The Escapist Community's Top 5 Games of 2012

Andy Shandy

Fucked if I know
Jun 7, 2010
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Well we had the overall community Game Of The Year [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121260-The-Escapists-Game-of-the-Year-2012]. And we've had the some of the staff's Top 5 of 2012 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/content/FiveFavorites/2012].

So why don't we mash these two together in a car crash sort of way, and have The Escapist Community Top 5 Games Of 2012!

Basically all it is, is you pick your top 5, preferably saying why, but ultimately I can't force you to.

So let's begin with my top 5. I'll include a link to a piece of music from the game. Just because. Be warned the video will autoplay once you click on the spoiler. The explanation for each choice will be below the spoiler, just in case you don't want the music.


Say all you want about that ending...In fact, don't, it has been 'discussed' to put it politely, from here to high heaven. But besides it, Mass Effect 3 was an excellent game, with almost every choice you made in the previous games having some sort of impact, big or small. It also had some of the most emotional scenes I'd ever seen in a game, the soundtrack was just exquisite, and the story and experience of Mass Effect 3 was 98% stellar. However, that last two percent is what means it isn't higher up on the list.


Now here's the moment where anyone American or Japanese is going "Hold on a minute! This came out in 2011!" Well not in Europe/UK, it didn't so I'm including it. While unfortunately it couldn't be a full HD collection, it still contains two of the best games of the PS2 generation in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. These games were both fantastic when they came out all those years ago, but the added buffing of HD just makes them all the better. And then there was the completely unexpected gem of a game that was Peace Walker as well. For all the time I put into MGS 2 and 3, I think I must have put double that into Peace Walker.


Goddamnit, why did this have to be so short! The main complaint I have the game is that I was having far too much fun with this game, and then BOOM! it's over. I'm sure Arkane could have had it in them to create at least a couple more assassination targets or something! It's not like Dunwall (an excellent world by the way, well to play in) doesn't have it's fair share of deviants and miscreants to hunt down. Blink (see what I did there?) and you'll miss it!

And now I'm sort of going to break the rules of the top 5m and skip 2 entirely and go for a joint first place. So here they are.

and

There's been a fair amount of discussion about whether or not video games are art the past couple of years, and I've, for the most part, just went "Meh" about the whole discussion. "It would be a nice thing for it to be called an art I suppose, but I won't cry over it if it's not". However, both The Walking Dead and Spec Ops: The Line have showed me that yes, games can be, and most certainly are art. A lot of games I've played though, went "Woo that was awesome" and then have forgotten the experience in a couple of days, give or take the length of the game. Spec Ops: The Line was certainly different. Never mind forgetting it, I don't think I even touched a game for a day or so afterwards, and I still haven't forgotten it. And despite only playing through The Walking Dead yesterday, I'm pretty sure it's going to be the exact same. I tried to separate these two, but besides little nitpicks for each game, it wasn't happening. And for what they are, they don't deserve to be separated by nitpicks. In my opinion, everyone should experience these games.

Anyway, what is everybody else's Top 5?
 

General Twinkletoes

Suppository of Wisdom
Jan 24, 2011
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1) Faster than light.
Very fun, even though I normally don't like games where you die over and over again. It's the sort of game that I can keep playing until 2 in the morning without realising it.

2) The Walking Dead Ep.1.
I only played that a few hours ago, but it was really good. I haven't started the other episodes yet, but I'm going to soon as long as the choices saved from game to game. I'm not sure if it did, because after the credits rolled and I was stuck staring at a background with no text for about 10 seconds, the game closed with no error message, and without going back to the menu. I don't know if that's how it's meant to be, but it looked like it had a weird crash.


And... that's it. Damn, I haven't played many games this year :(

EDIT: Oh, I forgot I had played Guild Wars 2. That probably comes at 3. Good game, as long as you don't rush to 80 to do dungeons like in WoW, and instead play the PvE more like you would play Skyrim, where you just run around and explore stuff. The world of Tyria is better than any of the gameplay it has. World vs World is also great if you have a big guild and about 30-40 people on teamspeak.
 

