18. The Walking Dead
The five part series that scooped various Game of the Year prizes in 2012 beating other mainstream sensations like Far Cry 3 and Halo 4 was a deserved winner. Few games have challenged our need for constant action in video games and have tested our decision making ability quite so much as The Walking Dead. The game includes some of the best writing and characters in recent gaming. Its these elements that help take a very basic point-and-click experience and turn it into a must-have game. The choices feel like they have a weight to them and quite often you face challenges where the decisions are not so easy to make. Some of the choices are a matter of life or death for the characters, while others seem rather insignificant at the time but have a much larger effect later on in the game. The game is based around survival but over time it becomes more focused on your protection of Clementine a small girl who is home alone when you meet her - than it does your own welfare. The player eventually begins to feel quite protective; just going to show the power of an excellent narrative. The reactions she exhibited to certain situations actually weigh on your mind on a few occasions I loaded a previous save just to change a decision based on a negative response. There is rarely any action and no huge set pieces. Its a lesson to the gaming industry that creating an interesting plot and a cast of multi-dimensional characters is a craft some of them need to relearn.