In 2009, my two favourite games of the year were Demon's Souls and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. At the time, I thought you couldn't find two games more opposite in ethos. Demon's Souls is brutal, unforgiving, sadistic and unremittingly dark. Zelda: Spirit Tracks is lovely and bright and playful and non-threatening. Last year, though, it happened again: my two favourite games of the year were Dark Souls and Skyward Sword. Dark Souls nearly gave me a mental breakdown; Skyward Sword was the soothing salve that restored my equilibrium.
It's made me think that these games must have something intrinsic in common after all, and after a lot of pondering I think I've figured out what it is. Both Zelda and Dark Souls are absolutely comfortable in their medium. They're both experiences that only games can give, and both evidence of their respective developers' mastery of game design. They're both pure gameplay, and both confident in what they're trying to do. They're not self-conscious, and they don't ram themselves down your throat. They just do what they do, and do it extraordinarily well.
For the past four or five years, gaming has been going through an identity crisis. As the industry swelled to eclipse Hollywood, the games themselves suddenly became obsessed with aping the conventions of big-screen blockbusters. Some have tried so hard to be films that they've actually forgotten how to be games. Instead of player agency, layered design and emergent narrative, the biggest studios started concentrating on linear, more cinematic experiences and big-name voice talent. Studios fell over themselves to hire Hollywood scriptwriters to write their flagship titles, often forgetting that writing for something interactive is a very different job.
Great games have come out of this philosophy: the Uncharted series, Enslaved, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. But it's also been frustrating; gameplay often struggles to blossom under these restraints. To quote PC Gamer's Tom Francis, "Here's an idea, guys: make a f***ing film." And these games age terribly, too – take a look at any mid-PlayStation 2-era in-game cutscene if you don't believe me. Not every developer took this direction – Nintendo was, as ever, immune to what was going on around it – but it has been a defining trend.
Last year, the tide began to turn. It wasn't just Dark Souls and Skyward Sword; 2011 was full of games that were confident in being what they were. Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Portal 2 were the first excellently written games I have played in a long time that weren't trying desperately to be films. Skyrim, faults and all, has become a figurehead for both the sublime and the ridiculous in video games, from rolling 25,000 cheese wheels down a hill and shouting at goats to touching quests about love and loss. Saints Row 3, whether you enjoy its tastelessness or not, is a celebration of everything that games can do that nothing else can. As we reach the end of the first week of 2012, I'm feeling much happier about where games are going than I was at this time last year.
What's caused games to remember how to be games? Two things, if you ask me: confidence with current technology, and the explosion of mobile gaming. Now that the arms race for bigger and better-looking games has calmed down as we approach the twilight years of this console cycle, we're seeing more experimentation, even from the biggest publishers. Rayman Origins wouldn't have been made in 2009. Last year's motion gaming fad has calmed down, leaving games like Child of Eden and, again, Skyward Sword to make their mark with confident, innovative motion controls rather than wild waggling. Now that it's more difficult to impress with technical accomplishments or novelty alone, gameplay is returning to centre stage. I think that's a big part of why Dark Souls was such a success last year, and Skyrim too – games that a few years ago would have been considered niche. People were desperate to play a real game again.
As for mobile gaming, well, that's more a promise than anything else at the moment. I don't think, like some people, that mobile is where all the innovation and creativity is at the moment; I think the newly re-invigorated PC scene is where a lot of the more interesting stuff is coming from right now. But the nature of mobile games has refocused the wider gaming conversation. I'm not saying that something like Tiny Wings is the best that video games have to offer, but with its gentle simplicity it has reminded us that gameplay used to be all there was. Before HD graphics and big-name talent, all there was was gameplay. It's why you can still play Pac-Man, Tetris and Donkey Kong today and have a fun time. The best of mobile gaming has this knowledge at heart, and it's an attitude that's making the whole industry remember the importance of gameplay above all else.
Going into 2012, there's a lot to be positive about. The state of games writing is looking more positive than ever. Games finally seem to be working through their identity problems. People are getting tired of spectacle alone, and it's making developers return to their roots and concentrate on what's at the heart of gaming's appeal. 2011 was a great year, but it was dominated by the same franchises that we already know. 2012 might not be able to match it in terms of sheer quality, but in terms of creativity, I think we could be standing at the beginning of a new age.
Keza MacDonald is in charge of IGN's games team in the UK. She expects to emerge fully from Skyrim sometime in 2013. You can follow her on Twitter and MyIGN.
2012 is set to be a huge year in gaming, with a ton of big t...