Edit: Looks like I'm way off on that one, sorry, Just at a gut check level, First Light seemed like a more redundant/reliant on old assets piece of content as compared to the likes of Blood Dragon, and looking at it on the list made me think of Left Behind.
Oh, I thought you were talking about Metro at first. Looking at the Infamous DLC, it's standalone, whereas The Last Of Us DLC isn't, so it's the same rules as in the past (Blood Dragon charted last year, for example).
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
Broken Age Act 1 (PC, Ouya, iOS)
Far Cry 4 (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Fract OSC (PC)
Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC, PS3, X360)
Sunset Overdrive (XBO)
The Walking Dead: Season Two (PC, PS3, X360, iOS, PS4, XBO, PSVita)
Hack 'n' Slash (PC)
Valiant Hearts: The Great War (iOS, PS3, PS4, PC, X360, XBO)
Threes (iOS, Droid, XBO)
Trials Fusion (X360, XBO, PS4, PC)
Kingdom Rush Origins (iOS, Android)
D4 (XBO)
Chariot (PC, PS4, XBO, WiiU)
Velvet Sundown (PC)
I was surprised to not see GTAV, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, or Diablo III on the list considering these rereleases had substantial changes (some amazing, some horrible MCC).
I was surprised to not see GTAV, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, or Diablo III on the list considering these rereleases had substantial changes (some amazing, some horrible MCC).
We generally don't count ports and remakes unless they're HUGELY different. All of those games have the same core as before, and Diablo's additions, controller/TV UI aside, were also ported into the PC version we already voted for. Though it is a little weird that Binding of Isaac is in there, but, hey just open up Steam right now and imagine trying to get a list of a year's games just so.
Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Endless Legend (PC)
The Wolf Among Us (PS4, PSVita, XBO, PC, PS3, X360)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
Bravely Default (3DS)
Wasteland 2 (PC)
Defense Grid 2 (PC, XBO, PS4)
Top 5 were pretty easy, could have changed a few of the others around a bit.
I guess the biggest 'upset' here is probably rating Shadows of Mordor so far down the list, the game is just so derivative it never made that goty impression on me. It is literally an AC game with the combat engine copy pasted from Arkham City. It was fun but never amazing. The main story content/missions were also really bad on many occasions.
I enjoyed Beyond Earth but it didn't make the cut, Endless Legend really shakes up a lot of the standard Civ mechanics I'm used to and isn't afraid to have fairly wild differences between the factions. It was a much more interesting game.
Wolfenstein shows the world that solid, more old school style FPS design still blows COD and CODlike shit out of the water, though once again the world is unlikely to take any notice and we'll continue to get cinematic corridors instead.
Walking Dead S2 doesn't make the cut. Wasn't terrible, but it really wasn't great either.
There's a few games I would have liked to have played but haven't yet; The Evil Within, Shovel Knight, Divinty: Original Sin for example.
Although I look at the top 10 and see a bunch of amazing games, somehow this year didn't feel that great for gaming.
Rami on
Steam / Xbox Live: WSDX NNID: W-S-D-X 3DS FC: 2637-9461-8549
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC, PS4, Vita)
Kentucky Route Zero Act III (PC)
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution (PC, PS3, X360)
Strider (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, PC)
Bravely Default (3DS)
Child of Light (PC, PS3, PS4, WiiU, X360, XBO, PSVita)
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)
Transistor (PC, PS4)
MLB 14: The Show (PS3, PSVita, PS4)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC, PS3, X360)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
The Banner Saga (PC, iOS)
Shovel Knight (WiiU, 3DS, PC)
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (WiiU)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (WiiU)
Alien: Isolation (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (PC, PS3, X360)
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, X360)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, PC)
Pretty light and disappointing year for me, though I discovered Binding of isaac and KRZ, both being amazing. I realized how few games I actually played this year. Some I didn't play, but included them because I watched hours upon hours of twitch streams.
I saw a double or two on the list, and also a few games that came out in 2014 that were not put on the list, but I suppose if no one nominated it no one probably played it.
You voted for:
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (PC)
Goat Simulator (PC)
The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo (PC)
The Wolf Among Us (PS4, PSVita, XBO, PC, PS3, X360)
Wasteland 2 (PC)
Jazzpunk (PC)
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (3DS)
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3, X360)
Never Alone (PC, PS4, XBO)
A Bird Story (PC)
Octodad: Dadliest Catch (PC, PS4)
Dee's Big Night (PC)
Cloudbuilt (PC)
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, X360)
You voted for:
Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Watch Dogs (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, WiiU)
Tales of Xillia 2 (PS3)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (WiiU)
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (PC, PS3, X360)
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, X360)
Assassin's Creed Rogue (PS3, X360)
Defense Grid 2 (PC, XBO, PS4)
Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry (PS4, PC, XBO, PS3, X360)
Assassin's Creed Unity (PC, PS4, XBO)
Trials Fusion (X360, XBO, PS4, PC)
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)
Tales of Symphonia Chronicles (PS3)
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS)
Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)
Super Time Force (PC, X360, XBO)
0) Master Chief Collection - MCC was my game of the year, easy. Three great Halo campaigns, Halo 2, all of the multiplayer maps from 1-4, leaderboards, time and score challenges, achievements for pretty much everything and then some, and even a whole new Halo 2 Anniversary multiplayer that may be the best-playing Halo multi yet. It's a glorious celebration of Halo (when it works)! I feel it was substantial enough to deserve a shot on the list, but oh well.
1) Titanfall - Easily my favorite competitive multiplayer experience this year (what with Halo not working). Whether double-jumping and wall-running as a nimble pilot or lumbering around in an Ogre titan, it's fun to get around. The verticality of the levels combined with the disparity between the pilots and titans make for some exciting encounters. Even the dumb-as-bricks AI is fun to gun down with a smart pistol or LMG. Good job to Respawn for the constant updates, too.
