming back to it.

26. Poker Night 2

It's poker once again. I did enjoy the original purely for the humor but this time the guest roster is just not great. Sam and Max are great and GLaDos is fantastic as the dealer but the rest are... not so good. Specifically Claptrap is as annoying as ever, although some interactions with GLaDos are quite well done.