Fawzi Mesmar's Game of the Year awards for 2015.

1. Retro Gamer’s Top
10 Games of 2015
By Fawzi Mesmar

2. 10 – Cities Skylines
The city builder genre has been booming
through it’s casual cousins on the free to play
mobile space. Traditional Sim City style games
have been suffering of late, mainly because of
the namesake title have under delivered
recently, the cities series haven’t been doing that
much better either.
Skylines simply hands in what everyone ever
wanted of the genre, realistic city simulation that
you can lose yourself in for hours, intuitive
interface, incredible attention to detail and strong
support for mods insuring that this game is going
to be populated for years to come.

3. 9 – The Witcher 3
It’s been a good year for open world games, it’s
been an even better year for open world RPG
games with many solid entries making huge
splashes across their respective fanbases, few
however will have the beautiful visuals, strength
in storytelling and sheer scope of the Witcher 3.
This is a huge game, if you were to buy only one
game this year this would be my
recommendation just based on content alone.
While it has some shortcomings – particularly on
the combat side of gameplay – it remains a
landmark achievement in modern AAA games.

4. 8 - Splatoon
Nintendo comes out of left field with a young
team that took note of the jet set radio style book
and designed a game that turned the shooter
world upside down overnight and perhaps giving
in new innovative gameplay that the genre has
been desperately needing since the release of
the first modern warfare.
With multiple gameplay modes, quick games,
loads of free updates from nice guy Nintendo
and just plain dumb fun, Splatoon is the surprise
hit that keeps on giving.

5. 7 - Undertale
There’s definitely a lot of internet hype around
Undertale, there’s also a lot of speculations, a lot
of expectations, and a lot mysteries that the
internet is still cracking till now.
The game also contributes in trying to give you
some preconceived notion, it wants you to think
it’s a Mother game, it wants you to think it’s a
hipster junk, and it definitely wants to genuinely
surprise you and request multiple playthroughs.
If by some kind of magic you haven’t read
anything about this game other than what I’ve
written here, keep it this way, just sit down and
play the game and enjoy the ride.

6. 6 – Batman Arkham Knight
Batman has taken a lot of negative press this
year, many critics criticized the use of the bat
mobile, it’s questionable PC launch and it’s
lackluster DLC.
DLC aside, I had none of those problems, I had
an amazing time flying over the entirety of
Gotham city or driving through its streets solving
mysteries and capturing thugs.
Being Batman is awesome, and as usual
rocksteady captures the essence of what it
means to be the caped crusader. Controls are
tight, visuals are gorgeous and there’s a whole
lot of fun to be had.

7. 5 – Downwell
I loved Downwell since the minute I laid eyes on
it in the Tokyo Indie Festival this year. I currently
own it on my iphone, ipad and steam; and it’s my
go to game for a quick I-have-5-minutes-and-
want-to-play-something.
It’s platforming, it’s bullet hell, it’s a little bit of
volley ball. It’s a game that demands your
attention, that requires precession, that wants
you to become more skillful at it, eventually you
can finish the game in under an hour, it will
require you to spend many hours to become
skilled enough to pull that off.

8. 4 – Rocket League
Rocket league is a phenomenon! It’s one of
those simple why-didn’t-I-think-of-that ideas that
blows you away the minute you play it. So easy
to explain to people, easy to learn the basic
controls but requires hundreds of hours to
master and learn proper coordination.
In many ways, Rocket League could be the
innovation the soccer video game genre has
been needing, where individual skill and team
play are so important to victory, and there’s a
thrill that comes with every shot even if it misses.
But when it doesn’t, it’s a euphorea that you’d
want to experience again and again.

9. 3 - Bloodborne
I was never a fan of the souls series, I found them a
bit too slow in action to my taste, the constant
blocking and attacking as well as keeping your
distance when you get hit always went against my
better judgement, which made me suck at those
games even more.
Bloodborne was the game for me. My trigger happy
fingers were eager to punish an attacking enemy,
my axe swinging other finger was eager to get that
bloody revenge that will give me precious health
back. Combat was thrilling and controls are
excellent to match.
For those patient enough to withstand death over
and over again, there’s a haunting world to explore
and many foes to best.

10. 2 – Super Mario Maker
Super Mario Maker is the everyman’s entry to
the world of game design. The intuitive level
building tools can provide the user with the
power to create any super mario level their heart
desires and then some.
Not only the everlasting joy of creating
something to amuse other people a very
rewarding experience of its own right, but
watching people play and get emotional (joy,
frustration, anger ..etc) is incredibly rewarding.
Kinda makes sense why some people dedicated
their lives to building games, huh?

11. 1 – Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom
Pain
I’m going to outright say it, MGSV is the best Metal Gear
game Kojima has ever made, it is the best stealth game
ever made, it’s among the best open world games ever
made, and it’s one of the most innovative AAA title I
have played in the past decade.
MGSV redefines the world of action games in a way
you’ve never seen before, this game plays like
something fresh, I felt the same magic that I did when I
played the 1998 original, this one will influence many
many games to come.
While some might critisize it’s unfinished nature, I take
that to be an even bigger sign of it’s greatnes. Just
imagining what would have happened if the original
vision was completely realized gives me chills down my
spine.
I haven’t been this excited about a game in a long time

12. Honorable Mention - Yoshi’s Woolly
World
Yoshi is gorgeous, adorable and controls like a
dream. It’s nice and easy for the casual player
that just want to go through the courses and
mean and frustrating for players that want to
unlock everything and grab every collectable.
It has some outdated design choices, and it’s
couch multiplayer will make you lose some
friends, there’s loads of fun to be had with those
friends while you still have them however.
Yoshi never looked this good, the game just
oozes charm.