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[JustAnotherOtaku]

1. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Knew I would enjoy it, but didn't realise just how much. Core gameplay is the best there's ever been in the series and I actually enjoyed the story despite it not being laid out in the same way as usual. One of my favourite games of all time.
2. Life is Strange ; Looked interesting before release and I had high hopes, but this game surpassed them. Waiting on new episodes to come out was one of the toughest things of the year, games wise.
3. Rhythm Tengoku The Best+ ; Compilation of the majority of the mini-games from the previous entries in the series, as well as a few new ones. Almost the perfect rhythm action game.
4. Kenka Bancho 6 ; Took the series formula for Yakuza-like combat, puts it in a school setting and adds a love story and loads of customisation. Would love to see this one localised.
5. Yakuza 0 ; Same solid core gameplay with enough additions (various fighting styles, younger main characters), thrown into an 80's setting. 6 will be the best one yet if it tops this.
6. Transformers Devastation ; Platinum releases are always worthy of any GOTY top 10, especially when they build on the Bayonetta combat and add crafting and loot drops. Not really a fan of the subject matter, but when the combat is this great it's not really important.
7. Splatoon ; Cautiously optimistic going in at the thought of a Nintendo developed competitive MP shooter, but the charm and unique take on the genre made it incredibly fun.
8. Until Dawn ; Another one that seemingly came out of nowhere to be incredibly fun. Almost 2spooky4me in places, a really gripping experience throughout.
9. Mario Maker ; More accessible than LBP, and with a hell of a lot more nostalgia too. Not everyone is a Miyamoto-level Mario dev, but there was a constant stream of great levels nonetheless.
10. Call of Duty: Black Ops III ; Single player was something of a let-down after the stellar Advanced Warfare, but the Multiplayer is the best it has ever been and has kept me coming back constantly.

 

[Shin-Ra]

1. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Depth and variety of mechanics and all-round polish makes replaying missions filler still satisfying to play. Fulton everything.
2. Until Dawn ; Nearing prerendered-background levels of detail, beautiful, funny and distinctive characters. Chills.
3. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection ; Thorough and highly polished remastering of three of PS3's greatest games. Un-goddamn-charted.
4. Gravity Rush Remastered ;
5. Yakuza 5 ;
6. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D ;
7. God of War III Remastered ;
8. The Order: 1886 ;
9. RESOGUN: Defenders ;
10. Tearaway Unfolded ;

 

[Son Of Sparda]

Wrong formating as well.

Thanks for pointing it out. How about now?

1. Yakuza 5 ; Best Yakuza to date so It was absolutely worth the wait. Took me 66 hours to beat the main storyline but I'll no doubt be putting hundreds of hours into it to do the side stuff. I'm saying this from the bottom of my heart, if you still own a PS3 you owe it yourself to play this game. And if you don't then make sure you give Yakuza 0 a try next year. I'll assure you, it'll blew you away.
2. Bloodborne ; A Souls game with faster paced gameplay and awesome Victorian atmosphere? How can someone not love this. Also the DLC was godlike.
3. Life is Strange ; Just play it, you'll thank me later.
4. Resident Evil Revelation 2 ; After RE:R1 I had zero expectations for this but god after playing it, it absolutely blew me away with how well done it was. Not just the gameplay and mechanics but atmosphere and even the story. I have legit interest into RE series again all thanks to this game. Also, Raid mode is awesome.
5. Until Dawn ; Absolutely loved everything about this game. Really hope to see more games like this in the interactive/drama genre.
6. Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition ; Lack of new modes and missions is a little disappointing but still, 3 new characters with different play styles? Right now, combat wise, this game is hands down the best action title of all time.
7. The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt ; Gwent. Do I really need to say more?
8. Resident Evil Remake HD ; This was my first time playing the original RE and I absolutely loved it. No doubt I'll be playing this game for years.
9. Assassin's Creed Syndicate ; This was my first AC on current gen platforms and I really liked it. There are still rooms for lots of improvements but overall I think people should give this game a try. It's really fun and AC-ish in a good way.
10. Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain ; As a MGS fan this game was a huge disappointment for me. But still, gameplay is really solid and enjoyed it as a top notch TPS (even if the actual world and missions were boring) so it deserves to be maintained here.

Honorable Mentions:
x. Batman Arkham Knight ; Same with MGS V. A little disappointing coming from Arkham City but I still liked it.

I still have a few games that I haven't played (like Tales from Borderlands) so I might change some of these later and probably add more honorable mentions.

 

[wiibomb]

1. Bloodborne ; incredible game in many aspects, on the artistic side this game is one of the best examples of how a Victorian themed game should be made, on the atmospheric side this game manages from little things like dead bodies on the ground and walls as big things like the thick fog or the darkness of all environments, this game manages to capture a horror game like not many other have accomplished to get. The combat is well thought with balancing mechanics that assumes the user on an intelligent level, punishes mistakes hard and makes the successful times very rewarding. Takes the intellect of its players on a level few games have ever tried to do with an story that is incredibly cohesive although very well hidden in every corner, an story so complex it needs every little detail given in their many hints set up in the whole game. Incredibly memorable boss fights take that icing on the cake that makes this a whole new cake for those who have not tried a souls game, giving a new sense about the significance of each of the different boss encounters, with very vast and different meanings on the whole story.

2. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ; this game takes the monster hunter universe to a whole new level, here in this franchise, the bosses are the kings of the content, and what better game that MH4U to demonstrate that than the incredible amount of 98 different monsters thousands of armors and weapons for both your hunter and also your felyne companion (palico), this game takes it pretty further into its content to also tried to give out randomly generated content in order to keep itself fresh with quest that level up themselves to keep getting harder with each time. A monster hunter game with some of the most memorable fights with likes of legends as Fatalis while bringing new events like Shagaru Magala. New mechanics of combat make this game one of the most polished games in the 15 years of the franchise, given a very delicate balance that make most of them even. This Monster Hunter is the biggest the franchise has ever get in any of the past games in its existence, and that is no small feat.

3. Splatoon ; take all the shooter genre games and try to make something new and... fresh, your Nintendo answer is Splatoon, a game with refined mechanics and increasing content to keep everyone that gets it in a continuous service of different content to try in a lot of weeks of every month. a shooter game that tried to be more inclusive that only guns as brushes, rollers and buckets make this game even more appealing with its own variety. Different maps with even crazier mechanics and different approaches defies the mind to think different on everyone of them to make a success. Armors and equipment well balanced for those who need to keep a continuous progress of the game but also keeping it even for those with enough skill. All of this game and everything mentioned above is nothing is the game itself cannot keep up with its own thematic atmosphere, and Splatoon accomplishes this incredibly well, with its own post-apocalyptic theme going eternally itself, keeping the player grabbed on its cool vibe.

4. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Gameplay is king in this game. Fast and agile movements with different controls for each situation, mechanics to keep getting each of the encounter different with enough thought while keeping a increasing interaction of the different elements in the environment as one progresses and make more weapons and situations work together. Legitimately thrilling experiences as the missions makes the player tackle in different situations, some chaotic, some narrative and others complex on themselves. The sorry while incomplete makes a new angle to the typical Metal Gear narrative while trying to make itself work for an open world environment which in turn is new to the franchise as a whole. An excellent game to set off the franchise to end the storyline.

