Not gonna write any thoughts really, just post my list. Also, I know I am forgetting some games
GotY 2016
 | 1. Doom |
 | 2. Hitman |
 | 3. Oxenfree |
 | 4. Overwatch |
 | 5. The Witness |
 | 6. Watch Dogs 2 |
 | 7. Mafia III |
 | 8. Final Fantasy XV |
 | 9. Abzû |
 | 10. Inside |
Share your 2016 GOTY lists.
There were too many games this year, so here are some that I didn't get a chance to play: Uncharted 4, Hitman, XCOM 2, Watch Dogs 2, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Dishonored 2, Owlboy, Rhythm Heaven Megamix, Dark Souls III
With that out of the way, here is my list
2016's Yummy Games
| 1. Doom It's rare that a long awaited new entry in a storied series comes out and is as good as DOOM is. Not only does it live up to the DOOM name and understand exactly what made those games so beloved, but it manages to make changes that elevate the series and the FPS genre as a whole. Rip and Tear. |
 | 2. Titanfall 2 Titanfall 2 is probably the only competitive multiplayer game that I've played where I never feel frustrated or want to rage quit. No matter how bad I play or how many times I get crushed by an enemy titan I still want to jump back in. It's fast, beautiful and has an amazing sense of scale and place. Not to mention it has an excellent single-player story mode on top of the terrific multiplayer. |
 | 3. Kentucky Route Zero I just finished playing Act IV of Kentucky Route Zero a week ago. It hasn't really sunk in and I can't say I have an especially coherent reading of the game just yet. This is a game that isn't afraid to challenge its audience, it won't treat you like some doofus who needs the story or what is being implied spelled out. It's very reminiscent of David Lynch, depicting familiar American scenes with a sadness and darkness that's just about to explode from underneath the surface. Well written, with a stark but subtle visual style and terrific music and audio design-- it's been 3 years in the making but very much worth the wait. |
| 4. Overwatch It's not a surprise to see a Blizzard game in an end of the year top ten list, but it is a surprise to see that it's a competitive FPS. In between the amazing personality, diverse cast of characters and locations is a fun game that plays best with friends. I just wish there were more things to unlock besides dumb sprays and poses! |
 | 5. Enter the Gungeon I'm a sucker for rougelike shooters. This is a new one and it plays really well so it's here. |
| 6. Final Fantasy XV There's just something about this game that I can't put my finger on. The side missions are mostly awful and repetitive, the lock-on in combat is a joke, the camera can be a mess and the story is almost non-existent. But there's SOMETHING about it. The characters and how they interact with one another is just about the most endearing thing in any video game I've experienced this year. The world is absolutely beautiful and totally bizarre. Having Ignis drive while listening to any FF soundtrack is chill af experience of 2016. It has a bunch of problems, but I never want to leave these boys they're just too much fun and the world of Eos is too goddamn strange and beautiful. |
 | 7. Stardew Valley Speaking of chill af, Stardew Valley is the runner up for chill af game of 2016. I loved Harvest Moon back on the SNES and GBA days, and this was a joy to play as a fan of those games. However much like those old Harvest Moon games it just couldn't maintain my interest for the entirety of the game and eventually I just had to leave the farm behind. |
| 8. Mafia III While we've certainly seen games tackle race, Mafia III might be the first big budget game to do so in a way where race is at the forefront of the game. It's not perfect, and the game design is pretty mediocre as far as open world games go, but the story of Lincoln Clay is such a driving force. More than any other game in recent memory, I wanted to see this character get his revenge and brutalize the powers that be. On top of all of that, it's one of the few games that nails having multiple endings. While the game itself is just OK the story here is worth seeking out alone. |
 | 9. Hyper Light Drifter Absolutely beautiful. From the music, to the visuals, to the controls Hyper Light Drifter just oozes beauty. Its story is told without dialogue and without text, it just kind of sinks into you if you let it. While many people described this game as being brutally difficult, I never found it to be all that challenging. However frustration can sink in when you have to backtrack and endlessly search for where you need to go in order to progress the game. |
 | 10. Darkest Dungeon Unlike Hyper Light Drifter, Darkest Dungeon is just as hard as you may have heard. This game is brutal and unforgiving, and at times it seems like the game will actively turn the tables on you when you're doing well. Really my only problem with this game is how often it felt like there was rubber banding (NBA JAM style) occuring in the background whenever my crew was ripping through enemies. I love a good challenge, but not at the expense of fairness. But the unfairness never got me to stop playing for very long, before I knew it I was back in that crappy town diving ever deeper into those unforgiving dungeons. |
GOTY 2016
| 1. DoomThis is the DOOM your parents were afraid of in the 90s. DOOM (2016) feels like the DOOM 1 and 2 of yore. You play as a guy dubbed “The DoomBringer” that shoots demons in the face with a shotgun while never not moving. This game undoes the sin of making DOOM 3 a pretty alright survival horror game. It makes you forget that the modes that are not the campaign seem to be forgotten and unused. The only thing I could think while knee deep in demons with the most metal of soundtracks was how much fun I was having. The collectables are smartly placed in a way that doesn’t feel cheap. The guns all feel good. The demons are varied and need different approaches. There is a chainsaw. It is just in there and you can use it and it rules. The heavy metal electronic soundtrack sounds stereotypical in a way that screams the 90s while sounding obviously modern and it too rules. You should probably play DOOM. It rules. |
 | 2. Pocket Card JockeyI really like solitaire. I do. The games easily slides into the part of my brain that loves patterns. Pocket Card Jockey tests you with a more simplistic rule set to solitaire while pressing you to do it as fast as possible. All of these hands are done in the effort of making you horse race faster and have more energy than other horses. Your horse becomes better and faster as you develop the strategy aspect around a couple hands of solitaire and start winning races. You can breed your good horses and make better horses that race a little bit like each parent. If the mobile version had come out in the US, I probably would have never stopped playing this tiny gem. |
