The 2013 Vidya Gaem Awards

Returning to the Assassins Creed 2 motto of "Let's let the players have fun". ACIV keeps the fluid climbing the series is known for whilst fully implementing an extensive and enjoyable free sail pirate sim.

Dragon's Crown is a side scrolling beat em up brawler that combines the elements of classic RPG to add up to become one of Vanillaware's finest. Varied classes, stats, combat, with multiplayer to enrich your campaigns make Dragon's Crown a rejuvenation of the side scrolling brawler.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon did away with the annoyances of an average human being, and turned you in to a badass 1980's super cyborg. Giving you incredible jump height, no fall damage, upgradable weapons, and bitchin' one-liners, you could toss a D20 harder than you could ever imagine. Also: Dedicated middle finger button.

Grand Theft Auto V delivered what we all expected from a Grand Theft Auto game: Mindless violence and entertainment. The gameplay doesn't end with the story, and Online play continues to add to the game's continuing entertainment. The vehicles, robberies, and murder have never been this fun.

I hate to repeat myself, but it's Platinum, what do you expect? Tight controls, elaborate combos, and you're guaranteed to look and feel like a badass doing anything. It sets itself apart with the defensive flow, replacing the usual trigger-dodge with a more involved parry mechanism.

Stealth is a comfortable challenge, aggressive enemies feel like a threat, and gameplay just flows well. Tighter gunplay than ever before, guns and shooting itself feels very weak, pushing much more satisfaction to kills, Metro: Last Light demonstrates true quality in an FPS.

It's a monster collecting and raising game, a cute RPG, and a Ghibli adventure all rolled into one pretty package. The game systems are simple yet interesting (even if it does insist on over explaining them) and the story is delightful. Yeah. Delightful.

We're not sure what's more frightening: The fact that someone made an indie paperwork simulator, or the fact that it's fun. More of a puzzle game, if anything, Papers, Please will throw the player in to the world, and constantly introduce new mechanics and situations to watch for. Glory to Arstotzka.

Rayman Legends provides the excellent platforming the first installment provided, and then some. With NSMB-style couch co-op, tight controls, excellent level design, beautiful graphics, and the entirety of the previous game's levels, there's no reason not to own Rayman Legends. What's your excuse?

Super Mario 3D World promises, and delivers one crucial point: Gameplay. The new power ups are fun, the enemies are great, and the bosses are fantastic. In the end, the game can be boiled down to one key word that describes everything as a whole: Fun.

Playing up on the sequel hype train, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds plays exactly as its predecessor does. The game does not fail to live up to expectations, and in the end gained notoriety across the internet as a successful sequel.

The Okami-Meets-Pikmin Unite Morph system twists the already-solid Platinum DMC Clone gameplay enough to make it a memorable and exciting challenge.