2) Destiny - I hate this game, yet I love this game. When this game shines, it's brilliant.
3) I don't know what Watch Dogs everyone else played, but I had a great time hacking my way through Chicago. The simple hacking interface gives the player a lot of stealth and combat options and I challenged myself to stealth my way through the game as much as possible, not that I didn't engage in the occasional gunplay. It's so much fun beating folks unconscious with the baton, hopping from camera to camera to hack into places without even setting foot in them, or just having massive gun battles in the streets. The story was all kinds of terrible, but the gameplay is dumb in all the best ways.
4) Tales of Xillia 2 - I wasn't expecting much since the game clearly didn't have much of a budget, but the writing in this game is the best I've seen out of the Tales games. And the gameplay is as fun as always.
5) Captain Toad: Treasure - It's so adorable.
6) Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! - After playing so much Borderlands 2 and its dozens of hours of DLC I wasn't as engrossed in the Pre-Sequel as I would've liked, but it's still a solid experience. The new vault hunters are all quite fun to play and I love how they actually feel properly integrated into the story, with their own unique dialog. It's an excellent origin story for Jack. The low gravity, double-jumps, butt slams and laser guns are a ton of fun and make the moon a neat place to explore.
7) Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - It's such a strange sequel to the previous two games, but somehow all of its absurdity clicked with me. The combat was engaging, the dressup was fun, and the weird, melodramatic story and ponderous side missions give the player a lot to think about. And the ending just plain made me happy.
8) Assassin's Creed Rogue - It's more Black Flag! While shorter, the missions are better, the environments are more fun to explore, and Shay is one of the more interesting AC protagonists.
9) Defense Grid 2 - I loved the original Defense Grid and DG2 makes some great improvements to the story and gameplay. Unfortunately some of the scoring and difficulty changes killed my interest in climbing the leaderboards in DG2 like I did DG1, but it was still a lot of fun to play through normally.
10) Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry - I don't think a 2013 DLC really should've been on the list, but I'll vote for it anyway. It's great to see an AAA game try to tackle themes like slavery in a an unfamiliar setting.
11) Assassin's Creed Unity - I waited for the patches and had a good, mostly bug-free experience. I liked the new progression and customization elements, the story missions are better than usual, and the co-op missions are a lot of fun, too. Unfortunately the weak modern day stories of the last few games are losing my interest in the franchise and I don't think I can take another game that vomits boring side content all over the map like Unity does.
12) Trials Fusion - It's more Trials! It could use more tracks, but what's there is quality stuff.
13) Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call - I don't even like Final Fantasy all that much but this is great. So many songs!
14) Tales of Symphonia Chronicles - This definitely shouldn't have been on the list since it was a port, but since it's there I'll give it a vote! The first Symphonia is one of my favorite games of all time and I loved playing it again.
15) Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS - As much as I love SSB, I ended up not playing this much and never even bothered to get the Wii U version. I think I found the pre-release speculation to be more fun than the game itself. Poor Isaac didn't even get in as an assist trophy this time.
16) Mario Golf: World Tour - I've never played a Mario Golf game before but had a lot of fun with this. I really need to get back to it but I've been intimidated by some of its harder challenges.
17) Mario Kart 8 - Easily the best Mario Kart in a while. I never felt compelled to race online, though. Going through the cups a couple times was enough for me.
18) Super Time Force - There's nothing quite like a dozen past incarnations of yourself all fighting together.
Honorable mention to Tales from the Borderlands, which had an awesome first episode. Can't wait for the rest of it next year!
1. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (3DS)
2. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC, iOS)
3. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
4. One Way Heroics (PC)
5. Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC)
6. Bravely Default (3DS)
7. Divinity: Original Sin (PC)
8. Transistor (PC, PS4)
9. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PSVita)
10. Wasteland 2 (PC)
Here's a big post I wrote up with pictures and everything : (
1. Persona Q ; I'll probably never grow tired of Persona 4 adventures. Persona 3 adventures are pretty good too. The adventures here were fun and made for a decent side story that I only had a few minor quibbles with. I found the cartography enjoyable enough, and all the small improvements they've made to the Etrian Odyssey system have
really come together in a very reasonably uncumbersome way.
Gameplay was okay, serviceable. Flawed (deeply), but never reaching a tipping point where it became unfun. The power balance is really spotty, to the point where it can feel punishing to try to make certain skillsets or types of characters or specific characters work.
One of the big disappointments I had with the game was the reward scheduling. This is a pretty big problem I have with Etrian Odyssey games, where you get level ups and skill points and new skills at a pretty decent rate early in the game, but things fall off a lot later when the time between levels increases and the amount of new stuff to discover or unlock tends to decrease. Theoretically this should be pretty easy to avoid with all the new elements that the integration of any Persona system will necessitate, and I had really high hopes after SMTIV really excelled on this front, but Persona Q was a huge regression. Leveling up main personas provides very sparse skill upgrades, sub personas take far too long to level with very little incentive to do so, equipment (as usual in Persona games) tends to range from nearly no perceptible impact to nearly no actual impact.
I want my progression from fighting all these clowns and finding all this garbage and fusing all these nerds to really feel rewarding, but that was pretty uncommon in Persona Q. I'd like a Persona game where the whole party can switch personas like the special snowflake protagonist, but preferably also to have those personas not end up 90% indistinguishable and interchangeable as happened with subpersonas.
All of that was enough to have me strongly consider dropping Persona Q to second place. But this game had a lot of Naoto. And a lot of Chie, and Yukiko, and Kanji, and Rise, and Koromaru, and Akihiko, Mitsuru, Shinji. It had good music. It looked pretty okay besides Junpei's weird portrait. It even totally validated my most important ship
KanjixRise don't even pretend this isn't going to happen eventually
Persona 5 is going to be so good you don't even know.
2. Hearthstone ; Hearthstone is a lot of what I want card games to be. The presentation and performance is so sleek and satisfying, and I'll find it really hard to attempt playing anything else that doesn't make any attempt to meet the same standards.
