I didn't just want to do a "Best Games of E3 2014" list, and when I found myself very positively surprised at a couple of games, I decided to make this list.

This list isn't about games being first announced at E3 or having some new announcement, necessarily. They are just games that had some element that surprised me in a positive way.

By the way, if this was a list of E3 games I'm most excited about, Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3 would be at the top of the list. :)

	1. Grand Theft Auto V I expected GTAV to come out on PC, but I was still nervous that it might not. This was definitely the most exciting announcement of E3 2014 for me.
	2. The Legend of Zelda Wii U (Working Title) Yes, Zelda is on a LOT of people's lists of games to be ecstatic over. However, I haven't played any Zelda since Wind Waker and didn't expect to want to play the next one, either. The short trailer for Zelda Wii U got me excited, though, because it reminded me of...The Witcher. I can pretty much guarantee The Witcher 3 is more of my style of game than Zelda Wii U, but the "open world" and horseback riding in Zelda Wii U made me think Nintendo may actually make a Zelda game that is trying to borrow some ideas from games like The Witcher...which I'm 100000000% on board with!
	3. Grim Fandango I'll admit that I've yet to play this game. I've had it on my backlog for years, but the lack of availability, difficulty in getting it running on modern machines, and the crazy controls kept pushing it further down the list. This remastered version fixes all of those things, and it's just so exciting to see rare, classic games like this getting re-released. I hope the trend keeps up!
	4. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker I have yet to play either Super Mario 3D Land or Super Mario 3D World. However, I was always interested in the Toad levels from the trailers I've seen. I'm really glad to see an entire game of the Toad levels. I'm still making my way through Pushmo, and this game seems like it would scratch a similar itch.
	5. inFamous: First Light We definitely need more female protagonists in games. Even if it is DLC, I'm happy to see another major franchise making an entry with a female lead.
	6. Devil's Third This is one of the games that inspired this list. I had zero interest in this game before E3, as I thought it was just going to be a hack and slash game that required a lot of particular execution. I was pleasantly surprised to see a game that had a lot of personality and a rather interesting mix of melee and gunplay. I'm not saying it will be a good game, but I definitely want to know more about it as it approaches release.
	7. Rise of the Tomb Raider Tomb Raider was my game of the year last year. I didn't expect that, but it turned out that I had the most fun in that game than any other game last year. Therefore, I'm really excited for the next one!
	8. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Based on the previous games set in Middle-Earth, I was basically ignoring Shadow of Mordor...until I saw it covered on Gamespot. I'm now excited for it, though I will wait for reviews before a purchase, just to make sure...
	9. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare I'll be honest, I have never played a Call of Duty game...not one. I own several of them from Steam sales, but I've yet to play one. Advanced Warfare really surprised me by getting me interested in playing it. The graphics are nice, but it was the weaponry and tactics they suggest that really interests me. It makes things more interesting than standard guns and grenades that I've used in a million games before.
	10. Ori And The Blind Forest I didn't know about this game before E3, and the trailer really spoke to me (like a lot of these smaller, more emotion-focused games do). I'm just excited to play it.
	11. Battlefield Hardline I saw the leaks about this game before E3, but I didn't watch any of the footage, because I wanted as many surprises for E3 as possible. I played Pay Day (1), but it just didn't really impress me. I have yet to play Pay Day 2, but I just am waiting for one of these games to really click with me, because I really dig the idea of a game about pulling off heists. I've also been trying to get into another Battlefield game since Bad Company 2, but 3 really disappointed me and got old fast. It also doesn't hurt that immediately got in the beta for Hardline after it was announced and am excited to try the game out this weekend!
	12. Assassin's Creed: Unity Every year, I say that I'm too burned-out on Assassin's Creed and have to skip the next year. However, Ubisoft keeps finding things to get me excited. Unity is not only gorgeous, but it does look like they are trying to do some different things with the missions. I doubt I'll play this co-op, but I probably will still end up buying it this fall...
	13. Bayonetta 2 This entry is a little odd, because it wasn't Bayonetta 2 that surprised me...it was the fact that the original Bayonetta is being included. I never played the original game, so it is nice to know I can get both games for the same platform for one price.
	14. Dead Island 2 This trailer was hilarious. I really dug it. Also, I was so confused when I saw the title "Dead Island 2" until I did a quick search online to remind myself that the last game was not titled "2" but just had the "Riptide" subtitle. I'm still cautiously optimistic about this game, though, given the "quality" of Riptide.
	15. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege I originally didn't have this game on my list, because I just wasn't convinced the actual game would turn out like the demo. The demo just looked too staged from the voice-overs to the animations to the gameplay to even the textures. However, reading some positive hands-on articles, I am going to be a little more optimistic and put it on this list. :)

No Rainbow Six? I thought that was a pretty good reveal. Smaller scale scenarios with destructible environments looked interesting.

Rainbow Six Siege looks amazing, despite the terrible co-op dialogue its first showing was great. I just hope that what was shown will be what ships

@thebunnyhunter: @theht: Honestly, I just really feel skeptical what that game will look like at its next showing... The animations and textures just seemed a little too convenient for pre-alpha footage. I hope it really looks like that, but I just can't put enough confidence in it, at this point...

I'm really looking forward to Rise of the Tomb Raider, but that is one of the least surprising things.

One thing that I thought was ultra-surprising is that Croteam, makers of the Serious Sam series, are making what looks like a Witness-like puzzle game.

@beachthunder: Yeah, I debated leaving Rise of the Tomb Raider on the list, but since it was a new announcement, and I really am excited for it, I decided to leave it...even though everyone knew it was coming eventually.

I did see that brief show of the Croteam puzzle game. However, it didn't really stick with me. Maybe I'm just too excited about The Witness and The Talos Principle really just reminded me of that existing excitement for Jonathan Blow's next game. :)

I also have been expecting GTA 5 to come to PC but with Rockstar never saying anything about it, there was still that little bit of doubt. I was very happy when that was announced. Can't wait to finally play it.

yea i think pure surprises alone grim fandango and gta 5 on next gen are big (didnt think they would do gta 5 on next gen)

I don't play a ton of shooters online anymore, but Rainbow Six looked like something special and came out of nowhere. I figured it was prerendered until people said they played it.

Grim Fandango was an awesome surprise, Nintendo's rock solid showing was better than I expected, and the very positive reaction to Destiny kind of caught me off guard (just due to the lukewarm interest by so many outlets beforehand). And the fact that so many games looked so damn pretty.

But my favorite announcement? Definitely Tomb Raider 2. Not a surprise since they mentioned it before, but now it feels real despite just being a CG trailer.

Number 2 was a surprise, the rest not so much. Maybe if it wasn't revealed that Rockstar had another game this year then GTA would be a surprise.

@thebunnyhunter: @theht: I read some positive hands-on articles about Rainbow Six: Siege, so I'm a little more optimistic about it, now. Therefore, I added it to the list. I'm still skeptical until I see more in-game footage, because I really think it has potential and don't want to be disappointed like with other games that have been released in the recent past...

Grim Fandango and Dead Island 2, without a doubt, followed by the entirety of Nintendo's conference.