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[didamangi]

Steam GOTY Voting

5. Remember Me: Wonky combat system aside this is a memorable action adventure with unique gameplay segments (the memory remixes are pretty brilliant) and some of the beautiful graphics you'll ever see on the UE3 engine.
4. Castle of Illusion: This brilliant and absolutely beautiful reimagining of the Genesis game is pure platforming fun.
3. Bioshock Infinite: The story and atmosphere just sucks you right in, and I admit I enjoyed the gunplay as well, even replayed the game on 1999 mode to get all the achievements.
2. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed: Hands down the most fun kart racer I've ever played on any system.
1. Valdis Story: Abyssal City: The best game I played this year, takes me back to a time when all I care about gaming is the pure fun and challenging aspect of it.


Hmm, maybe we should make a new thread for this.

 

[Zia]

Steam GOTY Voting

5. The Stanley Parable
4. Papers, Please
3. Gone Home
2. Spelunky
1. Dota 2

It pains me to leave Fez off of my list, which is technically my favorite game released on Steam in 2013.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

Cool people don't make lists.

 

[OldAsUrSock]

Steam GOTY Voting

5. Castlevania: Lord of Shadows
4. The Stanley Parable
3. Papers Please
2. Antichamber
1. The Wolf Among Us

Unfortunately I'm not able to make better choices as I was fairly limited on time and games to play as this was a rough year. Looking forward to what wonders steam brings through 2014

How is antichamber btw? I mean you obviously like it, but I am on the edge of getting it.

 

[zkylon]

lol is sale of the day hotline miami, again?

 

[Tenrius]

Steam GOTY Voting

5. Batman: Arkham Origins
4. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
3. The Stanley Parable
2. The 39 Steps
1. Kentucky Route Zero

 

[derExperte]

Cool people don't make lists.

And friends don't let friends make lists.

STOP EVERYONE.

 

[ArjanN]

Steam GOTY Voting

5. Metro Last Light
4. Super House of Dead Ninjas
3. Skullgirls
2. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
1. Volgarr the Viking

Honourable mentions: Spelunky, Saint's Row IV

 

[Tenrius]

lol is sale of the day hotline miami, again?

It's two more minutes.

 

[MRORANGE]

Steam GOTY Award

Okay, send me a PM with your votes instead of cluttering this thread.

Everyone who has posted so far has been accounted for, updated the original post to reflect changes.

 

[Turfster]

lol is sale of the day hotline miami, again?

It rolls over in a minute.

 

[chronomac]

2 of my choices were released on other platforms last year but they deserve credit nonetheless.

Steam GOTY Voting

5. Guacamelee - The sum is better than the parts. Metroid, Devil Mary Cry and some Grim Fandango, even. If one of these disparate parts had pulled out the mixture would have lost its taste but altogether it works perfectly. It's never too difficult or too easy, too long or short, navigating the open world is fun, and it's among the most colorful, lively games of the year.

4. Gone Home - Explaining what's great about Gone Home is to cross a boundary that only the game should present to you. It's not just the story but how that story is portrayed which makes it great. So many times you hear about games with good stories only to be greeted with cutscenes which are, at their essence, riffing on cinema. Here the story and the gameplay intersect in a way only a video game could. Play it with the lights off and the speakers cranked.

3. Gunpoint - What's most amazing about Gunpoint is that it was largely the work of one man. While that is becoming the norm for this indie day and age it's still impressive. No game presented its humor better, written in that neo-noir style, and the thought-provoking, precise, mouse-driven gameplay was a nice compliment. It even sports great achievements which force you to play differently, as the best ones do. Some games on my list don't need sequels, for various reasons. I pray to the PC gods that Gunpoint does get one.

2. Rogue Legacy - I didn't curse at a game more in 2013. Over and over I died and respawned a new and died and cursed and respawned. Rinse and repeat. It's refreshing to be treated to a game that wants you to die, to feel the agony and begin again. The only thing to lose is the small number at the top of the screen. Buy up some upgrades and start the process over. I still haven't finished it but it doesn't matter. That 16-bit graphical style infused with an HD resolution makes for nice visual candy to go with all that grisly death.

1. Fez - To me, a masterpiece. People love bringing up Phil Fish's pretension and his unfiltered thoughts but it's precisely that sort of daring brain that made Fez great. There is nothing restrained about this thing. Nothing that isn't daring. The game gives you the simplest of tutorials and you're off to explore a quasi-2D-turned-3D world with a story you assemble at your pace. Disasterpeace provides the soundtrack to end all retro-bit soundtracks and you can almost hear the pixels ringing. I've never played a game to a finish then plowed through to the harder finish and then kept digging and digging for more, simultaneously trying to find an end and wishing it would never come.

