3. Realising Who You Are - Her Story
This entry contains no spoilers. This year really is shaping up to be quite the incredible showcase of talent, as right now there's a very small-budget indie gem in the form of Her Story attempting to challenge the way we interact with narrative and expectation in games. Playing the role of a detective sitting down to go over a number of interview tapes regarding a murder many years ago, you're forced to scour each and every piece of information therein, as being set in the 90s all you have to work from is this rickety old computer screen, and whatever implements you might use in the real world. Honestly, you'll want to grab a notepad to keep up with the whole thing, it's that immersive and tactile, it just feels appropriate. The whole thing plays out on a desktop screen, but the videos you're watching are all filmed with a real actress, giving everything an air of realism whilst maintaining a very intense detective thriller allure the likes of L.A. Noire and Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments did to varying degrees. In the end you'll start to put together your own theories on what's going on and how it all figures together, and it's then the game drops another haymaker of a plot point in your lap and asks you to factor that into the proceedings too. There's a reason critics are touting this as one of the best games of the year already, and although it's a bit of a stretch to imply its story makes up for a lack of actual game mechanics, the way it all comes together is one of the most impactful since the likes of 2013's Gone Home or Papers, Please.