Shinsei-J

Prunus Girl is best girl!
Apr 28, 2011
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Since I originally posted this I desided to add a bit more detail and reason to why they're here just to make things a bit clearer.
[sub](I was being a bit lazy, still kinda am.)[/sub]

[HEADING=3]Alrighty then, let's get started going down from my number 5.[/HEADING]
After the original controversy surrounding the game I didn't hear anything about it, which led me to believe it was just a forgettably fighter based on the art over anything else. I came into it with little expectation.
It was glorious, a well rounded fighter with each character having an interesting skill set yet it being balanced to a T.
One of the best fighting games I've played in years, Nothing else.
Just really solid.
Being a fan of turn-based isometric strategy games I pre-ordered X-Com with excite.
Having never played the originals It blew me away with the amount of strategy involved in it.
My feeble mind was hit by something big, it was the first strategy game that challenged me.

Every aspect of the game works with each other and nothing feels out of place which is usually an issue with games centred around micromanagement. I've spent hours on it and I won't see the time fly, just one more mission.
I'll agree with Josh and say this game is awesome.
This game just hits you hard.
Once completed I felt broken, I felt empty and I felt bad.
No spoilers here so I'll just say, wow.
Play it.
I really can't do this game any credit.
Just buy a PS3 and play it if you haven't.
[HEADING=3]And for number one!
My personal favorite![/HEADING]
Your new reason to by a Vita!
I could spend hours going on about this but to sum it up;
Best aesthetics I've seen since Klonoa.
Most solid mechanics I've seen since Klonoa.
Most perfect GAME I've seen since Klonoa!
And I flippin love it.
 

Pink Gregory

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Jul 30, 2008
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I reckon Spec Ops 'working' for you sort of depends on your disposition while gaming; I guess I never get *that* emotionally invested in stories, unless I'm tired or strung out.

Innarestingly, the Walking Dead was an exception, which is strange because it's technically not very good as a game; y'have to wonder if something could be equally riveting and involving without being tightly scripted in such a way as to need restrictive gameplay elements. It's probably possible, but not within anywhere near a reasonable development cycle.
 

Chairman Miaow

CBA to change avatar
Nov 18, 2009
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I think Walking Dead just has to take every spot going. I was going to talk about X-com, and FTL, maybe a couple of other things. However, when I opened that spoiler and listened to that music again, I couldn't take it. No book or film has got to me the way that game did. If tragic events unfold in a book or film, sure it can get to you, but you can't control anything that happens. In the Walking Dead, you can. Sure you can argue about how much your decisions truly effect the end result, but it doesn't matter, because you make those decisions, it hits you that much harder when everything goes to shit.

And Clem.... keep that hair short...
 

Dead Seerius

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Feb 4, 2012
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5) Darksiders II - The combination of hack 'n slash meets Zelda is actually a great match. Too bad it didn't sell as well as THQ had hoped.

4) Borderlands 2 - Get a full lobby of friends together and this game is incredible. Soloing is still great as well.

3) Far Cry 3 - Way more fun than I expected. Even just cruising around the islands is entertaining.

2) Dishonored - Pretty much my first real stealth game. The genre never really interested me that much before, but after playing Dishonored I can finally see what people enjoy so much about being Mr. Sneaky.

1) The Walking Dead - You've all heard it before.
 

DustyDrB

Made of ticky tacky
Jan 19, 2010
8,365
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Aren't HD releases of old games in a 2012 list kind of...cheating? Anyway, here's mine:

I have so many problems with this game. Yeah, there's the ending. But that's not even the biggest one by a long shot. I hate that essential story content like From Ashes and Leviathan (yes, the latter DLC is really that important. It has possibly the biggest lore dump in the entire series) isn't part of the standalone game. I hate that they make the game almost unplayable offline (I tried one afternoon while the EA servers were down. It said I could play, but I couldn't save my progress). I hate how some major choices didn't pan out at all (Collector base, anyone?). I really freaking hate that Shepard is much more his own character who speaks on his own quite frequently, to the extent that he no longer really feels like my Shepard. And yes, I hate that clunker of an ending.

So how, in a year in which I played at least 20 games that would make my top five almost any other year, does Mass Effect 3 get so high on my list? Because when it's not pissing me off with those issues, it's simply outstanding. I hate this game and I love it. But when I love it, I really love it. They improved the gameplay tenfold, to the point where the combat itself is actually a reason to play (and many do, considering the multiplayer is still going strong). There's actual meaningful choice in terms of your gear, something even the original Mass Effect failed miserably at (you know you were rocking the Spectre gear and Colossus or Predator armor in the first game. Don't even lie). The level design is the best in the series, with the locations actually feeling like what they are supposed to be (a battlefield, a solitary haven for Ardat-Yakshi, etc) rather than a boxy room full of boxes.

