Neb on 14/12/2015 at 22:56

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I completely forgot about Duskers. It's early access, but what's there is pretty darn good, and I enjoyed the suspense. It's a little like FTL - explore the galaxy and loot, but the main mechanic is sending drones into derelict spaceships using a command line while looking at an overview map.

[video=youtube;eg1gacK25KU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg1gacK25KU[/video]

Malf on 14/12/2015 at 23:59

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Crikey, hard to say, but MGSV and Witcher 3 are probably level pegging for the top spot with me.
MGSV loses focus towards the end and is critically unfinished, but the minute-to-minute gameplay is flawless, and the controls never cease to amaze me. Instead of copying default pad layouts, they put some thought into it, and made the pad a joy to use. They didn't let staid old tropes like "Running uses stamina" get in the way.

Witcher 3?
Well, I've played it through almost 3 times.
That first time is still the most amazing though, when minor side-quests segued gracefully in to major plotlines, which then themselves would sprout multiple interesting sidequest branches. It's RPG story-telling par excellence, with nothing in recent memory coming close.
It suffers from that old Witcher problem, where you start as weak as a babe in swaddling, but by mid-game are trouncing everything the game throws at you due to being massively over-powered, and Skellige has too damn many smuggler's caches. And compared to MGSV's sublime controls, they really did just go with "Default Industry Configuration No.1" without thinking how the game would best benefit from a well designed control scheme. But it's still an incredible game, and miraculously, I was still finding new stuff even when playing it through a third time.

For the others?
To be honest, I haven't really played a huge amount of games from this year, but...

Elite Dangerous gets a lot of play-time from me. It's still lacking in depth, but what is there feels so damn good, in no small thanks to the incredible sound design. I bought a HOTAS joystick for it, and it also drove me to buy a new monitor too. I can't remember another game since Quake 3 that drove my hardware purchases so strongly.

Continuing to hew close to henke's own list, GTA Online has been a hoot. I may have been absent from our weekly sessions recently, but I have had huge amounts of fun falling out of cars with you guys.
I think it's a shame that so much of the cool stuff is locked behind very strict challenges, but after a while you realise it's all about the heists anyway, and you don't necessarily need the best toys.

I wanted a spiritual Syndicate successor, and Satellite Reign delivered. I've yet to finish it, but it's an incredible sandbox with wonderfully organic situations. In this respect, it even has MGSV beat. In MGSV, the drive for S class can end up hampering experimentation until you have S classed everything. And at that point, your gear is so good, there's very little challenge left in the game. But because there's no ranking system in Satellite Reign, when your carefully planned stealth infiltration starts going to the dogs and seven tons of hippo shit hits the fan, you're not reaching for the restart button. You'll fight your way out of that situation, and it'll be a hard slog, but when you've done it, you'll have enjoyed yourself that much more. The only problem is, these kinds of situations can arise too frequently, and can end up quite fatiguing.

And another game that escalated quickly to massive fights that were enormous fun to fight your way out of was Shadow of Mordor.
Don't be fooled by the Ubi-like map icons! The game is really about killing orcs and fucking with their minds, and the combat is possibly even better than Batman's (although it takes a lot of cues from the Rocksteady games).
It's a shame the Nemesis system wasn't a "live" one and that events tied to it couldn't happen in general gameplay without input from the player, but it's a fantastic start, and this system needs to be used again.
Plus, it sees the return to form of the wonderful Monolith. Maybe this incredible success will inspire them to chase down the rights to NOLF again. One can dream...

At the other end of the scale, and delightfully non-violent, we have The Marvellous Miss Take. Easily dismissed as something that seems like it belongs on mobile phones or tablets, this games oozes charm from every pore. Sure, the writing isn't half as funny as it thinks it is, but the animation and art style are delights to behold. On top of that, it has a wonderful "Just one more go..." feel to it due to its immediacy and some fiendishly designed challenges.

Now Diablo 3 isn't really a 2015 game, but I bought it this year, and one could argue it's been the most important year for the game. The death of the real money auction house, the addition of Rifts and Greater Rifts, new areas, Kanai's Cube, and Seasons.
It's been a fantastic year for Diablo 3, and it has now cemented itself as quite possibly the best ARPG out there. Diablo 2 never had that great a hold on me, but I find myself firing up D3 when I've got a spare five minutes to kill.

