I’m sure we’ve all seen the official outcomes, but we don’t always agree. So what are your game of the year picks? The ones that stood out most to you?
Narrowing it down, I pick two. First up is Cities: Skylines. I feel like the games that come out earlier in the year often get a bit over-looked by the bigger releases at the end of the year. I loved Cities, it was the city building game I’d waited years for.
Second pick is Fallout 4, I can’t help it, I loved it. I’m far from finishing it, and probably will be for a long time, but it’s great. Part of the reason I’m so far from finishing it is base building. It’s still ruining my life. I’ve modded my game to hell and back just so I can build to my little hearts content. If I actually manage to finish the game without completely destroying my save from all this, I’ll be amazed.
So both my picks are highly moddable, which isn’t really surprising. It just adds tons of more gameplay.
I really didn’t finish many games this year, but I’ve got two that stand out big time for me.
I went through many emotions with this game. I loved it at first, then quickly hated it when I was dying and fumbling around like an idiot about an hour in. Then I slowly started to figure out the combat, and finished on a high note. I really need to get the DLC and check this out again.
I never played Majora’s Mask on the 64, so this was my first time through. It was released in 2015, so it counts as a GOTY candidate for me
I guess I don’t play enough games. Looking through the list of games that came out this year, there are so many I haven’t gotten to Maybe some day…
I’m sure you guys know because I feel like I say it all the time, but I’m not really up to date with games and new consoles/computers. But I did manage to play a few new game and really enjoyed this one:
This game was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the “real time” feel, I know some people saw that as a negative. I enjoyed the story and I never actually killed our little friend Taylor. So that’s a plus!
I loved Lifeline! I was so worried for Taylor and terrified of killing him. I was always having to google stuff for him. There’s a Lifeline 2 now, I haven’t played it, but I heard it isn’t as good. You should try The Martian, it’s pretty similar. Sounds like a strange complaint, but the waiting times didn’t seem long enough, they compressed it so you didn’t have to wait as long. But I really loved it. Probably shouldn’t play it without watching the movie or reading the book first though. I connected more with Mark Watney than I did with Taylor. Though speaking of googling, I think some of the things I had to look up for him probably have me on some sort of watch list now, haha.
I actually heard about the game from you Jess! During one of the podcasts you mentioned it and I remembered how much I like text based games. I enjoyed Zork and choose your own adventure type of stuff.
I heard of the sequel but haven’t checked it out yet. I probably will. My friends like the Martian. I’m surprised I haven’t read it and seen the movie yet. I love sci-fi and my friend won’t stop talking about the movie. He not only read the book, he listened to the audiobook and saw the movie. Now there’s a video game, I’m sure he knows about it.
Yeah, don’t get on a watch list. You could just say it’s for a video game and show them your Steam library. They’ll understand.
This is sort of a tricky one, because I haven’t played many 2015 new releases and for most of the ones I have played, my opinion ranges from “solid” to “meh” to “solid contender to replace ‘Dear Esther-tier’”. Maybe the new Battlefront might have been a contender, but I’ve only played the demo. But thinking about it, there is a definite pick for me.
Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC.
It’s not just that it’s a fantastic culmination to Inquisition’s story, with character interaction easily on par with ME3: Citadel. It’s that it added a ton of new content not just for the DLC but for the entire game. The alternate ability upgrades, new equipment, a new equipment type, the trials, and being able to have all of that on a new playthrough with the Golden Nug (which, as someone who usually doesn’t go for New Game+ modes, is a delightful twist upon NG+).
I have to give the Trespasser DLC my 2015 GotY because it took the game that was my 2014 GotY and made it even better.
I have to put my hand up for Bloodborne too, which was definitely the biggest highlight of 2015 for me, especially the DLC. Amazing.
I know it’s pretty mainstream but I quite enjoyed Witcher 3 also, looking forward to playing the Hearts of Stone DLC in the new year. Grow Home was another delightful short and sweet little game. Pathologic Classic HD was a favourite too, though I still haven’t finished playing it. It’s definitely more than just a ‘remaster’ since the original version was pretty much unplayable. My final honourable mention goes to The Talos Principle even though it was released in late December 2014, still though… well at least I can point at the Talos DLC which was released this year. Also I will mention Castaway Paradise which I think is perhaps becoming another 2015 pick.
In truth I think I’ve been playing a lot of old games this year. Perhaps I’m a bit blind but it seems like there weren’t as many awesome indie games in 2015, or perhaps I just overlooked them. Some people have been saying that the Kickstarter/Early Access scepticism is slowing down the indie market, which was kind of inevitable. The games market has been flooded with a lot of abandoned early access trash games, and I think gamers are starting to be more cautious with their money.
Most of the games I’ve played this year haven’t been released this year. My favourite “old” games that I played in 2015 would have to be:
Braid (2008)
The Longest Journey (2000) + Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (2006).
