After the horrible gaming year of 2014 there were a few improvements in 2015. Still not an amazing year but at least it can be considered an improvement. A large step behind the great year that was 2013, a year that it was never going to be able to challenge even if the games that got delayed into 2016 had actually been released this year. 2016.. looks great!

The anticipated

The games that I looked forward to this year:

1. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

2. Fallout 4

3. Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void

4. Star Wars: Battlefront

5. Bloodborne

What game lived up the anticipation the best?

The Witcher 3: This game had to bear expectations and anticipations that would break most games. After the huge success that was The Witcher 2 nothing else than amazing would be unacceptable. It managed to live up to close to all the expectations in a manner that lend it great merit. The visuals were sadly downgraded before release but outside of that the story, characters and OST were of the quality expected.

The largest disappointment

Star Wars: Battlefront: It feels a bit wrong to give it this award when I've never played it but it managed to put me off before I even got the chance to play it. The visuals are great, about that there's no doubt but it has not managed to make me want to play it through its combat and gameplay or the fact that it doesn't come with the well liked space battles that made the other Battlefronts so much fun for me. I'm uncertain how I feel about the lack of a singleplayer campaign like the second Battlefront had. As of late those singleplayer campaigns have been kinda awful. The campaign in BF2.. it was quite fun and I would've loved more of that! So this game

Place 10 - 8

10. Cities: Skylines - This is what SimCity should've been. A blast to play and it didn't come with any stupid limitations that's the result of bad design decisions. This game allow the player to create some absolutely stunning cities and creative solutions to a large variety of problems. Just look at the more shared cities and you will find some amazing creations that only a well crafted game would allow

9. Game of Thrones: A TellTale game Series - It's always so difficult to hope that a game made form a very popular license to actually be worth the money and time invested. TellTale has proven to be very capable and they do a good job with this game aswell. It suffers from wanting to be too close to the books and Tv serie which limit the creativity that the creators could apply. That said, they managed to craft a fun experience that looks to continue in a second season at a later date

8. Heroes of the Storm - This is the first MOBA that I have enjoyed to play. The familiarity with the Blizzard franchises make a huge difference and the different modes that the game use make for a more varied experience and less likely to bore me out of my mind. The game also had a smaller amount of toxicity in the community when I played and that can't be underrated.

The unexpected

Tales from the Borderlands - I had no prior experience with Borderlands before this game so I really couldn't care any less when this game was announced. Didn't get the first episode until later and oh man did I not expect it to be that much fun! It really manage to make the wait between each episode worth it and sometimes the wait was very long indeed. The story is really not that remarkable but it got some really funny twists and turns that make me not care about the overall quality of the story and just have as much fun as possible. The characters are just fabulous, perhaps my favorite cast in any TellTale game to date and with Fiona in the lead. Laura Bailey add a terrific voice to a very well written character and the end result is magical. Rhys and the other characters are not bad at all either and should get honourable mentions for their work. Without them this game just wouldn't be nearly as good as it is!

Place 7-5

7. Life is Strange - This game managed to win over my increasing apathy towards episodic games. The wait is sometimes just ridiculous and this game didn't do well with that. What it did well was to craft great bonds between characters and add a really fun gameplay mechanic in the rewind button. Not only that but it was also quite fun to try to find every photo spot in each and every episode. Not that hard but a challenge well worth doing!

6. Until Dawn - Horror games have been done and released for way too long so it was close that I never gave this game a chance. But I'm really happy that I did! It's a game that takes inspiration from so many classic horror movies but also work with the butterfly effect which make for an interesting experience even if the twists and turns are expected. The game managed to create a spooky aura that lasted for the entire game and I was at several points on the edge already prepared for the next scare

5. Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void - This game managed to have a really good main campaign that fixed the many issues that the HotS campaign had. It was at times even a bit difficult which never could've been said about HotS. The mechanics to that came with the Protoss made for some fun decisions before each mission trying to be at my best. The epilogue is shite and a bit insulting which drag the game down quite a bit. Multiplayer is said to be better and the few games that I played did show some promise.

Best Soundtrack

The Witcher 3 - A truly great OST with many amazing tracks that I've listened to often. In a year that didn't have that much competition in this department I can still say that this OST would've been able to offer a good challenge in stronger years for the award. The OST got good diversity and got good tracks for every situation that the game provides. Just listen to some of the tracks that are played when you're on Skellige and you will understand!

Most Impressive Aesthetic

The Witcher 3 - Even with the unnaceptable downgrade in the graphics department the game still look terrific. I'm not able to play it with the highest settings so there's still room for improvement on my experience and if it manages to wow me with less than 100% that says something and I look forward to the day when I can experience the best it has to offer. Truly a beautiful game and CDProjekt has done a fantastic job once again. Looking forward to the magic they will provide next!

Places 4-2

4. Rocket League - A smash hit this game. It became my go-to game when I wanted to play something and didn't have that much time on my hands to spend. A quick game just over 6-7 min or a longer session. Both situations this game could handle with ease and several hundred of games completed I still find it just as enjoyable as I did at the start. Doesn't matter that I only score aerial goals by mistake and never when I want to..

3. Fallout 4 - Not gotten into Fallout before this game so I had no prior experience or knowledge about what a Fallout game should provide. I had just so much fun playing this game and actually didn't experience more than a few glitches and bugs in my playthrough so it was a stable experience overall. The game provides an overall great experience on all departments besides the OST that I honestly can't remember a single tune from. It did however make me want to play New Vegas.

2. Tales from the Borderlands - A decent enough story with the Borderlands graphics and TellTale art in addition to the at times fantastic OST but that's not mentioning its greatest strength, the characters with Fiona one of the two protagonists being the brighest example of the skill at TellTale and its writers department. The game got amazing writing when it comes to its characters and all the situations they end up in. I could spend so many more hours with everyone of them, Fiona especially. Being cunning and sarcastic with her might be the most entertaining experience of this year in gaming.

Character of the Year

Fiona - TellTale got a knack for writing characters and especially female characters. Fiona follow the proud tradition set by Clementine from the Walking Dead and she do that tradition proud. Fiona is a character almost written for me. The sarcasm, the snark, the cunning wit and the ability to care deeply for family and "friends" make her a really fascinating character and one I hope to be able to spend so much more time with in the future. I can't state enough just how terrific Fiona is and she alone would be a great reason to play the game. The interactions she has with her fellow characters are some of the best gaming moments of this year and could make such a list in most years. With Fiona I had to deal with a vast amount of different situations and TellTale allowed me to pick between several glorious options. Laura Bailey did a terrific work with Fiona and nailed the character perfectly. It's a match made in heaven!

Game of the year

The Witcher 3 - This years winner is The Witcher 3! A much stronger winner than last years, a winner more deserving of being called GOTY! The game comes with a good story that despite failing at certain aspects, political mostly.. still manges to provide viable reasons to experience new enviroments and meet new characters. The characters themself are just awesome and it was so good to finally meet Yennefer that took so much space in the Witcher 2 without actually being on the screen. I really enjoyed her relationship with Geralt and both of their relationship with Ciri that was so important in this game. This game managed to do a good job in the crafting of bonds and relationships between characters with the one between these three almost looking like a genuine family. The antagonist of the game was quite weak which is a shame since it makes it harder to compare this game to some other fantastic titles. If the game had a solid antagonist it would be possible to call this game overall fantastic. That said it's still a fantastic game with the flawes considered and a game that make this year worth remembering in gaming. I look forward to the glory that I hope to be in 2016 and compare this game to the tiles that was meant to relase in this year.