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.

There’s a lot about Far Cry 4 to like: it’s beautiful and huge, and little additions like elephants to ride and helicopters to fly can make it great. But it’s less than a sum of its parts, and often is bloated and confused. For as big a world as Kyrat is, it lacks life and cohesion; it’s fun as long as you don’t think too much about the wheel beneath your feet.

The Witcher Adventure Game is very flexible in how much players want to interact with each other.

At least, there’s a ton of potential for the next five installments in this series, and no shortage of twists and intrigue to be found in this inaugural outing.

This War of Mine is a great counterpoint to the yearly influx of war games, and uses the language of video games to present a harrowing real-life experience in a way that’s often particularly engaging. It’s dark, it’s sad, it’s often crushing and difficult. It might not be fun, but it’s definitely worth experiencing.

Not only is it an incredible party fighting game to casually play with up to 8 players, but it’s also a fantastic 1-on-1 fighting game for those who put in the time and dedication to master its mechanics.

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.

It’s a competent shooter that scratches exactly the itch that Call of Duty players want scratched — a new setting, some new abilities, and lots of new maps within which to shoot each other. Just don’t expect anything you haven’t already seen before.

It’s a solid action/RPG that stumbles on the execution of several of its fantastic ideas, but nevertheless provides a great entry point for those looking to get into the type of deep, challenging, and rewarding experiences that games like Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls provide.

Fact is, I had more unadulterated fun playing Sunset Overdrive than nearly any other game this year. You can tell that Insomniac had a blast making this game, and that joy transferred directly into me as I bounced on balloons in an amusement park, on to the rails of a rollercoaster, and then rained down explosive hairspray bombs to result in a brilliant orange explosion of goo.

Ultimately, Beyond Earth is an exceedingly polished 4x experience, taking you and humanity through space exploration, frustrations and all.

Grimrock’s dungeon crawling gameplay is as solid as ever.

Exactly what fans of the series wanted in a new installment — more Borderlands. It keeps everything that made Borderlands 2 great, and adds a few new tricks of its own. It might not be innovative, but it’s damn fun to play. Honestly, isn’t that what really matters?

There’s something beautiful about Alien: Isolation’s intensity, about the way it ebbs and flows, about how you learn when you’re a modicum safer than you were just a minute ago, and you can and should move a little faster, or risk waiting too long. It’s amazing how much it looks and feels like a film, translated into another medium, using that medium to make something similar and yet differently powerful.

Minor complaints aside, Wasteland 2 is a deep and addictive experience that will grab and hold you hard for its duration. Is it for everyone? Probably not. It has a decidedly old-school foundations that could be a put-off for new and younger gamers raised on modern day Fallouts and Skyrims. That said, for its target audience and for gamers looking for a deep and lengthy role-playing experience that steps well outside the current norm, Wasteland 2 is a near-perfect product.

Defense Grid 2 is hard. Make no mistake about it. I hit my first wall at level 8 and found an uphill climb after that. Those new to the tower defense genre will find its difficulty curve unforgiving. Yet, somehow, this challenge ends up feeling rewarding.

If you’re up for the challenge, Fenix Rage has more than enough content to keep you busy for a long, long time. The game is also a speedrunners’ dream, and I anticipate seeing some incredible things done with this game by the speedrunning community in the coming months.

It’s a fun game that lets you experience The Lord of the Rings regardless of how much knowledge you have of the world coming in. Great combat and an amazing setting round out one of the best Lord of the Rings titles in years.

I think it is a better foundation to build on than The Sims 3 had at launch.

A Story About My Uncle accomplishes its goal of creating a feeling through controls that many games aspire to, but fail to grasp. My biggest takeaway from the game was wishing there was more of it; the game does a phenomenal job of making it exciting merely to be present in and move about its world, if only for a fleeting visit.

It’s a testament to Road Not Taken’s creepy little world that I’m so willing to continue the search, and to its gameplay and style that each foray remains rewarding.

It’s familiar enough that you can easily pick up its basics, while being original enough to require you to pay close attention to learn its idiosyncrasies.

