My GOTY 2015 is:

  • The Witcher 3

    Votes: 19 35.8%
  • Bloodborne

    Votes: 14 26.4%
  • Fallout 4

    Votes: 4 7.5%
  • Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

    Votes: 4 7.5%
  • Life is Strange

    Votes: 2 3.8%
  • Splatoon

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Rocket League

    Votes: 3 5.7%
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Batman: Arkham Knight

    Votes: 1 1.9%
  • Other / None of the Above

    Votes: 6 11.3%

  • Total voters
    53
I chose Bloodborne because it's something I've truly never experienced before, the challenge is real and rewarding! TW3 has moments of brilliance too but for most of the time it bores me to tears with its endless dialogues, samey side quests and repetitive traversal. I'd put Batman AK for 2nd place for its adrenaline rush missions, witty dialogues and serious tone. MGSV is just..disappointing.
 
Then small Polish studio creates open world masterpiece that raises bar so high that I don't know if old guard developers can match it.

CD Projekt Red said they had about 230 working on Witcher 3 [Polish] and Fallout 4's team was "just over 100 people". The Witcher 3 may have been relatively cheap AAA game in financial terms but this is largely down the Polish econony, Polish taxes and Polish wages versus those in the US.

This is not to take anything away from Witcher 3, I've just started my second play through!
 
I voted for MGS V. It may not be perfect but it is a game with a soul. It is still a masterpiece that goes beyond the common belief of what games are. It is the only series that treats the player as a thinking person, someone with intellectual concerns, concerns about world politics etc. Whereas such things in other games serve as a means to make a game, in MGSV they co-exist. Just like in movies there are movies that do nothing but entertain and movies that are made with meanings and messages.
MGSV is the 1984 of videogames. It is no coincidence that it has references to George Orwell's novel.
Also as an 80's kid it brings back memories of the time deliberately. It was dedicated to people who have lived those magnificent times.
 
Had to think long & hard about this. On one hand I got to one awesome Batman game in Arkham Knight, but on the other it's long & I still haven't finished it. I stopped near the end to play Halo 5 & haven't had the time to finish it. As good as Halo 5 is, I haven't finished it either. I decided early on to only finish it while playing in Co-Op with Rancid & with college football season & the holidays it's been tough for us to get time together to finish it. However, I did start & finished pretty quickly Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition. Loved every second of it. Wasn't sure I was going to before I started it, but I couldn't stop playing. Tomb Raider & Borderlands 2 were they only games I played in 2015 that I finished. Started Borderlands 2 on the 360 & then finished it on the XB1 with the Handsome Jack Collection. Played completely in co-op mode & it was awesome. If I had to pick only one game for my Game of the Year it would probably be Borderlands 2 on XB1. Tomb Raider was probably #2. It would have been #1 if it had co-op, but then it wouldn't be a Lara Croft game LOL. Same thing goes for Arkham Knight. The appeal of those games are you are the hero & it doesn't jive well with a 2-player Co-op. I have a feeling 2016 will have a similar issue. Quantum Break could be my GOTY for 2016 but Co-Op on Crackdown 3 will probably beat it.

Tommy McClain
 
Call me crazy but I found Batman Arkham Knight a chore half the time. And I finished Bloodborne, which I consider the master of hate/love in games. Somehow Bloodborne never felt like a chore the way Batman did, even though I had many moments when I thought someone would find my body sticking out of the oven, with the controller in my hand.
 
Bloodborne for me too. And Batman felt like a chore at times indeed. (but it was full of awesome moments to balance things out)
MGSV was the big disappointment for me. I care very little about mechanical intricacies if 90+ percent of my toolset, no matter how playful and eccentric it may be, is basically pointless. Mission design is repetitive as fuck as well. So repetitive you literally have to play them all over again in the second chapter. And who needs an ending now these days.
 
I voted for Rocket League. I'm approaching 40 and had (or had access to) a home computer since I was 4 years old. I cannot remember ever being as addicted to a game as this one. Moreso than Battlefield 2 or any 4x game to which I've gladly sank thousands of hours of my life into. I can see myself playing regularly for years. I imagine only a sequel of equal quality would cause me to stop.

So far I'm about 1000 hours in stretched over my main and two alt accounts, and there is still much to discover. For such a simple pick up and play concept it's mind boggling how much depth there is.

The Witcher 3 (by all accounts - I haven't played it yet) seems very worthy of GOTY. I wish I had the same love of open world RPGs that many people do, but I tend to get bored of them fairly quickly. I see the potential for immersion and story and want to get sucked in, but they never seem to hook me enough to want to spend more than a session or two playing. I'll certainly pick it up on sale and have another go - maybe this is the one.
 
I quite enjoyed Revelations 2. Life is Strange is pretty neat - still getting through it.
 
Bloodborne for me, simply because whatever it attempts, it nails it. followed by Witcher 3 and MGSV for attempting a lot and pulling it off, but with flaws.

PSN GOTY: SOMA !!!!! Superb game ! Wish I could forget it and play it again !
 
About Soma, I might be guilty of judging a book by its thickness, but I saw the trailer and found it so... Seen it all before! Boohoo scary voice scary corridor scary robo-bioshock-thingy appearing and disappearing. Next!
 
About Soma, I might be guilty of judging a book by its thickness, but I saw the trailer and found it so... Seen it all before! Boohoo scary voice scary corridor scary robo-bioshock-thingy appearing and disappearing. Next!

I initially looked past it because I thought it was another scary game but it's actually more of a mystery. There are a few bits which some might consider scary or creepy but it's really a game telling a story where you're part of uncovering the mystery of what happened.

SOMA was one of my unexpected highlights of 2015.
 
I'd vote SOMA.

Of that list the only one I was interested in is Fallout 4 and that was meh. I might enjoy Bloodborne though...
 
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I voted Witcher 3 even though I've not actually played any of them for the simple reason that I've been listening to my wife rave about it for the last 6 months or so. And it also looked really good when I've seen her playing. I've played Ground Zeroes and as awesome as it was, I can't image a bigger version of it being better than a "better Skyrim" which I adored. As for Batman, I've got Arkham City and couldn't even finish it.

Other games I would like to see as candidates would be Ori and GTAV (because it only launched on PC this year). Both were awesomely spectacular games.
 
I didn't end up playing much, but based on what I did play it would probably be Uncharted 2 Remastered, because it just compelled me to play it start to finish again. I don't feel this was a great gaming year for me as no new games attracted me much. I really liked The Witcher III but got stuck rather early and then gave up on it, but motivation was lacking I guess - too much learning, coding projects, new job, etc. My son played a lot though, Minecraft really hooked him this year and he also spent a lot of time with the Lego games, Jurassic World being a huge hit with being able to mix your own Dino's and Lego Dimensions. But I think I'd give it to Minecraft. The biggest technical wow for me was probably watching VR movies on my phone, and so I hope VR games will be a big hit this year. Along with Uncharted 4 it will probably be a better year ;)

Oh and honorable mention to Tearaway PS4, and LBP still being an amazing piece of work. It's just lovely now with my son reaching the right age, that I can build all sorts of cool things in there to illustrate how things work, etc. Just that whole chip-logic builder alone is awesome, never mind the thousand other things you can do.
 
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