This is it. After 12 months spent playing the very best and worst games 2015 had to offer, it’s finally time to reveal our Game of the Year Awards winners. Encompassing crushing disappointments and outrageous successes, beautiful little indie darlings to great big AAA monsters, it’s the only GotY list you’re gonna need.
As ever, the whole editorial team pitched in for this. Just before Christmas, Editor Dan, Hairy News Man Rich Walker and Lee Baldy Bradley sat down over the course of a couple of days and argued over all of the details. The result is XBA’s official GotY list. Do you agree with our picks? What did we miss? Let us know in the comments below.
Games are nothing without a great premise, and these are the year's best.
Runners-up:
Star Wars: Battlefront
Star Wars: Battlefront’s premise is simple: you get to be in Star Wars! It’s not inventive, it’s not original, but it is ridiculously seductive. What makes it even better is that the game is based on the original trilogy of films, with none of that prequel guff to dirty things up. A Star Wars twist on Battlefield, with playable Heroes and Villains, authentic audio and eye-wateringly good visuals? That’s a great premise.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Making something larger doesn’t equate to making it better (something Rocksteady and the Arkham series knows all too well), but that didn’t make the prospect of an open world Metal Gear game any less tantalising. Taking Metal Gear’s core of sneaking, gadgeting and amusingly bonkers inventiveness and transplanting it into a vast expanse, while ensuring that each encounter still felt crafted and controlled? Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’s premise is enough to make you dribble.
Winner:
LEGO Dimensions
Here’s a premise that made kids, adults and Warner Bros. board members alike weak at the knees: a massive, expanding LEGO game that incorporated a Skylanders-esque “toys-to-life” approach with actual LEGO figures and an evolution of the toy portal concept. That alone is a fantastic. But the licenses, oh my the licenses. The Simpsons, Ghostbusters, Ninjago - LEGO Dimensions features nearly every character and world you’ve ever loved, regardless of age. It’s hands-down the best premise of any game released this year.
The year's most ripping yarns!
Runners-Up:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3’s story is about family. Whether discussed via the Bloody Baron’s troubles with his wife and child, a tussle for the throne in the Skellige Islands, or Geralt’s relationship with Ciri - CD Projekt RED’s expansive game doesn’t really offer a stock-in-trade RPG “save the world” storyline. And it gains greatly from it, ensuring that your choices and actions feel more intimate and personal. In a game of such scope, it’s a massive achievement.
Ori and the Blind Forest
We’d feel comfortable putting Ori and the Blind Forest on this list based on the first 10 minutes alone. A touching opening, wonderfully told through fantastically expressive animation, those early scenes invest you in the game, making you care about your protagonist and its plight. It can comfortably stand alongside the best storytelling of the year, regardless of medium. The fact that we got it in one of the most beautiful platformers ever created makes the achievement even sweeter.
Winner:
Life is Strange
Life is Strange's coming-of-age story about mystery, murder, relationships and time-twisting superpowers is wonderfully told. Presented as a kind of interactive indie movie, Max Caulfield's adventures may have been fantastical but they always felt grounded and real. Add to this the degree of control given to players over how that story panned out and how Max evolved as a character and you've got a truly remarkable game. Life is Strange is a deserving winner of Best Story 2015.
Because everything is better with friends. And enemies.
Runners-Up:
Halo 5: Guardians
The days of Halo’s multiplayer FPS dominance may be over, but Halo 5 marked a serious return-to-form for the series following the missteps of 4 and Reach. Whether in the tight battles and slick gameplay of the balanced Arena modes or the all-out-chaos of the MOBA-inspired Warzone mode - all of which gain from new Spartan Abilities - 343 Industries modernised Halo without spoiling the formula. The servers work most of the time too. Which is nice.
Star Wars Battlefront
Star Wars: Battlefront doesn’t play like many of its competitors. The pleasingly slow time-to-kill and lack of hit-scan weapons lead to some brilliant, strafing, duking gunfights. It’s ace. Throw in playable Heroes and Villains, a diverse set of small and big map modes, the enjoyable (if inconsequential) Fighter Squadron and the fact that it’s mother chuffing Star Wars and you’ve got a formula for success. Battlefront may have lacked long-term appeal, but its 30-odd hours of joy were good enough for us.
Winner:
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Call of Duty stopped being fashionable a long time ago and it’s easy to understand why. Nobody roots for the annually pumped-out mega franchise published by the biggest, baddest publisher of them all. Yet it’s also impossible to ignore the fact that Black Ops III is a exquisitely made game with the most exhilarating, fully-featured suite of multiplayer modes on the market. There’s a reason why CoD dominates the console shooter eSport scene: it’s because the series regularly trounces the opposition. This year was no exception.
