Papo & Yo was definitely something unique. I really wanted a new game that pushed that kind of gameplay and story telling further forward after Papo & Yo forged the way with their experimentation. I’m not sure it ever happened.

It ain't gonna win, but I'll also give some love to ZombiU. Imo, it was the game that best utilized the WiiU Gamepad, even more than any offering from Nintendo. Forcing you to use another screen for your inventory without pausing the main action sounds bad on the surface, but it really gave a sense of danger and tension, building the horror aspect of the game. I wish it had been more polished, but as it was it was still a solid horror title. Just imagine what a Resident Evil game in that style might've been like.

I've played Borderlands 2, Mass Effect 3 and Fire Emblem Awakening in the poll.

My vote easily goes to Fire Emblem Awakening.

My first FE game and the game that got me into the series because of its shift to anime design.

I remember finishing it the night before my wedding lol.

First time I've played only 1 of the games from the main poll and that game is journey but yeah I didn't see what was the big deal about it; beat it in one sitting and ended up feeling like all I did was push forward on the control stick...
Overall I agree with others in that it's a bit of a weak year so maybe that is why I haven't played much, but I still have stuff like borderlands 2, dragon's dogma and fire emblem in my backlog.
So I will also take the chance to give some love to zombiU, perhaps the best use for the wiiu gamepad apart from nintendo land and overall a really tense and scary game. I have play it again to see how it holds up but it's a problem to recommend because nobody owns a wiiu and I would guess the port for other consoles is fundamentally different.

That was 2012 as well! 2012 really was defined by indie games. Papa & Yo was great, such a brave 'personal' game. It's one of those stories that sticks with you thanks to its brutal honesty and how it translates the difficulties of growing up into gameplay. We have story telling through world building everywhere, yet only few games manage to use actual game play to tell their stories.

2013 has Brothers: A tale of two sons that uses game play mechanics to drive the story, but you're right, that kind of story telling is still rare.

Ok, there needs to be a runoff vote for 2012.  There were 38.6% "Other" votes, making this the year with the highest percentage of "Other" votes so far.  Three games made the cut to round 2, and they were joined by four new games that got more than one write-in vote from the comments.  Please decide which game you think is most deserving of the Game of the Year title based on the seven games listed.

I like the idea of Dragon’s Dogma but when I try to play it I lose interest for whatever reason. So I’m going with The Walking Dead.

I've stuck with ZombiU for my vote. A massively underrated game and something I regularly go back to play. Especially around Halloween.

Sticking to Journey.

I liked Walking Dead, but it quickly revealed its underlying design that it's mostly just an illusion of choice, and narrative pretty much goes in same direction no matter the choices, which kinda lowered it a notch for me.

From the remaining games: Journey.

Please let anything besides TellTale's overhyped, shallow, non-game win.