5. Super Mario Maker ; The biggest turn around of the year, a game nobody expected to be worth the $60 price tag, yet it made itself clear about its content and possibilities. Mario Maker tries the same old formula of the Mario Bros and saga, but now give the player total control about how it should go, making clear how wonderful creations can a single player level be if it is well thought. This game not only makes its past tools available for everyone else to try, it also makes new mechanics for the sake of new experiences, making the (already big) mario universe even bigger with more elements new for the saga, it even goes further to keep track of the players demands and making updates with more content for those who wanted even more tricks. All the creation experience would be a total waste if the game would take the level making too confusing or even unfun, yet Mario Maker takes it to a level where even little children would make levels entertained, from some simple giggles to even the background music playing in sync with the making progress. Mario Maker is everything what all other creating tools should be: a fun experience.

 

[mindsale]

Fixed the formatting.

1. Metal Gear Solid 5 ; Superb, in spite of its shortcomings. Imagine if Kojima had a publisher other than Konami.
2. Batman Arkham Knight ; Still filmic even with Troy Baker noticeably voicing 90% of the characters.
3. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection ; Do remasters count? The mailroom staff at Naughty Dog are better writers than creative directors at any other developer.
4. Fallout 4 ; For a game that frequently discusses robots overtaking their human counterparts, every character looks straight out of the uncanny valley. The least janky Bethesda product yet, with a beautiful score, humor, and gameplay.
5. Hearthstone: Blackrock Mountain / League of Explorers ; My kids will never go to college because of this game.
6. Disgaea 5 ; This is the pinnacle of turn-based SRPG's. Wonderful gameplay. Great colors. Fanciful, albeit trite, story.
7. Undertale ; Masterful soundtrack and characters. One of the few "funny games" that actually delivers laughs.
8. Ori and the Blind Forest ; The first five minutes of this game can be expressed mathematically as Bambi's Mom divided by the square root of Simba's dad.
9. Rise of the Tomb Raider ; It's the same game as the one before it, mechanically. The new backdrops are pretty, I suppose. Why can't Lara dual-wield pistols?
10. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; The story, characters, and music are so bad they're somewhere between Sy-Fy original movie and after-school special. But good Christ is there joy in the exploration.

 

[ultranova17]

1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; One of the most realized and believable worlds I've ever played. Everything felt like it was naturally shaped by the world's history. A fitting end to the trilogy of Geralt of Rivia.
2. Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance ; I feel it has the best story and characters in the series, and did a great job with continuing to refine the fantastic Disgaea gameplay.
3. Undertale ; One of the few games that transcends its basic artstyle and gameplay to deliver something extremely unique and moving.
4. Bloodborne ; Altering the combat from the Souls series to be faster and more offense oriented was a big success.
5. Super Mario Maker ; This has given me a huge appreciation for how difficult it is to create a good Mario level and shows how good Nintendo's level designers were.
6. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Open world stealth gameplay was a great move for modernizing MGS's combat.
7. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; An extremely unique world that makes you feel like you are truly on an alien planet. I like the crazy amount of customization and systems there are.
8. Fallout 4 ; I like how Bethesda made all the junk items matter, and I think the settlements and weapon mods are good ideas.
9. Pillars of Eternity ; Some great lore and world-building, and the gameplay grabbed me, even though I've never put any real time into the old Infinity Engine games.
10. Cities: Skylines ; Having never played SimCity, this felt like a sequel to SimCity 4. Building efficient roads is hard

 

[waitwhat42]

1. Bloodborne ; This was my first 'Souls' style RPG. What initially drew me to the game was the atmosphere and the setting; what made the game my favorite of 2015 was how fully realized, gorgeous, and detailed every inch of Yharnam was. I did find the game to be pretty tough, but I always wanted to see the next labyrinthine area, the next terrifying beast, the next unspeakable horror.

2. Fallout 4 ; I loved Fallout 3. I love Bethesda's open worlds. Fallout 4 is more of the same of what has come before it, in many ways good and bad. What set's Fallout 4 apart are the ridiculously addicting settlement building mechanics. Making junk matter effectively leveraged the open world design of Bethesda's Fallout universe. It made stumbling into a room full of medical equipment, surgical trays, and glass beakers way more exciting than it has any reason to be. It made worth exploring the wonderfully colorful and deranged Commonwealth. Having a base of operation in every corner of the map that was truly yours from the ground up is really rewarding.

3. Metal Gear Solid V ;

4. Until Dawn ;

 

[Ralemont]

1. Metal Gear Solid V ; It's the best gameplay of its type or any similar type I've played. While the story is disappointing for a Metal Gear, I'd still consider it, at worst, mediocre (and we'll always have Mission 43). It was a blast developing new equipment and Mother Base and crafting an infiltration style that never stopped being fun. The attention to detail is insane and rewards experimenting with the numerous tools you've developed.

2. Rocket League ; Coming out of nowhere, RL is the perfect multiplayer game. Easy to understand but extremely difficult to master, it serves both as a stellar game to play with buddies on a drinking night in or as a test of teamwork and execution.

3. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate: If you play one AC game, make it this one. Leveraging all the QoL improvements the AC series has made without any of the dreadful feature bloat that torpedoed Revelations, 3, and 4 to some extent, Syndicate fulfills the dev team's promise to focus on just having fun. Not only are the more mundane, repeatable activities less aggravating than before, but there's actually a dirth of story-driven open world content that reminds me of Red Dead Redemption, if such a game took place in a single city.

4. Resident Evil: Revelations 2 ; Rev 2 finds a nice middle ground between campy action and suspenseful horror that's been missing since Resident Evil 4. Throw in an innovative and fun partner system and the best story the series has seen, and you've got a formula for a great RE that was only $25 on release.

5. Rainbow Six: Siege ; Siege is stellar at what it does: a focused Socom that rewards teamwork and cooperation to an unbelievable degree. Every round you feel like you've made a difference for your team, whether that be positive or negative. There's no feeling like being the last man standing and everyone watching you.

Still playing through a few contenders so I'll likely be adding to this in the next month (sadly I doubt I'll have time for TW3).

 

[RDreamer]

1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; Witcher 3 stands tall as one of my favorite games of all time right now, especially after the amazing DLC. The rest of the games on this list can't even come close.
2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Gameplay was amazing and almost makes up for the disappointment of the story.
3. Batman: Arkham Knight ; Some good, some bad. Ultimately I liked the game, but I wish there was less emphasis on the bat mobile. The story went places that I liked, though.
4. Fallout 4 ; Addicting game, and would have been much higher if the writing wasn't a complete goddamned mess.
5. The Order: 1886 ; It's short, and that's why it's a bit lower, but I honestly loved the gameplay, story, and my overall experience through the game.
6. Final Fantasy Type-0 HD ;
7. Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster ;


Overall I feel I didn't play a lot of games this year, but part of that is because I spent somewhere around 150+ hours in Witcher 3, 100 hours in MGSV, 80 in Arkham Knight, and now near 100 in Fallout 4.

 

[lt519]

My list, as always, focuses around games that were a joy to play and kept me smiling. A good story and beautiful looking game can only move a game up the rankings, it typically doesn't put it in my rankings. Ultimately enjoyment is paramount and I mostly derive that from a non-quantifiable metric that is a mixture between pure game-play and emotions evoked from that game-play. Sadly being a Nintendo fan, besides Super Mario Maker, the list is devoid of anything Nintendo. Games I have played this year.

1. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Quite possibly my favorite game of all time. Easily the best metroidvania I've ever played but it also learns from all the greats. The flow of levels and tight controls are learnt from 2D Mario games but combine the freedom of exploration and upgrades of a Super Metroid game. New mechanics like the bash move were brilliantly executed and created complex and challenging platforming sequences. The art and music are some of the best I have ever seen and the story is really heartfelt. It might be the only game that really combines all those aspects together seamlessly. Great amount of difficulty mitigated by allowing save points anywhere in the game so it never gets to frustrating. But most importantly there has been no game this year or this generation that has made me smile/feel more. I can't really explain it, the game just made me giddy. I actually sat on the floor and played it in front of my TV like I was 5 year old me experiencing Super Mario World or Super Metroid for the first time again.

