You wait seven to eight years for a next-gen console and suddenly two come along at once. 2013 marked Microsoft and Sony’s foray into the eighth generation — with the latter drawing first blood in February — thereby instilling industry events such as E3, Gamescom and TGS with that extra layer of excitement. Arguably, these last twelve months have pulled the medium back into the mainstream, with major media outlets covering the console launches throughout November.
If there’s one thing we can take away from 2013, then, it’s that the dedicated gaming console is very much alive and well — mobile platform and industry analysts be damned. Mind you, this year hasn’t all been about hardware; developers such as Naughty Dog and Irrational Games have proved that there’s still plenty of life in your Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with phenomenal narratives and stunning visuals — despite their ageing architecture.
With new iterations in Grand Theft Auto, Pokémon and a rebooted Tomb Raider cramming up the figurative calendar, 2013 could well stand alongside 2007 as one of the most fruitful and indeed successful years in gaming history. What’s more, it will also go down as the year of Microsoft’s bold and abrupt u-turn back in June, which saw the company reverse all DRM facets of the Xbox One — including the mandatory Internet connection and game sharing — in the wake of a passionate backlash from the community.
Nevertheless, there were still a slew of fantastic titles vying for our attention amidst the cacophony surrounding the next-gen consoles. So, before we delve into Watch Dogs’ Orwellian dystopia and traverse Bungie’s sci-fi epic, Destiny, let’s cast our minds back to gaming’s greatest hits of 2013.
And with that, here are We Got This Covered’s top 10 video games of 2013.