 | 3. SuperhotI don’t know if it is the super stark and simplistic style of Superhot or the novel and interesting mechanics that make it one of the best games I played this year. I would think that both contribute to punching a red “bad guy” in the face, grabbing the gun in mid-air, and shooting more bad guys in the face in slow motion. SuperHot’s combat puzzle is by far one of the best things you can spend time on this year. |
| 4. Titanfall 2Press this button to GO BACK IN TIME!? Titanfall 2 may be the best Gundam game I have ever played. Shooting missiles at in game villains while they spout their evil doctrine at you could not be more robot anime. The fact that you teach a robot how to love again while running on walls and shooting really fast guns easily makes this one of the best games of the year. The online multiplayer dynamic of people with guns and also giant robots adds mechanics that feel fresh even in a sequel. My only concern is the lack of people playing online. |
| 5. HitmanHitman is the “mathematically” best game of the year. Holy shit, did they add a lot to hitman. Did you see the levels of detail as you made out your mark across a busy market square teeming with people? Did you notice when Agent 47 looked a lot like a world famous model at the fashion show and you can just use that to your advantage? Or did you notice the marks in the Christmas level are literally the thieves from Home Alone? Hitman is a weird little stealth puzzle that continues to entertain each and every time you engage with it. The one-try-only missions in the game really test your patience and develop the best language to talk to your friends about how you totally screwed something up. |
 | 6. ThumperPlaying Thumper reminds me of when I used to try and break down the drum parts to Prog-Rock songs. Thumper may be best played on feel while ignoring the 7/8 time signature. Also, it is violent and best played loud. I am hoping to set aside more time at the beginning of 2017 to improve my leaderboard position and get into some of that new content. |
 | 7. Clash RoyaleI wish I hated Clash Royale more than I did. The game does so many things right that it can be very hard to forgive the game it’s faults. When you hit against the players that have spent some real money on the game, the simple mechanics change for the worse as someone has paid for more and better aces up their sleeve. The gap of the have versus the have-nots convinced me to uninstall this otherwise superb strategy game from my phone. |
 | 8. DuskersGive me a game where I can use the keyboard over the mouse any day of the week. It might be my daily work usage of putty consoles that makes the movement and command abilities in Duskers feel intuitive to me. The act of slow navigation with drones into dangerous and dark spaces is absolutely thrilling. My heart is consistently racing while I navigate my tiny drone, harry, through typing which door to open as well as harry’s command to gather everything he finds in the room that may or may not have a monster, all in one line of input. You know, just like work. |
 | 9. Uncharted 4: A Thief's EndUncharted 4 may be the second best Uncharted game. That idea alone makes it one of the single best games of the 2016. The very-well-already-wrapped-up story of Nathan Drake shines through in this last chapter so well, I very much forgot how upset I was that they were making another game. This was an excellent Uncharted game that will not change your mind on what an Uncharted game is. |
| 10. Final Fantasy XVPut these Anime boys in this car and drive them straight into my heart. The redesigned combat really brought this game to 2016. It is too bad that so many other parts, like the story, stealth, and hunting missions feel like they came out of a game from 10 years ago. |
Pile of Shame:
Overwatch - I think I would either love or absolutely hate overwatch. No clue which. Maybe next year I will find out.
Hitman- I really need to play more hitman and I am excited about what Season 2 will bring
Stellaris- No time for a massive space opera while I too busy even read about massive space operas.
The King of Fighters XIV - This is really on here because of how weird 2016 felt with fighting games. While the move to 3D didn’t help the art style one bit, the combat seems to continue its execution in excellence for the King of Fighters series. Now that a visual improvement patch is coming out in January, you best believe I hope to spend time breaking my hands on this game.
Hyper Light Drifter - I played a bit of this game before the new visual improvement patch was released. I can’t wait to come back to this apocalyptic sword-slashing hyper-future art style soon.
Tyranny- If it was not for Pillars of Eternity, I would probably already have 20 hours into this release. I just need more time.
Gears of War 4- I like Gears of War. I have a PC and can play it. I just didn’t. That’s too bad because I’m sure some friends and I could have a blast with hoard mode.
Thing I am Excited to Play More of:
Let It Die - What a Grasshopper Games start to this game. I have played the first couple of hours and made it a couple floors in and already, this game is right up my alley. As long as the free-to-play mechanics don’t get in the way, I really want to see more of the weird mushroom lady and skateboard-riding Grim Reaper in my Dark Souls-esque rogue-like.
Best Old Games:
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen- So, I think steam has something like 74 hours logged for Dragon’s Dogma while I think 30 to 40 of those are actually true. The combat of Dragon’s Dogma is smooooooth. Like liquidy smooth on pc. I had played a fair amount of this game for free when it was released on Playstation Plus and had a tough time with frame rate issues. In my mind, the art and scenery of this game had earned a deserved place at 60 frames a second. You were stabbing, and slashing, arching, and casting at a speed that 30 or less framed seemed inadequate for. I love that the day-night cycle affects gameplay in such an interesting way as well as how unique and weird the pawn system is. All of these systems make this very much feel like an import game of old.
Pillars of Eternity- The writing on Pillars continues to be some of the best in the business. The new expansion gave me a fantastic reason to jump in past hour 70-something to keep going and remember where in the story my Paladin was punching Dukes in the nose over land disputes.
The Pinball Arcade & Stern Pinball Arcade- Stern has some of the best tables in the business and Pinball Arcade continues to be the best way to experience them at home beside buying tables outright. They have now branched out and made some licensing deals with stern (one of the last manufacturing companies) to sweeten the pot when it comes to getting new tables like Ghostbusters. Pinball is great and this version feels great.
