Milkman's Top 10 Games of 2014

Finally, it's the list you've all been waiting. Move over, John Carpenter. Get in line, Stardust. It's time to reveal the true games of 2014. But let's get something out of the way real quick. 2014 kind of sucked. It was a down year for playing games and it was a horrific year for anyone who enjoys talking about video games on the internet. Despite this and against all odds, there were some good video games this year and here they are.

Editors note: I don't have a WiiU but it's safe to assume that Bayonetta 2 is the best game released this year so just push everything back a number and pretend that's number one, if you want.

10. Threes!

I've never been much of a mobile games guy. There's no particular reason behind it. I just never felt like there were any games on my phone that really grabbed me. Threes grabbed me. It was the perfect mix of quick gameplay and an addictive quality that had me whipping out my phone to get in a game or two every time I had a free second to spare. Threes' simplicity was both its greatest asset and greatest flaw as it spawned a number of half-hearted, lazy (and unfortunately, much more popular) clones but none ever came close to the perfection of the original.

9. World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor

Hello, old friend. I've been playing WoW on and off since its launch 10 years. A year or two on, a year or two off. But Warlords of Draenor was the first time the game had really dug its claws back into and dragged me back into the abyss in a major way since Wrath of the Lich King. Suddenly, I was raiding again, something I thought I had left behind in a much earlier life. But the ease of access to the game's end game content is so flawlessly implemented that raiding is no longer the terrifying prospect of organizing 25 people to find a way to cooperate for hours on end and is as simple as clicking a button that might as well say "let me raid now."

The real star of Warlords of Draenor, however, is the new garrison system. Giving the player their own home base with all the supplies and needs they could ever wish for all in one place is such a simple but brilliant addition to the game that I'm surprised it took 10 years for Blizzard to think of it. I'm sure many WoW purists detest some of the "casual" aspects that seem to have infected the game more and more, down to the free to play like systems of sending followers out on a missions and having to wait (real life) hours for them to come back but for someone who has seen the nasty side of playing entirely too much World of Warcraft, the streamlined nature of Warlords of Draenor could not be more perfect.

8. The Walking Dead: Season Two

2014 was the year that I realized Telltale games are my comfort food. Is Walking Dead: Season Two as good as the first? Not at all. But then again, how could it be? Season One was a revelation. A evolution of adventure games and video game storytelling that is still uncompromised today. There was no way that Telltale could capture that magic again especially when the first season was such an unexpected surprise. Here's the thing, though. I didn't care. I was more than satisfied to return to world of Walking Dead and again the follow the story of Clementine. I was happy to sit back and watch the story unfold while occasionally chiming in with my own suggestions on where it could head. Despite knowing what's coming, the old tricks still worked. Anyone who played the first season knows that the player's choices are merely an illusion and just about everyone is going end up in roughly the same spot at the end of an episode. But the trick is still fun every time the magician asks, "is this your card?" I was still invested in the story being told and still cared deeply about Clementine as a character. When season three comes along, I'll be there with bells on, ready and willing to have my soul crushed in the way that only Telltale can.

7. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

I have a confession to make. I used to be way into card games. It's true. I had my Magic: The Gathering phase and on more than couple occasions boasted to my friends about the size of my Yu-Gi-Oh deck (not a euphemism). I thought those days were long, long behind and prior to 2014 if I would have said it's just about impossible to get me to give a shit about something like cards again. But as previously shown on this list, Blizzard has a way of making me do things that I thought I couldn't do anymore. In 2014, Blizzard made me give a shit about cards again and they did it through the trademark accessibility of their "easy to pick, difficult to master" design philosophy. People can and have gotten WAY into Hearthstone. I'm not that person. I'm never gonna build the perfect the deck. I'm probably not gonna research advanced strategies online but it's still ridiculously easy for anyone, whether you've played a card game before or not, to have an absolute blast with Hearthstone. I have gotten hours upon hours of entertainment out of Hearthstone and the best part is I never paid a cent.

6. Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Video games love war. So many games have attempted to perfectly recreate the glories and pains of war in intense, graphic, 1080p detail. But the game that has most richly and accurately communicated the unflinching power that war has over people was not the latest hyper realistic first person war simulator. It was a cartoonish 2D puzzle game. Games are so obsessed with showing the actual atrocities of war that they rarely ever examine war beyond the bullets and explosions of the battlefield. Perhaps the most poignant moment of Valiant Hearts comes at its very beginning. Emile, an old French dairy farmer, is drafted into a war against Germany that he surely knows nothing about but his country has asked him to fight and he has no other choice. Emile packs up his things and leaves his farm but he also leaves his daughter and his grandson. His daughter cries when she hears the news. Emile kisses her and leaves, not knowing if he'll ever see them again. That is war.

