Guild Wars 2 is one of those rare games that unexpectedly knocks your life off-kilter, like a meteoroid banging into a satellite. Call it the pinball machine of MMOs, devoted to keeping you entertained by the minute, whatever you’re doing. You’ll get into snowball fights, go on scavenger hunts for eggs, play catch with barrels, defend homesteads from ice worms, protect towns from bear hordes and knock out enemy portals that spawn creatures like the Chitauri in The Avengers. All those events and hundreds more play out in real-time — with, as Bono would say, or without you, lending Guild Wars 2 the feel of a living world, and the sort of compulsive anywhere-you-go playability other MMOs only dream of.
Tech
Thanks for liking TIME’s Top 10 Everything of 2012 List. Like TIME on Facebook now for more breaking news and current events from around the globe.
1. Guild Wars 2
Full List
Top 10 Gadgets
Top 10 Video Games