Card games need to execute all of the math and mechanics, show me information and artwork, and play sounds and voices and animations.
I enjoy the actual game of Hearthstone well enough maybe (though I am not terribly enthralled by constructed play, and I would have quit playing entirely a long time ago had I ever reached a point where arena was gated by time or money), but I'd openly entertain alternatives with different mechanics or flavor or (especially) an actual engaging single player component. Until there is an alternative with any amount of the bells or whistles or polish of Hearthstone, I will probably stick with this pretty okay game : (
3. Super Smash Brothers for 3ds ; Removed Lucas and Wolf, put in Lucina and (improperly named and stylized, but still) Robin. Kirby still squishes when you crouch. A+ would play again.
4. One Way Heroics ; Pretty fun sort-of-roguelike that I found more enjoyable than most released sort-of-roguelikes. They give you a vault to carry over items between runs, but I never used it and I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it a lot more by starting fresh every time. You gets perks and some stuff to unlock between runs, but these are more like alternative options instead of the perpetual upgrades in things like Rogue Legacy, which I appreciated.
Pretty simple and short, functional, pretty fun besides the archer that was boring.
5. Civilization: Beyond Earth ; I might like this more than Civilization V? I don't know I just can't really play Civilization V any more, but this game is okay. I like the tech web way more than tech trees, and it could be pretty good with some refinement. Military stuff is a lot less dumb than Civilization V. The factions and ideologies or whatever never really seemed different enough in exciting enough ways, and wonders just seemed to be completely uninteresting all around, but I enjoyed a few runs of the game. I'll play more some time maybe.
6. Bravely Default ; This is a game. Good music. Battle and job systems are okay, good random encounter slider. The characters are pretty awful besides Edea. Lazy job outfits shared between characters is a huge detracting point.
Despite the garbo cast I played the first half or whatever of the game and don't really regret it, probably.
7. Divinity: Original Sin ; I've played a couple of hours of this game. Character creation was okay which is what draws me to this type of game in the first place. Seemed like they could use some more perks but I have not really gotten far enough to tell if this becomes a real problem.
There is just so much dialogue in this game. I can't talk to anyone or do anything or go anywhere without being attacked by all these paragraphs. Oh my god there are so many paragraphs please help.
8. Transistor ; I think the game looks and sounds pretty good. I am about an hour in. I decided to go back to Final Fantasy XIII which I'm six hours into because the gameplay was more engaging. Final Fantasy XIII also seems less linear. Maybe that game gets a bad rap. I'll probably get to choose my party members any day now.
9. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc ; I played this game and I beat it. So it's on the list.
I have spent a decent amount of time thinking of good things I have to say about it. The most shining praise I have for it is that the text speed is not as excruciatingly slow as 999's. Really mostly I played this in the continued hopes that it would get better. But I mostly thought it got worse. I tend to shy away from this type of game (the murder mystery distrust everybody kind), but I stuck through both this and 999 based off of the praise they got. I thought 999 had a decent payoff, this not so much.
I didn't enjoy the courtroom battles at all.
I played all of this game and I might regret it. It's never actively bad maybe, but I think everything tended to be average. My impressions of it while playing through it were probably less harsh than the ones looking back on it. I feel this game lends itself to being far more enjoyable as a communal experience.
Purple hair girl and mean spirited rich guy are okay I guess.
10. Wasteland 2 ; I wish it looked better and was less bleak. Also perks, and make Charisma and Luck better.
Crypt of the Necrodancer as is would have cracked top five somewhere, Starbound I'd put 7-ish.
Persona 4 Ultimax I doubt would have trouble cracking the bottom half of the list at the very least but I'm not in too much of a hurry to pay full price for a fighting game story mode, even if it's the best one ever.
I did not realize Hatoful Boyfriend qualified I will try to play it before the end of the month.
The Walking Dead: Season Two (PC, PS3, X360, iOS, PS4, XBO, PSVita)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
Transistor (PC, PS4)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Desert Golfing (Android, iOS)
Threes (iOS, Droid, XBO)
Wasteland 2 (PC)
Nidhogg (PC, PS4, PSVita)
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
The Sims 4 (PC)
NEO Scavenger (PC)
80 Days (iOS, Android)
Alien: Isolation (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
Broken Age Act 1 (PC, Ouya, iOS)
The Wolf Among Us (PS4, PSVita, XBO, PC, PS3, X360)
Hoplite (iOS)
Far Cry 4 (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Luftrausers (PC, PS3, PSVita)
My top six were easy. The rest can pretty much go in any order.
I adored Titanfall and it was way ahead of everything else for me. At first glance, it looks like future CoD, but if you're playing it properly, it's actually more like Unreal Tournament. I can't wait to see what they do with the next one.
Also of note is Desert Golfing. It's really simple, but it's absolutely perfect as a mobile game. You can play it for an hour or just five minutes and still feel like you accomplished something. In no other game I can think of is seeing a cactus a big deal.
HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
boom:
You voted for:
The Wolf Among Us (PS4, PSVita, XBO, PC, PS3, X360)
Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Forza Horizon 2 (XBO, X360)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC, PS3, X360)
Far Cry 4 (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Hitman Go (iOS, Droid)
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls is actually on my list but for reasons I can't vote for it
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DyvionBack in Sunny Florida!!Registered Userregular
Shadow of Mordor?! How did I miss that! Argh. That would be my number 3.
Steam: No Safety In Life
PSN: Dyvion -- Eternal: Dyvion+9393 -- Genshin Impact: Dyvion
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Oh we have until the end of the month?
Cool...maybe I'll actually get a chance to play Bayo 2 instead of just putting it in my top 3 regardless.
