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[NightShift]

How long left exactly? Forgot to do this yesterday.

2 hours.

 

[jakomocha]

1. Life is Strange ; Life is Strange was an emotional roller coaster unlike anything else I've ever played before. It's the most heartfelt, down-to-earth game I've ever played, as demonstrated through its plot, characters, art style, and soundtrack. I'm normally a very nitpicky person, yet I loved the game so much that I was easily able to overlook most of its flaws and it is possibly my favorite game ever. It's had a pretty big impact on my life, considering that I still think about it all the time and the soundtrack has influenced my music taste greatly. Also, Max and Chloe are some of the best and most well-rounded video game protagonists.

2. Tales from the Borderlands ; Unlike most, I already had pretty huge expectations going into Tales from the Borderlands as I am a humongous Telltale fan. Still, TftB managed to completely blow me away. The plot is gripping, every single character is likable and fantastically voice-acted, the game perfectly manages a balance of both its hilarious elements and heartbreaking scenes, and don't even get me started on those intros.

3. Splatoon ; There isn't much to say about Splatoon that hasn't already been said, but I had a ton of fun playing both its single-player and multiplayer. Also, the atmosphere of the game is really unique, like the rest of the game.

4. Until Dawn ; I thought Until Dawn was an incredible experience. It has some of the best video-game acting, and is a truly enjoyable campy homage to horror movies. Also, the "don't move" feature is brilliant. I was a little disappointed in how abrupt the ending was, after so much build-up to it throughout the rest of the game, but otherwise I really enjoyed my time with Until Dawn.

5. Her Story ; Her Story is one of few games that really requires the players to think, not necessarily in terms of solving puzzles, but for what actually happened regarding the plot. The amazing acting and creepy atmosphere also really benefited the experience.

6. Super Mario Maker ; I'm god-awful at making levels in this game, but that doesn't stop it from being a ton of fun. Nintendo's pre-made levels are also really creative.

7. Dying Light ; In my admittedly brief time with Dying Light, I had a lot of fun. The parkour system is fantastically blended with the open world design, and the combat is really satisfying.

8. Rocket League ; Rocket League provided some of my favorite local multiplayer experiences of 2015.

9. Blues and Bullets: Episode One ; I thought the 1st episode of Blues and Bullets was fantastic and very underrated, I just wish it wasn't taking so long for them to release the second episode.

10. Downwell ; I haven't gotten to play Downwell as much as I would like to, but I've still enjoyed it immensely. It is really addicting.

 

[Temujin]

1. Bloodborne ; Finally a Souls-like game where I'm not totally discouraged to play on after a couple of hours. Still has a rather difficult start, but after that, everything just clicks. The atmosphere, art, level design, enemy design and music made this one of my favourite videogame worlds ever. Loved the switch from Victorian to Lovecraftian horror.

Spoiler

When you enter the Unseen Village and see those giant Cthulhu-spiders on the side of buildings, staring at you with their hundred eyes… oh boy.

Honestly I could write a few pages on why I like this game, but other people have already done a better job than I ever could.

2. Fallout 4 ; Not perfect by any means but a very satisfying sequel to one of my favourite RPGs. The main story is (again) nothing special, but I absolutely loved exploring the world, which I found much more interesting than New Vegas. 85 hours in, I still haven’t been to every location. The gunplay is much improved as well. Base building, while very limited, is cool too.

3. Cities: Skylines ; It’s what a modern Sim City game should be. It has some issues but it's by far the best city building game in the past couple of years.

4. Mortal Kombat X ; It improves on MK9 in almost every way. I love most of the new characters (especially D’vorah), the brutalities are great, faction wars and invasions are pretty cool, X-rays are as brutal as ever… can’t really say anything bad about this game.

5. Rocket League ; Best multiplayer/sports-action/party game this gen. I’m really loving the ice hockey mode as well. Probably the most genuine fun I had playing a game all year.

6. Persona 4: Dancing All Night ; I finished Persona 4 Golden earlier in 2015 and absolutely loved the music (easily one of my favourite RPG soundtracks ever) so this was a day one purchase for me. It’s a little disappointing that most songs are remixes, but I ended up really loving a few of them. I finished it a few months ago but sometimes still play it just to hear my favourite songs again. Only downside is that the story mode is quite a slog to work through.

7. Oreshika: Tainted Bloodlines ; I bought this purely because of the art and music, good thing it’s actually a very solid RPG! It can be a bit of a grind and it’s not an easy game, but I was addicted to it for a solid two weeks. Still need to go back to it and grind some more to defeat the super-hard last boss
(also kind of sad to see this on so few lists, play this game people!)

8. Rise of the Tomb Raider ; I quite liked the 2013 game, and Rise does exactly what a sequel should do: cut out the bad things from the previous game, and add some new great stuff. You get some really awesome abilities late in the game that gave me Metroid Prime vibes. Other than that it still has a lot of sliding/tumbling/falling down caves and crumbling buildings, but at least there are more, larger and better optional tombs now.

9. Yakuza 5 ; Kind of hard to rank this because I’m not even close to finishing it, but what I played so far has been great (not that I expected a bad game after finishing - and loving - Yakuza 4 earlier this year). Also, it has a fully playable Virtua Fighter 2 in the arcades. How can I not put it on my list?

10. Sunless Sea ; another late entry, but worth putting on my list because it’s such a unique experience. A roguelike adventure/exploring game in a weird world where bats stole London and dropped it under the sea. And there are talking rodents (or was that just a hallucination?) and giant enemy crabs. I have a few annoyances with some of the core mechanics of this game, but the little stories that are being told throughout the game are great, and make the game worth playing.

Honourable mentions:

x. Transformers: Devastation ; while I loved the gameplay in general, the loot system is awful. Spending half the game managing all the loot you get isn’t exactly my idea of fun. Apart from that, good game, and everyone should play through the story with Grimlock, so funny.

x. Rare Replay ; best compilation ever? Possibly.

x. World of Tanks: Xbox One Edition ; spent quite some time on this when I was rather low on funds to buy new games. Good FTP game, looking forward to World of Warships.

x. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood ; not as good as The New Order, but it still had some great moments. I actually quite liked the little twist at the end

Spoiler

(zombies!)

.

x. Dark Echo ; my mobile game of the year. Very clever minimalist horror game that leaves a lot up to your imagination.

 

[DecoyOctopus]

1. Splatoon ; I fell in love with this game the moment it was first shown in the Nintendo E3 Digital Event 2014. Not only did it look really charming and (pardon the pun) fresh but I also saw so much potential for the competitive side of the game and Splatoon is now one of my favorite games to play and watch on a competitive level. One of the best games I've played in a long time.
2. Super Mario Maker ;
3. Kerbal Space Program ;
4. Majora's Mask 3D ; This one was really hard to rank. It's one of my favorite games of all time and Grezzo did a fantastic job with the remake but...it's a remake...a fantastic remake...I don't know...ranking remakes is hard.
5. Bloodborne ; It didn't have the same impact on me as Demon's Souls and Dark Souls but it's still a fantastic game with some of the best creature designs I've ever seen (Ebrietas!).
6. Steam World Heist ;
7. Rocket League ; I just started playing Rocket League about two weeks ago and it's really really good. It might end up in my top 5 but I just haven't put enough time into it to rank it higher.
8. Mega Man Legacy Collection ;
9. Affordable Space Adventures ;
10. TIS-100 ;

 

[Daria Morgendorffer]

Woops, I totally forgot about this, better late than never!

1. Tales from the Borderlands ; I have always been a fan of the the Borderlands universe so when this game was first announced it was a dream come true. I had really high expectations but the game surpassed them all, the story, characters, music and setpieces are all superb. Also has some good choices that effect some other episodes.

2. Nuclear Throne ; An extremely fun little game, it is pretty simple really, but getting far requires some skill and it's super satisfying to see yourself getting better. Has simple visuals that do the trick and it also has a great soundtrack.

3. Life is Strange ; This game is really special to me, playing through it was really an experience, it's different from the usual Telltale stuff as you can look at the choices you make and go back if you aren't happy with it. You'd think that this would make making decisions easier, but it's actually he complete opposite, it created some big dilemmas for me! This game also has a great soundtrack that is a mix between incredible fitting licensed
tracks and original instrumental pieces.

4. Splatoon ; A fresh new game from Nintendo, a real original title and the first shooter since Team Fortress 2 that really managed to capture my attention. Gameplay is really fun and moving around just feels satisfying. The bright visuals and the catchy tunes of this game really pull you in. Also I really hope more games will use this gyro control scheme in the future, playing other games feels pretty jarring now sometimes.

5. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; A worthy followup to the incredible Xenoblade Chronicles, it may be a bit too different for some people and yes, it may not be as good as the first game in certain aspects, but I have never had so much fun exploring an open world game. Also the combat has been enhanced and feels way more engaging than the first game. Also has a cheesy but catchy soundtrack, some songs may not fit in with the scenes they play in though, but overall a great soundtrack.

6. Read Only Memories ; The only game I ever backed before release, and I actually completely forgot about its existance until it suddenly came out, what a pleasant surprise it was, it's a short point-and-click game, reminiscent of games like Snatcher and Famicom Detective Club. I had a blast exploring the locations of Neo-San Francisco and it has a variety of fun and engaging characters. The story is pretty short but thanks to the different paths you can take and all the decisions it has a lot of replay value. It also has a good pixel-art artstyle and good music, definetely recommended for fans of oldschool point-and-click games.

 

[flatearthpandas]

...

Thank you for reminding me Helldivers was 2015! Had to update my list.

 

[WrenchNinja]

1. Life is Strange ; I'm a sucker for time travel anything, and the high school setting is rarely used in games. The game tackles a lot of things you hardly ever see in video games in a modern context. Despite some cringe worthy dialogue at times, and some weird story stuff, and some stiff animation and poor lip syncing, I think the game really nails what Dontnod set out to do. A twin peaks-esque story with a dash of two friends being able to reconnect again.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D ; I love Majora's Mask, and this remastering of it is incredibly well done. Nintendo has managed to fix a lot of the issues of the original N64 title while also making the game feel like how you remember it was.

3. Her Story ; Her Story is really unorthodox but it's so genius in design. A game that let's you play detective and piece together a mystery by searching through archived video clips that are strewn about. You piece together a timeline of events, motive, cause of death, etc all on your own. There's no real end state for the game, you're done when you're satisfied. I was, greatly.

4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; I haven't completed Witcher 3 yet (it's a really long game!) but what I have played of it easily lets it be here. I've rarely ever played a game that was so large and lived in with an already deep mythology and story. For someone new to the series, it eases you in without having to info dump and while the combat isn't perfect, it's enjoyable enough with all of the mechanics at play as every fight could be your last without preparation.

