MERCH!
Giant Bomb - a website about video games and the people that make them

GOTY 2014

by briggs713

I have quite a few games from this year I have yet to get around to; Shadow of Mordor, Far Cry 4, Lords of the Fallen, Wolfenstein, Divinity: Original Sin, Wasteland 2, the Banner Saga. A lot of those games would probably make this list. However, this represents the best of what I've played from what's been released this year.

Showing 1-10 of 10 items

Dark Souls II

1. Dark Souls II

Not sure about the hate for this. I re-played Dark Souls in the summer before this was released. I did not feel that fatigue at all. DSII makes several UI, gameplay and sound improvements and feels like its own thing. I love how this game constantly screwed with my expectations and I'll happily be upgrading to the PS4 version in 2015.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls

2. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls

It's an expansion pack, but I've played nothing as long as I've played this this year. This has made Diablo III better from top-to-bottom. An excellent new class, weapons, skills and Adventure mode. If you liked Diablo II and haven't played this, go buy it.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

3. Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon Age might have been my game of the generation. This is a fantastic follow-up that rights the wrongs of Dragon Age II, while still building off its story. This game is gorgeous and feels like what Bioware intended for the rest of the series. While I have some gripes with it, I'm glad this is the blue-print for Bioware games going forward.

The Wolf Among Us

4. The Wolf Among Us

This was the follow-up to the Walking Dead I was looking for. The Walking Dead Season 2 had terrible characters and it ruined the season for me. The Wolf Among Us is better in every way and as Alex mentioned, its probably better to play through with access to all the episodes.

Transistor

5. Transistor

This game really clicked for me once I figured out how to aim the skills in combat. Super Giant Games is probably my favourite small studio right now. They are very detail oriented in every aspect of their games and it shows. A great follow-up to Bastion.

inFamous: Second Son

6. inFamous: Second Son

I take away two things from this; the story (especially the relationship Delson has with brother) and its the first Infamous game I could stand playing. I didn't try to play the first two at launch so they always felt dated. This was a pretty good open-world game.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

7. South Park: The Stick of Truth

A really good episode of South Park, with Paper Mario game play. The game is a little thin for an RPG (which causes it to overstay its welcome), but they finally made a good South Park game.

Shovel Knight

8. Shovel Knight

Retro done right. This really scratched the Mega Man itch for me. Not expensive or a huge time commitment, so definitely worth a look.

Bravely Default

9. Bravely Default

This was a very traditional JRPG with a fun class system that made it worthwhile. However, I stopped near the end due to the nature of the last few quests. If you've played this, you know what I mean. I'll have to keep an eye on Bravely Second.

NBA 2K15

10. NBA 2K15

I jumped into this series at launch with NBA 2K14. I still had a ton of fun with the career mode, but the broken online means I probably won't be back for 2K16.