Diablo III- This is still good but I think 2017 will be a better year.
There was alot of good games this year here's my list in no order really.
1.New Retro Arcade Neon VR this was like going back to the 90's it kinda was mind blowing playing this in VR this was a good summer memory.
2. Mirrors Edge Catalyst I really liked this game maybe it wasn't as unique as the first game but I still love the atmosphere and the flow of the game also the soundtrack is great.
3. Doom Just fun made you feel like a badass and amazing soundtrack.
4. Watch Dogs 2 Open world done right fun hacking shit and causing chaos and alot of variety.
I can't think of anymore I play Deus ex Mankind divided and Mafia 3 both games I had much higher hopes for Mankind Divided wasn't bad but the formula is getting stale for me it just wasn't as fun as I hoped it would be. As for Mafia 3 it is my biggest disappointing game of this year the mission repetition is horrid it's ashamed to because it has such good characters and a decent story but I never ever remember playing any open world game with such bad and lazy mission structure.
GOTY 2016
| Story isn't the best, but the gameplay is amazing. A few camera issues, but nothing major.Wish the summons were animated better and looked better. Ramuh looked amazing, the others not so much, but hey... can't get everything. |
| Mick Gordon's music impacts the game in a way that gives it the edge of pushing it from a great game, to an outstandingly amazing game. This is how great an impact some seriously great music can have on the environment and feel of gameplay. |
| So good. Wish I had a VR. |
 | Underrated. |
| Loading Video... They did it right this time. Stupid, and fun. |
 | It was worth the wait (for those who waited). |
| |
| 8. Stardew Valley |
 | 9. Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel Way better than the travesty that was the launch version of Street Fighter V. |
 | Fuck this game. It looks bad and plays well. |
-
A few not-so-good games:
Street Fighter V - This game was not done. It still is not done. #KenFace
Overwatch - It is amazing how many people like this piece of shit game with its lackluster graphics and outright boring gameplay.
The worst game:
No Man's Sky - It has its innovative things. It also is a lie. Fuck the game, praise its innovations.
I did a write up on my own page featuring my Top 10 of the year. My Super Sweet List Of Games :D
But I understand people who want to save clicks on their mouse, so I'll just copy/pasta all that hotness here.
It's in reverse order for drama and suspense.
Shatteringlast's 2016 Game Of The Year Spectacular Extravaganza Bonanza!!
 | . Battleborn Yeah. I know. This game. Listen, I had a few friends with which enjoyed this game with me. Playing the campaign, unlocking skins, making that score go up, getting those loots... that was all real fun. Sure it came out at the WORST possible time, and it didn't really entice anyone at all, but I had plenty of fun with it. Sue me! |
 | . Battlerite They just had a free weekend tease with this game and it immediately clicked with me, mostly because of the minimal actual clicking needed. My biggest problem with the traditional MOBA is that you have to always be clicking your mouse. Fuck that noise. I want some goddamned direct control over my dude/lady. This game is like if your favorite MOBA got rid of all those pesky shops, towers, creeps, and jungle, and was all just team fights with short cooldowns. Hell yeah. You control your champ/hero/cool guy with WASD and aim with your mouse. That's all I need. I'm a simple man who enjoys WASD controls. |
 | . Paragon I haven't played this since the HUGE update they just put out a few days before this writing, so I can't really speak to the changes (which all seem really cool), but that doesn't mean I didn't have a blast pre-patch. Another MOBA where you have direct control with WASD controls. It feels a lot like a tighter Smite and about 20x as pretty. It is from Epic using UE4, so that's why it's so pretty. The card system took me a while to get used to, but after understanding its nuance, I kind of prefer it to the item shops of LoL and DOTA2. Fuck DOTA though. Ugh. |
 | . Gears of War 4 The first installment available on PC from the ground up. Boy oh boy does it look nice and play well. The campaign was pretty fun and just keeps on going which I like. It flows from chapter to chapter and act to act seamlessly which means I stayed up real late beating it. Lots of fun! The new Horde mode seems really cool, but there were matchmaking problems near release that kind of soured my time with it, along with the fact that there was always one or two players who'd drop out around the 7th wave which just made it a chore for everyone else. The class system is pretty neat, but I didn't dive too deep because of the shitty loot box system required to get anything worth a damn. This makes it sound like I didn't like it more than my previously listed games, but I do. It's just that there were a few things worth nitpicking. |
 | . Street Fighter V This game FEELS so GOOD. I love the V system they implemented. It adds extra individuality to the fighters. Ryu is my dude and has been my dude since 1992, and he just feels so good... but oh man that season pass bullshit can fuck right off. I want that Guile Stage. No I'm not paying you extra for it. Suck my ****!!! I haven't played in a few months, but during the time I was really playing, mostly before EVO, I was super deep into SFV. Here's to hoping they continue to work on the game and make Survival less bullshitty. |
| . Overwatch A game that will certainly be in most players top 5's, if not their outright GOTY. It is soo slick and has that patented Blizzard polish. Every character truly feels unique and does their job very well. Even Symmetra after her reworking is lethal now. The maps are great, the games are quick, but you know what can still fuck off? The loot boxes. GIVE ME MORE LOOT. AHHH. |
