Best PC games of 2012

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

We're just into 2013, so it's time to list the games you liked the best in the last year! What games did you love that others might have missed and need to know about?

My top games from last year (in no particular order) are:

Borderlands 2
Torchlight 2
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

All great games that feed the "loot & level" desire that I just find so irresistible, even though they present the same mechanic in so many different ways. These are the games that I just wanted to play more of, that I put large numbers of hours into, and were just a lot of fun. I never felt I was doing makework or being given chores to fill out the time. These are quality games polished up until they shine, like we used to expect as the norm.

 

[NRP]

Mechwarrior Online.

Although it's still beta, you just can't go wrong with big, stompy robots blowing the hell out of each other. I freakin love this game!

 

[Arwin]

Rocksmith for me. Don't need to say much, just that it works is a miracle in itself, and I love it. Very happy that I have my PC back, so will be going at it again soon (i already got up to a pretty high level on PS3 as well), and it was good enough for me to not feel bad about double-dipping (PS3 and PC).

 

[Silent_Buddha]

For me, I'd have to say...

Guild Wars 2. Sometimes quite amazing graphics and it's free of a monthly subscription cost.

Honorable mentions.

Torchlight 2. The gameplay and character developement system is what Diablo 3 should have been instead of that watered down crap that was actually implemented in Diablo 3. Unfortunately Diablo 3 still featured a better story and graphics.

Borderlands 2. More of the same. But more of the same is what I wanted after Borderlands. Hits all the right buttons.

Close but no cigar.

Dishonored. No problem with how short the game was, but the fact that you can be fully upgraded with equipment roughly halfway through the game is a huge disappointment. You should always feel like you can still upgrade and improve your character all the way to the end. Also disappointed that there weren't as many skills focused on non-lethal play as there were on lethal play.

Regards,
SB

 

[I.S.T.]

I've not played many games released in 2012. Most of the games I played last year were either older MP games, or released in 2011. I own a few more released in 2012(To The Moon, Darksiders 2, and if you wanna be technical some of the DLC in some games).

So my list is uh...

Borderlands 2, Lego Batman 2 and Nexuiz.

Seriously, aside from little flash games and some DLC those are the newest I've played.

Nexuiz is crap. It's just crap. Flashy and useless. I can't believe this was once on Linux. Perhaps it should have stayed there and not infected the X360 and PC(Played the PC version).

Lego Batman 2 I will love until the end of time, though I hope they go back to mute Lego characters soon.

Borderlands 2 I specifically stopped partially because my co-op player at the time got bored and partially because I wanted more info on the game to come out, so I could plan ahead for my weapon choices. That's how I like to play games with shitloads and shitloads of weaponry. I can't in good conscience give an opinion on a single player game I haven't even played a third of.

 

[Davros]

Yahtzee voted for spec ops the line

 

[MrGaribaldi]

Aside from Xcom, Dungeon Keeper 2, Populous and BF3 are the games I've had the most fun with in 2012, but doubt any of the latter qualify since none of them came out in 2012.

Guess I should stop living in the stone age, but ...

 

[I.S.T.]

The new Xcom came out last year, so it counts... Unless you mean the old X-Com games.

 

[snarfbot]

Csgo, torchlight 2. Kinda a poo year for games imo.

 

[itsmydamnation]

bulders gate tutu while listening to

 

[HMBR]

Black Mesa Source and XCOM.

 

[Billy Idol]

BLOPS 2

 

[woundingchaney]

Sleeping Dogs
Borderlands 2

 

[joker454]

Borderlands 2, it's just epically good and even better than the original. After that would be Hitman Absolution and The Walking Dead.

 

[MrGaribaldi]

The new Xcom came out last year, so it counts... Unless you mean the old X-Com games.

Yeah, meant the new Xcom. Should've been clearer on that.

And after thinking a bit more about it I guess the problem is partly that I don't play as much as I used to, so isn't exposed to all the gaming goodness out there...

 

[jimbo75]

Possibly the worst year ever for PC gaming imo. Or maybe I'm getting old.

Gonna vote for WoW: Mists of Pandaria. I just restarted playing it (after promising myself I wasn't going back) and I have to say i'm fairly impressed, and I'm quite amazed at how much Blizzard has improved the graphics on the old engine. The game looks quite beautiful (for WoW) in some places.

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Alan Wake should get a mention though it was back in February. Nice graphics, great storytelling both in the gameplay and some FMV. Really atmospheric and creepy.

Also Witcher 2, though I don't think that completely worked, hence the revamped version they brought out with different combat mechanics and other big tweaks.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Alan Wake gets a nod, as does Sleeping Dogs and Max Payne 3 for me.

 

[John Reynolds]

Possibly the worst year ever for PC gaming imo. Or maybe I'm getting old.

You're getting old. The PC market has been in an absolute slump for the past 5-6 years, considering its thorough domination by the console market. The best games during this timeframe were almost always ports, and we were thankful to have them ported to our gaming platform.

So 2012 was a damn good year IMO. XCom, Dishonoured, Far Cry 3, Riders of Rohan, some really good DLC for strat games like Civ 5 and Shogun 2, great Skyrim mods, etc. Really, there were more games than I had time to play, which isn't a bad thing. And 2013-14 look to be even better years.

Skyrim probably dominated 2012 for me. I've almost certainly put in over 200 hours with the game and its DLC and mods, and Dragonborn will suck me right back in. Mass Effect 3 and Diablo 3 were the big disappointments of the year for me, with both coming close to being good games but nevertheless possessing flaws that dragged each down.

 

[jimbo75]

I bought XCom and while fun it just didn't seen to last. Dishonoured was a nice game that lasted me 2-3 days. I bought Gods and Kings (Civ 5) and sure it helps what is a fundamentally broken game. I actually think the best actual 2012 game was Mass Effect 3 (I didn't complete it).

I bought Skyrim and played Oblivion more this year after buying it on the Steam sale a couple of weeks back. Too many games are getting prettier and shallower.