5. King's Quest ; Having never played a King's Quest game, I was pleasantly surprised by this. It feels like an old school adventure game without any of the inane puzzle solutions. It's incredibly charming, well written and funny to boot. It also looks great, I'm actually surprised Activision even let this get developed. The later episodes aren't out yet, but what is out right now is positively fantastic.

6. Persona 4: Dancing All Night ; I'm not really good at rhythm games but I had a lot of fun with this. This is secretly (or maybe not so secretly?) a celebration and final send off for Persona 4 and it's a pretty good one.

7. Batman: Arkham Knight ; I am a Batman fanboy, and this is a nearly true realisation of everything Rocksteady has been trying to do with the character. You're Batman in an actual open world Gotham City. You can drive the Batmobile pretty much anywhere. The story isn't that great, but the game play is as fun as ever. Yes, even the bat-tank is pretty fun. My only real issue is a lack of predator rooms and boss fights. But this is still a hell of a good time.

8. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection ; Bluepoint did an excellent job with these remasters. These games have never looked better, and in Uncharted 1 and 3's case, have never played better either. The 60fps goes a long way, and replaying Uncharted 2 again made me really appreciate what a master class in game design it is. Here's hoping Uncharted 4 lives up to it.

9. Yo-Kai Watch ; Not so much a Pokemon killer, but really fun anyway.

10. Tales from the Borderlands ; This was really good. Just when I thought Telltale was just finished, they picked up an IP I couldn't care less about, and made me greatly invested in their story here. The game is also very funny, which is difficult for games in general to be.

 

[sasliquid]

1. Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; I think this year I played less games than 2014 but those I did play were of a higher quality and engrossed me for longer. The highest praise I can give the Witcher 3 is that its gave me a feeling I haven't felt since Oblivion, the feeling of massive, living world I wanted to explore every corner of full of fantastic side quests. Playing it on hard made the combat feel just right and it's easily one of the most well written games this year. After several days of in game time, I still haven't actually finished the main quest.


2. Bloodborne ; While I'm not the biggest souls especially after the disappointment of Dark Souls 2, the fact that I wandered through Bloodbornes beautifully gothic aesthetic enough times to secure a platinum says a lot.

3. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; I am, however a massive Metal Gear fan and in that regard 5 couldn't help but be disappointed with its lackluster unfinished story and poor characters compared to the rest of the series (here's looking at quiet) but it's fantastic core gameplay, which feels like something Ubisoft wishes it could do, is among the most refined and variable I've seen this year.

4. Rock Band 4 ; Ok, listen, I'm a massive music fan and I hadn't played Rock Band since the first one. That meant it had a massive backlog of music I loved available to me and I've thoroughly enjoy it.

5. Rocket League ; I rarely have the itch to play it but when I do its the most pure fun I've had this year.

6. Batman: Arkham Knight ; Once again despite the disappointing story and lack of fan service I enjoyed in City, some of the best melee combat in gaming and a wonderful aesthetic that truly envisions Gotham lands it here.

7. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate ; Once again every other Assassins Creed game is the one I can truly recommend. Taking a lot of the positives of Unity (though I wished it had kept the harder combat) but making the story and side quests a lot more enjoyable has kept me the most hooked I have been to an AC game since Brotherhood.

8. Alphabear ; A charming mobile game full of charming charm and a simple but addictive spelling based puzzles and charming bears that sometimes say crude stuff.

9. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 ; After BLOPS 2 having what I considered one of the best campaigns in the series, BLOPS 3 had an inane campaign that was all over the place. Still playing the Multiplayer tho which has been the best in years.

10. Not A Hero ; Having beta tested the game I found the gameplay to be meh, but the humour is the right level of stupid that I adore.


Honourable Mentions

x. Fallout 4 ; Need to play more to judge but hasn't kept me hooked like other Bethesda games yet.
x. SteinsGate ; Again need to play more. So far it has started incredibly slowly but the plot is getting more interesting, hoping its a bit more interactive soon.
x. Undertale ; I know I'll like it, it's first on my 'to play' list.
x. Hotline Miami 2 ; 1 was a lot better and more refined, still played HM2 a lot tho strangely though.

 

[cr_blah_blah]

1. Rocket League ; There's nothing I really enjoy more in multiplayer games than even odds where it's your skill versus theirs. There's nothing to level up, there's no abilities to unlock, and there's nothing keeping you from being better than your opponent except yourself. There's probably never been a more appropriate use of easy to play, hard to master. Going through the progression of "well this is all luck and random" to viewing a ball floating across the field and literally flying to dunk it, knowing you're going to do it the entire time, there's really not much better. I'm not much to stick to a single game for very long, but I'm around 400 hours easily and still enjoy it every night by myself or with a bunch of friends. 400 hours in and I still have the desire to be better. I'll never be MLG Pro, but every time I drill some crazy shot, I have that fleeting moment of what if I already am*.

2. Tales from the Borderlands ; My favorite TellTale game. It's funny and charming. They've managed to make me excited to play a Borderlands game, which is more than I could ever say for Gearbox.

3. Life is Strange ; Relationships trump time travel minutiae and I was happy with the story they managed to tell. Not all choices lead to desired consequences and that's always important to remember.

4. Rainbow Six: Siege ; Easily the most surprising game of the year. Continuing the return of multiplayer in my life and I couldn't be happier. It holds the same place for me as Rocket League in that I feel myself becoming a smarter, better player through the experiences I'm having in-game, not just unlocks. I had completely written it off after beta, only to give a chance because a friend received it on accident for Christmas. Now it's nightly fixture and spreading throughout my entire group of friends. Funny how things work out.

5. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate ; Basically the amalgamation of AAA design and what I want out of the game. Fighting is fixed, traversing is fixed, mission structure is fixed, unique weapon finishers, characters you actually like is cool. It's nothing unique, but it's finally completely a joy to play and easily the best of the series.

6. SOMA ; I'm on the side that didn't enjoy the monster encounters, but I loved the atmosphere and philosophy they tackled: what it is to be human. How important is the perception of your body and surroundings to who you believe you are. It tackles the subjects openly without being obtuse.

7. The Talos Principle ; I played this right before SOMA and I'm glad I did because their take on human existence I found far less approachable. Talos is about the puzzles. There's more going on but the puzzles are the star, as they should be. The learning curve is something puzzle games usually have a difficult time broaching but Talos does it nearly imperceptibly. It is getting hard. You are getting smarter. Though there's plenty of optional Star puzzles for those looking to get in over their head.

8. Ori and the Blind Forest ; It's clearly beautiful and has terrific music. I sat down and beat it over a couple of days, which is rare lately. It plays tight and is just difficult enough to keep it interesting. I think there's core design issues but I'd love to see another game.

9. Batman: Arkham Knight ; Batmobile cliche complaining aside, I think it's the best Batman game mechanically. Fighting is great, gadgets are still fun, and flying around is better than ever. It's not my favorite Batman game but I enjoyed my time beating and completing every mission, even if I'll probably never go back for the Riddler trophies.

10. Axiom Verge ; I enjoy good ol' Metroidvanias despite never playing a Metroid nor Vania. While not entirely memorable, I think it's worth the time if you're looking for a modern take a traditional open-ended structure. You'll get lost, you'll get frustrated, you'll consult a guide, but you'll also enjoy how different things are and just how much of a unique callback this is compared to its contemporaries.


*From this to this.

 

[Sid]

1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; Absolutely one of the best games I have ever played, nothing else in 2015 comes close.

 

[GitarooMan]

1. Rocket League ; I haven’t been so addicted to a game in a long time. The way that you get slowly better and see your skill set evolve as you continue to play is incredibly satisfying (in both an execution sense and a strategic sense), and the moment to moment gameplay is intense. The feeling of pulling off that perfect goal, whether it be getting that timing down right to finish off a great pass or stealing the ball and racing down to score, doesn’t seem to get old. The length of each game is short enough that you can put aside a rough patch or keep a hot streak going quickly. A really amazing game.
2. Assassin’s Creed Syndicate ; I have always been a fan of the series, even through the admittedly rougher moments. This game was a return to form, with a great set of missions, some great characters (especially Evie Frye), and some great weapons and accessories (like the cane sword and rope launcher) that made interacting in the world fun.
3. Batman: Arkham Knight ; I’m one of the (apparent) contrarians who likes this game as much or more than any of the Arkham games. I thought the Batmobile was fun to race around in, I liked the story, and I liked the design of the city.
4. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege ; A really different feeling multiplayer shooter (especially as compared to modern ones). I really like the variety of operators and the multitude of approaches one can take to attack/defend. A nice surprise.
5. Undertale ; An amazing and memorable surprise with a great soundtrack and story.
6. Mortal Kombat X ; I didn’t really get into MK9 so this may have felt fresher to me than others. Love the in-depth single player content and fun variety of characters and moves.
7. Super Mario Maker ; Only game where I’ve actually been able to get into creating my own levels. There is just something about the language of Mario that makes it intuitive and fun.
8. Battlefield Hardline ; This is for mainly for the Heist mode multiplayer, which I love. It’s an addicting twist on with solid Battlefield gameplay.
9. Jamestown+ ; I didn’t fully get into this until it hit the PS4 this year. Love the crazy alternate history setting and the variety of ships and the steady ramping up of challenge.
10. Rare Replay ; A great wrapper for a selection of (mostly) amazing games to go back and experience again.

 

[Dmax3901]

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; This game made me feel wonder again. Made me stare in awe at the incredible landscape, architecture and monsters. The music, sound effects, dialogue makes strolling through swamp towns an absolute joy. CD Projekt Red's attention to detail is a beacon of light in the darkness that is yearly franchises.

2. Bloodborne ; I was very LTTP with Bloodborne, having only bought a PS4 in October, but man was it a party to remember. If Witcher 3 made me feel wonder again, Bloodborne made me feel ALIVE. It's a roller coaster to be sure, but an incredibly rewarding one.

3. SOMA ; Video games with sci-fi settings are a dime a dozen, but rarely are they as intelligent and off-putting as SOMA. This game uses its medium superbly, telling a story that wouldn't quite work in any other format.

4. Pillars of Eternity ; This game brings the necessity of strategy and planning back to RPGs. PoE provides deep mechanics and challenging gameplay, something sorely missing from a lot of modern party-based RPGs.

5. Splatoon ; A new Nintendo IP that's an online multiplayer shooter and has no 'bullets'. On paper it sounds dubious at best but in reality Splatoon and the Inklings fit right in with Nintendo's best.

