The Best Games I Played Last Year

This past year has been a heck of a rollercoaster for me. Last February, in particular, was a pretty dramatic month, with some really low points I'd rather not get into, and some more positive moments (such as playing a sequel to one of my favorite franchises, and, probably more relevant, starting to actively follow GiantBomb). That being said, I played a lot of great games over these past 14 to 15 months, and, since I never really got around to compiling a “Game(s) of the Year” list back in December, I thought I may as well post what games I enjoyed the most during this past year or so (in no particular order).

• Monaco

Monaco is a great game that I feel may have been overlooked by a lot of people. At its core, it may not seem to have the most interesting concept (a 1-4 player class-based stealth game) but, in practice, it has been some of the most fun I’ve had with a multiplayer game in a long, long time. Sure, you could work with your teammates to successfully pull off a heist, avoiding guards disabling cameras along the way, and actually be competent, or you could accidentally activate an alarm and watch as your partner desperately tries to prevent the mission from being a complete failure. It’s a stealth game with relatively basic mechanics and a rather forgiving gameplay progression (being that you can kill 3 guards, get chased, hide in a bush, and then wait for things to return to business-as-usual) that, when combined, allow for some really entertaining times.

• Stealth Inc. A Clone in The Dark

This was yet another stealth game that provided me with countless hours of entertainment over the past year. I remembered enjoying the demo for it on the PC, so, when it came out on the PlayStation Vita at a reasonable price I knew I needed to have it. It has just the right levels of frustration and accessibility to make a it a great game to play on-the-go, and I found myself frequently going back to it when I needed a quick-fix of stealth gameplay. Most of the game tended to rely on trial and error, but, regardless, completing levels with the highest ranking was still oh-so-satisfying.

• Papers, Please

This game, like some of the others later on in this list, ends up being a bit hard for me to describe. I don’t know if I’d necessarily say it was enjoyable, but I certainly liked it. I wouldn’t say it was fun, but, despite the banal nature of the game, I found myself curiously enraptured by it. Whatever the case may be, this was a unique game. I’m sure most of you already know what this game is considering Patrick Klepek’s love for it, so I don’t know if I need to delve too deep into what makes it so satisfying, but I deeply appreciated my time with this game, and think other games could learn a thing or two by following in its footsteps; making something that is quite literally a job into something enjoyable is no easy task, and I commend this game for it.

• Guacamelee

Oh, Guacamelee, how I love you. This was another game that made some trips and quiet times more enjoyable thanks to being a very competent platformer for the Vita, and the combat even made fighting the enemies enjoyable. While other games may make enemies simply an extension of the environment (jump on the Goomba’s head to reach the platform; avoid these enemies because they’re more of a hassle to deal with than to just ignore) Guacamelee reveled in its combat and allowed me to pull of a lot of combos that made me feel like some sort of supernatural wrestling expert. The smooth animation, solid soundtrack and Metroidvania-esque areas made this one of my favorite Vita games of the past year, and, as it’s currently part of the most recent Humble Bundle, you should probably give it a shot if you haven’t already.

• Gone Home

Gone Home was an interesting game. It may not have been the most unique game, nor the most exciting, but it did one thing, and it did that one thing well. It used first person mechanics to tell a relatively mundane story about your family, and the progression (which, in retrospect, may not be the most realistic considering how the notes just so happened to be placed in the most convenient order for you to find them) allowed the story to take some unexpected, but not necessarily surprising, turns. Once again, the folks over at GiantBomb have talked about this game in great detail so I won’t bother you too much, but, assuming you can get it for a good price, I highly recommend it.

