Games We Missed Out On In 2013

We’re all human here at Twinfinite, regardless of what you may or may not have heard. There are only so many hours in the day that we can set aside for games before adult responsibilities (blegh) have to be taken care of. This can lead to us missing a few games here and there. It’s not due to any hatred towards the game, but a lack of time, money, or hardware. I asked around the office for what my amazing coworkers missed out on last year and the list spans the breadth and width of the games industry.

Back when the Source mod called The Stanley Parable was first released, I was completely and totally baffled by what exactly in the hell Davey Wreden was trying to do with his walking-in-corridors-whilst-stalked-by-omnipresent-English-narrator simulator, especially since I, well, didn’t actually play it. I watched it via Let’s Play. And then I thought, “Hey, maybe this will make more sense if I actually play it.” And then I faffed about for a few months and forgot about it until the full game version of The Stanley Parable found my eyeballs about a year ago, and the response was like “Oh shit! I remember that! I need to actually play that!”

When I actually did go back and play the mod, it still didn’t make any sense, but I got what Wreden was trying to do; the most complicated, in depth satirical take on interactive narrative anyone has ever done. I don’t think the scope of the mod was capable of really capturing what Wreden wanted to say, to do, and that’s why I was so excited to play the full release…and then I faffed about for a few months and never played it. But now it’s in my Steam library, and by George, I will not faff about and not play it. If I don’t, I’m kind of scared that British narrator is going to start narrating me, and I do not want to be meet Stanley’s hellish, meta-narrative fate of corridors and fourth wall breaking. I’ll gladly control it though. Unless…I’m not really controlling it, and…nope, not doing this, not now. I just really want to play The Stanley Parable. I’ll save my existential narrative crises for then.

Being a primarily PC gamer, there are a couple of segments of gaming that are blocked off for me. Nintendo games, handheld games, and other console exclusives exist beyond my reach. For the most part it’s not such a big deal because there’s something I can play that’s at least a close approximation to the forbidden fruit. Tomb Raider, for example, is essentially an Uncharted game in terms of gameplay.

In 2013, there is however one game from 2013 that I feel like I’ve really missed out on, and that’s Grand Theft Auto V. I’ve played all the games in the series and loved each of them except for GTA IV. I was excited to hear that the newest installment of Rockstar’s money-printing industry fixed many of the issues I had with its predecessor however, which gets me all kinds of excited to play it.

There are rumors that GTA V will be coming to PC in 2014, and I hope they are true. I hope it’s a good port, and I also hope it finally (pardon the pun) spurs Rockstar to give us a port of Red Dead Redemption while they’re at it.

I’m a bit ashamed of how many games I missed this year. From big titles like Bioshock: Infinite, The Last Of Us, and Assassin’s Creed, to smaller titles like Gone Home and Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons. I really missed out and it’s beginning to look like I won’t be catching up anytime soon.

I was previously able to catch up on games that I missed by playing them during the summer “gaming drought”, but next summer is looking to be more saturated than usual. But I’m not complaining. After all, it’s a good problem to have.

I’m ashamed to admit I missed out on a lot of big titles from 2013. In all fairness I’ve generally been a cheap gamer who plays most things well after they launch once prices are dropped. Still, doesn’t mean I was able to participate in all the clamor and commotion about games when they first dropped this year.

So maybe the list of games I wish I’d played isn’t as large as it felt in my mind, but I still feel like I didn’t get to enjoy new titles as much as I wanted to. Admittedly, I missed Bioshock: Infinite because I’m a big bitch, and I assumed it was as scary and jump-inducing as its predecessors. It wasn’t until recently that I figured out it actually wasn’t very scary, so I’m looking forward to that in January when Sony has it up for free for Playstation+ members. Super Mario 3D World has shown me that I really need to get a Wii U already, while Gone Home and The Wolf Among Us have shown me that it’s time to start paying more attention to the PC and indie markets. Both in time.

Unfortunately, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies was released at a really bad time for me. With console launches right around its corner, finals approaching sooner than later, applying to law school, and dealing with miscellaneous life issues, I just couldn’t find the time for the game. Still, it’ll happen soon, and I await the day when I reacquaint myself with Nick’s pointing and objections. I have no excuses for Tomb Raider or Grand Theft Auto V. Both games I wanted to play, but also both games that kept getting shoved back in my gaming queue by other things. One day.

