Well this year was awesome, especially compared to last year. I think story telling in games reached a new high this year, as did choice systems in games. The top 7 games on my list were by far the hardest to order this year and because they were all such great games. Unfortunately there were a few disappointments, so let's get those out of the way first.

I was disappointed in:

Fallout 4- I was very excited for this game. It was in my top 5 games of the year for the first 30 hours. Then I hit a wall of boredom. Where were the interesting quests? Why do the factions hardly have any quests? Why is there tons of buildings filled with bugs and bandits, but no meaningful loot or story? Fallout 4 is a good game, but it feels like Bethesda got lazy. Nothing about it innovates or builds on their classic formula in any substantial way. I stopped playing it and I don't know if I will ever finish it.

Just Cause 3- Maybe this one was more of my fault than Just Cause. I thought there was going to be a lot more to this game. At least a wider variety in destructible objects? This game is fun but it really is the biggest copy and paste job ever. Same base after same base after same base. What a shame.

Disney Infinity 3.0 - Moments about this game are awesome. A lot of the Star Wars content is super cool. But then a lot of it is super lazy, especially the new Force Awakens playset.

I need to say I'm sorry to:

Ori and the Blind Forest- Platforming as difficult as Super Meatboy. A beautiful world and soundtrack. Why did I quit playing it after 4 hours, most likely to never return?

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture- A beautiful game graphically, especially on the PS4. Very interesting story too, with game design right up my alley. I hope I finish it soon.

Undertale- I played it for 20 minutes and I almost died of boredom. I promise I will finish it, I just need to muster up the inner strength to power through the beginning of the game.

Invisible Inc. - I didn't know about it until I read Austin's top 10. I absolutely love tactics games. I wish I could have played this game sooner to consider it for my list.

Pillars of Eternity- Seems like a very awesome game. Will I ever finish it? Probably not, sadly.

Mad Max- I didn't give it a fair shot. Not that it would have been my game of the year but maybe there is an enjoyable game in it. probably better than Just Cause 3.

Downwell- The true #10 game on my list.

Now onto the list...

10. Destiny: The Taken King

It actually pains me that Destiny was able to creep its way onto my list this year. This #10 spot should belong to Downwell! I avoided Destiny last year and absolutely began to detest the game thanks to the never ending conversations about it on the bombcast. I picked up The Taken King this year since getting the base game and all the dlc (plus my lack of self control when it comes to buying games) seemed like a good enough deal to give the game a try. The shooting does feel really good. The art design is fantastic. The multiplayer is fun, though a bit boring compared to other competitive shooters. But the story is awful, even with The Taken King. The quest design is awful too. Half of the Strike's are boring and lifeless. Honestly, I don't think the Taken King really changed anything about the game other than the update to loot drops. You do get new weapons and armor at a very steady rate, just steady enough that the game grabs ahold of you and says “you want more right? Even though you played this content 12 times already, you want more! I mean the next gun you get could bring you from 291 light to 292!” And so I played, thankfully with a friend, but I played and grinded strikes over and over and thought to myself why the hell am I playing this game?

But then I did the raid. Twice. It has interesting mechanics, it requires voice chat and teamwork with complete strangers. It has exciting bosses and somewhat exciting loot. It was the closest thing I've played to World of Warcraft ever and since Old school vanilla and Burning Crusade WoW is probably my favorite game of all time, the fact that Destiny could give me feelings similar to those old raids is enough to let me look past all the boring, repetitive game design. That, along with Bungie putting out crazy timed special quest chains for legendary weapons, that had me and my friend running around like fools for hours on end to get a gun I would hardly ever use makes me think I have to give Destiny its due. I put the game down for good after I finished the raid a second time, but I had a memorable enough experience that I will be very interested in whatever Destiny 2 has to offer. Hopefully Bungie finds a way to incorporate more of the raid design and mechanics into the game, because it sucks that you have to play around 50 hours of a mediocre game to get to the really amazing part.

9. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

I have always been a huge fan of the Assassin's Creed series. Somehow they manage to keep these games entertaining (for the most part) even though this is like the 9^th major release it has had. I think AC II and Brotherhood are amazing games and I think Black Flag is pretty great too. Yet, Syndicate might be the best Assassin's Creed game ever made. I would never call it my favorite, but in terms of combat, traversal, open world design, art design, and graphics, I'd say this is the best Assassin's Creed has ever been. The quests are pretty entertaining, but the actual major assassin missions are awesome and show actual mission design improvement. Those missions feel like a Hitman game with Assassin's Creed gameplay. The grappling hook is an amazing addition as it makes traversal even easier and more fun than it ever has been. Also, the increased focus on actual stealth is a welcome change. I mainly play as Evie because she has the cooler outfits, the cooler personality, and she has the three major stealth skills. The throwing knives are a blast to use and I think this is the first Assassin's Creed game where I try to kill everyone without being caught instead of just running in, alerting the guards and easily murdering all of them with simple button presses. It certainly helps that the AI is more aggressive and that they have levels, making certain areas of the game much too tough early on.

Most importantly the world looks fantastic and is designed extremely well. I have always loved the collectibles in Assassin's Creed games, for reasons which I don't even know myself, but they have never been more fun to collect than in Syndicate. The world is filled to the brim with life and personality, and actuially feels like a real city. So many open world games to this day feel too barren. Major cities will only have thirty or forty npcs. Small villages and towns have five or six people. For such huge worlds they feel too lightly populated. Assassin's Creed fills London to the brim with people and they all go about their business, looking, doing, and acting fairly differently. Sure, they are all on timers and scripted paths, and it still is weird that for the most part citizens ignore your crazy assassin behavior, but the world in AC Syndicate feels big and alive like other open world games don't. I haven't even finished the game yet because I'm so caught up in collecting everything and liberating the map. The story is certainly forgettable, but it is amazing to me that this series is still so much fun when they get it right, all these years later.

8. Batman: Arkham Knight

Arkham Knight makes my list even though I was disappointed by this game. The Arkham series has been one of my favorites of all time. Arkham Asylum is a game changer in design and combat. City allowed me to fly around as Batman and it had one of my all time favorite endings. Needless to say I was pumped for Knight, but rather than being a grand finale for the series a lot of the design of the game felt uninspired. While the Scarecrow is a cool villain and he certainly pushes Batman to his limits, the rest of the villains in the game fell flat for me. Poison Ivy teaming up with Batman? A man who sequels like a pig and listens to opera music (forgive me for not knowing his name)? Two Face and Penguin left as lame side missions? That cool Hush storyline is also a very short side mission? I understand they drained the well pretty hard with the previous two/three games, but a lot of the villains, particularly Two Face, could have been used better. The side missions felt a lot more like check boxes than compelling mystery's to solve, especially when a lot of them were beating up random thugs and shutting down their surveillance systems. And lastly, the batmobile was cool but also forced. Seriously how many waves of drones that behaved exactly the same did I have to blow up? Hundreds? A lot of the game felt like Rocksteady actually didn't want to make another Batman game but they had to, so they hit all the check boxes of “improvements” that could have been made to City. Certainly the look and design of the open world is better than City and Origins, and the combat is the best it has ever been, but it just felt half-assed in too many places.

That being said the story in the game hits a lot of high points. Sure, the twist was obvious if you know anything about Batman lore but Mark Hamill's surprise return as the Joker was outstanding. In some ways it is the most brutal Joker of all the games which is quite an achievement seeing as how he is in Batman's head. The entire last thirty minutes of the game was completely crazy in a good way and really focused on what I love the most in the Batman universe, the relationship between Batman and the Joker. Rocksteady did right by both of them and the ending of this game goes to a place I'd never thought it would go. And even with all my complaints it was still a solid Batman game. It looked incredible, controlled well, the combat was as challenging and as satisfying as ever, and launching Batman from the batmobile into the sky was maybe the coolest thing in the entire series. It may not be my favorite in the series, but it is still a damn good Batman game.

7. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

MGS V is the best stealth game ever. It's so good at what it does, it's not even a close competition. For years games have talked up their immersive and “anything goes” gameplay, but I think that MGS V is the first game to make right on that promise. Most games are actually quite limited when you get deep into their mechanics. You can often find the flaws in the design and easily see what the limits are to where you can go and how you can approach your mission. MGS V is a constant learning experience that has so many variables, whether it be the hundreds of weapons, outpost designs, tools, or guards, that you can constantly find and learn new things about the game and how it behaves. You literally can sneak your way everywhere or shoot and kill everyone. When things go bad and you get caught you can improvise rather than reset to the last checkpoint. The stealth works and it works well. The random nature of the way the enemies behave along with things like the time of day and changing weather constantly created unexpected moments.

In my opinion, the main reason the stealth in MGS V works so well is because of the fulton mechanic. Often in stealth games the unconscious body is a nuisance. You either leave it in the open and a patrolling guard sees it and gets alerted, or you spend minutes dragging it around to hide it, potentially getting caught in the process. The fulton mechanic gets rid of this stealth game issue. Slowly picking apart camps by fultoning the soldiers one by one was as satisfying as cleaning up a new settlement in Fallout 4. The fact that you can just take any enemy, vehicle, weapon, or storage container and just launch it into the sky was maybe the best gameplay mechanic all year. It allows you to be a more aggressive stealth player and encourages you to take more risks with even greater rewards. Rewards like fultoning a truck with two soldiers in it as its also on fire and about to explode. Or fultoning a soldier and while the nearby guard stares up at his friend be carried into the sky by a giant parachute, you surprise him by fultoning him too. Or the great moment when you first get in the helicopter, leaving poor D-Horse on the ground all alone until out of nowhere he gets fultoned into the sky. Hilarious stuff.

There was one point, about thirty hours in, where I thought that MGS V was going to be my game of the year. The story, while spread thin, was intriguing and mysterious and the gameplay had me hooked. It was one of the best sandbox worlds I had ever played in. But as the game grew longer, the story disappointed. And then got worse. A lot of the big moments are pretty lame. I felt no attachment to any of the characters because they were all annoying and over exaggerated, or disgustingly designed (Quiet). The side ops start to get tedious. Unlocking upgrades and new weapons is like a free to play phone game. Why do I have to wait 2 hours for my base to upgrade? Also, why is there this many weapons? Most of them were the same. And the worst of it, Chapter 2 has to be the most horribly paced, horrible designed ending to a game ever. It's confusing to sift through which missions matter and which don't. The numbering is nonsensical. The majority of the missions don't even have anything to do with the story and then what is there for story is poorly written. I thought the big twist was cool, but also completely dumb. I ended up walking away from the game with a bad taste in my mouth, like I had just played one of the best and most disappointing games at the same time. It's unfortunate that in the end, all the things I loved about the game got overshadowed by everything I hated about it. But for my first Metal Gear game I have to say, the series is pretty cool.

6. Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void

I love Starcraft II. It is by far the best competitive multiplayer game ever made. When I stuff a cheese build in a game of 1v1 I think to myself “why do I ever play any other game?” Then the very next game I get absolutely crushed and say “why the hell do I play this game?” Starcraft is the hardest game to get good at and with that difficulty comes frustration and anger. But losing games of Starcraft is often a great life lesson. It reminds me to stop blaming others for my mistakes and that I need to focus on what I can do to improve rather than why I think I'm better than my opponent. There really is no one to blame for losing but yourself.

That is why I am so happy Legacy of the Void has gotten me back into Starcraft. I fell off a few months into Heart of the Swarm because I absolutely hated playing against Zerg (I'm a Protoss player). The improvements they have made to the multiplayer for this expansion are awesome. The new units, while I still have some complaints, are much more powerful and useful than the last expansions additions. The increased worker count to start the game makes the game move so much faster. You have to macro better, micro better, and expand quicker. It encourages aggressive play. Skill stands out more than ever before. It is certainly shaping up to be the best competitive Starcraft II ever.

