2015 has been filled with so many great games. From AAA titles like Super Mario Maker and Fallout 4 to small independent titles like Rocket League and SOMA. It was very hard for the staff to pick just one clear winner for our Game of the Year and looking ahead at what there is to come in 2016, next year will be even harder.

We asked all the authors here at The Gamers Lounge to list their top 5 games of the year. The games you would expect to be there, were: Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, Metal Gear 5, but there were some surprises. SOMA, Shovel Knight and Kerbal Space Program. It was hard to pick just one, but after long discussions one narrowly took the crown as The Gamers Lounge Game of the Year.

And it goes to.......

The Witcher 3 won by one vote! That's right, one vote. For us, this game hit all the right notes with gameplay, content and story. The rest of the group (listed in order of votes) Fallout 4, Batman: Arkham Knight, Super Mario Maker and last but not least Metal Gear Solid 5.

Here are a few thoughts from some of the guys about this great year of games...

Erik

The 2015 Game of the Year is not going to be an easy choice. There were a lot of AAA games this year. There are quite a few that I felt were quality candidates, but there is only one that rose above all the others.

My GOTY winner for 2015 is Witcher 3. Here are the reasons why: the amount of extra content from the publisher that came with the game, there was free DLC, a soundtrack, a map, and and a few other items. The game itself was very polished and addicting; for a month straight I could not stop playing it. I would try to play other games and all I thought about was the Witcher 3.

Everything from the the story, to the character building, to the dialogue, all was fantastic. These elements and so much more helped shape the Witcher 3 into one of the best titles gamers have seen in the last few years.

Matt

I think my favorite game this year has been Kerbal Space Program. I know what some people might be saying, “That game has been out for ages”, but the official release date wasn’t until early this year. There have been several big games that came out this year: Witcher 3, Fallout 4, Destiny: The Taken King, to name a few. All of these games have had lots of polish, but there is one key thing the games must have to be great: Fun. I have had so much fun launching those little green kerbalnauts at the surface of the Mun. I remember the first time a friend and I had a space race. We said best of 3 won. First to orbit, first to a celestial body, first to return from a celestial body’s surface. I barely managed to win, but that isn’t the important. The important part was that I had so much fun trying to figure out the fastest way to build a rocket that worked. This game is still rough around the edges, but that doesn’t matter if you like these kind of games. It is well done, has some humor, and is otherwise pretty solid. Sometimes the rockets decide they are birds and flap themselves to death, but that’s part of the magic.

Sam

For me, The Witcher 3 is a game that did a lot of things right. In a year where I saw disappointment after disappointment in triple-A titles, it was awesome to have a game that lived up to everything I was hoping it would be. It's an awesome title with a big world, and it's definitely my bid for game of the year this year.

John

This year it is so hard to pick just one or even five games. My vote for Game of the Year is Xenoblade Chronicles X on the Wii U. It's a huge game with a 60 plus hour main story and another 40 hours in side quests. It's a huge, vast world with so much to do and see I know I will be playing it for a long time. A must buy for the Wii U owner.

On the PS3 I have to give it to Yakuza 5. Another game with so much to do and such a great story. Plus, it is a game that so many of us have waited for. On PS4, it's Disney Infinity 3.0. With the addition of Star Wars, this game enters a whole new level and with so many great characters you want to go back and play it over and over again.

Yo-Kai watch is a fantastic game on the 3DS this year. It has the feel of Pokemon, but with that charm and gameplay that only Level-5 can deliver. In fact, for me this is the year to own a Wii U and a 3DS. With so many great games that have come out for both systems, if you have yet to jump on the Wii U now is the time to do it.

So there you have it! 2015 has had so many great games it's hard to talk about all of them. 2016 looks to be bigger, with many great games coming, as well as VR and the announcement of a new system from Nintendo, it would seem that 2016 could be one of the biggest years for gaming of all time.

The Gamers Lounge Game of the Year Award