10 games that were awesome enough for me to play/watch in 2015.

Still working on stuff, but the only way I can save a draft is to click that submit button! Come back later for finished reasoning, or just revel in the numbered list.

P.S. There are games that should be on this list that I haven't gotten to experience enough of that might otherwise make it. The Witcher 3, for example - though I can already tell that The Witcher 3 is going to fall into the same category that the past games in that series have had with me, in that I just don't like the gameplay systems and combat.

List items

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  1. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

  By hour count Fallout 4 should easily seem like it would fit the top bill of the year for me, and my reasoning for pushing Metal Gear Solid V is perhaps a bit sketchy, but here we are. I don't like the way Metal Gear Solid games play, so I lived the series vicariously through Drew. Then: MGSV. MGS V was consistently the most fun I've had playing a game this year. It's also the only MGS game I've had any interest in playing since the first game so many years ago (okay, I suppose I *did* play a small amount of Peace Walker, but the control scheme of the PSP made me drop it quickly). We can all agree that this is an unfinished game. Chapter 2 is slapped together in an almost laughable way. That said, in my mind it has a pass I would normally not give any other game, both because of how much fun I had in that first chapter/the story in the second, and because it seems obvious that the internal woes at Konami play a large part.

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  2. Fallout 4

  My first character's completion time was 7 days, 14 hours. I guess I don't really need to say much more. It's more Bethesda Fallout, which is a formula that speaks to me. There are improvements and features that also spoke to me. I enjoyed the changes to power armor, even though ultimately my hoarder mentality meant I hardly ever used it. I didn't get to spend too much time with the settlement building aspect, but there were a couple of settlements I did meticulously develop and, like Austin of Giant Bomb employ, built that sweet sweet bar). I can also agree with some of the negatives pointed out about Fallout 4 - namely it being not enough of a step forward compared to previous games - it really just is more Fallout. I also have issues with the way the game wraps up and the motivations of pretty much every faction. I unfortunately can't expound without spoilers. As the last Bethesda Fallout 3 was hardest criticized for its ending, I wouldn't have thought I'd have the same complaint about their second attempt. And please, please leave the Gamebryo engine behind.

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  3. Super Mario Maker

  I don't own a Wii U, but I've gotten so much enjoyment out of Mario Maker regardless, between Jeff, Dan, Patrick and other internet personalities. I'd still love to try my hand at making levels - I'd personally love to make levels I feel would fit into the old style of the Mario games rather than only the toughest of the insane ones. Maybe someday. I spent my holiday season trying to psyche myself into buying a Wii U for this and my next game on the list, but I'm a frugal enough person to look ahead and pray that the NX has either ports of or sequels to these amazing games.

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  4. Splatoon

  Coming soon...

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  5. Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide

  Coming soon...

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  6. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin

  Coming soon...

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  7. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void

  Coming soon...

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  8. Grand Theft Auto V

  It came out of the PC this year, and while I've yet to get through the main story, it's the best one of those GTA games to date. I still feel like I'm only tolerating the shooting controls, but the atmosphere, graphics, characters, and those heist missions make up for it.

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  9. Life Is Strange

  Coming soon...

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  10. Until Dawn

  I don't own a PS4. This is a common theme for my games of the year, huh? Games I couldn't play but really wanted to. Again, Until Dawn is a game I watched multiple people play through and agreed with all the positives. It's a David Cage/Telltale game done better. The structure of the story lends itself perfectly to allowing your choices to matter without your choices ultimately mattering (unless they pull in save data for Until Dawn 2), but all of that is okay. The game is gorgeous, the acting is exactly what it should be, and while the ultimate story is B at its best (in the positive and negative ways), the part where you have agency in it elevates it beyond any B movie I've watched in decades.