5. Jazzpunk

People have asked for years for video games' Citizen Kane. It's a stupid question and one that makes little sense. I don't think we saw the game that will satisfy those still looking for Citizen Kane in 2014 but I can say for certain that video games have found their Airplane! The ZAZ directed 1980 film is a movie that is almost overflowing with jokes. You would be hard pressed to find a 2 minute period in Airplane! where there isn't a gag or bit of some sort. It's almost like the movie can't help itself. You get a similar feeling playing through Jazzpunk. Every click reveals a new joke, unpeeling another near endless layer of absurdity. Comedy in video games is really hard. The player is unpredictable and it's almost impossible to guide them to the exact punchline you want without stripping away the feeling of actually playing a game. Jazzpunk's solution is to just stuff so many jokes in it that you can't help but stumble upon one.

4. Broken Age

I'll always have a spot in my heart for adventure games. Secret of Monkey Island was one of the most influential games as far as my gaming tastes go and that specific brand of point and click adventure games is one that I still hold dear despite if others may think it's gone out of style. Broken Age aspires to be nothing more than one of those games. It's a throwback in all the right ways while still boasting some truly incredible art design and top notch voice acting that merge all the things I loved about the old SCUMM engine games with a level of polish I expect from a Kickstarter that raised 3 million dollars. The parallel stories of Vella and Shay are engaging on their own but are then intersected in a way that raises questions about everything that happens before that moment of intersection. More importantly, it means there will be more Broken Age and more adventure games.

3. Kentucky Route Zero

There's something about Kentucky Route Zero that I can't quite describe. Even after playing through all three episodes that have been released so far, I still feel like KR0 is holding something back. That it still has some tricks up its sleeve that it's not willing to show. From scene one of episode one, there is something ominous of Kentucky Route Zero. Encountering a table of ghostly Dungeons & Dragons players within the games first five minutes sets a tone that permeates through the entirety of the game. You never know what will show up next on Zero. It could be something arrestingly beautiful beyond words or something spine tingling that makes every hair on your body stand up at once. Maybe it will be a combination of both. No matter what, not much times goes by in Kentucky Route Zero without experiencing something wholly unique and awe inspiring in one way or another. Perhaps the most exciting thing about Kentucky Route Zero is that there's still so much to explore. With two episodes still to come, I am more than willing to travel the Zero again in search of answers of exactly what's going on in this strange, foreboding world. And even if I never find those answers, just an excuse to spend some more time within it is good enough for me.

2. South Park: The Stick of Truth

A big problem with most licensed games is that they often up feeling like a bootleg version of what they're based on. The voices aren't quite like you remember, the writing isn't as sharp, it doesn't tell the same cohesive story that you're accustomed to because it has to make sacrifices for the sake of things like gameplay. South Park: The Stick of Truth has none of these problems. It feels like playing an episode of South Park. The Stick of Truth could be a new South Park movie and no one would be able to tell the difference. All the characters are just as you remember, the writing is just as funny and scenarios just as absurd and ridiculous as anything in South Park's seemingly endless array of episodes. The only difference is that you're controlling it and that part ain't too shabby either. The combat of Stick of Truth isn't going to light the world on fire with its complexity by any means but the simple JRPG inspired fighting systems at work here are more than effective enough to get the job done and push you forward to next story beat. It also holds the distinction of being the best game with a "vagina bomb" in it this year. We truly live in an amazing time.

1. The Banner Saga

Never underestimate the power of world building. The viking fantasy world that The Banner Saga transports you into is truly something to behold. Not just because of the stunningly beautiful hand drawn Heavy Metal inspired visuals, though that's a big part, or the incredible Austin Wintory soundtrack, that's a big part too, but also because the game goes out of its way to make you feel like a part of it. The combat in the game is bridged together with Oregon Trail-like survival management sequences of getting your ever growing army from one part of the world to another. Beyond managing things like food and morale, you never know when something horrible will be awaiting you fully capable of wiping out half your army or your favorite character. That is the world of The Banner Saga. An ever churning march to the next calamity or battle that threatens to end your very existence. Those battles themselves don't feature the most robust combat system you'll see in a turn based strategy game but a still satisfying system when combined with the game's beautiful world and characters create the best gaming experience of 2014.