 | . Forza Horizon 3 Man this is a pretty game. Makes me want to go to Australia. At least the parts that are civilized and not the parts that always want to kill me. Some optimization problems for a while on PC, especially near the city, but other than that, a fantastic Horizon game. This is the first time I said to myself, "I'm gonna finish every event in this game." and meant it... then I found out that for every blip on that map, there's also a 3-4 race championship event. I think I'm gonna have to go back on that statement, but it's still a game I play, and I'll do a championship event here and there and I'm still having fun. |
 | . Tom Clancy's The Division When this game was unveiled at the E3 2013, my jaw dropped. I had that child-like vision for this game that it was going to be the best thing EVAR. Year passed and no news, then delays, and more delays, then finally an open beta around January 2016. That's what spelled doom (heh) for me. Instantly pre-ordered, took TWO days off from work to play it. I probably burned myself out pretty quickly because of that, but it was a SUUUPER pretty game, even on my Xbox One. It was winter when it came out in Albany, and it just felt right. The Dark Zone(DZ) is whatever. It was a pretty neat concept in the beta when people were still kind of figuring it out, but when it was released, and people started theorycrafting gear, that's when I lost all interest in going in the DZ, and that was unfortunate because this is all way before the 1.4 patch. The DZ was where you had to go if you wanted the best gear, but now you can get all kinds of good stuff even while roaming the world solo. 1.4 is to The Division as Reaper of Souls was to Diablo III. I had since sold my Xbox One, so I had to buy this on PC and boy am I glad I did. SO PRETTY. FUCK. Sorry. I've mentioned games being "pretty" a whole lot here, but what can I say. I love a pretty game. Grabbed the Season Pass for $20 on sale, and it's been worth it. Underground, the first DLC, is like Rifts in D3. Randomly generated dungeons with random enemies and loot, with difficulty modifiers to remove things like regenerating health or your minimap to spice things up, and to get better rewards. Survival, the most recent DLC, introduces a new mode where 24 other players are dropped in the main Manhattan map, but have to scavenge for consumables to keep you healthy. The gist of the mode is you're infected with a virus, and you have an hour to live. Medicine is randomly placed around the map to stave off the virus, so those are very sought after. Also it's in the middle of a blizzard, so you need to find or craft new clothing to keep warm. It's an amazing mode that has a crazy amount of replayability. Thankfully you can opt for either PvP or PvE so if you're a care bear like me you can tool around without fear of getting ganked. I'm happy the devs retooled their game so drastically. I'd say this game was pretty much dead around August and September, and they certainly breathed new life into this franchise. I'm excited to see where it goes from here. |
| . Titanfall 2 The first Titanfall was a fantastic game held back by a lack of customization and no campaign mode to speak of at all. Titanfall 2 doubles down on both of these holes of their first game to a very awesome degree. The campaign had one of the coolest moments in recent memory for me which I wont spoil for anyone, but if you've played this game, you KNOW. Customization is plentiful in this game as there are about 5 pages of camo that you can choose for your gun, your character, your Titan, your Titan's face, and your Titan's weapon. Very neat. The multiplayer, though, is my favorite of the year. the movement is fabulous, as Jeff Gerstmann explains in his review. The feel of the Titans going up against the puny, ant-sized Pilots and NPCs just makes you feel BADASS. Buy this game. On PC. Help the player count which is small-ish, but isn't at a critical point where I'm having trouble finding matches in Attrition or Bounty Hunt. |
| . Doom What else needs to be said? It's fucking DOOM. Starring the motherfucking DOOM Marine! Shoot those asshole demons! RIP AND TEAR The soundtrack has been covered extensively, and even got a live performance at the Game Awards. Fuck yes. The weapons all feel completely devastating, the glory kills are just beautiful to see, the goddamn CODEX is subtly hilarious... Game of my year by far. Oh and it has multiplayer too. Eh. |
Didn't have time to play Mafia 3 et XCOM 2 yet , so maybe they should have been on my list but I won't know before 2017.
GOTY 2016
 | 1. Dark Souls III Great as usual, next one please! |
 | 2. Persona 5 Beautiful game but unfortunately the story and its setting is much less interesting than 3 and 4. |
| 3. Final Fantasy XV Bigget surprise of 2016 for me, I expected to hate it and now it's one of my favourite game of 2016. Unfortunately the 4 main characters are terrible and I really don't care about them. |
| 4. Hyper Light Drifter Complete surprise, I had heard about it but didn't know what to really expect. It's such a great game. |
| 5. Doom Never liked Doom but I like this one, tastes change... |
| 6. Titanfall 2 Mechas! oh and also great campaign, great multiplayer! |
 | 7. Inside It's a beautiful, simple and short game. Almost perfect. |
 | 8. Dragon Quest Builders Minecraft with quests, boss fights and cute artworks, yes please! |
 | 9. ReCore I don't know what it is about this game, it buggy as hell and not even finished but the controls are so tight and the gameplay is good. When I finished it I still wanted more. |
 | 10. Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Fortune I enjoy this kind of game ^_^ |
I usually just keep mine to 5, but this has been one hell of a year.
