You’d think August would be a slow month for video games as we march inexorably towards the busy fall season. But in 2015, this was not the case. There was more than enough to tide us over until the highly-anticipated launch of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain on the first day of September. Whether it was action you were looking for, something a little more mellow and retrospective, or an adventure packed with jump scares and gore, the end of summer had something for nearly everyone.

August, you could say, was the month of choice for some of the more sought-after indie games. The month kicked off with Galak-Z, an anime-inspired shooter from developer 17-bit that captured our hearts and inspired us to best our own runs over and over again. Thomas Was Alone creator Mike Bithell launched his next game, Volume. Volume hit the sweet spot for those of us craving something stealth-based; a story reminiscent of Robin Hood guided us through Bithell’s Metal Gear-inspired world, which seemed to take the best of Kojima’s tactical espionage adventures and distilled them into bite-sized puzzles. And mid-month, developer The Chinese Room launched its PlayStation 4 exclusive Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, a heartbreaking tale about love, loss, and the end of the world.

This month also saw the return of an old classic with new polish. Gears of War Ultimate Edition brought us back to where it all started, helping us relive our nostalgia with a fresh coat of paint. While the remastered edition wasn’t quite the same masterpiece as the original, we still found much to love. Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn–another PS4 exclusive–topped off the month, delivering us a brilliant survival horror game wrapped in slasher flick tropes.

When thinking back on August, it’s Until Dawn that we remember we think on most fondly. We here at GameSpot were captivated by it, dedicating ourselves to an overnight stream of the game and a horrifically entertaining death compilation. The game almost has no right being as good as it is; it surprised us, delighted us, and in the end we decided that there’s now way we can’t not applaud this engaging little gem.