But even my insane love of Starcraft can't shake the lazily designed campaign and co-op modes. The campaign's story is horrible. It feels like they literally stopped caring about any of the characters or the interesting drama within the Starcraft universe and instead made a bunch of stock characters with boring personalities and wrapped them up in the lamest ancient-evil-prophecy-end-of-the-world-chosen one story of all time. Then, when you have possibly the best CG cutscenes in the industry, the final story moments are just text on static screens. Playing the campaign is certainly fun, especially on harder difficulties but a lot of the mission design boils down to build an army and capture/destroy certain points, or defend a point. Even as fun as it is, when some of the missions have really unique mechanics, like having to move your base around the map on a moving platform, then I can't help but feel Blizzard really got lazy with mission design. The co-op missions are fun as well and are a great idea for friends to enjoy starcraft together without getting serious about the multiplayer, but they too feel uninspired. They recently updated the missions to make them feel more “immersive” but they still come across as a hastily thrown together side mode. It's a shame too, because the different ways each commander plays are smartly designed and fun to use.

In the end, Starcraft II will be the one game on the list I will continue to spend a significant amount of time with in 2016 (and hopefully beyond). I love being excited about Starcraft again, I just wish it felt like Blizzard put more effort into everything outside the multiplayer (and parts of the multiplayer even) instead of letting such an iconic series end on a flat note. Hopefully the professional Starcraft scene thrives in 2016.

5. Until Dawn

I have watched my fair share of horror movies and while I can find them enjoyable, I've never had a real affinity for them. I certainly don't make it a point to watch them. Even still, I thoroughly enjoyed Until Dawn, so much so that I'd probably say it is the best horror “movie” I've seen. The setting is great, the characters all fit their rolls perfectly and each have their own memorable moments, and the story does a 180 on you halfway through. The jump scares are all unexpected, and the game tricked me in some really clever ways.

What stood out the most however, was how well the game hides it's moving parts. It has the butterfly effect system, letting you know when choices you make will have an impact later in the game, but it is nearly impossible to tell when they will have an impact and how. I played through it in two sittings while two of my friends watched and helped me make decisions and we were constantly analyzing the story and making hypotheticals about the plot and how our decisions effected it. The game does an excellent job of mixing up the dialogue and the character interactions based on your decisions, and masterfully hides the real meaningful choices that lead to the various character deaths. My friends and I had so many theories about what our choices would or could effect that I literally got lost in the game. I just wanted to beat it. It pulled me with it's mostly solid facial animation, great voice acting, and crazy story. Even more so, I'd have to award Until Dawn with the best use of quick time events of any game ever. These quick time events were intense. I never knew which of my missed button presses would result in a gruesome death of a character. My hands got sweaty during the most intense scenes, particularly during the “hold still” moments. Those moments were so tough for me because they were so sensitive to movement that I had to close my eyes and hold my breath to try to stay still. Scary, heart-racing stuff! Until Dawn isn't really a revolutionary game, its story certainly isn't the greatest thing ever, and the characters are only as deep as any you would find in a teen horror movie, but there is just something about it that I love. It's just a really fun interactive movie that's even better with friends watching it with you, trying to help you make all the correct decisions (in our playthrough we kept everyone alive until the final scene, where we ended up getting two characters killed). I can't say enough good things about this game. If you like interactive/adventure/choice based games, and especially if you like horror films, this game is a must play.

4. Bloodborne

As a huge fan of the Souls series Bloodborne is an awesome spinoff to the franchise. I played all of the Souls game as a sword and shield walking tank so Bloodborne really forced me out of my comfort zone and demanded that I rely less on blocking and a huge health bar and more on timing, quick reactions, and solid decision making. It is tough to say where Bloodborne ranks among each of the Souls games as they each have their own quirks and differences that make them fun, challenging, and unique in their own way. What I liked most about Bloodborne is it combined what was great about Dark Souls along with its own faster combat. The game is filled with hidden surprises, whether it be weapons, items, enemies, bosses, or shortcuts. The game has tons of crazy moments and mechanics that I would never have figured out if it weren't for the internet, but there is something surprisingly fun about combining your own self discovery while following along with the internet as it pokes and prods at every nook and cranny of such a complex game.