It’s hard work to be a hero, Gods Will Be Watching reminds, and invites you to try to answer whether, given the challenges, you might not become a cold-hearted villain instead.

The story continues to develop in unexpected directions, and the suspense that’s building for Episode 5 is palpable and intense.

Players looking for a solid set of approachable, easy-to-learn and tougher-to-master puzzles will find a lot on offer in MouseCraft, not to mention the unlimited potential of player-built levels to surpass its initial 80 offerings.

If Valiant Hearts’ gameplay could match most of its storytelling, it’d probably be the best game of the year to this point. As it stands, it’s still a remarkably beautiful piece of interactive entertainment that does a fantastic job of showing players a piece of history in a way that’s easily accessible and yet emotionally engaging.

The Company of Heroes 2: Western Front Armies DLC is a nice addition to a strategy game that was already pretty darn good to start with. While the cost might be a bit steep for those of us who already own the game, it’s almost a no-brainer for folks who want to see what all the fuss is about without breaking the bank.

One of the best games of 2014 so far, and you’d be remiss to let it fly by under your radar. Even more so if you grew up in the NES era and have any sort of fond memories of the great games during that time.

While the setting of Among The Sleep is different, the cogs and gears underneath are a bit too familiar, and that stops Among The Sleep from being quite as scary as it could be.

Even with these negatives, Tropico 5 is still a blast to play. The thrill of walking the line between the superpowers as you try to make your island (and yourself) as rich as possible hasn’t gone anywhere, and it’s still fun. It’s also nice that the internal strife never ends in Tropico.

With a great pay model — you give money to play chapters as they release to help fund further development, but each is eventually free — and no lack of dread-inducing darkness, The Last Door is worthy of the unflinching, lidless eye of horror and adventure fans. Be warned, though: you’ll be waiting a while for the answers Devitt seeks.

As far as shooters are concerned, Wolfenstein: The New Order beautifully taps some of the best elements and mechanics the genre has seen over the last generation. It also delivers on an expansive what-if world vision that can be pretty intriguing, and opens doors with its characters — specifically a franchise protagonist who’s never been too deep — that add some nuance to the exploration of that world.

What The Walking Dead is about is people, and in Episode 3, the game continues to deliver those well-written and interesting characters with whom Clementine interacts and relates. As the episodes before it, Episode 3 delivers on a series of moments in which players must balance relationships and survival, freedom and security, and as always, there are never any easy answers.

If horror is meant to plumb your fears and unnerve you, The Whistleblower at least manages that to do so a few times. For the rest, it’s a fun return to the stock release’s setting and mechanics for some solid jump scares and atmosphere, which lasts just long enough to remind of what made the original enthralling.

If horror games are to be judged by their scares, then Daylight gives players their money’s worth. The game never failed to hit me with numerous jump-inducing moments, and smartly keeps the tension ratcheted through its mazes, only to let it out slowly in between — but just barely. Though short, the procedural generation adds replay value to the overall package, as does the Twitch functionality that makes streaming a bit more than just an experience in watching someone else scream like an idiot.

One of the deepest, most challenging, and most rewarding experiences you’ll ever have in this modern era of video games.

Reaper of Souls doesn’t veer too far from the road Diablo 3 has laid down. While the changes that came in patch 2.0.1 are great for the game, the expansion really feels like more of the same than any significant step forward. That said, if you liked Diablo 3, you’re going to like Reaper of Souls. And hey, isn’t that how an expansion is supposed to work?

Blizzard has put its imprimatur onto another genre, and it looks poised to succeed in CCGs with Hearthstone as it has with MMOs in World of Warcraft.

If what you’re expecting is a much, much prettier version of Infamous 2, albeit with a frustrating mechanic of switching between your powers, then you’ll likely be happy with what you get in Second Son. If you’re thinking that a leap to a new console generation should mean more than just a leap in graphical fidelity, then I welcome you into my boat.

Luftrausers is a very good time and it’s nice that it shakes up the genre of arcade shooters by making creatively escaping death and blasting away at bad guys carry the same weight. But it’s also mostly a momentary distraction, a game you come back to for a few minutes when you’ve got time to kill, and for that, Luftrausers feels like its asking price is a bit too high for what’s on offer.