1. PT (PS4)
2. D4 (XBO)
3. Shovel Knight (WiiU, 3DS, PC)
4. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, PC)
5. Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
6. Infamous: Second Son (PS4)
7. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)
8. Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry (PS4, PC, XBO, PS3, X360)
9. The Evil Within (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
10. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (WiiU)
11. Bayonetta 2 (WiiU)
12. Fairy Fencer F (PS3)
13. Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)
14. The Fall (PC)
15. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PSVita)
16. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
17. The Walking Dead: Season Two (PC, PS3, X360, iOS, PS4, XBO, PSVita)
18. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC, PS4, Vita)
19. Astebreed (PC)
20. One Way Heroics (PC)
I would have put Freedom Planet pretty high on the list, but I started playing that on 2015, so it would be kind of a cheat.
P.T. absolutely gets my GOTY 2014. I cover the bulk of the reasons why in my podcast, but long story short it renewed my faith in horror games, Silent Hill, and social commentary about videogames. I still get a laugh out of watching people freak out about it on YouTube, and it still delights even after repeated playthroughs.
D4 is also high on my list and is the single greatest (only?) reason to own a Kinect.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited January 2015
Today I realized just how few games I played this year that actually came out this year. In my list, I didn't include games I didn't get to finish or just outright didn't feel deserved to be anywhere near my list. Thief only barely got on because it gave me so much to actually talk about, which is good... I guess? I so wish Murdered Soul Suspect had lived up to the promise of the games great concept Minding, I did still enjoy it in many ways.
Penny Arcade G&T - Game of the Year 2014
Thank you for voting, Aegeri.
You voted for:
Valiant Hearts: The Great War (iOS, PS3, PS4, PC, X360, XBO)
Dark Souls II (PS3, X360, PC)
Divinity: Original Sin (PC)
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (PC)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PSVita)
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (PC, PS3, X360)
Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC)
Demon Gaze (PSVita)
Goat Simulator (PC)
Luftrausers (PC, PS3, PSVita)
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC, PS4, Vita)
Xenonauts (PC)
Murdered: Soul Suspect (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Thief (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
I would have put Freedom Planet pretty high on the list, but I started playing that on 2015, so it would be kind of a cheat.
.
One of the reasons we've extended voting till end of January is to give people chance to play any games they got for Christmas, so there's no harm voting for anything you've played this year, providing it came out in 2014.
The most surprising thing to me about this list is just how few of this years games I actually picked up.
I bought a shit ton of games this year, but it seems like the vast vast majority were games from previous years, and the games I've actually been playing have also been older games, just trying to make a minor dent in my backlog.
So my list was short and sweet
Thank you for voting, The Dude With Herpes.
You voted for:
Dungeon of the Endless (PC)
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)
Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Banished (PC)
Bravely Default (3DS)
Endless Legend (PC)
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, X360)
It'd be way too much work for anyone, but a "game of the year regardless of when it came out, that you played this year" list could be fun.
1. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC, iOS)
2. Transistor (PC, PS4)
3. Endless Legend (PC)
4. Infamous: First Light (PS4)
5. Infamous: Second Son (PS4)
6. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
7. PT (PS4)
8. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
9. Never Alone (PC, PS4, XBO)
10. Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, PC)
11. Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
12. Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
13. Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC)
14. The Walking Dead: Season Two (PC, PS3, X360, iOS, PS4, XBO, PSVita)
15. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, PC)
16. Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)
17. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC, PS4, Vita)
18. Towerfall Ascension (PC, PS4)
19. Desert Golfing (Android, iOS)
20. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (XBO, X360, PC, PS3, PS4)
I didn't expect I'd end up giving Hearthstone #1, even over D3:RoS if it had been listed. This game demonstrated that Blizzard is capable of giving smaller scale games the same polish and a healthy update schedule. That is very exciting going forward with HotS and now Overwatch.
Transistor and Endless Legend were incredibly close, and Beyond Earth deserves special mention for finally drawing my attention to the 4x genre - otherwise I'd have truly missed out on Endless Legend.
Geometry Wars 3 gets points for coming to ps4, because we no longer own an xbox.
The rest of the list should be pretty self explanatory, though I will say Mario Kart 8 would rank higher if I actually owned a Wii U :razz:
1 The Wolf Among Us (PS4, PSVita, XBO, PC, PS3, X360)
2 Fantasy Life (3DS)
3 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
4 Endless Legend (PC)
5 Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
6 Broken Age Act 1 (PC, Ouya, iOS)
7 Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (3DS)
8 Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (WiiU)
9 Infamous: Second Son (PS4)
10 Valiant Hearts: The Great War (iOS, PS3, PS4, PC, X360, XBO)
11 Bravely Default (3DS)
12 Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
13 The Banner Saga (PC, iOS)
14 Hexcells Infinite (PC)
15 Transistor (PC, PS4)
16 Shovel Knight (WiiU, 3DS, PC)
17 Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)
18 Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC, iOS)
19 Goat Simulator (PC)
20 Dungeon of the Endless (PC)
Wolf Among Us easily had my favorite overall experience in a game this year. Its my favorite game Telltale has done so far.
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anoffdayTo be changed whenever Anoffday gets around to it.Registered Userregular
edited January 2015
I'm bad at these because I'm always a year or two behind with most games. I just started playing SC blacklist and was surprised it wasn't released this year. Apparently it was last year? That's how out of touch I am right now with new games. I don't have as much time as I used to and it just saves money to buy games later when they are cheaper since I can't find time to play them when they're new anyway. Anyway, here's my list.
Shovel Knight (WiiU, 3DS, PC)
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Divinity: Original Sin (PC)
Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC)
Bravely Default (3DS)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (XBO, X360, PC, PS3, PS4)
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC, PS4, Vita)
Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
Sunset Overdrive (XBO)
I was really surprised by COD. Ghosts was terrible, but I've spent a good amount of time with AW. Also garden warfare is really fun. Like a TF2 with plants. I ignored it for awhile until recently when it was part of origins Christmas sale. Shovel knight is number one for me because that game is just all around awesome, the music especially.