I can still see how this series could be impenetrable for some people. Dark Souls II was a lot more forgiving and much less confusing, whereas Bloodborne gets back to the ridiculousness of the first two Souls games. A murderous npc that can kill other npcs if left unchecked. A giant invisible eyeball spider brain creature that can teleport you to a nightmare world. An entire hidden area, only reachable upon receiving an invitation and arriving in the correct spot. A collectible currency called insight that reveals things about the world that had people scratching their heads for weeks. Numerous hidden optional bosses. A story that ties everything together in an incredibly intriguing but entirely confusing way. It's a world I got lost in, not only because of the amazing combat and countless secrets, but because the world is just coated in atmosphere. From the victorian dark brooding castles and werewolves, to the insanely grotesque cosmic horrors, Bloodborne has the most cohesive and stylistic theme of any of the Souls games. I wanted to understand the world, the nature of the hunters and the curse, and how everything was related. Where did these cosmic beings come from? What were they trying to discover within the college? What is with the eyeballs? Bloodborne features some of, if not the most creepy, disgusting enemy designs in any game ever. Some of the enemies creeped me out, and I'm not squimish.

Oh yeah, and the game is incredibly tough, but just as satisfying. The reliance on dodging, countering, and being aggressive made it feel like a new game. Patience gave way to aggressive and daring gameplay. The fear of what could be around the next corner constantly stayed with me. The story is deep, and in most cases more lore heavy than most RPGs. I started reading Lovecraft because of Bloodborne, which just tells you how deep into that cosmic horror world Bloodborne had pulled me because Lovecraft's work is not great (although I understand why he is revered). The moment to moment encounters were as thrilling and anxiety driven just as much as any of the other Souls games. The best part is no one else has made a game like this yet and I'm happy that we are staring to get a yearly iteration of the Souls series (or spinoffs). These games bring curiosity, mystery, difficulty, and intrigue that no other single player games even come close to. While not without it's faults, Bloodborne is a harrowing yet amazing experience. I would certainly not be opposed to a Bloodborne II.

3. SOMA

I have felt joy, excitement, sadness, shock, and heartbreak from playing video games. But never before has a game giving me actual anxiety, nearly to the point of panic. Slightly dramatic on my part? Yes. But something about imagining being in the main characters shoes, trapped in the world SOMA creates, completely terrified me. Maybe it was being at the bottom of the ocean, trapped in darkness with monsters. Maybe it was the nature of consciousness that gets examined. Maybe it was the state of the world itself. Hopelessness, despair, dread. Those were my feelings as I pushed through SOMA, hoping to find hope. There isn't much in this game.

Instead of hope, this game uses the fear of the unknown to push you forward. The environments are claustrophobic, dark, and uninviting. If there was ever a game to play with a good pair of headphones on, this is it. The rush of the ocean, the scream of a monster, the creak of the research lab as the ocean pushes against it. The sound is masterfully done. The style of the world is also magnificent, as it looks like the developers combined the world of Bioshock with the technology of Dead Space. I didn't think any game could top Bloodborne's atmosphere this year but SOMA wins by a landslide. The world pulls you in to its horrors as you can't help but wonder what the hell is going on and how the hell you will get out of this mess.

For me, the story is amazing. It ends in a way I wasn't really expecting. Instead of relying on plot twists, it just constantly surprised me with its reveals as well as numerous shocking moments. It puts you in uncomfortable situations over and over again. It is nearly perfect execution. I say nearly because the actual “game” part of SOMA really puts a kink in the story and pacing of the game. Hiding from the monsters is not fun, scary, or challenging. Along with the light puzzle solving, it all just feels tedious. And even when the game parts weren't terrible I found myself rushing through them to get to more story because the story and exploration was just so much better than anything the gameplay was offering. It is a shame the developer couldn't have found a better way to add gameplay rather than just shoving Amnesia into an entirely different game.

