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.
Sean Krankel has spent his career working on a plethora of games and franchises such as Crash Bandicoot, 50 Cent Bulletproof, and Epic Mickey. He recently formed his own studio, Night School Studio, with his cousin, Adam Hines, who previously worked at Telltale Games. Its first project is called Oxenfree. The narrative-driven adventure is about coming-of-age while investigating a spooky island, and launches on January 15 on PC and Xbox One.
Fallout 4 (PS4/XB1): Every year I pine for a big honkin' open world to get lost in, and this year it was Fallout 4, which, incidentally, was my first Fallout game. At some point I need to get my Witcher on, but for now, I'll keep wandering the Wasteland.
Splatoon (WIi U): I love when a developer can spin a genre I have very little interest in and turn it into something I obsess over. Last year that was card games and Hearthstone, this year it was competitive shooters and Splatoon. I hope Nintendo keeps pumping more into this franchise; it took a lot of guts for them to try this.
Mario Maker (Wii U): The perfect, refined version of the creative building bits of "Little Big Planet" I've been waiting for. It doesn't hurt that the level building tools and assets are the collective gaming universe's DNA.
Lara Croft Go (iOS): Bet you didn't know you wanted Monument Valley with guns. I didn't, but here I am calling it one of my favorite games of the year. Just get it.
You Must Build a Boat (iOS): I was a big fan of 10000000 a few years back, and this is the perfect evolution of that crack-dictive formula. If you like puzzles and RPGs, you'll probably dig this.
BONUS: The Witcher 3 and Tomb Raider: I didn't play these games. I WANTED to play these games. I need to find time to play these games, because I am pretty sure they would top my list.