Gamasutra’s Best Video Games of 2009

Gamasutra brings us a list of their picks for the top 10 games of 2009, with Demon’s Souls taking the #3 spot and Dragon Age: Origins securing the #1 position.

BioWare once reinvigorated the Dungeon & Dragons-inspired line of PC fantasy RPGs with Baldur’s Gate. After a decade of evolutions, the studio has attempted to bridge the gap between that early milestone and its modern refinements.

Dragon Age: Origins succeeds both in that goal and as a masterful, ambitious roleplaying game in its own right. On its surface, it seems full of the same dwarves-and-mages-and-elves dynamic that’s been so thoroughly mined, with stock visuals to match. But as you explore the game’s considerable volume of content, its fascinating subtleties begin to reveal themselves — class, gender, and race roles form the underpinnings of a compelling world without becoming too heavy-handed.

On the personal scale, Dragon Age features some of the most affecting and entertaining character interactions in gaming, implemented dynamically and seamlessly. Party members idly chat amongst themselves — affably, dourly, indifferently — and comment on the player’s own choices. The game’s overarching story is nothing special; it’s the context and the personal moments that count, and they count for a lot. Rarely are virtual characters so believable.

The game itself demonstrates an impressive RPG design fluency born of hard experience, particularly on the PC where it fluidly shifts between a modern third-person RPG and an old-school top-down dungeon crawler at the player’s whim. It strikes a satisfying balance between intricacy and intuitiveness, rewarding player investment but not becoming overbearing.

The remarkably diverse origin stories that serve as the subtitle’s namesake just add further personality and depth to one of the most surprisingly unique RPGs in recent memory. With Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare has succeeded in reprising its own revival.