Even with the less than stellar gameplay, I'll be thinking about SOMA for a long time. It puts the player through some really interesting and tough philosophical decisions. It asks tough questions and doesn't force any answers on you. Sometimes something about a game just puts me in the mood to write and SOMA was one of those games. I wrote a review for SOMA, within it saying “I have never had more anxiety playing a game than I had while playing SOMA. It makes you think about scary things, rather than force you to be scared.” I think that is the first time I've ever described a game that way.

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2. Life is Strange

Whereas SOMA gave me anxiety, Life is Strange gave me all the other feelings I listed. Excitement, joy, hope, sadness, heartbreak. Lots of sadness and heartbreak and “Are you fucking kidding me?” over and over. I loved a lot of games this year. Making this top 10 might have been the most difficult of any year since I've started doing it. #2-7 on this list were all so incredibly close to each other it took me hours upon hours of thinking to finally decide an order for them. What put Life is Strange ahead of #3-7? It could possibly be that I just finished the game on Sunday, making it extremely fresh in my mind compared to these other games. The wounds this game inflicted on my psyche haven't even come close to healing yet. But I think what really pushed it ahead was, similar to SOMA, it's story telling stood strong without crazy plot twists. And most importantly, it was a story that I had never played in a game before.

How many games star a teenage girl? How many of them focus on that girl's relationship with her best friend? How many games deal with bullying and suicide in such a serious and actually relevant way, especially without coming across as preachy and unrealistic? How many games deal with death and loss in such a real life way? How many games focus so intently on decision making and selfishness? How many coming of age stories actual tackle such difficult topics with class and sensitivity? This is a game about time travel, but it still feels like it is about real life. The horrible situations this game deals with are actual things people have to deal with everyday in the real world. Feelings of abandonment, drug abuse, being put on medication, owning up to your mistakes and becoming a better person. This game tackles all of these topics and more and it does so in a way that no other game does. So many games focus on the fantastical elements, the nature of being on a grand adventure, the power trips and godlike abilities, and for good reasons. People often play games to see things, to be a part of things that they can't be in real life. The powers play a more important role than the characters. In Life is Strange the time travel is secondary to who the main character, Max Caufield is and who everyone else is in the story. What they say and do, and how you have Max handle such difficult situations is the core of the game. The time travel is just a way for Max to help deal with these tough life situations, most likely a way we all wish we could have dealt with things in our lives.

But then the game constantly questions it's own fantastical power. Does the time travel really help Max and Chole? What are they risking by using it? Is it actually making things worse? The game questions your decisions throughout. Are your intentions good or are you using people to help yourself and what is only important to you? Are you helping people or manipulating them? Lastly it focuses on the idea of fate. Can we change our lives? And if we could go back in time, should we? I've always lived my life as a believer of coincidence, but in some ways Life is Strange argues that life may be more than one big coincidence.

The gameplay certainly isn't the strongest and thanks to Telltale this is well worn territory by now, but I would argue this is better gameplay than anything Telltale has put together. The time travel puzzles are simple but often have very cool results. Most importantly, the time travel allows you to preview the various choices you make throughout the game so you can see the beginnings of your decisions. Every choice in the game is difficult and stressful. The game warns you constantly that bad things may happen because of your choices, and bad things certainly do happen. A lot. But the choices all feel new to games because of the real life nature of a lot of them. Certainly the game is more dramatized than people's lives, but many people have had to face these decisions to varying degrees in their life. I have heard complaints about the ending and I understand them. To me the ending epitomized the entire concept of the game. It also helped that I picked the more fleshed out of the two endings, but either ending is a solid conclusion in my opinion. Life is Strange is great. It was almost my game of the year. It has the best characters and best main story of the year. It's also the most real and most heartbreaking game I've ever played. Most importantly it felt like something different in a sea of a lot of the same games. Lastly, it has the most fitting title of any game possibly ever, because after I finished it, all I could think of was “Life really is Strange.”

