I know, I know: I've griped a lot about the 21st century in gaming so far. There will less griping from here on out, I promise. 2011 was actually a pretty excellent year in gaming. It's just too bad that it would take me years to discover all that it had to offer me.
Cultural Impact: Minecraft. I believe it's the best-selling video game of all time, and for good reason. Namely for, as Jamin Warren pointed out back on my old favoring gaming show when it was still going, the PBS/Game Show, its promotion of unstructured play; something key to fostering creativity and cooperation in kids especially.
Favorite Games: I've come to love lots of games from 2011, but Portal 2 still takes the cake. Drastically expanding on the possibilities introduced by its predecessor in every way, the sequel is especially interesting in how it builds out the history of Aperture. Through many glorious and highly entertaining voiceovers by the one and only J.K. Simmons (yep, from the old Spider-Man movies 
) and more, you learn how the company became what it did, fell to ruin, and gather some fascinating hints at who Chell's mother might be. And my favorite villain in this medium, GLaDOS, even gets something of a (very entertaining!) redemption arc that has yielded two of my favorite events in video games:
Few things in games have made me laugh more. 
Another top favorite of mine from this year was Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP. A modern take on classic adventure games complete with pixelated graphics and comically simplistic dialogue, this little gem stood out for not only (as the title suggests) its highly moving soundtrack, but also for its elegantly structured environmental puzzle-solving. Just as interesting though is its fairly unique approach to the gaining of experience. Namely, in stark contrast to most all other games that use RPG-style battles, this game has our heroin's, the Scythian's, base health decrease after each major battle rather than the opposite. It just feels more honest. Going through all the trials and tribulations that she does weakens her rather than strengthening her and I think that just rings true to how it might work in real life. Our trials and traumas don't tend to make us stronger. "That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger" may be a catchy, reassuring statement, but it's not actually true. Indeed, much unlike so many other classic video game heroes...
These elements stood out to me as incredibly rare and, taken in combination, unique in a way that gives this humble little game, with its many homages to the simplicity of how adventure games used to be in olden times, real and refreshing emotional power. The Scythian stands out as an especially compelling female hero both of that time and of all time in that her journey feels much more like a true hero's journey than most do in this medium, in truth, and that made it special to me.
Some of my runner-up faves from '11 include...
3. To the Moon
4. Bastion*
5. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch**
6. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
7. Dark Souls <-- My first Souls game.
8. The Binding of Isaac
9. Catherine
*Westerns were becoming a thing in gaming around that time. Some were into Borderlands. Others Red Dead Redemption. Still others both. Bastion was my pick.
**This game actually came out in 2013 here in the U.S., which I think is worth noting here. To the Moon, Bastion, and Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP were also games I discovered after 2011.
One final note: Since it originally released in Japan in 2004, I can't really include it on this list, but I think it worth adding that one more game I did first play in 2011, since it first came out Stateside that year, was The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky, which I also loved. 
Worst Game: I'm adding this category just to disparage Skylanders, which I consider the most evil game released that whole decade. I never played it, but don't have to to despise it because without Skylanders, there would've been no "amiibos" and other endlessly irritating rackets of the sort. People who made this game: I loathe you. You are evil incarnate.
Last edited by Jaicee - on 29 November 2023