Watch Dogs (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, WiiU)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC, PS3, X360)
The Wolf Among Us (PS4, PSVita, XBO, PC, PS3, X360)
I don't play that many new games each year (I spend a lot of time playing old games, and mmos each year in fact) there were a few others I played that were on the list but I didn't feel were worth mentioning.
It was kind of a toss-up for me between Watch Dogs and DA:I, but DA:I is losing out in my mind right now because Bioware is pretty slow/lame about fixing bugs, and DA:I has some bad ones, and the overall gameplay was pretty meh. Great story/characters, bad combat. Contrast with Watch Dogs which had kind of a meh story and the characters could have been better but the gameplay absorbed me for many many hours.
Stick of Truth and Wolf were really super awesome to play through once but neither has any replay value for me.
You voted for:
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
Legend of Grimrock 2 (PC)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, PC)
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (3DS)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC, iOS)
Five Nights at Freddy's (PC, Droid, iOS)
Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
Gauntlet (PC)
Loadout (PC, PS4)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms (PC)
The thing i hate about these polls is that i have played almost nothing from this year. Sucks to say but Steam sales have killed my drive to buy anything full price. There is a lot of stuff i wanted to try but the price just drove me away.
Still, a lot of stuff to look forward to in the months to come, if the price is right
Posts
Edit: Looks like I'm way off on that one, sorry, Just at a gut check level, First Light seemed like a more redundant/reliant on old assets piece of content as compared to the likes of Blood Dragon, and looking at it on the list made me think of Left Behind.
I was surprised to not see GTAV, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, or Diablo III on the list considering these rereleases had substantial changes (some amazing, some horrible MCC).
I played a lot less games from this year than I thought, but until I got down to the T's I was worried I literally had only played the one game.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Top 5 were pretty easy, could have changed a few of the others around a bit.
I guess the biggest 'upset' here is probably rating Shadows of Mordor so far down the list, the game is just so derivative it never made that goty impression on me. It is literally an AC game with the combat engine copy pasted from Arkham City. It was fun but never amazing. The main story content/missions were also really bad on many occasions.
I enjoyed Beyond Earth but it didn't make the cut, Endless Legend really shakes up a lot of the standard Civ mechanics I'm used to and isn't afraid to have fairly wild differences between the factions. It was a much more interesting game.
Wolfenstein shows the world that solid, more old school style FPS design still blows COD and CODlike shit out of the water, though once again the world is unlikely to take any notice and we'll continue to get cinematic corridors instead.
Walking Dead S2 doesn't make the cut. Wasn't terrible, but it really wasn't great either.
There's a few games I would have liked to have played but haven't yet; The Evil Within, Shovel Knight, Divinty: Original Sin for example.
Although I look at the top 10 and see a bunch of amazing games, somehow this year didn't feel that great for gaming.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC, PS4, Vita)
Kentucky Route Zero Act III (PC)
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution (PC, PS3, X360)
Strider (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, PC)
Bravely Default (3DS)
Child of Light (PC, PS3, PS4, WiiU, X360, XBO, PSVita)
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)
Transistor (PC, PS4)
MLB 14: The Show (PS3, PSVita, PS4)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC, PS3, X360)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
The Banner Saga (PC, iOS)
Shovel Knight (WiiU, 3DS, PC)
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (WiiU)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (WiiU)
Alien: Isolation (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (PC, PS3, X360)
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, X360)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, PC)
Pretty light and disappointing year for me, though I discovered Binding of isaac and KRZ, both being amazing. I realized how few games I actually played this year. Some I didn't play, but included them because I watched hours upon hours of twitch streams.
Thanks to all the folks pulling this together!
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (PC)
Goat Simulator (PC)
The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo (PC)
The Wolf Among Us (PS4, PSVita, XBO, PC, PS3, X360)
Wasteland 2 (PC)
Jazzpunk (PC)
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (3DS)
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PS3, X360)
Never Alone (PC, PS4, XBO)
A Bird Story (PC)
Octodad: Dadliest Catch (PC, PS4)
Dee's Big Night (PC)
Cloudbuilt (PC)
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, X360)
What a fun, weird year.
Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Watch Dogs (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, WiiU)
Tales of Xillia 2 (PS3)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (WiiU)
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (PC, PS3, X360)
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, X360)
Assassin's Creed Rogue (PS3, X360)
Defense Grid 2 (PC, XBO, PS4)
Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry (PS4, PC, XBO, PS3, X360)
Assassin's Creed Unity (PC, PS4, XBO)
Trials Fusion (X360, XBO, PS4, PC)
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)
Tales of Symphonia Chronicles (PS3)
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
Mario Golf: World Tour (3DS)
Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)
Super Time Force (PC, X360, XBO)
0) Master Chief Collection - MCC was my game of the year, easy. Three great Halo campaigns, Halo 2, all of the multiplayer maps from 1-4, leaderboards, time and score challenges, achievements for pretty much everything and then some, and even a whole new Halo 2 Anniversary multiplayer that may be the best-playing Halo multi yet. It's a glorious celebration of Halo (when it works)! I feel it was substantial enough to deserve a shot on the list, but oh well.
1) Titanfall - Easily my favorite competitive multiplayer experience this year (what with Halo not working). Whether double-jumping and wall-running as a nimble pilot or lumbering around in an Ogre titan, it's fun to get around. The verticality of the levels combined with the disparity between the pilots and titans make for some exciting encounters. Even the dumb-as-bricks AI is fun to gun down with a smart pistol or LMG. Good job to Respawn for the constant updates, too.
2) Destiny - I hate this game, yet I love this game. When this game shines, it's brilliant.
3) I don't know what Watch Dogs everyone else played, but I had a great time hacking my way through Chicago. The simple hacking interface gives the player a lot of stealth and combat options and I challenged myself to stealth my way through the game as much as possible, not that I didn't engage in the occasional gunplay. It's so much fun beating folks unconscious with the baton, hopping from camera to camera to hack into places without even setting foot in them, or just having massive gun battles in the streets. The story was all kinds of terrible, but the gameplay is dumb in all the best ways.