2. Fallout 4 ; The wasteland has never been so fun. Story and leaps of logic behind, Fallout 4 was still the best universe to explore and play in this year. The side stories were the highlight here. Finding an abandoned dig site only to find it is haunted by its cultist past through logs left behind was as fun as ever. It's the world I got lost in most this year. I just couldn't stop exploring.

3. Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition ; Wow am I glad I gave this game a shot. It basically has the game play of my dream RPG. The story was OK and the inventory management got cumbersome but the game play is top notch. Turn based tactical free-form movement with intermixed enemy/player turns was all I could ask for. Then they made status effects actually useful along with environments that heavily factor into the battles. Character building was incredibly flexible. If only every RPG could use this system!

4. Destiny: The Taken King ; Despite all it's flaws this is the one shooter that still shoots the best and also the most social game I've played all year. There's no other feeling on consoles like it when you triumph in a raid for the first time with a 6 man fire team. My initial trip through The Taken King was an outstanding trip full of surprises, teamwork, and friendship. The post game suffers, but you can't really complain when the ride there was so enjoyable.

5. Journey ; My first time experiencing it on the PS4 and the attachment I formed to other players I've never spoken to or seen before was really something special. I immediately played it again collecting all the items and then again to sherpa some new folks through. The joy someone expresses through the emotes when you show them a well hidden secret is always so heart warming. Despite all that, the game as a solo experience is still very enjoyable and tightly controlled.

6. Bastion ; My first time experiencing the game and I just loved the twin stick shooter like mechanics. Multiple play-throughs being rewarded with adjustable difficulties through idols made the game play constantly fresh and interesting. I love arena modes and the score attack mode made me play through this game 3 times.

7. OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood ; What a love/hate relationship. I completed every mission on amateur but was only able to finish every level on Pro. Want a hard game? Just finishing all the levels on Pro in this game is quite the accomplishment, let alone getting all the missions done. Basically a 2D Tony Hawk with incredibly fun visuals, music, and level design. Improving on the original in every way imaginable.

8. SteamWorld Heist ; I'm not quite done with this game but it's unique game play has already earned it a spot on my Top 10 list. 2D XCOM with a bullet ricochet mechanic, what more could you want? Update: Finished this and I'm real tempted to swap it with OlliOlli2.

9. Rocket League ; Not much to say about this one. Just a fantastic game to play with some friends full of enjoyment. Would have been ranked higher had playing alone been a bit more fun and had the community been a little less toxic (the chat is disgusting sometimes)

10. Super Mario Maker ; I loved being a creator and I loved playing other people's creations. The creation tool was executed flawlessly. Getting people to actually play your levels and/or finding good mario levels (not auto-play, gimmicky) was too much of a problem.

x. Undertale ; I get the love for it. I really do. The unique take on RPGs with a great story, soundtrack and script. The game play mechanic was neat with dodging real-time attacks. But that's just it, a neat and unique experience. I can't find it a spot above any of the games on my list up there because it wasn't more fun to play than those. It's not something I was incensed to keep playing after beating or even to revisit anytime in the future. I did want to give it a shout-out though because if I could have 11 games it'd be right there.
x. Gunman Clive 2 ; Short and sweet. Cheap game that everyone should play if they have a chance. I was just so short and sweet that I can't remember much about it except that it was a really fun game.
x. The Talos Principle ; Immensely satisfying puzzle game with a very good story and sense of humor. Scratched that Portal itch I've had since Portal 2. The game fails to introduce new fun concepts towards the end so it does drag a bit relying on elements from the first 30 puzzles to keep the last 30 puzzles relevant. Yet to play the DLC or go for the bonus stars.

I think Xenoblade Chronicles X may have made the list if I had a chance to play them. What an incredible year for gaming for a game like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker or Yoshi's Wooly World to not even make it to my Honorable Mentions.

 

[KodaRuss]

1. Bloodborne ; I love the souls series and had pretty high expectations for this game and it surpassed them in almost every way. The combat system with each weapon having two different forms was sublime. The world that was created just oozed with atmosphere and I was enthralled. As you progressed from area to area there were new enemies that you had to develop new tactics for, not many games ever come close to that. Still need to get to the DLC but I could not have wanted anything else for it. Got the Platinum and it was amazing experience.
2. Rocket League ; I remember watching the video and thinking, that looks pretty cool Ill give it a try but after the first game I was hooked. Playing games with friends and watching the replays were really a lot of fun. Looking forward to more DLC in the future.
3. Metal Gear Solid 5 ; I really enjoyed having an open world stealth game where I could stealth into any base/outpost whenever I wanted. The companions were a nice addition as well. Looks like this is the end for MGS so it ended on a good note.
4. Fallout 4 ; I understand a lot of the complaints about this game but there is not a better game world to explore imo. I have not yet completed the game yet but I am around 40-50 hours played.
5. Destiny: The Taken King ; This was a great expansion and Bungie did a great job on the raids and strikes which are the best parts of the game. Doing any Destiny raid for the first time is a very cool experience unlike any other game.
6. Rainbow Six Siege ; Currently really hooked on this game. We have been missing a tactical shooter for a while now (at least on consoles) and this game is a breath of fresh air. I like the unique operators and their abilities to infiltrate or defend the objective. There is not many games that get your heart pounding as well as this one, you get one life so you better not F it up. Looking forward to playing this game more over the holidays and in 2016 as they are adding more and more operators from other countries.
7. Batman: Arkham Knight ; Good end to the trilogy. Loved all the villains that you could go after and the stories of finding them and capturing them for the most part. There were a coupe that could have used a little more action/story. I enjoyed the Batmobile for the most part

Spoiler

Except for the awful Deathstroke fight which was just dumb

. Really looking forward to whatever Rocksteady does next.
8. Hotline Miami 2 Wrong Number ; Loved the first one and got the platinum trophy. The music and gameplay are excellent. At first I could not get behind the changes with the focus on guns while having much larger rooms (at least perceived focus on guns) but the game really challenged my play style from the first one and I ended up really liking that. It could have been more of the same but they did change it up with the abilities of the four characters which created some amazing chaos.
9. Dying Light ; Day/Night Cycle was a great way to break the norm of this type of game. Techland did a great job with the melee combat and created a really fun parkour system that just works really well. The story was alright but everything else was fun and really top notch.
10. Star Wars : Battlefront ; A great game to pick up and play with some friends for a while. Unbelievable sound, graphics and really put you in the Star Wars movies. Playing as the heroes and jumping into AT-STs is a really cool experience.

Those are the games that I could get to this year. Soma is one that would probably be on my list (I believe) if I had time to play it.

 

[paragonpro]

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt I was never a huge Witcher fan before this game, I dabbled in 2 and thought it was fine but this game made me a fan. Over 100 hours deep and it may be one of the best rpg's to date. Its highly detailed open world and quest structure, as well as the multitude of brilliantly written characters put some other games to shame. In playong through the DlC now and loving every minute of it.

2. Ori and the Blind Forest I absolutley am in love this game. From its tight gameplay to its impossibly gorgeous visual and a score that could bring anyone to tears, Ori is a master class of the metroidvania genre. Its the perfect mix of tough but fair and the story is very moving. Id like to meet one person who was able to hold back a tear in the beggining.

