The winner of Destructoid’s Game of the Year 2012

Best of 2012

You saw our nominees list for Game of the Year, right? And our runner-ups? Then you should understand how difficult it was for us to decide on one game to call our Game of the Year. I’m still nervous about it. I’m even more nervous about revealing our winner.

Here’s how good 2012 was to gamers: even our combined list of nominees and runner-ups feels incomplete. Games like Xenoblade Chronicles and Spec Ops: The Line definitely deserve mentions. We’re spoiled. How fantastic.

Here are the nominees for 2012 Game of the Year:

• Borderlands 2
  
• Dishonored
  
• Journey
  
• Mass Effect 3
  
• The Walking Dead

And the winner is …

The Walking Dead

I love it. A downloadable, episodic series beats out mega franchises and big-budget releases as our Game of the Year.

What does this say? Well, it says that good writing and a good story mean more than big budgets and fancy graphics. It says that games don’t have to be blockbusters to be successful. It says that someone out there can still make scary games. It also says that point-and-click adventures are here to stay. Oh, and it says that we still love zombies. 

If you haven’t played The Walking Dead yet, you’re not going to understand why it is our 2012 Game of the Year. And that’s on you. If you haven’t played it yet, you’re really missing out on something great.