Sam’s Top 5 Games of the Year

2014 is the year I finally achieved my goal of having a wrecking-machine of a PC, which changed the landscape of my gaming life dramatically. Coincidentally, this is one of the best years in gaming that I can remember, with loads of quality games coming out that deserved more time than I could give.

I did spend quite a bit of time playing games this year on multiple machines, and I wish I could just write a list of all the games I loved, but we decided to limit ourselves to 5 which makes sense but also makes me grumpy. Quick shoutout to Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, and Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls for being awesome.

5) Titanfall

Competitive multiplayer shooters are a staple in my gaming library; recently however, multiplayer shooters have been lackluster. Call of Duty hasn’t been fun for me in over 5 years, and Battlefield is well… Battlefield. I’ve been longing for something other than Counter Strike to play for a while now, and Titanfall hit the spot just right. Not only is it incredibly fun to play, it’s also designed well and leagues better than any of the competition in 2014. I eagerly await a more full-featured sequel.

4) Transistor

I’ve always been a fan of Bastion, Supergiant’s earlier project, but Transistor took me by surprise. In addition to the diverse gameplay and gorgeous graphics, I found myself shocked that I fell in love with the game as much as I did. I still remember my time with Transistor fondly, and it’s easily one of my best gaming memories of 2014.

3) Elite: Dangerous

Elite: Dangerous is a game I didn’t own until a week or two ago, but since its release I’ve played a good amount of it and can say with confidence it’s one of the better releases in 2014. It takes the flight and trading sim genre and then says, “Yeah, but what if SPACE?!?!?” and it does so with a flair. I can’t wait for the developers to add even more awesome stuff to this already impressive space simulation suite.

2) Divinity: Original Sin

RPGs are my bread and butter, specifically the computer RPG genre. With Baldur’s Gate II being my favorite RPG of all time it’s no shocker that I loved Divinity: Original Sin. It takes the turn based RPG genre and modernizes it, adding gorgeous graphics and loads of complexity within the character creation. This would have easily been my game of the year until…

1) Dragon Age: Inquisition

I know I know, it’s a bit of a cheesy and obvious choice, but for the life of me I cannot think of a single game I’ve been more impressed with than Inquisition. Every aspect of this game is so enveloping and engrossing, I find myself thinking about it even when I’m playing other games. There is absolutely no doubt that this is my game of the year for 2014, and I can’t wait for expansions and other DLC to be released. I think I’ll go play a bit right now.