As the year rolled on, it became increasingly obvious that 2015 was not going to be filled with the lacklustre levels of quality that disappointed so many in 2014. June didn’t prove to be any more of a packed month than, well, June of any other year. But there was some definite highs — and a few very obvious lows.
Heroes of the Storm (PC, Mac)
Blizzard’s MOBA has undergone significant changes in a short space of time
It’s almost quaint looking at the screenshot above, remembering what Heroes of the Storm used to look like, the way things were framed. A lot can change in six months, huh.
It’s not that the game looks radically different, mind you, but it’s certainly a world apart from its original launch. The game has certainly found a solid pocket of support around the world, even if it’ll never touch the MOBA giants of Dota 2 or League of Legends. But it works on a formula that many, particularly those with an initial distaste for the MOBA format, find very endearing.
Wander (PC, PS4)
Wander stands out amongst all the Aussie games released in 2015, but for the wrong reasons
The best said about Wander is probably left to Emma, the game’s former community manager who wrote a lengthy detail of her experience back in August. “It always went without saying that Wander would never be a mainstream hit like the Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, or [the] Witcher series,” she wrote. “What we didn’t anticipate was that its idiosyncrasy would combine with a host of unforeseen launch-day bugs to bring down a storm of hate on the game, and thus the team.”
Her experiences are worth reading if you’ve ever gotten angry online about a game for its bugs, design quirks or idiosyncrasies. It’s not a reminder that you shouldn’t be angry about those, but that you’re communicating that anger to another human being — and even though they know otherwise, sometimes that can be very difficult to deal with.
Her Story (PC, Mac, iOS)
FMV games live or die on the quality of their performances
What made Her Story work for the hundreds of thousands of people who have purchased Sam Barlow’s database searching murder mystery? Is it the thoroughness of the performance from Viva Seifert in her debut acting role? Is it the way in which the game limits the amount of video your searches will uncover?
Maybe the game simply launched at the right time, in a window where it wasn’t surrounded by bigger, more attractive releases. There was one in particular that launched the same week — the day before, in fact — but it was limited to consoles and certainly didn’t offer an experience that could have starved Her Story for air.
Mark was very surprised by the game, while I’ve deliberately held off. I used to work in an office where it was my job to write briefs for clients that would be later translated into boolean search strings. I’d also read through transcripts searching for those keywords, read press articles, listen to broadcast radio.
I don’t want to play a game where the main mechanic reminds me of my previous job. I don’t harbour any ill will to my former colleagues or place of employment, but I know what I like — and the prospect of reliving work in a video game is not that.
Batman: Arkham Knight (PC, PS4, XBO)
Warner Bros record on PC soured even further with Arkham Knight’s release
Arkham Knight couldn’t have been more a tale of two worlds if it wanted to. On the console is a rich story, with lively characters, plenty of challenges and enough Batman to satiate any fan. The focus on the Batmobile was a mistake for Chris’s liking — and most — but on the whole, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Unless you were playing on PC. After an equally atrocious launch with Mortal Kombat X, Warner Bros were forced into more PC damage control when they pulled the game from sale on Steam — for a full season. It eventually went on sale again at the end of October, but not before Warner Bros was forced to offer carte blanche refunds to anyone who purchased the game and season pass on the platform.
Even the Collector’s Edition of the game, which was across consoles, got cancelled. All in all, Arkham Knight will be remembered more for its problems than its positives. That’s a shame for the developer — and particularly for Iron Galaxy, the studio who WB outsourced the PC port to.
Fallout Shelter (iOS, Android)
Perhaps the most successful thing to come out of E3?
The amount of people who became obsessed with Fallout Shelter is almost unholy. I’d be kind of curious to know what was a bigger success for Bethesda — Fallout 4 or their mobile spin-off. It seems a ridiculous proposition, but Fallout Shelter was everywhere. It literally seemed like everyone who was into games, on any platform, was playing at some point.
Every time I got on a plane after Fallout Shelter’s release, I either walked past or could see someone managing their vault. The game earned US$5.1 million in microtransactions in a fortnight. The internet was abuzz about Fallout Shelter glitches, hacks, upgrades, anything that could be done to make your Dwellers more efficient and powerful.
It’s probably been the best E3 announcement/reveal in a while. Bethesda’s certainly grinning — one wonders whether they might pull a similar trick with official mobile releases of DOOM or something else next year. They’ve certainly got form.
Quiplash (PC, PS3, PS4, XBO)
So wrong, yet so right
A huge gaming high — by instantly bringing out the darkest and most offensive humour from everyone involved. That’s Quiplash, where even the developers are using dead leprechaun jokes in the Steam screenshots as an advertisement.
Obviously, I like it a lot.
Those were the major beats of July, but other names that stood out: the PC port of D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die, Massive Chalice, the console launch of Elder Scrolls Online, PlanetSide 2 on PS4, and RONIN. What caught your eye in June?
Comments
7 responses to “Games Of 2015: June”
You guys left out ARK: Survival Evolved again. Yes it’s early access but it gets regular(used to be 2-3 times per week) content updates and bug fixes and has a hard working indie team
How can they have missed it again when this is the first time June has been written up?
But I’m all for releases being limited to full releases, ARK would count as released on they finally ship the game, not while they are in a test and development phase
I kinda consider the game as being far more enjoyable for far cheaper than any other game I have personally bought this year.
The “again” may just be because there’s been other missed opportunities to talk about this game in the past.
I personally believe June 2 2016 is just another day for the devs, not the planned release with the way that game is going.
Then again I have played 1430 hours on an” incomplete” game so I personally don’t class it as an incomplete product
It’s a continuity thing. It’s not that I “missed” ARK, but I won’t be including it until it’s fully released. The same thing applies to episodic adventures in a way as well.
To put it another way, if ARK is deserving of coverage here then Star Citizen should theoretically get seven or more mentions across all of 2015.
By the time ARK is released, it’ll be worlds apart from what the game is now. And that’s been the case for anything that’s launched on Early Access.
Actually got my notebook out and wrote something for Her Story, wins by default. Probably comes the closest of any recent game to actually bring “consideration” to the forefront of its mechanics. Too often how we consider and interpret information is ignored by uneducated reviewers and commentors whom instead focus on arbitrary plot points and representation as sole determinants of meaning.
I liked the part where you said Arkham Knight was released on PC in June
I’ve not yet gone near Arkham Knight but that is heart-breaking that what is probably the most lavishly put together instalment is also the ‘worst’ of the series.
The PC version notwithstanding, to hear of how it’s a great game shackled to some unforgivable issues really does sour the entire lot of them as a whole.
“Only……you……”
Apparently it’s been fixed now?