Top 10 Games of 2015

• The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt 

Swords, beards and big bad beasts. If you’re into fantasy roleplaying of any description, The Witcher 3 was the ultimate way to indulge your inner monster slayer this year. The sort of game that the word epic was coined for, Geralt of

Rivia’s third outing was a sprawling, graphical showcase as noteworthy for its tight storytelling as it was the freedom it afforded players.

• Bloodborne

Transporting the super-tough combat of the Dark Souls games into some sort of Victorian gothic nightmare, this was the best exclusive to hit Sony’s PS4 console this year. Pitting you against towering demons and ghastly ghouls, Bloodborne was doubly terrifying, both for its gory shocks and the punishing set-backs should you fail to defeat the foes baying for your blood. And don’t forget the Old Hunters expansion pack!

• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

This achieved the absolute pinnacle of what Hideo Kojima hoped to achieve with his cinematic espionage series. Sure, the storyline remains dense and barmy, but the open-world battlegrounds, gadgetry and scope for real tactical planning make this the best Metal Gear yet. If this truly is the last version to bear Kojima’s stamp, he’s certainly gone out on a high.

• Super Mario Maker

Nintendo can often be criticised for rolling out its old guard of fan-favourite characters again and again. But when the resulting games are as inventive as Super Mario Maker, who cares?

Putting all the tools to make a 2D Mario game in the hands of Wii U players, this little gem saw Nintendo get with the times, harnessing the creativity of its die-hard fans and tapping into the viral buzz that DIY games such as Minecraft have exploited to great effect.

• Fallout 4

The long-awaited return to the post-apocalypse world didn’t disappoint. Setting players loose on an alternate-history Boston ravaged by nuclear war, Fallout 4 took some brave risks with developer Bethesda’s ‘do whatever you like’ open-world RPG format. From branching, voiced dialogue options to crafting and settlement building choices, there was simply more Fallout than there’d ever been before. And with a series as good as this, that’s no bad thing.

There are still some bugs to be ironed out, but next year’s introduction of expansion packs and official tools for player-built mods – also coming to consoles for the first time – mean there will be plenty to enjoy for a long time to come.

• Batman Arkham Knight

The PC port was so broken that it’s now been pulled from sale, but Arkham Knight on consoles was one of the most fantastic adventures you could have this year.

The final instalment in Rocksteady’s superlative superhero trilogy, Arkham Knight had it all – a wonderfully imaginative take on Gotham City and its line-up of villains, a great story supported by creative side-missions and, of course, the long-awaited arrival of the Batmobile. After being the Bat one final time, we can’t wait to see what Rocksteady takes on next.

• Rise of the Tomb Raider

With the origin story setting the stage back in 2013, Lara Croft could finally spread her wings and get back to good ol’ tomb raiding here. It was a globe-trotting adventure that saw Lara’s motives questioned, the action ramped up a notch and the gunplay refined. Puzzle-filled tombs were the game’s highlight though, requiring genuine intelligence and full mastery over Lara’s athletic abilities to overcome.

• Her Story

And now for something completely different. Rather than loading up on nuclear weapons or hunting down dragons, Her Story simply gave you access to a little virtual police computer which contained video interview footage relating to a murder mystery. And it was riveting. Like an interactive episode of the podcast Serial, you could scour the interviews for clues, leads, lies and alibis, piecing together a case to find out who the guilty party was just by searching for keywords uttered by the interviewee.

With a convincing live-action performance at the heart of it, Her Story was unlike anything else available this year.

• Splatoon

Proving that shooters don’t have to be about headshots and gun fetishes, Nintendo’sSplatoon turned this genre on its head.

The most intense game of paintball since Byker Grove blinded Ant (not Dec), Splatoon was all about zone control, painting the well-designed levels with your team’s colours and using smart tricks and tools to slow down an opposing team attempting to do the same.

A refreshing change from the grim virtual wars of Call of Duty and its ilk.

• Sunless Sea

Built by a relatively small British team, this great game put you in charge of a steampunk ship in a dank, sunken, flooded reimagining of London, before sending you off to find your fortune.

Sitting somewhere between Sid Meier’s Pirates! and Faster Than Light, it could at times be crushingly difficult, as the unforgiving depths battered your crew while they hunted down distant treasures or supplies.

But with writing good enough to rival China Miéville’s creativity, and inspiring plenty of that ‘one-more-go’ mentality that only the best perma-death games can, Sunless Sea stole away many long lost nights.