In which we celebrate the prettiest games from the past year.
Runners-Up:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Once upon a time it was a generally accepted rule that open-world games looked slightly crapper than their more petite competitors. That’s no longer true. The Witcher 3 is the latest game to disprove the theory, with sun-dappled fields, Siren-filled seas and craggy, wind-blasted islands. Inventive designs like the witches of crookback bog and expressive character models on just about everyone sealed the deal. A fantastic achievement.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Batman: Arkham Knight continues Rocksteady Games’ long history of fantastic world building and stellar visuals. The dark, cluttered streets of Gotham, puddles illuminated by seedy neon. The meaty character model of Batman, cape glistening in the rain. The (admittedly overused) Batmobile, which Rocksteady has said is so detailed that the Xbox 360 couldn’t handle it. The at turns grotesque, brutish and terrifying enemies. Batman: Arkham Knight is a singularly handsome game.
Winner:
Star Wars Battlefront
We imagine this choice is going to be a little controversial. But screw you lot, Star Wars: Battlefront is freaking gorgeous. From the snowy wilderness of Hoth, to the sun-blazed wasteland of Tatooine and the jungles of Endor, no other game has transported us to the Star Wars universe so successfully, merely on the strength of its visuals. It’s pretty much photorealistic! If... y’know… you could take a photo of a place that doesn’t exist. Battlefront is an eye-wateringly good-looking game. Let’s just ignore the ropey Hero and Villain character models yeah?
Capable of living long in the mind, scores are a big part of what makes games great. Here’s the year's best.
Runners-Up:
Halo 5: Guardians
Halo 4’s score marked a bit of departure. With Marty O'Donnell gone and 343 Industries looking to make its mark, a new approach was found with Massive Attack’s Neil Davidge. Yet it didn’t really work. Halo 5 fixed all that, with composer Kazuma Jinnouchi returning to a more melodic approach and creating his spin on some of those classic Halo themes. Plus, he brought the monks back. We blummin’ love those Halo monks.
Ori and the Blind Forest
People always bang on about Ori and the Blind Forest is the visuals. And rightfully so, it’s beautiful. But mate, Ori and the Blind Forest’s score is fantastic! Composed by Gareth Coker and recorded by a live orchestra (a rare occurrence in indie games), the score delivers and amplifies every second of the game’s heartbreak, drama, menace and joy. It’s a gorgeous original soundtrack befitting a gorgeous game.
Winner:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
We had The Witcher 3’s soundtrack playing in our office for weeks after release. Like the game itself, Marcin Przybylowicz and Mikolai Stroinski’s score manages to communicate fantasy and medieval themes without ever feeling derivative. From mournful, calm, cello and woodwind to driving, Romani-eque drama, there’s just so much variety in The Witcher 3’s soundtrack. It’s a perfect fit for such a unique a varied RPG.
In an industry dominated by sequels, spin-offs and prequels, we champion the very best in new experiences.
Runners-Up:
Ori and the Blind Forest
Wonderful visuals, a beautiful score, a properly heart-string yanking storyline and some well-executed platforming and puzzling set Ori and the Blind Forest apart not only from the deluge of indie games released in 2015 but any game released in 2015. Truly, Moon Studios announced itself as a developer to keep a close eye on in the future. We can’t wait to see what they come up with, whether it’s Ori-flavoured or not.
Dying Light
Editor Dan hates it, which only makes Hairy News Man Rich Walker love it all the more. Dying Light is zombie-mutilating nirvana, arming protagonist Kyle Crane with an array of bludgeoning instruments and a smattering of guns. Your sole task (don't worry too much about the story) is to carve your way through endless hordes of undead, in the most gratifyingly gory way imaginable, revelling in the brutality. It's stupidly fun, and blew our expectations right out of the water.
Winner:
Life is Strange
The game that shamed Telltale. Alright, maybe that’s a bit hyperbolic, but while the studio that redefined the episodic adventure game with The Walking Dead continued to tread water, French developer Dontnod took it to the next step with Life is Strange; a game featuring choices that felt consequential, characters and interactions you really cared about, a fantastic licensed soundtrack, and a protagonist who learns and grows. Not perfect by any means, Life is Strange is nevertheless one of 2015’s best games.
We pick this year’s best digital-only delights.
Runners-Up:
The Long Dark
Another possibly controversial addition, considering the Xbox Game Preview title isn’t even officially “out” yet. But it’s still good enough for a place on this list! Set in the Canadian wilderness following a catastrophic disaster, The Long Dark challenges players to survive against bitter cold, starvation and some fearful indigenous wildlife. It’s already ace and there’s a big update (including Story Mode) on the way. We can’t wait.
