Now that we start a new year we can reflect back to 2013 and talk about some of our favorite PC games that we played last year. There's tons of lists out there from the usual gaming websites, but I find recommendations from our community much more valuable. These aren't necessarily came out in 2013, but more of what did you enjoy playing during that year.
During 2013 I played my fair share of Stardock games for obvious reasons, and really enjoyed the DLC that was put out for both Sins: Rebellion and FE: Legendary Heroes.
My other favorite games of 2013 are:
Now tell us what were you favorite games of 2013!
Simcity
Max Payne 3
War Thunder
and while not a PC game.......my favourite game for 2013 has to be GTA V. Seriously Rockstar have outdone themselves once again.
sonic racing, hearthstone, and scrolls really stand out
devil may cry was great fun for a few hours
shadow warrior, legendary heroes, heart of the swarm, and xcom were okay, but are either not polished enough or not much better than predecessors
Not sure if DLC Expansions alone count, but X:Com Enemy Within was amazing and exceeded all expectations. I'm not usually a big fan of turn based games but I'll likely be playing this for some time to come.
Company of Heroes 2 was decent but based on Relic's past work maybe my expectations were a little higher than it could live up to.
Bioshock Infinite was fun and I love the film noir-ish atmosphere and look of the DLC. I do wish they would add more depth to the gameplay to elevate it beyond just a simple FPS though. The writing, voice work, and graphic design all feel "overqualified" for what the actual gameplay itself turns out to be.
Excluding Stardock's games, those are games I played and enjoyed a lot (or didn't, so I warm you). In no particular order:
Euro Truck Simulator 2. Extremely and oddly relaxing thing. I mean, what could be entertaining in simply driving truck hauling cargo somewhere at cropped-down version of Europe? I tried that IRL, it wasn't as entertaining as it is here. Probably because IRL there are people who not only jumps into your lane, ignoring the fact your fuel alone has more weight than their "car" laden weight, and having little understanding that you can't stop this thing instantly, especially when they cutting you off from right lane, right in front of your truck. Anyway, ETS2 is different, and still enjoyable, even after one of patches, I think 1.4, which, apparently, changed AI drivers' behavior into more "realistic", so now they behave like your ordinary cretins in traffic, not those old gentlemen they were before. Got demo, but no driving school, so beware.
Game Dev Tycoon. Special nomination - longest grin ever.
Wargame AirLand Battle. It's like EE, only Airland. Almost ideal "the more the merrier" approach. Price is a big higher than it should be, IMHO.
Legends of Eisenwald. RPG/Tactics mix, somewhat similar to King's Bountry (those from Kataury, not northern nonsense). Still Early Access, but from what I've experienced so far - I like it. Plus very fair price. Expeditions: Conquistadors. is closest relative you can get (sort of), decent, interesting game. I doubt it'll have a lot of replayability, but in modern times when we are definitely not spoiled by tactical games (since Frozen Synapse), it's not that bad. Despite all flaws I like it more than Battle World: Kronos, or Space Hulk. The latter is least impressive of all three. BW:K isn't bad, but has some rather strange areas. Besides, these two games, unlike E:C are heavily overpriced, by my opinion.
Shadowrun returns. Two drawbacks - I want more, and... single autosave upon entry? For that you need to send people who designed that, to carry piano at 27th floor without elevator, and then told them they've got wrong adress.
Stanley Parable. Shotgun-grade mind blowing narrative. Even if short, still interesting experience.
Dungeon of Endless. Nice roguelike gem from my favorites from Amplitude studio. Very short, but, surprisingly, entertaining (I don't like roguelikes in general), even for Early Access. Probably you should refrain from purchasing until release, or, at least, more features added.
Prime World: Defenders (well I never!). Should someone tell me I will spend that much time in simple tower defense, I would never believe that person. Yet I did, and I wasn't farming, grinding, or achievement hunting. I was just playing. Word of advice - currently game has minor issues with achievements, and so called "daily prize" (you got one for daily online visits). Game has feeling of "pay2win" or gacha, but you pay only once (on PC, iOS version has in-app purchase) - when you buying game, in-game store uses only in-game currencies. Among drawbacks I would name too random drop of cards (contain spells and towers), and uneven set of cards - some are utter garbage, while some are necessary to win the campaign (Dragon or Sun). They have demo, so you can try it.
Yeah, I missed it during the Steam sale, but Gamergate has it on sale today so I might just grab it.
Wargame:EE was one of my favourite RTS games of all time! I just couldn't get into Wargame:ALB though, they changed too many things that I really loved about the first one........guess that's how it goes though eh? For one person a sequel is an improvement for another it's not.
