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No game has had a turn-around like Diablo 3 with this expansion. Diablo 3 was a solid game with many problems, and Reaper of Souls does an admirable job of turning the ship around and setting the stage for more improvements to come. It added much-needed end-game content and a form of competition by way of Rift leader boards and Seasons, not to mention overhauls of many game systems for the better. Diablo 3 is in a very good position right now and stands to become even better with subsequent updates and expansions - but Blizzard really needs to quicken the pace on this to truly deliver.
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Improves on its predecessor in about as many ways as it detracts, but still a fantastic "Souls" experience with all the frustration and satisfaction that entails. Almost suffers from having too much content, no one boss is as iconic as any of the ones encountered in Dark Souls.
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Blizzard shows they still have the MMO chops with this expansion which firmly reinstates Warcraft as the king of the genre. Smart decisions were made to return to the meat and potatoes and Warcraft lore, so plenty of orcs and humans duking it out in this adventure. Garrisons are a meaningful addition to gameplay and provide a nice break from the many quests you'll undertake. Best story thread in a WoW expansion for a long time, and the decision to have characters recur throughout the zones means you can actually follow along and it has a far better arc. Spectacular music.
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This filled the need for a sweeping RPG full of exploration. Combat leaves something to be desired but the writing is pretty on the ball for the majority of the time and the characters are usually interesting. However, this game gives us the worst character of the year in the form of Sera, who is a ham-fisted and terribly written bit of characterisation not given any help by poor delivery on almost every line.
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Outlast only has a few tricks up its sleeve but it never fails to delight when it performs them due to its tight controls, pacing and atmosphere. Story nothing to write home about but it serves admirably as the vehicle for plenty of well-crafted spooks and scares. One of the best bits of DLC of the year in the form of The Whistleblower.
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TellTale proves they can still get it done with this excellent re-envisioning of various fable characters in a hard-boiled detective story. Great voice acting and presentation carries the by now rather standard TellTale gameplay.
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Finally an Alien game that wasn't a huge disappointment. Fantastic in both visual and audio design, adhering very close to the aesthetics of the first film and subsequently dripping in claustrophobic atmosphere. A little repetitive but honestly forgiveable considering how many complete-dud games we've had to endure to get to this gem. No real innovation game-play wise from the well-trodden horror formula of the year, with plenty of closet hiding involved. Overall though a tremendous effort that delivered on all its promises.
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Shadow of Mordor looks great and plays great, taking inspiration from systems like Assassins Creed and Batman and perfecting them as never before. Story completely missable, but the nemesis system is the real achievement here and I suspect we'll see more games with this kind of mechanic in the future.
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Just a great remake of a great game, with better visuals, performance and more content. Can't say fairer than that.
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Better than it had any right to be, with excellent performances across the board from voice actors. Throwback to armour and health systems of yore was cute but more annoying in practise than anything. Great visual style marred by megatexture pop-in even on more than well equipped systems.
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An excellent tease for Phantom Pain - if it's anything like this, it's going to be amazing. Easily one of the best PC ports of the year, with fantastic performance and plenty of options.
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A Souls clone that has no pretences to the contrary and gets the job done pretty well with some pretty particle effects and decent world design. Could have done without almost all of the dialogue and writing as all anyone really wanted was the dungeon-crawling gameplay. On that level it delivers, but not to the high standards set by the game it's aping.
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Retro is fast becoming overdone, but Shovel Knight pulls it off without offence. Light and breezy humorous writing, expertly tuned gameplay and platforming, it just hits all the right notes.
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