2015 has been full of surprising returns of old classic franchises, unexpected good games and some let downs. Kicking off the first of many end of year lists to come, here’s the top 7 gaming surprises of 2015!
7. Shenmue 3
Cult classic Shenmue 2 was last released in 2001 on the Dreamcast (remember them?) and then re-released on the XBOX in 2002. This year on June 15 2015, during Sony’s E3 press conference, Shenmue 2 game director Yu Suzuki announced a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to develop Shenmue III for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4. While this announcement was a bit underwhelming to some with the whole ‘announcement of a possible announcement if you give us money’ thing, majority of fans were just excited to see this news come out of nowhere. Jump to today and we haven’t really heard a lot from Shenmue 3 development so expect any possible release until late 2017/2018.
6. The Last Guardian – Yes they actually were making it all this time!
The Last Guardian has been in development for so long, I mean so long. It was officially announced at E3 way back in 2009 and has been in development since 2007 Imagine how many games you’ve played and how many have been released since then! So it was extremely surprising to see The Last Guardian, with gameplay footage, pop up at E3 this year and just be like ‘See, we told you’. The bad news is we still don’t have a release date. This game was supposed to be released on the PS3. Going on what’s happening in the past, I won’t be surprised to see this come out maybe when the PS5 is out, lets hope not.
5. Fallout 4 Gets Announced and Released In 2015
If there’s one thing Bethesda did really, really well this year, its their promotion and marketing of Fallout 4. I mean the hype for Fallout 4 was massive, this was due to the fact they announced it and released it very quickly. Among all the leaks that came out between fallout 3 and the teaser trailer for Fallout 4, they did very well to keep their hugely anticipated game quiet. Was anyone expecting a release date of November when they officially shown it to the public for the first time in June of that year? I very much doubt it (even though it took them 7 years to make). Most AAA games get announced at E3 way before they are eventually released so it was a good chance to see them release Fallout 4 in the same year it was announced, good guys Bethesda.
4. Final Fantasy 7 Remake
I think I remember seeing grown men crying when this got announced at E3 which was…..disturbing. Final Fantasy 7 remains one of the greatest games ever made at its time, it hasn’t aged well today so a remake of some sort was definitely on the cards at some point, right? Well Square Enix seemed to like teasing everyone with FF7 remake hints but never lead to anything. Remember the time when everyone thought they were going to announce a remake at E3 (2014 I think) and all they showed was Final Fantasy 7……….is coming……….to PC. I laughed, the crowd looked like Square Enix just shot their dog, great day.
3. Tales from The Borderlands
‘Tales from the Borderlands….TALES FROM THE BORDERLANDS REALLY? Oh telltale you’re so running out of ideas’. I remember saying this to myself a while ago, it seemed that Telltale were running out of steam and were just going to cash in on a big name and make a simple story/characters with it. How wrong I was. Tales from the Borderlands is Telltale showing their fun side and man its fun.
Coming from the studio that famously made The Walking Dead games, you would never expect this kind of side from telltale. Its not just the funny side that makes this game great. The characters make me feel like this is a great sitcom, the development of them is excellent and you do have genuine care for where the story goes. I’m on the final episode of Tales from the Borderlands but I can safety say its one of the best Telltale games ever. You don’t even need to be a borderlands fan to enjoy this gem. They made it work, you still got it Telltale.
2. Until Dawn
True story, I never actually played Until Dawn. HOLD ON HOLD ON!
I did however, sat next to my friend to bought it and played it in one day and I still can say I really enjoyed play….ah…watching it. Because that’s what Until Dawn is, it’s one of those terrible teenage horror movies you see once or twice at Halloween where all the characters are complete idiots. However this time, you’re the director. You make the calls, you decide who’s face or annoying voice is too much, you don’t mind them going into the dark hallway alone muhahahahaha.
One of my favorite moments in gaming came in Until Dawn, with as I said I watched and shouted at things while my friend played, was when we killed a bird. The whole butterfly effect was mentioned all the time and we thought because we killed the bird, all these bad things were happening because we killed a little robin. It really wasn’t…so so wasn’t.
Until Dawn just works so well, which is a surprise to everyone I think. Its one big horror movie staring you as the director. Boy oh boy its so much fun.
1. Undertale
Had to be, if you never heard of Undertale before its release….don’t worry, we didn’t either. UnderTale is really hard to describe you just need to play it and come up with your own version about what you think it means to you, but I’ll give you the basics.
Undertale is a 2D adventure game made by one guy, Toby Fox, using the Gamemaker Studio engine (yeah that free one on steam) and its somehow one of the best adventures I’ve ever had in a game. The music is absolutely fantastic, its 8 bit music. The Dialogue made me laugh so much I was almost in tears, its in text only. The morals you learn are genuine and real. The journey you go on is unforgettable, the characters are 2D but somehow I have more care and interest in them then I had with most games this year. The breaking of the forth wall and its cleverness in tearing up the rule book how to make a typical game.
Undertale stole the show for me this year, its a love letter to how a simple looking game about a simple little boy, can have the biggest heart in the world.
I am currently reviewing Undertale and the review will be up before Christmas. Going by this list, you already know you should play Undertale this Christmas.