Looks like I’ll be playing catch-up in 2014!

I had actually never played a BioShock game before this year. Even then, I only played the first one. I didn’t even finish it. Apparently, I’m right near the very end, but I just haven’t brought myself to finishing the game, although I can now see what the hubbub was over this game a few years ago.

Then BioShock Infinite came out this year, and I didn’t play that one either. There’s no real reason. I even bought it for someone as a gift with the half intention of borrowing it when they were done, but I just never got around to it. It’s not that I disliked the original BioShock; I thought it was plenty of fun. I just had other stuff I felt was priority, even when everyone around the Twinfinite office was freaking out over how great Infinite was at the time. What was I doing in the meantime? Probably playing something on my 3DS. Unfortunately, a very bad person tweeted the game’s big plot twist repeatedly and spoiled it for me, but I’m sure I’ll get around to playing it someday anyway, maybe, perhaps, probably, I don’t know. 2014 may be the year I get a load of “Booker, catch!”

I’ve got a large backlog, limited money, and poor time management skills. All of that together means I didn’t spend a lot of 2013 playing games. I did manage to play the heavy hitters of this year like GTA V and Pokemon X, but I missed more than I played. Tomb Raider was the biggest name that I wish I had a chance to try out. I received it as a gift on Steam this past Christmas, so that’ll change soon.

The games I ignored most were some of the biggest and most accessible of the year: the indie games. 2013 was a great year for indies. Every month I was hearing about a new “must play” game being released on Steam. I’ve managed to finally get around to playing some of these during Christmas break, but I still feel like I’m missing out.

I finally got my hands on Gone Home around Thanksgiving. I tried out Papers, Please during Christmas. A few weeks ago, I managed to make my backup computer run The Stanley Parable. By the time I got around to these games, I’d already listed off my GOTY list for 2013 and these games (especially The Stanley Parable) didn’t make it only because it took me so long to play them. I still haven’t gotten to play Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons though. Maybe in a few weeks?

I’m a student, so as you can imagine, I have to make my gaming calls pretty wisely. I can always pick up a small game here and there, but I only really get to immerse myself in one or two “big” games a year. As such, I usually end up jamming up my backlogs just in time for holiday seasons.

This past Christmas, for example, I worked on Tomb Raider just to see what all the hype’s about, so if you asked me this question then… I would’ve said Tomb Raider. But now, there’s still one more game staring at me on my desk that I haven’t even touched yet, despite having it all fall and winter—Anarchy Reigns.

As a huge fan of MadWorld, I actually really wanted to play this game since it combines the gameplay of MadWorld with the insanity of Bayonetta—both main characters from both games are in it! But alas, between school, Steam sales, and games for Twinfinite, Anarchy Reigns just got lost in the shuffle for me. Here’s hoping I get around to it in 2014! After all, there is another month or two of the Year of Luigi. And anything can happen in the Year of Luigi.

I missed out on Super Mario 3D World and it has become my nominee, which honestly surprises me now that I’m looking back and thinking on it. I’ve not been one for Mario games since the N64 era honestly. I’m just not excited to run out and play them anymore and I skipped Super Mario Galaxy for this same reason.

This new Mario honestly looks like a game that Nintendo needed to show off. A game that convinces people the Wii U is a fun console and everything I’ve seen of the game has just looked a step above in design and implementation. I was hesitant at first with the kitty cat suit, but even that has warmed me over. So the game of 2013 that I haven’t actually played yet is Super Mario 3D World, because it looks like a fresh and fun take on Mario and that is something I honestly haven’t felt in years.

I’m not sure if there’s too many big-deal games I actually ‘missed out’ on this year; while I didn’t play many of the media-saturating megahits (such as GTA V or Saint’s Row IV), they’re mostly things that just aren’t interesting to me. I think the only one that comes to mind as one still on the docket to get through is The Last of Us, which hit a number of GOTY posts around the internet and certainly looks cool.

The simple fact is that I think I’ve grown away from AAA titles this year and fallen in love with some really great indie games; that’s not to say I’m against the big-budget blockbuster-style productions, but they just don’t have the appeal that they used to for me. I’ll probably jump into The Last of Us sometime early in 2014 as a rental, but for the most part, I think I hit all the stuff I really wanted out of 2013’s crop.

So those are the games we missed out on in 2013. What games did you miss out on? Let us know in the comments!