Oodles and noodles
Ugh. Mondays, am I right? They’re a day that people don’t like because you have to do stuff and things after (maybe) not having to do those things, you know? Lame. Let’s turn our frowns upside down and instead talk about something positive: videogames we are real keen on playing this year.
2015 can’t be any worse than 2014, where most ofour most anticipated gamesended upnot coming out at all. Plus, there’sMetal GearandPersonato look forward to. And all those games that got pushed into 2015 likeBatmanandThe Witcher. And cool stuff likeHyper Light Drifterand the full release ofInvisible Incand that waifu bartending game.
PlusThe LastGuardian,Half-Life 3,Agent,Final Fantasy XV,Prey 2,God Hand 2,MediEvil 3,Bushido Blade 3.Man, it’s going to be a great year!!!
Steven Hansen,Persona 5Release: 2015
I had two options here. Talk aboutGravity Rush 2, a game we still know nothing about save that I will love it, for the second year in a row. Or, talk aboutPersona 5, a game we know little about save that I will love it.
Gravity RushandPersona 4: Goldencame out in the same year. It was a good year for me. Looking for that to happen again. Also looking to see if thePersonateam’s writing on the series has matured at all postCatherine, another game I love to death. Everyone’s problems will still probably be solved by your being the ultimate listener (a patient mute) and the power of friendship will win out in the end. That’s fine as long as there are good characters, good music, and I can mainline dungeons in one day to get back to what matters, virtual friends.
And holy shitMetal Gear Solid Vlooks weird and good, full of fine detail and idiosyncrasy.
Runners-up:Gravity Rush 2,Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain,Kentucky Route Zero, getting decapitated,Tetsuo & Youth, baseball
Chris Carter,BloodborneRelease: July 26, 2025
Every year in one of these things I choose aSoulsgame and every year I am happy with my choice. Everything aboutBloodbornelooks great so far. On top of the From Software patented atmosphere, I’m loving the idea of randomly generated dungeons. The biggest thrill of theSoulsgames for me is the notion of exploring completely unknown and uncharted territory. Once I’ve done a few New Game+ runs, that bit sort of loses its luster. But with Chalice Dungeons, I may be playing this game for the entirety of 2015.
Darren Nakamura,SeaFallRelease: 2015
Back in 2011, Hasbro releasedRisk Legacy, which accomplished what I thought was impossible: it got me to enjoyRiskfor the first time since 1996. The key to its critical and commercial success was the invention and implementation of legacy mechanics. Where other board games start over from session to session,Risk Legacy“remembers” things that happen over the course of a campaign. Particularly brutal battles scar the world (literally–stickers and Sharpies are used to mark the board), and new rules are introduced as the game progresses. It was such a wild idea with so much potential to expand upon that I said it would be the next big thing in board games.
And while it hasn’t caught on as quickly as I had expected, there have been other games that have adopted the idea. The most notable currently available title is probablyViticulture‘s expansionTuscany, but the one I’m looking forward to most is an original game byRisk Legacy‘s designer Rob Daviau calledSeaFall.
SeaFallis set to be a 4X (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) strategy game that takes place on uncharted seas. Past that, there is not a lot of information out there aside from apress release from 2013and sporadic reports from playtesters that it istotally rad. It was originally scheduled for release last year, but as time went on with so little news (except for the announcement ofPandemic Legacy, developed in part by Daviau), it became clear that the release would be pushed back. I can only hope now that it does release this year.
Runners-up: The rest ofTales from the Borderlands,Heart Forth, Alicia,There Came an Echo,Paradise Lost: First Contact
Laura Dale,Broken Age: Act 2Release: Early 2015, apparently. I really wish they’d give a solid date already.
I finished my first playthrough ofBroken Age: Act 1and instantly started over from the beginning of the game, not taking so much as a break to grab a glass of water. As someone who at all times has a backlog of games to tackle for work and too little time to cover them all, that’s saying a lot.
Broken Age: Act 1was a really well-written comedy point-and-click adventure with charming memorable characters, hilarious writing, great world design, and a fantastically interwoven pair of nontraditional hero narratives. The pair of protagonists broke a number of expected tropes, they had layers of depth, and were consistently interesting to play as.