 

[PROGRAM_IX]

1. Bloodborne ; Streamed 40 hours or so of this over 2015, finished it in December, and started right back into it that very day. I might love it a little too much.
2. Grow Home ; Joyous, beautiful, and massive are the words I'd use to describe the world of Grow Home. I'm glad that I came back to it, after going away thinking I'd seen everything.
3. Cibele ; Striking altogether too close to home for me, but mostly in a good way, I am still kind of blown away by how Nina Freeman took her experiences and old photos and old blog entries and turned them into an unselfconscious, coherent game.
4. Undertale ; I expected this to be good, but I didn't understand at all what it would be like until I tried it. It started slow and pushed me away a couple of times, but sticking with it I found such an affecting and well-characterised story, combined with maybe the most unique RPG combat system that ever parodied RPG combat systems.
5. PANORAMICAL ; If you enjoy games that make you forget the world around you, PANORAMICAL is definitely something you should try. Shifting colours and sounds surround you and you can endlessly tweak and change them with your gamepad/other inputs.
6. Crypt of the Necrodancer ; I love roguelikes and rhythm games, and although I am not very good at either this game was friendly from the start, with a (fairly) gentle ramp up that always feels like slow motion after the later levels. But in a good way.
7. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ; 80 hours is a lot of hours for me to put into a game, and MH4U made me work for each one, but the satisfaction from a successful mission or even just nailing an awkward move kept me coming back.
8. Guitar Hero Live ; I didn't know what to expect here, but I ended up loving it.
9. Rocket League ; I don't much care for sports games, much less real sports, but this grabbed me and did not let go for some weeks. I never got much into the multiplayer stuff except with friends, but my team Tepid Wine played an incredible 27-week season in the single player mode, and every match felt like what I imagine the World Cup must feel like.
10. Downwell ; I'm glad I played this with a gamepad since it is tough as nails even then. Its stylish two-colours-plus black visuals and perfectly tuned sound, along with the gentle feel of progression, encouraged me to just give it one more go.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

So I suppose it's my yearly tradition of handing in my ballot hours (or less) before the due date. Light on sleep, so please excuse any spelling errors or run-on sentences. Anyway, here we go:

1. Bloodborne ; So basically, I was tricked into getting this game by my brother. He knew I didn't care for the "Souls" style games and I had not heard too much Bloodborne beforehand. However, I'm glad he did, I was surprised at the amount of fun I had playing this offline, online with him, taking out bosses, doing the Chalice dungeons. Hell, I enjoyed it so much I even got the Platinum trophy, something I've done for only one other Playstation game. Now, I just need to play the DLC...

2. Rise of the Tomb Raider ; Was in awe from the first moment I played this. Adventure, beautiful scenery, very good voice acting, and most of all fun. Hope they keep making more.

3. Batman Arkham Knight ; Finally, Gotham City. I had no problem with the Batmobile, it wasn't my favorite method of transportation, as 95% of the game I just soared around as TheBatman, but it was a nice conclusion. Now to play that DLC.

4. Dragon Quest Heroes ; Having not really played any of the previous Dragon Quest games, I felt a little out of place when new members joined my party. However, there was good variety, the graphics were nice and it had really solid game play and a fun story for a Musou! The fact my 6 year old niece loved it too was a bonus.

5. Star Wars Battlefront ; There's this high from running across the Battlefront as Luke Skywalker holding incredible power at your hands. Faster than everyone, Witnessing the fear in Stormtroopers as they turn around and run when they see you coming, but you force blast then anyway. This game does a fantastic job of immersing you in Star Wars. I just wish there was more content (sooner) and an offline mode. Looking forward to more.

6. Assassin's Creed Syndicate ; Was shocked that Syndicate was able to win me back as far as Assassin's Creed goes, after Unity wore out its welcome. The new combat, better Parkour, and grappling hooks along with a couple likable protagonists made this a very enjoyable venture back to the Creed.

7. The Witcher III ; Breathtakingly beautiful, really great voice acting, the sense of being immersed into a fantastical world where it felt good making choices. It'd be higher on the list if the Combat was any good.

8. SteinsGate ; A really fun visual novel, great art, I love Time Travel in my games, multiple endings is nice too. Now, I need to finally watch that Anime.

9. Life is Strange ; Like I said, I love Time Travel in my games, although this is a little light on game play, but tons of dialog and things to see and read, almost feels like a Visual Novel. The music was great, and loved the style. Glad to hear there may be more in the series.

10. Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea ; Was a really enjoyable Atelier game with a much more relaxed approach with Time Limits pretty much being disposed of. I love the two protagonist approach that started with Eschatology. You can count on Atelier games to have bright colors, amazing soundtracks and cute girls. Can't wait for the Plus version to play as my girl Ayesha again <3

Honorable Mentions

x. Atelier Ayesha Plus ; Really enjoyed the Vanilla version on PS3, enjoyed the new additions. Some people are hard on Ayesha, but I like her character, her drive to find her sister and the amazing music of this game. MARIA a very special song to me.

x. Yoshi's Woolly World ; Really enjoyed Kirby's Epic Yarn and Yoshi's Story, so had to grab an honorable mention for this. The style is way too damn cute and Nintendo knows good game play. Oh, and the Plush Amiibo for it

x. Resident Evil Revelations 2 ; Really disliked RE6, felt that went a step backwards from RE5, and definitely RE4. The episodic nature was fun, and I got to play as Wesker again in Raid mode (with D,C. Douglas voicing) so that was pretty rad.

x. Until Dawn ; Really enjoyed this game, but not a huge fan of the Horror genre, but really liked a lot of what it brought to the table. Pretty good acting in it as well.

x. Super Mario Maker ; A great idea for the game, and some fun levels out there, although a little too much "Asshole Mario" out there for me to fully enjoy the game, whereas the Standard difficulty is too easy.

x. Madden NFL 16 ; I was very pleasantly surprised with Madden this year. The addition of playmaker controler at Wide Receiver changed the passing game by leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, the pay to win Ultimate Team mode can only keep my interest for so long until I bail for other games. See you next year, Madden.

x. Dragon Ball Xenoverse ; Another title I didn't spend very much time with. Although I really enjoyed the character creator, and I loved that a DBZ finally changed the formula with the Time Travel and what if type battles. I'll have to pick it up on the cheap later.

 

[Orbis]

1. Cities: Skylines ; For too long we'd been starved of a proper city builder to succeed the fantastic Simcity 4, and that was only made worse by the horrific Simcity (2014). Colossal Order have produced a fantastically refined and feature filled city builder. A particular highlight for me is the massively flexible road building tools allowing for some crazy, imaginative yet functional intersections. They have also embraced the community which was so crucial to Simcity 4 by supporting user mods.
2. Kerbal Space Program ; This game feels increasingly relevant in an age where we're seeing the birth of commercial spaceflight. The perfect combination of exploration, achievement, disaster and a healthy dose of education. You can't replicate the feeling of a successful atmospheric entry and landing on an alien world anywhere else.
3. Prison Architect ; A great example of how to take a simple concept and build it into a deep gameplay experience. This feels like so much more than a revival of the often trashy 90s 'tycoon' games, there are so many directions you can take each play-through. I'm yet to go a month where I don't feel like firing this game up and building myself a prison.
4. Fallout 4 ; I am yet to explore this game fully but I'm more than happy to put this among my votes for 2015, I have enjoyed it so far.
5. Assassin's Creed Syndicate ; Fantastic reproduction of London and arguably some of my favourite characters in the series.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

1. Bloodborne ; Had a hard time choosing between this and The Witcher 3, but in the end I'm going with Bloodborne because of how replayable it is. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to go through it again, despite having spent so long on it, which is rare for games that I play, even those that I love. Coupled with some of the best art direction, level design and enemy design out there, Bloodborne was the first 'classic' I played this generation. Will remember it fondly for years to come.

2. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; The wait for this game almost killed me, and while It is No.2 on my list, I hold it in no less higher regard than Bloodborne. Never have I played a game where the world felt so tangible and made so much....sense. The combat wasn't anything special, sure, but what was crafted around that was something magnificent, that I think few game studios will never be able to replicate. It's 100% deserving of all the awards it's being given.

3. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ; Monster Hunter is like crack for me. The gameplay has that classic Capcom depth and the amount of content to be discovered in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is ludicrous. I never truly understand what the actual end goal is in Monster Hunter. All I know is that whenever a new one comes out, I find it hard to put the damn game down and for this, the game is easily one of my favourite of all time.

4. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; Had a hard time getting into this at first. It was a slog to begin with, the story isn't too much to shout about and it can be incredibly obtuse. While I think the game still has a lot of flaws, there was a moment around the 25 hour mark that it suddenly clicked.

It's a melting pot of systems that, if given the time to understand, you'll reap the rewards and it's incredibly satisfying. And the feeling you get when you first get into a Skell and fly up into the sky is, well, like nothing else I've felt this year. A surprisingly unique JRPG.

5. Super T.I.M.E Force Ultra ; I'd been looking forward to playing this ever since it first released on Xbox One, but at the time I didn't have the system and by the time I did, it was announced for PS4/Vita, so I decided to old off until then. What I got was one of the most charming indie games I've played. Great visuals and a sense of humour that genuinely resonated with me.

The time mechanics can take some getting used to, and I know that for some people they really broke up the game flow, but for me, once I understood them, it made for some really unique pseudo puzzle solving.

6. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; The big one! Which I honestly expected would be higher up on my list if you'd asked me about this before. However, I feel as though the open world added nothing to the game, and the story felt incredibly slapped together once the torment that was Chapter 2 started.

However! MGSV contains some of the most refined gameplay of any game to date, even beyond the stealth genre. Despite finishing the story, I can see myself going back to it when I have the time to experiment with all of the tools available, since I no doubt only scratched the surface. God bless KojiPro.

7. Shovel Knight ; Not much to say here, since the game kind of speaks for itself. It's a nod to the 8 bit platforming classics of my youth, and being a Mega Man fan, it really struck me as a continuation of what the series did when it was at its height (just without the absurd difficulty). An absolute treat to play.

8. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker ; This one kind of surprised me. I wouldn't call myself a SMT fan at all. I've played Persona 3 and 4 and some of SMTIV. Devil Survivor 2 was me taking another shot at the franchise, and I'm glad I did. The cast are great, the gameplay is addictive and the story genuinely kept me intrigued throughout. If I had time to go and play through the Triangulum arc, it may have ended up higher on the list!

9. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin ; It's fucking Souls! Not as high as Bloodborne of course, but it was a great game none the less. I had a few problems with it, like the whack level design, uninspired art direction and some of the questionable enemy placement, but it was still a Souls game through and through and felt fresh to me seeing as I couldn't stand the 12 hours I played of the PS3 version (those damn hitboxes).

Really glad with how SoFS fixed things and hooked me like the vanilla release didn't, and was especially grateful for the sheer variety of builds the game made possible. The fact that bows were now viable primary weapons was fantastic. FROM, keep on FROMING. Absolutely cannot wait for Dark Souls III.

