Before I start listing off titles I want to talk about the slightly unconventional nature of this Game of the Year list. As much as I love the positivity, genuine enthusiasm, and community effort that comes with this time of year, I think it’s possible for GoTY to place an overemphasis on new titles as opposed to old ones, and I often don’t have the means to buy every big new game that comes out in a year. For these reasons my GoTY lists consist not of my favourite games that have been released in the year, but my favourite games that I have played for the first time since my previous GoTY list. So in purely alphabetical order here are the five best games that I experienced for the first time in 2015.

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

I didn’t expect to put a game from an annual franchise on this list, especially not an Assassin’s Creed. To put it nicely, quality for the series has been choppy as of late, but Black Flag is a diamond in the rough. The platforming, stealth, and on-land combat are all still fun enough, but it’s the enormous expanses where there is no land to stage these activities that force the game to be more mechanically original and present a new kind of game world. Naval combat feels empowering and open, and the adventurous Kenway feels like he has more to do with the free and forgiving action and exploration of the series than the strict, rules-oriented order of the Assassins ever did.

Halo 5: Guardians

Multiplayer games as a collective keep coming back to the same perk and progression mechanics over and over, and long-running series tend to build on previous gameplay elements rather than considering whether those elements might benefit from revision. Halo 5 could have done those things too and sold fine, but this instalment is much more ambitious than that. The game creates a highly refreshing experience by pruning and reconstructing Halo 4’s more lacking mechanics and weapons, and pushing aside the metagame so that you can focus more on the core game. It also feels like one of the few current gen titles to be using the full power of the Xbox One not just to depict something technically impressive, but to bring to life a range of distinctive and inspired sci-fi art styles. These things take Halo 5 a long way.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

It would be easy to think of Hotline Miami’s graphics and music as purely aesthetic aspects of the game, but by drawing you in with its intense, obscure electronica and its blarinng 80s interior design, you remain in this intense flow state even when gameplay is repeatedly interrupted. Enraptured in Hotline Miami’s heart-pounding visuals and soundtrack I feel more compelled to master its levels than in any other masocore experience. There aren’t many games where I want the sequel to just be more of the original, but Hotline Miami stands up so well that the best bits of the second game are where everything that made the first game come surging back.

Life is Strange

Life is Strange is not only a beautifully earnest game but also an unmistakably brave one. Where other games might be emotionally detached or use characters who are always confident or socially savvy to look cool, Life is Strange releases on us young adults with all the awkward quirks and honest hopes, fears, and love that people growing into their lives have. While a supernatural force drives the plot, it’s the down-to-earth empathy and understanding that Life is Strange displays that stick with me. It’s cozy, it’s full of love, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s by a long way the game that’s brought out the most thought and emotion in me this year. If I had to pick a single Game of the Year, it would definitely be this one.

The Wolf Among Us

Modern retellings of fairy tales are generally not my thing. They either feel played out and too simple, or they come unravelled trying to transmogrify old stories for children into contemporary stories for adults, but The Wolf Among Us just works. Its bedtime fable origins don’t prop it up but propel it forwards, as the game finds its own identity beyond just being a fairy tale retelling. It’s dripping in the kind of delicious neo noir vibes that I’d love to see in more games and even its fight scenes carry their own unique style. As with all post-Walking Dead Telltale adventure games the decisions it forces you to make are difficult, but this title in particular reaches a moral greyness with its antagonist which is intriguing, and the whole story builds not to a final boss fight but a meaningful question about the appropriate nature of justice. From start to finish the game is compelling.

And that’s it. Honourable mentions go to Euro Truck Simulator 2, Gears of War: Judgment, Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7, Max Payne 3, and Olli Olli. Have a great 2016 and sincerely, thank you for reading.