And there are those little moments that are so peppered throughout the game. I don't want to spoil any, but characters you've been with show up and will do something awesome. Maybe it puts a smile on your face. Maybe it gets you pumped up. Maybe it brings a tear to your eye. Maybe you feel great relief. Maybe you get angry (in a good way). Or maybe it makes you want to find your best buddy and have an epic night out because, hey, you never know what might happen tomorrow. Mass Effect 3 is oozing with character. There is care put into the world, so much that it makes the lack of care in the ending infinitely more baffling.

Mass Effect 3 frustrates and amazes. It might live on in infamy (and deservedly so in a few ways), but there is still so much to love in this game.


There has been a resurgence the last few years of the idea that losing can be fun. XCOM: Enemy Unknown exemplifies this very well. You can very well find yourself 15-20 hours into a game and then realizing you have no chance of winning. It's full of tense moments where you absolutely have to make your next shot or your entire team of veteran soldiers will be wiped out. This all makes it even more satisfying when your strategy pays off.


Torchlight II did everything I want an ARPG to do. It improved vastly on the first game by adding co-op and spreading the dungeons out over a large area rather than making them all part of one mega dungeon. The classes in the game are distinct and pretty flexible in how they can be built, providing more incentive to play through again and again in a game that already provides a ton of content. The mechanics are fun, the locations are varied, the aesthetics are nice (I love the effects on the Berserker's attacks especially), and the challenge is definitely there on higher difficulties (and I'd say it's actually harder when you bring friends in the game with you). I'll be playing Torchlight II for a very long time.


You hear the Darksiders series compared to the Zelda series quite often, and with good reason. You travel across a big overworld to puzzle-filled dungeons. You accumulate different tools and weapons that allow you to progress further. You take down massive bosses. If you're still a Zelda fan (like I am), this is a familiar yet still highly-enjoyable formula. Darksiders II, by its very nature, has a much more epic feeling than most Zelda games. This includes the fantastic soundtrack, with songs like this...
The gameplay is smooth and satisfying. Though the enemy variety is a bit lacking among the normal type mooks, the bosses more than make up for it. The game just provides a lot of content and it does most of it extremely well. It also provided many of the biggest spectacle moments I'll be remembering for a long time.


One moment describes why I love Mark of the Ninja so much. I encountered a group of guards patrolling an area I needed to get through. I could have simply sneaked past them, but I felt like toying around with them. So I took out one guard and strung up his body on a lamp post (then I went and hid back in the shadows). Two more guards walked near the post. The first one saw the body and panicked. He turned around, saw his fellow guard immediately behind him, became startled and shot the other guard dead. Now alone, he nervously walked back and forth, shooting at anything he found suspicious. Finally, overwhelmed by anxiety, he pointed his gun at himself and pulled the trigger.

You don't have to handle the game in this way, though. You can go through the whole thing and kill no one. It's a remarkable stealth game, honestly. It's certainly the best I've played in a long, long time. And it's all the more remarkable because it's done in a 2D environment.



You CAN sneak your way through everything. You CAN kill everyone you see in a straight up fight (though that is very, very difficult. One or two bullets will kill you). You CAN terrorize enemies into taking each other out. And you CAN simply disable them temporarily with some of your tools. Each of these methods are fun. If you enjoy stealth games, Mark of the Ninja is a must-play.
 

Realitycrash

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Dec 12, 2010
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SanAndreasSmoke said:
4) Borderlands 2 - Get a full lobby of friends together and this game is incredible. Soloing is still great as well.
Going to put my vote here, since..Well..It's the only game made in 2012 I've bought this year, and I enjoyed it.
 

dimensional

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Jun 13, 2011
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5)Dead or Alive 5 - best multiplayer of the series imo (offline) for singleplayer I still prefer DOA2 hardcore but thats only because the holds are so broken there and the comp is retarded. This looks great and plays great unless you go online then its terrible (crippling lag) the nerfing of holds is a big plus in my book yes I can attack again without fear of losing 1/3rd of my life due to one lucky guess also no ridiculous boss character at the end of arcade or time attack which is a refreshing change from most fighting games.