4) Tales of Xillia 2 - I wasn't expecting much since the game clearly didn't have much of a budget, but the writing in this game is the best I've seen out of the Tales games. And the gameplay is as fun as always.
5) Captain Toad: Treasure - It's so adorable.
6) Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! - After playing so much Borderlands 2 and its dozens of hours of DLC I wasn't as engrossed in the Pre-Sequel as I would've liked, but it's still a solid experience. The new vault hunters are all quite fun to play and I love how they actually feel properly integrated into the story, with their own unique dialog. It's an excellent origin story for Jack. The low gravity, double-jumps, butt slams and laser guns are a ton of fun and make the moon a neat place to explore.
7) Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - It's such a strange sequel to the previous two games, but somehow all of its absurdity clicked with me. The combat was engaging, the dressup was fun, and the weird, melodramatic story and ponderous side missions give the player a lot to think about. And the ending just plain made me happy.
8) Assassin's Creed Rogue - It's more Black Flag! While shorter, the missions are better, the environments are more fun to explore, and Shay is one of the more interesting AC protagonists.
9) Defense Grid 2 - I loved the original Defense Grid and DG2 makes some great improvements to the story and gameplay. Unfortunately some of the scoring and difficulty changes killed my interest in climbing the leaderboards in DG2 like I did DG1, but it was still a lot of fun to play through normally.
10) Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry - I don't think a 2013 DLC really should've been on the list, but I'll vote for it anyway. It's great to see an AAA game try to tackle themes like slavery in a an unfamiliar setting.
11) Assassin's Creed Unity - I waited for the patches and had a good, mostly bug-free experience. I liked the new progression and customization elements, the story missions are better than usual, and the co-op missions are a lot of fun, too. Unfortunately the weak modern day stories of the last few games are losing my interest in the franchise and I don't think I can take another game that vomits boring side content all over the map like Unity does.
12) Trials Fusion - It's more Trials! It could use more tracks, but what's there is quality stuff.
13) Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call - I don't even like Final Fantasy all that much but this is great. So many songs!
14) Tales of Symphonia Chronicles - This definitely shouldn't have been on the list since it was a port, but since it's there I'll give it a vote! The first Symphonia is one of my favorite games of all time and I loved playing it again.
15) Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS - As much as I love SSB, I ended up not playing this much and never even bothered to get the Wii U version. I think I found the pre-release speculation to be more fun than the game itself. Poor Isaac didn't even get in as an assist trophy this time.
16) Mario Golf: World Tour - I've never played a Mario Golf game before but had a lot of fun with this. I really need to get back to it but I've been intimidated by some of its harder challenges.
17) Mario Kart 8 - Easily the best Mario Kart in a while. I never felt compelled to race online, though. Going through the cups a couple times was enough for me.
18) Super Time Force - There's nothing quite like a dozen past incarnations of yourself all fighting together.
Honorable mention to Tales from the Borderlands, which had an awesome first episode. Can't wait for the rest of it next year!
1. Dark Souls II (PS3, X360, PC)
2. Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
3. Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
4. Transistor (PC, PS4)
5. Thief (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
6. Firefall (PC)
7. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC, iOS)
8. Terra Battle (iOS, Droid)
9. Divinity: Original Sin (PC)
10. Mercenary Kings (PC, PS4)
PSN: Dyvion -- Eternal: Dyvion+9393 -- Genshin Impact: Dyvion
2. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC, iOS)
3. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
4. One Way Heroics (PC)
5. Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC)
6. Bravely Default (3DS)
7. Divinity: Original Sin (PC)
8. Transistor (PC, PS4)
9. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PSVita)
10. Wasteland 2 (PC)
Here's a big post I wrote up with pictures and everything : (
1. Persona Q ; I'll probably never grow tired of Persona 4 adventures. Persona 3 adventures are pretty good too. The adventures here were fun and made for a decent side story that I only had a few minor quibbles with. I found the cartography enjoyable enough, and all the small improvements they've made to the Etrian Odyssey system have
really come together in a very reasonably uncumbersome way.
Gameplay was okay, serviceable. Flawed (deeply), but never reaching a tipping point where it became unfun. The power balance is really spotty, to the point where it can feel punishing to try to make certain skillsets or types of characters or specific characters work.
One of the big disappointments I had with the game was the reward scheduling. This is a pretty big problem I have with Etrian Odyssey games, where you get level ups and skill points and new skills at a pretty decent rate early in the game, but things fall off a lot later when the time between levels increases and the amount of new stuff to discover or unlock tends to decrease. Theoretically this should be pretty easy to avoid with all the new elements that the integration of any Persona system will necessitate, and I had really high hopes after SMTIV really excelled on this front, but Persona Q was a huge regression. Leveling up main personas provides very sparse skill upgrades, sub personas take far too long to level with very little incentive to do so, equipment (as usual in Persona games) tends to range from nearly no perceptible impact to nearly no actual impact.
I want my progression from fighting all these clowns and finding all this garbage and fusing all these nerds to really feel rewarding, but that was pretty uncommon in Persona Q. I'd like a Persona game where the whole party can switch personas like the special snowflake protagonist, but preferably also to have those personas not end up 90% indistinguishable and interchangeable as happened with subpersonas.
All of that was enough to have me strongly consider dropping Persona Q to second place. But this game had a lot of Naoto. And a lot of Chie, and Yukiko, and Kanji, and Rise, and Koromaru, and Akihiko, Mitsuru, Shinji. It had good music. It looked pretty okay besides Junpei's weird portrait. It even totally validated my most important ship
Persona 5 is going to be so good you don't even know.
2. Hearthstone ; Hearthstone is a lot of what I want card games to be. The presentation and performance is so sleek and satisfying, and I'll find it really hard to attempt playing anything else that doesn't make any attempt to meet the same standards.
