The year of our Lord 2014, where the major themes in releases were 'bad crappy stuff that doesn't even work' and '2013's good ones but now in higher resolution.' Probably one of the worst years for games in a long time. Below you will find the precious few games that did not manage to be completely shameful.
Bayonetta 2 would've almost certainly topped this list but alas, it's being held ransom on the Wii U. So, I was unable to play it.
The 7th generation will be remembered for a few key IPs: Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Gears of War, Uncharted, and Souls. Of those, Souls is the most original and engaging.
Although not as good as Dark Souls 1 or Demon's Souls, this is still far and away the best game of 2014. The environments are more varied than its predecessor, but this probably hurts the game more than it helps, since it makes the world seem more segmented than the very cohesive DS1. Bosses are somehow less interesting than Dark Souls 1, since I'm pretty sure 99% can be beaten via ye olde 'circle-strafe and counter.' Despite these flaws, DS2 runs away with 2014's GOTY award.
The coolest game on the list.
Social links from Persona 3/4, trials reminiscent of Phoenix Wright, and a setting similar to Battle Royale. It constantly plays against your expectations for the character and their tropes. It also does a good job at humanizing them... before they're savagely murdered. Check it out.
One of the most out-of-control plot twists in a game this side of Metal Gear, and it's all framed within the styling of a super-cute anime RPG.
It begins fairly rote and cliche, then turns pretty dark once you realize that your heroes are murdering everyone in their path. Finally it goes completely off the rails towards the end. Also, the battle and class systems are the best in a JRPG since Final Fantasy 5. It's really something.
Did not expect to like this.
While playing the original Diablo 3, I suffered from what I like to call 'Phantom Menace' syndrome: a condition where after a decade of anticipation for something, you're blinded and in denial of it sucking for a very long time. Such was Diablo 3 for me. Its restrictive build variety and unrewarding sense of progression at Inferno difficulty really soured my opinion of the game.
Lo and behold, this x-pack totally turns the whole game around. It still has Diablo 3's cardinal flaw: everything one-shots you eventually. The gameplay loop in general is much more rewarding, though.
Lord of the Rings is super lame.
Shadow of Mordor achieves the Herculean task of overcoming said lameness and is the best 'new' game of 2014. The Nemesis system is a lot of fun and facilitates creating your own narrative that is like 50 times cooler than any Tolkien bloviation.
Also, it has Batman-esque combat and a free-running system similar, but superior, to the one in Assassin's Creed.
I was really taken by surprise with this one. What a game!!
One of the weaker SRT games in recent years but still a very solid sRPG (the king of genres). Very reminiscent of Z2.1 (Haikei-hen) in that it seems a lot of cool stuff was held back purposely for the second half of the game coming in 2015.
Despite seeming like it's maybe an hour and a half long, tops, this is pretty fun while it lasts. Feels rushed in certain episodes, but the setting is so much more interesting than TWD.
It gets sort of preachy and overly verbose towards the end of the last chapter with all the Crooked Man stuff, but everything up to that point is pretty great.
everyone on the moon is gay which is cool i guess
