Something Awful's 2015 Game of the Year Awards

Rocket League is easily the best video game released this year. It's laser-focused on what it wants to be and revolves almost entirely around player movement. The game is like a Quake 2 mod, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Most of the year's well-regarded games were more impressive than engaging. By that I mean they grabbed attention with scale, or a clever mechanic, or a ton of side activities, or the name of the developer. They were experiences which you happened to play.

Rocket League is one of those rare games that treats player input as the first priority. It wants you to interact like a madman. If you find yourself impressed, it's not by something external. It's by something ridiculous you just pulled off, or lucked into. That makes Rocket League stand out. That makes it feel fresh every time you come back to it. That makes it the year's best game.

To prove that this praise has nothing to do with the Something Awful flag which is now in the game, I'll point out two glaring flaws which should be addressed immediately:

1. The game should detect when someone sarcastically uses a quick chat command like "What a save!" or "Thanks!", and it should punish them. Ideally, after sarcasm has occurred, the offending party's car should explode just before they make contact with the ball.
2. At the conclusion of a game players should not have to set themselves as Ready for the next match. There's always someone not Ready, presumably staring at their tv or monitor with a vacant expression as the rest of us watch forty seconds of our wasted lives become extra wasted. The game should automatically set everyone to Ready. In fact, you should only be able to say you're not Ready if you can provide concrete proof that you are in the middle of performing or receiving a thirty second brain surgery.

So Rocket League is the best game of the year, according to me. What if you, the person reading this, are one of those people who aren't me?

As it happens, I prepared for such an unlikely scenario. These are the games of the year for every conceivable type of person.

For People Who Love The Second Best Game Of The Year The Best

This year's best RPG by a wide margin. Pillars of Eternity combines and improves upon the best aspects of the genre's classics, brings some great new ideas to the table, and is just the sort of big-ass adventure that weirdos like me love to explore as slowly as humanly possible.

If you're the sort of person who loves the second best game of the year the best, this is right up your alley.

For People Who Are Very Strong

This is a game disc that you could probably pick up with one hand, assuming you're strong. That probably makes it the best value out of all games released in 2015.

For People Who Always Thought Life Was Strange But Hoped A Video Game Would Come Along With A Title That Confirmed Their Suspicions

– Dennis "Corin Tucker's Stalker" Farrell (@DennisFarrell)