The most interesting party games released in 2015
All the best and most popular games of the year, upcoming releases, and hits from the past. Use filters to narrow down search.
Theatrhythm Dragon Quest
Party
March 26, 2015
Theatrhythm Dragon Quest is a rhythm game with RPG elements. It is the third game in the series. Two previous installments focused on the music and characters from the iconic Final Fantasy series. This time, Square Enix decided to connect the game with the lesser known Dragon Quest series. As we play, we will hear dozens of pieces of music used in the Dragon Quest games. Gameplay in Theatrhythm Dragon Quest is based on the same mechanics as the previous games. We will have to push the icons that appear on the screen in line with the rhythm of the music. Not only our reflexes matter, but also how long our stylus touches the console's touch screen. Some of the sounds require a quick tap, some touching the screen for a longer moment, and some will force us to move the stylus from one side to another. The game offers a couple of game modes, including multiplayer. Theatrhythm Dragon Quest has unique visuals that bring paper cutouts and flash animations to mind.
IA/VT Colorful
Party
July 30, 2015
An arcade rhythm/music game developed by Marvelous AQL. IA/VT Colorful allows players to cover the songs from various Japanese artists performed by vocaloid IA - a special application built from real voice samples that adds a virtual voice to music tracks. The gameplay is similar to games from the Project Diva series. Players gradually unlock new songs, and complete them on one of three difficulty levels. Their task is to press one of eight buttons when the icon symbolizing the given button shows in a small circle. Some of the tracks contain special segments that net extra points when performed correctly. The background shows a music video of the song, or a video created by the developers with a three-dimensional model of the singer. Aside from the standard game mode, IA/VT Colorful contains challenge/mission mode.
Runbow
Party
August 27, 2015
An arcade racing game for {PLAT}. Our objective is to take part in a race and finish it, but the task is made difficult by the nature of courses and obstacles, which are constantly transforming. The background colors are constantly changing, and a different color may mean that, for example, a bridge was removed, or a new platform was spawned. The pace of the gameplay forces the players to stay alert if they want to reach the finish line as a winner. Our avatars can jump, climb, run, as well as harass other participants. Aside from the main course, Runbow also contains a few different modes, including Arena, where the players are pushing each other into the abyss, or ColourMaster, in which one person decides on the action that has to be repeated by other players. Even if the main strength of the game is the ability of multiplayer racing (up to 9 participants), the game offers a single player mode as well. Runbow employs simple, but nice 2D visuals, full of contrasting colors and sharp contours.
Rock Band 4
Party
October 6, 2015
The fourth major installment of the popular music game series that was started in 2007 by Harmonix, the creators of a similar franchise called Guitar Hero. In the title, we assume the role of rock band members — a guitarist, a vocalist, or a drummer (keyboard, introduced in Rock Band 3, is no longer available). Depending on our role in the band, the fun boils down to rhythmically pressing the keys of the virtual instrument, tapping the beat on a special drum kit, or recreating the vocals as faithfully as possible. For the purposes of the game, designed with next-gen platforms in mind, new versions of the existing instruments were created, although the production supports all older editions, as well. Apart from a large set of new tracks, we can also use every song we had bought in the previous installments of the Rock Band series so we don’t have to buy them again.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
Party
October 8, 2015
An original co-op logic game developed by an independent studio Steel Crate Games. One player assumes the role of a person who needs to defuse a bomb, while other players have to tell him how to do it. The ticking clock and the fact that each bomb is generated randomly make the title even more difficult. The person tasked with defusing has to supply the other players with detailed information which will enable them to identify the type of the bomb they are currently dealing with. Due to the nature of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, you will need only one copy of the game and the bomb defusal manual, which can be found at http://www.bombmanual.com/, to play with friends. The title features simple and transparent graphics as well as optional support of VR devices, which are, however, not required to play the game.
Just Dance 2016
Party
October 22, 2015
Another installment of the popular dancing game series by Ubisoft. In Just Dance 2016, the fun is about dancing to the hottest hits of pop music. Video clips with dancers showing us the moves are displayed on the screen and our task is to recreate the choreography as faithfully as possible. The biggest novelty of this installment is the introduction of the Just Dance Controller application, thanks to which all we need to play is a smartphone held in our hand. Moreover, the Just Dance Unlimited platform, which is a streaming service that lets us dance to the tracks it offers, debuted with the production. The game also received an updated song list; these include: Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson Ft. Bruno Mars, Born this Way - Lady Gaga, All About that Bass - Meghan Trainor, I Gotta Feeling - the Black Eyed Peas, Want to Want Me - Jason Derulo, and many other hits. The track list consists of tracks for solo performances, duets, and even dancing groups.
The Living Dungeon
Party
November 2, 2015
A fantasy video game in which you play as a character of your choice, and your task varies depending on the game mode. In the expansive story mode, you complete missions, explore randomly generated dungeons, gather useful items and fight enemies. In the online multiplayer mode, you need to eliminate other players in one of the four sub-modes: Assassination, Head Hunter, Random Assassination, and Escape. During your turn, you can commit five various actions; you have two minutes for that, which calls for quick and creative thinking. To succeed, you need luck and a sense of strategy, which can help you outsmart your opponents. The Living Dungeon features very high-quality visuals — the game faithfully recreates figurines, moving around a fully-3D map. Curiously, there are two graphic styles to choose from: a dark fantasy one and a less grim one, resembling a tavern game.
Le Havre: The Inland Port
Party
November 10, 2015
A mobile adaptation of a popular board game by Uwe Rosenberg, developed by the German Digidiced. Similarly to the original, the gameplay boils down to a struggle between two persons competing for the title of the owner of the most profitable port in the eponymous French city. The game is turn-based and involves proper infrastructure management, buying and selling buildings, as well as trading supplies. Le Havre: The Inland Port allows you to play against the artificial intelligence or living opponents (in hot seat mode or via the Internet). The gameplay is asynchronous, so we can compete with several rivals at the same time. The title offers relatively simple graphics, inspired to a large extent by the board original.
Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival
Party
November 13, 2015
Spin-off to the popular Animal Crossing series, designed as an electronic board game, set in the universe of the series that has been developed since 2001 by Nintendo. During the game, we use amiibo figurines and cards, transferred into the game world via special NFC reader. As we play, we throw virtual dices and move over a special board, full of various mini-games, prizes, and sometimes traps, which will cause us to lose, for example, virtual money. The goal of the game is extremely simple: to make our character the happiest resident of the village. The title, like most digital board games, is designed primarily to be played in multiplayer mode. Notable features of Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival include extremely colorful, 3D graphic designs and interactive board game that changes with each successive seasons, as was the case in previous full-fledged installments of the series.
Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star
Party
December 15, 2015
A narrative adventure game that uses the visual novel convention. It is a sequel to the Hatoful Boyfriend game released in 2011 in Japan, or more specifically to its remastered edition which was released few years later on the Western market. Developed in cooperation between the Mediatonic studios with the publisher, Devolver Digital, the game once again shows an undefined future in which the world was overrun by birds. The players return to the Saint Pigeonation academy where another romantic adventure, with both old and new characters, awaits them. In the typical Visual Novel manner, the game consists mostly of watching illustrations and reading consecutive chapters of the story, during which from time to time the player must make choices that will affect the fates of characters. Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star features colorful, cartoonish graphics typical for Japanese visual novels.