I’ve already talked about what a great year it’s been for gaming, so needless to say putting together this list was particularly difficult. So many different types of titles, and across all the platforms. It was really the year when this console generation came into its own. Though it’s sad that it’s coming so late in the game, remember that some consoles (sorry Gamecube) never really flourished the way they could.

Looking back over the past 5 years or so, it’s really impressive the strides that have been made, and the really massive library of great games that have been so lovingly worked on and obsessively played. I just feel like 2011 was a culmination of all of that. Boy, was it overwhelming as hell at times. Obviously, having too much of a good thing is not a very bad problem to have. Here’s hoping 2012 is even better (probably impossible). I’m just gonna get right into the list, but I’d just like to raise my digital glass to the game development community: good work all.

10. Bastion [Supergiant] (XBLA/PC)

Originally released on XBLA, this hack/slash RPG got tons of praise, but embarrassingly I didn’t actually play Bastion until it was released a couple of weeks ago as download to be played in the Chrome Browser. First off, I very much enjoyed that platform, and I’m looking forward to seeing more and more games become browser based. It’s not a huge difference, but the streamlining and convenience is noticeable.

Now, the game. The first thing you’ll probably notice is that it has a very gorgeous and original art style, which is consistently great and commendably varied throughout. The gameplay is also very solid if not exceptional, and surprisingly deep for a downloadable title. Where this game really innovates and shines is in its narration component.

The game has a perpetual and evolving narrator, who has constant commentary on your actions in the game depending on what you do. While strange at first, soon you realize that the narrator actually subjectively judges your play, making the game unlike anything I have played before. Soon, you feel as though you are not only playing for yourself, but are being observed as a player by this third entity. It’s hard to really capture the feeling, but it’s a bracingly unique one.

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9. Catherine [Atlus] (360/PS3)

Who knew a Japanese dating sim could be this great? Atlus’ very strange puzzler was another one that I slept on like a fool, only picking it up used after I returned the crappy Uncharted 3. Who knew this random little title would turn out so much better than that vaunted AAA snoozefest? Catherine puts you in the shoes of Vincent, a thirtysomething struggling with issues of fidelity, responsibility, and maturity as he cheats on his girlfriend Katherine with the alluring Catherine.

It’s a very strange game that again has a unique manga inspired art style. Half of the gameplay is increasingly devious puzzling, climbing up manipulable block mountains in Vincent’s nightmares as he is chased by his fears. The other involves hanging out in his local bar, chatting with friends, sending texts, getting drunk, playing with the jukebox etc. Brave enough to tackle themes that other games don’t even consider, Catherine was my sleeper hit of the year.

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8. Super Street Fighter IV 3D [Capcom] (3Ds)

The first game I fired up on my 3DS, the experience of playing Super Street Fighter IV 3D will forever in my mind be entwined with the childlike wonder I got from seeing the tech in action for the very first time. I honestly didn’t expect to be that impressed by it, but I really was. It looks, for lack of a better word, like magic. The fact that it was applied to SFIV, one of my favorite games of the past years, was icing on a wonderful cake.

The fact that they ported all of the characters and features from the console version while maintaining great graphical fidelity, plus adapting it slightly for 3D is really amazing. The game is still as fun as ever, and even though I played countless hours of it on console for months before the 3DS was even out, I still find myself firing it up to do just one more battle in three glorious dimensions. A hadouken has never looked so cool.

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7. Deus Ex: Human Revolution [Square Enix] (360/PS3/PC)

The first Deus Ex was a very odd part of my early years as a gamer. To be blunt, I remember disliking it immensely. I was only ten years old when it came out, and playing it I found I had absolutely no idea what the fuck was vaguely occurring. I confusedly tucked it away in some obscure drawer, only to be rediscovered years later. Having heard it wasn’t as bad as I remembered, I fired it up and had my face melted off.

More than making up for the turd that was Invisible War, Human Revolution is the true spiritual sequel to that wonderful game. The black and gold futurist aesthetic was the perfect backdrop for a dark tale about the dangers and glories of human augmentation. Relentlessly mature, Human Revolution can border on maudlin at times, but the perfectly calibrated stealth gameplay and exciting augments keep the game fun throughout.

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6. Dead Space 2 [Visceral] (360/PS3)

Not gonna lie: this game came out so early in the year, I had sort of forgotten it was even a contender. But once reminded that it was indeed a 2011 baby, I knew it definitely had to be in my top 10. I’m a huge fan of survival horror, and this is the best one I have played since the groundbreaking RE4. Improving in every way on the original, Visceral Games delivered an arresting and terrifying game experience.