My favorite games this year:FEZ - Fun little platform game with some clever puzzles. I'm currently on the very last puzzle, I just haven't had time to work on it.Rogue Legacy - Fun action/platform game, though the controls were a little loose. Some of the traits your characters could have kept the gameplay interesting.Shadowrun Returns - Great writing and a fun turn-based game, though I felt it could have been better with a handful of side missions. I need to start looking at the UGC for this one. Oddly enough, I never had an issue with the save functionality, though I could see how it could become annoying, especially if you had to go somewhere and couldn't save where you were.Papers, Please - Absolutely brilliant game, though hard to explain why.Saints Row IV - Guilty pleasure, but I loved the writing in this one, and the super powers were well done (and helped fill that City of Heroes void).Path of Exile - Been playing since '11, and each big expansion adds so much to the game. Great build variety and the Seasons keep the game/economy fresh and interesting. Act3X, added at release, is quite good, and Dominus is easily the best boss fight in any ARPG out there.Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes - While I enjoyed FE, LH added quite a bit to the game that I really liked, which finally put the game into my "Must Play" list of 4X games. (I just hope it doesn't take 2 expansions for GalCiv 3 to enter that list)Honorable mentions:Tomb Raider - Good game, with absolutely nothing to do with Tomb Raider. Non-Tomb Raider fans will most likely love the game, while Tomb Raider fans will be wondering why they called it Tomb Raider. I fall into the latter crowd.XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Decent game, but nowhere near as good as it could have been. Played more like a top down shooter than a strategy game. Extremely simplified, like Civilization Revolutions, so it would sell well on consoles.Civ V: Brave New World - Really improved trade and culture for Civ, and made the game quite a bit better, though I'm still not a fan of G&K.Company of Heroes 2 - Pretty good RTS, but I think I was hoping for something a bit more, especially with Relic's past track record. The mission quality was spotty throughout, which is why I only gave it an honorable mention.
Good games I played, but are not yet released:Prison Architect - A very addicting sandbox game where you build and manage a prison.Grim Dawn - Spiritual successor to Titan Quest, and damn fun. Still only has the first act, but I've already put a ton of hours into this one.Divinity: Original Sin - Super early alpha, but it is already quite amazing and the turn-based combat is quite fun. I think this will be a very fun game to play co-op.
"WTF Happened!?" award:Rome 2: Total War - Easily the biggest let down this year for me. Was released 6-12 months too early. Perhaps they should've cut back on all those videos and put that money into finishing the game. There is a good game in there somewhere, beneath all the bugs and horrendously pathetic AI (I've seen better AI in notepad). Add onto that, one of their recent patches completely disemboweled multiplayer, and the game desyncs nearly every turn.
Good luck getting it and happy gaming.
Despite strange decisions (barely explainable even in the name of balance), game is still fun to play.
Yeah, I can relate, happened in the past when your favorite game or series underwent strange metamorphosis, take Cossacks, or Blitzkrieg series, or Supreme Commander 2 - I have only one question: WHY?!
As for W:AB, I really don't know what to say, I'm sorry you don't like it. Hope third iteration will please more people.
i hardly played any new games in 2013...but there were two new ones (actually expansions) that I enjoyed:
Civ V BNW
Panzer Corps: Allied Corps
You just reminded me of Unity of Command series. I admit, I haven't played all three, or completed those I played, but for that time I was playing, they made impression of being interesting.
Games I played and enjoyed in 2013 -
Civ 5 BnW - The Civ series is finally where it should have been.
Dota2 - WHERE ARE MY TECHIES?!?
Terraria - Just keep digging
Starbound Beta Alpha - Beta = feature complete, Alpha = not feature complete....
Reus - A fun 'god' game, quite a refreshing look at a simple yet complex game
SoaSE Rebellion - Mmmmm space
Supreme Commander - an oldie, but still the best
AOE II HD - After all the lag and bugs were fixed, this took me back to the tournament days of old.
Borderlands 2 - Still like to get some FPS wasteland in there
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 Platinum - This took me back too... why are all the good games old ones?
Cities XL - Cause the SimCity was a blatant money grab by EA and bastardized the title.
Favorite PC Games I acquired in 2013 (besides E:LH)
Alien Assault
Solitaire Settlers Of Catan
Other games regularly played:
Starfleet Command Orion Pirates. BTW, (2.6.7.0 SFC:CE now available)
Advanced Civilization (Computer adaptation of the AH Boardgame, not to be confused with the Civ franchise, no longer available)
History Of The World (also no longer available)
Warlords III: Darklords Rising
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Rail Empires: Iron Dragon
Planescape: Torment (usually do a runthrough every year or so)
Renegade: Battle Of Jacob's Star
Renegade Legion PC Game
Outpost
Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire
M.U.L.E.
Never got around to another Freelancer runthrough...
Simcity was more like Simblock, and it was closed for maintenance.
Though IMHO Cities XL aren't so "sandboxey" as Simcity, there you have to think a little bit more, I enjoy them more as well.
And since you mentioned Cities, I think Cities in Motion are nice games as well. CiM 2 requires more planning efforts, and creation of proper schedules due changes in game's pace, but so far it was interesting experience, even if different from CiM 1, though I'm still studying it.
