Best of 2013
yes okay fine
i should keep track fine
what's like rateyourmusic for games
giantbomb's list thing fine
GAMES IN MY FUTURE: XCOM, Octodad
gta5 is never going to be on here, i dont like it
also teleglitch is a 2012 game so whoops
List items
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The most fun I've had with one video game this year, running through with a full party of four. Perfect ending, too.
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Where most "story-driven games" are games with a story thread connecting them, Gone Home is a game where the mechanics inform how the story plays out, and the story informs the mechanics equally. This consideration, plus the fact that I ended up being moved by how the story plays out, makes Gone Home the best story-driven game I've seen all year.
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An excellently written, mechanically tight but non-sadistic stealth game with an ending that doesn't suck. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it can also provide clean renewable energy in addition to all its other thin-air miracles.
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Conflicted about this one. It'll do three things right and then one thing wrong. Even with that unreliability, Shadow Warrior is still mechanically excellent. It's a pretty coherent revival of the old FPS format, which was a style of game I wasn't done with.
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Absolute minimalism appeals to me, and so Reciever does. Easy to have a long, tense time or a short burst while waiting for something to finish, which is something that most PC games and FPS games specifically don't pay much heed to.
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Speaking of minimalism, Divekick! Razor sharp mechanically, unhinged in absurdity, but clear in its focus that it all works well together. I wish it didn't die down so quickly.
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Horrifying. Not just in how quickly it can remove the human element of what's happening to these people, but how quickly the players can separate themselves from any trace of humanity. All the stories my friends told me about this game related to how well they did their jobs, and how glad they were to reject any and all edge cases pleading for help. Horrifying.
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My favorite kind of platformer is where there's deliberate pacing and a possible "perfect" run with limited variables, and Volgarr The Viking is a game that punishes you for not knowing/using that path. It's a great way to test your ability to learn pattern recognition. Also a great way to break your controller.
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haha fuck perception anyways am i right? hold on I need to go unfold this microwave into a cataclysmic abyss so I can walk across my own bridge
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When I start to play a game, I spend time pushing against games while I play them, trying to see where it breaks. The Stanley Parable is a game where every time I've pushed against it, the game has directly pushed back. It stresses me out a lot, even though the story is light and comedic. At its best though it's a strong critique of the Ten Hour Movie game development trends which is something that needs to exist right about now.
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Superbly clever even if the setting starts to grow weirder than the concept seemingly allows.
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Enthusiasm goes a long way for me, and this is a game where I can imagine the level and scenario designers just skipped to work every day, endlessly excited to be making this particular game.
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NOTE: THIS IS MEANT TO REPRESENT SALTYBET
Back on minimalism, the reduction of fighting games and custom character creation to dog fighting is a brilliant stroke. I've spent more hours with this than many big budget releases, and had more fun as well.
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I need to spend more time with this because the B side stuff hasn't made sense, but it's on here on the strength of its bewildering opening alone.
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Having a good time with it! No idea if it's actually well made! Woooooo!
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I wanted to play Battlefield. It is, indeed, Battlefield.
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A familiar refrain: solid mechanics and execution, minimal story interference. It's lower because since it doesn't feel that random in generation, it ends up feeling more about piece memorization than situational versatility. I don't know if that makes sense.
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you might have heard of this one
i really liked shooting dudes in it, and i loved how the ending unfolds in lieu of some gnarly dramatic boss
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None More Gauntlet.
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The trading changes are awesome. The culture changes are not. Venice is a lot of fun. I don't have a lot to say about this game, even though I've crossed 130 hours played earlier this year.
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Large parts of this didn't work for me, but it's such a fascinating idea that it deserves some recognition. Go see it, because it's such a close miss to a great idea.
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Cute god game, but it's not really holding my attention.
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crashes a lot more than Enemy Unknown
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