4)Soul Calibur 5 - It got so many things right the combat was the best since the first soul calibur imo the create a character just gets better and better while the online is largely stable and reacts fine its just a shame they replaced a good portion of the cast with extremely unlikeable characters and had a really bad single player mode which soul calibur has traditionally been strong in this game could have been amazing if only they had the time/money to put in more features i.e a singleplayer mode and had more likeable characters (get rid of most of the new characters) as it is its just very good.

3)Katawa Shoujo - not really the type of game I tend to play but hey its free so I gave it a go and actually its pretty damn good ok its not really a game as such in that there is very little actual gameplay but I really enjoyed going through this game and discovering all the different paths. In some ways it could be game of the year simply because it is free and is so good but if I take cost out of it I still had more fun with the above two. I have a lot of respect to the people who put all the time and effort into making this game then release it for no cost though.

2)Journey - fantastic curiosity as a game its pretty piss poor as an experience its amazing sure its short lived but while it lasts it is incredible.

1)The last story - just an amazing game I didnt like the design of the main cast well I still dont but their in party banter really made me warm up to them and on occasion actually laugh cant remember a game doing that in a while, combat wise this game is amazing its just fun they have actually made grinding fun not that you have to mind as its short only about 20 hours or so and you can beat any fight by playing smart but you will want to because the combat is that fun. Storywise its competent nothing special but for the revamping of the combat system into something wonderful and fun to go with the enemy designs as well the excellent dialogue between party members and the quality localisation this gets my game of the year by a fair margin.
 

NinjaDeathSlap

Leaf on the wind
Feb 20, 2011
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I'm going to have to cheat a little here and include an expansion pack. Otherwise, due to not having played many new games this year, I would be forced to include Assassin's Creed 3 in my list, when I don't actually think it deserves to be here due to it being quite a big disappointment all things considered.

Anyway...

5) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Dragonborn

There isn't really much I can say for this one, except of course that I really really liked it. It was more of everything I already loved about Skyrim, with enough new things from the weird and wonderful island of Solstheim that it felt far more refreshing than Dawnguard and Hearthfire. Not to mention the Daedric realm of Apocrypha, with an atmosphere so creepy, and enemies that challenged me more than anything else in Skyrim had done for a long time. Definitely exceeded expectations.

4) Halo 4

I've heard Halo 4's story criticised for not being very accessible to those not already clued up on much for the lore in the Halo universe. This is pretty much undeniably true, but I also believe, by the 7th game in a series spanning over a decade now, anyone who actually cares enough about Halo's story for this to be an issue can do their own further reading; and as a consequence the time that Halo 4's story might otherwise have spent wading through 'The Story So Far' to get any possible newcomers up to speed, became time that was spent dispelling the notion that Master Chief is nothing more than a big lump of meat and metal. I've always like Halo's story, and this entry had more heart than all of the others put together.

I wish the Campaign was a little longer, but that in turn is made up for by the new Spartan Ops, which could have been content just to be a fun Arcade mode on the side just like Firefight, its predecessor from ODST and Reach, but instead was, and still is, being used to extend the story. I'm admittedly a big Halo fan, Halo: CE being, after all, one of the games that first really got me into gaming in a big way, and as such I'm always a sucker for more Halo, but even so, 343i did themselves proud.

3) Mass Effect 3

Now, this is normally the point where I'm expected to make apologies for the ending, but y'know what? Bugger that! I never hated the ending to Mass Effect 3, and after the Extended Cut, I actually loved it. If I wanted to write an essay going over the flaws of ME3 with a fine-tooth comb, I could think of several things more worth mentioning for me than how it ended, but whatever. My overall point is, whatever faults ME3 did have (and it did have its fair share) they are completely and utterly eclipsed by it's strengths. The combat and character progression found the perfect middle ground between the bloated and jerky ME1, and the all too sparse, overly cover-based ME2.

The old guard of characters that I already loved were as good as they had ever been, and better, but what really surprised me was the care and attention put into more minor members of the cast, and the stand-ins for people who may have been lost at previous moments in the series. I expected half-baked imitations, which is what we would have got at the hands of most other writing teams, what I got instead were full fleshed-out personalities with their own motivations.