Reus is also nice, I concur, even if I've played a little. Democracy 3 seems to be interesting "excel simulator", if you're into that kind of games, yet again, I played only one game.
Lets see (looks at steam playtime...)
Sots 2 a crap ton... 1500hrs+ total to date. (hmm I like 4x sci fi alot ya think)
Distant Worlds Shadows
Civ 5 BNW + Communitas its near up and running due to the fact coding the ui can be a bitch. Still fantastic!
Path of Exile
Borderlands 2
Dominions 4 (omg this series is a gem that I should of picked up sooner) Archers that have no limbs left god I love it!
Xcom + Long War- Can't wait for EW to have it in 2-3 months stupid fun mod
Rebellion + Star Trek Armada 3
(little bit of BF3, Payday 2, TF2, Skyrim lots of mods 100+, FE, little PS 2 and Eve Online)
I was playing some Sim games until I played Sim deluxe. It's either they aren't big enough, they don't do enough, there not big enough, or it is just boring. I don't think it is the last thing.
Borderlands was alright. Not really into first person shooters, but when you play borderlands 2 with bad eyes it kind of sucks. In borderlands you could see the sights, but in Borderlands 2 about half of the time you can't see the sights. They don't give you an option to make it darker, so this becomes a problem that makes this game not really worth playing.
With Skyrim I think it is a really good game to bad I lost my serial number and Cd. I also can't get into that steam account; because I don't remember what the email was, Now in hindsight I wish I remember that I had an account when I bought Civilization 5.
My favorite game is Galactic civilizations
I did look at distant worlds not really impressed.
I just bought endless space.
Going to play Civilization 5
I can't figure out why people like Master's of orion 2. I'm probably going to give that game another try.
Anyway, my fav games in 2013 were still Sins Rebellion (despite coming out in 2012) and i guess NHL 2014 on PS3. I basically bought PS3 just to be able to play that game and so far, it was worth it, i really enjoy playing it with my buddies.
I played a fair bit of Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer over the course of the year, which is my fav CoD to date probably, until November, when i boght CoD: Ghosts. Played that one up until Christmas, as it was decent, but not on par of Blops IMHO. Now replaced it with BF3 Premium and trying to get into it.
Don't Starve definitely deserves an honorable mention. Completely moddable and the final update is now out.
Come now Timmy that's since April 2012, besides I known people with 2000, 3000 and 4500+. I'm not the craziest.
Expeditions: Conquistador.
Remember me.
-My Game of the year:
XCOM Enemy Within. I enjoyed XCOM Enemy Unknown already but I wasn’t as hooked with it, completed it once on normal difficulty and that was it. In Enemy Within I started playing Ironman and Classic difficulty and I really LOVE it and must have spend over 100 hours on it already - its not the classic the original xcom was but a damn good game nonetheless – I only wish they d open it more for modding anyhow i m now trying my luck on impossible ironmen and having a blast getting killed over and over
-Runners up:
State of Decay
Elemental: Legendary Heroes of course
Panzer Corps / Panzer Corps: Afrika Corps
Blackguards Early Access (releases in January this year but you can already play 80% of the game and its awesome)
-Disappointment of the year:
Shadowrun Returns: a really pretty ( love the art and the shadowrun setting in general) but also really shallow game that fits android/iOS far more than the PC platform. I love turn based combat (see xcom & blackguards) and never understood why it got forgotten in favour of more real-time (with pause) systems but shadowrun is a prime example of how to make turn based combat as boring as possible thanks to bad balancing, awful encounter design and generally weak mechanics (that don’t have much to do with the shadowrun PnP other than in skill/class names)
Mind you with disappointment i dont mean the game is utter crap - it isnt and its possibly even worth its low price if you are a shadowrun fan like me ..... it just could have been soo much more if the developers didnt dumb down the mechanics so much.
i had high hopes for both Rome 2 and X-Rebirth but thankfully avoided pre-ordering. still hurts that both promising games turned out to be such trainwrecks.
-Looking forward to
Age of Wonders 3 above everything else
...
lots of other games: Blackguards (full version) Might & Magic Legacy, Dark Souls 2, Divinity Original Sin, Wasteland 2, Pillars of Eternity, Predestination, Gal Civ 3, Elite: Dangerous, Warhammer 40k: Armaggedon and many more. 2014 looks very, very promising thus far.
I think this is my most positive surprise of the 2013 year. Stunning visuals for the most part.
Don't Starve, talked about it before. Great cute little game.
Civ 5 Brave new world, finally puts Civ5 a notch above civ 4.
Dominions 4 also in my "most appreciated" game list, although I wouldn't say it's particularly good. It still has enough flavour to drown its gameplay issues out.
Most disappointing: Godus. I thought I paid for a PC game, turns out it's a tablet game that you can play in windows 7.
war thunder
Europa Universalis 4
Star drive
Balduer's gate 2 enhanced edition
Wing Commander Saga
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