EGX 2014: Eurogamer.net editor's choice
Spin a Yharnam.
Farewell, sweet Earls Court, you've served us well. It's been a slightly bittersweet show this year - on the one hand there's been the awesome swirl of games and developer sessions, and on the other there's the fact we'll be saying goodbye to the home of EGX for the past four years this coming Sunday. Still, onwards.
It's been a full-blooded farewell, at least. Picking highlights is always a tough ask, this year more than ever. Elite: Dangerous has had perhaps the most stirring presence, commanding an awesome spot on the show floor complete with the dizzying Oculus Rift experience, while David Braben's developer session on Thursday showed the depth of passion there is for the series' long-overdue return, with fans clutching copies of the BBC original for Braben to lend his signature to. Seeing Frontier command such a following without the help of a publisher, fuelled almost entirely by goodwill from fans, has been a heartening indicator of the shift in the gaming landscape.
Not that the bigger names haven't showed up in force. Nintendo's stand has proven it's hardly going to have a quiet final quarter in 2014, Super Smash Bros. bringing the noise while Bayonetta 2 brings a little more poise with its combat. 2015's not looking too bad either, with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Splatoon - glorious, messy Splatoon - all representing.
Other highlights? Maybe I've got a little bias towards developers based in South East London, but OlliOlli 2 and Lumino City have been personal picks for me - Roll7's skater builds smartly on one of the more addictive games of 2014, and State of Play's brought along a little of that titular city for all to explore and poke at on its stand. Some of the bigger names have supplied pleasant surprises, too - Dying Light shows plenty of ambition with plenty more polish than has been witnessed on previous Techland games, and the novelty of Shadow of Mordor, tied in with some quality execution, has made it a favourite on the show floor.
But what of our own personal pick of EGX 2014? It's been a tough call - Elite Dangerous embodies all that's great and good about games right now, plus it's got more than a little of that stirring British spirit these walls were once so used to hosting with the Royal Tournament, and Splatoon's another reminder that when it comes to pure unbridled fun Nintendo's hard to top. Our ultimate pick, though, probably won't come as too much of a surprise, but its quality was hard to resist.
Eurogamer.net editor's choice: Bloodborne
Seeing as Bloodborne takes some of its inspiration from the dark, dirty streets of London, it's fitting that it's the star of this weekend's show. For all the bleakness, there's something charming about Bloodborne's city of Yharnam has a thread of wonderfully black humour; the voice actor's spot-on accents and gleefully mundane delivery, the top hats that litter the streets and, of course, the slapstick in seeing your character torn to shreds from a well concealed enemy. Bloodborne, like the Souls games before it, has a lightness of touch to complement the weight of its combat.
And what combat it is! There's a new pace to Bloodborne's encounters, faster, with more fury and, conversely, a more immediate sense of danger. It's a new wrinkle in From Software's design that's more than welcome, and proof that Bloodborne won't be content treading the same ground as its predecessors. If it carries on From Software's legacy - as the playable demo on the show floor at EGX suggests it will - it's hard to see there being any better game in 2015.