Slaughts' Game of the Year 2016
 | 1. Sid Meier's Civilization VI I’ve told people over the years that if there’s a franchise I go fanboy crazy for, it’s Civilization. I’ve spent too many hours on the games over the years and I still enjoy them. However, that doesn’t mean I was fully expecting this new installment to wow me. Civilization: Beyond Earth was not as good as the older Civ games and the initial release of Civ games were notorious for leaving out major content from the prior title. Fortunately, Civilization VI is a great game from the ground up and is my 2016 Game of the Year. In some places there are just minor touch-ups between Civ V and Civ VI, but the district system is a major improvement to the base gameplay. You can specialize cities to a further degree with the district system and most importantly, it makes you think harder of where you want to place your cities. If you have a city close to mountains your Holy District and Campus districts get better. It also forces you to make hard choices because your cities are capped from having all the districts depending on population. It adds a major layer to the mid-game that I’ve been wanting in my Civ game. This district concept also applies to wonders. Before when you built a wonder, it’d somehow fit in your city and may show up on the map, but it was easy to wonder spam (very irritating if AI or other players did it). Now, each wonder takes a tile. You can see it on the board in full detail, but it also takes up a space you could use for an improvement or district. Again, it makes you think more about how you want to expand and what direction you want to take your empire. Basically these two systems make you care about your cities. Cities are a fundamental element with the game, a poorly planned city will screw over your progress while a well-planned city makes you stronger and gets you closer to a victory. The consequence of poor city planning was not felt as much in prior Civ games as it did in Civilization VI and that really satisfied me. I felt smart when I outsmarted my rivals on this front and got the critical resources at their expense. It wasn’t just the new mechanics that impressed me. I feel that those that missed the aesthetic presentation from Civilization IV will find it reborn in this game. The visual style is cartoony and the map itself evokes old maps from the European Age of Exploration. The character animations threw me off at first, but they grew on me. Even the music is very reminiscent of Civilization IV, even brining back composer Christopher Tin to compose the main theme. There are flaws in this game, but they’re very minor compared to the issues I had with vanilla Civ V or Beyond Earth. The diplomatic AI is erratic and it’s very hard to understand the mechanics behind it. There’s 2 of the victory conditions that seem broken, one is very easy to get with no effort and the other super hard. There’s also some lack of explanations of units and abilities that you can’t find in the Civilopedia. However, these issues can easily be fixed in a patch and not something that drags the game down for me. Overall, Civilization VI is what I wanted in a new Civ game. The new mechanics were a welcoming update to the standard Civilization formula and the design, both visual and audio, were amazing. To give you an idea how happy I was with this game, I went back to Civilization V to check if I’d rather play it than Civilization VI. This feeling was somewhat there from Civ IV to vanilla Civ V and definitely from Civ V to Civ: Beyond Earth. This time, I didn’t get that feeling. I want to keep playing Civ VI and I don’t want to stop for a long time. |
 | 2. Stellaris I’ve been playing space 4X games ever since I was a kid. Masters of Orion, Galactic Civilization, Endless Space, Alpha Centauri, etc., they’re all beloved in my gaming heart. When I heard Paradox Interactive was creating a space strategy game that mixed their grand strategy formula with the space 4X genre, I was onboard the hype train. Unlike some other games this year that I was hyped for (looking at you No Man’s Sky), this game justified it. Stellaris does something that older 4X games don’t do: they make you invested in your creations. Even though I could customize races before, I didn’t have the degree of empire customization as I did in this game. You have a myriad of race appearances, flags, titles, government types, ideologies, and names to create your own unique empire. These types of customizations play a significant part into the early game where you expand your territory, research new technologies, and meet other species. Random events will pop up and you may encounter some of the same ones throughout, but you have different options based on your ideology. It makes each playthrough unique and it made me want to experiment with different ideologies. The end game is also fun to play with. There will be existential threats that will affect the whole galaxy whether it be life-killing invaders (like the Reapers from Mass Effect) or a robot army that overruns other space empires. By this point I’ve got a lot of weird technologies that I can play with and use to combat these threats as well as the larger empires. With all of this, Stellaris should’ve been #1 and it was close several times. However, there is a major issue with it that sinks it down to #2. While the beginning and end are great, the mid game is tedious. More often than not I was stuck with little to do but wait for stuff to be researched, built, and finished. The events that were very prominent in the early game don’t happen as much in the mid-game and the mechanics of diplomacy and battles are not that nuanced to hold my interest as other Paradox Interactive titles do. If I have the timer set to max and waiting, that’s a big negative in my book. There’s also no unique victory conditions outside of pure conquest or owning 40% of the habitable planets in the galaxy. It’s usual to not have different victory conditions in Paradox grand strategy games, but their presence was missed in Stellaris. I wish there was a science victory or even a diplomatic victory if you’re playing a pacifist power. Still, I would be lying if I said I didn’t absolutely enjoy this game. I sank so many gameplay hours into it and I want to keep going back to it creating different species. Stellaris is a delicious mix of Paradox grand strategy with the space 4X legacy of Master of Orion and it has gone beyond that. I am amazed that I got invested in it the way I did. It was definitely worth full price and I cannot wait for the content Paradox will add to it. |
| 3. Hitman I’ll be honest, I had negative expectations of what this game was going to be before it released. When I saw how they were planning out the content and that it relied on online servers, there was a growing sense of dread bubbling within me. However, after seeing some gameplay videos of it, I decided to buy it on a whim and see it for myself. What I bought was one of the most entertaining stealth-action experiences I’ve played in years. The amount of ways you can take out your targets are just amazing. You can follow opportunities the game lays out for you and they can be very ridiculous (like dropping a metal moose over someone’s head during a TV interview), but you can formulate your own plan. For example I took out one of my targets by exposing a wire in a water puddle and lured my target to this puddle using coins. The way they parceled out the content monthly and sometimes bi-weekly with the elusive targets made me want to come back to the game constantly. They put in a lot of care to craft these levels that they make you want to play them again. When they put out a new elusive target (a target you only get one chance to take out and cannot play again), I get excited about what new challenge the developers are throwing at us. The praise is well deserved, but there are a few problems I have with Hitman. First, I feel that the sparse narrative they have threaded through the episodes is not as fleshed out as I’d like for it to be. More often than not I was confused by the cut scenes and only at the ending did it peak my interest. Second, the contract system is a mixed bag, some of the player built contracts are interesting but most of them are not engaging enough for me to not just put a bullet into the target and run off. However, there is one problem that still irks me. Because I bought the episodic content at a time instead of buying the full version, there’s extra missions I’m not allowed to play unless I buy that full version. While that’s not a problem for new players, it’s a problem to me because I essentially have all the episodes and I paid the equivalent of the full price game, but I’d have to pay $60 again just to get those missions. This is the one chink in the format IO Interactive is releasing their content. Despite those problems I still love the hell out of Hitman. It’s an enjoyable experience for both long-time Hitman players and new comers alike. |