10. Titan Souls ; I feel this game has been quite underrated. While it's quite short and lacking on content, it's boss rush in the purest sense. Cuts out a lot of bullshit and gives you 20 bosses who are all mini puzzles in their own right. The visuals are charming and the concept of only having one arrow to kill your opponent made for some really tense fights. Highly recommended to anyone who wants something short and sweet to play through at the weekend.

 

[Choppymushroom]

1. The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt ; Such an amazing and beautiful world I got lost for hours just wandering around the map on foot instead of on Roach just to make it last even longer.
2. Life is Strange ; An emotional tale I never knew I wanted. The dialogue didn't bother me the way it bothers some, even loved the ending(s)
3. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; Spent so much time exploring the world I almost forgot there was a story.
4. Super Mario Maker ; When I first heard about this game I thought it was a dumb idea, making a level for 5 minutes changed my mind
5. Fallout 4 ; Yeah parts of it are disappointing, still can't help but wander around exploring it's massive world
6. Assassin's Creed Syndicate ; Didn't think I would love this game as much as I do. So good after so many disappointing entries the last few years
7. Bloodborne ; Love Souls games as many do and love this game, it's lack of different builds and weapons hold it back though
8. Until Dawn ; An extremely charming game that is a love letter to so many different horror movies.
9. Tales from the Borderlands: Episodes 2-5 ; A hilarious game that adds so much to the borderlands universe bro
10. Batman: Arkham Knight ; What I thought to be a fun and fitting conclusion to the Arkham trilogy. Also, nothing wrong with the Batmobile.

 

[Rflagg]

1. Fallout 4: It is far form prefect but I really enjoy the world and just roaming around collecting junk. Bethesda please study New Vegas as a model for what a modern fallout should/could be.

2. Dying Light: If prizes went out for biggest surprise this would win in a landslide. The first 15 hours or so the game is a great horror action rpg after that the worlds is so fun to parkour around in and find little secrets.

3. Resident evil remaster hd: It feels almost wrong to put a remaster so high, but it is an amazing example of survival horror done right and the unconverted graphics look better then I expected.

4. Cities Skyline: It is a great return to fun city building.

5. Prison architect: I wasn't sure this would count, but it finally came out of early access last year so please forgive me and just ignore if it doesn't. It is a fun little builder game with tons of personality.

6: Pokemon super mystery dungeon: A dungeon crawler where you control/are the pokemon yes please.

7. Kerbal Space Program: See prison architect for explanation as to why I think it qualifies for the list. I suck at this game lets get that out of the way, but holy hell a quirky little space ship building game with an amazing sense of humor.

8. Madden: I put this game on here mostly because I feel it gets crapped on a whole lot more then it should. It is a solid (nfl)football "sim' style game. It is easy to pick up and play, but can have many deep mechanics for those that want to/are willing to look.

I didn't really feel any other game I played earned a top ten spot here.

 

[Staal]

This should be just in time.

1. Grow Home ; Just a joy to play, I really enjoyed just climbing and platforming in this game. The atmosphere was just beautiful. Shout out to the sundown and sunrise, I could watch those for hours.
2. Helldivers ; The Starship Trooper game I had been waiting for.
3. Super Meat Boy ; Holy shit, this was amazing on the Vita.
4. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number ; Not as good as the first game, but that was a pretty high bar. The music and gameplay is still excellent, the levels are just a tad to big.
5. OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood ; More OlliOlli, hooray. Brutally hard at some points though.


x. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection ; Just go to UC2, good package for getting into the series.
x. Downwell ; I enjoy it on the Ipad, but would have loved it to play this on the Vita.
x. Lifeline ; Such an interesting concept, really enjoyed the format.

 

[Creamium]

Like the old saying goes: those with the finest taste, post last.

1. Undertale ; I love games that subvert your expectations, and Undertale does that constantly. It breaks the fourth wall all the time, with eccentric and quirky characters. At the same time though, it also has a very strong emotional core. Even though there's a strong comedy element to this game, it still has a lot of heart and manages to sell both sides of the coin perfectly. There are times when you'll love the game for mocking rpg staples, then other times where you get gut-punched by strong story moments. It reminded me of golden age Simpsons in this way, where the barrage of jokes could be mixed up with a sweet 'syrup' moment, but still work. The characters are very unique and interesting, and they all behave differently depending on the path you take.
Gameplay-wise, Undertale is also refreshing: it feels like you've been through an epic 60+ hour rpg, when it only took you 7 hours. The game achieves a lot in very little time, and trims all of the usual fat found in rpg's. And if you still want more, you can replay the game using a different approach (by killing or sparing enemies).
I was surprised by how fun the different battles were, especially if you choose to talk your way out. The light puzzle element, mixed with the bullet hell dodging, makes the battles fun all the way through. Game has a very low encounter rate, so you won't even see enemies more than 3 times. And it has an absolutely stellar soundtrack, that can't be stressed enough. The best moments in the game all have a memorable track to go with it. All in all it's by far the most remarkable and unique game this year.

2. Ori and the Blind Forest ; Probably the first time since UP that an intro hit me this hard. After that, when you're done gawking at the insane level of detail in the beautiful world, you can start focusing on the action... because this is not a casual adventure. It's a metroidvania that doesn't allow many mistakes, at least in the beginning when you have little health. It has a very strong focus on platforming, with some sections that'll have to retry a bunch. The great save system removes any frustration possible: you can save whenever you want, as long as you have enough orbs. The game is very generous with them though, so you'll never have to replay much when you die.
There aren't that many surprises in your move and ability set, but the 'dash' is really cool: it allows you to boost off projectiles and enemies in the direction you want. You can throw an enemy's bomb back at him, or use it to get higher up. It even works on ground level, where it's a great tool to move around quickly.
There's also a great orchestral score to go along with this, so Ori pretty much excels in every category. It's a bit disappointing that there's one cardinal metroidvania sin: you can't 100% the game if you left some items in areas you can't return to. Getting a 100% map is easy, but full item completion is a bit trickier. The Definitive Edition coming soon, should fix all this. It'd also add warp rooms, another weird omission.

3. Bloodborne ; After being disappointed by DkS 2 a bit, I was really excited for Bloodborne, as Miyazaki was back to direct. I was not disappointed, to say the least. The Victorian setting is a nice change of pace from the Souls games, but the real mix-up is in the combat. You can't hide behind a shield, so you have to be a bit more agressive. And when you get the parry system down with the guns, the combat becomes very satisfying. Even bosses can be parried now, so often you'll feel like a badass when you land a critical hit. The only real failed experiment in BB are the chalice dungeons. These games pride themselves on great combat combined with excellent level design, so suddenly removing that last part didn't make sense to me.

4. Until Dawn ; Before I played Until Dawn, I wasn't a believer of these narrative choice-based adventures. But Supermassive Games proved it just hadn't been done well before (yeah, I don't like Heavy Rain). Until Dawn is one big B-movie horror homage, so that's a slippery slope... If not done well, this can easily turn into nothing but non-intentional comedy and cringe-inducing moments. There's still some of that here and there, but Until Dawn shows enough confidence, and the horror elements work. The script was co-written by Larry Fessenden, who has enough experience to sell this. The opening hours are deliberately cheesy as hell, but over time the tone gets more serious, and

Spoiler

the wendigos have incredible design and animation. This last-minute change in direction and focus only worked because they nailed the monster aspect.

Any character can die at some points in the story, so I found myself replaying the game to keep everyone alive. Even though they're just dumb sex-crazed teenagers, it still felt pretty bad when you lost someone out of the blue.

5. Yoshi's Woolly World ; WiiU is turning out to be a must have console for platform fans, and after last year's Tropical Freeze, Yoshi's Woolly World is another excellent addition. The level design is varied and interesting, and even though it's easy enough to get through the levels, it's a bit harder when you're trying to get all the items. The game feels very diverse, and every level introduces new ideas.

6. Life is Strange ; I'll definitely remember 2015 as the year of great choice driven adventures. More than Until Dawn, this one's all about the characters. Life is Strange is very deliberatly slow paced, and encourages you to inspect everything in the (highly detailed) rooms, or talk to every character. The casting for Chloe and Max was pretty much perfect, and their believable friendship sells this game in a big way.

7. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker ; Back when I played Mario 3D World, I kept thinking how I'd love a game with only Captain Toad levels, and Nintendo made just that! It's a fun little game with a very simple concept. Because of that, you expect repetition to set in at some point, but once again diversity is key here. Even though there are like 100+ levels, the game never really feels repetitive.

8. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number ; I didn't think HM2 could have a better soundtrack than the original, but it did... The ost is out of this world, and the final level is one of my most memorable gaming moments this year. Overall though, it falls short of the original's tight design. The rooms are way bigger and there's a bigger chance of enemies hitting you off-screen. This results in more frustrating deaths than the original ever had. Still, there's nothing like going on a killing spree with your dual smg's, while Carpenter Brut's Roller Mobster plays.

9. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood ; The opening (stealth) section of this prequel to The New Order was surprisingly weak, but once you make it past that you're quickly reminded of why TNO was one of 2014's best. Excellent encounter design, satisfying gunplay and never enough nazis to kill.

10. Her Story ; I loved unraveling Her Story. Felt great to slowly piece everything together with just search engine entries. There's also a 'gotta catch 'em all' aspect to this game, where you just want to watch every clip available, to make sure you get the full picture. Bonus points for Viva Seifert, who does a really good job as Hannah.

x. Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
x. Batman: Arkham Knight ; I didn't hate the Batmobile sections as others, but there were definitely too many of them. As a whole it felt like a good conclusion to Rocksteady's run on Batman, but we definitely need a fresh approach now.
x. The Order: 1886 ; Felt like this one got a bit too much hate. I knew what I was getting when I started this, and I wasn't really disappointed in that sense. Maybe only by the cocktease of an ending, and the terrible Lycan encounters. It really feels like a very expensive prologue, and so many things could be improved upon in a sequel.
x. Fallout 4 ; déjà-vu in the Wasteland

Disappointment of the year ; Tearaway Unfolded. I've explained why in this thread. The only 2015 game I had to force myself to finish, every time hoping it would get better later. It did not.

Games that I wanted to play: Rocket League, Mario Maker, Splatoon. I'm currently playing Axiom Verge, and if I did so sooner, it'd probably end up pretty high in my list. But I'm not far enough to include it.

 

[oggob]

Looking through the list of eligible games and comparing them to the list of games that I seem to have played on PSN Profiles, two things strike me... the first is that I really didn't play many of the 2015 "blockbuster" titles, there are quite a few I own but have never fired up and plenty more still to eventually pick up and the second is that alot of the games I played this year were from the backlog, not a bad thing, but makes building a list tough...