Honorable mentions: Pac-Man: Championship Edition DX+ and Mercenary Kings.

 

[zkylon]

sorry I'm dumb

 

[Turfster]

Daily The Darkness II 75% off
Weekly

• Flatout Ultimate Carnage 75%
• Flatout 3 75%
• Arena Wars 2 90%
• Naval Warfare 80%
• Retrovirus 75%
• Hacker Evolution xx%
• Two Worlds Collection 80%
• The Raven 50%
• Arcania + Gothic pack 75%
• Chaser 75%
• Duke Nukem 3D & Shadow Warrior bundle 75%

 

[Tenrius]

Daily The Darkness II 75% off

Get that game, it's pretty good.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

I'm hoping they'll be smart and give us a sort of "friends only" universe, with user-run servers (sort of like Terraria/Starbound/Minecraft)

I hope so, too. Regardless, I'll remain cautiously optimistic about this one.

 

[Stallion Free]

Steam GOTY Award

Okay, send me a PM with your votes instead of cluttering this thread.

Everyone who has posted so far has been accounted for, updated the original post to reflect changes.

Too late, the avalanche has begun lol

 

[Intheflorsh]

Edit: Ha, didn't see MRORANGES's message. Sorry I ruined the Steam thread forever.

 

[More_Badass]

Managed to get a pre-release build of Not The Robots, releasing on Steam this month. Here are my early impressions:

So NTR is essentially a stealth roguelike, where, rather than lurking through dungeon tunnels or planning turns, you're evading sentry bots, avoiding lasers, and myriad other hazards as you progress through procedurally generated floors. Your uni-wheeled robot can roll fast to quickly break line of sight or keep up with a moving laser grid, as well as crouch to hide behind obstacles and avoid other dangers. To complete a floor, your robot must devour a set amount of furniture per level to unlock the exit and there in lies the strategy. Removing furniture means less places to hide, less barriers to block lasers, and makes getting to the exit that much more challenging. You have limited health and your only course of action when seen is to run and hide.

Besides your natural hiding skills, you can collect a limited use ability, from going invisible (but motionless) to playing a block down which you can hide behind. You can only equip one ability at a time and they can be used once before having to recharge (by eating furniture) so they must be used tactically and at the most opportune moment. Multipliers, logs that gradually piece together the story behind the game, health packs can also be found throughout each level

Besides the procedurally generated campaign, there are also 20 challenge levels to test your skills, so there's something for the speed-run fan as well. In both the campaign and challenges, you earn more points for not being seen, for collecting multipliers, and speed among other factors.

Controls are smooth and responsive. WASD to move, mouse to move the camera, other keys to crouch, use your selected ability. Gameplay is a mix of fast paced planning and maneuvering and evasive sneaking around obstacles to avoid enemies: procedurally stealth with a dash of puzzle elements (as planning what furniture to remove or not remove will help your escape, especially since sentry patrols will change once you open new paths).

 

[SteveWinwood]

jesus christ when are these shitty hacker games not on sale

 

[Dice]

So many games... everything falling into that vague pit of things I'm not playing for whatever reason that caused me to buy a 3DS that I am playing.

 

[Turfster]

Managed to get a pre-release build of Not The Robots, releasing on Steam this month. Here are my early impressions:

Jelly. I'm really looking forward to that one.

jesus christ when are these shitty hacker games not on sale

Well, it doesn't have a percentage yet, so maybe it's a mistake on the page (wouldn't be the first time)

 

[Tizoc]

Get that game, it's pretty good.

I keep missing out on getting it when its for less TBH @_@

 

[MRORANGE]

Too late, the avalanche has begun lol

My bad, it should stop now.

jesus christ when are these shitty hacker games not on sale

Pretty sure there was a bundle a while back for the hacker evolution games.

 

[Jørdan]

Sounds like I'm saved from having to write a gushy post on Gone Home or debate Starbound's placement which I can't actually play in its present state. No one has mentioned System Shock 2 yet which I think is valid (10th May)?

 

[Stumpokapow]

Mind if I quote this in the Vita thread? There was talk of a Vita GotY voting of such. I still plan on voting in the GAF GotY year thread, but a system/console specific vote would be interesting if only to see what the GAF community liked the most for that system/console.

No problem to requote me. There are console specific awards given out in the main GOTY thread.

 

[SteveWinwood]

Sounds like I'm saved from having to write a gushy post on Gone Home or debate Starbound's placement which I can't actually play in its present state. No one has mentioned System Shock 2 yet which I think is valid (10th May)?

why would it be valid?

it came out 14 years ago

 

[Jørdan]

why would it be valid?

it came out 14 years ago

FFVII was deemed valid and it is release date on Steam rather than the games release date as I understood it.