Titanfall comes recommended, surely, and when it’s on, it’s really on. Players will keep coming back for those great, high-intensity moments, but for how long isn’t yet clear.

A House Divided is another powerful, emotional installment, and continues to make a beautiful, tense experience about finding and trusting one another the end of the world.

The one thing The Stick of Truth was meant to do more than anything else — capture South Park in game form — the title does incredibly well. As a licensed property, it may well stand alone in that sense; you’ll never get closer to headin’ on down to South Park than in The Stick of Truth.

Operating from the shadows should feel great, and it does. It’s just a shame that the great sneaking gameplay has been wedded to a story that doesn’t quite feel like it fits the classic character you’re cast as. It doesn’t ruin the game, but it definitely keeps it from living up to its potential.

This is a package that manages to tell a new story within the threads of The Last of Us, and the overall tapestry is richer for having it.

The Wolf Among Us Episode 2 generally feels quieter and more focused on Bigby’s detective side. Even when you are given violent options, they are less primal than Episode 1’s lengthy action scenes, but it also draws attention to Episode 2’s weakness.

The intangible thing that ties everything together is the mood of the game — grim and somber in a way that fits the setting perfectly. Whether it’s the hard-bitten characters, the swirling snow, or the haunting score by Journey composer Austin Wintory, The Banner Saga is a game about an apocalypse that actually feels like there’s something being lost, not one that feels like a chance for an unkillable hero to simply kick more ass.

A fantastic little indie gem, and the addition of online matchmaking allows me to recommend it without it being conditional on whether you have friends to play it with. It’s got simple, but deep combat and a well-designed, if a bit paltry, selection of levels, and it’s just a blast to play. Say hello to 2014’s first great game.

Same strong characters and plotting that made Season 1 so powerful.

Tiny Brains is the definition of accessibility with depth, and especially for new Playstation 4 owners, it’s a great justification for stocking up on DualShock 4 controllers.

Thankfully, Shadow Fall handles far better than its predecessors that were hamstrung by the limited abilities of the PlayStation 3. It’s perfectly smooth to play, and there’s no longer a button to attach yourself to cover — simply crouching behind a chest-high wall will hide you, and pushing forward against it will let you stick your gun out to shoot.

Much like Geometry Wars was for the Xbox 360, it’s an extremely fun and addictive arcade shoot-em-up that is actually more worth your time than any of the hotly anticipated full-priced launch titles.

EXALT adds an extra level of tension to this strategic management layer.

Newcomers who persevere and keep on bashing away until they master the fundamentals will be rewarded greatly, but in all honesty, you might be best off tracking down at least the first NUNS game on PS3 and Xbox 360. For existing fans of the series, these are the ninjas you’re looking for. Network quirks aside, if you’ve got a PC capable of making NUNS3 sing, you won’t be disappointed.

Eldritch is almost two games for the price of one. Initially it could be said that it’s a comedy. The difficulty is un-obstructing and many of the enemy designs and animations are actually quite cute for nightmarish abominations. It welcomes you in and builds up your confidence, only to tear you back down again in New Game +, where Eldritch reveals its true colors as a first-person Spelunky with a horror slant.

I can’t stress enough how much fun Forced is when you’ve got even just one other player. It’s a smartly designed cooperative action game with lots of depth, great variety in its challenges, and a great combat system that encourages teamwork over all else. It’s a shame then that online play, at least at the time of this review, is too laggy for me to recommend, and playing solo is oftentimes more frustrating than fun.

Battlefield 4 isn’t perfect — its campaign definitely sees to that — but the multiplayer component is one of the best you’ll see in 2014.

While I have mixed feelings about EA’s perch on this lucrative pedestal, it’s hard to to argue that the EA Canada team hasn’t earned it, and doesn’t continue to earn it, by delivering a game that really does feel better, really does feel different, every year, even if you have to be an avid player of the game to really appreciate how.

That kind of consistent progression and steady experiential learning is the crux of the game and it’s here in spades. While not quite as good as the truly exceptional TD games I’ve found online in years past, but Defense Technica definitely worth its budget price.

