Majestic Twelve: Looking at Games of 2015

Looking back at 2014... we had a lot of delays in games. We had a few good titles come out, but 2015 stole all of our big titles this year. What the hell 2015? What did we do to force you to a live of thievery? We can overlook this injustice if you don't lose your big titles to 2016. Otherwise I'm sure some of us will get rather upset. As fun as 2014 was, 2015 looks to have some interesting stuff lined up... and here is our list of games for 2015 we'll be watching closely. 

#12 – Until Dawn – I like the idea of this game (controlling several different characters being pursued by a deranged serial killer in the middle of one unlucky night). This seems like a fun idea and I can’t wait to try it out. So if my excitement is this high, why did I rank this so much lower than it probably deserved? Because it’s PS4 only and I don’t have a PS4. 2015 MIGHT be the year to convince me to get the console, but one or two titles alone won’t do it. Still… this is a cool idea. 

#11 – Bloodborne – Another PS4 only title that follows up the Demon’s Souls series with another ridiculously hard game to conquer. This time, the pacing appears to be faster with dashes and dodges implying as such. I know little beyond that and there will be werewolves apparently. But I’ve got time. Still need to finish the Souls games on my plate as it is.

#10 – Fossil Fighters Frontier and Code Name STEAM – The 3DS is getting a few titles next year and these are the two stand outs I see thus far. Fossil Fighters is about using dinosaurs you bring back from the fossils you find to fight on your behalf. Code Name STEAM is a turn-based steampunk game where you fight aliens as Abe Lincoln and his team of mercenaries. Both are bizarre niche titles I don’t expect too much out of, but they look like they’ll be all kinds of stupid fun I can’t wait to try.

#09 – Star Fox and Zelda for Wii U – Another pair of Nintendo games and, unlike the last pair, we simply don’t know enough about either game to really justify anything higher than this placement. I really want a new Star Fox game. And what we’ve seen of the new Zelda looks spectacular. But there are so many unanswered questions and we don’t even have anything close to a released window on these guys. I’d love to put them in the number one spot, but with nothing to go on but watching the devs play the game a little bit, I think I’m going to wait and see on these. Shit, we’ve haven’t even seen Star Fox yet.

#08 – Mighty No 9 – This title looks really good. While I’m not the biggest Mega Man fan in the world (no hate, just never got that big into the series) I will say that what I’ve played of the series has been fun and what I’ve seen of the upcoming spiritual sequel looks outstanding. Lots of love went into making this game from both the fans supporting it and Kenji Inafune himself who has probably missed Mega Man while being trapped in the Capcom dungeons. So it’s nice to see something that everyone wants to see get made finally be released for all to enjoy.

#07 – Dreadnought – 2015 appears to be the year of flight-based combat games. We have Star Fox, No Man’s Sky, and now Jager Produced Dreadnought. From the looks of what’s been shown so far, it’s big ships you’re taking down in a small craft of some kind but there hasn’t been much shown since this past E3. I’d love to see more and would love to see this game come out to make next year the true year of flight-combat. But I could see this getting delayed just based on how little info has been released thus far for it.

#06 – Batman Arkham Knight – Why, yes, I am excited for the return of Scarecrow. Why, yes, I would love to venture around Gotham as Batman and even use the Batmobile. I’m very much excited to return to the Arkham franchise after taking a game off because Origins was rather lackluster. But Batmobile with guns, Scarecrow DLC on PS4 first (or only), and a lack of Mark Hamill all lead me to suspect there could be flaws with this game that won’t be easy to overlook. I’ll reserve judgment until I play it, but just the fact they’re cutting content for console exclusiveness already seems like we’re in trouble. Damn you, Warner Bros!

#05 – Persona 5 – It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a new main-line Persona game. Persona 4 was a very noteworthy games in a lot of respects with a diverse roster of characters in terms of personality, gender, and sexual orientation. If you don’t like JRPGs, yes, it’ll be your nightmare. But for those of us who are more open to JRPGs, this is a title I’m looking forward to seeing where they go with it. What new mysteries await and what new friends will we make. We’ll find out next year when this hits PS3 and Vita.

#04 – Xenoblade Chronicles X – No, I didn’t lower this because it has a name now. I didn’t lower it because we’ve gotten more information on it. But this was the top of my list last year (if I remember correctly) and while I’m still just as excited for it to come out, the fact it was delayed annoyed me a bit and there still isn’t a concrete date for this game’s release. So rather than give it the number one spot two years running, it settles for number four this year. But my anticipation remains the same. It looks beautiful, looks like it has a lot to do, and it just looks like one of the most fun games coming out for 2014… I mean 2015.

#03 – Grand Theft Auto V (PC) – I’ve been waiting for a while to get my hands on GTAV and while I could have gotten a chance on the PS3, lack of an internet connection on my console has made doing that impossible for the past several months. Rather than have the game without the option to do the online gameplay, I’ve been patiently waiting for the PC release. I know I have friends on PC who I can play with and I know that the mod community will be pushing for more content soon after the game’s release. Ergo, the wait will be worth it come this January when the definitive version of the game finally hits Steam.

#02 – Evolve – I loved Left 4 Dead and I found that fighting the Tank in that game was not only somewhat terrifying at first, but an experience that is hard to top. Taking out the guy by yourself is very empowering and it’s a cool way to show off to your friends your gamer cred, especially when other zombies are in the mix as well. Evolve noticed this and decided to just expand that idea into a full game. I didn’t put this game on my list last year because I didn’t really know of its existence until after the fact. But now that I’ve seen it in action, yes, I want to play it. Asymmetric gameplay is something that has my attention and I want more of it. Just a shame this can’t be a WiiU title or something where it would logically work.

#01 – No Man’s Sky – This also might have made last year’s list, but I can’t remember. If it did, it’s here again because of delays. If not, here it is now because of delays. No Man’s Sky is basically what I’ve wanted from Star Fox since I beat the N64 game. And while Nintendo has failed to deliver that experience or anything resembling it, the indie devs who have painstakingly putting this game together will be doing just that in 2015. Endless space, countless worlds to explore, alien life to interact with, and flying through the depths of space all are things that just have me excited and ready to see what awaits in this interstellar title.

2015 is here, and there are some interesting titles right around the corner. I know I plan on getting most of these (at least the ones I can play on my consoles/PC). But what are you guys excited for in 2015? Is there a game we missed? Let us know in the comments below. As always, you can share, comment, like, and subscribe if you liked this content and want to see more like it. We'll see you next time.