The Best I Played, 2013 - Intro & Honourable Mentions

The Best I Played, 2013

So, denizens of the internet, another year is done, and, as it seems to be the cool thing to do online, I decided to make a best games of the year list, but upon starting to think about it, I realized a big problem with this plan: I barely play new games. I game on a tight budget, and as such will usually play only a new game or two a year, most of the rest of my time being sunk into older games I've picked up on Steam sale.

The solution to this seemed obvious: Ignore the constraint of this being the best games released this year. What will soon follow is the best games I've played in 2013. These have a wide, wide release window - one of them was originally released in 2004, though it became playable for me (and I imagine for most of the people who might read this blog) in 2007.

I want to mention that the list may seem a bit strange this year, and this is because of my New Year's Resolution. Yes, that's right, that thing no one keeps. 2013 was the first year I kept my New Year's Resolution, and it was this: To play a game every month that I wouldn't have played otherwise, hopefully in a genre that I hadn't tried out or wasn't particularly fond of. This had some varying results, but was mostly a succesful experiment. A great number of these games are now on the list, and a number of them I despise with all my soul.

Now, I decided on 5 as a arbitrary number that I'll use, mostly because I rarely play enough games a year to make a top 10 without having to shove at least one or two meh experiences in there. However, this isn't enough. There's games that I feel deserve a mention that won't make it onto the list, and I'll explain why. This year, I've got two of these bad boys, and I feel both of them are interesting discussions to be had. Now, the list will be rated, 5th being the worst and 1st being the best. I'll release the list an item a day, starting from the bottom. Now, on to the honourable mentions.

The Honourable Mentions:

Alpha Protocol:

The ONLY Espionage RPG. Ever.

A game I'd heard a lot about, often in the context of "Great idea, poor execution" threads on gaming forums. I like Obsidian, the developers, a lot, and as such, decided to give it a try. For the first two or three hours, I was presented with an uninspired, linear narrative with an interesting conversation system marred by atrocious gameplay. After those two or three hours, Alpha Protocol transformed into an amazing spy story with tonnes of freedom, an intricate and complex story, still marred by atrocious gameplay that doesn't quite know whether it's an RPG or a cover-based third person shooter. Unfortunately, it stayed in that state for only a four hour stretch, and died off with a whimper after an appaling, hour-long finale that made next to no sense and decided to shift all its focus back onto the ridiculously clunky and unresponsive game element. Those four hours of magnificence that Alpha Protocol had were indeed magnificent: a fantastic spy game that the medium has needed for decades. The rest is a pathetic excuse for a game. I can perfectly see where the general consensus on this game came from: Not only is the gameplay some of the most tedious I've seen, but the story is badly damaged by both the beginning and the ending and turned into something quite mediocre. The four hours that Alpha Protocol shone are worthy of a spot on this list. The other half of the game solidly keep it away from it.

Katawa Shoujo:

This guy is the funniest person you'll never meet.

Wuh-wuh-whuuuuut? A romantic visual novel on the honourable mentions of a manly man such as yourself, Rariow? Well, yes, actually. Remember that New Year's Resolution I mentioned? Well, early on in the year, in January in fact, I happened upon Sean 'Day[9]' Plott, who is now one of my favourite people on the internet. Browsing through his stuff, I found out he was on a series called MetaDating, where Day[9], along with Sean Bouchard and Bill Graner, two incredibly intelligent gentlemen, played and discussed romantic games, be it for a laugh or for discussion of a genuinely good game. The most recent episode at the time was Katawa Shoujo, a anime-styled free dating sim visual novel, which received some genuine praise from the trio. Now, I hate romantic stories, I'd never played a visual novel before, and I am rather lukewarm to anime, which made this the perfect first step in completing my New Year's Resolution. And so I did, fully expecting to come out of the experience disgusted, for two simple reasons.

Katawa Shoujo was made by people from 4chan. Anyone familiar with the internet should know why this rings alarm bells: 4chan is one of the most depraved corners of the internet. I love the site, don't get me wrong, but there's a bunch of messed up people on it. This is the site that once almost tricked me into poisoning myself with mustard gas. Second, Katawa Shoujo is set in a school for the disabled. I fully expected the very sweet beginning seen on MetaDating to turn into a disgusting fetishistic... thing rather quickly, and was so ready to get out as fast as possible that I actually kept an uninstall shortcut on my desktop.

Yeah, pretty much.

Boy, oh boy, I couldn't have been more mistaken. Katawa Shoujo is the only pure romance story I've ever enjoyed, and one of the best things I've experienced this year: a fantastically written, delicately and tastefully handled, emotionally crippling piece of storytelling goodness. It's got it's emotional downs and ups, going from heart-wrenching to hilarious, and a amazing amount of heart. Every one of the five paths in it is worth re-experiencing at least once, and more than one of them will bring you to tears. It's got its flaws, don't get me wrong: Most h-scenes were quite gratuitous and seemed jammed in the game just because that's what's expected from the genre, which really contrasts with the otherwise elegant and tasteful storylines (Though luckily, you can turn them off if you so wish, and I recommend doing so in most cases), and a route or two were a bit meandery and pointless for large chunks of their duration, even if they were all ultimately great once they hit their stride.

So, why isn't it on the list? For the simple reason that I can't bring myself to call it a game. Katawa Shoujo is something you read, not something you play. What a game is and what it isn't is something I will get around to discussing in my ramblings - eventually - but I don't think Katawa Shoujo qualifies. Now, I want to make this very clear - If I considered Katawa Shoujo a game, it would most definitely be on this list, likely at second. Even as a non-game, I give it my hearty reccomendation.