Winner: Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woes and the Blight Below
Dragon Quest Heroes deserves a special nod for being so accessible to those who don't normally jump into its genre. Virtually all online discussions about this game, someone will pop in and note, "I don't normally like musou games, but I like this!" I include myself in this.
It blends musou (sometimes called "warriors") gameplay with action-RPG mechanics and Dragon Quest charm, and the result is a level of accessibility that others in its genre rarely attain. The gameplay flow, characters, world, enemies—from top to bottom, Dragon Quest Heroes does it right. It's a damn good game to begin with, and it deserves special attention for its ability to reach outside its genre's usual customer pool. If I could type out level-up music, I would. Imagine it here. Yay!
