I can't play any of the Slender games because I will probably actually **** my pants in fright.

It definitely is. I played it for about 8-12 hours or so and I could never figure out how to get artifacts. The lighting engine in the game is definitely amazing though.

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Gone Home

Leave it to the indies to actually move this medium forward in terms of storytelling. Basically you play as a young woman who arrives home after a year backpacking in Europe to find it empty and a cryptic note on the front door from your younger sister. From there you explore the house and learn about your family through letters and various other things scattered throughout the house.

What's great is the game really knows how to subvert your expectations. It's a dark and stormy night, you're alone in a large house with a cryptic note. You've seen this scenario played out a thousand times and the game teases you with moments of dread, but it is not a horror game. It really manages to capture the feeling of being alone in a new house.

The game also perfectly recreates the '90's setting with props ranging from cassette tapings of X-Files strewn throughout the TV room to music magazines of famous alternative bands from that time period. There's also a bunch of cassette tapes featuring riot grrl bands like Bratmobile and Heavens to Betsy to really help sell the time period.

Honestly I'm being incredibly vague on the story because it really is something that I would rather potential players experience on their own. I can't say it's boundary breaking or Earth shattering, but considering video games' relationship with matters of sexuality, this is as mature as they come without seeming like it's talking down to you.

The only criticism I really have for the game is that it is rather short for $20, however I feel like I will learn more about the family upon further play throughs as there really is just that much to the game.

Don't wait 'till the end of the year when this crops up on "Best of 2013" lists, take the risk and reward the developer for going the extra mile to create something utterly unique.

I love the setting, but I hate the feel of the controls and so on. I wish they would stop developing their own inferior engine and just use something else.

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/...8.resizedimage

Papers, Please

Ever wonder what it's like to be a bureaucrat border guard for a Communist country? No me neither, but now you can live out that very specific experience.

You seriously play as a mid level bureaucrat sitting in a booth checking the papers of immigrants and deciding if you let them into the great country of Arstotzka. As the game progresses you have more and more levels of bureaucracy to deal with as you have to check to make sure passport issuing cities are right, official seals are correct, if the weight of the person matches their ID, if their picture matches, if they're the gender they say they are, if their passport ID is correct, etc. It creates a bit of a moral dilemma when the occasional person begs you to be let through despite not having the proper paperwork, or begs you to not "detain" them. To make matters more complicated you get paid by how many people you process in a day, and you lose money if you let people through without the proper paperwork. Most of your pay goes towards keeping your family fed, warm, and in an apartment, but you also have to contend with bribes, terrorists, and your superiors.

Easily one of the most engrossing games I've played recently, and only $10 on Steam, definitely something worth checking out.

Mafia II, i'm playing it on PS3

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Can't stop playing...

It's like a Metroidvania game but as a roguelike where your descendants pick up from where you left off. So fucking addicting I might actually shell out for a controller.

I have say that sounds pretty awesome.

Last game I played through and finished was the new Tomb Raider, and I loved it. The gameplay was awesome, really fluid shooting and controls were perfect. The storyline was just okay, but it was so much fun I didn't mind.

It is pretty awesome and there's a lot of replay value to it because of all the different endings. So far I've gotten 3, one results in me getting arrested because I was too forthcoming with information, another was me getting arrested because I had a horrible day at work and lost money which put me in a debtors prison, and then my last one was me actually "winning" the game.

No paperwork simulator should have the right to be this... fun's not the right word because the game isn't fun in the same way that Saints Row IV is fun, but it's an engaging experience and one of my favorite games of the year.