So many exciting games coming out this year, will be looking to play a few more "blockbusters" this year. I'm only on 3 platforms, Vita is primary with to and from work trips, whilst at home the PS4 and PS3 are active consoles, with a 90/10 split I'd guess. All other consoles are currently retired (PS2, PS1, 360, Wii, anything else)

My list...
1. Tales from the Borderlands: Episodes 2-5 ; In the end, I do love the world of Borderlands and I waited a long time after all episodes were out to start this up, to the point I only finished it in 2016. All that being said, I loved all the characters in the game and probably is the best Telltale game available, both robots steal the show though and that final chapter when everything comes together was an amazing payoff.

2. Persona 4: Dancing All Night ; I don't like JRPG's / turn based RPG's, I do like rhythm games, so I was tentative in picking this up as I didn't know what to expect. Went in completely blind, I had no clue on characters or anything. Again, finished off the Platinum just a few days ago, the music in this game sucked me right in, by the end of the game, the characters actually grew on me also and I'm kinda invested/interested now to the point I'm seriously considering picking up P4:Golden and forcing myself to play it... and if I come out the otherside happy, I guess I might try P5 then! and while I'm at it... I have no idea who everyone liked... Chie is best girl (am I doing this right?)

3. The Order: 1886 ; The game is certainly a love/hate thing, after the credits were rolling I was kinda pissed, it ended abruptly and while ignoring the ploy holes, it left far too many open questions/ Obviously this was done to drive for a sequel we may never get... but this is the same reason why it's so high for me, despite all the short comings, the game played wonderfully, the gun play (when there was some, ahaha) was sublime, the graphics were another level and Galahad was a pretty awesome character. I do hope for a sequel as there is so much potential in this (possible) series.

4. Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls ; D1 & D2 were complete surprises to me, I had never played anything like them before and the original blew me away, the sequel was just incredible, Chapter 5 onwards were just mental and some of the best and well crafted "motives" you'll see in any form of mystery media. So I knew this was a different game and sure it was a bit clunky, but I didn't care, I enjoyed my time seeing some of how the real world was coping in the midst of the greatest tragedy the world has ever seen.

5. Flame Over ; This game is so fucking tough, always seems to kick my ass and at some points, seems completely unfair with some of the random generated stuff. The game has a 'just one more turn' feel to it, but when you spent an hour getting up to the final set of levels only to lose based on a bullshit backdraft style moment, you want to break the controller. Played on the Vita, but I have picked up the PS4 version also, didn't mind a double dip on this one.

6. Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection ; Have only played the original game on this collection so far, but that was enough to get it on the list. The original game gets knocked for being the worst but it's understandable why, it was ND's first real attempt at a realistic cover shooter, you see alot of 'strange' design choices that don't exist in the newer games and that's why the sequels are better. However, the original still should get some wraps, as you have to start somewhere and what they served up was a very Indiana Jones adventure and I love me some Indiana Jones!

7. Rocket League ; Probably could be higher, but I don't have alot of time for dedicating to something to get great at it much anymore and couple that with something that is primarily an online game and you lose me abit. All things said though, what time I did spend with this was great fun and if I had more time in life, I probably could see myself losing weeks in this game (and still not be able to hit aerials consistently).

8. Tearaway Unfolded ; Another title that I haven't had alot of time for this year, but I loved the Vita game and what I have played on the PS4 is just as awesome, the graphics are so crisp and the story and gameplay is very whimsical, it really is a shame this game has been so overlooked twice now.

9. LEGO Dimensions ; Yet another title I haven't played enough of, but any game that can siphon hundreds of dollars from me with more to come deserves to be on this list. I am not planning on buying everything (do not care for the Chima range), but what I do have, I do like the Chell minifig the most I think so far. The need for a 2nd job will be real when that eventually do a 2.0 version of this.

Honourable Mentions
x. Xeodrifter ; Total surprise, very lite Metroid style game, reused alot of similar enemied, textures, etc and was very short, but I had abit of fun with it.
x. The Escapists ; Only played a fraction of time with this, looks like the game could get very deep with some of the possible things to craft and ways to escape. Need to spend more time with the game.

The best thing about 2016 so far, is that I have 2 games that are likely going to be on the end of year list already... but it will be a very strong year, so only time will tell.

 

[Sneaky Gato]

1. Splatoon ; A wonderful fusion of world building and design. I have called this game before one of the most beautifully elegant mechanics I have ever seen. Combining so many functions into one button is incredible. Reloading, movement, stealth, delinating where the action is taking place, it is just such an elegant level of design that I am astounded. To put that design in an aesthtic that matches it was a tough job but they made. The throwback to an era of extreme feels very refreshing in a way that few such attempts to do. The soundtrack is incredible blending together in a way that shouldn't work yet does and in the process makes the game all the better. But more than that is the way the game feels natural to people who have never played a shooter before. Watching my sister go a few rounds and feel excited and engaged in a way that no other shooter had ever done before was just amazing to me.

2. Yoshi's Woolly World ; The first Yoshi game was one of the first I ever played, certainly the first serious platformer. I've never been that enthused about the other games in the series that came after so this was a real surprise.

3. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; I love the game for just how different it is. Not afraid to toss you into the deep end and ask you to figure it out. I feel like i am taking my first steps into tabletop all over again where everything was new and exciting and there were systems everywhere. Also piloting a giant robot that feels like it belongs in a world is great.

4. Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide ; I love Warhammer and have felt that in recent time the series has taken a bit of a hit in the realm of videogames. To many games that just fail to capture the unique attributes of the world. To see a game this strong use those attributes makes me happy. The filth of the world envigorates me. Using Skaven in a left for dead style design was an inspired choice as these are no mere braindead zombies but living creatures with desires, interactions, and most of all fear. They do not toss themselves against the player in a braindead manner but they cower and cringe. And that fear is what makes this stand out for me giving the game a different feeling and making it stand out.

5. Super Mario Maker ; A game that is much more than the sum of its parts the greatness lies in the language of its design. How annyone can withing a few minutes put together something and feel proud of it. The intuitiveness of the controls lends a strong sense of ownership of what had been created and watching others create offers a fascinating approach into how your own creations function. Plus challenging family members to beat your levels than have them challenge you is great fun.

6. The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes ; This feels like one of those early browser based games where communication to other players was limited and constrained that I loved so much as a child. This lent to me a sense of cromraderie as you figure out the puzzles and built these friendships out of six symbols. The willingness of people to try again and again and persevere made this one of best experiences of the year for me.

7. The Beginner Guide ; A game that I felt this industry needed especially in an age of social media and unhealthy obsession with developers personal lives.

8. Undertale ; That music is great and does much to sell me on the game. More than anything though is the sense of sincerity that it gives to me. This is a work that believes in what it is saying and its sense of optimism was nice.

9. Resident Evil Revelations 2 ; This was a very pleasant surprise to me. The co-op made it great fun to play with my siblings almost an arcade like of yelling at each that was very fun for me.

10. Majoras Mask 3D ; Despite it being my favorite series this was a game that for some reason or another I just never got around to playing. And it is a real shame because it is just such a unique title that does so many interesting things. playing around with time and watching as these people go about their lives lends such an air of bleakness to the game that I don't think any other I've ever played has quite matched it.

 

[GamerJM]

1. Rock Band 4 ; 2015 was kind of a weak year for gaming for me personally. I know that this year had a lot of good releases and was, for a lot of people, the year where the eighth gen consoles finally felt justified, but for me personally, as a weeaboo Nintendo fan there just wasn't as much as there usually is. That's not to say that finding 10 games I really enjoyed this year was difficult (I have enough games to play and broad enough tastes for that to never happen), but rather that there was nothing this year that really impressed the hell out of me. There was no Super Smash Bros. Melee. There was no Fire Emblem: Rekka No Ken (although, Super Smash Bros. Melee IS basically my actual Game of the Year. Shout outs to the competitive community for breathing new life into a game I bought 14 years ago). So, in a weak year, what's essentially an unfinished version of Rock Band for the eighth gen consoles (in my case, the Xbox One, which I purchased almost solely for this game even though I already own a PS4, just for DLC and instrument transfers) is my Game of the Year. Is that a silly pick, in a year that brought us games like Undertale, that allowed us to view the medium in a new light? Is that a silly pick, in a year that brought us games like Super Mario Maker, that allowed us to fulfill childhood dreams we've been holding onto for decades? Maybe not, but despite its issues, Rock Band 4 is still easily the most fun I've had playing a game released in the year 2015. I was a huge Rock Band fanatic back in high school. I spent many a lazy Summer playing RB2 and 3 and put tons of money into the DLC ecosystem. I haven't really played any of the games in three years, so coming back just reminded me how much pure, unadulterated fun these games are. There's absolutely nothing like jamming out to "Chiron," or "Ocean Avenue," on Expert Pro Drums. There's nothing like saving your little cousin after she fails a difficult part in a song. There's nothing like nailing the guitar solo in "My Sharona". The on-disc song selection is a little disappointing, but I mean, it has "The Seeker," "Birth in Reverse," and "Uptown Funk," so someone at Harmonix did something right. Some people don't like the mode selection, but I'm fine with them. Show mode allows me to play a variety of songs without just always going into quickplay and hitting random. Band Tour mode is back to its RB1/2 glory, and is less like the one in 3. Yeah, there's no online play, but I always just played multiplayer locally anyways. The biggest disappointments are the lack of keyboard support, and the fact that Harmonix still hasn't gotten practice mode or the songs from previous games to transfer yet. Come on! That being said, I don't put games on lists in the years after they launch, and I have faith that Harmonix will continue to support RB4 over the years and add more and more content. So, in that sense, this game's placement is largely based on faith, which may seem silly, but again, weak year. And really, even if they don't, RB4 is still just fun as hell.

2. Little Battlers eXperience ; Remember the days in the early 2000s, when you could walk into a game store, look at the GBA shelf, and see a bunch of anime RPGs, often inspired by Pokemon to some degree, aimed at young boys? Little Battles eXperience feels like a long lost game from that era was taken, remade into 3D, and then given more nuance to its battle system. LBX is arcady, fast, and fun. It's obviously aimed at a younger crowd and is relatively easy, but that doesn't really bother me. The difficulty is a nice break from stress. The elements aimed at children don't make me cringe like they otherwise would, they just make me filled with nostalgia and delight the 8-year-old boy in me. There's a fairly deep customization system in here too, giving the player a wide variety of totally ways to play. The game is also very clearly a PSP game ported to the 3DS, but it's not like most 3DS games take advantage of the hardware much anyways so eh. But ultimately, LBX was the most underlooked and unsung game of 2015.

