What are your favorite games of 2013? You can have as many as you want but at least put a short description why you like it. You can make a top ten list or just have only your all time favorite game of 2013.
My list in alphabetical order:
- Dust: An Elysian Tail - (Steam)
I'm a big fan of sidescrollers/beat em ups and Dust is no exception. The combat flows perfectly with it's small but very deep move set. Pulling of massive combos feels very fun and rewarding. The platforming is rock solid and not frustrating. The game also features beautifully hand drawn cut scenes and art with a surprisingly good story.
14 hours at the cost of $7.50 (Standard Price: $15)
Game Dev Tycoon - (Steam)
Not the biggest fan of tycoon games but Game Dev Tycoon peaked my interest after seeing a video review of it. I decided to even buy it at full price which is something I rarely do but it was totally worth it. Game Dev Tycoon pits you with the task of starting a game development studio and to rise through the ranks to become one of the best. The way it plays though is what hooked me. Researching new topics/engines, training employees, managing your marketing and making the best game ever all while focusing on keeping your company afloat is done amazing well in Game Dev Tycoon. Most importantly though, it makes you feel like actually in the game development industry.
12 hours at the cost of $10
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - (Battle.net)
I was a big fan of both Yu-Gi-Oh and World of Warcraft from 2005-2007. So what happens if you take both of them and smash them together? You get Hearthstone. Hearthstone is still in closed beta currently (even though open beta was supposed to come out last month) and that means there will still be a ton of balancing issues and matchmaking problems in the future.
To be honest, I can't really explain Hearthstone in text. If you really want to know how the game works you might just want to search up a tutorial online. Besides, the game is free and when it goes into open beta there won't be any reason not to at least try it.
30 or so hours at the cost of $5 (Free game, but I bought a couple of card packs)
Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus - (PS3)
Now I know you guys really don't care for console gaming that much but Ratchet and Clank was my childhood. I have bought every game in the series since it started and I love almost every single one. Notice how I said almost. The last two games All 4 One and Full Frontal Assault tried to put a twist on the standard Ratchet and Clank gameplay but in the end failed miserably. I was very skeptic about Into the Nexus being good because the developers said they were going back to old Ratchet gameplay but they already said that with Full Frontal Assault. Luckily I was worried for nothing as ItN was one of the best R&C games I have ever played. It was a bit shorter though which was to be expected since it was a downloadable game. Clocking in at 8 hours for one playthrough.
Also the reason why it's double for retail is because it came with the previous smaller R&C game for free.
15 hours at the cost of $30 ($30 for Retail, $15 for Download)
Risk of Rain - (Steam)
I originally started playing this game when it was in beta back in April. It was still an addicting game, but it was still unfinished. Things like saving stats wouldn't work at the time and the fact that there was only two characters kinda sucked but I still played the fuck out of it.
Fast forward to November. Game is fully released and is probably my favorite rouge like game of all time. Risk of Rain is a Sidescrolling rouge like action game. With 10 character that all have their own abilities, a bunch of items that are randomly generated, and a gradually scaling difficulty no round of Risk of Rain is the same. Sometimes you can get lucky on the first level. Sometimes you can die in 5 minutes. That's the beauty of RoR. It is also very very difficult. I can guarantee that I will be playing this game into 2014 and beyond.
Also it has one of the best soundtracks of the year.
2 hours (Steam Only, I have a lot more when it was in beta) at the cost of $7 (Standard Price: $10)
Saints Row 4 - (Steam/PS3)
The people at Volition definitely finished the Saints Row series off strongly with this iteration. Although it does feel a bit to much like the Third at points, it does try new and different mechanics to shake things up a bit. When I first started playing I though that I would never use any of the super power because I thought they were just gimmicks. Halfway through I was only using the powers to get around and in combat. They did a nice job mixing in weapons with the powers though. The only thing was that I never used any vehicles (unless instructed to by the mission), as getting around with super sprint and super jump were way more convenient. The story fills plot holes from Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row 2, but still even though it has an awesome and fun story it's still not as good as SR2's story.
More gripes about the game was that it was too easy (even on hard), small frustrating glitches, crashes and the fact that most of the fun activities from the old games were replaced with different versions of the same activity: Mayhem. Still, with all of the gripes, it was one of the best experiences this year.
25 Hours at the cost of $30 (Standard Price: $60)
- Tearaway - (PSVita)
During a time where almost all games have to be "gritty" and "realistic" comes a game that tries something different. Instead of using only brown and grey, it uses the whole rainbow. Media Molecule did an amazing job with the games art style making it actually feel like a papercraft world. Everything is so cute and fun to look at.
The gameplay makes amazing use of the Vita's touchscreens, camera and gyroscope without making it feel tacked on and unneeded. Some points of the game may ask you to take a picture of your face so the villagers in the game world know your real or the game might ask you to use the back touch pad to defeat enemies chasing after your character in game. From start to finish I was sucked in and even thought I was part of the game. Doesn't help much that you can actually unlock papercraft templates and print them off the bring objects from the game into real life.
I have never played a game that has made me smile so much from start to finish. LOOK AT THIS PICTURE I TOOK IN GAME.
DOESN'T IT MAKE YOU SMILE?
Seriously though, go look up gameplay for this game. If you are buying a PSVita, you should buy this game. If you have a PSVita and you don't own this game then go buy it.
I'm Serious.
15 Hours at the cost of $35.