3. Life is Strange so the funny thing about this game is that it didnt click with me right off the bat. I played episode one when it first came out but was it just wasnt for me. It wasnt until a few months later when my buddy started talking about how great it was that I went back to it and boy am I glad I did. life is strange is what happens when you take Juno, twin peaks, and a hint of silence of the lamba and mix them all togeather and its brilliant all around. The game has some of the most supremely emotional moments in all of gaming this year (looking at you "beggining of episode 4") all while being elevated by some of the best use of licensed music ive ever heard in a narrative driven game. Chloe and max are up there for me a long side Lee and clem, booker and elizabeth, sonic and tales, and mario and luigi as one of my favorite gaming duos.

4. Tales from the Boarderlands Fun fact, I really, really dislike the core boarderlands games. But I fucking loved tales from the boarderlands. It has some of the best characters of the year and feels a lot like a classic adventure movie. The game is also downright hilarious and is oozing woth charm. Troy Baker and Laura Bailey are amazing and rhyse and fiona. And we also get great performances from people like chris hardwick and Nolan North. The big thing for me in this game was characters. I fell in love with all of them and it was bitter sweet to reach the ending. I didnt want to say good bye to them. This is actually the first tell tale
Game ive ever immediatley started a second playthrough of. Its brilliant all around, even if like me you dislike boarderlands, i implore you not to miss this gem.

5. Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin I know ds2 doesnt have the best record here on gaf, so maybe its because this was my very first dark souls game or souls like game that I loved it so much. I knew this was a series I wanted to get into for a while, but I was intimidated and waited for the right time to jump in. i didnt own a ps4 actually until a few weeks ago so bloodborne was off the table for me earlier this year. I got this in april on xbox one and didnt put it down for nearly two
Months. This game sunk its claws into me in a way very few games have before. I feel like for the first time I finally understand the souls formula. The thrill of a battle, the mysterious droplets of plot found in item descriptions, and the almost enigmatic dialogue of the NPC's who often have a deeper message than what is initially said. Dark souls 2 sotfs was a master class in game design with areas that all had a story to tell. Because of this game, im playing blood borne right now and I cannot fucking wait for Dark souls 3. Id even like to play the first game should it become backwards compatible on xbox one.

Honorable mentions: Fallout 4, Metal gear solid v, Rare replay, Bloodborne, Forza 6.

 

[Incendiary]

I really love reading this thread. As a matter of fact....it got me interested in some games I never would have considered buying.
My own list will be up in a couple of days. Have to finish 2 more games

There are two reasons I love reading this thread. The first is to see the wide variety of games released during the year and just how different each and every person's taste is in gaming, because it's amazing how much you can miss if you only play certain games and it's nice to discover games you might have never even known existed.

The second is to see just how many GAFfers fail at OP reading comprehension.

Spoiler

Yes sometimes I like to watch the world burn.

 

[Vol5]

1. Bloodborne ; It's like From Software know exactly the type of game I love and transpose it onto a blu-ray disc for me to play. Astounding.
2. Metal Gear Solid 5 ; Swan song to the franchise. I haven't even finished it yet because I want to explore every inch of its world and every nuance of its gameplay.
3. Destiny : The Taken King ; Had my doubts about Destiny in general but TTK has me.
4. Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 ; Best footy game ever made.
5. Call of Duty : Black Ops 3 ; Probably not popular but the MP is actually very good.
6. Tearaway Unfolded ; Perfect family game
7. Batman Arkham Knight ; Can't beat the combat. Lots of fun.
8. GTA5 : Completed it again. It's too good not go.
9. Uncharted : The Nathan Drake Collection ; 2 & 3 are great. 1 not so much, but all running flawlessly at 60fps is worth the price of admission.
10. Hotline Miami 2 ; Same as before which is exactly what I wanted.

 

[Trago]

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; Most coherent open world game with side content that doesn't come off as filler. You can't say the same about other open world games released this year, and more to the point, it's simply one of the greatest games ever made. CDPR are up there with Nintendo, Looking Glass Studios, and Origin Systems as the top tier of top tier developers. I can't wait to play Cyberpunk 2077!

2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Even during Chapter II, this game kept my attention. It's about as good as an open world Metal Gear could get.

3. Shovel Knight ; Retro style game inspired by Megaman and other NES era classics? It's on my list be default!

4. Super Mario Maker ; This is the Wii U gamepad game of gamepad games. As far as I'm concerned, this game should have been bundled with the system at launch.

5. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; While this game doesn't quite live up to the first game, it's still a damn good game that stands on it's own as another classic under Monolithsoft's belt.


Honorable mention

x. Attack The Light - Steven Universe ; One of the few mobile games I've ever bought, this game is a simple but fun take on the mobile RPG with inspiration from Super Mario RPG. Based on the kick ass show, I love this game. Play it!

 

[The Rain King]

1. SOMA ; Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. The only game I've ever played that I held off on finishing because I just didn't want it to be over. Quite possibly the best level design I have ever come across, unbelievably good audio, music and sound cues, fantastic pacing of both gameplay and narrative and incredibly believable universe fleshed out with really convincing lore. The fact that SOMA manages to tackle deep philosophical questions maturely and not lose any of its gameplay pacing makes it easily my goty. I fully believe SOMA will stand the test of time as well as any game released this year. An all time classic in my book.

2. Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin ; Wasn't expecting much after reading so much negative opinion, but I loved it. A great RPG that, with all the DLC included, seemed to just keep going.

3. Bloodborne ; I don't think a game has ever had my heart racing as much as this one. Truly exhilarating.

4. Fallout 4 ; Took a while to click for me but when it did I was hooked.

5. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number ; It's more Hotline Miami.

6. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 ; Really fun and well balanced multiplayer.

7. Project CARS ; The immersive racing game I was looking for.

 

[Steve McQueen]

There are two reasons I love reading this thread. The first is to see the wide variety of games released during the year and just how different each and every person's taste is in gaming, because it's amazing how much you can miss if you only play certain games and it's nice to discover games you might have never even known existed.

The second is to see just how many GAFfers fail at OP reading comprehension.

Spoiler

Yes sometimes I like to watch the world burn.

Came here for the first as I wrote, but yes, your second reason is hard to miss Anyway....bought Life is strange, Undertale and Ori due to this thread. Will finish my list asap....with semicolons

 

[Dawg]

1. Bloodborne ; This game is an interesting new path for the Souls franchise. Like its older brothers, it presents the player with a semi-open world area that outshines most of its competitors. No more medieval landscaped though, we gothic now. The result of that choice is some much needed change of scenery. While you can still see this is a Souls game at heart, the game feels darker and more aggressive. The combat system is a good example of this. You move faster, but so do enemies. Everyone is a little more aggressive in Yharnam. I prefer this over the traditional Souls combat. I always felt like those games were a tad too slow. Bloodborne is quick, but not too quick. The balance is just right for me. It might not have as many iconic characters compared to the other games, but it makes up for that with a bunch of interesting bosses. I've played this game so much. I can still remember the entire map layout, every detail. Every time I died, I learned from my mistakes. And every victory is a special kind of accomplishment that only Souls games are able to give me. It's perhaps not the most innovative game of 2015 as it still relies a lot on the core formula of its predecessors... but it deserves this spot nonetheless.

2. The Witcher 3 ; I've been waiting for this game for years. I liked the first game and the sequel even more. When I got word of the third game, I was both excited and skeptical about the open world. In my opinion, an open world is a dangerous thing. It can improve a game, but it can easily make it feel more bland and uninteresting as well. I usually prefer tighter areas, such as the "open areas" we had in The Witcher 2. This way, a developer has more time to perfect each zone. But with this game, I'm glad to say the open world delivers. I would even say it features the best open world I've explored so far. Unlike so many other games, the entire game world actually feels alive. You meet new people and encounter random events all the time. And you'd think the story suffers from all the work they've put into the open world, but it really doesn't. Most RPG's these days fail to impress me with their story, but The Witcher 3 presents believable characters and a moral system that isn't "in your face" like most Western RPGs. Geralt is a very neutral character. He's no hero... he's a professional. And I like that about him. The fact he is able to seduce top-tier women is also a huge bonus.

3. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; I don't want to talk about it.

4. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; My first game on the Wii U and it instantly delivers. Big ass open world, tons of exploring to do, a sci-fi theme (which is rare as fuck in todays RPGs), a lot of customization and of course GUNS and MECHS. I'm also a big fan of the variety in the monster design and the level range in each zone. You can walk around and fight enemies around your level only to see much, much stronger creatures further ahead. It encourages coming back to these zones at a later time and I like that. Makes it so every zone doesn't just become this checkmark you write off once you leave it and never come back. I'm only about thirty hours in but this games really deserves a place on my list.

5. Until Dawn ; Imagine a David Cage game. Now imagine it actually being good with decent dialogue and believable characters.

6. Dark Souls II: Scholar of The First Sin ; I hadn't played this Souls game before and I'm glad I got a second chance with the PlayStation 4 version. I still haven't finished it (and my backlog is only getting worse) but from what I played, I can say I really dig the huge variety of zones in this one. It might not always make sense, but I personally love it. The boss design is a bit weaker compared to the other games (cheaper too) but that doesn't prevent me from still enjoying the fuck out of it. Putting this one on my list for two reasons: it deserves and it serves as a reminder that I really need to continue this soon.

7. Tales From The Borderlands ; Probably the best game Telltale has made so far. And yes, that includes The Walking Dead. It's fun, it has charm and the humor is just right. Loader bot is the best.

8. Need For Speed ; A flawed reboot of one of my favourite racing games, but a reboot I still love despite its issues. Perhaps out of nostalgia. It reminds me about the good old days of Underground where all you did was tune the shit of your car and defeat every single racer out there. This game has a lot of that, it even nails the tuner theme from back in the day, albeit with a more modern finish. I know a lot of people don't like the FMV story, the soundtrack and the always online system, but I am able to look past that. And when you do that, this is a really fun racing game that is currently still getting free updates that include new cars, music, tuning options and more. I can't complain.

9. Game of Thrones ; People don't understand. I just love despair, okay? And this game has a lot of that. It's the only Telltale game where the developers kill more than just the game performance.

10. Destiny: The Taken King ; Bit of a last minute addition. Just to close the gap. The expansion improved the entire game (imo) and was very fun to play when it released, but just like the original game, I can't keep on playing it. I have too many other games for that.

 

[Choomp]

I didn't get to fully play through the big releases I bought, but there are still some games that deserve a shoutout. Will update as I try to catch up with some of the favorites.

1. Ori and the Blind Forest; beautiful world, soundtrack. Intelligent, challenging, and fun platforming. Out of all the games I've played through fully this probably delivered the most and accomplished what they set out to do the best.
2. Life is Strange; Besides the underwhelming ending, my favorite episodic game I've played. Great use of the core mechanic, endearing characters and world, awesome soundtrack.
3. Super Mario Maker; You can make Mario levels and play other people's ahhhhh
4. Splatoon;
5. Axiom Verge;
6. Hotline Miami 2;
7. Yoshi's Wooly World;
8. Tales From the Borderlands;
9. Rocket League;
10. #IDARB;

 

[ironcreed]

1. The Witcher 3 ; The meticulous world and quest design makes it one of the greatest games I have ever played.

2. Bloodborne ; A branch off of the Souls design tree, with the sort of alien beyond comprehension level of Lovecraftian influence that I have been waiting ages for.

3. Rise of the Tomb Raider ; They took the formula from the last game and made everything bigger and better. Just a fantastic adventure from start to finish and it deserves so much more attention.

4. ESO ; Despite not being made by the ES team, it still gives me the feeling I love that comes from just being in those games. Fantastic MMO.

5. Dying Light ; The free running, crafting and laying waste to hordes of zombies never gets old.

 

[lt519]

Someone should cache this periodically so we can see how many people add Undertale and Ori to their list by the 23rd

That and only seeing SteamWorld Heist on 3 lists (including mine) so far is making me sad.

Can't wait to see the results of who you match up best with, my favorite part, and main reason I participate in this.

 

[kinaesthete]

Hey Cheesemeister or timetokill, any chance of including comments in the raw data for this year? I'd like to be able to run some tests on them looking for how often certain words and phrases appear for certain games, for example how often the word "fresh" appears in Splatoon reviews. Seems like it might be tricky for the parser to grab entire comments because of line breaks and all but if they are getting parsed and stripped out, maybe have a separate text file where they aren't?

 

[Zemm]

1. The Witcher 3 ; The best use of an open world so far
2. Tales from The Borderlands ; possibly the funniest game I've ever played
3. Bloodborne ;
4. Ori and the Blind Forest ;
5. Until Dawn ;
6. Destiny: Taken King ;
7. Life is Strange ;
8. Duck Game ; the best competitive game of the year
9. Splatoon ;
10. Rocket League ;

 

[maxcriden]

4. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D ; One of favorite N64 games with better textures and 60FPS. The improved inventory from OOT3D makes this the definitive way to play Majora's Mask.

Just as a point of clarification, MM3D is a solid 60 fps, which is still a massive improvement from the original. The only recent 60 fps Zelda was LBW. 😀

 

[Paulee]

1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; In the beginning of the year I played the 2. Game than read all the books and my hype was through the roof and witcher 3 delivert . Best rpg I ever played and best fantasy saga
2. Bloodborne ; Dark Souls is my favorite jrpg of all time and bloodborn is faster and darker but I didnt like most of the characters and the cheliss (?) dungeon because of this the game was too short
3. Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain ; My most hyped game gameplay deliverd story was great but not not complet and fuck konami
4. Batman: Arkham Knigh ; played the PC version was fine for me loved the story telling so many wow moments
5. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; love the setting love characters love the music needed more story
6. Rocket League ; 70 h in its like drugs but better
7. Undertale ; pretty impressive for an NES game
8. Splatoon ; its really fresh
9. Ori and the Blind Forest ; all those feelings those graphics
10. Fallout 4 ; kinda get tired of bethesda games

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

1. Bloodborne ; Miyazaki's Masterpiece. I already wrote a lengthy thread on this but Bloodborne is the culmination of everything From Software has learned as a development studio. Excellent world building and lore finally married together with the one thing missing: Exceptional combat. It is my GOTY and will likely be my GOTG as well.

2. Witcher 3 ; Witcher 3 really really grew on me. At first I absolutely loathed the combat especially coming from a game as tightly designed as BB. After a while though I learned to appreciate the tactical nature of the game and I even started to enjoy the melee. The real star is the world and characters that CDRP have created. The game is clearly a labor of love as it boasts an attention to detail that is rarely achieved in videogames. Even the sidequests and NPC's are fleshed out enough that you feel a real sense of urgency to help or hinder those you encounter in the game. Perhaps the best compliment I can give the game is that despite having an almost inexhaustible amount of content never once was it a chore to save the citizens of Rivia. Instead it was a world I relished when playing and missed when absent.

 

[RespectThySole]

2. Witcher 3 ; Witcher 3 really really grew on me. At first I absolutely loathed the combat especially coming from a game as tightly designed as BB. After a while though I learned to appreciate the tactical nature of the game and I even started to enjoy the melee. The real star is the world and characters that CDRP have created. The game is clearly a labor of love as it boasts an attention to detail that is rarely achieved in videogames. Even the sidequests and NPC's are fleshed out enough that you feel a real sense of urgency to help or hinder those you encounter in the game. Perhaps the best compliment I can give the game is that despite having an almost inexhaustible amount of content never once was it a chore to save the citizens of Rivia. Instead it was a world I relished when playing and missed when absent.