The real goal is to come out the other side with some sort of meaningful appreciation of our hero’s plight. To understand what tools are required for such a person to even exist while being plagued by these nightmares so often that they become reality itself. To gain the ability to adapt well enough to those circumstances to be able to use those tools effectively. That is Knock-Knock.

Arkham Origins is a fantastic game, and one that is worthy of the Arkham legacy, but that being said, one can’t help but feel that WB Games Montreal played this one safe. They relied on the strength of Rocksteady’s rock-solid foundation, and simply applied new coats of paint and some extra decorations that weren’t there before.

This is a thought experiment of sorts, and in comparison to some of its hordes of first-person peers, it may even be said that there’s not much of an actual point to the gameplay. But keep in mind that if that’s your conclusion, there’s a strong danger that you’re exactly the type of complacent player The Stanley Parable’s criticisms are aimed at.

An incredibly impressive little game, from its understated old-school art style to its ability to make you feel uncomfortable with how much you enjoy catching criminals trying to trick their way into your country.

When you get down to it, Shadow Warriors does an impressive job of straddling the line between its retro upbringings and the more advanced first-person shooter offerings of late.

Memoria unfolds in an engaging, expertly paced way, and that, coupled with smart puzzles and the depth of the world, makes Memoria a worthy investment for both fans of adventure games, and the more casual player in the genre.

Grand Theft Auto V is a remarkable achievement. Fun, challenging, satisfying and morally complex, it’s also proof of the ability of games to tackle mature subjects while still being enjoyable diversions, all in service to great characters and a gritty story.

Rayman Legends falls just short of being an absolutely timeless classic, but that’s just about the worst thing anyone can say about it. It’s every bit as good as its predecessor — stronger on some fronts and a little weaker on others — and continues to strengthen Rayman’s position as an enduring gaming mascot.

Even late in the game, it had the ability to get my blood racing and my spine tingling. It’s possible that by the end, Outlast does, in fact, slightly outlast its mechanics and AI, but the novelty of running and hiding and its phenomenal, no-holds-barred presentation definitely make up for it. This is a gross, scary, disturbing game: you should play it.

Blacklist sees Sam Fisher and his covert posse returning to the series’ sneaky-happy roots in good form, and it’s easily one of the best stealth offerings I’ve delved into in a long time.

Despite some missteps common to the adventure game genre, and a third act that loses itself in the details and machinations of its fantasy world, The Night of the Rabbit is a journey adventure game fans won’t regret or soon forget.

Hammerwatch is good fun if you can looks past its armor chinks, and especially if you dig the kind of old school challenges it dishes out on the later levels.

Play Gone Home because you want an engrossing and detailed environment to explore. Play it because you want something new and introspective from your games. Play it because you want to reconnect with a sibling or family member who has grown distant. Play it because ten years from now there will still be people playing and discussing its intricacies.

Midway through the game, one characters asks The Boss “you’re easily bored, aren’t you?”, to which the boss says “I don’t know, I’m too busy being awesome to notice.” Saints Row IV is all at once puerile, profane and touching, but mainly, it’s too busy being awesome for you to ever get bored.

Don’t even think about taking on hard or above missions all by your lonesome. While your AI companions weren’t the brightest bulbs in the original Payday, they still carried their weight. There were also three of them. This time around, you’re limited to two AI crew members, and they’re about as useful as a pen without ink.

In an industry that values selling content in an effort to keep game discs rooted in their trays despite the constant ebb and flow of novelty, Brigmore Witches shows how developers can really get expansion content right, making the extra expense worth it and increasing the value of the experience delivered from the original title.

The themes and ideas explored in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons are not new to video games, but very rarely are they executed upon as skillfully as they are here.

If you are fine with the grind, you’ll find a game with plenty of charm, wit, and character. Co-op is a blast, the visual style is the most fluid and detailed you’ll get short of Metal Slug, and the core concept of “shoot dudes a lot” is executed extremely well.

Overall, I would recommend Dragon’s Crown, but would warn people that the game still does suffer from that age-old problem that faces all 2D beat-em-ups: repetition.

