Erm... Dude, he meant highlight of 2012. I've been playing Sacrifice for about a decade now, I had never even heard of King of Dragon Pass before it came to GOG last year...

Heck, Sacrifice isn't even his favorite game. HOMM3 is. He just promotes Sacrifice endlessly because it's relatively unknown.

This. Highlight of the decade for me.

My highlight of 2012 is Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams.

I would never have thought that I'd ever enjoy a platform game on the pc or a platform game not on the C64 in general. But this game prove me wrong.
Fantastic graphics, wonderful difficult levels, creative game play - I'm loving it! This is how a modern platform game should be like for me.

Resident Evil 6, many different intersecting storylines, a huge range of very diverse enemies, many playable characters with diverse gameplay styles, collectibles, completion cheats and a sort of chronological dvd-like collection of all the cutscenes at the end that can be watched like a movie.

Not the most technically profficant game, but I had a blast over about 50 hours playing, I felt more invested (if thats the right word) in it, than in any of the triple A titles I played during the year.

Why is it that good? I mean, I've heard it's got a good story, but other than that, it looks like a generic shooter. Plus, it seems to be incredibly short.

It doesn't even have a great story, there are games with better stories (it is pretty good however). But the way it transcends the medium and actually works as a deconstructor fleet for the last ten years in gaming is simply breathtaking. The game doesn't break the fourth wall, it sneaks past it. It is hard to describe. The game is best played at the highest difficulty in two or three sittings. After that, you can do another playthrough to see how well it was made. That is one of the few games which are more than just a game but art.

It pretty much is to shooters (or most action games) what PS:T is to RPGs.

There are some other games which try similar, and those deconstruction efforts are more visible even in major games since around 2010 I would say. But Spec Ops plays in a league of its own.

Well, I have to admit it, that does sound good.
Too bad I haven't seen a deal that's good enough for me to buy it, considering its shortness. Well, at least not one that's legally available here. *cough, Amazon*

Miasmata. Best $15 I ever spent.

Tricky to answer. If I'm allowed to go with a more liberal interpretation of the thread title, the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer really blew me away. The new Operations in The Old Republic were awesome as well. And let's not forget the sea battles in Assassin's Creed 3.

As for what my favourite game of the year was... hmm... I don't know, AC3 didn't really manage to feel quite fresh enough after Revelations, and Mass Effect 3 was a bit too railroaded for my tastes. Journey almost made me cry, but it's really short. The Walking Dead didn't quite have the production values I was hoping for. All of these games would be good GotY candidates, but their flaws ensure none of them quite jump out as a clear winner. I think I'm gonna go with Mass Effect 3 as my favourite game of 2012, though.

Overall, I feel it was a quite lackluster year in gaming, at least compared to 2011. Or maybe it's just that a lot of big titles were front-loaded into the first quarter, and the relative dearth of good titles after that was particularly telling.

Batman Arkham City, Deus Ex human revolution and Max Payne 3

Probably TOME4.

Or DOTA2.

The former because it sucked me into the experience in a way that no game had in quite a while. The latter because it's just a very well designed game.

Can't really pinpoint it to one specific game.
It was a good gaming year.

I think my vote goes to Skyrim. Because it's the only game I odered before the actual launch and while I never finished it I still feel happy/proud about the things I did there.

Didn't play anything this year except for a few weeks in the Summer. The highlight of that time was likely Mordin Solus' end in Mass Effect 3.

Borderlands 2