Best Games of 2013
Ranked by our critic's grades, best first.
Grand Theft Auto VThree protagonists, one satirical state, and a heist structure so good it carried three console generations.Read the review
The Last of UsNaughty Dog's cruelest and most controlled game, where every scrap of ammo you fail to find is part of the argument.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm RebornThe most improbable recovery in the medium: a failed launch destroyed in story, then rebuilt into the genre's best written game.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black FlagThe pirate game that happened to have an Assassin's Creed strapped to it, and it is far better for the accident.
BioShock InfiniteColumbia is the most gorgeous city the series ever floated, and the shooter bolted underneath it is its least interesting passenger.
Super Mario 3D WorldThe most generous platformer Nintendo has made, throwing away brilliant ideas faster than most studios can find one.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between WorldsNintendo dismantled its own progression lock and found the best top-down Zelda since the Super Nintendo underneath it.
Dota 2The deepest competitive game of the decade and the least willing to explain a single thing about itself.
Tomb RaiderA gorgeous, brutal reboot that makes Lara suffer beautifully, then hands her a machine gun and forgets why it started.
Papers, PleaseA game about stamping documents that turns bureaucracy into the most efficient moral engine anyone built that decade.