As for 2015 releases, my favourite I think is going to have to be…
I know this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s a game where me and the “missus” could actually sit down with a glass of wine, some snacks, put our feet up and actually play together (instead of just watching a film we were actually playing a film). It’s a bit Donnie Darko vs Gone Home vs Telltale Games and I think is one of the best examples of this type of new interactive story telling genre. It’s not perfect by a long shot, the lip sync is a bit rubbish and the story / script is a very teen-flick hammy in places and there is no real challenge (i.e. it’s not classic gaming). It gets my vote though as it was something that myself and the wife both really enjoyed and looked forward to doing on numerous Saturday day evenings, when we had time together.
I think the “best” 2015 game that I’ve played though, has to be…
…gruesome, cruel, frustrating and unforgiving, but truly truly brilliant. Nowhere near finishing it yet, but this is one I’m determined to see through to the bitter end.
I love The Longest Journey so much.
Did you know that Braid’s developer has been working on a new game? It’s set to be released this year, it’s called The Witness, keep your eyes peeled!
Just watched a trailer for The Witness on youtube, looks very promising in the traditional kind of gaming sense (and very polished). Interestingly, youtube then autoplayed a short documentary clip of an Gamespot interview with the developer Jonathon Blow (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Fg76c4Zfg), which was really interesting as he spoke a lot about valuing “discovery” in gaming and treating the player as an intelligent individual.
Yeah I think too many games lately hold the player’s hand too much, guiding them through the game, not allowing the player to make mistakes. So many games have become like movies: almost non-interactive, the player is simply an observer given a false impression of input via things like QTEs.
It’s interesting, I really love puzzle games, while at the same time I love the Souls series. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I see a lot of surprising parallels between games like Myst and Dark Souls. The player explores, makes mistakes, slowly learns the game systems and eventually makes progress. In both games you’re looking for patterns or formulating ideas/approaches, whether it’s an inventory puzzle or a boss fight. The developer, as you said, assumes that the player is an intelligent human being, letting them figure out how to progress instead of walking them them through the experience.
Edit: I just watched the interview of Jonathan Blow, very interesting. When he speaks of many modern Japanese games being too hand-holdy, which games is he referring to? See I haven’t really played many modern Japanese games, except for the Souls series, plus ICO & Shadow of Colossus, all of which have been incredible and the opposite of what he’s talking about. But I guess he’s talking more about AAA big studio games or something. I haven’t played any Zeldas since Ocarina of Time.
[quote=“Torgo, post:11, topic:673”]
When he speaks of many modern Japanese games being too hand-holdy
[/quote]I’m not sure which games he’s talking about either but I watched a panel discussion with the cast of Indie Game: The Movie and that topic came up. A small Asian man asked what they think of modern Japanese games and Phil Fish jumped all over it right away saying “they suck.” They talked about hand holding and discovery. How it’s better to let the player figure things out instead of having a two hour tutorial that takes up half the game. Here’s a wall with a crack in it, you can use a bomb to blow a hole in it.
They talked about the old Japanese games where you had to learn everything and you felt better about figuring it out on your own. Edmund McMillen talked about that too with Super Meat Boy.
Witcher 3 is the only game I played in 2015 which actually came out in 2015, too. So this is my pick for the game of the year.
The older stuff which I played, finished and liked this year:
I bought a PS3 in 2015 to play some of the exclusive PS3 titles and I found Journey to be amazing.
Uncharted 1-3 were pretty entertaining, too.
Also The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on PC was a great game as well as the first Bioshock.
This is difficult because I have a number of 2015 releases on my backlog and have only played a handful of others from the past year. Based on this I can say these are the titles that I most enjoyed from this year (so far):
https://www.grouvee.com/games/47437-three-fourths-home-extended-edition/
I enjoyed the art style and found the narrative to be quite compelling. I also enjoyed the degree of option in responses. They may not drive the story in a different direction but they gave me a feeling of immersion that I quite enjoyed.
This is one I am still currently playing. However, it already strongly resonates with me. From design to story to character development I thoroughly enjoy what DONTNOD is doing in Life is Strange. I look forward to completing the game.
I have to Include Heavensward even though it is an expansion rather than a full game. However FFXIV is a superb game and MMO. Although I haven’t had a great deal of time to focus on exploring the expansion what Square has added to the world of the game is compelling and enjoyable. FFXIV is one of my favourite FF entries and a game I can regularity get lost within for hours. Heavensward is a worthy extension of a great story.
The Witcher 3, hands down. I loved the first game, was disappointed with the second one. Read the books, loved them. Learned way too much of the lore of the world and annoyed my friends by being like whaaat didn’t you get that super obscure reference to the second book. I was so afraid of being disappointed again, but Witcher 3 was everything I had hoped and so much more. I played it for 10 days straight, only stopping to sleep a couple hours every night, and even then I would always dream of the game. I developed horrible ischias pain in my leg for sitting on the computer all the time so worth it!
Maybe some day…
so worth it!