Dying Light was a stupendously fun game and definitely deserves a place on my list. I had a great time playing through the storyline, and this feel like the game Techland wanted to release when they initially released Dead Island (which I also enjoyed, despite it being incredibly janky). It also has fabulous co-op and numerous activities tailored just for multiple players. And the night is truly scary.

Number ten?
Man, that's hard.
As mentioned, I haven't actually played a huge amount of stuff this year, while I've bought quite a few things that are sat being criminally ignored in my back catalogue (I see you shaking your head disapprovingly Age of Decadence!).

If you had to force me, it would either be Valkyria Chronicles or Cities Skylines, but as VC came out on PS3 donkey's ago, by default the place falls to Cities Skylines. Sure, after a while it becomes quite rote, and its missing some of the charm and challenges of Sim City 2000, but it's still an insanely cool thing to just sit there and watch tick over.

Shit, I've just realised Shadow of Mordor came out in 2014, so that's disqualified. Bugger.

Um, er, wait a minute, think I may have something down the back of the sofa here.
Damn, nope, just fluff.
There's a few things I've bought which I've really enjoyed, but I'd feel a bit disingenuous including them here as I don't think I've given them the time they deserve yet.
Games like:
Broforce. Delightfully silly, and allows for some insanely creative approaches to levels thanks to their complete destructibility.
Door Kickers. A top-down SWAT game with an excellent planning phase mechanic that the whole game hinges upon. Unfortunately, only having played a few maps, I need to give it more time.

And I'm sure there's more, but that's all that springs to mind at the mo.

Pyrian on 15/12/2015 at 00:10

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Let's see, IIRC this year I played, in rough order of preference (and absolutely no regard to release date since I mostly play games that are at least a year old):

Talos Principle and Road to Gehenna (mostly loved)
Deus Ex: The Fall (mostly loved)
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (liked)
Shadowrun: Hong Kong (mostly liked - the stealth sucks, the dialog got tedious, and overall the formula is wearing thin)
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (mostly liked)
The Banner Saga (mostly disliked, though there are a few bits of standout writing)
Receiver (disliked - neat idea, not a good game)
The Binding of Isaac (played a few times and decided it wasn't for me)
The Stanley Parable (hated)

Yakoob on 15/12/2015 at 05:04

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This thread is making me feel shamed looking at how relatively few new games I played... mostly I always catch up on oldies I get through sales.

I guess my GOTY would go to Broforce. Yes I only played it in one hours-on-end binge session with friends, but that was enough for me to see how clever, diverse, polished, and hilarious the game is. Really, amazing job on literally every front.

Others:

The Stanley Parable - short, sweet and enjoyable, while mocking what the definition of what a game is.

Witcher 3 - I feel odd putting it in. I fully acknowledge the masterful level of quality, storytelling and combat but... I never finished it. Somehow lost the drive halfway through, but I feel it's my own fault.

Wolfenstein: The New Order - first FPS in years to make me glee with joy just by mindlessly shooting at shit.

Games I might have considered if I actually played them: SOMA, Life is Strange, Grim Fandango Remaster (ok not technically 2015...), Splatoon, The Banner Saga

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Funny Observation: Growing up I was the kid who'd stay up till 6 am playing shooters (Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, Unreal Tournament). And yet today my top lists seem dominated by mostly narrative titles. OH how times change...

Sulphur on 15/12/2015 at 06:06

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I agree with ya. Mostly because of the same reasons, and also because I have a bone to pick with it. I never took to it either because it didn't charm me as much as it did others, which is probably where the rest of the world disagrees with me. I was left to deconstruct what it was about; and what that is, is a series of telegraphed emotional beats framed with hints of an exodus story. It was very well-crafted, no doubt, but it was also never anything more than artificial to me.

To be fair: I've played it twice, once with someone else, and once without. It does have more impact if you're not doing it solo, but this doesn't erase the above, just obscures it.