What a year it’s been for our hobby of making pretend things move on an electronic display. From massive RPGs like The Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 to slick action games like Metal Gear Solid V – triple-A gaming has been excellent on PC.
And over on the indie scene, we’ve seen narrative innovation via VHS in Her Story, we’ve had rocket-powered football cars become a breakout E-sports hit with Rocket League, and more.
Here are PCGamesN’s best games of 2015.
Now it’s time to see what the world thinks are the best games from each genre. (Or at leastthe 32 international media members who voted to decide what the official Game Awards results will be.)
Put your feet up – even if you’re in the bath – because here we go:
Game of the Year
- Bloodborne
- Fallout 4
- Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
- Super Mario Maker
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Of all the Game of the Year nominees, it’s nice to see three titles on there that are at their best on PC. The Witcher 3 will surely take the award home, however.
The huge RPG has truly cemented itself as my personal Game of the Year with its Hearts of Stone expansion, which reminded me why I loved it so much in the first place. Metal Gear Solid 5 is a close second.
Developer of the Year
- Bethesda Game Studios
- CD Projekt Red
- From Software
- Kojima Productions
- Nintendo
Ah, the Developer of the Year award. It seems a touch redundant, as it is just a list of developers who have games nominated in the Game of the Year category. So surely whoever wins that should also win this, yes?
CD Projekt Red should take this home regardless. Not only because The Witcher 3 sets a new standard in open-world design, but because of the company’s refreshing stance on supporting games with new, free content.
Best Shooter
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
- Destiny: The Taken King
- Halo 5: Guardians
- Splatoon
- Star Wars Battlefront
It’s a bit of a poor show for PC in the Best Shooter category, with only CoD: Black Ops 3 (which was apparently pretty broken on PC at launch) and Star Wars Battlefront (which isn’t actually out) to choose from.
Saying that, the beta for Star Wars Battlefront was brilliant, and footage of speeder bike chases through a forest on Endor are looking impressive indeed.
Best Action-Adventure Game
- Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
- Batman: Arkham Knight
- Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
- Ori and the Blind Forest
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
If Metal Gear Solid 5 doesn’t take this award there is no justice in the world. Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is a pretty world with little substance, Rise of the Tomb Raider is only on Xbox, and Batman: Arkham Knight can get in a bin.
Ori and the Blind Forest is an incredible game, but nothing quite matches the complexity or depth Metal Gear Solid 5 offers.
Best RPG
- Bloodborne
- Fallout 4
- Pillars of Eternity
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Undertale
Another strong showing for PC in the RPG category. It’s nice to see Pillars of Eternity appearing, since CRPGs are relatively niche these days.
Saying that, The Witcher 3 is also in this category. Yes.
Best Fighting Game
- Guilty Gear Xrd Sign
- Mortal Kombat X
- Rise of Incarnates
- Rising Thunder
It’s lovely to see Rising Thunder get some recognition on this list. A free-to-play fighter that’s exclusive to PC, created by experts of the genre.
Best Sports/Racing Game
- FIFA 16
- Forza Motorsport 6
- NBA 2K16
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2016
- Rocket League
What would you rather won the Sports award: The latest yearly installment of football from EA; the latest yearly installment of football from Konami; the latest yearly installment of basketball from EA; the sixth car game in an Xbox series; or rocket-powered football cars?
Exactly.
Best Multiplayer
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
- Destiny: The Taken King
- Halo 5: Guardians
- Rocket League
- Splatoon
Basically what I said in the previous category, but with more guns. Rocket-powered football cars for the win.
Best Indie Game
- Axiom Verge (Tom Happ)
- Her Story (Sam Barlow)
- Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios/Microsoft Studios)
- Rocket League (Psyonix)
- Undertale (tobyfox)
Yes, yes, Rocket League is here, too. It’s a no-brainer, right? Wrong. Her Story is a cracker and it’s brilliant for completely different reasons. As is Ori and the Blind Forest.
This one could be anyone’s.
Best Family Game
- Disney Infinity 3.0
- Lego Dimensions
- Skylanders SuperChargers
- Splatoon
- Super Mario Maker
It’s not a great showing here for PC. But none of these games have nothing on a modded Mincraft, so shut up.