 

[Zia]

why would it be valid?

it came out 14 years ago

And it's terrible.

 

[Dambrosi]

Guys, Hey, GUYS.

SEND THIS IN A PM TO ME, SO WE DONT CLUTTER THE THREAD.

It's as if people don't read these threads. Ah, I didn't realise it was an edit. Oh well.

As for me, well...MRORANGE, keep an eye out for my PM.

 

[Turfster]

And it's terrible.

... what?
Did you just say System shock 2 is terrible?

 

[derExperte]

And it's terrible.

 

[Intheflorsh]

And it's terrible.

Sounds like a well thought out opinion, bud.

 

[Tizoc]

No problem to requote me. There are console specific awards given out in the main GOTY thread.

Cool, we'll try to do it the way Mr. Orange's doing it. The list is PMed to someone and they'll tally them up.

 

[nexen]

And it's terrible.

Ooh, the gauntlet has been thrown! *popcorn*

 

[Leon Belmont]

And it's terrible.

 

[More_Badass]

... what?
Did you just say System shock 2 is terrible?

This is going to be good

Spoiler

I still haven't played SS2 yet

 

[Nzyme32]

How is antichamber btw? I mean you obviously like it, but I am on the edge of getting it.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it has limited replayability in the sense that you would need a significant amount of time to forget the puzzles and design in order to enjoy it a second time through.

It basically challenges what you have come to expect from games but doesn't lead you by the hand too much but rather provides some off the cuff cryptic remarks about what you are learning as you go and your free just enjoy the strangeness of it all.

That said, I let my brother try it for a bit, and he is very much a console COD, EA sports kind of guy. He gave up in about 15 mins and just said he wasn't in the mood for it. So I get the impression you need to have a bit of patience for it, but I dove right in for about 7 hours of fun!

Non-euclidean seems to be the buzzword for the game's design (basically MC Escher school of level design), which to me felt great, it didn't feel too gimicky and I didn't feel like it overused any ideas it had, which was what I was afraid of

 

[NingenJanai]

And it's terrible.

 

[MikeDip]

I have just "Arcania". Any of the gothic games worth getting?

 

[Glass Rebel]

And it's terrible.

A wild crazy opinion appeared!

 

[Grief.exe]

And it's terrible.

 

[Jørdan]

I have just "Arcania". Any of the gothic games worth getting?

Looking at the Gothic games myself just now, the second is said to be fantastic.

 

[nexen]

I have just "Arcania". Any of the gothic games worth getting?

It really depends on how much you can tolerate open world rpg euro-jank, especially after they've aged.

Gothic 2 is the deepest of the series, but it has aged quite a bit. Controls and graphics are going to put off most newcomers.

I personally think Gothic 3 is decent fun, especially since it it possible to single-handedly take down a city-full of orcs with guerrilla warfare. It hasn't aged nearly as badly.

I'd steer clear of Gothic 1. While it was amazing when it released the combination of dated graphics, archaic controls, and absolutely punishing difficulty are going to make it a rough ride.

Really what you want is Risen 1.

 

[Tenrius]

I have just "Arcania". Any of the gothic games worth getting?

All the other ones (start with the first). This one, not so much.

I personally think Gothic 3 is decent fun, especially since it it possible to single-handedly take down a city-full of orcs with guerrilla warfare. It hasn't aged nearly as badly.

Or an entire city full of pesky humans!

 

[Cyberquake]

Unfortunately I haven't played many steam-2013 releases this year, there's lot of good games that are still sitting on my backlog list, and many others I haven't bought them yet. Spelunky, Volgarr and Rogue Legacy are good examples of apparently awesome games that I'm saving myself for the winter sale to buy them. Or not.

So... I'll skip this year's voting.

 

[Raytow]

SS2 may be terrible to someone that just started playing recently as in "boy those are terrible graphics" but other than that, the gameplay itself shits all over the biocrap that Levine been churning lately.

 

[Stallion Free]

Yeah the gameplay in System Shock 2 works so well and is super polished.

 

[Iseeyou]

SS2 may be terrible to someone that just started playing recently as in "boy those are terrible graphics" but other than that, the gameplay itself shits all over the biocrap that Levine been churning lately.

Didn't SS2 have that issue if you picked wrong class, you're gimped throughout the all game? Sounds like a bad game.

 

[nexen]

All the other ones (start with the first). This one, not so much.

I really enjoyed the Gothic series (except for 3's expansion) but ... going back to Gothic 1 is a hard slog. It is a really unforgiving game and doesn't give many reasons for a new player to want to love it.

Or an entire city full of pesky humans!

Either way, it was glorious. Gothic 3 was my favorite gothic because of how absurd the combat could get.

Real talk though: Risen 1 is the absolute high point of those games.