Shaun McInnis, Editor Follow

After building a new gaming PC at the end of last year, 2012 gave me the opportunity to broaden my horizons and begin to really dig into the unique games the PC platform had to offer. And while my consoles gathered dust for long stretches throughout the year, there were still some incredible games on those systems that made it onto my list--as those of you who have already stopped reading this and scrolled down to the number one entry can already tell. First, though, the games that didn't make my Top 10…

Games I Still Need to Play: XCOM: Enemy Unknown, FTL: Faster Than Light, Sleeping Dogs, Sound Shapes.

Games That Barely Missed the Cut: Thirty Flights of Loving, Halo 4, DayZ, Trine 2, Torchlight II, Assassin's Creed III.

My Top 10 Games of 2012:

10. Mass Effect 3

No, I wasn't a huge fan of the ending(s). No, I didn't like how the multiplayer had a tangible effect on the single-player. But you know what? Everything else about the game I loved. I think a lot of people forget that Mass Effect 3 is still a huge game beyond those headline-dominating controversies. A huge, well-made, and deeply enjoyable game.

9. Crusader Kings II

I have a weird thing with strategy games. I don't play a lot of them, but when I do, I like them to be as absurdly complicated as possible. Crusader Kings II certainly fits that bill, building on the "grand strategy" genre Paradox is known for with a deeper system of diplomatic relationships and family management. Crusader Kings II may have a ridiculous learning curve, but it's so very worth it.

8. Forza Horizon

Forza Horizon is pretty much the definition of a chocolate-and-peanut butter situation. I love simulation racing games and I love open-world sandboxes. Combine the two and I'm in heaven. Sure, the "story" was a bit grating--but it was also pretty harmless. The world you explore in those $200,000 sports cars is just so engrossing that it more than makes up for any issues with the narrative.

7. Hotline Miami

I'm generally a baby when it comes to difficult games, but there's just something so intoxicating about Hotline Miami that I plowed straight through the entire thing in a few sittings. The music is perfect, the juxtaposition of pixel graphics and intense violence is so strangely compelling, and the action itself almost has a puzzle-solving feel to it. Such a great and singular experience.

6. Far Cry 3

It's funny how Far Cry 2 and 3 are both open-world shooters, and yet I enjoy them for wildly different reasons. FC2 was a harsh, unforgiving world that seemed ambivalent to your presence--whether or not you got by was none of its concern. I loved that about it. Far Cry 3, on the other hand, practically bends over backwards to make sure you're entertained. I also love that. Does that make me insane? Probably. But I've accepted that.

5. Dear Esther

Lately I've developed a greater appreciation for games that play around with the conventions of video games, and what I really loved about Dear Esther was its nontraditional approach to storytelling. I never felt like someone was actively telling me a story; I felt like I had crept into someone's subconscious and proceeded to float through their memories, experiencing one fragmented thought after another in in a disordered jumble of personal recollections. That the world was so beautiful to explore was nice, too, and really added to the dreamlike reverie this game established.

4.Dota 2

Remember what I said earlier about strategy games? The same applies here. I don't play a ton of them, but for whatever reason I prefer them to be as absurdly complicated as possible. I skipped over League of Legends altogether and jumped straight into Dota 2, partly because Valve is a studio I know and trust, and partly because the allure of its greater learning curve seemed strangely appealing. I'm still not great at it, but I'm having an absolute blast even as I continue to get owned in public matches.

3. The Walking Dead

More than anything else, The Walking Dead is a testament to the power of player choice in video games. This is a game that presents you with some truly grim situations, and you have to not only make difficult decisions, but continue to deal with the fallout of those decisions in a never-ending domino game of human interactions. It's a game that takes that familiar element of people trying to preserve their own humanity during a zombie outbreak and adds an element of player agency that makes it exponentially more powerful. It's not "fun" in a traditional sense, but boy is it incredible.

2. Dishonored

Dishonored is like a time traveler sent to 2012 in order to teach a lesson to big budget action games. It's proof that you can make people care about an original IP as long as you create an interesting world and populate it with fascinating characters. It's proof that you can set a game in the first-person perspective and not make it a shooter. It's proof that you can revive ideas from bygone eras of gaming and make them work--really, truly work--by adding your own refreshing twist. That Dishonored managed to find success in this era of sequels and Call of Duty clones is one of the great stories of the year. Of course, it also helps that this game is just really, really good.

1. Journey

Journey may not be the best "game" I've played this year (that title goes to Dishonored). It may not be the best story I've played this year (that goes to The Walking Dead). But you know what? It was the best experience I had with a game all year, bar none. There was just something so magical and unique about what I experienced in Journey that I'll never be able to forget. I don't know if I'll ever be able to pinpoint what that something is, but it's there and it's deeply resonant.