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Best of 2013

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There were so many desktop wallpaper worthy games this year. Heck, one of the entrants comes from a collaboration with Studio Ghibli. I’ve considered buying an old iPad and converting it into a digital photo frame because existing ones can’t play animated gifs and I need Ghibli gifs in my life at all times. Fighting game animations, too.

Someone with actual skills please tell me the easiest way to do this. The rest of you, enjoy looking at gorgeous stills from the best looking games of the year.

Here are the nominees for the Best Visuals of 2013:

  • Tearaway
  • Super Mario 3D World
  • Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
  • Rayman Legends
  • BioShock Infinite
  • The Swapper
  • Resogun
  • Dragon’s Crown
  • The Last of Us
  • Kentucky Route Zero

And the winner is …

Tearaway

Woo! I already trumped up Tearaway‘s looks when it won Portable Game of the Year, so let me plagiarize myself:

“From a technical level, its papercraft aesthetic is realized perfectly. Seeing paper ripples as I skipped across a paper puddle made me giggle more than a realistically rendered sea of polygons could. The level of detail is staggering. It feels, fittingly, handmade, like a warm beam of sunshine on an afternoon catnap.”

Media Molecule has delivered one of the coolest, most unique looking worlds I’ve ever seen, one that makes so much sense holistically. It’s both a technical and artistic feat to be praised. So we praised it with this recognition. 

Go buy it.

For our community poll, you all voted for The Last of Us for best visuals of 2013. It was followed by Super Mario 3D World, and Dragon’s Crown in third place.

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