No Man's Sky --> Planet Hopper

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ---> The Legend of Link: A Link from the Past

I really like games like Dishonored because there is so much enjoyment to be had replaying them. Going from a 100% unseen pacifist run to a kill anything that moves run was so much fun because I could use all the things I learned by sneaking around to my advantage while also getting to use all the sweet combat powers that I didn't need previously. Sadly while the world seems pretty cool @ffff0 is right on the money about the plot so it only got my #3 spot.

I really like XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but it only gets my #4 partially because so many of my favorite games came out in 2012 and partially because of a problem that pretty much all tactics games have: a difficulty cliff. I have found that whenever I get past the half way mark in a tactics game it gets way too easy. It seems the developers don't take into account players optimizing all of their dudes later into the game. The harder difficulties only make this problem worse with a near impossible beginning that becomes a cakewalk by the end. That being said XCOM: Enemy Unknown might be one of my top 10 games of all time if not for it's sequel.

Most games I stop playing after I beat them. Hotline is an exception to that. There are some levels so fun I must have played them 10 or more times. There is just something that clicked for me between the soundtrack (which is amazing) and the extreme fast paced violence of the game that made it one of my all time favorites. It also doesn't hurt that my favorite mask to use was named Brandon.

I really like the Borderlands series but this is just another reminder of how my friends don't want to play them with me anymore. That may have influenced where it ended up on my list.

I had to do a double take when I saw that I gave this a mere honorable mention. Man this game is amazing but there are so many other great games that came out in the same year that I couldn't slot it into my top 4. I think FTL comes close to the optimal roguelike formula for me while also having a great theme, soundtrack, and level of strategic depth. And while I think Into the Breach was a step down from FTL (I played it 10 hours instead of 100) I am confident that Subset Games will keep on making great games.
I also thought that other people would give it more points than it got. I always overestimate the EZA community's interest in PC games because of my personal tastes.

I feel like the Goddess is disappointed in me for not voting for FF XIII-2...

@dmcmaster It already was on the PC higher tier subscription service which is $15 a month. Now it is gonna be on the $5 one too. I don't think this is gonna help nearly as much as the game needs it though.