The 15 best games of 2015

Chelsea Stark and Adam Rosenberg

The video games of 2015 gave us a lot to be happy about. Old franchises birthed promising new sequels that turned hours of play into days. Tiny games came out of nowhere to steal our hearts. We’re here to recount and reward the genre's most challenging, engrossing and just plain fun titles.Without further ado, here are the 15 games that stole our hearts and most captivated our imaginations in 2015.

15. Destiny: The Taken KingThe Taken King is technically an expansion for a game that was released in Sept. 2014. But it also tweaks the foundation of Destiny to such an extent that it’s hard for even the most invested player to approach it as anything other than a ground-up remake.The changes are superb, too. The story makes sense now, peeking at lore that was previously the domain of fan-curated wikis. The reworked level progression makes much more sense and breathes fresh life into the game’s sizable arsenal -- arguably the star of Destiny. Plus, three new subclasses offer new ways to take on armies of aliens with a group of friends at your side.

10. Mortal Kombat XIt’s easy to dismiss Mortal Kombat as a complete gorefest, a franchise obsessed with the bloodiest, nastiest fatalities you can imagine. And Mortal Kombat X doesn’t deny that legacy; it leans into it, hard. But the second attempt at NetherRealm to breathe more life into this historic fighting game world is even more fantastic than its freshman effort, thanks to a lot of moving pieces.It was risky to bring the franchise far into the future, abandoning some fan-favorite characters for a lot of new editions. But the newest recruits are creative and just as fun to play as their (sometimes literal) ancestors, with plenty of depth that made it a worthy game to appear at worldwide tournaments. In a genre known for incomprehensible stories that are barely touched upon, the game’s single-player mode is a narrative delight that’s just as fun as an action movie. Although it’s hard to see where the franchise could go from here, we can’t wait to see more of NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat.

5. BloodborneBloodborne is a Dark Souls game for the masses. It’s a fast-moving nightmare that spends as much time challenging you as it does creeping you out. Where developer From Software’s Souls games plod along by design, Bloodborne punishes inaction.More importantly, the PlayStation 4 exclusive nails a perfect balance between claw-your-eyes-out difficulty and rewarding power trips. It’s never easy, but it’s also not hard enough to leave you feeling hopeless. Most of the time. That’s the magic of the Souls games, after all. Bloodborne wins for capturing that appeal and presenting it in the friendliest way possible.

1. Until DawnUntil Dawn is unlike any other game released in 2015. It’s a horror movie that lets you drive. We’re all familiar with those horror scenarios where some boneheaded lead character hides under a bed when they should clearly be running away. This game puts that choice in your hands, for multiple characters. And how you behave has a real impact on how the story plays out.The setup is familiar: a group of friends return to the winter getaway where, one year earlier, a prank gone wrong ended in death. But the story twists and turns that premise in unexpected ways, keeping players guessing all the way through. How many would-be victims can you successfully save as they all try to survive until dawn?