Team Joystiq is barging into 2014 with a celebration of last year's best games. Keep reading throughout the week to see our assembly of ingenious indies and triple-A triumphs. There's a certain dulling of expectations every time the next big-huge blockbuster game comes together. We've grown accustomed to the tradeoffs inherent in a product that grows and grows until it fits the proportions of cinema, having shaken off its boldest facets to safely stand a chance of earning a wide audience - and enough money to pay for that beautifully rendered jumble of furniture blocking the top of a stairway that wasn't meant to be explored. How could a game like The Last of Us overcome those barriers?

It doesn't, not always, but it pushes harder than you expect.