Jeff posts on Rap Genius too. Nice.

Great list.

Happy New Year, Jeff. May 2016 be a perfect year.

"I hate jokes"

Dope syndicate pic

Nuclear Throne is reeeeal good, glad to see it show up here.

Seeing AC on Jeff's list is such a massive surprise to me. Tomb Raider too. I gotta get AC once it inevitably drops to $20 as per usual with AC games and TR when it comes out on PC.

Jeff gets to orbit = Kerbal confirmed for 2016 2015 GOTY

Plurk is like Twitter, but the "timeline" flows horizontally.
I think it's bad design..

I did expect Syndicate to be higher on the (What? Oh, it's a different game?)... never mind.

I really enjoyed reading this, thanks.

What's a Plurk?

Jeff's list is the only one with Nuclear Throne making it Number one on the list of top "Game of the Year" Lists.

Though I think he should have played Undertale, if at least to make it so he could write some educated reason as to why it didn't make his list.

Why play something that doesn't appeal to you?

If the boss wants 11 on his list the boss get's 11. Great list. Glad to see Tomb Raider on here.

So was he.

Interesting list, I too love Syndicate...

Jeff Gerstmann is the smartest man in video games.

Whenever he talks or writes about them, you can feel knowledge and understanding behind his words and an appreciation for design and mechanics, that you don't get a lot of other places anymore.

As games have changed and evolved, there's this trend where people in games media are attributing too much agency to the story and visual design, thinking way too hard about all the wrong things that really isn't the game. Like, I bet some "games journo" over at Kotaku or Polygon also really likes Mario Maker, but can't write an article about it without the headline "How Mario Maker really made me understand Goombas altruistic and omnisexual relationship with Bowser".

Even Gamespot is slipping into Buzzfeed territory, linking 9 month old reviews on Twitter and generally being obnoxiously clickbaity with their content. Jeff Gerstmann is a straight shooter and he keeps his site that way, which is why I come back to it daily and don't just consume the content via YouTube, like I do for every other game site.

...It's also why I really loved that Dan Ryckert got hired to the site, because he seems like the antithesis to all these new-age gaming hipsters who are trying to sound smart on the internet.

"right"

Keep living the dream kiddo.

Sonic is blue and horrible. Just stating a fact.

I have to admit, your continuing joy with Mario Maker is a bit of a surprise, but it has really shown that love of gaming you have in your soul, and thats a beautiful thing to behold.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and list with us.

I'm a big fan of Jeff and Giant Bomb is probably my favorite place on the Internet. I never miss a UPF or podcast.

That being said, it felt a little weird to hear Jeff go after Fallout 4 so hard in the most disappointing game category on the podcast. This isn't just because I love Fallout 4 either. We are talking about a game he gave a 4/5 in his review. Listening to the GOTY podcast discussion you would think he hated it but that didn't play out in his review score.

No disrespect to Jeff or the rest of Giant Bomb. I just don't believe that Fallout 4 belonged in the top 3 most disappointing games of 2015. I was totally with Austin during that discussion.

Finally Cities: Skylines! I'm really surprised to see that on here since Jeff didn't mention it at all in any of the deliberations.

I think he is making the rather snippy comment that Fallout 4 is just a rehash of Fallout 3 but I may be wrong.

Anyway I think they are both good games but did you not hear Jeff's' rant about Fallout 4? It's nont ending up on his list.

@king3pj: I think Fallout 4 was literally just a rehash of every Bethesda trope with very minimal improvement. It's still executed fairly well (on PC, at least) and plays decently, but there are very few meaningful changes. It's easily the weakest of the three modern Fallout games, and maybe one of Bethesda's weakest efforts thus far. The leap between Skyrim and Oblivion can probably be blamed for this (at least for some.) I hated Oblivion, and dropped 100 hours into Skyrim. I was really hoping for a similar gigantic leap in quality from Fallout 3 to Fallout 4, but instead I got what felt like DLC for Fallout 3 with a graphical mod tacked on. Fallout: New Vegas even felt more distinct and original than Fallout 4 does.

