List items
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BIOWARE BTFO
…was all I was originally going to write but I suppose I should add more. As a huge fan of the first two Witcher games as well as the books, I had no doubt in my mind that the final entry in the trilogy wouldn’t disappoint (then again I used the same reasoning for Metal Gear Solid V and here we are; it’s not even on the list but that’s beside the point). Whereas I expected MGS V to have more, I expected this to have less. The Witcher 3 is fucking massive, with an insane amount of writing of insanely high quality compared to what I’m sure most expect out of Western RPGs these days, even outside the Bloody Baron circlejerk. I know it’s a cliché at this point but it’s true: single side quests in The Witcher 3 have more story than some full games. Being conditioned to short main storylines in modern Western RPGs there were several points in this game where I’d thought I was nearing the end but then 10 or 20 hours later the story was still trekking on strong. While I loved the original Witcher game it’s almost hilarious comparing it to Wild Hunt; with its often mind-numbingly tedious combat and mediocre-at-best voice acting it’s hard to believe that it was made by the same team. CD Projekt RED pulled out all the stops with The Witcher 3 and made a masterpiece as well as my favorite game of 2015.
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It only took three years and two days for Yakuza 5 to come out in English but if you’re familiar with the series you shouldn’t even have to ask if it was worth the wait. The Yakuza games remain consistently enjoyable video game-ass video games with #5 building upon an already solid blueprint by adding more mechanics and locales than ever, making the series feel fresher than it’s felt before. I firmly believe Yakuza 5 is to Yakuza as San Andreas was to Grand Theft Auto as the developers aptly put it years ago. Wandering around that snowy Hokkaido mountain village hunting, traipsing through Christmas time Sapporo beating dudes with entire motorcycles – all of that is the definition of comfy.
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A Souls game with Lovecraft and guns in a Victorian setting. It’s funny how when Demon’s and, particularly, Dark Souls came out they were heralded as some genius masterworks that saved gaming and, although this is technically a new IP, now that it’s basically become a yearly franchise a lot of those same people are crying “Demon’s/Dark Souls was the only/last good one!” Of course it was, it was the first one you played (and it was before the whole “hardest game ever, Prepare to Die! XD” meme blew up). Like Dark Souls II last year, sure, it doesn’t hold the same sentimental value to me as the original Dark Souls does – and chances are very few games, let alone from this series, ever will – but the fact of the matter is that Bloodborne is a damn fine game, and it’s shaken up the Souls formula enough to make something inherently familiar yet different altogether. As someone who relied heavily on shields in previous Souls games, taking it away while making the gameplay on the whole faster taught me that I can get along pretty well without it which I’m sure, in turn, will alter my style of play in Dark Souls III for the better. These games have become a sort of therapy or cleanse for me. Maybe by the time Bloodborne 2 or 3 is out I’ll be sick of it, but not yet.
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I remember hearing about Undertale’s Kickstarter campaign when it was live a couple years back, seeing it advertised as an RPG “where no one has to get hurt.” I thought “that sounds wack” and carried on, forgetting about it until it finally released and no one would shut up about it. Some of it gets “lol so random” but damn it Undertale charmed my ass off. I bet I can count the number of games whose humor got more out of me than a sharp nasal exhalation and this was one of them. Writing aside, and probably the biggest reason this is so high on my list, Undertale subverted my expectations mechanically in ways I never, well, expected. What I thought would be some quirky nostalgia bait turned out to be so much more and one of my most unique gaming experiences ever. I mean, really, this game is probably the best Earthbound/Touhou/Shin Megami Tensei mashup with dating sim elements out there. Also, soundtrack of the year, far and away.
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Despite serving a decent challenge (although not nearly as hard as some scrubs claimed), Ori’s gorgeous art and overall atmosphere made it one of the more relaxing releases of the year. Even when it got tough the instant respawns à la Super Meat Boy ensured that I’d continue banging my head against the game when in any other I’d just stop and sleep on it. Like Axiom Verge, the Metroid influences in Ori and the Blind Forest are clear. Ori, however, shows it far more subtly.
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The story can’t hold a candle to that of the previous game but damn if it isn’t fun to hop in a giant-ass robot, get lost in Xenoblade Chronicles X’s gorgeous world, and manifest destiny. X managed to push the hardware of the Wii U, an underpowered console even compared to the two other underpowered consoles, to impressive technical lengths, running pretty well despite such an enormous and busy world as other companies this year pushed games out the door that were hardly even playable on PC let alone PS4 or Xbox One.
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Even though I own all of their mainline handhelds I’d never owned a home Nintendo console until this year. I never would have expected that a $60 level editor would be the killer app that changed that. You can make some truly beautiful, diabolic, and beautifully diabolic shit in Mario Maker. And sharing monstrosities with other sadists all over the world gives me a warm feeling. Games making me feel positive emotions? Unheard of. Video game reviewer voice: If you ever wanted to put a(n) (Insert Silly Mario Enemy or Object) on top of a(n) (Insert Even Sillier One) while (Insert Silly Action), you can do it in Super Mario Maker.
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Like how Shovel Knight last year was the Mega Man game I had no idea I wanted, Axiom Verge is the Metroid game I never realized I wanted. Just calling it a Metroid game would be selling it short, however, as Axiom Verge does plenty of neat tricks with the world and uses the game’s mechanics to influence it as such. All of that in addition to its intriguing story prove that this is more than just a love letter to Metroid.
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Downwell is a lot like Spelunky in that, aside from being a roguelike set underground, playthroughs (at least mine) are quick, dirty, I’m feeling good, then I’m fucking dead. But even “bad" runs help you progress and improve, and that sense of constant improvement is what makes this game incessantly playable. “Just one more run and that’s it for tonight,” “Oh I made it even farther than last time. One more try,” “Hey, cool, I unlocked a new play style. …one more,” and the cycle never ends.
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It’s car soccer. The controls are solid and the matches are quick. There’s not a whole lot I need to write to justify this being one of the best games this year.
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