Oh, and the last five minutes or so completely threw the entire experience on its head for me, forcing me to replay from start to finish so I could see all those well-hidden clues that changed the tone of the experience. WhileAct 1worked incredibly well as a standalone experience, I can’t wait to see where the universe-flipping changes will send the plot ofAct 2. Seriously, such an amazing cliff hanger to tease a narrative sequel with.
Runners-up:Zelda Wii U, Persona 5, Life is Strange, Bloodborne, Xenoblade Chronicles X
Bill Platt,SplatoonRelease: 2015
I spent just about an hour going over all of the currently known game releases for 2015 to see which game I am most excited about playing. I already have a game in mind, but I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything, especially with how jam-packed 2015 is shaping up to be. My choice will most likely come as no surprise to most of you, particularly if you had a chance to read over my favorite games of 2014.
Without question, the game I am most excited for isSplatoonfrom Nintendo. From the very first time I laid eyes on those cute little squid kids, running around and inking each other, I was hooked. This is the Nintendo I love, when they are at their silliest and taking chances on something new.
There are certain things you may always be sure of when expecting to play a first party Nintendo game. These include quality, polish, fun, and solid controls–all of the makings of a good game. From the videos we’ve seen as well as all of the hands-on impressions, I have no doubt that we are in for one hell of a good time.
Runners-up:No Man’s Sky, Zelda Wii U, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Adr1ft, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Uncharted 4, Yoshi’s Wooly World.
Josh Tolentino,No Man’s SkyRelease: 2015
One of the first games I ever played wasMoonvasion, aDefenderclone on the Apple II. After playing it, the first thing I ever wanted to “do” beyond what a game allowed was to land that ship, get out, and walk around on the damn moon. That in mind, even if Hello Games’ new baby turns out to be nothing more than the bare minimum ofwhat’s been shown in the trailers,No Man’s Skypretty much has me covered.
Granted, it’s not the first game ever to have exploration, planetary landings, and space, but only a few have done it and looked that pretty at the same time.
Runners-up:Persona 5, Bloodborne, Satellite Reign, Metal Gear Solid V, Heat Signature, Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Flagship, Uncharted 4
Caitlin Cooke,Hotline Miami 2: Wrong NumberRelease: Q1 2015
Hotline Miamicame out in October of 2012, but I didn’t end up playing it until a year later. In an alternate universe I would have waited until this very day to start, because a year without animal masks and pixelated murder is unacceptable. In the meantime I’ve survived off the amazing soundtrack, but I still yearn for that sweet adrenaline rush I get every time I kick open a door. Thankfully,Hotline Miami 2unleashes upon us soon with even moresweet tracksin the mix.
Fun fact time — did you know that6,858 people played Hotline Miamion June 20, 2025? Were you one of them?
Nic Rowen,BloodborneRelease: Jun 26, 2025
I can’t wait to get splattered with gore and assorted monster viscera inBloodborne. The latest spiritual successor to theSoulsseries is taking all my favorite masochistic adventure action out of the fantasy milieu and dropping us into a Gothic-Victorian inspired nightmare city. As much as I love fighting dragons and manticores, I think the new setting will do the series some good.
I’m excited to hear thatBloodbornefeatures a much faster pace, ditching the gigantic tower-shields and huge sets of armor of theSoulsseries for a riskier and more offense-based take on monster slaying. I’m really hoping it shakes things up enough that I’ll be just as terrified and lost as I was the first time I playedDark Souls.
Mostly though, I’m excited by the return of lead designer Hidetaka Miyazaki. WhileDark Souls 2was one of my favorite games of 2014, it lacked some of the specialje ne sais quoiof the originalDark Souls. I’m hoping Miyazaki will bring back the magic, and with everything we’ve seen so far–horrifying feral werewolves, unsettling mobs of villagers, and spooooky ghost doors–it looks like he’s right on track.
Brittany Vincent,Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom PainRelease:ProbablyPretty SureDefinitely 2015
Hideo Kojima’s opus is and always has been theMetal Gear Solidgames, and the fifth entry in the series is heading our way in 2015—at least, we’re hoping it will.Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Painlooks to combine every single thing fans love about the series, from the epic cinematic touch Kojima lends to every inch of the production to the characters that we yearn to hear from again and again. If the near-perfect “Nuclear” trailer is any indication, this is going to be one of the most cryptic and engaging departures for the series and hopefully tie up some loose ends we’ve had for quite some time. It’s going to be a thrill ride from start to finish, but hopefully it won’t break our hearts likeMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriotsdid. Or if it does, hopefully it’s in a good way. Hey, I sang “Snake Eater” before. Maybe I’ll sing “Nuclear” for you guys, too.