This guy gets it. Combat is great once you utilize your full toolset instead of treating it like a generic action game.

 

[sappyday]

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; One of the best RPGs ever made.
2. Bloodborne ; A lovely game. Souls is my favorite series but this game did not live up to Dark Souls 1 and cause of that I have to give it the #2 spot.
3. Life is Strange ; Such an emotional journey this game brought.
4. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Oh how I wish I could give this game my GoTy but I just can't. Quiet herself dropped this game to #4. Without her I would've put the game above LiS at the very least since the game is clearly unfinished.
5. Until Dawn ; This game was so much fucking fun.
6. Batman Arkham Knight ; Pretty good but not as good as City
7. Fallout 4 ; The biggest disappoint this year for me by far. But the only reason I put it here is cause I haven't played most games this year and I did have a lot of fun with with the town building mechanic.

 

[NIGHT-]

After reading this thread, I really need to grab Undertale, Soma, and Life is Strange. Got the LE for the latter preordered

 

[RespectThySole]

After reading this thread, I really need to grab Undertale, Soma, and Life is Strange. Got the LE for the latter preordered

Definitely grab Undertale! Such a refreshing game.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

I need Undertale to come out on the Vita so bad. I want a portable way to play that game.

 

[Bass260]

1. Splatoon ; My surprise of the year. It's simple but addictive gameplay kept me
hooked - I ended up putting over 150 hours into Splatoon. I also really enjoyed Nintendo's approach to adding content at a steady pace. It kept me coming back to Splatoon for awhile.

2. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; I love the world of XCX. It's vast as hell. That's it.

3. Super Mario Maker ;

4. Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D ;

5. Yoshi's Wooly World ;

6. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ;

7. Code Name: Steam ;

8. Super Pokemon Mystery Dungeon ;

 

[Denton]

I wish this thread was stickied and had "READ THE MOTHERFUCKING OP" in its title.

 

[Majmun]

I need Undertale to come out on the Vita so bad. I want a portable way to play that game.

Same here. Or even a console version. Not interested in PC gaming.

 

[AgentP]

1. Bloodborne
2. Destiny: TTK
3. Fallout 4
4. Dying Light
5. MGSV
6. Rocket League
7. Star Wars Battlefront
8. Batman Arkham Knight
9. The Order 1886


Game I got bored of, so never finished: Witcher 3
Just started, so no score: Until Dawn
Bought but haven't started: Mad Max

 

[Sullichin]

Same here. Or even a console version. Not interested in PC gaming.

It can run on a toaster tho.

There's at least one part of the game that relies on KB/M input. I'm sure he could re-do this to work with a controller though.

 

[RespectThySole]

Same here. Or even a console version. Not interested in PC gaming.

It's only 6-7 hours and it can run on basically any PC. I don't think it will come to console because there are a couple mechanics it uses that wouldn't work.

 

[newjeruse]

1. Bloodborne
2. Destiny: TTK
3. Fallout 4
4. Dying Light
5. MGSV
6. Rocket League
7. Star Wars Battlefront
8. Batman Arkham Knight
9. The Order 1886


Game I got bored of, so never finished: Witcher 3
Just started, so no score: Until Dawn
Bought but haven't started: Mad Max

You need to fix your formatting.

 

[Chronology]

1. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Lots has been already been said about the gameplay, but I loved how the story and overall narrative structure served the theme of the game and managed to make for the most thematically-involved entry since MGS2. The game could have used another 6 months or so, but even now it stands as one of my absolute favorites of all time.

2. Splatoon ; Hugely fun twist on existing shooter gameplay, and a surprisingly high quality single-player campaign as well. Great new IP, and can't wait to see more.

3. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number ; A wonderful expansion on the gameplay of the original, and a much more ambitious narrative undertaking as well. Also good christ that soundtrack.

4. Destiny: The Taken King ; Exactly what Destiny was supposed to be. Massive improvements from vanilla in both storytelling and gameplay variety, tons and tons of stuff to do, and a number of great QOL improvements. It says a lot about the game at its core and makes me excited about the future to see this turn out so well.

5. Star Wars Battlefront ; While a bit light on maps, Battlefront nails the hell out of the implacable Star Wars "feel" as a result of the tight gameplay and incredible soundscape. It's pretty, too.

6. Yoshi's Woolly World ; Probably my favorite Yoshi game since the original Yoshi's Island, and a masterclass in platformer level design. The visual style oozes charm as well, making this one of my favorite WiiU experiences so far.

7. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ; Accomplished the nigh-impossible task of finally being an accessible MH game that doesn't sacrifice depth.


Still haven't tried Life is Strange, Witcher 3, or Fallout, so my list might be incomplete, but that's where I stand right now.

 

[silva1991]

I need Undertale to come out on the Vita so bad. I want a portable way to play that game.

Same here. Or even a console version. Not interested in PC gaming.

It's not a demanding game and the full game supports controller.

go to Undertale's site and try the demo on your laptops and see if you can run it or not.

I'm just assuming you have some non gaming PCs.

 

[brau]

1. Bloodborne ; What no other game accomplished this year was a finaly tuned and well balanced game throughout its whole game. Even with DLC. A world full of interesting details, story and immersive atmosphere. Best game i had the challenge to play.
2. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; Best story, presentation and narrative. The Witcher told me a personal story that i felt very attached to. If only the gameplay was as tight as Bloodborne this would've been my GotY. But this game builds high expectations to the Cyberpunk.
3. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; One of the biggest surprises for me. Specially for being a wiiU title. I am loving this game. expansive world, interesting combat, lovely design in a beautiful world.
4. Dark Dreams Don't Die PC ; A personal fav, and easily one of my fav games of all time. This game might not be as good as Deadly Premonition in scale. But its an amazing experience everyone should try. There is nothing like it, and its something i hope other people can learn and borrow ideas from. I love SWERYS work.
5. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate N3DS ; after 350 hrs of this game and still looking forward to more hrs. There is just nothing like it.
6. Until Dawn ; What a game. One that had little expectations with high curiosity turned out to be one of the most memorable games i have played this year. One that i could play with my wife and still find it a thrilling experience. From cliches something really awesome was fleshed out. With tight controls, intersting dialogue, scenarios, beautiful locations. The game is just something i hope we see more in the horror genre.
7. Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void ; More Starcraft. The game is just bliss. I just wish i had more time to play it.
8. Rocket League ; Funny, and competitive. A game that i had no idea would be ok, tried it on PS+ only to find myself having tons of fun.
9. Mad Max ; What a great game.One that i lost myself into exploring the world and just discovering the wasteland by myself. Really great open world, with a lot of interesting places to go.
10. Splatoon ; My fav competitive game after Rocket League. I hope to see more new IPs born for Nintendo. It seems its been a lacking year for them.

Honorable Mentions
x. Kings Quest ; Lovely entry.
x. The Order: 1886 ; Even with the limited gameplay, i still think the production in the game was amazing. Story was alright, and the time i spent with the game was pretty memorable. I had a lot of fun and left wishing that Resident Evil games learned a bit about presentation and narrative presented here.
x. Destiny: The Taken King ; Probably one of the games i spent the most time in. TTK is what Destiny should've been like. I had tons of fun, only to be turned off by what it will become.
x. Just Cause 3 ; If it wasn't for the loading times and the cut from gameplay this game would be in my top 10. A game that has a lot of core issues that i hope get ironed out with updates.
x. Soma ; The game that introduced me to PKD. That alone should make this game my GOTY edition. Because i freaking love PKD. Thanks to those guys in the thread encouraging me to read his wonderful work.
x. Fallout 4 ; A game that i get lost in. Even with all its flaws, i am one that enjoys the modding and the dense world with its interesting setting and story... adn i don't mean the story. After 51 hrs i have reached Diamond City, and didn't care to explore it, instead went to explore the rest of the world. I like that in a game.
x.Batman: Arkham Knight ; A highly polished game. Had a lot of fun but at a time where the formula starts to get stale. If it wasn't for Mark Hamills amazing performance i might have not looked forward to more of the game.