Ori and the Blind Forest
We’ve now reaching a stage in proceedings where I’m running out of superlatives for Ori and the Blind Forest. We’ve established that it’s pretty, right? We’re all agreed that the story is ace? Nobody’s arguing about the beauty of the soundtrack, are they? And we’ve mentioned that there’s some top quality platforming and puzzling, right? Good. Ori and the Blind Forest is all of these things and more. As such, it’s a worthy runner-up for Best Digital Game of 2015.
Winner:
Life is Strange
French developer Dontnod followed up the promising but flawed Remember Me with something a whole lot more personal and intimate in 2015, breathing new life into the episodic, story-led adventure game in the process. Telling the tale(s?) of Maxine Caulfield, a photography student who can rewind time, Life is Strange is - essentially - a well-observed, playable, nostalgic, coming-of-age indie movie with visuals and a soundtrack to match. It’s lovely.
What were the best fresh twists on existing ideas this year?
Runners-Up:
FIFA Ultimate Team Draft – FIFA 16
For decades football fans the world over have argued who would fit into their best World XI. FIFA 16’s FIFA Ultimate Team Draft looks to take advantage of that very conversation. The concept is simple: within Ultimate Team there is a new Draft option, which allows players to draft their favourite players and create their ultimate team to then face-off against other like-minded players. It’s simple, it’s brilliant, it’s addictive, and it’s already becoming a fan-favourite.
Settlements - Fallout 4
We’ve wanted something like this in a Bethesda RPG for a long time, and the homesteads in Skyrim’s Hearthfire didn’t quite cut it. Fallout 4’s settlements are much more involved, allowing players to craft buildings with the scrap they found around the Comonwealth to create surprisingly complex structures. We’re not just talking about erupting penises here. We’re talking about Rock Cities with flashing lights, endless ladder houses and even a functioning Big-style keyboard. Amazing.
Winner:
Toy Pad – LEGO Dimensions
Prior to LEGO Dimensions, toy portals were merely functional devices. You plonked your Skylander or Disney Infinity character onto the little sliver of plastic and boom, that character appeared in-game. And that was about it, really. LEGO Dimensions, however, evolved that concept and gave the portal a gameplay purpose, making the player flip character positions in order to solve some of the game’s puzzles. It’s a fun little twist on a previous rather dull idea.
The games that defied expectation in 2015.
Runners-Up:
Battlefield Hardline
At the turn of the year it was easy to write off Battlefield Hardline as just a shameless cash-in, but Visceral’s Battlefield spin-off was anything but that. Visceral had to lose Battlefield's large scale destructionsand a lot of the fan favourite vehicles to fit in with the cops and robbers theme, but it still managed to create interesting and unique modes as well as a single-player that wasn’t terrible. It’s all about the multiplayer here though, and Visceral created a beast worthy of anyone’s attention. Colour us shocked.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
The Assassin’s Creed series, with the exception of last year’s Rogue, has been on the slide for ages, thanks to we’re not sure what. The annual production cycle? Multi-team, multi-nation development? Whatever it was, Ubisoft stopped the slide this year with the Victorian London-set Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, a game Hairy Rich Walker called “a return to form”. Suddenly, we’re interested in where the series might go next.
Winner:
Ori and the Blind Forest
Ori and the Blind Forest always stood out a little, on account of its gorgeous graphics, but let's be honest, we're not short of pretty indie platformers, are we? In the run-up to release, you can forgive us for thinking that Ori would just another one of those. Another game to wait for on Games With Gold. It came as a massive surprise then when Ori and the Blind Forest revealed its true beauty. Featuring a touching story, inventive gameplay and a wonderful soundtrack to match those eye-watering visuals, Ori and the Blind Forest is an expertly crafted game.
The games which failed to live up to our hopes in 2015.
Runners-Up:
Mad Max
Mad Max isn’t a bad game. But that’s not what Biggest Disappointment is about. Our Biggest Disappointments are games that failed to live up to our high hopes. Mad Max is one such game. Tantalised by some ace trailers and encouraged by the scintillating (but largely unrelated) Charlize Theron movie, we were hoping for something great. Turns out Mad Max was just a largely solid, yet mostly unremarkable and repetitive open-world action game. Bleh.
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour
When EA Sports ditched Tiger Woods and skipped a year with the PGA Tour series, the hope was that the golf sim would return stronger than ever. What we got instead was a weak-ass, shoved-out-the-door, content light exercise in box ticking and a huge disappointment. With Rory McIlroy on the cover. Perhaps you don’t give a shit about golf games. That’s fair enough. But the suggestion is that EA Sports doesn’t either, which is a far more difficult reality to accept.
