The 2013 Vidya Gaem Awards

This is a tricky thing to say, but BioShock Infinite's characters, if nothing else, are compelling enough to keep you going. Elizabeth is a lot of fun to be around, Booker is slightly more than a generic protagonist, oh boy does Comstock have some stuff going on, and the Luteces are funny, even if the fanbase overexposes them.

Ubisoft took full advantage of the Neo 80s craze with the introduction of cyborg commando Rex Power Colt. Mixing throwback references, meta seppuku, and VHS crass, Blood Dragon proves that an expansion doesn't have to be more of the same.

Rockstar's decision to alter the tried-and-true GTA formula by adding three playable characters provided an immensely satisfying narrative experience. With haggard Michael, anti-urban Franklin, and psychotic Trevor, the game featured backstories with depth and importance coupled with top-notch dialogue.

Metro: Last Light bathes you into its grim, grueling atmosphere. You are fettered by the dank and dreary universe with the thinnest sliver of hope. In the post-cataclysm of the universe, it succeeds in making you feel totally boxed in.

More than just a sexy adventure, Monster Girl Quest left off where the previous two did, and finished a completely fleshed out (literally) story for its audiences. With the new younger version of Alice, the game opened up in more ways than thought potential for an independent Japanese porn game.

The cramped booth of a border control agent is an unlikely setting for a video game. But in Papers, Please, the crafting of a dystopic government and all its bureaucratic intricacies, combined with the raw emotions of its weary citizens, makes for a subtle and gut-wrenching experience.

Somehow, Capcom's managed to avoid fucking up Phoenix Wright's most important trait: The writing. The fifth game's characters are still quirky, the story's still dark, and there's still an overarching plotline that makes you feel like a genius when you put it together. IN JUSTICE WE TRUST!

The writing in The Last of Us makes the fungal apocalypse seem appropriately depressing. The characters interact in a desperate and believable way considering how screwed up everything is. Bleak. Joel made the right choice.

With charming writing, Kevan Brighting did an excellent job narrating through this charming story. While thought of as pretentious when taken serious, taken lightheartedly the game is as close to a Hitchhikers Guide game as we will ever see. You know, except that Hitchhiker's Guide game. But who cares about that?

Based on the popular Vertigo series, Fables, the Wolf Among Us continues the Telltale trend of character based drama the player can become invested in. In the first episode of this new series they waste no time in pulling players into the strange and absurd world of Fabletown and making us care about the all too human (but also Toad) characters that live there.