2015 was a great year for fantastic looking games. With the next-generation hardware in full swing and more powerful PC graphics cards available, this was a year to impress friends. There many games that looked fantastic, even indie games, and there were too many to choose from.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

While many games were on par with The Witcher 3 such as MGS V, The Witcher 3 stood out with a beautifully created fantasy world and an extreme amount of detail in such a large open world that most developers overlook. There have been many open-world fantasy games in the best, but a lot is barren, boring, and downright ugly. The new technology used in The Witcher 3 helps such as Nvidia HairWorks, and even on consoles, the game looked impressive. While the PC version shined the most, The Witcher 3 had an overall amazing performance across all platforms after a few patches.

Runner-Ups

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Until Dawn

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Xenoblade Chronicles X

2015 had some of the most disappointing games I can remember and this was mainly due to over hype rather than not delivering promises. Most of these disappointments were multi-million dollar budget games and that is not a good thing if you are a corporation.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5

I wasn’t just disappointed with THPS5, but I was downright angry. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was a huge part of my childhood, I spent days, weeks, and even months playing the games non-stop in the hope of one day be a famous skater myself. This was a perfect opportunity to resurrect the series with a new generation; even if it was the same formula just done really well again. Instead, Activision got the same crappy developer who ruined the THPS HD game and makes an ugly unplayable mess that was a disgrace to the series.

Runner-Ups

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour

Hatred

The Order: 1886

Star Wars Battlefront

A great multiplayer game is hard to come as they’re all the same. What makes the perfect multiplayer game? Well, it needs to keep you coming back for more whether it’s competitive or cooperative play. Games like Unreal Tournament, Team Fortress, Call of Duty, and StarCraft are masters of multiplayer. 2015 had some amazing multiplayer games and they were spread across all genres which is a nice thing to have.

Rocket League

Laugh if you must, but Rocket League is some of the most memorable online multiplayer since Unreal Tournament and SOCOM. With perfect gameplay all around, and intense 3-minute matches, Rocket League keeps you coming back for more and more and it’s so hard to put the controller down. Very few multiplayer games have this these days and I never get bored with Rocket League, I always want to see what new crazy move I can pull off, and every match makes me a better player. I have yet to play a multiplayer game that keeps me coming back months after release.

Runner-Ups

Mortal Kombat X

Splatoon

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Destiny: The Taken King

Action games are always easy picks, but what makes a good action game? Well good action of course, but the usually cinematic gameplay and fun combat are a must-have. If the game doesn’t have a memorable story that’s usually forgivable. Online play may vary.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

There were many great action games this year, but Rise of the Tomb Raider was a better action game. With stealth, shooting, surviving, climbing, killing, more surviving, great story, great characters, gorgeous visuals…man what doesn’t Tomb Raider have? RotTR has everything an action game should have and gets every element done right.

Runner-Ups

Dying Light

Bloodborne

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate

Driving games are becoming a slowly shrinking genre with newer generations becoming less patient with the great simulators out there that define the genre. 2015 some a few great racing games, but only a few, and they honestly need to be more. What you see here was literally all the competition out there.

Rocket League

Woah! Isn’t this a soccer game? Is this a driving game? Why it’s both! Rocket League outclassed even Forza 6 thanks to the perfect, and I mean perfect, gameplay and super addictive online play. Rocket League was one of the most fun games I have ever played online in my entire life. I can’t remember having this much fun online since SOCOM 1 and Modern Warfare 2. The graphics are charming, the controls are tight and perfect, and the frame rate is smooth. The ball physics works fantastically and I can’t get enough of it. This is a game that is one in a million.

Runner-Ups

Need for Speed

Outrun 3D

Project Cars

Forza Motorsport 6

The RPG genre has remained one of the strongest in gaming history. No matter what’s out there you will always find good RPGs whether they are Western or Eastern. A good RPG must contain a great story and memorable characters, but also must have fun combat and exploration and a great world to explore. The RPG genre may be one of the toughest to get right, and that’s why when they are they are so memorable.

Fallout 4

It’s not surprising that a heavyweight like Fallout would be the best RPG of the year, but it had a lot of contenders. Fallout 4 could have also been so wrong so easily but it wasn’t. Sure it feels a lot like Fallout 3, but that’s what we wanted, more of what we already love. So much changed in Fallout 4 that it felt familiar yet also so new and that’s a hard formula to get right.

Runner-Ups

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Platformers saw a much stronger year this time around, but it still hasn’t picked up from the PS2 days and back. The platformer genre used to dominate right next to RPGs and shooters, but they are a dying breed due to their challenge and newer generations having less patience. 2015 had some great platformers that were actually quite memorable.

Super Mario Maker

Mario Maker wasn’t just a great Wii U game, but a fantastic platformer. Mario is the father of platforming so what better way than bringing the series back to its roots? Even if you don’t have the patience to create levels you can download thousands of them from other users and enjoy an infinite amount of time with the game. Mario Maker brings out the best of the entire series and maybe the best Mario game in the last decade.

Runner-Ups

Xeodrifter

Yoshi’s Woolly World

Ori and the Blind Forest

Skylanders SuperChargers

What’s a year without a Call of Duty or Battlefield? Slowly these games are being dethroned, while not quite terrible, are getting old. This year was a bad year for shooters in general, but a few games came out on top.

Destiny: The Taken King

While the original Destiny isn’t all that impressive, Bungie proved how you can turn an entire game around and make it fantastic. The Taken King not only improves every aspect of the game (shooting mechanics, quests, enemies, balance, armor, etc) but it makes it more accessible and more like everyone thought the game was going to be on release. Sure, it’s a long time coming and it should have released like this, but very rarely do developers turn an entire game around and improve it tenfold.

Runner-Ups

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Star Wars Battlefront

Battlefield Hardline

Halo 5: Guardians

What’s a year with a Civilization or Total War game? While the heavy hitters are starting to feel stale, more and more newcomers are bringing fresh new takes on the series on all different platforms. Whether it’s a unique new interface, fun battles, deep strategy, great characters, or fancy graphics, the strategy genre is an ever-changing and morphing one.

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void

StarCraft is a series that you would expect to dominate the strategy genre and it does. With a long-awaited conclusion to a series that has spanned for longer than a decade, Legacy of the Void continues to enrapture players with a great story, memorable characters, great visuals, and a unique and fun campaign.

Runner-Ups

Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance

This War of Mine

Prison Architect

Galactic Civilizations III

Puzzle games are becoming more and more infrequent, or at least the good ones. Gamers nowadays want explosions and fast-paced action while the slower-paced cerebral games are dying out. Great puzzle games still exist, but it’s scraping the bottom of the video game barrel to find them.

Path to Luma

The puzzle genre was extremely weak this year, especially with this genre moving nearly exclusively to mobile platforms, but Path to Luma shined a light on the fading genre. Exploring mini planets to shed them of pollution and install new eco-friendly solutions is a great message in this day and age as well as making for a beautiful game. Path to Luma is relaxing, addictive, and gorgeous.

Runner-Ups

Super Sharp

Stretchmo

Pokemon Picross