Card games need to execute all of the math and mechanics, show me information and artwork, and play sounds and voices and animations.
I enjoy the actual game of Hearthstone well enough maybe (though I am not terribly enthralled by constructed play, and I would have quit playing entirely a long time ago had I ever reached a point where arena was gated by time or money), but I'd openly entertain alternatives with different mechanics or flavor or (especially) an actual engaging single player component. Until there is an alternative with any amount of the bells or whistles or polish of Hearthstone, I will probably stick with this pretty okay game : (
3. Super Smash Brothers for 3ds ; Removed Lucas and Wolf, put in Lucina and (improperly named and stylized, but still) Robin. Kirby still squishes when you crouch. A+ would play again.
4. One Way Heroics ; Pretty fun sort-of-roguelike that I found more enjoyable than most released sort-of-roguelikes. They give you a vault to carry over items between runs, but I never used it and I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it a lot more by starting fresh every time. You gets perks and some stuff to unlock between runs, but these are more like alternative options instead of the perpetual upgrades in things like Rogue Legacy, which I appreciated.
Pretty simple and short, functional, pretty fun besides the archer that was boring.
5. Civilization: Beyond Earth ; I might like this more than Civilization V? I don't know I just can't really play Civilization V any more, but this game is okay. I like the tech web way more than tech trees, and it could be pretty good with some refinement. Military stuff is a lot less dumb than Civilization V. The factions and ideologies or whatever never really seemed different enough in exciting enough ways, and wonders just seemed to be completely uninteresting all around, but I enjoyed a few runs of the game. I'll play more some time maybe.
6. Bravely Default ; This is a game. Good music. Battle and job systems are okay, good random encounter slider. The characters are pretty awful besides Edea. Lazy job outfits shared between characters is a huge detracting point.
Despite the garbo cast I played the first half or whatever of the game and don't really regret it, probably.
7. Divinity: Original Sin ; I've played a couple of hours of this game. Character creation was okay which is what draws me to this type of game in the first place. Seemed like they could use some more perks but I have not really gotten far enough to tell if this becomes a real problem.
There is just so much dialogue in this game. I can't talk to anyone or do anything or go anywhere without being attacked by all these paragraphs. Oh my god there are so many paragraphs please help.
8. Transistor ; I think the game looks and sounds pretty good. I am about an hour in. I decided to go back to Final Fantasy XIII which I'm six hours into because the gameplay was more engaging. Final Fantasy XIII also seems less linear. Maybe that game gets a bad rap. I'll probably get to choose my party members any day now.
9. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc ; I played this game and I beat it. So it's on the list.
I have spent a decent amount of time thinking of good things I have to say about it. The most shining praise I have for it is that the text speed is not as excruciatingly slow as 999's. Really mostly I played this in the continued hopes that it would get better. But I mostly thought it got worse. I tend to shy away from this type of game (the murder mystery distrust everybody kind), but I stuck through both this and 999 based off of the praise they got. I thought 999 had a decent payoff, this not so much.
I didn't enjoy the courtroom battles at all.
I played all of this game and I might regret it. It's never actively bad maybe, but I think everything tended to be average. My impressions of it while playing through it were probably less harsh than the ones looking back on it. I feel this game lends itself to being far more enjoyable as a communal experience.
Purple hair girl and mean spirited rich guy are okay I guess.
10. Wasteland 2 ; I wish it looked better and was less bleak. Also perks, and make Charisma and Luck better.
Crypt of the Necrodancer as is would have cracked top five somewhere, Starbound I'd put 7-ish.
Persona 4 Ultimax I doubt would have trouble cracking the bottom half of the list at the very least but I'm not in too much of a hurry to pay full price for a fighting game story mode, even if it's the best one ever.
I did not realize Hatoful Boyfriend qualified I will try to play it before the end of the month.
My top six were easy. The rest can pretty much go in any order.
I adored Titanfall and it was way ahead of everything else for me. At first glance, it looks like future CoD, but if you're playing it properly, it's actually more like Unreal Tournament. I can't wait to see what they do with the next one.
Also of note is Desert Golfing. It's really simple, but it's absolutely perfect as a mobile game. You can play it for an hour or just five minutes and still feel like you accomplished something. In no other game I can think of is seeing a cactus a big deal.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
I overlooked Transistor entirely, or I'd have put it at like 5
While listening to the soundtrack.
Edit: Oops, DA:I too. I'm terrible at this, I did this exact same thing last year.
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
I'm especially mentioning this as I haven't seen Transistor showing up as much as it should.
Fantasy Life (3DS)
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
Transistor (PC, PS4)
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
You voted for:
The Wolf Among Us (PS4, PSVita, XBO, PC, PS3, X360)
Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Forza Horizon 2 (XBO, X360)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC, PS3, X360)
Far Cry 4 (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Hitman Go (iOS, Droid)
Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls is actually on my list but for reasons I can't vote for it
PSN: Dyvion -- Eternal: Dyvion+9393 -- Genshin Impact: Dyvion
Cool...maybe I'll actually get a chance to play Bayo 2 instead of just putting it in my top 3 regardless.
1. PT (PS4)
2. D4 (XBO)
3. Shovel Knight (WiiU, 3DS, PC)
4. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, PC)
5. Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
6. Infamous: Second Son (PS4)
7. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (3DS)
8. Assassin’s Creed Freedom Cry (PS4, PC, XBO, PS3, X360)
9. The Evil Within (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
10. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (WiiU)
11. Bayonetta 2 (WiiU)
12. Fairy Fencer F (PS3)
13. Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)
14. The Fall (PC)
15. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PSVita)
16. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
17. The Walking Dead: Season Two (PC, PS3, X360, iOS, PS4, XBO, PSVita)
18. The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC, PS4, Vita)
19. Astebreed (PC)
20. One Way Heroics (PC)
I would have put Freedom Planet pretty high on the list, but I started playing that on 2015, so it would be kind of a cheat.