 

[Xando]

1. The Witcher 3 ; Probably the best RPG i've played. Loved the story of Geralt and the eastern european style of these games.
2. MGSV ; Great Game even though the story was kind of disappointing.
3. Rocket League ;
4. Xenoblade Chronicles X ;
5. Call Of Duty Black Ops 3;
6. Posting Simulator 2015 ;
7. Batman Arkham Knight ;
8. Fallout 4 ;
9. GTAV ;
10. Dying Light ;

 

[Branniganz Love]

1. Rocket League ; Rocket League is like sex, you don't have to be good at it to enjoy it, lol. Seriously though RL is such an insanely fun game, I can't stop playing it.
2. Dark Souls 2: SOTFS ; SOTFS was my first entry into a souls game and it was amazing. I've gone back and played Dark Souls now and while I agree 1 is better then 2 I will always have a special place for this game. I have literally spent hundreds of hours in Drangleic this year.
3. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Beautiful game, art, music. I enjoyed the hell out of Ori.
4. Elite: Dangerous ; Scratches that itch for space games in all of the right ways.
5. Halo 5: Guardians ; I really enjoyed all of the new movement options and spartan abilities added to Halo 5, when I play other FPS now I find myself wanting to be able to move the way I do in Halo now. Really solid multiplayer as well.
6. Rare Replay ; Such an awesome collection of great games, I've sat down with my son and was able to show him what video games were like when I was a kid and he thinks it is really cool. Blast Corps!!!
7. Star Wars Battlefront ; Battlefront is honestly much better then I thought it would be, it just looked too shallow. Once I played it though the game just clicked for me even if it is a little content thin.

Sad to say there are more games that I would like to add to the list but just haven't been able to play yet, Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Tomb Raider, Mario Maker, Forza 6 and Yoshi's Wooly World. I feel all of those games would have stood a strong chance of getting on my list.

 

[JumpJeff84]

That and only seeing SteamWorld Heist on 3 lists (including mine) so far is making me sad.

.

I haven't picked it up yet. I plan to grab it after Christmas sometime though, even though I didn't like Steamworld Dig for more than 90 minutes, Heist looks right up my alley

 

[RexNovis]

Here's what the program read in for you:



It didn't pick up your comment for Star Wars: Battlefront for some reason. I'll have to debug.

EDIT: Found the bug. Here's what it reads for your Battlefront comment now. HTML tags are stripped out by the parser.

Thanks! Any reason why it's listing "Rogue Galaxy" as "Rebel Galaxy"? I meant the Rogue Galaxy PS2 rerelease on PS4 not the downloadable Rebel Galaxy game.

 

[johnnydrama]

1. The Witcher 3 ; One of the greatest RPGs ever made, a beautifully realized open world, and my new all time favorite. Masterclass in quest design, world building, and storytelling. I'm gonna keep it short, but this game is an absolute masterpiece. I had fun with some other games this year, but this one was an experience like none other, and nothing else comes close. I've yet to play the DLC, so it's only going to get better.

2. Bloodborne ; Solid gameplay, intelligent level design, beautiful art, and overall a very satisfying gaming experience. My first Miyazaki game, and I can't wait for Dark Souls 3.

3. Rise of the Tomb Raider ; Loved it on the Xbox. Can't wait to replay it on PC.

4. Life is Strange ;

5. Batman Arkham Knight ;

6. Until Dawn ;

7. Assassin's Creed Syndicate ;

8. Metal Gear Solid V ;

9. Halo 5 ;

10. Volume ;

 

[paradox121]

1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; Here's how you do an open-world game. The Witcher 3 is a densely packed, gorgeous adventure that knows when to sprawl and to be huge, and when to be small and intimate. It's a game that values story as much as it values gameplay, weaving the two together and finding ways to shift up both. It's long without overstaying its welcome. Its big without feeling empty. Everything just works. And I say all this having played it way back at release, before the numerous patches and extra DLC were released that only served to make the game that much more. The Witcher 3 makes you care about its characters and its world, and that's such a hard act to juggle that needs to be heralded at every opportunity

2. Super Mario Maker ; Right around the time people started taking down levels they'd uploaded in order to add patches, fixing aspects that had been crowd sourced by prospective players, the thought struck me - Super Mario Maker is some meta-level shit. This has gone above and beyond a standard make-your-own-level game, and become some weird microcosm of gaming. And that's mainly thanks to the sheer accessibility, both of Mario as a game and the creation tools on offer. Everything is just simple. Which conversely doesn't speak to the sheer amount of variety and intelligent creation that has been on show so far. Mario as a game feels so vanilla now. And yes, the music levels and auto-players are everywhere, but the fact that so many people could make so many versions of that is proof of just how open the game is. Mario Maker is so much more than its components, but its the endless ways in which people find to put those together that make the game such a wonder.

3. Splatoon ; Leave it up to Nintendo to make a shooter fun again. There are many reasons why Splatoon shouldn't work and yet it does. It's a game about painting for crying out loud. And yet everything just gels. It's fun and fast paced and insane. but most of all its a lesson in how to create a cohesive video game. From music, to visuals, to characters, everything just clicks together as if its been that way for years. It's Nintendo in that way that clearly years of thought went in to so many aspects, and yet on the surface you barely notice. Splatoon is a joy through and through and just makes you feel so damn good.

4. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Let me start with the negatives. MGS5's story is poop. Straight up, poop. It's characters are either tediously boring, confusingly erratic, or what surely must be a single-handed attempt to destroy all hope of having normal, female characters in the medium. But weirdly all of that just feels like window dressing. Which isn't something you think would be true of a MGS game. But strip out anything related to the story and suddenly you have something special. The game part of MGS5 is where it shines. Everything just works so well together. It's a game that allows you to do pretty much anything and ensures you have a great time doing it. And if that's where all the work went, then that's pretty much OK with me. (Also the microtransactions are poop)

5. Her Story ; I love a good indie game that comes out of nowhere. I'm pretty sure no one was talking about Her Story a month before its release and, perhaps disappointingly, people weren't really talking about it a month after. Which isn't to speak of its quality so much as its self-contained-ness. Her Story tells the story it wishes to tell, leaves a few things hanging, and that's that. No obvious route for a sequel, no bigger ramifications for this company or that. Her Story plays with the idea of a narrative, messes with what is expected of a game, and gets you to engage with it in a way that very few things do. You're not so much breaking down a story as you are human language, analysing the patterns that people speak in, and trying to work out how we structure a conversation. Her Story is a unique little thing, special because it exists way over there, quietly sitting in a corner, changing the gaming world in its own little way.

6. Until Dawn ; Well this is a weird one. Until Dawn was about as far off my radar as a game could possibly be. Horror movies are passing interests to me at best, and any game that feels like its marketed on the fact that they got Hayden Panettiere isn't going to hold my interest. So why did I end up playing this during those long summer nights? And why did I start avoiding bathroom mirrors for two weeks afterwards for fear of things jumping out? I'm still not sure. But whatever the case, I enjoyed my time a lot. There are way too many jump scares, and there are frequently times when options that cause death don't make horror movie sense, let alone logical sense, but still, the game hits its mark and more, and for a game I had zero expectations about, that's all the more to its credit.

