The ladies of Nerdy But Flirty have compiled a list of the best games of 2013. What makes this list different from other best game lists? It’s for girl gamers, by girl gamers.

Check it out and let us know what games you’d pick!

Best Indie Game

Guacamelee

This one was really hard. 2013 can definitely be called the year indie became a big deal. Gone Home, Knock-Knock, TowerFall, Don’t Starve, Guacamelee, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons all made it to our list. This year, we’re giving it to Guacamelee, for being one of the few games to focus on another culture. Guacamelee had beautiful art, awesome gameplay, and a fun spirit.

Best DLC

Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep

Another tough decision here, between the Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep DLC and the Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC. Both are blatant fan-pleasers, but one was just too witty, too self-aware, and too hilarious to ignore. The Tiny Tina DLC for Borderlands 2 is the best DLC of 2013, and is my personal favorite DLC of all time.

What we have here is a DLC for an irreverent shooter, taking one of the most polarizing characters and digging into her psychology, to the tune of a D&D game. It is glorious and truly captures the sadlarious style we love about Borderlands.

Best Shooter

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Unlike the previous two categories, this choice was difficult for the lack of choices. Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghost didn’t appeal to a single one of us. So which shooter took up our love this year? Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is an amazing new adventure/re-skin of Far Cry 3 (already a pretty great game) featuring tons of cyber enhancements, 80s clichés, and huge, angry dragons. If you haven’t played it, go buy it right now.

Best RPG

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

This year was a strange one for RPGs. Most of the RPGs this year were JRPGs, which we didn’t feel too strongly about. Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen was great fun, but felt too much like an expansion to capture the title of Best RPG of 2013. The only real standout was Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Ni No Kuni is the lovely collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Level-5 that combines charm with challenging gameplay. It was the critic’s darling when it came out, and no other RPG released this year even came close.

Best Action Game

The Last of Us

Some great action games came out this year, including Tomb Raider, The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, and Assassin’s Creed IV. Although Tomb Raider was great, The Last of Us just took the cake. The atmosphere of the game was so spot-on that I had to take breaks because the tension got to be too much to handle. With some awesome female characters, a heart-wrenching story, and solid gameplay mechanics, The Last of Us really delivered (it was our ‘Most Anticipated’ last year).

Best Adventure Game

Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller

Our intrepid adventurer Kelsey reviewed quite a few adventure games this year, but the one that really stuck out to her was Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller. With a great story and a compelling (and female) main character, we’d be remiss not to award this game with our Best Adventure title.

Best Xbox 360 Game

Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite is hands-down the best Xbox 360 game of 2013.

Best PS3 Game

The Last of Us

The Last of Us was the obvious choice for best PS3 game. We loved it and it looked gorgeous.

Best PC Game

Bioshock Infinite

Just too gorgeous not to win.

Best 3DS Game

Pokemon X and Y

Animal Crossing was great, but we had to give it to Pokemon X and Y, due to the large number of addicted friends we have.

Best Mobile Game

Everlove: Rose

Our favorite mobile game this year was easily Everlove: Rose. While not the most complicated, it was the most engaging and had an intriguing premise.

Best Music

Grand Theft Auto V

Although we almost picked Contrast for that AMAZING electric swing, in the end, we had to give it to GTA V. GTA V is the kind of game that makes you wish you could have those radio stations in real life. I also may have an unhealthy obsession with Bootsy Collins.

Best Female Character

Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite

We had a bit of an argument about the best female character. While some of us were big fans of the reboot of Lara Croft, the other camp fell in love with Disney Princess-esque Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite.

In the end, we had to admit that this version of Lara is not her strongest, and thus Elizabeth is our Best Female Character of 2013!

Best Male Character

Trevor from Grand Theft Auto V

Although we weren’t a fan of the game, the best male character of 2013 has to go to Trevor from Grand Theft Auto V. I hated him. I loved him. I shook my head and said “classic Trevor.” His character was so multi-faceted, and so bat-shit-crazy, that he manages to even overshadow the other two main characters. Whatever their names are… 😉

Best Child

Ellie from The Last of Us

There was no question that our Best Child Character of 2013 would go to Ellie from The Last of Us. Ellie is a delightful mix of rebellious spirit, pouty teenager, enthusiastic child, and thoughtful woman. She’s strong, weak, and everything in between.

I loved seeing such a nuanced character in a game, and loved it even more that she happened to be female. I hope other game companies are taking note of how Naughty Dog treats its female characters, and how their sales are not hurt by this development.

Most Anticipated Game

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Our meeting to discuss the games of the year revealed a surprisingly unanimous Most Anticipated game: Dragon Age: Inquisition. Although we all felt burned by Dragon Age 2, BioWare has been very vocal about listening to fans and acknowledging faults. We can’t be faulted for hoping they bring us the true sequel to Dragon Age: Origins. I’m also really looking forward to Titanfall, but I was out-voted. >_>

Most Girl-Friendly Game

Tomb Raider

Last year, Mass Effect 3 was an easy choice for most girl-friendly game of the year. This year, our choice wasn’t as obvious, but in the end, it has to be Tomb Raider.

Although not everyone liked this more sensitive Lara, her journey from unprepared girl to hardened survivor is something that a lot of women can relate to. So many of us are survivors of something, and we’ve become so strong as a result of our trials. It’s a theme that really resonates, and Camilla Luddington did an amazing job expressing the fear and then gradual resilience of young Lara.

Game of the Year

The Last of Us

We’ve enthused enough about The Last of Us for it to be our obvious choice for Game of the Year. With its strong story, challenging gameplay, and wonderful cast of characters, The Last of Us truly gave us everything we wanted, and some things we didn’t even know we wanted!

Did we miss your favorite game? Let’s hear your arguments for best games in the comments below!

Check out our choices from last year!