We’re in the final week of 2015, and we’re continuing our compilations of the Fandomania staff’s favorite releases of the year. Yesterday we talked about our favorite movies of 2015, and today we’re taking a look back at our favorite video games.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
“After some lackluster entries into the Assassin’s Creed series and a lot of bad moves on Ubisoft’s part, I couldn’t be more happy to completely and wholly enjoy an Assassin’s Creed game — playing mostly as an AWESOME female Assassin, no less — for the first time since Brotherhood. Both the main story and all the side quests are tons of fun, Victorian London is a fantastic setting, and the dual-protagonist mechanic works surprisingly well.” – Celeste Monsour
“Syndicate is a welcome return to quality for the Assassin’s Creed series, and it’s my favorite game of the year. This entry revolutionizes traversal, one of the most important components of the series, through introducing new climbing mechanics and gadgets, and Evie Frye is the most memorable Assassin since Ezio.” – Jason Dorough
“Since Black Flag, I’ve felt a little iffy about the franchise, but Syndicate cleared up any doubts. Evie Frye is my new game goddess and I’ve enjoyed exploring Victorian London while taking down Templars.” – Mandi Harris Bowerman
Rock Band 4
“Right now, Rock Band 4 is something of a diamond in the rough. Developed by a pared-down team at Harmonix, this fourth installment in the music game series lacks a lot of the features and functionality of Rock Band 3. It still brings the fun of the Rock Band franchise to the current generation of consoles, though, and being delivered as a platform rather than just a game promises that Rock Band 4 will continue to improve over years with new additions and updates, not to mention the eventual availability of our entire back catalog of downloaded songs from nearly all the previous Rock Band games.” – Jason Dorough
“I had almost forgotten how much I love the Rock Band franchise, but Rock Band 4 quickly brought it all back to me. I do miss the robustness of previous games’ character creators and Rock Shop items, but I’m confident that Harmonix will restore that level of quality in short order.” – Celeste Monsour
Until Dawn
“Until Dawn is a close second place contender for my game of the year. This PlayStation 4 exclusive puts players in control of a group of friends played convincingly by some newcomer actors alongside a few recognizable TV stars. The game uses an engrossing ‘butterfly effect’ mechanic to spin a horror story more engaging than any other narrative I played in 2015.” – Jason Dorough
Bloodborne
“This game induced probably the worst case of game rage I’ve ever had. That said, I loved the dark world and being a hunter of the dark beasties of the night. I love monster hunting and survival horror games and this fit the bill.” – Mandi Harris Bowerman
Batman: Arkham Knight
“Rocksteady’s third and supposedly final entry in its Batman series is the best yet. The gameplay of the previous games is refined and in some cases revolutionized, and the addition of the Batmobile introduces some awesome new ways to play as the Caped Crusader.” – Jason Dorough
LEGO Dimensions
“The LEGO video games have been pretty fun so far, but this changes everything. The crossovers between all the franchises create opportunity for both fun and a lot of humor. And most importantly, being able to physically build LEGO characters and objects and see them come to life in the game adds, well, a whole new dimension that makes local co-op even better.” – Celeste Monsour
Star Wars Battlefront
“As a devoted Star Wars fan, I love this game. From the instantly immersive sound design to the addictive Fighter Squadron dogfight mode, Battlefront delivers exactly what I wanted from this kind of game.” – Jason Dorough
