PC Gamer Game of the Year Awards 2015

Goodbye, 2015. When it comes to games, you've been lovely, and as usual we're closing the year by bestowing honors on the best of the best. So we voted, and then debated over three continents, and then revised the list and debated a bit more, and came to a selection of 10 games we think are a little more special than the rest. Note that no game can win multiple awards—our process is to each cast votes for multiple games, tally them up, agree on an overall winner, and then tailor the rest of our award categories to best represent why we love the games we chose. The staff also chose 12 more games as 'personal picks,' and while we couldn't reach a consensus on their GOTYness, they were all important enough to one or more of us that we wanted to give them special honors.

Below are our 2015 award categories (plus one more special award that we won't spoil), which we've chosen to best represent the makeup of games we loved this year. We'll be posting new awards and personal picks daily as the end of the year approaches, updating this page as we go. We're an impatient bunch, so rather than saving the best for last, we've started with our overall game of the year, which goes to...

Awards

Game of the Year 2015: Metal Gear Solid V
Best Singleplayer: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Best Multiplayer: Rocket League
Best Design: Invisible Inc.
Best Simulation: Kerbal Space Program
Best Writing: 80 Days
Most Original: Her Story
Best Setting: Fallout 4
Spirit of the PC: Pillars of Eternity
Community Champion: Cities: Skylines
The 2015 Game of 2013 Award: Grand Theft Auto 5
The alternative PC Gamer GOTY awards

Personal Picks

Chris Livingston: Prison Architect
Tom Senior: Homeworld Remastered
Wes Fenlon: Galak-Z
Chris Thursten: Life is Strange
James Davenport: Cibele
Samuel Roberts: D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die
Tony Ellis: SOMA
Andy Kelly: Else Heart.Break()
Shaun Prescott: Rainbow Six Siege
Tyler Wilde: Undertale
Phil Savage: Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Tom Marks: Heroes of the Storm

Check back daily for more awards. Have something to say about our choices? Email us at pcgamer@futurenet.com and we may print your comments in the magazine.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.