Bastion

Gaming these days has a lot to offer and the advancements over the years are amazing. Sadly though, with it come bigger budgets which result in less risktaking. Because of that, a lot of the big releases play like the same game. Still, there are very good mainstream games around and one might think that small-budget indie games don't have much to offer.
Actually, I think mostly they don't. Capsized is a good example of a game that didn't really have anything original to it. But there are also notable examples like Limbo, Braid or Bastion.
I tried Bastion out recently and I was amazed. I never thought I would like this kinda asian-looking action game so much but it's a really special game. You don't really get to say that often for a game but story is the best part. Waking up on a small island in the sky, a gravelly voice of a narrator comments the actions of the main character and the world around him. You learn that the world was destroyed by an event called Calamity and the main character ("the kid") and the narrator are almost the only survivors. They build a small establisment called "the bastion" and the kid starts to recover artifacts to improve it.
Somewhat unexpectedly, the world is overflowing with details and backstory, also the characters themselves (a couple more appear later on) have a rich background and complex motivations. I would actually compare the story to Stephen King's "Gunslinger" books. But the best part of it is the way it gets presented - by a narrator. How has the gaming world overlooked that vehicle of storytelling? Lame cutscenes, overly long dialogue sequences and ingame books should burn in the hell of gaming as they do nothing but lock you out of the interactive medium that gaming should be. The deep reassuring voice of the narrator keeps you entertained and makes the character's actions and emotions (or lack of them) matter. It's kind of brilliant actually.
It doesn't hurt that the music is also very good, the artstyle vivid and gameplay varied. There are a bunch of different weapons to choose from, each bring something unique to the table and they are upgradeable in different ways (each weapon also has their own challenge levels). Pretty much the only thing you could pick on is the gameplay itself, which might be a little more smooth and sharp. But it might be that this impression is the result of your first weapon being a big and heavy hammer. Once you get a machete, things get slicker.
Suprise of the year for me, strongly recommended.

Saiko