1. Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (PC) ; I should call this Dark Souls: Durante Edition, because it probably wouldn't occupy this slot without Durante's fixes. Regardless, the additional content they added is great, and being able to play this game in high resolution at 60fps on the PC is an absolute joy. I think Dark Souls on PS3 was my favorite game last year, but I enjoyed the PC version with the extra content even more this year. Absolutely amazing game, and I look forward to the sequel.
2. Dragon's Dogma ; I'm a sucker for fantasy RPGs, so that alone had me in love with this game from the start. I wish the story was better and there were more interesting towns to visit, but overall, this game was a blast to play, with some excellent combat and dungeon delving. It was just a great time to run around the world with my party of medieval fantasy characters and take in everything while battling some awesome-looking monsters.
3. Binary Domain ; What a great title to come out early this year. I played it on the PS3 and then later on the PC and loved both times through the game. I never bothered with any of the voice command stuff, and by the sound of it I was better off. I loved what they did with the story, and really enjoyed all of the characters and the interactions you could have. The shooting was extremely satisfying, too, and it was just a really tight and exciting adventure. I was surprised to see this come from the same guys who put out Ryu Ga Gotoku of the End just a bit earlier, since that had such cruddy shooting mechanics.
4. Persona 4: The Golden ; I actually just started this a week ago, but I can already tell it's an awesome game. I put about ten hours into the PS2 version back in 2007, but I got sidetracked and never returned. I love how they've kind of brought this version up to date. It's a very slick port with some great visual upgrades, too.
5. Dishonored ; It didn't quite live up to the expectations I had for it, but it was plenty of fun all the same. I think it got a little to easier in the latter missions, and could have benefited from a more entertaining story, but the gameplay was sound and I loved the atmosphere and world they crafted. I hope they get a chance to continue this series.
6. XCOM: Enemy Unknown ; Lots of fun. I enjoyed just about every minute of the 30 hours I played through the initial campaign on Normal. I then tried a few missions on Classic and moved on. I wish there was more unit/enemy variety and especially more randomization with the environments. Hopefully we'll get a meaty expansion for this someday. I'd have ranked it higher, but after I stopped playing I never had much desire to go back, so here it is.
7. Mass Effect 3 ; I just played through this a few days ago, so I was able to experience the extended ending along with From Ashes and the Leviathan DLC in my first playthrough. My experience through the game was great. I wasn't a big fan of Mass Effect 2 after loving the original Mass Effect, but I think they got the shooting tight enough this time around to justify going the shooter route. I still wish they'd do a more tactical or RPG-like take on the game, but oh well. I really enjoyed seeing my story wrap up and getting more Mass Effect lore. The game felt kind of rushed and low-budget in many areas, though, so I can't rank it much higher than this.
8. Diablo III ; A major disappointment for me, but I still dumped around 100 hours or so into it on multiple characters. It's polished to a fine shine and very satisfying to kill monsters, so it certainly has that going for it. There are also a ton of problems with the game, though. Juvenile story and Power Rangers dialogue, lack of environment variety/randomization, and worst of all: boring-ass loot made even worse by the fact that you're only gimping yourself if you avoid the Auction House. It's unfortunate that the game turned out this way, but it's still good fun to go run around smashing fiends, so it made my list.
9. Sleeping Dogs ; I got sidetracked and haven't finished this one yet, but I really like it. I'm playing on the PC, and it's absolutely gorgeous. So far the game is a ton of fun and it has a compelling story with some interesting characters. I look forward to completing it in the coming weeks.
10. Assassin's Creed 3 ; This one was also a major disappointment for me, but I still had a good time. There are a ton of problems with the game and it feels terribly disjointed at times, but goddamn if they didn't create a compelling world for lovers of the revolutionary America setting. I really enjoyed just wandering around and taking in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, I feel like the actually downgraded the combat and movement from previous games, which felt more intuitive and like I was actually in control. I hope they take a hard look at those things with whatever the next entry in the series is. Also, fuck that ending. Oh well, still a neat game.
Note: I didn't finish Asura's Wrath or Journey, and haven't played much (if any) of Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Mark of the Ninja, Hitman: Absolution, or Syndicate despite all of those being games I'm very interested in.