1.
This War of Mine; This War of Mine explored the horrors of war from a perspective not portrayed in the medium till now and delivered one of the most tense, gripping, and bleak experiences I'd played this year. You never see the war ravaging the country where This War of Mine is set, but its effects are ever present. A gutted war-torn city, all pencil-sketched shadows and ruined structures, reeking of desperation and hopelessness, as explosions thunder and flash ceaselessly outside. This War of Mine is not fun. It's grueling. Unrelenting. Oppressive. You're always on the back foot, always just barely eking out a miserable day-by-day existence; even when your group finally is healthy and has a good amount of food stored, there's always the sense that it can't last long. Even when you're equipped with a knife or gun, combat and violence in general feels like a last resort. In This War of Mine, there are only murky grey choices. Your actions matter, not just at that moment when you're desperate enough to kill and steal from people who are just trying to survive, people trying to keep their group alive just like you are, but also over time as guilt and depression erodes your characters' will to endure. Overall, This War of Mine was just one hell of an engrossing, compelling, and atmospheric experience.
2.
80 Days; Inkle proved their talent at making engaging and sprawling interactive fiction with Sorcery 1 and 2, but 80 Days was on another level. Forgot exploring the wilderness or a city; in 80 Days, the entire globe is waiting to be traversed, a 19th century steampunk world brought to vivid life through wonderful prose, teeming with whispers of revolution and warring nations and political tension. To be crossed by boat and train, by submersible railway and airship and even more exotic forms of travel, as you and your master circumnavigate the world. Mutinies, pirates, spies, murder, civil war, inclement weather, and so much more awaits, every city offering new stories, secrets, and possibilities. It's the kind of game you can play three, four times and have a totally different experience each time.
3.
Valiant Hearts; Valiant Hearts: The Great War masterfully blended the grime and grit of WWI with an intimate tale of four characters. Valiant Hearts presents its characters and wartorn world in a comic book-esque drawn style, brought to life with smooth animations. But despite that vibrant charming veneer, Valiant Hearts doesn't shy away from portraying the hellish meat grinder that was World War 1. Charges across no-man's land. Sneaking through muddy trenches. Corpses and wounded everywhere. A gutted ruined landscape, smoke and debris and explosions and the screams of the dying. Evading poison gas and avoiding machine gun fire. Valiant Hearts told an captivating story of warfare and friendship, and explored a period not often touched by the medium. An excellent experience that covered an entire gamut of tone and atmosphere, from charming and cute to depressing and grim.
4.
NaissanceE; I don't think any game I've played has compelled me to explore and established a sense of place in the way that NaissanceE has.The environments are expansive, monolithic, not always in terms of being open to exploration but in terms of sheer scale. You feel small, lost and utterly alone in this world. It's a world that feels alien and weird, not in the twisting Escher-esque sense that Antichamber had, but like you just don't belong here, that this is truly not a place made for or by humans.. Even though it isn't a horror game, there's a distinct feeling of tension and apprehension of the unknown, and the unsettling sound effects add to this. You feel insignificant within the massive alien spaces, the technological canyons and geographical caverns. No explanations are offered, no story to why you're here or what built this otherworldly place, and none is needed. NaissanceE is all about the experience, that mysterious, engaging, ominous atmosphere that permeates every aspect of the game, and the challenges you face while traversing its cavernous spaces and claustrophobic halls
5.
South Park: The Stick of Truth; Has there been a game that uses its license so perfectly? I imagine some would argue the Arkham games, but I'd disagree. South Path didn't just feel like a game crafted around the show; it was the show, dropping you right into the familiar town with familiar faces, with pitch-perfect dialogue and humor. Take away the UI and the two are practically indistinguishable. Obsidian nailed every aspect down to the art style and every possible minute detail. And while that alone would be impressive, not only did they capture the show perfectly, they build a fun enjoyable RPG on top of it, with over-the-top engaging combat and varied party members and wild missions and quests.
6.
Door Kickers; So you might be thinking "Why do I need this game if I already have Frozen Synapse?". But while Frozen Synapse might be king in terms of multiplayer, I felt like Door Kickers was superior in every other aspects, especially thanks to its grouded SWAT team aesthetic. Go in loud or stealthy, rescue hostages, arrest bad guys, defuse bombs. There's a ton of content, modding, a level editor, a leveling-up system for your squad, and special challenges for each mission. The emphasis is on efficiency. If you don't plan well, if you forget to check your corners, if you don't have a guy covering your back while he picks a lock, your team will pay for it. Split your troops into groups, stack up on doors, peer in with your snake cam. Coordinate simultaneous breaches with flashbangs or have your breacher blast through a locked door for a loud entrance while your stealth team moves in from the back to take out the distracted enemies.
7.
Infested Planet; Infested Planet is 300 meets Starship Trooper. That's really the best analogy. Your small team of well-equipped soldiers against hordes of hundreds and hundreds of insectoid aliens. Every battle is a slog, a desperate push and pull as you capture bases, spreading your men and turrets to hold back the encroaching hordes, clearing paths with airstrikes as you upgrade your team with better weapons and defenses. But the tide can turn at any moment; perhaps the horde mutates heavier armor, or poisonous projectiles, or creates an organic minefield. Maybe the hive spawns alien clones of your troopers or becomes resistant to your turret fire. Any combination of random mutators and suddenly your frontline is breached, and there's a panicked rush to assess and adapt.
8.
Monument Valley; when measuring a game's worth, some turn to length, others graphics and gameplay, or challenge. Monument Valley wasn't a lengthy experience or a particularly challenging one. This was an experience that put visual artistry and atmosphere first, a complete journey without filler or padding. Each chapter felt distinct, unique, special in its own way. A journey through an abstract world of long-abandoned structures, filled with impossible mechanisms and structures to push, pull, and rotate. The tactile, tangible gameplay fostered this intimate connection with the world as you manipulate the environment with your fingertips. Monument Valley was just a masterfully-crafted mix of wonderful artistry, fun engaging mechanics, and subtle narrative.
9.
Lovely Planet; a glance at Lovely Planet is most likely to evoke a "WTF" reaction, with its vivid colors and weird style. But don't be fooled by that, because beneath that colorful friendly facade is a hard-as-nails shooter, that challenges your reaction and reflexes like a funhouse FPS take on Hotline Miami. Speed around a corner, fire two shots mid-air to intercept incoming projectiles, land, turn, fire, keep moving, don't stop. Remember that die-restart rhythm of Hotline Miami, until you could practically tear through a level on muscle memory alone? Every level in Lovely Planet is like that, forcing you to improve and learn enemy placement and when and where projectiles will be coming from until you can speed through a level with practiced ease. Lovely Planet is all about speed-running and precision, and feeling like a badass when you perfect a level that killed you countless times before
10.
Capsule; Capsule isn't about complex mechanics or stunning graphics. It excels on another level and that is immersion and tension. From the start, you're immersed in the limited claustrophobic view, the smudged flickering screen your only connection with the environment. You feel as if at any moment the screen's going to go dark, your vessel barely hanging on by a thread. But the audio brings everything together. Playing Capsule in the dark and with headphones is a must. Your labored gasping breaths. The scrambled radio signals fading in and out across the expanse (of space? the ocean depths?). The muted rumbling when you collide with debris. In terms of crafting a tangible tense atmosphere through audio and sound alone, Capsule is masterful.
Working on my list now, guess I should bump Bayonetta 2 up to 1 just because I like Nintendo-games?