| 4. Doom Every time I think about this game, I ask myself, “How the hell did id Software pull this off?” They had a lot going against them with this game. It was attempting to capture the feeling of the original two DOOM games, the original developers behind DOOM (except one) were gone from id Software, and it had a long troubled development cycle. Odds were that this would turn into another Duke Nukem Forever and be forgotten. Instead, the game ripped and teared through these obstacles and became one of my most favorite FPS campaigns in years. DOOM is a weird synthesis of the old and new in one complete package There’s still a lot of demon-killing action with different weapons and power-ups with a kick-ass soundtrack playing over it all. However I’m doing it through a well-designed environment and playing through a campaign that has the pacing of a modern shooter. The campaign’s story may seem simple and it is in part, but I think there’s clever stuff going on within it. The writers knew you just want to kill demons and cause as much mayhem as you can. One of the first computer screens you see in the game is “Demonic Invasion In Progress”, a subtle way to tell you that they’re not going to tease out what you're doing. You're there to kill demons and tear them apart. DOOM even has fun with its version of a “serious” story. For example, at one point you’re asked to shut down and remove three energy canisters. The facility director asks you to be careful with them. Instead of that, the Doom Marine decides to stomp on them deliberately over the annoyed protests of the director. There’s numerous moments like this that illustrate that even if the story is simple and stupid, the developers are doing it with a tongue in cheek attitude. While the single-player campaign is great, I would be negligent to ignore the other components of this game. The Snap-Map mode is an interesting way to design levels and the tool-set is fun to play with, but it doesn’t interest me enough to keep going back to this mode and play the maps other players have created. The multiplayer is sub-par at best and is the weakest part of DOOM. It offers standard PVP modes and allows armor customization like in Halo. However, it feels like an old Quake game in the worst tedious ways without interesting weapons. The levels are relatively small and the flow of the match isn’t as fast and furious like Quake. I only got 2-3 hours of enjoyment out of it before I was bored with it. The strength of the single-player campaign is enough for me to put it on my GOTY list. The guys at id Software managed to hit a home run with this campaign and made me want to keep going back to it. Unfortunately, other modules of that game keep it from being the top game for me. |
 | 5. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided This was one of my anticipated games of 2016. I’ve had a long history with the Deus Ex franchise, the original being my most favorite game ever. However, I came out of this game both satisfied and concerned, a paradoxical feeling that left me pondering for days. Mankind Divided is a flawed game in numerous ways, but there were enough good things in this game that kept a Deus Ex fan like me engaged. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided still has the mechanical foundation of Human Revolution with its augmentation system, the hacking mechanics, the stealth-action gameplay, and the choice of responses to various scenarios. However, the addition of experimental augs determined by a heat sink system made me think more about my character build. It also helps these were fun to play with. Combined with the weapon modifications, it made the action and stealth more fun to play. Outside of a couple wonky issues, I loved the mechanics of this game. However, the story of Mankind Divided is where the crux of my paradoxical feelings come from. I both like it and don’t like it. I do like the conspiratorial stuff around Task Force 29 (the place Adam Jensen works at) and it has a lot of call backs to the original Deus Ex. Unfortunately, the main plot about the augmented terrorists didn’t feel that consequential in the end and there were numerous open questions left around. In some ways the plot felt incomplete and that the rest would be covered in a sequel. I still like this game and will play it again sometime soon. It has major flaws, enough of them that that leave me some doubts about the next Deus Ex title, but they were not enough to keep me from investing long hours into it. |
Man, paring this down to ten games was tough, but these are my favorites among those I've played.
| 1. Titanfall 2 All the great multiplayer of the first game, and now with a campaign that mixes things up considerably and gets more crazy as it reaches its conclusion. Double jumping, wall running, and piloting a Titan all feel as good as ever. It's a fantastic package all-around. |
| 2. Doom The campaign is incredible. It's a fast, intense ride all the way through. The maps sprawl, secrets are hidden everywhere, and combat is fantastic. It keeps enough of the classic feel, yet updates itself in all the right ways. If the multiplayer were less like the other shooters out there and SnapMap more flexible, this would easily be #1. |
| 3. Hitman I like how Hitman gives a lot of freedom in its levels. I also like how it's suited to multiple play styles. If you just want to off your targets in multiple ways, you can use the opportunities and challenges to find your way there. If you want to explore the map and discover things on your own, you can disable many of the aids, like the minimap and instinct mode. Either way, observing targets, scoping the area, and setting things up for a clean hit is lots of fun. |
| 4. Forza Horizon 3 Getting to be in charge of a festival was the next logical step for this series. It comes with a lot of perks, like choosing where to set up the next festival site, blueprinting bucket list challenges and races, and even getting Groove Music integration so I can race to my own tunes. The main game is improved by marking progression through fans earned, and making fans gainable through means other than racing. Driving through Australia is constantly wonderful. The conclusion falls flat, I wish convoys and drivatar lineups were more important, and blueprints aren't as feature-packed as I hoped, but otherwise this game took me away. |
| 5. Superhot Superhot's central mechanic, moving time only when the player does, makes for some really awesome-looking scenes. Shooting some guys, throwing the gun at another guy, grabbing the gun he dropped out of the air, and shooting more guys with it is just one of the many cool things I did. |
 | 6. Ratchet & Clank Damn, this game looks great. It plays pretty well too. It's got some levels from the original, along with some new stuff that fits in pretty well. It controls as great as I remember, and the weapons, while not all new, are fun to use. If only in-game cutscenes were better. |
 | 7. Bravely Second: End Layer Bravely Second improves upon the original by adding features like fighting consecutive battles for better rewards, adding jobs with more interesting mechanics, making the villains more sympathetic, and making the endgame much less repetitive. While I eventually burnt out while playing the first one, I stuck with Bravely Second to the end. |
| 8. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End I dig how the plot is more grounded this time around, and properly puts an and to Drake's tale. The firefights and setpiece moments are as great as ever. I only wish there were more things I could do during stealth portions. |
| 9. Overwatch Overwatch is really fun when I'm with some friends. Coordinating a team, having everyone properly play their role, and pushing our way to victory feels great. What makes it even better is when one of our awesome moments is the Play of the Game, and everyone gets to see the awesome thing we did. I think that's the best part of Overwatch; it does its best to be accommodating, through PotG, upvoting match highlights, and even things like frequent voice clips from the other characters for things like when you're being shot from behind. |
 | 10. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is a fantastic update to the original. The combat's reworked to play more like Dragon's Crown and Muramasa, the progression is improved, the inventory is less cumbersome, and growing plants is less of a pain. However, the classic mode is still there with its old mechanics for those who want to play that way. It's great from start to finish. |
The 13 Games I played in 2016
This was another year where I feel like I didn't play much. Maybe it's because I watch so much Giant Bomb content that I feel like I get my fill and compare what I play to people who get paid to play and talk about as much as they can. I could still be reeling from my open world binge after playing Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Fallout 4, and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain so close together. Partially to blame is also how I've gravitated towards familiar time sink games like my top two selections this year.