7. Bloodborne ; I love that Bloodborne is as popular as it is. By all rights it shouldn't be. It should be some niche, forgotten title that only a fair few people wax lyrical about, while everyone else just nods at them politely. But I feel like the popularity of the Souls series (yes, Bloodborne is included in that, get over it) is testament to how beautifully crafted they all are. They make you feel good by making you feel terrible. And Bloodborne proudly continues that tradition, only with loads more eyes on everything. It's a shame Bloodborne also happened to be the fourth Souls game I played in the space of three years, meaning that by the end the burnout started to drag proceedings down (I started to just sprint through areas because why not). But Bloodborne keeps you coming back... by murdering you hundreds of times.

8. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; There are times when I'm convinced Xenoblade doesn't actually want you to play it. It punishes you so frequently, or sets you such curiously insurmountable tasks that I frequently stopped and wondered if I was missing something. Because, to be fair, there's a hell of a lot you could potentially miss. Which is what makes the game so great. In some ways it feels like an MMO that has been capped off, so while the world is distressingly huge, and the missions are often tedious, there is some sort of end goal out there, somewhere. I hope. In spite of everything Xenoblade remains one of the games that I feel just has a lot of dedication and love poured into every ounce of it. I may begrudge some of the choices, but stuff like world design, enemy variety, storytelling and sheer amount of dialogue more than make up for it. People clearly cared for this, and I think that outshines everything else.

9. Batman: Arkham Knight ; If there was one theme that subtley played through this year it'd be current-gen sequels to well-loved games that perhaps didn't set the world on fire as much as they should have. Fallout 3, Just Cause 2 and the Batman Arkham games were some of the major hits from the last batch of consoles, and so it's strange that each had respective sequels this year that were good, great even...but that's about it. All of which is to say Arkham Knight is another great Batman game. It's a visually stunning, intelligently made, straight up fun game that is a fantastic send off to series (yeah right). I fall on the side of thinking the Batmobile is more trouble than its worth, but, hey, I stuck around and got every one of those damn Riddler trophies so it must've been doing something right.

10. Lara Croft Go ; A mobile game?! What blasphemy! But Go makes my list perhaps mostly because it is a prime example of what a mobile game should be - a perfectly distilled, refined game that knows its format's constraints while also pushing the boundaries on what you expect out of something that costs less than a cup of coffee. In the same way that something like The Room works because it feels like this small, intricate thing that you can hold in your hand, Go works as a beautiful diorama, a puzzle-based representation of those tombs good ol' Crofty likes to raid so much. It's clever, addictive, and doesn't outstay its welcome.

 

[Koh]

1. Bloodborne ; my first souls game, I honestly can't remember what spurred me to buy this. Whatever or whomever put this on my radar, I'm so grateful.

I spent 7 hours gleefully failing to even get to the first boss. What a strange thing to say, but it's the truth. (Screw those double werewolves). During that time I did not unlock the ability to level up my character. Time wasted? No. I was leveling up my skill and knowledge.

Spoiler

Father

G was another roadblock for me, but beating him led me on a 1-and-done streak to

Spoiler

ebretias

(who promptly smacked my ego down again).

Getting the plat was such fun, and I feel bad for those who skipped the chalice dungeons. The material grinding was dumb, but those bosses!!!

This game is near perfect for me. The aggressive play, the tight mechanics, setting, atmosphere, enemies. I cannot recommend it enough for those who enjoy overcoming challenges.

2. Rocket League ; I hate soccer. I hate driving games. I love rocket league. It's an easy to play hard to master game, perfect for families and parties. While I haven't grasped the flying mechanics, I'm perfectly happy chasing the ball around like a noob.

3. Ori and the Blind Forest ; great art, sold mechanics, and fun exploration. The game continued to surprise me with mechanics and scenarios as I played through. My only complaint is that it gates off areas after certain events and now I'm stuck with 99% completion. I hate that.

4. Sound Shapes ; very LTTP here and not sure if it qualifies. However, this PS+ game was fantastic. If you missed it like me, it's worth a download. Again the recurring theme of overcoming challenges shows in my list. I loved how the music played into your platforming. In those tough levels I was "singing" with it to know when to jump.

5. Super Meat Boy ; another PS+ game I somehow missed for years. A great platformer with some unfortunate boss fights. I actually haven't finished the last level yet.

6. Grow Home ; people ragged on this as a bad PlayStation port, but I found it a refreshing game reminiscent of my childhood obsession with 3d platformers.

7. Olliolli2: welcome to olliwood ; tough as nails to get the control scheme in your head, but super fun once it clicks. Not a fan of some of the challenge types, but the standard missions were excellent.

8. Destiny: The Taken King ; I enjoyed the new quests and new raid. However, the game lacked exotics and my interest waned once again. I'll be going back to do the racing at some point, but I broke the addiction for now

Just started The Witcher 3 and Wolfenstein. Hope to add them into my list before the deadline, but time is running out.

What high profile games did I play that I don't think deserve a spot (even though I didn't fill my top 10)? Batman arkham knight and star wars battlefront. Both for the reasons commonly mentioned on GAF.

 

[privitsan02]

1. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt; this is the best game I've played this generation and is exactly what I've wanted out of the Zelda franchise since the original on the NES and Ocarina of Time on the N64. The role playing elements are sublime, the adventure elements are amazing given how vast the world is and the story is absolutely amazing with its character developments and relationships. Its the best example of taking an open world and filling it with content while still having some of the best narratives in gaming to date. It's an amazing experience and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys gaming. It's an incredibly slow start but when the game picks up, its hard to stop going back to it.

2. Destiny: The Taken King; I loved the beta of Destiny, however upon hearing about the lack of content prior launch, I never jumped onto the game. This was until a week before The Taken King was released. This is one of the most exciting and mysterious games I've ever played. While I'm not much of an MMO gamer, the MMO lite elements really bring in the casual gamer's and the ability to tell stories through our own experiences is an amazing feeling. The update and expansion really makes the game world feel alive and the improved loot and upgrade system really take the best of both shooter and rpg elements. Destiny has the makings to become one of the biggest deals in the future if they can get their act together.

3. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3; I used to be a huge Call of Duty fan. From Modern Warfare, MW2, Black Ops and Black Ops 2, I absolutely loved the series. While Advanced Warfare had an exciting single player, I never got into the multiplayer and its been 3 years since I got back behind the gun. This is the best competitive shooter next to Battlefield 4 on the PS4 and its the best Call of Duty in years. Amazing graphics for a COD game, great balance, decent guns, decent maps, fun co-op single player and zombies. This is the best complete package I could've ever hoped for from a shooter.

Best wishes.

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

1. Bloodborne ; When I first beat Bloodborne I felt, if not quite disappointed, at least slightly unfulfilled. For all its perfection in terms of tone, setting, combat, and systems, the game lacked some of the expansive strangeness of Dark Souls. It was a smaller game, with fewer areas, bosses, NPCs, and secrets, than Miyazaki's last. With The Old Hunters, however, I think Bloodborne has come into its own: the DLC adds enough variety in terms of areas and weapons, and having another path to go down in the mid-game helps with replayability. I don't know if it's better than Dark Souls, but it is my game of the year.

2. The Witcher 3 ; While Bloodborne is my game of the year, I think it's pretty clear that Witcher 3 will be Gaf's and most outlets'. And in all honesty, if I knew my vote would make the difference, I might switch it. Not because I think Witcher 3 is a better game than Bloodborne - it isn't. But rather because I think CD Projekt Red created the most ambitious game imaginable, showing up every AAA franchise and studio in the process. This is a game where every side quest has multiple cutscenes with carefully-worded dialog, full voice acting, and bespoke camera angles. Someone just needs to teach CDPR how to design a competent combat system.

3. Metal Gear Solid V