10 for the Twitter age.
Here are 10 games I played in 2011. Like this blurb, each is fewer than 140 characters. Honestly, who has the patience for a detailed list?
Minecraft: An endlessly amusing world of possibility and a brilliant example of emergent storytelling.
VVVVVV: The most thorough exploration of a single mechanic presented with charming design and masterfully arranged music.
Team Fortress 2: While you spend +$60 on Call of Duty every November, TF2 has been thriving for over four years and is now free to play.
Atom Zombie Smasher: Excellent strategy mechanics depict a losing war against the zombie hordes in 1960′s Neuvos Aires.
Gravity Bone: The single most thoughtful exploration/deconstruction of first person game design, built from a Quake II mod.
Fallout: New Vegas: Far from perfect, but the Mojave Wasteland with its various characters and factions is a truly immersive place.
Portal 2: Doubtlessly the sharpest writing I’ve yet experienced in a video game. Perhaps even the most clever one, too.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Not since Bioshock has a world been infused with as many fascinating themes and ideas.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin: Truly a relic from another era. A game so mechanically awful it makes you amazed we ever played games like it.
Keyboard Drumset Fucking Werewolf: It’s not just indie; it’s underground. A coarse,visceral, genre-blurring interactive music video.
140 character addendum: These are just the games I played in 2011. Not games released in 2011, and not games I claim are the best of 2011.
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