Although interesting games with rad new ideas are released every year, there's some magic to 2012. Never before, I feel, have the interesting games received so much of the critical limelight. Here's a list of some of the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Showing 1-9 of 9 items
First spotted by the media when the years old Arma II rocketed up the best sellers on Steam.
With the adoption of more conventional gameplay mechanics than That Game Company's previous work, Sony chose to throw a decent bit of marketing behind Journey.
With Back to the Future, Jurassic Park and the threat of yet another season of Sam and Max, Telltale seemed to have lost their glow in the media's eyes. Thankfully, between the adaption of a large comic and television franchise as well as former journalist Garry Whitta writing an episode, The Walking Dead had everyone's attention from the very start.
Cactus, or JONATAN SÖDERSTRÖM as he is sometimes called, has never really garnered much media attention. Despite being the creative force behind an almost unbelievable amount of game jam games, he perhaps never got the recognition he deserved. However, as for many developers, it seems that a Steam release is the ticket to more mainstream success.
Although still a bit of a dark horse in this list, the genre challenging premise, potential for controversy and unique development got this game noticed by more western media outlets than most Visual Novels and perhaps garner the most attention of any recent VN to feature sexual content.
After the first few years, interesting Half Life 2's modding scene largely faded. However, as with Hotline Miami, a Steam release was all Dear Esther needed to earn quite a few articles on its minimalist approach to interactivity and unconventional setting. Shame the Radiator series never got a high profile remake.
A common criticism of Paradox games is that they play very similarly and unfortunately for most, in a way that's pretty hard to get into. Yet Crusader Kings transcended the company's normal crowd, without changing the game play very much at all. By simply attaching very personal and relatable human conditions to that same gameplay, Paradox the ultimate anecdote simulator. Guaranteed hits for any website that was willing to invest a little bit of time.
This is actually a bit of a cheat. This game would have gotten a fair bit of attention even if it was mediocre, simply by virtue of its production values and storied development history. It just surprised everyone by being interesting!
As perhaps with Crusader Kings II, a "YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS" presentation layer seduced many critics into engaging with an arcadey, score based, permadeath featuring stealth survival game which a focus on repeated content. Not exactly the most mainstream cup of tea from a mechanics standpoint.