P.T. absolutely gets my GOTY 2014. I cover the bulk of the reasons why in my podcast, but long story short it renewed my faith in horror games, Silent Hill, and social commentary about videogames. I still get a laugh out of watching people freak out about it on YouTube, and it still delights even after repeated playthroughs.
D4 is also high on my list and is the single greatest (only?) reason to own a Kinect.
Shovel Knight is great too.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Penny Arcade G&T - Game of the Year 2014
Thank you for voting, Aegeri.
You voted for:
Valiant Hearts: The Great War (iOS, PS3, PS4, PC, X360, XBO)
Dark Souls II (PS3, X360, PC)
Divinity: Original Sin (PC)
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (PC)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (PSVita)
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! (PC, PS3, X360)
Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC)
Demon Gaze (PSVita)
Goat Simulator (PC)
Luftrausers (PC, PS3, PSVita)
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC, PS4, Vita)
Xenonauts (PC)
Murdered: Soul Suspect (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Thief (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
One of the reasons we've extended voting till end of January is to give people chance to play any games they got for Christmas, so there's no harm voting for anything you've played this year, providing it came out in 2014.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
After voting: "I played basically 0 games this year"
I bought a shit ton of games this year, but it seems like the vast vast majority were games from previous years, and the games I've actually been playing have also been older games, just trying to make a minor dent in my backlog.
So my list was short and sweet
It'd be way too much work for anyone, but a "game of the year regardless of when it came out, that you played this year" list could be fun.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Transistor and Endless Legend were incredibly close, and Beyond Earth deserves special mention for finally drawing my attention to the 4x genre - otherwise I'd have truly missed out on Endless Legend.
Geometry Wars 3 gets points for coming to ps4, because we no longer own an xbox.
The rest of the list should be pretty self explanatory, though I will say Mario Kart 8 would rank higher if I actually owned a Wii U :razz:
Yeah, I was amazed how few games I actually ended up playing.
Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
Infamous: Second Son (PS4)
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (WiiU)
Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)
Transistor (PC, PS4)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Sportsfriends (PC, PS3, PS4)
Infamous: First Light (PS4)
Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC)
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (3DS)
80 Days (iOS, Android)
Octodad: Dadliest Catch (PC, PS4)
Threes (iOS, Droid, XBO)
Kingdom Rush Origins (iOS, Android)
The Legend of Korra (PS3, PS4, PC, X360, XBO)
Bravely Default (3DS)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC, iOS)
Towerfall Ascension (PC, PS4)
1 The Wolf Among Us (PS4, PSVita, XBO, PC, PS3, X360)
2 Fantasy Life (3DS)
3 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
4 Endless Legend (PC)
5 Destiny (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
6 Broken Age Act 1 (PC, Ouya, iOS)
7 Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (3DS)
8 Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (WiiU)
9 Infamous: Second Son (PS4)
10 Valiant Hearts: The Great War (iOS, PS3, PS4, PC, X360, XBO)
11 Bravely Default (3DS)
12 Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
13 The Banner Saga (PC, iOS)
14 Hexcells Infinite (PC)
15 Transistor (PC, PS4)
16 Shovel Knight (WiiU, 3DS, PC)
17 Mario Kart 8 (WiiU)
18 Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC, iOS)
19 Goat Simulator (PC)
20 Dungeon of the Endless (PC)
Wolf Among Us easily had my favorite overall experience in a game this year. Its my favorite game Telltale has done so far.
Shovel Knight (WiiU, 3DS, PC)
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
Divinity: Original Sin (PC)
Civilization: Beyond Earth (PC)
Bravely Default (3DS)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PC, PS4, XBO, PS3, X360)
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (XBO, X360, PC, PS3, PS4)
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (PC, PS4, Vita)
Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
Sunset Overdrive (XBO)
I was really surprised by COD. Ghosts was terrible, but I've spent a good amount of time with AW. Also garden warfare is really fun. Like a TF2 with plants. I ignored it for awhile until recently when it was part of origins Christmas sale. Shovel knight is number one for me because that game is just all around awesome, the music especially.
Watch Dogs (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, WiiU)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC, PS3, PS4, X360, XBO)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC, PS3, X360)
The Wolf Among Us (PS4, PSVita, XBO, PC, PS3, X360)
I don't play that many new games each year (I spend a lot of time playing old games, and mmos each year in fact) there were a few others I played that were on the list but I didn't feel were worth mentioning.
It was kind of a toss-up for me between Watch Dogs and DA:I, but DA:I is losing out in my mind right now because Bioware is pretty slow/lame about fixing bugs, and DA:I has some bad ones, and the overall gameplay was pretty meh. Great story/characters, bad combat. Contrast with Watch Dogs which had kind of a meh story and the characters could have been better but the gameplay absorbed me for many many hours.
Stick of Truth and Wolf were really super awesome to play through once but neither has any replay value for me.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (3DS)
Legend of Grimrock 2 (PC)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS3, PS4, X360, XBO, PC)
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (3DS)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC, iOS)
Five Nights at Freddy's (PC, Droid, iOS)
Titanfall (PC, XBO, X360)
Gauntlet (PC)
Loadout (PC, PS4)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Phantoms (PC)
The thing i hate about these polls is that i have played almost nothing from this year. Sucks to say but Steam sales have killed my drive to buy anything full price. There is a lot of stuff i wanted to try but the price just drove me away.
Still, a lot of stuff to look forward to in the months to come, if the price is right
e: Also, World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor is missing too. Wait, are MMOs excepted from this list?
I honestly forgot about it. What little time I spent with it, I enjoyed though.
Nah, Wildstar was missed because no one nominated it, Draenor is out because expansions and DLC are excluded unless they're standalone.
I'd put it on my list... I played it for a couple months.
It would be at the bottom of my list but still!