Here are my 10 best and 5 worst games of 2015. First, the worst…

 

5. The Order: 1886

Bad, obviously bad, in that dreary videogame way. Kind of pathetic. You almost feel sorry for it.

4. Pac-Man 256

Fundamentally misunderstands the pleasures of the maze. A barren follow-up to Crossy Road.

3. Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture

Lost-style mystery w/ equally dopey answers. Sterile humanism w/out real humans. Super boring.

2. Fallout 4

How many times can you plunder the wasteland and call it fun? A stale power fantasy. An anachronism.

1. Battlefield Hardline

A stupid shooter any year. A vile, gutless game in 2015.

 

And here are the best games I played last year…

 

10. Horizon Chase

An arcade racer with fantastic rhythms. Brilliant color & music too. The title is exactly right.

9. Three Fourths Home

A game of Midwestern steadiness, believable parents, and uncommon generosity.

8. Rooftop Cop

I love its landscapes, in which I feel diminished, lost, implicated at once. Haunted by some elusive transgression.

7. Soma

The story’s good, but the spaces are spectacular. Conjures the sublime terror of the ocean floor and leaves you to it.

6. Jamestown+

While filling the screen with all our bullets & beams, my wife turned to me and said, “Now this is a videogame.”

5. Splatoon

I love the mess, the movement, the scoreboard canvas after each match. Also, cute as fuck.

4. Grow Home

A delightfully focused game of climbing and clinging. Achieves breathtaking vertigo.

3. Rocket League

Offers my favorite gaming body of the year. Sets my trajectory-tracking mind on fire. Zero bullshit.

2. Ramble Planet

Mazewalking distilled. Gentle, alien, and gorgeous.

1. The Witcher 3

The best world and the best storytelling, but it’s their union that made me believe in open world games again.

 

(originally posted to Twitter on January 29, 2016; other years can be found here)