 |  |
 |  |
|  |
|  |
 |  |
|  |
 | 7. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD  |
 |  |
|  |
|  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
I missed a bunch of games this year, due to low monies, so my list has a couple strange ones on it. Still, I enjoyed all of these games.
I also wrote far too much for each game, so I'm sorry for taking up so much space!
GOTY 2016
| 1. DoomDOOM is fucking incredible. It is the perfect return to a franchise that has laid dormant for years: staying true to the spirit of what made the original so great while smartly innovating the formula where it made sense to do so. Everything about it just feels so damn good. You move at a 90s-era breakneck pace, nimbly darting around combat arenas and skirting danger. Combat is tense and frenetic, forcing the player to balance the safety of range with the need to close in for melee Glory Kills that refill your health. Every level is superbly designed, giving you countless options to approach any combat scenario, and packed to the brim with secrets. Unlike the secrets in the original games, these secrets make you better at demon slaughtering, improving your weapons and abilities in satisfying new ways. The story manages to meld a ridiculous concept with a deathly serious tone and some clever dark humor in a way that is gleefully enjoyable despite being totally unessential. In total, this game has the best campaign in a shooter since Half-Life 2, without question. Despite the game’s forgettable multiplayer and merely vaguely interesting Snapmap modes, DOOM is without question my favorite overall game of the year. Pardon the pun, but it’s a hell of a ride. |
| 2. The WitnessThe Witness is the best-designed puzzle game I’ve ever played. Everything about it was expertly tuned over the course of its nearly eight-year development cycle in order to naturally teach the player how to solve its hundreds of puzzles. This process was my favorite part of the game, slowly piecing together the logic of the various symbols and mechanics just by solving puzzles and intuiting what the solutions told me. Over my roughly 20 hours with the game, I refined my “cheat list” until it was perfect: a cipher that gave me the information I needed to solve any puzzle in the game but only if I could wrap my brain around it. Despite the sometimes overwhelming challenge of certain areas, I always seemed to figure it out just when I was about to give up--another element of the game’s stellar design. Even the world itself--which is absolutely gorgeous, by the way--felt like a puzzle, for both obvious and hidden reasons. No other game this year made me use my brain like this. No other game kept me awake as I lay in bed, trying to solve the last puzzle that had left me stumped before finally slinking off for the night. No other game made me feel like such a genius. |
| 3. Stardew ValleyI’ve been in love with the Harvest Moon series for over a decade. Imagine my glee when I discovered Stardew Valley, an incredibly charming “clone” of Harvest Moon packed with creative new ideas AND on the PC, a platform bereft of this genre! Everything I love about these games is still here; even better, it all feels even more addicting than I remembered. The loop is so quick and enticing that I often found myself playing for several hours longer than I originally intended. There are countless things to do and secrets to discover. The artstyle clearly evokes the look and feel of the original Harvest Moon games while also adding a lot of its own personality, especially in the design of the characters. The soundtrack is also one of the best of the year, a peaceful and charming array of tracks that change to fit the various seasons. It even got a huge patch a few months back that added an insane amount of new content for absolutely no cost! All of this from a single developer who worked on it for years, a passion project honoring a game he loved that manages to surpass that game in every way. |
| 4. OverwatchI had thought I was done with multiplayer shooters, but Blizzard of all companies managed to pull me back in. Overwatch has the same lovingly crafted world and smartly accessible design that goes into all of their titles, but this one grabbed me in a way I wasn’t expecting. Mostly, I just adore the array of characters. Each of them has a striking visual design, a compelling set of abilities, and a unique personality. I’ve fallen in love with characters like Mei and D.Va solely through their mannerisms, despite these mannerisms only appearing in small chunks via voice lines and emotes. Getting to play as, and interact with, this cast is the main reason I keep playing. That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy the gameplay a great deal too. There aren’t any game modes or types of maps that you haven’t seen in other multiplayer shooters before, sure, but there’s a clever design to the flow of the game that makes it stand out. Stalemates and intense last-minute holdouts happen far more frequently than you might expect, keeping excitement high. The game also cleverly encourages teamwork via abilities that synergize well and varied team compositions. Furthermore, there’s a laid-back feel to the game that promotes experimentation and enjoyment while also packing a competitive edge (and gamemode) for those who want that. While I have put the game down for a few months recently, I still got enough fun out of it to place it highly on my list.. |
 | 5. Rise of the Tomb RaiderTomb Raider (2013) was a weird game for me. Despite really enjoying my initial playthrough, I find myself disliking the inconsistencies of Lara’s character/physical state and the Uncharted-esque setpieces where you barely feel like you’re playing. Rise of the Tomb Raider, on the other hand, only got better when I revisited it for the second time. Crystal Dynamics smartly improved on many of the previous game’s ideas and achieved something that feels much more like its own thing instead of an Uncharted clone. The plot is expertly paced and has some excellent character moments with Lara. The world feels more dense and fun to explore. Basic gunplay is much tighter, eliminating the weird looseness to aiming. There’s a greater focus on actually exploring ancient tombs, even allowing you to discover relics that give you noteworthy upgrades. Most importantly (to me at least), there are far fewer mindless setpieces that strip away your control. Finally, the game is absolutely gorgeous, especially on PC, and features some of the most lifelike animation I’ve ever seen in a main character. |
