Yes, it's that time of year again! We revealed some of our nominations a short time ago, not it's time to take stock and think back to all the great games we've played on PC in 2013. We've seen some top class indie talent, great free-to-play games and big budget games alike. We've seen great narrative games, strategy games, shooters, mods, a couple of open world adventures and the birth of a burgeoning esport. In the coming week we'll post our awards. You'll find the schedule below, but first let's explain the process behind the voting, so you know how we came to our conclusions.
The method
Each writer was asked to vote for five candidates for inclusion in this year's awards, irrespective of genre. Once the candidates were amassed, categories for the awards were decided based on the available selection. This was to ensure that the best games of the year were recognised, not the best required to fulfill the requirements of a preset award titles. Then the real debate began. After lengthy discussion and much drinking of tea, the winners for each category were finalised, and we each took a personal pick to pay homage to some of the other great games of 2013 that we loved individually, but which didn't scoop a gong.
The schedule
Today we'll start with our mod of the year. The rest of the awards will be posted on the following days on the dates below. Come back for links to each one.
26/12 - Mod of the year: The Dark Mod
27/12 - Best Simulation: Arma 3
28/12 - Most Original: Card Hunter
28/12 - Best Narrative: Gone Home
29/12 - Esport of the Year
29/12 - Event of the Year
30/12 - Best Singleplayer
31/12 - Best Multiplayer
1/1/2014 - Game of the Year
2/1/2014 - Our personal Picks
The judges
Andy Kelly, Ben Griffin, Cory Banks, Chris Thursten, Evan Lahti, Phil Savage, Tom Senior, Tony Ellis, Tyler Wilde
