Retro Gamer’s Top 10 Games of 2015By Fawzi Mesmar

10 – Cities SkylinesThe city builder genre has been booming through it’s casual cousins on the free to play mobile space. Traditional Sim City style games have been suffering of late, mainly because of the namesake title have under delivered recently, the cities series haven’t been doing that much better either.

Skylines simply hands in what everyone ever wanted of the genre, realistic city simulation that you can lose yourself in for hours, intuitive interface, incredible attention to detail and strong support for mods insuring that this game is going to be populated for years to come.

9 – The Witcher 3It’s been a good year for open world games, it’s been an even better year for open world RPG games with many solid entries making huge splashes across their respective fanbases, few however will have the beautiful visuals, strength in storytelling and sheer scope of the Witcher 3.

This is a huge game, if you were to buy only one game this year this would be my recommendation just based on content alone.

While it has some shortcomings – particularly on the combat side of gameplay – it remains a landmark achievement in modern AAA games.

8 - SplatoonNintendo comes out of left field with a young team that took note of the jet set radio style book and designed a game that turned the shooter world upside down overnight and perhaps giving in new innovative gameplay that the genre has been desperately needing since the release of the first modern warfare.

With multiple gameplay modes, quick games, loads of free updates from nice guy Nintendo and just plain dumb fun, Splatoon is the surprise hit that keeps on giving.

7 - UndertaleThere’s definitely a lot of internet hype around Undertale, there’s also a lot of speculations, a lot of expectations, and a lot mysteries that the internet is still cracking till now.

The game also contributes in trying to give you some preconceived notion, it wants you to think it’s a Mother game, it wants you to think it’s a hipster junk, and it definitely wants to genuinely surprise you and request multiple playthroughs.

If by some kind of magic you haven’t read anything about this game other than what I’ve written here, keep it this way, just sit down and play the game and enjoy the ride.

6 – Batman Arkham KnightBatman has taken a lot of negative press this year, many critics criticized the use of the bat mobile, it’s questionable PC launch and it’s lackluster DLC.

DLC aside, I had none of those problems, I had an amazing time flying over the entirety of Gotham city or driving through its streets solving mysteries and capturing thugs.

Being Batman is awesome, and as usual rocksteady captures the essence of what it means to be the caped crusader. Controls are tight, visuals are gorgeous and there’s a whole lot of fun to be had.

5 – DownwellI loved Downwell since the minute I laid eyes on it in the Tokyo Indie Festival this year. I currently own it on my iphone, ipad and steam; and it’s my go to game for a quick I-have-5-minutes-and-want-to-play-something.

It’s platforming, it’s bullet hell, it’s a little bit of volley ball. It’s a game that demands your attention, that requires precession, that wants you to become more skillful at it, eventually you can finish the game in under an hour, it will require you to spend many hours to become skilled enough to pull that off.

4 – Rocket LeagueRocket league is a phenomenon! It’s one of those simple why-didn’t-I-think-of-that ideas that blows you away the minute you play it. So easy to explain to people, easy to learn the basic controls but requires hundreds of hours to master and learn proper coordination.

In many ways, Rocket League could be the innovation the soccer video game genre has been needing, where individual skill and team play are so important to victory, and there’s a thrill that comes with every shot even if it misses.

But when it doesn’t, it’s a euphorea that you’d want to experience again and again.

3 - BloodborneI was never a fan of the souls series, I found them a bit too slow in action to my taste, the constant blocking and attacking as well as keeping your distance when you get hit always went against my better judgement, which made me suck at those games even more.

Bloodborne was the game for me. My trigger happy fingers were eager to punish an attacking enemy, my axe swinging other finger was eager to get that bloody revenge that will give me precious health back. Combat was thrilling and controls are excellent to match.

For those patient enough to withstand death over and over again, there’s a haunting world to explore and many foes to best.

2 – Super Mario MakerSuper Mario Maker is the everyman’s entry to the world of game design. The intuitive level building tools can provide the user with the power to create any super mario level their heart desires and then some.

Not only the everlasting joy of creating something to amuse other people a very rewarding experience of its own right, but watching people play and get emotional (joy, frustration, anger ..etc) is incredibly rewarding.

Kinda makes sense why some people dedicated their lives to building games, huh?

1 – Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

I’m going to outright say it, MGSV is the best Metal Gear game Kojima has ever made, it is the best stealth game ever made, it’s among the best open world games ever made, and it’s one of the most innovative AAA title I have played in the past decade.

MGSV redefines the world of action games in a way you’ve never seen before, this game plays like something fresh, I felt the same magic that I did when I played the 1998 original, this one will influence many many games to come.

While some might critisize it’s unfinished nature, I take that to be an even bigger sign of it’s greatnes. Just imagining what would have happened if the original vision was completely realized gives me chills down my spine.

I haven’t been this excited about a game in a long time

Honorable Mention - Yoshi’s Woolly World

Yoshi is gorgeous, adorable and controls like a dream. It’s nice and easy for the casual player that just want to go through the courses and mean and frustrating for players that want to unlock everything and grab every collectable.

It has some outdated design choices, and it’s couch multiplayer will make you lose some friends, there’s loads of fun to be had with those friends while you still have them however.

Yoshi never looked this good, the game just oozes charm.