1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt

The Witcher III is my game of the year. I'm slightly bias toward the series, having played the two previous games and loving them to death. The world is the most interesting fantasy world in gaming because it really reaches the pinnacle of “humans are the true” monsters, in a world filled to the brim with actual dangerous monsters. The combat is fun and tactical, but really only shines on the higher difficulties where even then you get fairly over powered. But it had enough variety in the builds that I enjoyed experimenting with different play styles. Unfortunately the skill tree is a mess. I see what they were going for, forcing you to mix and match skills depending on the situation and pushing you toward making tougher choices with your skills, rather than letting you have everything. The system ended up being too limiting and none of the skills were that exciting in the first place, which is a shame.

But what really makes the game great is the story, the world exploration, and the characters. There are heaps of sidequests in the Witcher III that are better than entire main stories of other games. I know the bloody baron stuff has been talked about to death, but I have to reiterate that that story arch is some of the best writing in games ever. It can also end in a number of extremely different ways. But there is tons of other content that is equally awesome. Warning minor spoilers incoming: You help the witch Keira Metz on various quests, leading up to the discovery that she needs a certain dangerous potion to save her life. She is an acquittance of yours, so do you let her go freely or do you stop her? You run into an island in the middle of the sea with tons of crashed boats, only to find out that the lighthouse keeper has been purposely leading the boats to crash into the rocks. You fight off wraiths during a massive seaside ritual with the pellar. You run across a man pretending to be a witcher and besmirching their already tarnished name. You help a man break free of a very evil spirit posessing him. You go on a Sherlock Holmes detective quest to find out what happened when a bunch of massive bears break into a celebratory feast and start slaughtering the guests. You drink a bunch of drugs and then go into a cave to face your fears only to witness flying blue whales, fish, and fight a bunch of crazy hallucinations. You travel to an island to rescue a group of men who went off to kill a legendary giant. I could keep going. This game is filled to the brim with interesting storylines, chalk full of moral ambiguity, tough choices, betrayal, lies, deceit, and powerful characters.

The main story has other great moments too. You get to learn a ton of information about the history of the Witchers and the awful torture they have to go through to become one. You get interesting characters like Lambert, who is still angry at being forced to become a Witcher. You get drunk with your witcher friends and perhaps one of the funniest moments in all of video games ensues. You gather a party of your allies to defend the famous Witcher castle from a giant onslaught.

Some other things I've always liked about the series standout even more in this game. Geralt is a Witcher and rather than being treated like a hero, he is often hated, spit on, and looked down upon. And although hes the most badass Witcher ever, he's not a super hero. He relies on his friends quite often, some of who are more powerful than him and he gets caught up in politics far more than he likes. Sure the main story does turn into a “chosen one save the world” plot, but at least Geralt isn't the chosen one. He is often just a protector or a helper for people who can and will do greater things than him. Lastly I love how all the witcher contracts turn into detective-like investigations. I love reading about the monsters to learn their weaknesses. I love exploring the world and finding treasures. I love hunting for new Witcher gear upgrades. I haven't even begun to talk about how the game has a collectible card game built in, with hundreds of cards to find and an entire quest line revolving around a card tournament. While the game itself isn't very deep it is still tons of fun to play, especially if you love strategic card games like I do.

I was incredibly satisfied with the Witcher III upon completing it. I had spent over one hundred hours exploring the world, completing every quest I came across. Then the DLC, Hearts of Stone came out. And it is incredible. Geralt gets tasked with completing three wishes of a powerful and heartless criminal for a mysterious man who children sing a wonderfully creepy song about. The main questline involves Geralt going to a wedding when he isn't quite like himself and it is hilarious. You take part in a heist and an auction. You travel into a painting and unravel the mystery of past events. And in the end you have a huge decision to make. It doesn't disappoint.

I could go on for pages about all the meaningful content in the Witcher III. The game is jam packed full of interesting characters, a beautiful but haunting world, tough moral choices, interesting combat, and amazing story. I think this year may have been the best year for story in video games and the Witcher III is the pinnacle of it. If you ever play any 100+ hour epic rpg, please play The Witcher III. It is story telling, world building, and exploration in games at it's finest.