• The Stanley Parable

I don’t even know where to begin with this game. Similarly to Gone Home, it doesn’t have a lot of traditional gameplay (baby minigame notwithstanding) but it provided me with some of the purest joy I’ve felt in a video game in quite some time. Much of this game relies on you finding the secrets and moments for yourself so I’ll try to avoid going into too much detail, but, take my word for it, this game is funny. It can be hard for games to genuinely be amusing, some may go for entertaining dialogue while others go for absurd situations, with varying levels of success (I’m looking at you, Jazzpunk…), but this manages to have all of the above and then some, and it manages to do so with a surprising amount of competence. In addition, it provides a rather interesting commentary on player choice in games through the medium of player choice, and that kept me thinking about it long after the initial humor had subsided. All in all, a great, enjoyable, funny, and relatively intelligent game.

• Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V is a fun game. It has solid driving, solid gameplay, and an enjoyable enough story. The game is certainly not without flaws, but, as a complete package, it is a convincingly great game. To be honest, I had some doubts going into it. I found Red Dead Redemption a bit dull at times, and aside from that, had never actually spent too much time in a Rockstar game (Max Payne 3 notwithstanding), so I wasn’t quite sure what I’d be getting into. However, R*’s craftsmanship is clearly visible and the game provided me with a lot of hours of fun. It’s a well-made open-world game with an enjoyable story (without getting into specifics, the fact that it has a happy-ending, if you so choose it, was great; I’m honestly pretty sick of all of the dark/edgy endings that just about every game nowadays has), so I don’t know if I need to delve too much more into it. Basically though, it’s a solid, well-made game; simple as that.

PS: I still enjoy GTA Online, despite its obvious flaws, and I’m not really even sure why. Flying a helicopter around to rob convenience stores has a certain charm though, so maybe that has something to do with it.

• Saints Row IV

I’m just going to be clear and say that Saints Row The Third was one of my favorite games of 2011 despite my having little-to-no knowledge or experience with the prior games in the franchise. That being said, I appreciated the fact that Volition still put so much emphasis on those games despite all of those people just like me; this game is riddled with numerous references, characters, and allusions to the first two games of this increasingly ridiculous franchise. Like its predecessor I once again played through with Laura Bailey’s voice, but the customization options are still one thing that makes this series so great, and I love that people can each have relatively unique experiences with this linear, straightforward (despite its ridiculousness, it’s a pretty simple plot) game. The ridiculous and, quite frankly stupid, plot should not be overlooked though. In a generation filled to the brim with grimdark shooters and “modern and realistic” plots, a game that heavily riffs off of the Matrix, as well as taking other dumb premises and making them enjoyable, was a welcome change of pace. All in all, I love this game. Overly dumb, ridiculous AAA games are few and far between these days, so I gladly appreciate the ones that do come along.

• The Walking Dead: Season 1

Yes, I know this wasn’t from 2013, but that’s irrelevant. I played through this game last year, and it’s still present in the back of my mind. Kind of like some of the other games on this list, the actual gameplay, in a traditional sense, isn’t all that present. However, the way the story develops, as well as the numerous interactions between characters, allows the game to have some really heartfelt moments, and was one of the few games I’ve played to actually garner a strong emotional reaction out of me by the end. This was a really enjoyable (not even sure how I’d describe it, but it was good; like a well-made television show) game that I still highly recommend. TellTale knows what they’re doing, and hopefully the second season lives up to the exceedingly high expectations they’ve set upon themselves.

• Bioshock Infinite

This was a game that I’m glad that I played upon its release. Since then, the Internet seems to have soured on it (like it tends to do with most other AAA releases these days) so I am glad to have gone through this game before any of the widespread negativity could reach me. Not that this was a flawless game, I had some issues with the combat, but as a whole I found it to be a remarkably solid game with some surprising story elements and an interesting universe, even to someone (such as myself) who had not played the original Bioshock game. Going in cold, I was still blown away by the technical aspects of the game and the well-crafted story. It doesn’t seem to have too much replayability, so I haven’t found myself revisiting it all that often, but, in the time I did spend with it, I deeply enjoyed it,

• Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

Remember when I mentioned that one of my favorite game franchises had a sequel last year? Yeah, I was referring to this. When I was younger, I absolutely adored Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. I don’t quite know if it was the setting, the gameplay, the characters, or what, but, regardless I found that game to be one of my absolute favorites on the PlayStation 2. Of course, this game may not be the greatest platformer ever made, or the hardest, or the longest, or any number of other things that you could judge it by, but the sheer fact that I was able to play another game in this series remarkably brightened my mood last February. In a generation filled with so much negativity, a cartoony, lighthearted character-action stealth-platformer was a very welcome change of pace that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

• The Last of Us

Now, speaking about those dark games I mentioned, this game sure stands out amongst those. After the relative disappointment that Uncharted 3 was to me, I was skeptical going into this. A new game by Naughty Dog that everyone seemed to be praising, despite much of the game not actually being shown off to the general public? Of course I was weary. However, when I put the game in and that opening sequence happened, I knew I was in for an emotional, less-than-upbeat ride. The story itself may not have been the most unique, but the characters (the best part of most Naughty Dog games, in my opinion) and the presentation sure made up for it. In addition, the gameplay was extremely satisfying for me, and actually meant that the multiplayer mode, which I was skeptical of for similar reasons to the main game, proved to be almost as enjoyable as the single-player component. Plus, while it may have only been for a few small gags, that pun book was absolutely incredible. Maybe just because I’m a sucker for awful puns, but whenever Ellie pulled that out I knew I was in for a treat. I really loved this game.

• 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors / Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward

Neither of these games came out last year, and I know they're actually two different games, but, as I played them both in subsequent sessions (over two weekends, if I recall correctly) they kind of blend together for me, in the best way possible. These games, perhaps more than any of the others on the list, are almost entirely about the story. Sure, there are some decent puzzles in the vein of those “Escape the Room” Flash games you can find anywhere, but the real draw of these games is their plots. For essentially just being visual novels, with a few set points for branching paths, you wouldn’t necessarily think I’d hold them in such high regard, but you’d be wrong. These games delve into some pretty great science-fiction concepts and also took some amazing twists and turns that I feel I shouldn’t get into. They may have been long, or a bit slow to get into, but, by the end, they were definitely worth the excessive amount of time it took to get there. These games, VLR in particular, had some of the best plots of any games I’ve played in recent memory, and that is why it’s such a shame that the planned third game is on an indefinite hiatus. Regardless, even if this series does not continue I’d still highly recommend them for their plots, and because they kept me enraptured for such an amazingly long period of time.

• Persona 4: Golden

Man, I love this game. Like, I really, really, really love this game. A friend of mine had been raving about this series for a long time so when it went on sale I figured I should try it out. I don’t regret that one bit. While the plot may not be the most unique, it was well-told, and the characters make it stand out from other similar stories. Over the course of my 8-9 month time with this game, I had clocked in 89 hours and 12 minutes, and I’ve since started my second playthrough. It’s seriously that good. The combat, while seeming simple initially, has a surprising amount of depth while also just being flat-out fun to play, and the game just has a certain… something that makes it so gosh darn enjoyable. Maybe it’s the ridiculously upbeat soundtrack for the rather dark subject matter, maybe it’s the characters in all of their goofy glory, or maybe it’s something else; whatever it may be, I played nearly 90 hours of this game without getting bored of it. I can’t say that about many other games on this list, or, really, many other games at all.

• Gunpoint

THE GUNPOINT ROPE-A-DOPE IS COMPLETE!

In all seriousness, this is a great game. It’s a game about punching people, defenestrating people (yourself included) and hacking things. Some rather simple concepts that, when put together, make one of the most fun games I’ve ever played. The simple mechanics allow for some pretty stupid complexity when combined, and there is almost nothing more satisfying than watching 5 guards take each other out one-by-one before you even have to get near them. The fact that the soundtrack is amazing, the controls are spot-on, and the story is decent for what it is make it such an amazing product; I’ve spent 24 hours on this game; 24 hours on a game that takes maybe 3-4 to complete. I don’t often replay games just for the sake of replaying them, but there’s just something about this game that makes it so enjoyable.

With all of that being said, hopefully (what’s left of) 2014 will have some great games. Now, back to punching people.