Best Mobile or Handheld Game
- Downwell (Moppin/Devolver Digital)
- Fallout Shelter (Bethesda)
- Lara Croft Go (Square Enix)
- Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (Capcom)
- Pac-Man 256 (Hipster Whale/Bandai Namco)
We don’t play handheld games round these parts. Maybe some Hearthstone when we’re on the toilet.
Best Narrative
- Her Story
- Life is Strange
- Tales From the Borderlands
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Until Dawn
Though I adore The Witcher 3 and Her Story, Life is Strange should take this award home. It’s not so much the overarching plot, but the characters and the moments that are so memorable.
Plus, Life is Strange touches on some subjects many games wouldn’t dare, and it made it look easy. It’s hella good.
Best Art Direction
- Batman: Arkham Knight
- Bloodborne
- Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
- Ori and the Blind Forest
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Even the armour in The Witcher 3 puts most other games to shame in the art department. That’s without taking into account all the times you find yourself panning the camera, taking in the beauty of the world.
If you’ve ever slowly galloped alongside a row of sunflowers as the sun sets, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
Best Score or Soundtrack
- Fallout 4 (Inon Zur)
- Halo 5: Guardians (Kazuma Jinnouchi)
- Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (Justin Burnett, Ludvig Forssell, Daniel James)
- Ori and the Blind Forest (Gareth Coker)
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (Marcin Przybylowicz, Mikolai Stroinski)
Fallout 4’s wonderfully moody OST and brilliant radio stations put it ahead of the rest. The game allows you to dictate the mood with the radio on your Pip Boy.
And it works. You can be creeping along while the OST provides added tension one minute, only to be popping feral ghouls’ heads to Connee Allen’s ‘Rocket 69’ the next.
Best Performance
- Ashly Burch – Chloe Price (Life is Strange)
- Doug Cockle – Geralt (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)
- Mark Hamill – The Joker (Batman: Arkham Knight)
- Camilla Luddington – Lara Croft (Rise of the Tomb Raider)
- Viva Seifert (Her Story)
Best performance? Arkham Knight? Mwahahaha. In all seriousness, though, this is a really tough category to pick a winner from.
Geralt’s voice makes me want to marry him, Ashly Burch’s Chloe Price lends emotion to difficult scenes, Mark Hamill is sufficiently menacing as The Joker, and Viva Seifert carries a whole game on her performance alone.
I think I’d still go for Hamill, because his Joker is on another level.
Games for Change
- Cibele (Nina Freeman)
- Her Story (Sam Barlow)
- Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment)
- Sunset (Tale of Tales)
- Undertale (tobyfox)
Life is Strange has to take this one, surely. It’s not only progressive, but the things its story tackles are unprecedented in videogames. It’s impressive how many new things it crams into its five episodes.
Fan Choices
Most Anticipated Game
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- No Man’s Sky
- Quantum Break
- The Last Guardian
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Other than No Man’s Sky, these are all console exclusives. Bloody fans, eh?
Best Fan Creation
- GTA 5 – Targets (Hoodoo Operator)
- Real GTA (Corridor Digital)
- Portal Stories: Mel (Prism Studios)
- Super Mario Maker e-Reader Levels (Baddboy78/theycallmeshaky)
- Twitch Plays Dark Souls (Twitch Community)
I have no idea what half of these words mean.
Trending Gamer
- Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles
- Greg Miller
- Markiplier
- PewDiePie
- Total Biscuit
Hell.
E-sports Categories
Game of the Year
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
- Dota 2
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
- League of Legends
Now this is a category. Not only are these all PC games, but it’s difficult to say which comes out on top. They all have a thriving E-sports scene, so it will be interesting to see who takes the award.
Player of the Year
- Peter “ppd” Dager (Dota 2 – Evil Geniuses)
- Syed Sumail “Suma1L” Hassan (Dota 2 – Evil Geniuses)
- Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer (CS:GO – Fnatic)
- Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (League of Legends – SK Telecom T1)
- Kenny “KennyS” Schrub (CS:GO – Team EnVyUs)
With so many different personalities and playstyles, across so many different disciplines, this category could be anyone’s, as could Team of the Year below.
Team of the Year
- Evil Geniuses
- Fnatic
- Optic Gaming
- SK Telecom T1
- Team SoloMid
And that’s your lot.
How do you feel about the nominees? Feel free to let us know in the comments if you think there have been any omissions, or if there are any games that shouldn’t be there in the first place.
We’d also love to hear who you’d like to win from each category. Go mad.