Since it’s the start of 2013 and I’m done with my own 2012 lists, I thought it would be fun to look ahead to 2013. While I know that I’ve started a geek culture blog, I thought that this would make a fun extension to my favourite games of 2012 list. As good as 2012 was for gamers, I’m liking how 2013 is stacking up already. There are some good-looking games already confirmed for 2013 release that will be Day One purchases.

So, in no particular order, here are my ten most anticipated games of 2013.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

On the PS1, I played the craptacular games South Park and South Park Rally. The GameRankings scores for those games were 41% and 46%, respectively, on the PlayStation. Hell, their IGN scores were 2/10 and 3/10, respectively, and IGN is probably the softest scoring website when it comes to big releases.

Naturally, given my love of South Park and how I’ve been burned by South Park games in the past, I’m excited to see what happens when Parker and Stone write a game themselves and RPG vets Obsidian Entertainment develops a game that looks faithful to the source material. TV licensed games have a track record of being terrible but everything I’ve seen from The Stick of Truth has me excited for its eventual release… Unless THQ’s bankruptcy forces the game’s cancellation but there’s no indication of that yet.
Release Date: Q2 2013
Platforms: PC, PS3, XBox 360

BioShock Infinite

Irrational Games’ 2007 epic BioShock came early in the life of the current console generation but is considered one of the best games of the current generation for its amazing story. Well, Irrational is back with its next BioShock game titled Infinite.

While this BioShock game leaves the underwater city of Rapture for the floating city of Columbia, many elements from the original BioShock appear to remain. For example, active and passive powers similar to what was in BioShock return. Snippets of the story which show Columbia becoming a dystopian nightmare prior to your arrival also mimic the original BioShock. While Irrational looks to have improved combat for Infinite, we’re all coming back for the story. If Ken Levine and company can pull out another outstanding narrative, we’ll have a strong game of the year contender before the first quarter of the year is done.
Release Date: March 28, 2013
Platforms: PC, PS3, XBox 360

Dead Space 3

I must be a glutton for punishment because I love the Dead Space games. The two main games scared the shit out of me and, for some reason, I want to come back for more. Early gameplay footage show less jumping out of vents and more popping out of the snow and dropping from ceilings. It’ll be interesting to see if Isaac is still as bat shit crazy in DS3 as he was in DS2 or if that falls to one of his cohorts. I’m also hoping that the game doesn’t go too action hero and tried to stay close to its roots.
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Platform: PC, PS3, XBox 360

The Last of Us

Naughty Dog. Do I need another reason to want to play The Last of Us? Okay, the gameplay seems very similar to what we’ve seen in the Uncharted series both in terms of the cover-based third-person shooter combat and platforming elements. While it looks like a zombie game, Naughty Dog insists that the game is more about the relationship between protagonists Joel and Ellie. Funny how that’s how I think of the Uncharted games too.
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Platform: PS3

Grand Theft Auto V

Slapping the Rockstar Games logo on a game is as close as possible to a guarantee of a great game. We also know that Rockstar definitely won’t shortcut on its flagship GTA franchise. I don’t think I need a reason to anticipate this game. It’s a GTA game and will certainly be great.
Release Date: Q2 2013
Platforms: PS3, XBox 360

Watch Dogs

The most original game unveiled at last year’s E3 was Watch Dogs. The game is an open-world action-adventure game similar to Ubisoft Montreal’s Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry games. However, this game seems to be less about combat and more about stealth and less aggressive combat as you use hacking and technology as your main tools against your enemies. At the very least, this game should feel different from the standard action-adventure fare.
Release Date: 2013
Platforms: PC, PS3, XBox 360

Fortnite

There aren’t much details about Fortnite yet. It’s supposed to be a sandbox survival game where players build their fort by day and defend it from monsters by night. The thing that has me interested is that this is the first game released that is developed on the Unreal 4 game engine. What will our first taste of a next-gen game engine be like?
Release Date: 2013
Platform: PC

XCOM

I’m a fan of 2012’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown which is a faithful recreation of the original X-COM game from 1994. However, fans of the original X-COM games weren’t exactly enthused with what 2K first announced for the XCOM reboot. Initially, 2K announced an XCOM first-person shooter in 2010 but the more traditional XCOM: Enemy Unknown was first to market while the shooter was delayed.

The latest reports have the game being released in 2013 but other reports indicated that current release window runs the length 2K’s fiscal 2014 (April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014). Given that it’s been development has been ongoing since 2006, there are rumours that the game will be finished up quickly and released as a downloadable game for less than the standard $60 retail price. Ubisoft did something similar for I Am Alive which was in development for almost 8 years before a digital release.
Release Date: 2013 (Rumoured)
Platforms: PS3, XBox 360 (Rumoured)

The Elder Scrolls Online

It’s been well established on here that I’m not an MMO guy despite being fond of RPGs. But when the current king of the action RPG genre, The Elder Scrolls series, gets an MMO, I think we should take notice. The only thing that concerns me is what we have seen over the last year from BioWare with SWTOR. We thought BioWare could do no wrong but it all seemed to fall apart for them between Dragon Age II, ME3 and SWTOR. It’s not a guarantee that Bethesda won’t drop the ball with an Elder Scrolls MMO.
Release Date: 2013 (Reported)
Platform: PC, Mac

Don’t Starve

Maybe it’s just because I didn’t really get into indie games until recently but Don’t Starve is the most hyped indie game I can recall. The game is in a closed beta (available to those who pre-order the game) but I saw the beta on at least one best of 2012 list and have seen it on some 2013 preview lists. Since it’s from Klei Entertainment, whose previous offerings include personal favourite Mark Of The Ninja, I’m sure this will be good. It’s just a matter of if it can live up to the hype.
Release Date: March 2013
Platform: PC