Best games of E3 2015 (pictures)

2015's E3 show is now in the history books, but it was a great year for new and promising titles. What follows are my picks for the best games of the show. Note, however, that I limited my choices to games that were either playable on the show floor, or showed actual gameplay in a demo -- games that only showed prerendered video trailers need not apply.

Quick-pitched as "Journey" under water, AZBU features hypnotic deep-sea exploration and a great sense of oneness with aquatic life and the ocean's ecosystem.

Easily the most buzzworthy indie game at E3 is Cuphead, with its gorgeous 1930s cartoon aesthetic. Beyond the visuals, Cuphead is a platformer with some serious difficulty and will be hitting the Xbox One and PC first in 2016.

From Software's epic adventure game is back and has created a much larger sense of scale. There are a number of new tweaks to the game's combat system, but Souls regulars will find themselves in familiar territory.

We really liked what we saw in Mankind Divided at E3 and game's dramatic story and remarkable setting really shine. There are many more gameplay options and skills this time around so the player's options for strategy have never been more varied.

Fallout 4's pre-E3 announcement hasn't slowed down momentum for this highly anticipated title. It's still one of the hottest games on the show floor, and -- best of all -- it'll be hitting the PC, PS4 and Xbox One this November.

We don't know much about Gears 4, but it seems that players will be taking on a new enemy as the game picks up after the events of Gears of War 3. Gears 4 will also be made by a new developer, The Coalition, and is targeted for the second half of 2016.

Ubisoft surprised us with a new Ghost Recon game, especially because of the game's drug trafficking and seedy background. Nevertheless Wildlands looks promising and we can't wait to get our hands on it.

One of the best received new franchises at E3 is Horizon: Zero Dawn, from Guerilla Games, makers of the Killzone series. Horizon tells the story of the world 1,000 years after the fall of humanity, where strange robotic creatures have evolved to take over and inhabit a mostly human-less planet.

Open-world sandbox action is back and has never been more over-the-top than it is in Just Cause 3.

Sony dropped a bombshell to start off the company's E3 2015 press conference and officially announced the game that's been otherwise suspiciously absent from E3 for years. The Last Guardian is real, and it's coming to the PS4 in 2016.

Mad Max's vehicular combat is really the star of the game set to hit September 1. A separate story from the film, players will scour the wasteland, upgrade their cars and weapons and do battle with some nasty enemies.

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst aims to reinvent the franchise and bring it to the level of potential its developer says it originally had shot for. It's coming to the PC, PS4 and Xbox One in February 2016.

The dust continues to clear on Rainbow Six Siege and we can't wait to get online to play close quarters strategic infiltration matches with one of the masters of the genre. Look for it by the end of 2015.

The follow-up to the reboot that reinvented the franchise, Rise of the Tomb Raider impressed us with an ice climbing demo that had audiences on the edge of their seats. Sorry, PlayStation fans -- this one is a "timed exclusive" for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 when it hits later this year (meaning you won't see it elsewhere for at least a year).

Star Wars Battlefront is attempting to bring the franchise's epic space battles and ground offensives to your console. Battlefront definitely captures the look and feel of "Star Wars" and we're excited to see what other game modes the final version will offer.

We can't wait to make our own Mario levels with Super Mario Maker. After some hands-on time with it, it feels like Nintendo has really mastered the creation process for designing and outlining anything and everything.

EA's indie darling is a physics based puzzler from developer Coldwood Interactive, where the protagonist must explore the world around him using the threading he's composed of.