Not that it's a bad Fallout game, it just isn't a very innovative one. I was just as disappointed as Jeff, probably moreso since I loved the shit out of Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

good list. thanks jeff

"We spent 7 years making a lesser game on superior hardware."

That'd disappoint me too.

Hey! Jeff did end up liking Tomb Raider! Crazy!

I was secretly hoping Axiom Verge would be on the list. Super surprised and delighted to see it at #3! The game deserves as much attention as it can get because the Shadow Complex HD re-release isn't going to help make Metroidvanias come back as much as they need to.

Great list and as always great read!

I love how much Jeff loves Mario Maker.

So yeah Mario Maker or MGS 5 for game of the year.

I should get back into Cities. Time to queue up mods again :)

The momentum behind Bethesda games has always seemed a little weird to me to be honest. I actually think most their offerings, including Skyrim, are bad games, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Even so, surely even the most diehard TES/Fallout fans should be a little wary of how little progression is actually taking place between each one of these games at this point. In my experience, Fallout 4 is broken in ways that the previous games never struggled with. I can accept a significant amount of jank in an open-world game of Fallout's scope, but when I have to restart the first quest of the game 6-7 times because the Deathclaw keeps spawning inside the geometry I become a little less forgiving. Then, when every single one of my save files for the past 10 hours become corrupted for seemingly no reason, that's about the point when I say 'fuck this game' and move on.

Speaking mechanically, Fallout 4 improves the core shooting gameplay but removes many of the RPG elements like the character customisation and dialogue choices and/or manipulation - only to replace them with an undercooked base construction system with seemingly no real point. The main plot is mediocre and only offers the illusion of choice - although that's neither here nor there really as Bethesda games have always been quite poor in the story department.

@atwa: until you actually hear him talk about it and then it sounds like a 3/5

@joelhulsey: you completely missed the joke, which is crazy because he's 100% right

Super Mario Maker is a joyous game. I had so much fun playing and creating levels that I don't think I'll ever stop. It brought my family together multiple times, parents included, and many memorable moments arose those experiences. Hopefully the make a Super Mario Maker 2 with more gameplay elements, and maybe put it on the go...? That would be awesome :)

My GOTY without a doubt!

P.S If anyone wants to check out my highest rated level with 54 stars, you can bookmark it here: https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/59EE-0000-0121-783E

Out of the hundreds of new releases this year, not even counting re-releases on new platforms, it's literally impossible to expect someone to have even played all of them or even have a subjective experience identical to yours compared to other titles that you may not have even played. Titles that they ended up enjoying more.

Just because a game doesn't make a top ten's list for every staff member on the website doesn't mean those games aren't good. Just that someone else enjoyed the other titles released in the plethora of titles that I'm very thankful this entertainment medium has grown into; every new game being released or worked on is trying something that ends up being profound in it's own way by catering to the variety of people who participate in it.

Pleased to see Jeff add Bloodborne to his list, he's hinted enjoying from From's attempt this time at a easier souls game that's more action based compared to souls.

Overall great list

Anything that a veteran of games press, such as Jeff, writes is always going to be interesting and I love reading it. It's a bonus that we share the same GOTY (along with many other people no doubt).

How is WWE2k16 not on there, they put Dr.Tracksuit in the marketing trailer.

Hmm MGS Screenshot from the TGS "Not Your Kind of People" trailer showing Venom Snake on the motorcycle.

"This is our new home. 2# on GOTY list."

@joelhulsey: I think he's making a really clever joke. Basically Fallout 4 is 3 just dressed up a little.

Brett's list is the best list!

Probably GO?

@joelhulsey: no, no he doesn't.

Whoa, Bloodborne is on is his list. I was under the impression Jeff didn't like it very much. Cool.

Plays really well (though you'll never get me to start using tilt controls, you monsters).

Jeff knows whats up.

Jeff Gerstmann, soccer's biggest fan.

It would be interesting to see how much all the GOTY discussions changed if Jeff felt back then what he feels about Nuclear Throne now. 'Cause it went utterly unmentioned and then it goes so high on his list. Ah well.