Runners-up:Persona 5,Final Fantasy Type-0 HD,Amplitude, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse,Criminal Girls: Invite Only,Day of the Tentacle
The Badger,Drawn to DeathRelease: Who-the-fuck-knows o’clock
More game “journalists” had more to say about David Scott Jaffe’s fucking dumb use of the word “fucktard” during the announcement ofDrawn to Deaththan they did the actual videogame in question. Hopefully everyone will get their priorities straight before the game is released on the PS4 later this year, because getting Jaffe back into the third-person character action/deathmatch genre is a big deal.
Jaffe on an action/deathmatch game with a decent budget and total creative freedom has never happened on consoles like this. It could turn out to be the game equivalent of Green Day’sAmerican Idiot, or that semi-shitty Metallica orchestral album. That’s worst case though, and a semi-shitty worst ain’t bad. It’s more than you can say for most of the games people are hyped about for 2015, let me tell you.
Jonathan Holmes,Zelda Wii URelease: Whenitsreadyvember 14, 2015
I have enjoyed every new 3D Zelda game more than the previous one, so I have every reason to be excited about the upcoming Wii U title and itsNausicaa-esque interpretation of Link. There are a lot of other games coming in 2015 that I’m even more sure of, likeWattam,Majora’s Mask 3D,Resident Evil Revelations 2, and the final build ofNuclear Throne, butZelda Wii Uis the game I’m most on pins and needles for. It’s got me feeling incredibly optimistic and curious, which isn’t always an easy combination to pull off.Zelda Wii Ulooks both alien and familiar in just the right order. That’s my favorite formula for adventure.
Like withSplatoon,Zelda Wii Ulooks to take a genre that has been largely dominated by Western developers and “Nintendo-ify” it. They are clearly taking inspiration fromthe first game in serieswhile pushing the core concept ofZeldain all new directions. WhileSkyward Swordworked to make your physical interactions with the game the star of the show,Zelda Wii Uputs the spotlight on Hyrule itself. Thanks to the amazing art direction, interplay of serenity and excitement, and incredible sense of scope and scale,Zelda Wii Ucould be theZeldagame to end allZeldagames. Hopefully we’ll find out for ourselves before 2016 rolls around.
Jordan Devore,Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom PainRelease: Not soon enough
When Steven first prompted us to contribute to this list, I expected to land onBloodbornefor many of the reasons Chris and Nic have described. I’ve played an early build of the game, and it feels terrific in the ways you’d expect — also quick, brutal, and even unnerving. I actually jumped!
ButThe Phantom Painhas the slightest edge.
Kojima’s lead-in game,Ground Zeroes, marked the first time I made it to the credits of aMetal Gear Solid. I’ve flirted with the series before — most notablyPeace Walker— but never committed. Everything I’ve seen ofThe Phantom Painmakes me want to commit.
We know it’s going to be a grand, eccentric adventure, but how grand? How eccentric? Kojima has my curiosity like no one else.
Runners-up:Yoshi’s Woolly World,The Witness,Splatoon,Hotline Miami 2,Just Cause 3
Kyle MacGregor,Persona 4: Dancing All NightRelease: God dammit Atlus, give it to me now!
I like weird Japanese games, and they don’t get much weirder or more Japanese than a dancing rhythm game based on thePersonafranchise. My real answer is probablyPersona 5, but Steven already talked about that and I don’t have much to add aside from “HNNNNGPERSONA!”
Brett Makedonski,Life is StrangeRelease: July 23, 2025
Man, I can’t even explain the feeling I get when I think back to my gamescom 2014demo ofLife is Strange. It’s this weird combination of giddy, anxious, nervous, and calm. It’s completely inexplicable.
I was just so immediately invested and entranced in the lives of the young women on screen that I had completely drown my own world out. Mind you, this is at the world’s largest videogame convention when I’m supposed to be acutely alert. I can’t say that 20 minutes with any other game has ever had that exact effect on me.
That’s why I’m impatiently anticipating my trip to Arcadia Bay, Oregon. I don’t know if five episodes of time-travelling, indie-tinged self-exploration will live up to my initial exposure. Frankly, I don’t care. These girls have so much life to discover, and I want to do it right alongside them.
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What are you looking forward to?
Ciao, amiche
