PC Gamer Game of the Year Awards 2013

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

Chris Thursten

Joining in 2011, Chris made his start with PC Gamer turning beautiful trees into magazines, first as a writer and later as deputy editor. Once PCG's reluctant MMO champion , his discovery of Dota 2 in 2012 led him to much darker, stranger places. In 2015, Chris became the editor of PC Gamer Pro, overseeing our online coverage of competitive gaming and esports. He left in 2017, and can be now found making games and recording the Crate & Crowbar podcast.