Shadowrun Returns aims to bring back the classic RPG feeling — much like BioWare’s Dragon Age did when it was released — and succeeds wholeheartedly. It’s not too deep, has a short main campaign, and has design flaws from being built around a tablet, but it’s still the best RPG in ages.

Teleglitch is one of those rare few games that gets everything it attempts to do right. The oppressive atmosphere, crafting system, glitchy visuals, and careful combat are all done extremely well. The only negative thing that can be said for it is that it’s unforgiving.

It’s a total throwback that openly defies nearly every advancement of the last 15 years. But for once, this is in the service of a great play experience and not simple laziness (or a time/budget crunch).

Where The Raven excels is in the portrayal of its characters, its game world and its mystery.

There’s absolutely no doubt: Brave New World is the best expansion in recent memory, and easily the best Civilization expansion ever. It elevates Civilization 5 from the issues that plagued it at launch and turns it into one of the most addicting, entertaining, and deep 4X games around. If you have purchased or plan on purchasing Civilization 5, there is no reason not to buy Brave New World.

But the power of The Walking Dead, of developing real, relatable characters and pushing players into tough decisions about how to treat and how to interact with them, is lost to a degree in 400 Days. Without more time spent with each of these characters, and without more context for the decisions players are asked to make, the experience becomes less emotional and more mechanical and cold.

It’s great, affordable fun, and a lesson in how far smart design, good writing and respect for players’ intelligence can take a game.

Magrunner does scratch an important itch, though: it gets the first-person puzzler genre, and it provides a new and dynamic set of mechanics that feel just different enough from other games in the genre.

Simple, familiar, but one that’s becoming increasingly rare: fans wanted a sequel that preserved the strengths of the original game, smoothed out flaws, and added new content. That’s exactly what they got. Company of Heroes 2 doesn’t reinvent the RTS, but it doesn’t have to. It’s got physics.

It’s not for everyone, and I’d hesitate to recommend Rogue Legacy to those who get discouraged and frustrated easily. But for those who are looking for a challenge, Rogue Legacy is a must-play and a steal at its $15 price tag.

Despite its major victories and steps forward in storytelling, many of those same annoying video game conventions — the demand for action and high body counts, the lack of truly engaging and innovative play mechanics — continue to pull games like The Last of Us down toward the lowest common denominator.

With its intuitive gameplay and in-game tutorials and hints, Legendary Heroes should be quick to pick up even for the 4X uninitiated.

There are some truly brilliant concepts on display here, and this is the first fantastic god game the genre has seen in a long time. It’s a shame that the lack of game modes hinders Reus so much, as it’s really something special.

Most importantly, Last Light incorporates a lot of lessons learned from the previous iteration. The big step from Metro 2033 in design, gameplay and polish make Last Light one of my favorite games of the year so far.

Good, but not fantastic. It has all the necessary starting elements for a good survival game – hunting and gathering, base-building, and even a final objective – but it lacks the end-game intricacies and interests of similar titles. It is, in essence, half-finished.

It is complicated in one instance, and simple in the next. It seems generic at first, but then shows its uniqueness in setting and granular game mechanics. It’s a game by strategy enthusiasts, for strategy enthusiasts. Once you look past the awkward, pimply exterior, a game of surprising interest looks back.

The easy learning curve, the variety of characters, the sprawling levels, and the lovely sound and art all combine to make an extremely appealing and replayable game. It may only be April, but Monaco is already a strong contender for Game of the Year.

Its HD add-ons make it inviting, but it’s important to keep in mind that there’s no shame in tracking down a friendly FAQ to get through this one: it takes players to another world, and the game is certainly from another time.

While The Knife of Dunwall suffers in the story department, almost everything else about the pack is extremely well-polished, and the pathways through each mission are diverse and intricate, even if they’re not all as exciting as what’s in the main game.

Papo & Yo deals in some fundamental truths about abuse, addiction, and maturity, and I certainly didn’t expect it. It may be short and easy, but it uses games to convey a psychological message that would be otherwise impossible without interaction.