3. Splatoon ; Splatoon was a game that I was cautiously optimistic for. The game looked great in all of the footage I had seen but I found something a little off-putting about the enthusiasm in the Nintendo famdom surrounding this game. I guess it reminded me a bit of when people championed Dillon's Rolling Western before we knew much about it. Luckily, Splatoon ended up great. The single player campaign here is really well-designed and not something enough people talk about. It totally feels like mini-Super Mario Galaxy: third-person shooting edition, which is just about the best compliment I can give it. It's excellently paced and is constantly throwing out new ideas in its short run time. But of course, the real meat of Splatoon is the online. Like many others, I'm not a fan of online shooters, I mean, I actually do play them (I put dozens of hours into Halo 3 and 4, and yes, I'm one of those weirdos who liked Halo 4). But they never blow me away. Splatoon, with its unique movement systems, addicting gameplay, weapon unlocks, well-designed maps, just kept me coming back. But I think the one factor Splatoon has over all other online shooters is that it's the first game in the genre that I have EVER IN MY LIFE played that I am any good at. I seriously cannot believe that I am consistently the first or second highest scoring player on my team. I dunno if the Splatoon playerbase just sucks or if I'm a god at it compared to literally every other shooter for some reason, but either way, actually playing a game like this well makes a world of a difference. Splatoon isn't perfect. The campaign, despite its strengths, is short and easy, and the local multiplayer is half-assed, but if it wasn't for these issues Splatoon would probably have a place in my heart as one of my all-time favorite games. Hell, part of me thinks it could be, maybe if I put more time into it I'll regret not putting it as number 1 on here.

4. Her Story ; Despite its universal acclaim, I went into Her Story with low expectations. I had no idea what to expect, but something about the way the game was described reminded me of Christine Love's visual novels. And, while Christine Love seems like a cool person, the interfaces and settings of her games never really jived with me all too well. Luckily, Her Story is nothing like those games at all. Her Story is a detective game that actually makes you feel like a detective, and not like you're solving a predetermined puzzle designed by someone. You search words in a crappy police department database to find FMV clips of a woman being interviewed. There were a couple of jaw-dropping revelations that gave me a feeling I hadn't felt since the first time I played a Phoenix Wright game, before I got used to how those games work and progress. And they were revelations I discovered and stumbled upon on my own. Her Story is a game that makes you feel genuinely smart. It's a game that reminds me of the fervor I feel when googling and Wikipedia searching a topic I'm interested in and discovering a new piece of info. The story has plot holes, but I still found it well-written and well acted despite this, with genuinely interesting characters and themes that made me think for days to come. Of course, Her Story isn't perfect. The true nonlinear nature of the game causes some inherent design flaws. Her Story took me three and a half hours to finish, and about the last hour of that was spent searching random words, since I had already more or less pieced together the gist of the story and was just trying to find the last clip that I needed to trigger the ending. But such flaws are bound to come up when you have a game as original as Her Story.

5. Etrian Mystery Dungeon ; I had never played an Etrian game prior to this. I always kinda wanted to, but I was put off by the first-person dungeon crawling and draw your own maps thing. Luckily, EMD has none of that, and is instead similar to the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games in terms of core gameplay. So this seemed like the perfect place for me to jump in. And it was! EMD is more or less what you'd expect. A somewhat generic anime roguelike RPG, with lots of content and solid core gameplay. There's not really much else to say. Usually traditional roguelikes are too difficult for my liking, but the Mystery Dungeon games are easy enough for me to enjoy. These games can get kind of repetitive but there's nothing really inherently wrong with them. It's the perfect game to just kind of relax and play for an hour or so, especially once you get into the groove of things.

6. Rocket League ; A lot of posters here seem to have put hundreds of hours into Rocket League and have been playing it throughout the year. I, however, have only put a few hours into Rocket League and basically just started playing it a few days ago. Let me explain. When Rocket League first came out, it seemed like everyone was playing it. I watched some gameplay and didn't get it. "It's just soccer with cars!". A month ago I picked it up in the Steam Winter Sale and started playing it. I didn't get it. "It's just soccer with cars!". After seeing this game garner so many votes in this topic, I decided to start playing again a few days ago. "Holy shit, it's soccer....with cars!". Rocket League is fast, chaotic, and just plain good fun. It's not as addicting or well-designed as Splatoon, but it still manages to be fun as hell regardless. I kind of suck at this game, but that just makes the feeling of winning a match or just scoring a goal all the more exciting. This game also has incredible production values and content for a cheap download only title. I only recently started playing Rocket League but I certainly won't stop any time soon.

7. Theatrhythm Dragon Quest ; It's Theatrhythm! This game is kind of a step down from Curtain Call. There's no where near as many songs and the Dragon Quest soundtracks just are no where near as memorable as the FF ones. But still, this game is incredibly fun. Theatrhythm games aren't super difficult rhythm games, but they are jam-packed with content and have really polished core gameplay systems. TDQ is no different, and it's something that's fun for dozens of hours. There's also lots of Dragon Quest fanservice here, as one would come to expect. The gameplay might also be the best it's ever been for one simple reason: since the game adopts the DQ battle perspective for BMS, the notes scroll vertically instead of horizontally. As someone who has spent years playing rhythm games with vertically scrolling notes, this change is incredibly appreciated. TDQ may be no Curtain Call, but it is a blast.

8. Aviary Attorney ; I went into this expecting sort of a silly game loosely inspired by the Ace Attorney games with tryhard humor. I ended up getting a game that's heavily inspired by Ace Attorney in terms of gameplay but still carves its own path in terms of everything else. Aviary Attorney is surprisingly well-written and genuinely funny. It sort of has its own brand of humor that I haven't really seen in another game. The characters are unique and delightful, with the main character JayJay Falcon and his assistant Sparrowson playing off of each other throughout the game really well. The story is full of twists and turns and has a couple of genuinely shocking moments. The whole "1840s France with animals that act like humans," setting might signify to some that the developers are creating a silly game, but the game both plays the setting completely straight and nails its atmosphere/vibe. The art style is unlike anything in a game I've played and remains consistent throughout. Aviary Attorney isn't as good as an actual Ace Attorney game. It's missing the Shu Takumi/Capcom magic and the mystery, intrigue, and presentation those games have, but it manages to be delightfully surprising in spite of this.

9. Rhythm Tengoku: The Best+ ; Rhythm Tengoku: The Best Plus is sort of a remix of all of the previous Rhythm Tengoku games. As such it retains the same Simon-Says-esque core gameplay of the series. It's addicting, quirky, and solidly designed all around. Like Theatrhythm it's not particularly hardcore and at times can feel gimmicky, but it's fun all the same. The soundtrack is great, and I'm really happy to finally experience one of these games in Japanese, as DS and Fever's soundtracks seemed very....translated whenever the songs had lyrics. Otherwise there isn't a whole lot to say here. The Best is packed with content and is consistently enjoyable.

10. Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX ; It's Miku! Now with an adorable chibi artstyle! Project Mirai DX retain the quality of the main Project Diva series, for the most part, while managing to feel fresh and fun. It's a genuinely enjoyable standard rhythm game with a really solid vocaloid soundtrack. I'm glad to see the Project Mirai games finally see release in the US now. Another game where there's not a whole lot to talk about, but playing this game is just pure fun and makes me feel happy.

x. Rare Replay ; The best deal in gaming this side of Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. I don't count compilations for these lists, but if I did, this would take my number 1 spot this year, without a doubt.

x. Dai Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken ; Okay, I only actually played the demo of this game. But it was sooo good. It's Ace Attorney. I haven't played the full game yet, since I prefer to play these games in English, so I'm gonna hold out a little while longer to see if Capcom will budge and release this over here before I pull the trigger on importing it. But if I had played it then I'm almost certain it would be rather high up on my list.

x. SUPERBEAT: XONiC ; A couple rhythm game fans I know have said that this is one of the best rhythm games to ever see a home US release. I've played some of it and I can totes see that. That being said, due to my depth perception problems I kinda had difficulty getting into this. I feel like I can adjust but I never really put in the time to play this as much as I want.

x. Fast Racing NEO ; F-Zero meets Ikaruga sounds almost too good to be true, but that's basically what this game is. It's still clearly developed on a budget, so we're not getting F-Zero GX-tier stuff here, but this game is the closest thing we're probably ever gonna get to another F-Zero. It feels genuinely fast and exciting to play.

x. BOXBOY! ; This game feels like Pushmo had a baby with the calculator game Block Dude. It's fun and just well designed. The perfect example of what Nintendo needs to continue to do with their download games.

x. Crypt of the Necrodancer ; After a few minutes of playing this game I was sure it was going to be on the list. It was one of the games I was playing in preparation for GotY discussion. And yet, it's not. I mean, how could a Roguelike RPG with rhythm game elements not make this list? That sounds perfect for me! And the game is really fun and perfect for playing in short bursts. Unfortunately, I'm terrible at it, and it ultimately hampers my enjoyment of the game. I can't put more than a few hours into a game I can't really progress far in despite my best efforts.

x. Rodea the Sky Solider Wii ; This game has some somewhat significant issues and it doesn't look pretty, but it has one of the coolest control schemes I've seen in a while. It's just so nice to play a game with pointer controls again. Also, this game's sense of speed and score attack-focused design remind me a hell of a lot of Sonic Generations, so if you liked that game then I highly recommend you pick this up.

x. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; I'm playing through this right now. I debated putting it on my main list for a while. I didn't like the original Xenoblade Chronicles very much. I didn't garner much enjoyment from the MMO-inspired battle system and the world never captivated me. X fixes these issues and I don't even completely know why. The battle system is more fun to me this time around (maybe because of the weapon switching), and the game's alien world of Mira marks the first time I've really given a shit about being immersed in an open world since....god, Wind Waker. But ultimately this game is just too big and bloated for me to love it. I have a hard time playing games that are as focused on exploration as this is, I just get lost. I have dyspraxia, and as a result games with wide open 3D spaces are usually hard for me to enjoy without getting constantly disoriented. This is the reason why the Witcher 3 isn't on my list. I know I wouldn't enjoy a game like that. Despite this, everything else about XCX manages to be enjoyable regardless, so it must have done something right.

 

[timetokill]

Less than 30 minutes remaining. Don't push it.

 

[Cheesemeister]

Less than 25 minutes to go. No extensions. No exceptions.

 

[Red Hood]

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; One of the best, biggest, most detailed, and incredibly engrossing games of recent years. I've never been a big fan of The Witcher series prior to this, I liked its universe and feel, but the gameplay always pushed me away. The first one felt clunky and the second one limiting and sometimes downright boring. I suppose three times a charm, because The Witcher 3 doesn't have those problems. While the combat isn't perfect (but more than serviceable enough), it more than makes up for it in literally every other department.

2. Ori and the Blind Forest ; One of the best Metroid-like games I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Don't be fooled by its appearance. While fairy tale-like, colourful and dreamy on the outside, it can be tough as nails on the inside. And the best part of all of this is its fairness. Most of the time, when you die, you know it's on you, and you learn from that while you continue and journey on.

3. Shadowrun: Hong Kong ; The sequel to one of the best (and may I say one of the most underrated?) games of 2014. It holds up its own against Dragonfall DC and that says a lot. While I found the main story and characters (except Gobbet) a little less than their Dragonfall counterparts by comparison, it makes it up very well with even further polished gameplay, soundtrack, and other bits and pieces.