Winner:
Evolve
Right up until the open beta, Evolve had managed to build up quite a buzz. An asymmetrical multiplayer game in which a group of class-based Hunters attempted to track down and slay a player-controlled monster, it looked pretty good! We remember one games journo, the snarky and jaded kind, telling us that Evolve was the best game he’d ever previewed. The finished product failed to deliver on that promise. Showing flashes of brilliance, Evolve is - all to often - a dull slog.
Our award for the studio we think outdid itself in 2015.
Runners-Up:
Bethesda Games
Bethesda Games is a surprisingly small outfit, considering the size of the games it makes. Comprised of around 100 people, Todd Howard’s team is dwarfed by the 240-plus who pitched in for CD Projekt RED’s The Witcher 3. All of which makes Bethesda’s achievement with Fallout 4 all the more admirable. One of the best (and largest) games this year created by a relatively small team? Pound for pound, Bethesda is the best RPG maker in the business.
Dontnod
Remember Me didn’t go especially well for Dontnod, but it wasn’t a complete wash-out. On top of being a perfectly serviceable action game with an attractive aesthetic, its development also provided the germ of the idea at the centre of Life is Strange: rewinding time. It's a familiar video game trope, but Dontno explored the concept in a unique way, creating a brilliant episodic adventure game while also evolving the genre. No small feat.
Winner:
CD Projekt RED
Winning Best Developer isn’t necessarily about making the best game. Instead, a whole bunch of other factors are involved; things like strong post-release support, free DLC and a generous Season Pass. CD Projekt RED nailed every single one of them and it’s hard not to admire the Polish developer’s approach. Plus they just happened to develop not just one of the best games of this year, but of any year. We lied. That does help quite a lot.
Which publisher deserves top honours for their efforts in 2015? Find out now!
Runners-Up:
Bethesda
While Wolfenstein: The Old Blood offered another enjoyably visceral romp with B.J Blaskowitz, and The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited brought one of the most celebrated RPG franchises to console as an MMO, Fallout 4 was the biggest deal for Bethesda in 2015. Generating a ludicrous amount of hype, delivering on its promise and outstripping every single sales projection, Fallout 4 and Bethesda crushed it.
Warner Bros.
Delivering a brand new IP in the form of Techland’s Dying Light, supporting NetherRealms’ Mortal Kombat X, distributing The Witcher 3 in North America, releasing LEGO Jurassic World and LEGO Dimensions, while also publishing Mad Max and Batman: Arkham Knight? We’re not sure Warner Bros. place on this list needs any further justification.
Winner:
Microsoft
2015 saw Microsoft pull further out of the mess created by the Xbox One’s pre-release marketing and wobbly launch. The platform holder secured the best line-up of exclusives (Halo 5, Forza 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Ori and the Blind Forest), while unveiling and further detailing (or delaying) a number of games that are going to be very hard to beat in 2016 (Crackdown, Re-core, Quantum Break, Scalebound, Gears of War 6). It may currently be losing the console race, but the Xbox One is a very attractive prospect right now thanks to Microsoft's hard graft.
The biggie. The main prize. The one that everyone wants to win. It’s that time ladies and gents, the time to announce 2015's Game of the Year!
Runners-Up:
Life is Strange
After picking up a whole bunch of nominations and gongs in XBA & PST's Game of the Year Awards 2015, it should be no surprise that Dontnod's Life is Strange is one of our favourite games of the year. We loved it. Max Caulfield's coming-of-age story captivated us for the entire five episode run, and despite the odd misstep, we thought it was a triumph. Roll on Life is Strange 2.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
'V' came to in September, and we got one of the finest Metal Gear games to date. With Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Kojima was at the top of his game, delivering the most accomplished realisation of 'tactical espionage action' yet. Presented with all of the weaponry, gadgets and buddies you could wish for out in the field, The Phantom Pain gives you the tools to get the job done, and leaves the rest down to you. Few other games offer so much freedom and deliver on their concept with such aplomb.
Winner:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Lee was given the responsibility of reviewing The Witcher 3 and practically dribbled all over his laptop while writing the review. Yet we still feel that maybe the score he came up with (92%) wasn’t quite enough. CD Projekt RED’s latest redefined our expectations of the genre and earned itself a position as this generation’s finest RPG. That’s probably worth an extra percentage point or two. With a brilliant story, fantastic visuals, gameplay variety, decent combat and an expansive world, The Witcher 3 is our Best Game of 2015. Thoroughly well-deserved.