I love these threads, as I always find lost gems in them. Thanks OP!
My contributions:
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
- More epic grand strategy in space. Can't have enough of that. If you know the series then you can't be wrong with this one.
Endless Space
- See above. Also, the UI in this game can't be praised enough. Modern, streamlined but still permitting a level of depth that is expected in this type of games. Nothing is hidden from the player. Everything is a few clicks of the mouse away from you, and the critical information is showed upfront in the main screen. And it's beautiful.
Wipeout 2048
- Wipeout wherever you go. It's a technologic achievement that Studio Liverpool managed to bring the Wipeout experience to the Vita with such fidelity. Even considering that it's not 60 FPS it's still a feat. Makes it even more sadder what happened to Studio Liverpool.
Lumines Electronic Symphony
- Another criminally overlooked game. Great soundtrack, great classic gameplay with some new tricks up its sleeve. And the typical simple to play hard to master type of experience that makes it addictive and so rewarding to come back to the game over and over again.
Darkness 2
- A refreshingly innovative first person shooter in 2012?! Yes. Great story writing, great characters, gorgeous to look at with its cell shaded?? (not sure if it's the right word) style. And fun to play. Really honest simple fun. The snake tentacles special powers mixed with the guns make for a great, never boring playthrough.
Spec Ops The Line
- Another refreshing entry on an over saturated genre (Third Person Shooter). Though not so mechanical innovative or original as Darkness 2, its writing and story were so. Despite being so heavily inspired in Heart of Darkness it was a nice change from the typical military shooter fluff that serves only as background noise to the bang bang explosions bang bang sections of these games.
Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai
- I got to confess... I am guilty of also overlooking this game. But I know it's great. Total War Shogun 2 is excellent, this has to be excellent too, if not even better as it is an iteration on an already great game. I'm afraid though that I can't yet play such a time consuming game, so I continuously postpone me buying and playing it. I will though. I promise.