I've also played Batman: Arkham Knight, Splatoon, and Super Mario Maker last year, but since my overall feeling towards them are more negative/disappointing than positive, I don't think they'd belong in my list. So it's just a top 3 for me.

 

[21x2]

Only have three games for this year, but here they go:

1. Splatoon ; Who would have thought that Nintendo, of all companies, would put out the most innovative shooter in years, if not generations? And with a new IP? Splatoon is a fantastic piece of work, where every element, from gameplay to art style to writing to music comes together in absolutely perfect harmony. It's a testament to Nintendos continued brilliance at game design, and hopefully a glimpse at what their next generation of developers will bring.

2. Life is Strange ; Life is Strange is an fantastic achievement from Dontnod. With writing that puts The Walking Dead and Heavy Rain to shame, amazingly well realized characters, a beautiful artstyle and soundtrack, this high school drama marks a new level for story driven games and gameplay.

3. Undertale ; What is there left to say about Undertale at this point? The absolute indie darling of 2015 is everything it's hyped up to be; charming and funny but also tragic and cruel. A fantastic deconstruction of JRPG mechanics, as well as a deconstruction of the entire medium, and maybe even humanity. Undertale truly is a special one, a game that every one witht he chance should experience.

 

[Conflict NZ]

Less than 25 minutes to go. No extensions. No exceptions.

How long until results are up?

 

[timetokill]

Time for this year's Unintentional Vote Awards!
Supplied by you, the voters!

Sounds More Compelling Than The Actual Game - "Barman: Arkham Knight"

Game Improved (?) By The Addition Of Matt Damon - "Bloodbourne"

More Like Missing Number - "Hotline Miami Wrong Number"

Most Gender-Swapped Title - "Rise of the Tom Raider"

Most Unlikely Traffic Simulator - "ShadowRun: Honk Kong"

Your Lack of Kerning Disturbs Me - "Star Wars: Battlefont"

Wishful Thinking - "The Order 1887"

Prequelitis - "The Order 1866"


Thanks for your votes! Remember to double-check your spelling

 

[Ultimadrago]

Honk Kong pls.

 

[Violet_0]

Less than 25 minutes to go. No extensions. No exceptions.

no surrender

 

[timetokill]

How long until results are up?

We're going for the world record.

 

[Tizoc]

10 minutes to go~
DOn't think I'll change my votes up, they are what they are.

 

[iz.podpolja]

Time for this year's Unintentional Vote Awards!
Supplied by you, the voters!

Sounds More Compelling Than The Actual Game - "Barman: Arkham Knight"

Game Improved (?) By The Addition Of Matt Damon - "Bloodbourne"

More Like Missing Number - "Hotline Miami Wrong Number"

Most Gender-Swapped Title - "Rise of the Tom Raider"

Most Unlikely Traffic Simulator - "ShadowRun: Honk Kong"

Your Lack of Kerning Disturbs Me - "Star Wars: Battlefont"

Wishful Thinking - "The Order 1887"

Prequelitis - "The Order 1866"


Thanks for your votes! Remember to double-check your spelling

ROTFL

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

Less than 25 minutes to go. No extensions. No exceptions.

Fox only.

 

[Red Hood]

Time for this year's Unintentional Vote Awards!
Supplied by you, the voters!

Sounds More Compelling Than The Actual Game - "Barman: Arkham Knight"

Game Improved (?) By The Addition Of Matt Damon - "Bloodbourne"

More Like Missing Number - "Hotline Miami Wrong Number"

Most Gender-Swapped Title - "Rise of the Tom Raider"

Most Unlikely Traffic Simulator - "ShadowRun: Honk Kong"

Your Lack of Kerning Disturbs Me - "Star Wars: Battlefont"

Wishful Thinking - "The Order 1887"

Prequelitis - "The Order 1866"


Thanks for your votes! Remember to double-check your spelling

lol

 

[dracula_x]

1. OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood ; very fun, addicting and challenging game. big surprise to me last year.
2. Tearaway Unfolded ; charming adventure game.
3. Axiom Verge ; the best metroidvania at the moment.
4. Bloodborne ; thats how 3d castlevania should be made.
5. Homeworld Remastered Collection ; timeless classic with updated visuals.
6. Life Is Strange ; this was the best storytelling game last year to me.
7. Until Dawn ; great mix of horror game and intriguing story.
8. Resident Evil HD Remaster ; still the best resident evil game at the moment.
9. N++ ; challenging platformer with stylish graphics and excellent soundtrack.
10. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number ; better in every aspect than the first game.

 

[kuroneko0509]

Time for this year's Unintentional Vote Awards!
Supplied by you, the voters!

Sounds More Compelling Than The Actual Game - "Barman: Arkham Knight"

Game Improved (?) By The Addition Of Matt Damon - "Bloodbourne"

More Like Missing Number - "Hotline Miami Wrong Number"

Most Gender-Swapped Title - "Rise of the Tom Raider"

Most Unlikely Traffic Simulator - "ShadowRun: Honk Kong"

Your Lack of Kerning Disturbs Me - "Star Wars: Battlefont"

Wishful Thinking - "The Order 1887"

Prequelitis - "The Order 1866"


Thanks for your votes! Remember to double-check your spelling

how nice the order 1886 has both prequel & sequel already haha

 

[Tuttle]

1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; Massive.Dense.Quality.Care. CD Projekt Red is the best developer out there. That's the only rhyme you need.

2. Rocket League ; Not complicated, but complex. It feels and plays like a concept well-realized.The co-op was a blast to play.

3. Fallout 4 ; The game delivered on what I was expecting and fell flat on what I wasn't. Bethesda still does things no one else does, but the industry has surpassed them in others.Despite that, it's an enjoyable world I continue to explore.

4. Divinity: Original Sin - Enhanced Edition ; The delightful charm and care given to this game along with the excellent battle system makes this an easy game to recommend. I'm looking forward to Larian Studios future offerings.

5. Until Dawn ; A perfect case of low expectations paying off. I'm glad games like this are still being made and can be well received.

6. MLB 15: The Show ; Played more of this than I expected. The incremental changes make this excellent title a joy to play.

7. Dragon Quest Heroes ; I'm not well versed in DQ's history, but I wanted to support DQXI's chance to come west. I enjoyed my time with this and it oozes charm.

8. Blood Bowl II ; I suppose I was looking for this game to scratch multiple nostalgia itches from generations past. I'm not sure if that happened, but I found enough fun for it to place here.

9. Saints Row: Gat out of Hell ; Saints Row = fun to me. I expected this to just be enough to hold me over till SR5. It succeeded.

10. Batman: Arkham Knight ; It's drawbacks are well documented, but it still manages to find the mark. I want to see Rocksteady tackle something new.

 

[Forsete]

1. Elite Dangerous: Horizons ; Finally space combat is back.
2. Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain ; Fantastic gameplay.
3. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt
4. Life is Strange ; Great game, thanks GAF for recommending it. Otherwise I would have missed it.

 

[Luxorek]

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; Game to be remembered. Proof that you can make an open-world RPG and not sacrifice the quest and character quality. Hearts of Stone expansion makes this game even better and I hope other devs are paying attention. I've been a fan of the Witcher ever since I've read the books as a kid - I still remember the annoucement of the very first game. To see it evolve from an obscure, little-known property to a GOTY 2015 is a dream come true for a fan like me.

2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; Never played a MGS game in my life, yet somehow I spent over 120 hours on this one. Can't say I'm crazy about the convoluted story and all the Japanese weirdness included, but the gameplay and everything it enables you to do in a semi-open world won me over soooo much. I even dabbled in FOB invasions and defenses, which is something I thought I would never do.

3. Batman: Arkham Knight ; Played this on PC and suprisingly was able to avoid most issues faced by other people. What can I say, even the Batmobile sections couldn't get in the way of the perfected combat introduced in the previous games. I sinked over 50 hours into this one and I don't think of myself as a Batman fan - any game that can hook me up like that deserves a place on this list.

Haven't played other games to completion and don't feel like putting them here without doing so first.

 

[Jibbajabbawockky]

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ; For me, this is easily one of my favorite RPG's ever made. Its right up there with Baldur's Gate 2. Its basically what I was hoping for out of Dragon Age Inquisition- a beautiful open world to explore coupled with fantastic characters, memorable quests and a solid story. I've enjoyed the past 2 Witcher games but TW3 really hooked me unlike the past 2 ever did. The character moments with Ciri, the music, the memorable quests... Wonderful game.

2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; I've never been a huge MGS fan but went back and caught up with the series this year before MGSV came out. That helped quite a bit with all the backstory bits hidden in MGSV since the main story isn't a huge draw. But the gameplay is so much fun, even if the open world structure really adds nothing to the equation and the mission structure gets repetitive.

3. Pillars of Eternity ; I backed this more than any other Kickstarter I've backed and it mostly met all my expectations. That said, I haven't quite finished it (blame The Witcher) but its absolutely a solid modern take on the Infinity Engine style party based RPG. I've enjoyed the combat and the I mostly enjoy the world Obsidian has created. Its maybe not quite as engaging as I had hoped and the characters could have a little more character but I can't wait to hop back in once they release the expansion.

4. Fallout 4 ; Yeah, its not perfect by any stretch and honestly, it has quite a few really bad design decisions (needless voiced protagonist, horrible dialogue and quests that really lack any solid choice or consequences) but its a Bethesda open world game and I'm a sucker for those. There is just something about getting in that first person POV and exploring this huge unique setting.

5. Grow Home ; Charming little game that totally took me by surprise. The drunken toddler procedural animation of BUD brings a smile to my face every time.

6. Wolfenstein: The Old Blood ; I loved The New Order and the core gameplay and gunplay from TNO mostly remained the same here, even if the surprising character beats from TNO were mostly toned way down. Still, I had a blast with The Old Blood, even if the first half's stealth bits were a bit tiresome.

7. Cities: Skylines ; I've never been huge into city sims but from what I played of Skylines this year I had a great time. None of the odd technical issues and weird design decisions of SimCity, just a nice looking and playing city sim with fantastic mod support to boot.

8. Soma ; Actually haven't finished Soma yet but from what I've played, I'm totally digging it. Like others have said, its not quite as straight up scary as Amnesia was back in the day but the game oozes atmosphere and I can most definitely appreciate that.

9. Star Wars: Battlefront; I knew what I was buying with Battlefront after I played the beta, so I was more than ok with a mechanically pretty simple but gorgeous looking and sounding Star Wars game. As a huge Star Wars nerd as a kid, there are moments in Battlefront that put a huge nostalgic grin on my face.

