4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Coming off the back of Oblivion, Bethesda were flying very high indeed. It was essentially thought of as a 360 launch title despite coming out some months after the console initially dropped - but such was its at-the-time jaw-dropping graphics and overall approach to RPG gameplay that it was very much a "the next generation has arrived" kinda moment. Oblivion definitely wasn't without its bugs, and combat-wise especially there was a lot of work that needed to be done before you could call it anything close to satisfying. Luckily then, when we started getting eyes on Skyrim, its slow-motion kill-cams and "See that mountain, you can go there" gasp-inducing world size, the hype machine was firmly kicked back into gear. In 2012 it'd been a solid six years since the last game, but as soon as we started moulding our character, got stuck right into the middle of that dragon-siege opening and then ventured off to see the Greybeards and beyond, everything about Skyrim was the more polished and epic-feeling experience everyone had been craving for too long.