10) Battlefield 1
Perhaps it was due to backlash against the other enormous first-person shooter released this year — one that will unfortunately not be making this list — but Battlefield 1 quickly became one of the year’s most-anticipated titles. Whatever the reason, the finished project lived up to the hype, becoming a smash hit among players on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One alike.
“[The game’s] refreshing take on a single player campaign and its refined and robust multiplayer mode has thoroughly impressed me,” said our reviewer Shaan Joshi. “Simply put, Battlefield 1 is the best Battlefield game yet, and I can’t wait to see what direction DICE and EA take the series from here.”
9) The Witness
Talk about an amazing follow-up to one’s first excellent game. After the platforming innovations of Braid, Jonathan Blow’s sophomore effort came as even more of a delightful surprise. The combination of island exploration and puzzle solving enchanted critics early this year, earning it perfect scores from a number of gaming publications — including our own.
“After thinking about it for hours on end, I can only really remember the triumphs and successes, the moments of amazement and awe, and those truly rewarding moments when all the puzzle pieces fell perfectly into place,” said Shaan Joshi in our review. “To me, that’s the sign of something undeniably special.”
