Great picks to kick things off. Really need to get on Act 2-3 of Kentucky Route Zero ASAP, will probably just start from the beginning to take it all in at once.
You know, I thought it was a weird year too (and there was definitely quite a bit of peripheral weird shit in gaming this year), but seeing these lists I'm startin to think it was a pretty good year for actual video games.
Certainly not in a way you might've expected at the start of the year, but it wasn't just a year of disappointments, it was a year of good surprises too!
I wish I could upvote the choices and the article, good stuff. Very happy to see P.T on there too, Del Toro and Kojima deserve a little PR "hey we just etcetc" mail/tweet with that once the GOTY days wrap up.
Good list. Scrolled down without any real surprises, until I saw just how high Mordor was placed (which is awesome, it's somewhere in my top 4, too).
Bayonetta 2 is a great choice, probably my number 2. So I'm glad people that weren't huge fans of the first game are willing to give it some praise.
I figured Wolfenstein would get an honorable mention, at least, but I'm sure Patrick talked it up during the Best Surprise category. Which just means I should start listening to today's Bombcast!
It's too bad Patrick was so bummed by Dark Souls II. I flippin' loved it. Played through it twice, and all the DLC too, and it's got remarkable depth and most of what made Dark Souls great (though it's not quite as good overall, I guess).
Pretty sure I'll never get over my extreme distaste for the aesthetic of Binding of Isaac, though. I've tried to get past it, but maaaan, I hate the way the game looks and sounds. And this is coming from someone that got 100% in Super Meat Boy, so I like the developers. If anyone knows of a colorful mod for that game that makes it brighter and happier looking, I'd be way into that.
Kentucky isn't really a finished game in 2014. I thought I heard Patrick go on about not including episodic game in top 10 until all parts were out.
And PT isn't a game it is a game teaser. It is like including a movie trailer for a movie that is out next year in your Movies of the year list.
Finally, Bayonetta 2 is good choice. But can Patrick explain how it is better or even different from Bayonetta 1? And yet Patrick was not in the mood to play Bayo 1 when it came out. Now he thinks essentially the same game is GOTY!
This list is pretty solid. I haven't played Shovel Knight and KRS yet but I intend to. Bayonetta is my GotY pick as well so that checks out. Good stuff.
Kentucky Route Zero is probably my game of the year this year, so it's great to see someone on Giant Bomb finally give it the praise it deserves.
Loved the list, and as much as the semi-creepiness (in my opinion) of Bayonetta repels me, I might just have to check it out considering I just got a Wii U.
By keeping PT on the list for most surprising you've given me much faith in this website Patrick. :-) Velvet Sundown is definitely some of the funniest content from this site in a while, but most surprising?
Kentucky Route Zero did and still has my interest. but it is hard for me to hang in there yet. Interest falls off.I do not feel it should be any different than what it is, so I will try again. same with Papers, please.
Nice eke/eek pun in the P.T. entry, Patrick! Thank god I'm getting a PS4 soon, because I'm dying (whoops, now I'm punning) to have a go at that game/advertisement/whatever myself. Hopefully I'll be able to rope my scaredy wife into it as well!
@memu: Wait what? Just because P.T. Is a teaser for another game doesn't mean it isn't a game itself. It has mechanics, graphics, etc. it is totally a game.
And how is bayonetta 2 the "same game" as the first one? Don't be so hyperbolic, man.
Awesome list Patrick! It reminded me of some games that I had forgotten about, but wanted to get to sometime. I'll have to go check them out now. I hope 2015 is great for you!
@mormonwarrior: Forgive me if I'm reading you wrong, but it's very strange to hear someone praise Dark Souls and then complain about Binding of Issac not being bright and happy enough in the same post. Isn't that a little contradictory?
While it's a shame neither Dangan games made the list and Patrick being the catalyst to me finally picking them up, atleast you touched up on them in the beginning. I know 2 is probably my personal favorite out of this year. Great list Patrick, Bettin' it all on Bayonetta 2.
Patrick your Divinity Original Sin story about the cat was awesome. It made me think you should have put it a lot higher on your list! Greatly written article though. Onto 2015!
I feel like one of the only people who hates PT. The puzzles were unintuitive, just like the only SH I have played, Silent Hill 2. The "reveal" that it was a SH game just disappointed me, considering how much I disliked SH2 and how bad I've heard the recent entries are. The game also wasn't that scary to me. To me this isn't nearly as frightening as games like Amnesia 1 or even Lone Survivor. Hideo Kojima being attached to this doesn't help things since he seems like a self absorbed prick now who just wants Metal Gear to keep going and is willing to charge $40 for a demo. At least this didn't cost any money, but it did waste my time.
Banner Saga was one of the great games of this year, very overlooked imo, but that's probably cause it was a January release. Kudos Patrick
Also - You're right, Shadow of Mordor didn't have to be a LOTR game. The license didn't amount to much of anything in that game, all things considered. I would've preferred an original universe.
Don't take any of this as fact, but I heard that SoM was actually pitched as a Batman game. Warner Bros supposedly told them to change the setting to LotR because the Arkham games are the main Batman videogames currently.
Surprised you liked Bayonetta 2 that much. Thought it would end up being Divinity. I definitely need to play more KRZ. I only finished the first act like a year ago and wanted to wait till all the episodes were out. Seems like there's no point in waiting any longer.
And Shovel Knight is incredible. Glad it at least made the cut.
@memu: Wait what? Just because P.T. Is a teaser for another game doesn't mean it isn't a game itself. It has mechanics, graphics, etc. it is totally a game.
And how is bayonetta 2 the "same game" as the first one? Don't be so hyperbolic, man.
Sorry, normally I am parabolic.
Having etc. doesn't make something a game. Even the people that made it didn't call it a game.
There is nothing different between Bayo 1 and 2 besides the story. And it isn't on this list because of the story.
And finally, there is just too much sappy praise in these comments. At least one person needed to shit on this list to help balance things out.
Thank you Patrick for introducing me to Dark Souls and motivating me to play it after a couple of years of putting it off, thinking it would be too difficult or too obtuse for me to enjoy. Absolutely transcendent experience, frame rate jankiness and all, that got me pumped about video games again.
@mormonwarrior: Forgive me if I'm reading you wrong, but it's very strange to hear someone praise Dark Souls and then complain about Binding of Issac not being bright and happy enough in the same post. Isn't that a little contradictory?
No, it's the general aesthetic of the game. Dark Souls doesn't have weird poop and blood obsessions and strange, twisted mom-complex stuff. And the twisting of religious stuff in weird ways. Dark Souls is just sort of dark medieval fantasy stuff from the lens of a Japanese developer. I'd be way into Binding of Isaac if it had more of the bright psycho whimsy of Meat Boy, but it's just dark, gross and unnerving instead.
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