No other game has yet taken me on quite such an emotional roller-coaster, where without fail I have felt every ounce of fear, frustration, guilt, joy, regret, rage and pride that my Shepard was shown feeling all through ME3. For that, I love it, and I don't care who knows it!

2) Spec Ops: The Line

There are games I have liked, games I have loved, games that have made me think and feel to great extent, but there are all too few that have made me feel that I have grown as a person just from the very experience of playing it. Of those few, Spec Ops: The Line is most definitely one of them. At the end, I chose not to kill Walker, although I still wrestle with why. Perhaps I thought a quick death was more than he deserved, and that he should live to face judgement for his crimes; perhaps I still sympathised with him, and wanted to give him a chance to atone, to do better; or perhaps it was because I was still on some level deluding myself, that all that had happened couldn't possibly have been for nothing. When I find the answer, if I ever do, I know I will have learned something about myself that I didn't know before, meaning that this game has a significance to me, and to who I am, beyond what I ever could have expected it to have.

While Spec Ops: The Line's critisism of its own genre is about as on the nose as it gets at times, I was never put off by the feeling that it was too 'preachy', which is an extremely difficult art to pull off. This game was truly 'mature', not just in the context of other games, but mature full stop, and an example that I will gladly point to to demonstrate that gaming is (not 'can be', *is*) more than a parade of fetishistic gun-worship.

1) Dishonored

If you asked me what separates Dishonored from any other game I've played, making it not just my favorite game of 2012, but my favorite of all time, what I would choose to hold up as an example might seem almost inconsequential in greater context of the whole game. After each mission, when you go back to your safe house to rest, resupply, and prepare for what else lies ahead, if you draw your sword you will see the blood of the last person you killed with it (if you did kill anyone with it) still there, now dried on. This is a tiny detail, that is never brought up in any dialogue in the game, but for me it had a profound purpose in the story, that told me more, and more clearly, than words could have done. It told me that this is a game that does not wipe the slate clean between each level, making what you did before a distant memory, this is a game where blood sticks. That doesn't mean it was saying that the man who blood it had been previously didn't deserve it, or even that I was just as bad as they were for spilling it, but it did tell me that I couldn't hide from the reality of the choices I was making, and that it wouldn't be so easy to protect the people I love from the things I do in their name.

When I gave this example to my brother (who hasn't played Dishonored) a few days back, he told me that I was "reading way too much into it", and perhaps I am, but in a way that's the key to why Dishonored is so utterly sublime. The Devil is in the details, after all. Other games will shove dialogue and the concept of 'actions have consequences' directly in your face and tell you precisely what the story wants you to feel at that moment. This is not an inherently bad concept, but Dishonored does something different, something both far less, and far more, something that demonstrates how gameplay really can make the story without the need of cut scenes and long conversations. Dishonored creates a world, full of a deliciously dark atmosphere that is more palpable than any game world I've been in before. It fills that world with detail, much of which might me missed entirely, but what you do notice draws you in and makes you think. For me, this game's story is like a spider's web, from the outside it may appear thin and threadbare, but get caught in it, and it proves much stronger than you would believe.

For me, it was the perfect start to a new IP, leaving me wanting more, but never feeling rushed or skimping on the details, which might have left me dissatisfied. My desperate struggle to survive in the flooded district, alone, defeated and surrounded by a broken, festering wound of a once great city that I thought I had been saving all this time, but in reality I had been too wrapped up in my own agenda to allow myself to see, is by far the highlight of the experience, and harrowing. I was smitten from start to finish, having my emotions and expectations played with, with a deft subtlety that in my opinion is utterly peerless.
 

Eddie the head

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Feb 22, 2012
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I only played like 3 new games, that I liked.

Farcry 3, Mass Effect 3 and Journey.

Out of those

3. Farcry 3.

2. Mass Effect 3

1. Journey.
 

Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
13,769
5
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In no particular order:

- Dishonored.
Distinctive and interesting setting, lovely visual design, solid gameplay, good level design. Story was kinda crap and it was just begging for some good characters, but hey, fun is fun.

- Journey
Gorgeous visuals, fantastic music, beautiful world, perfect implementation of multiplayer. Awesome little game from humble start to triumphant finish.

- XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Made me realise how much I've missed squad level turn-based combat. Solid customization and cool enemies round out the deal.

- Mass Effect 3
Yes, I know. Yes, yes it did. But the rest of the game made me cheer for joy. Enjoyed the combat and loved catching up with my favourite cast of characters of all time.

- The Walking Dead
It made me cry. In a good way.
 

BreakfastMan

Scandinavian Jawbreaker
Jul 22, 2010
4,367
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My top 5! Because my opinions are so much better than yours! :D

The very definition of a flawed masterpiece and undoubtedly one of the most important games released all year. It is ambitious to a fault, and while it doesn't always succeed, it is always interesting. Doesn't hurt that it is damn fun too. :D
I am not that big into strategy games, but I really liked XCOM. It has some of the best turn-based combat I have played in years, and that pretty much elevates the game in my eyes to be one of the single best things released all year
A bold first game by a new, unknown developer that took the internet by storm. Is there really any more that needs to be said about this game? It is a landmark in video-game storytelling, a game that will be analyzed and talked about for years to come, one of those games that prove, yes, games are art.
It is an ultra-violent, super-hard, retro-styled top-down shooter with a rockin' soundtrack. Sounds pretty typical for an indie game, right? Well, it isn't. Hoo boy, it is anything but typical. It is the rare game that proves one can still tell an engaging story with simple graphics and gameplay. Just when you think you have seen it all, the game throws something new at you that just knocks you off of your feet, all while telling a story that has more emotion and depth than most AAA games released this year. Buy it now. This is the kind of stuff we need to support if we want the industry to keep moving forward.
I like subtlety. Unfortunately, most games like to eschew subtlety. Dishonored is not one of those games. It doesn't shove it's story and characters in your face. It forces you to seek them out and think about them. The best part? All of it is so good, it makes you want to seek out these details. It is a near perfect game and is endlessly fascinating. It is a monumental achievement in both game design and storytelling, and the best damn game released all year.
 

Silly Hats

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Dec 26, 2012
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5) The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition
Was released 2012, technically it counts even though the original was last years. There was a tone of added features and a 10gb patch in order to get the EE. The game is beautiful, the characters are well written, the game is challenging but not obscenely difficult. I never bothered with alchemy or crafting as I just relied of drops and never rerally used anything else. Triss fanservice was always fun

4) XCOM
Fun game, haven't put a huge about of time into it. The game is strangely addictive and found myself yelling at the computer.

3) Guildwars 2
Bought this game during launch, unfortunately much to my disappointment I didn't get the option for the head start. But during launch time the game had a solid community and was very fun. I only put about 190h into it, while a lot isn't that great for an MMO I've put about 3.3k into GW1. I wish that there was more of an incentive to keep on playing endgame rather than grinding smithing for the rares. I don't know if they'ved balaned Dungeons yet because with the right team hey were fuuuun but painful with players that were crap. They need to merge some Districts together as some areas get scattered and Bosses are impossible solo - hell they're pretty anti solo.
I enjoyed seeing the GW1 areas and Ascalonian Catacombs (which players were bugging for a dungeon back in GW1). All in all with the negatives aside it was a very fun game.

2) Dishonored
I love it, sort pseudo stealthy in the sense that you have Blink and other skills which make the experience much easier and less stealthy. Though I had so much fun blinking from the top of a building and stabbing an unaware guard. There were so many creative ways to depose of the enemies like knocking them out and dropping them off a build w/o shadowkill, windblasting them into a rewired security fence. I didn't like how pickpocketing didn't have any real risk and how easy it was to kill enemies outside of stealth - should have given more of an incentive to wait 30 seconds while the 2 guard split up. I was kind of picky with that and wanted to challenge myself to play Ghost which was most fun.

