PixlBit

It's a little late but I felt like doing this anyway. I don't really have a numbered top 10 because I don't feel that strongly about the games that would be at the bottom of the list. I also don't have an order for most of these. I have a clear #1 and a top 5 but that's about it. I'm just going to jump right into my #1 game of 2013.

Grand Theft Auto 5 - This game is my definite #1 game from 2013. I understand that some people don't like Rockstar, or that they just don't like the GTA series itself, but I happen to love both the series and the developer. It was the game I was anticipating the most in 2013 and I was not disappointed by it. The level of detail in this game is amazing. You could play this game for 100 hours and not see everything there is to see. But all of the detail and the large environment to play around in is really just the backdrop for me to immerse myself in the world.

To me the recent GTA games feel more like role playing games than actual rpgs do. What I mean by that is that I find myself playing the role of whatever character I'm controlling. I dress them the way I think they would dress and drive the car that I think they would drive. I don't usually do that but something about these games brings that out of me. I get invested in the characters and the story as outrageous as they are. I love seeing what the next mission is going to be and watching the cut scenes.

I'm not much of a make-my-own-fun type of guy anymore where I just drive around and jump my car and shoot people randomly. It's all about progressing the story for me and the addition of the heists and multiple characters made it that much more enjoyable. Also, amazingly, for such a huge game I didn't encounter any crazy glitches, game breaking or otherwise.

The rest of the top 5

These games aren't necessarily in order because 2 & 3 and 4 & 5 are interchangeable for me.

The Last of Us - I liked a lot of things about this game. The acting is great, the game looks incredible, and it's fun to play. I like stealth games and I thought they pulled off stealth really well. I also like that you're not just fighting infected, but humans too. The game skews more towards action than horror but I was okay with that. Definitely one of the best looking, more mature games to come out in a long time. But I didn't enjoy the story as much as most people did. I thought that Naughty Dog really took the easy way out after the Fall chapter I believe it was. I would love to write what I mean in specifics and I probably will, with spoilers, just not right now. Still, it's a fantastic game.

Beyond Two Souls - I'm officially a huge Quantic Dream fan. This is a game that received a lot of hate but I was in the minority of people that actually loved it. The acting is probably a tie between this and The Last of Us for best acting in a game this year. And they both star Ellen Paige. Hahahaha ehhhhh. Okay, that's an old joke. But I thought that she actually did a fantastic job as well as Wilem Dafoe. The game almost feels like a season of a TV show to me with an over arching story and then smaller sub stories that take an hour to two hours to complete, jumping back and forth in time. If you played Heavy Rain you're familiar with some of the gameplay mechanics. This game is all about the story, characters, and choices that you make. I happened to love all of that and am looking forward to the next Quantic Dream game.

Tomb Raider - Lara Croft in her tank top and her reboots. I liked the combination of exploring, combat, and stealth in this game. I would have preferred it if all of the combat was based around stealth until you were spotted though, because the mandatory combat sections of the game were my least favorite. I'm not really an old school Tomb Raider fan so the original games aren't sacred to me in any way. Maybe that's why I was able to enjoy this one so much. I thought they added some fun additions to this genre (the Uncharted genre, or whatever you want to call it) like the climbing axe. I also enjoyed the "metroidvania" aspects of the game where you couldn't reach certain areas until later on when you had the right equipment.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist - I am an original Splinter Cell fan on the other hand and I think Blacklist is the best game in the series yet. It takes some of the best stuff from the original games and from Conviction and combines them into a new game. The inspiration from the original games is that Sam is back in the suit with all of his gadgets at his disposal. But the mark and execute system, the last known position ghost, and movement arrows all remain from Conviction. Also, they added an upgrade system and small hub area in between missions. The story is forgettable as it always is in these games but you won't find stealth done better in any game. Also, if you don't like stealth, it is now a viable option to just go in guns blazing and brute force your way through the game. You can choose how you want to play now and having the upgrade system makes that much easier.

The rest

These games fell out of my top 5 so I'll mention them and then maybe just list a few honorable mentions after that.

Ni No Kuni - I am not a huge Ghibli fan, but I did enjoy this game. More than anything I found it relaxing and I enjoyed the music quite a bit. It's not an overly difficult game, but I enjoyed the moment to moment battles and it is pleasing to look at. It's a very soothing game. The story was blah for me and ultimately went nowhere in my opinion. The characters other than Mr. Drippy were forgetful as well. It was all about the combat for me. It was enough to propel me through just under 40 hours of this game, right to the finish. An enjoyable game overall, but I didn't enjoy it enough to put it in the top 5.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - This game is over the top 80's fun. I enjoyed Far Cry 3's main game more overall, but I hated the characters in that game. I love the characters in Blood Dragon. The game has a great sense of humor and a good sountrack. I'm a sucker for the neon visuals too. And the amount of game that you get for the price is pretty good value as well.

BioShock Infinite - I did not enjoy this game as much as I was hoping too. As a story, I think it's excellent. That is, I think it's excellent after I went online and read what happened to fill in all of the missing pieces because I didn't understand it all the first time through. But, most of the good stuff is shoved in your face at the end when all of the gameplay is over. As a game, I don't think it's a better shooter than BioShock was. The shooting just didn't feel good to me, nor did the powers. For me, the more time that passes, the more forgettable Infinite is.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - This is an example of great story telling without a single understandable word being spoken. There are some really clever segments in this game and I really enjoyed the rope swing sections. I liked the art style but I would have preferred if they went with a darker atmosphere and art style. The last gameplay section is really clever and touching as well.

The Stanley Parable - A game that comments on games, with great narration. There isn't anything you can do in this game that hasn't already been thought of ahead of time, and that's what makes it so great. The best narration in any game ever in my opinion. It's a clever premise and might have ranked higher but you'll really just spend one evening with it and that will be it.

Honorable Mentions

Remember Me - Interesting world with a lot of detail. The combat system is similar to the Batman Arkham combat system which I enjoyed, but the combat is not as smooth. Also the story falls flat in the end.

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger - Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is one of the most underrated single player first person shooters in my opinion. Call of Juarez: The Cartel is an abysmal piece of shit. So it was nice to see this series get a little bit of new life in this downloadable title that is all about shooting shit up in the old west. The game has a great art style and an upgrade system to keep things interesting.

Call of Duty: Ghosts & Battlefield 4 - I had fun with the campaign in both of these games. Nothing that I'll remember forever but I found them entertaining while I played them. I think I'm done with multiplayer though.

Dead Space 3 - I think this is an underrated game to be honest. It does get a little more action heavy than some of the previous games perhaps, but I still enjoyed it. The story is not as good as Dead Space 2's though which is the best in the series in my opinion.

The best game that I played this year that came out in a previous year

Dark Souls - I finished Dark Souls for the first time and I loved it. It's a fantastic game once you push past the initial frustration and lack of direction that you're given. I could write a lot about this game but this is running long so I'll save it for another time maybe. Definitely looking forward to Dark Souls 2 though.

And that's it. There are a couple of games that I didn't include on the list because I didn't finish them or didn't play them. I didn't finish AC 4 because I kind of lost interest in the story and I'm not a big fan of the naval battles. I barely started Zelda: ALBW so I couldn't include it either. I also wanted to mention The Wolf Among Us which I really enjoyed but that's not really a complete game yet so I'll save it for next year's list maybe.

Anyways, I wrote more than I thought I was going to but I haven't written anything in a while so maybe I had this all built up. Last year was a pretty good year for games. Hopefully this year will be even better. If you made it this far or at least skimmed to the bottom, then thanks for reading/skimming. Later.