10.Stasis ; I think I got a little burned out on my scifi horror quotient between Stasis and Soma this fall but from what I've played of Stasis, its been fun. I haven't played many adventure games like this recently so its a bit of a change of pace personally but similar to Soma, its got some fantastic atmosphere, even if some of the writing and voice acting is a little stilted at times.

 

[timetokill]

< 2 minute warning

 

[jj984jj]

1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC ; Such a long wait but it was worth it. This is the game that really begins to show you just how rich Falcom wanted to make this world.
2. Ori and the Blind Forest
3. Persona 4 Dancing All Night
4. Xenoblade Chronicles X

Wasn't sure if I was going to vote this year with how little I played to my satisfaction, but I wanted to get another mention of SC in.

 

[Mathi]

1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; One of the best open world RPGs I ever played. A world that feels like peoply would actually live there, filled with lots of memorable characters and great questlines. A satisfying conclusion to Geralt's story.
2. Bloodborne ; Great atmosphere, great enemy design and great combat. Crushing giant monsters with an enormous two-handed blade never felt better. My first platinum trophy and the first time I was motivated enough to finish NG+.
3. Heroes of the Storm ; I never thought I would get into MOBAs, but this game got me hooked. As a long-time Blizzard fan, seeing all the characters from the different franchises put together is great.
4. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ; This game should've been my game of the year and although it plays great and I like it a lot, the FOB stuff and act 2 in general were disappointing. This is not how I wanted the (probably) last Metal Gear to end.
5. Life is Strange ; Really glad I decided to play it myself instead of watching a Lets Play. I got really invested in the story and the characters and even if you can use your powers to see the different outcomes of your decisions, a lot of the choices were really tough...
6. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D ; One of my favorite Zelda games, I have been waiting for this since Ocarina of Time 3D.
7. Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void ; It's too bad that there are barely any new RTS games anymore, Starcraft reminded me how much I like the genre.
8. Batman: Arkham Knight ; I was ok with the batmobile until they introduced those god-awful tank battles. Otherwise a pretty good game.
9. Splatoon ; I wasn't really planning on getting it, but I got caught up in the release hype. Had a great time with it, really wished I had played it more.
10. Assassin's Creed Syndicate ; I skipped Unity and Rogue after the negative feedback, but wanted to get back into the series last year. Totally worth it.

Honorable Mentions:

x. Evolve ; this game got a lot more shit than it deserved. I had a lot of fun with it and according to Steam I put about 123 hours into it until Heroes of the Storm came out.

 

[Wowbagger]

1. Bloodborne ; They somehow managed to fuck up the multiplayer aspect again, but it was wonderful to finally get to play a Souls game not held back by ancient tech. Especially after the hugely disappointing downgrade DS2 suffered after its initial reveal.
2. Grow Home
3. King's Quest: Chapter I

 

[tryagainlater]

1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt ; I haven't been invested in the Witcher series for very long but buying the first game on impulse last year, I instantly began to devour everything Witcher. Spending tons of hours playing through the first and second game and reading the books, I quickly became acquainted with the universe. And the Witcher 3 is better than everything that came before it. I wish I could talk about this game forever but I left this till last and I literally have 3 minutes left till I have to submit this so very quickly. The Witcher 3 is amazing. The world is amazing and massive. They managed to make a realistic but still fun Medieval city. The questing is some of the best I've ever seen. I cannot pick a favourite quest. Even the small insignificant ones are great because the writing is just top notch. People say The Bloody Baron is the high point of the game but every quest I did continuously became the new high point. It's amazing. I love it. And the combat is also great despite what people say. 30 seconds left, shit.

2. Bloodborne ; You could say that this is just another one of those Souls games because you'd be right. But still, those Souls games are pretty good. As someone who never wanted to experiment with different weapons, the focus on few weapons in this game was actually quite an improvement. As someone who liked to always play as a dexterity focused character, the focus on faster movement and dodging was also quite improvement. I may ultimately prefer the first Dark Souls game because I am more interested in the Medieval setting and aesthetic than the Victorian Lovecraft thing that Bloodborne was going for but that doesn't take way from how good Bloodborne is. The bosses are great, the world design that twists back in on itself is great, the combat is obviously great, the lore is great. Great, great, great. It's another one of those Souls games which is great. Bring on Drak Souls 3.

3. Xenoblade Chronicles X ; Xenobalde Chronicles on the Wii is my favourite game of the last generation. X was always going to be in the difficult position of trying to live up those expectations that I tried not to have but was always going to somewhat fail. Does it live up to the first game? No. No, it definitely does not. It didn't really have much of a chance to be honest since the concept of the world alone could never live up to the first game. I'm also not that into mechs. Is it still a fantastic game? Yes, it is. Monolith Soft are still fantastic at world design and their ability to make the world fun to explore on 3 different scales: playing on foot, playing as a walking mech, and playing a flying mech is very impressive. Even though I said I wasn't into mechs, they manage to make you really want it as the dole out the upgrades very slowly allowing you plenty time to immerse yourself in the world in all 3 of those scales. The questing is vastly improved over the original and the combat is a bit deeper. Even if I can never stop thinking about he original as I play it which is really my fault, I definitely can still appreciate its successes. The size of the five continents is staggering and there is plenty of little caves and inlets to find. It's a shame that a lot of the music is terrible though. Seriously, it's really bad. I hope to see more from Monolith Soft even if I likely continue to hold Xenoblade Chronicles on a pedestal.

4. Rocket League ; When this was announced as a PS+ title, I went "what the hell is this game?" When I finally played it, I went "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS GAME?" This is one of the most out-of-nowhere games I've seen in such a long time. There is no way in hell I would believe this game is fun if I heard someone describe it. I probably wouldn't even think it was fun if I watched it (so praise PS+ for convincing me to play it). But when you start playing and nail your first goal, it all becomes clear. There really isn't much to say about this one. It's Rocket League. It's awesome. I got burnt out on it pretty quickly but I'll hold it up as easily one of the most enjoyable multiplayer games I will play likely for the foreseeable future.

5. Until Dawn ; I really do enjoy the concept of David Cage's game although Heavy Rain is the only one I like. Until Dawn took a less serious approach to the concept and was probably more successful in what the developers set out to do (even if I enjoyed Heavy Rain more). In the realm of horror movies, I only have a strong fondness for the goofy, more comedy focused side of the genre such as the stuff that Bruce Campbell stars in. I did wish as I was playing Until Dawn that it was a bit funnier but I was interested enough in the mystery and the fate of the characters that I controlled that I found it to be a worthwhile experience. Oh, and of course, Peter Stormare. When I finished the game with only 4 of the 8 characters surviving, I was convinced that the various changes throughout the game were limitless. Unfortunately, because I'm the type person who likes to tear open these types of games and plays them multiple times to see all the ways the story can play out. I found that the changes were not limitless but there was enough there to be impressive, especially considering the productions values. I would love Supermassive to take another crack at this style of game because we all know the next David Cage game will probably be awful.

6. Her Story ; Sam Barlow has to continue making games. He made one of the best games last gen (Silent Hill: Shattered Memories) and although I do not think of Her Story as highly as that one, that man always has great ideas. Writing physical notes in order to clamber further into the weird and confusing life of the character being interviewed was satisfying and the thought of finding a video at any moment that could totally change your perception of the case you're investigating was incredibly engaging. Some people have criticised the game because they discovered a pivotal video too early and ruined the game but I feel that is not getting the point of the game. First of all, there is a number of details to discover so one video cannot ruin the story but secondly, it is a triumph of non-linear storytelling that more games should try to experiment with. I would love if there was something like that in Phoenix Wright.

7. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D ; Zelda is my favourite series and Majora has been a top 3 Zelda game since I've played (although it was the third Zelda game I played but it remained in that position as I went through the rest of the series). Perhaps putting a remaster of a 15 years old game is an indication of my feelings on modern games but really, I just love Majora. Collecting masks is still a cool unique feature, the 3-day cycle is still a unique feature, the workings of Clock Town is still unique and it's still got some weird sidequests. Yes, their impressiveness has been worn down over the years especially in regard to sidequests but I still had a great time completing it 100% again. I love scheduling each 3-day cycle to be as productive as possible. The new additions of the 3D version have a lot of quality of life improvements although I'm still annoyed with what they did to Twinmold. There are, of course, a number of tedious aspects that remain that 15 years of games have weeded out but I'm able to ignore them all for the love of rolling around as Goron Link.

8. Apotheon ; I am awfully shallow because I will not compliment the gameplay of Apotheon much but I am incredibly praiseworthy of the graphics. Well, maybe I should give myself some credit. I also like the world of the game. I study Classical Civilzation so I have an invested interest in Ancient Greece and its mythology and Apotheon did a very good job of presenting its take on it. I particularly enjoyed how they interpreted Apollo and Helios' relationship. I am certainly no expert in Greek art but I know enough to be able to appreciate the red and black figure pottery style they were going for. The controls and mechanics are a bit janky and it doesn't do anything interesting with its Metroidvania setup but I still enjoyed my time with it. We need more games with ancient settings.

9. Pokémon Picross ; I have not played too much of this title but my first session of the game was one of the longest single sessions I've had on my 3DS. It does feel weird talking up a free-to-play game since I am rarely interested and I know that having never played a Picross game before this one is making it feel like a fresher experience for those that are already familiar with the series. There are some dodgy free-to-play aspects that I dislike but I also know I never would have played a Picross game if there wasn't a free one that automatically downloaded onto my 3DS. Anyway, it's fun and addictive and even though the Pokemon aspect does nothing for me, I'm very much enjoyed the puzzles. I do wonder if I played more of it would the worrying microtransactions begin to grate on me more and knock this off my list but this is what happens when you start playing a game within a day of having to submit a list. A year isn't long enough to play all these games.

10. Grow Home ; Ubisoft managed to do something with this charming little title that they haven't been able to do for a number of years: get people excited about climbing things. It is a great throwback to the 3D platforming and collectible hunting in the games I grew up with. I did ultimately lose interest before finishing the game (despite persevering anyway) and I found some of it quite tedious which is quite a negative given the game's short running time. I at least enjoyed a couple hours with the cute robot and the simplistic artstyle. I was playing on the PS4 version which people say runs terribly which may have had some effect on my overall enjoyment apparently.

 

[Thraktor]

1. Splatoon
2. Xenoblade Chronicles X
3. Mario Maker
4. Rocket League
5. Fallout 4
6. Invisible Inc
7. Infinifactory
8. TIS-100
9. Box Boy!

 

[Aceofspades]

1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC ; Such a long wait but it was worth it. This is the game that really begins to show you just how rich Falcom wanted to make this world.
2. Ori and the Blind Forest
3. Persona 4 Dancing All Night
4. Xenoblade Chronicles X

Wasn't sure if I was going to vote this year with how little I played to my satisfaction but I wanted to get another mention of SC in.

Fix it goddammit, Time is up

 

[HUELEN10]