1) Borderlands 2
My Co-workers know how much I love this game, i've ranted for hours about how much I love this game. I really can't fault it other than you kind of needed to get a level up before you go to the next Story quest, like Guild Wars 2 when you're invested in the story you cant continue for another half hour. The bosses are easy but have an insane amount of life unless youre wearing an Amplify Shield where the odds are slightly less daunting.
Everything has an insane amount of detail; Quests, Characters, Noticeboards, Weapons, Skills and Enemies. I've played through more so many times now and haven't got bored the Game is hilarious and entertaining and i'll find something new about it and enjoy it more. Every character is lovable, my favourites being Jack, Lilith and Claptrap. My main character being Gaige, I love playing as her.
BL2, buy it.
 

endtherapture

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Nov 14, 2011
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5. Torchlight 2
4. Guild Wars 2
3. Spec Ops The Line
2. Dark Souls for PC
1. The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition
 

The Madman

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Dec 7, 2007
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5. Torchlight 2

Hack & Slash games are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, and in a year where I found Diablo 3 to be crushingly disappointing Torchlight 2 came along to redeem this fun little genre to me once again with its quirky charm and solid gameplay. It's not a deep game and the story is pointless, but I'll be damned if it doesn't scratch that itch for clicking and looting like no other game this year.

4. Mass Effect 3

If only the ending hadn't been such shit this game really could have been something truly amazing and I wouldn't have had to tolerate months of topics complaining about that end (Rightfully so in my mind, although even with that said it still got tiresome quickly). Still as far as actiony sci-fi space dramas go for the most part everything right up to that point was fantastic and I had a blast playing it.

3. XCOM

It's X-COM, modernized in a good way and not turned into another dime a dozen shooter. Yay! Game still had flaws aplenty and in terms of strategy and core gameplay the originals are still far superior, but the novelty of seeing this re-imagining of one of my favourites outweighs my nitpicking by a fair bit. Plus seeing a turn-based tactics game become a grand success in todays industry of bland shooters and burly macho-men makes me all misty eyed.

2. Dishonored

I love the Thief series, it's easily among my favourite game series ever made, and playing Dishonored is the closest I've felt to playing a new thief game in years. Around 8 years to be precise. That alone is enough to make me put it as my second favourite of the year.

Dishonored, it's almost as good as Thief!
(That's a compliment)

1. Crusader Kings 2

The most unique and clever take on the grand strategy genre I've played in years. A strategy game that revolves just as much about people and diplomacy as it does around kingdom and armies. A game in which the goal isn't global conquest but instead to create a legacy for your families dynasty that shall last into the ages!

It's a strategy game about backstabbing and double-crossing. About love, greed, and violence in a dark time of our worlds history.

It. is. glorious. And of all the games I've played this year including all of the above this is the only game I know for sure I'll still be playing and enjoying years from now.

 

Rawne1980

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Jul 29, 2011
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Dragon's Dogma. I absolutely love this game.
Dishonored. Would help if they would spell the title correctly though.
Darkness 2. I really do enjoy this game so much.
Kingdoms of Amalur. Loved it, shame I won't get more.
 

LookingGlass

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Jul 6, 2011
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I don't feel like either of my 5s should be left out.

5a. Hotline Miami. Its soundtrack alone should earn it a mention. Brutally difficult game that can be finished in an afternoon... but I loved almost every minute of it ("almost" because of the stealth level). The feeling of accomplishment I got after clearing each level was unmatched by any game this year.

5b. Far Cry 3. I just finished this today and I was impressed. I really enjoyed the first half of both Crysis and the original Far Cry... all I wanted was a complete game of that, not ruined by monsters who were total bullet sponges. Far Cry 3 delivered, and went one step further with some interesting characters and story elements (though it started stronger than it finished).

4. Legend of Grimrock. The first-person dungeon crawler I never knew I wanted. Its somewhat strange mechanics (at least for younger gamers) mean it's not for everybody, but it was definitely for me. I really liked the tactical combat, party system, and healthy dose of puzzles.

3. The Walking Dead. The next evolution of adventure games? Finally a genre moving in a direction I can get on board with.

2. XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Not as deep as the original, and it had some annoying bugs and sections that almost seemed like they were designed for save scumming your way through them. However, it was a much accessible version of a classic game, with plenty of tactical fun to be had. That's what I was looking for and it's what I got.

1. Dishonored. I loved Arkane's two previous games and when Harvey Smith (Deus Ex) joined the team I knew they were going to make a great game. One of the rare occasions in which I got my hopes way up and was not disappointed.

Honourable mentions: Mark of the Ninja, Spec Ops: The Line, DayZ, Mass Effect 3.

Notable games that I didn't get to play yet: Journey, Sleeping Dogs, Trials Evolution (where's my PC version?).