GameFront’s Game of the Year 2014

It’s that time of year again – the time when we hand out our Game of the Year award.

This is never an easy decision. Even in a year with as many problems as 2014, there are still a lot of games that could be in the discussion for Game of the Year. If you want to see how each of our staff members ranked the games of 2014, make sure you check out our Staff’s Top 5 lists.

After much discussion and discourse, we happily present to your our consensus top 5 games of the year, and our Game of the Year for 2014.

5. Dark Souls 2

From Mitch’s Dark Souls 2 review:

I’m going cut to the chase right away: Dark Souls 2 is just as incredible as both prior games in the Souls series.

It’s the rare 50-plus-hour game that never feels padded, never feels like it is wasting your time, and constantly provides the player with unforgettable moments of both triumph and failure. It’s the rare sequel that manages to retain all of the core aspects of what makes the series so spectacular, while changing nearly everything around that core to allow the game to have its own unique identity.

And all of these changes come without compromising the brutal difficulty for which the series has gained such a notorious reputation. In fact, in many ways, Dark Souls 2 is even harder than its predecessors. It’s certainly not for everyone, and that’s a shame, because Dark Souls 2 is a prime example of how rewarding and satisfying playing video games can be.

4. The Talos Principle

From Phil’s Talos Principle Review:

This is The Talos Principle: You’re a living human playing a computer simulation as a robot playing a computer simulation, and answering philosophical questions posed by another computer about the nature of what it is to be a person.

That’s where The Talos Principle really captures some magic as a game: it pulls you in and engages you on a number of levels, with its huge series of puzzles, its narrative, its meta-narrative, and its meta-meta-narrative. Even if it were just a straight puzzler, it would be a great game whose conundrums constantly belie conceptually simple solutions that usually require you to simply adjust your thinking a bit. It’s constantly rewarding you with those moments in which you exclaim, “Of course!” when a nagging solution suddenly becomes obvious.

But there’s a lot more ambition at play from Croteam and writers Tom Jubert (FTL, The Swapper) and Jonas Kyratzes (The Sea Will Claim Everything). The deep discussions of philosophy and humanity might interest everyone, but The Talos Principle does a beautiful job of utilizing the medium of games to convey ideas and narrative in a uniquely “video game” way.

It’s a game that aspires to be more than what we traditionally expect, and one that has an intangible quality that makes it more than the sum of its parts. It’ll stay with you after you’ve completed it and call you back to explore its hidden corners to see what else you’ll uncover there.

3. Dragon Age: Inquisition

From Ron’s Dragon Age: Inquisition review:

The major triumph of Inquisition is how well the world is built around you. There are so many little things to find, whether it’s notes from people long gone, tomes of ancient wisdom, or just an abandoned old bottle of wine, and each of them helps make the world feel more real.

The story presents choices that remind us that even when you’re striving for good, there are myriad ways to reach the destination you have in mind. Should you execute the man who tried to kill you, slap him in chains, or put him to work? All of the decisions you make have repercussions, as certain party members or even entire factions may object to your choices. Better than either of the previous Dragon Age games, Inquisition makes you feel as if you’re affecting the world with nearly every choice you make.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is a huge moment for Bioware. In crafting a stellar RPG, it has shown those who thought the developer might be past its prime that it still has what it takes. Bioware also assuages the fears of folks like me, who thought the company was ditching high-end PC titles for console parity. In short, the developers have gone a long way toward winning me back.

Regardless of how you feel about Bioware, you owe it to yourself to give Dragon Age: Inquisition a try. It’s a great game from start to finish, one that lets you do just about whatever you want, and then rewards you for just about all of it. While it does have some minor problems, they don’t detract from the quality of the whole. The way the world responds to, and builds itself around, your character makes Inquisition a must-play for any RPG enthusiast.