Depending on how kind you're feeling, Thomas Was Alone is either a testament to gaming's storytelling potential, or a grim reminder of how far the mainstream games industry is from reaching that potential.
I'm all for the grim part.
Lucky me I'm in my backlog enjoying games of yesteryear, fairly literally, so most of the 2012 year of sucking out loud has passed me by. I've dabbled in things, deeply subfusc things, and for some darned reason Mass Effect 3 is just not thrilling me at all. I'm not excited, or moved, I'm just kind of underwhelmed, and found my groove in Civilization Revolution again (I like board games).
On the bright side, being behind gives me more filters through which I may better sift the more choice turds from the less offensive ones. Episodic games tend to slip under my radar, usually because I remember that games like SiN and Half Life are proof it's a bad format, and Stephen King's reflection on The Green Mile makes it truly evident as to how it really is about getting away with slipping more fingers in the up consumer's asses and looking like a hero. Maybe Telltale is on to something, maybe The Walking Dead is good stuff not meant to feel like rectally invading digits, and maybe I'll give it a closer look considering the accolades it's received so far now that it's going to be available as a meal rather than as a trickle of overpriced sustenance delivered through a needle thin IV line.
Either way I wish Gandhi would stop declaring war on me.