Comedian Mike Drucker Shares His Top 10 Games Of The Year

On the lead up to Game Informer's Game of the Year awards of 2015, we've invited a number of the video game industry's influential figures to share their favorite games of the year.

Mike Drucker has worn a lot of hats. He's written for both IGN and Nintendo and is now a writer for The Jimmy Fallon Show as well as a stand-up comedian.

Here are Drucker's top 10 picks for 2015:

To everyone who's going to just look at the titles of each game on this list, have fun!

I know you're busy and you just want to see if I have justified your purchases with my purchases. And I hope I did. And if I didn't, it's because I hate you. We all had a big talk and we think that your taste is terrible and you're wrong. Actually, it's because I don't have all the free time in the world and I probably missed out without trying. And I hate you.

To everyone else, how good was 2015 for games? If 2014 was the year that gaming tore itself apart over who was a real gamer and who was just there to ruin a good time (hint: the group that disagrees with you politically was the villain), 2015 was the year that developers went, "Stop whining; here are good games for everyone."

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't painful cutting some games off this list to round out at 10. I'm sure I'll re-read this list later and be like, "Metal Gear Solid V? But they didn't even let David Hayter do his Batman voice! Undertale deserved it way more!"

Also, before we start, I have to make the disclaimer that I used to work for Nintendo as a localization writer. Huzzah! Whoopee! I wrote the English dialogue in Mario Party 9! I'm basically Ken Levine now.

So yes, I've still got friends at Nintendo, and yes, I want them to be able to feed their families. That said, I haven't worked there in four years, nobody gets royalties from games, and I bought all the games on this list with my own money. Plus, I worked at Nintendo because I was a Nintendo fanboy, not the other way around.

Anyway, let's get mad at each other about video games!

10. Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon doesn't like you. It doesn't want to meet your family. If you show it pictures of your kids, it'll say, "Oh, that's nice," and then ask why they don't look like you. Darkest Dungeon is an ***. If it sees you having fun, it'll go out of its way to hurt you.

But that *** of a game is so stylized, and so moody, that every moment your party falls apart feels like you're living a perfect, creepy, emergent story. And that emergent story engages you on a moment-to-moment basis that's hard to find in a lot of other games. When my healer was thrown into a pot by a witch, I screamed, "LEAVE HER ALONE! SHE'S GONE THROUGH ENOUGH!"

And you know what? That ain't even the start of her suffering.

On the downside, the game is still in Early Access. So the developers could turn all the characters into Bill Cosby and Jared Fogle and we'll be stuck with it. That's not a suggestion, Red Hook.

9. Crypt of the NecroDancer

Another rogue-like? What am I, a man who has virtually no free time and enjoys short play sessions that still challenge me? Yes, that's exactly what I am. Why am I defending myself to imaginary attacks on my list? Life is a rogue-like. That's why.

Okay.

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a rogue-like you can play with a Dance Dance Revolution pad, which I still own and had to hook up using a PS2-to-USB converter. It's the opposite of Darkest Dungeon. It's goofy and stupid and absolutely addicting. "Goofy" and "stupid" sound bad, but sometimes I like to mix up the whole being a 31-year-old goth child with actual fun.

Remember fun games? They can still be that way, everyone!

8. Fallout 4

Remember the end scene in the movie Chinatown where Faye Dunaway keeps switching between "She's my sister" and "She's my daughter?" It's like that, except I keep switching between "I love this game" and "This isn't my Fallout."

Spoiler Alert: It's both at the same time.

Fallout 4 just isn't Fallout to me. I know that legally and canonically it IS Fallout, but it just doesn't FEEL Fallout to me. Maybe it's the thorough lack of silliness (Silver Shroud missions aside). Or the new dialogue system that makes every conversation, "Honest Answer, Easy Charisma XP, or Sarcastic Answer." It's just not a really good role-playing game.

At the same time, it's an amazing action / quasi-strategy game. After I admitted that to myself, I had a lot more fun with it. The shooting actually works now. The perk system is way more useful. The base-building is actually pretty cool once you get past the complete lack of in-game information. And Nick Valentine is one of the most fun slices of cheese in video game history.

Maybe if it were called "Future Shock: Armageddon Baby Hunt," I'd like it even more.

7. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Hideo Kojima isn't legally allowed to read this list. Ha ha, we're all in on these jokes. But what an odd development this game had, right? I mean, the genius developer of one of the best video game series of all time was unceremoniously shuffled out "on vacation" like Forrest Gump's dad.

It's especially weird because Metal Gear Solid V is basically Kojima's Garden State, and we're all addicted to hunting down his Spotify playlist. In a game where I can steal a bear with a balloon, the fact that Russian guards in Afghanistan like '80s pop is the least believable part of the story.

Anyway, all that you really need to know is that it's the third best Metal Gear Solid yet and maybe the best-looking game ever. If you like carefully stalking guards and then saying, "F this!" and blowing everyone up, you'll have a good time.

And I know you're not asking for the top two, but those are Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (heh heh) and Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel.

