5. Dark Souls II
I hate Dark
Souls II. I hate it so much. But I just keep playing it. I’m probably going
to buy the current-gen re-release, too. The moment-to-moment gameplay is much
more fun than that of Dark Souls, but
many more aspects also simply feel more unfair. Honestly, I can’t explain it.
With four complete playthroughs and a character up to NG+++, there’s clearly
something there.
4. Shovel Knight
The Mega Man
series, with its classic platforming, absurd difficulty, and wide variety
of bosses, has always been one of my favorites. Unfortunately, this style of
game is entirely under-represented in modern gaming, and even less represented
on modern handhelds, where I think they’re best played. Luckily, Shovel Knight comes to the rescue with
its quirky sense of humor, dynamite soundtrack, and all the classic gameplay my
little nostalgic heart can handle. It’s also a huge bonus for me when a
handheld game can actually be played in short bursts, and, with each level only
being about 10 minutes long, Shovel
Knight is just excellent.
3. Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls
First off, I love Diablo 3. I’ve spent well over 100 hours
in it, and even before the expansion, I kept coming back. Reaper of Souls just adds in another act, one that’s even better
than the other four, and then a host of new content like a new class, Nephalem
Rifts and Seasons. Additionally, the auction house was finally removed and loot
drops were increased, making this feel more like a classic Diablo game. This added dozens more hours to the already delightful
dungeon-crawler, and what’s not to love there?
2. Titanfall
It’s been years since I’ve played a multiplayer
shooter that I could sink dozens and dozens of hours into. The last one was Halo 2, and, since
Master Chief Collection has failed to
deliver that multiplayer experience again, Titanfall is the closest a game has come since. Every aspect of the
game feels as if the design process consisted of one very basic question: “What
is the most fun?” The traversal is addicting, the weapons are well-refined, the
titans are empowering, everything just works exactly as well as you’d hope. It
helps that the servers are still well-populated ten months after release, and
matchmaking only takes seconds.
1. Sunset Overdrive
For the technical version of why Sunset Overdrive is my game of the year,
check out my review.
The bigger reason, however, that Sunset is
game of the year is much more simple; I was burning out on videogames in
general, and Sunset reminded me why I
love games. It was simple, fun, clever, and every part of it just plain worked.
It is both the best game I played this year, and the most important to me, so
it fully deserves this spot.
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Chase Streetman is the Features Editor for BYTE
