It took us two weeks to reveal, but the Shacknews Game of the Year awards for 2011 have been laid to rest, with CD Projekt RED's The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings taking the crown.

We didn't have the time to set up a reader poll for 'Best of 2011,' but our community did create their own; naming The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim the Unofficial Shacknews Community GOTY.

After the break is a listing of our 'Best of 2011' winners and honorable mentions along with a video presentation featuring the top five.

Watch: 2011 Game of the Year recap video »

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings may be draped in the cloak of a brutal fantasy world filled with monsters and magic, but it offers an interesting reflection of real-world problems. It's a political drama where those in command are governed by fear and uncertainty. It shines light on racism and sexism in ways that shows developer CD Projekt RED is unafraid to push narrative boundaries beyond most games in its class.

Based on the book series from Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher 2 goes worlds beyond the 2007 original title in almost every conceivable way (though there is some contention with the game's ending). Combat is completely overhauled--and after a few balance tweaks soon after release, it's satisfying to the point of perfection. The game can be unapologetic in its command for your attention and skill, pushing aside a generation of games marketed to the era of players raised by handholding execution.

Read more: Why The Witcher 2 was our Game of the Year »

With Portal, Valve took the mechanic of shooting--something we're very familiar with--and used it in a whole new fashion. Using a gun that opened portals, Valve created a geometry-based puzzle game, the object of which was to use the openings to navigate increasingly challenging test chambers. With that starting point established, Portal 2 hits the ground running.

Portal 2 tricks you into thinking you'd never leave the unfriendly confines of the Aperture Science labs. Then the game blossoms, blowing down the very walls needed for its portals and opens up into a fantastic adventure. Breaking out of the test chambers feels liberating, answering the question: "what could I do with this portal gun in the world outside a test chamber?"

Read more: Why Portal 2 made our 'Top Five' »

Batman: Arkham Asylum impressed audiences by bucking the trend of licensed superhero games. It wasn't just "good for a superhero game"; it was an unqualified success, both critically and commercially. Years later, developer Rocksteady had the unenviable (and inevitable) task of creating a sequel. They attempted to craft a game that could expand the concept of Arkham Asylum without compromising its original vision, and in many ways Batman: Arkham City does just that.

Read more: Why Arkham City made our 'Top Five' »

All things considered, it's not really too much of a surprise that the fifth chapter in developer Bethesda's long-running series of sword-and-sorcery has garnered a comfortable position as Shacknews' fourth best game of the 2011. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim once again transports players back to the sprawling land of Tamriel, thrusting them into one of the series' most compelling main storylines to date, set in the beautiful snow-capped landscapes of the world's titular northern region. Few games sucked up as many of our precious gaming hours this year, thanks largely to sandbox design sensibilities and a vast amount of compelling content.

Read more: Why Skyrim was placed in our 'Top Five' »

You can't resurrect a widely-adored classic franchise a decade later, common wisdom goes. The game lives in nostalgia now; you can never come close to matching recollections and expectations. Besides, games have moved on. If you change nothing it will feel dated, but any changes will ruin what fans loved. And if it's being made by different people, well, that really won't work. Somehow, developers Eidos Montreal and Nixxes Software didn't succumb to its doomed fate: Deus Ex: Human Revolution recaptures much of the essence of the original, while updating it for modern audiences.

Read me: Why Deus Ex was placed in our 'Top Five' »

Shadows of the Damned

Without question, Shadows of the Damned supplied me one of the most entertaining rides of the year. Garcia "F'n" Hotspur's sexual innuendo-filled demon slaying trek through hell to save his girlfriend is a love-it or hate-it affair. I loved it. Sure, it's not without its flaws--not the least of which are boss fights which serve as example to the challenge of pulling them off well in a first person shooter. But even they reflect the hell-on-a-hallucinogenic-trip atmosphere so well that it's hard to be too put off by them. There's more than just a façade here too. The game uses its light versus dangerous darkness mechanic well, mixing up more than just the basic dispel the shadows trick. Top it off with Yamaoka's soundtrack that fits things to a "T" whether it's a heavy metal jam or flamenco guitar, and I promise one thing, Shadows of the Damned will leave a strong impression.

Read more: The rest of Garnett's 2011 picks »

It's tempting to describe Bastion as merely an action RPG with a narrator. However, doing so undervalues the impact of its unique storytelling feature and neglects the sheer craftsmanship that went into its construction. From the moment I held the controller, I appreciated the elegance with which it accomplishes even the simple things--even down to a common sword swing.

Read more: Why Bastion made our list »

Minecraft

The block-building game from Mojang Specifications may not look like much, but its core concept is so effective and unapologetic that I have to respect it. The satisfaction I feel after completing a large-scale project in Minecraft is the same I felt when I finished a Lego set as a kid or an art project in college. Sure, my legs went numb from sitting and I'm exhausted from lack of sleep, but I completed something. It's finished.

