Best of 2013
Games that might make the list (but I haven't finished yet):
List items
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This is the first time that a multiplayer game has grabbed me this hard since Modern Warfare. It is a game about obtuse gameplay mechanics with unnecessary learning curves, and I'd have it no other way.
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An emotional rollercoaster with tense, scavenge-y gameplay. This might be the 'best' game I've played all year (because, you know, DOTA 2 is actually a horribly-designed game).
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The Walking Dead was my favourite game from last year, and this new Telltale franchise hits all my buttons: fantasy, detective/noir, and Drive.
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Environmental storytelling is my favourite type of game storytelling, and there's a whole game about it.
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Every other game on this list has distinct flaws. Zelda doesn't. It reinvents a tired franchise with one of the most satisfying non-linear structures that I think I've ever played.
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Infinite's gameplay is silly and exciting, and the story happens to match that tone in every way. Alternate realities are the best realities.
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While I think The Wolf Among Us has a stronger debut, Season Two is nothing to scoff at: it holds 3 of the most nauseating moments of the year all to itself. Harden up, Clem... it's time to shank anyone who fucks with you.
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Game design subversion is sort of it's one trick, but there was something completely captivating about finding all the hidden craft in this shockingly-layered experience.
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Best pirate game. Best boat game. Best swashbuckling game. Best in-game radio. Best dumb near-future fiction.
It may not be 'the best,' but AC4 is 'most bests.'
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If The Stanley Parable is about narrative subversion, then Antichamber is about mechanical subversion. It's disorienting and inconsistent; it makes no narrative sense; it has no direction. It's magical and weird.
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