Expanding the scope to the floating city The Sprawl gave more variety in areas while being careful to maintain the original’s sense of claustrophobia. Once again, the complete lack of a HUD contributes to a perineum-clenching level of immersion as you walk around a corner, fearfully clutching a plasma cutter, ready to blast the flailing tentacles off of the back of a mutated baby.

Hit the jump for the Top 5!

5. Portal 2 [Valve] (360/PS3/PC)

How do you follow up what many consider to be one of the best games of all time when that wasn’t even a full game? The pressure on Valve (no pun intended?) in producing a full length follow up to Portal was immense. How could they possibly recapture, let alone surpass the first time using the Portal gun? Getting behind the walls of the Aperture science facility? Your first time meeting GlaDOS?

Well, those wily fuckers figured it out, somehow. Pulling off the greatness of Portal 2, in my mind, shot Valve right up there with Nintendo as the two game studios that have nigh unsettlingly pristine records. They are so reliable it’s crazy. The single player portion of Portal 2 was good enough, with great and hilarious new characters, and even more mindbending puzzle mechanics, and a truly epic ending. Tack on an EVEN BETTER co-op multiplayer mode, and you’ve got something really special.

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4. Dark Souls [From Software] (360/PS3)

I still have nightmares about this game, and no that is not a joke. This game will build in you a level of addiction that I can only compare to Starcraft and WoW, though without the inherently episodic nature of those games, Dark Souls can really and truly suck you in. So punishing, so unrelentingly cruel, and yet so rewarding. It’s almost impossible to describe why this game is fun to someone who hasn’t played it.

But once you have, you’ll actively seek out others who have, so you can compare horror stories about losing 10,000 souls when venturing to the New Londo Ruins to cure a curse you picked up in Blight Town. The world is alienating and beautiful, with danger (real fucking danger) lurking around every corner. This is actually the first of four titles that really and truly jockeyed for my #1 spot. If you told me this was your game of the year I would have trouble disagreeing with you.

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3. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [Nintendo] (Wii)

Sorry folks: it’s not as good as Ocarina Of Time. But it’s damn close, something I never thought I’d say and a seeming impossibility that I’m still coming to grips with. Ironically, or maybe just sadly coming at the end of the Wii’s life cycle, this was the first non-minigame title I played on the system that really felt like it was built for it. Now I finally see how motion controls can make gaming better, and it’s a bummer that they waited too damn long.

That being said, it’s not the motion controls that really matter here. It’s the pure magic of the Zelda franchise, coming out here in full force, that pulled me back to that place where you’re so in love with a game you want nothing but to play it more. Slipping into the guise of Link is such an infrequent and happy experience, just getting back to that world would be on my “Top 10 joys of the year list.”

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2. Batman: Arkham City [Rocksteady] (360/PS3)

You get to be Batman. It’s that good. Rocksteady, they just really did it right. Taking all the best parts of Arkham Asylum, expanding some, refining others, improving the boss battles, the graphics, making a vibrant and living world, getting the best voice actors, and a really strong story: they just did it.

But, like most truly great things, what defines this game is the intangibles. The vertigo as you swoop over Arkham City, only to see your target below you and divebomb towards him, ready to steal him off into the night. Going toe-to-toe wits wise with the Riddler. Playing a deadly game of hide-and-seek with Zsasz. Then, the real core of the game, and everyone’s Batman experience (right?): fighting as hard as you possibly can to protect the broken down city of Gotham from the Joker. I’m on my third playthrough.

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1. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [Bethesda] (360/PS3/PC)

So obvious, and yet so so right. At the end of the day, I just couldn’t bring myself to put anything else in this position. Skyrim was the game for me this year, and I’ll be playing it for a long time to come. I’ve said enough about the merits of this game, so let me just run down a little of what I’ve done so far. I’ve killed dragons. I’ve plucked fish from a river to cook and eat. I’ve stolen the soul of a wizard imprisoned in a stone and used it to enchant a staff that raises the dead to fight for me.

I’ve gotten drunk and blacked out, only to awaken in another city. I’ve battled werewolves and vampires. I’ve sold people out, supported rebellions, committed fraud, gotten married, palavered with ghosts, explored museum, went to a college of magic, shot electricity from my hands, breathed fire, cleaved heads in two with warhammers, seen the northern light flicker over twin moons, seen giants tend to their pet mammoths around a campfire in the night, farmed Nirn root, saved the world tree, climbed to the top of the tallest mountain and I saved the goddamn world. This, my friends, is a game.

- Whole Milk