The enemies are uninteresting, but necessary to stay focused on a goal. Once shelter is established, it's easy to fall down the rabbit hole -- to develop better safeguards, a higher watchtower, smarter traps. Minecraft is what you make of it, and few games can make that claim at such a fundamental level. Now that heavy-hitters like Epic Games have shown interest and are drawing inspiration, we may well look back in a decade and realize Minecraft shook up the industry, subtly from beneath the surface.

Read more: The rest of Steve's picks for 2011 »

Bulletstorm

Bulletstorm is, essentially, Painkiller creator People Can Fly's stab at making Video Games: The Video Game. Dropped into a ludicrous world for a ludicrous reason, you're sent off to kill people in delightfully gruesome ways to earn points. Blasting some fellow's legs off with a shotgun nets you 25 points, for example, while shooting a chap in the laughing gnomes then finishing him off with a boot to the face earns you a far more respectable 100 points. Why? Because video games.

Bulletstorm is thoroughly daft and puerile in tone but unlike most video games--which also are--it's well aware of this, making it a strange sort of clever. The daft plot bounces merrily along, not feigning any more depth than it has, slicked by a torrent of childishly pleasing cussing and grand set pieces. The skillshots are nonsensical, but they're fun.

The thing is, right, beneath everything, Bulletstorm is a really solid shooter. Lack of jumping aside, it's lovely and meaty with some top-notch guns, and skillshots tempting players to do more than simply shoot faces. You kill people in fun ways and then a lady threatens you and your chum that she "will kill your dicks." And to think that I almost skipped it entirely because of the tedious marketing and dull demo!

Read more: The rest of Alice's 2011 picks »

It's easy to forget that the original DS drew as much criticism as the 3DS did earlier this year. Nintendo's bulky dual-screen stylus-controlled system had little to convince us that the death of the Game Boy Advance was warranted, and that the DS would be the future of handheld gaming. A terribly-controlled Mario 64 port and ill-advised Metroid FPS game didn't win over critics, either. But then, Nintendo surprised us with Nintendogs, Brain Age, Elite Beat Agents, and other brilliant "made for DS" games. Super Mario 3D Land is the first game on the 3DS that had us thinking "hey, this 3D gimmick might be pretty good."

Read more: Why Super Mario 3D Land made our list »

Infamous 2

Cole MacGrath's sophomore outing deserved better than to get lost in the flood of E3 coverage. It was a fine action game and I loved the comic book-style narrative, which involved making many gut-wrenching "good vs. evil" choices that would ultimately shaped Cole's destiny. Of course, there's also something to be said for simply going the evil route and shocking every poor sucker in New Marais that dared to cross my path. If you spent E3 week constantly refreshing your browser and forgot to pick this gem up, do yourself a favor and go back for it.

The rest of Ozzie's picks for 2011 »

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

There was quite a crop of good third-person action games this year, but one that I enjoyed a bit more than the rest was Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. The IP itself was ripe with opportunity to highlight its bone-sawing brand of action from a boot-level perspective, and developer Relic Entertainment did a great job capturing the essence of what it meant to be a seven-foot army of one. Rather than fall back on the cover-based proclivities of most third-person shooters, Space Marine's adrenaline-based mechanics include a brutal melee component that encourages players to throw themselves deeper into the fray to survive.

The game's multiplayer is also great fun, with fast-paced, bloody matches and a huge array of different weapons and abilities. Even if you managed to overlook this one amidst the hype surrounding the third chapters in the Gears of War or Uncharted series, just remember it's not too late to decimate the Orkish hordes; for the Emperor!

Read more: The rest of Jeff's 2011 faves »

The Legend of Zelda has always been one of my favorite game series. Having said that, I've always been a bit cool towards the idea of motion controls in Zelda games ever since Twilight Princess failed to resonate with me. So I approached The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword with caution.

What I walked away with was one of the best Zelda games in recent memory. First and foremost, it's one of the best motion control-based games I've experienced. Link's sword and shield were both incredibly responsive thanks to the Wii's MotionPlus attachment. The motion control required a different approach to tackling old foes, but instead of feeling like a forced feature, it felt like a seamless addition. I was suddenly challenged to tackle enemies in a new way, rather than simply hack and slash like in the old days. Link's inventory was also a lot of fun to use, whether it was the new flying Beetle, the Whip that first debuted in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, or any of Link's normal weaponry.

Read more: Why Skyward Sword made our list »

ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection

It was the year of the HD remake. Thanks to the current generation's limited backwards compatibility, publishers attempted to cash in with quick ports of last-gen games.

However, Sony didn't take the lazy route. Whereas publishers like Capcom and Ubisoft barely touched up their PS2-era re-releases, Sony's HD remasters have all been thoughtfully constructed. Perhaps the best of the bunch was the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection. Seeing these games reconstructed in HD with a steady framerate makes for an entirely new experience. It also helps that these are two of the finest games ever created. A slew of bonuses, including some terrific reversible box art, were nice touches that made a good collection of games great.

Read more: The rest of Andrew's 2011 faves »