Alright, so let's get the good stuff out of the way. This is a JRPG with a fascinating story and some pretty good characters with interesting skills and abilities. The art and music are good. Navigation is clumsy. Invisible walls galore. Does it deserve game of the year? It maybe could come close if you play on story mode and grind the hell out of your characters to be OP for every battle. It is very good, but not that good.

Beneath the surface, this can be a very frustrating game due to some poor design decisions in the battle systems. Battles are mostly turn-based, allowing you to pick an attack to execute, and to attempt to mitigate enemy attacks as they come at you. Thus, the primary active mechanics in battle are QTEs for your attacks and Dodge/Parry moves for enemy attacks, both of which rely on timing.

The QTEs for attacks aren't that bad: they are clearly prompted on screen and if you struggle with the timing somehow you can turn on an option to opt out of them entirely. I hate QTEs because they're not gameplay, but there you have it.

The Dodge/Parry moves try really hard to be engaging and help you out, but fall terribly short. The dodge timing is more forgiving and displays either "Dodge" or "Perfect" depending on how well you execute the timing. If you can get "Perfect" you can switch buttons to parry instead which has less forgiving timing than dodge but allows you to counterattack. My problem with this system is that the timing is impossible to learn except by trial and error. There is no on screen prompt like the QTEs have to help you execute the correct timing. Rather, each attack animation has different, arbitrary timing and there's really no rhyme or reason to them at all. Some of the tougher enemies deliberately fake you out with their animations, or have multiple very similar attacks. This means you're going to take a lot of damage learning how to fight each enemy, and should you dare to explore the map and try fighting a random enemy there is a very good chance it can one-shot your entire party before you even get a chance to learn any of its attacks. Unlike the QTEs, there is no accessibility option for this mechanic, so you just need to suffer through it the entire game.

This game comes very close to being excellent, hence the recommendation. But there are a few in-your-face major design blunders that should probably be fixed in a patch at a later date. Until then, you are likely to get sucker-punched by a pet rock on a beach somewhere.

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This game has a unique style and simple rules, but the fun comes from trying to keep things organized as randomly spawning buildings and increasingly scarce resources push your tiny city towards chaos. Highly recommended.

This is a classic FPS worth every minute of play time. No cut-scene BS. No hand-holding. Just a great adventure where the fate of the world depends on you and your skills.

I've played a lot of this game. I'm still discovering new mechanics. It's so deep.

If you enjoy classic Zelda games and appreciate retro gaming cultural artifacts, this may be the perfect game for you. Tunic is way deeper than it seems. There are more layers than you expect to the lore and gameplay of this game. Do yourself a favor and avoid spoilers as much as possible.

If you miss Sim City from back in the day - this is the game for you.

Antichamber is a mind-bending, first-person, abstract, puzzle game. It may be the only first-person, abstract, puzzle game. You are not merely walking in first-person between puzzles like in the Witness, you are moving through increasingly complex puzzles as you progress. The ending is a bit anti-climactic (hehe) for my tastes, but the penultimate puzzle is fantastic. If you like puzzle games and adventure games, this is a good blend of the two.

As of 3/17/2014 this game is still in alpha, but there is already a lot here. I highly recommend starting in creative mode to learn the mechanics of mining and designing ships and space stations. However, as soon as possible switch over to survival mode. Bring along at least one friend and learn to survive together in deep space.

This game is still in alpha but its already a lot of fun - can't wait to see where the devs take it.