"Wah, wah, wah, Ghost Babel isn't canon."

Yeah, it's still a Hideo Kojima Game Boy game. I'm good.

6. Witcher 3

I'll be honest; I don't really like hardcore fantasy settings.

Record scratch. "What, Mike? B-b-b-but you're a fat, sad guy!"

I know. I really should! Outside of the odd Baldur's Gate, I have a hard time getting into standard fantasy settings. They just don't engage me. Also, I imagine everyone smells TERRIBLE. Like, all that sex Geralt has must smell like the opposite of Febreze. Think about it.

So it says a lot that I loved Witcher 3. It's exactly what a modern role-playing game should be. It's massive, but every little action carries weight. My actions have an actual impact on people, and they'll let me know how they feel about it. You know what I mean? Bar patrons aren't just there to say, "HELLO! ARMOR IS GOOD HERE!"

I wouldn't want to live in that world, but I loved feeling like I did.

5. Life is Strange

Life is Strange made me nostalgic for high school and I couldn't have gone to a more different high school than Blackwell Academy. Maybe it's the song selection or the rewinding time conceit, but the game instills a sense of deep longing and loneliness that only being in school can get.

Despite the time travel, it's an unusual game for how... usual it feels. Walking through people's houses, getting bullied, talking to students about crushes. Until late in the game, the most intimidating characters are rich douchebags and trailer trash douchebags. Characters we've all met in real life. Or maybe you are those characters and congratulations to YOU, sir/madam.

Life is Strange stumbles a bit at the finish line, but don't let it spoil the journey. It's a great reminder that good games can look at the ordinary and still have a lot to say.

4. Bloodborne

Oh God, Bloodborne. You and Darkest Dungeon should share some notes on being total dicks.

Here's the thing: It's fair. Just like Dark Souls, every time I died, it was my fault. I never felt cheated. I never thought an enemy got in a cheap shot. I knew that I messed up and I'd have to go all the way back and make it right. And I did. Carefully.

Which is one of the cool aspects of games like Bloodborne: They make you careful. Ostensibly, it's an Action RPG. But that action has to be so carefully planned and monitored that you almost need to train yourself. Or you end up crying more over a death than you did when you got divorced after one year.

Marriage is also something you should consider carefully.

3. Splatoon

None of us thought Splatoon would be good. We just knew it was going to be bad, right? We all saw the trailers and we were like, "Ha ha, okay, Nintendo. An ink shooter with squids that looks like a Nickelodeon show from 1998."

And then we played it and we were like, "Holy ***, this is an ink shooter with squids that looks like a Nickelodeon show from 1998!"

It's insane how much fun this game is. Even waiting for a game to start is more fun than most games.

I imagine Nintendo looked at everything that was terrible about multiplayer shooters and went, "Hey, what if these were fun instead of being complete nightmares for anyone who doesn't have the free time of a millionaire teenager?"

2. Downwell

Downwell is the rare type of game that I'll buy on every platform it comes out on just to have it handy. I think I've done that with The Binding of Isaac, Minecraft, and that's it. It's worth the extra four dollars to know I can get a quick fix whenever I've got ten free minutes.

I've seen a lot of people compare it to Spelunky and, yeah, I guess I understand that. But it feels to me more like a linear version of the original Metroid. It's lonely and weird and you're just thrown into the game without any instructions.

The gameplay is tight and the music gives you that old 8-bit creepiness that you forget you had in older games. Remember that? Like in Metroid or Zelda 2? When there was a spookiness to the sparse sound and design? Downwell has that, too.

Here's another way to praise it: The mobile version doesn't suck. Pretty good, right?

1. Super Mario Maker

The dumbest comment I read about Super Mario Maker is also the best reason I love Super Mario Maker. When it first came out, I was reading Reddit comments, like I do. Can't properly enjoy a game unless I read why strangers didn't enjoy a game.

Anyway. I was reading the comments, and one person complained, "All I see are these dumb levels made by kids!" And it's like, YES! This is a game that allows CHILDREN to design video game levels. Can you imagine having that when we were kids? The ability to design insane, cruel, weird, funny, dumb, perverted, expert levels on our own with no training?

That's the dream! And Super Mario Maker lets us live it.

My first level had the word "Butts" spelled out in coins. I mean, seriously - that's the first thing I did. And I loved every second of it. I loved trying combinations of items and making my friends hate me with unfair jumps. It's everything I've ever wanted to do, but lacked the skills or patience to learn how.

Are there some trash levels online? Yeah. Could Nintendo take the game offline and we lose everything? I guess. It's the Internet. But I like that I can play a stunningly-designed masterpiece that requires patience and thought AS WELL AS a dumb novelty level that recreates the theme from Seinfeld. Both are awesome.

Until Nintendo shuts it down, there are a virtually infinite number of levels available online. And that's what most people don't seem to get about Super Mario Maker. It's not just a creative tool, it's a game that you can play for five minutes and enjoy a level made by another fan from across the world.

And sometimes those levels just say "Butts."