TowerFall Ascension

It's not just the pixel-art graphics, but the entire feel of TowerFall that makes it addictive. In every moment, you must gauge how many arrows you have, where the last arrow landed, where enemies (or friends) will drop in and how many shots it will take to obliterate the nearest threat. It's a whole-brain game with minimal controls, and it's the most fun I've had with a bow and arrow since The Year Of The Bow – or even the 1980s.

It's incredibly hard to make a game as great as TowerFall Ascension is in its finest moments. But that's not what sets the game apart as the new gold standard in the local multiplayer renaissance — it's the fact that no matter how you play it, TowerFall Ascension is never not fun.

Arguments about lag are moot if you just don't often have four friends around to play it. I'm not even good enough to take real tactical advantage of the low latency—decaying synapses are my bottleneck. But I can still feel that crisp, tactile, instant response. It feels good. It feels right. When a game is this precisely considered, so exactly tuned in every part, then forget the convenient compromises of netcode—play it how it wants to be played.