Unfortunately, I can't remember all the games I specifically played in 2013, as the years and games blur together after a while.
My favorite finished game released in 2013 was Cognition. Great storyline, well developed lead character, really well put together puzzles. I also felt the comic cut scenes worked better in that game than they did in Gray Matter, maybe because the graphics themselves were comic like. I haven't finished all the 2013 games I have quite yet. An honorable mention goes to Memoria. Loved the beautiful graphics, the epic fantasy story, and I especially enjoyed Sadja's role. Though I've only barely gotten into both, The Raven and The Night of the Rabbit also look promising so far. I still think Cognition is going to stay my favorite of the year, though.
So far for 2014, I would say that The Wolf Among Us is my favorite. I don't think it's quite up there with The Walking Dead for me, at least not yet, but it is still very gripping with a lot of twists and turns and an interesting combination of fairy tale characters in a noir setting. Some games that will probably also be contenders once they are released are The Walking Dead Season 2 (remaining episodes), Blackenrock, Moebius, Gabriel Knight remake and The Last Crown if if comes out. This year looks to be one of the best years for adventure games I've seen in a while in terms of how many especially strong ones are coming out at once. My most anticipated game, however, is Dreamfall Chapters, and I'm pretty positive it's going to be my game of the year if it makes it for 2014.
I don't expect it to top The Longest Journey, but I think it very well could top Dreamfall, which is a game I also loved. Luckily, Chapters is going to take away the combat/stealth mechanics, and everything I've seen from previews looks really intriguing. Can't wait to get my signed boxed copy.
As for The Next BIG Thing and Gray Matter, I really enjoyed both, particularly the latter. My favorite Pendulo games are still the Runaway series, but I quite enjoyed The Next BIG Thing as well, and Liz just might be my favorite protagonist they ever came up with. She is funny, smart, zany and nonlinear and very unique as far as protagonists go. Like you iPad_Lover, I found Gray Matter to be one of the best recent games, and it's way up there on my list of favorites. I also was not crazy about the cutscenes, but I got used to them and didn't pay much attention after a while. Also, even though I loved it the first I played it, I agree with Rushes that it improved the second time around. Mostly because I was comparing it to the Gabriel Knight games, which was inevitable I think. When I played it more recently, I was not thinking about GK at all, and found I really got into the characters and setting and
really appreciated it for what it was.
In fact, it made me start craving a Gray Matter 2, probably even more than Moebius at this point.