| 6. HitmanHitman: Absolution is maybe one of the most disappointing games I’ve ever played. It took everything fun and creative about the Hitman series and left it on the cutting room floor, instead opting for a more action-y style devoid of any charm. When the new Hitman was announced, I was obviously skeptical initially, especially amidst the confusion about the episodic structure it would follow. Somehow, Hitman managed to overcome all of these issues and turn out pretty damn well. The revamping of the control system allows for some ridiculous escapes/assassinations, and one of the maps from the first season is among the best in the series: an intricately designed setpiece with loads of ways to kill your targets. Sadly, I did still have some issues with it, namely very inconsistent performance on PC for months and the varying quality of the maps. I’m also not a big fan of the mastery system, as I feel it can easily make the game into a rote checklist of goals instead of the open sandbox it should be. Still, there is more than enough love and silliness here to keep me entertained. |
 | 7. AmplitudeAs an undying fan of all things rhythm-based, I can’t have a top 10 list without including a rhythm game. This year, it’s the remake/homage Amplitude. The gameplay is just as solid as it was on PS2, with the balancing act of playing multiple distinct tracks that make up the song still being incredibly hectic yet rewarding. Despite the sparse presentation and lack of modes, there’s a good number of tracks and plenty of difficulties to overcome. The main highlight of the game, however, is the absolutely incredible soundtrack. While there are “bonus” songs from a variety of artists like Freezepop and Danny Baranowsky, the clear winner here is the 15 songs that make up the “story” mode. These tracks form a concept album, each revolving around the theme of a patient who is in a coma and whose brain is being treated by this process. Each of these tracks is better than last, using a variety of electronic styles and actually including some thoughtfully relevant lyrics. I was blown away the first time I heard it, and it’s an absolute joy to hear again and again as I keep going back to the game. |
| 8. OxenfreeDialogue is the hardest thing to nail, regardless of medium. Keeping dialogue natural while still relaying important information and building character relationships is something few pieces of fiction manage to pull off. Video games are often particularly bad at this, with many conversations feeling entirely disconnected from the characters and the situation. Oxenfree manages to subvert this expectation, delivering a tightly plotted story filled with authentic dialogue and character. The discourse between the game’s teenaged characters carefully treads that line between cringeworthy realism and absurdities no actual teen would ever dare speak, only rarely faltering. There’s also a great flow to every conversation, with lines coming out of characters in a manner that always feels conversational. Tying it all together is a creative sci-fi story with unexpected repercussions for your every dialogue choice, making it very enticing to go back for a second round. |
| 9. Odin Sphere LeifthrasirThe original Odin Sphere was an impenetrable game for me. As someone coming to it years after its release, the outdated gameplay was just too much to handle. Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, on the other hand, is an easily approachable reworking that vastly improves on the original’s systems while retaining the charming core. Nearly every system was overhauled, but the true winner is the combat: what was originally an unresponsive novelty by today’s standards is now fast and flashy without sacrificing depth. There is a relentlessly engaging pace that remains enjoyable throughout its 30-40 hour length, thanks to constantly finding new gear, unlocking new abilities, and steadily leveling your character to keep up with the challenge. The five different characters also have entirely unique playstyles, which helps overcome some of the repetition in enemies and environments. I enjoyed the story a great deal as well, a sharply voice-acted epic with a ton of great emotional moments and an unexpected ending. |
| 10. FirewatchAt its core, Firewatch is a game about people. Campo Santo managed to create a pair of characters that feel remarkably believable solely through their conversations with one another. Since the game’s narrative unfolds over a course of a few months, there is a very real sense of a building relationship; as time passes, the two get to know each other and slowly become more open and comfortable with one another. The voice acting is a large part of this believability, as both Rich Sommer and Cissy Jones do a fantastic job delivering their lines, managing a human cadence that is often missing in games. When the strange and mysterious story picks up and things start going wrong, there is a clear sense of tension and fear in both performances. Even though the ending of this story doesn’t quite hit with the impact you’d think it should, the bittersweet final notes just feel more like real life. |
No idea why, but the order of my list is all screwed up....
Here's a link to a better formatted one: http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/dussck/lists/games-of-the-year-2016/356674/
Games of the year 2016
| 1. Doom9 - Keeping the soul of the original while making a new modern bad ass game is exactly what needed to be done and what they did at id Software. The best shooter I've played in a long long long time. |
| 6. Dark Souls III8 - Another fantastic game from From. It was leaning a bit towards younger brother Bloodborne in setting and gameplay. But not enough to my taste. BB is still king (BB King?) |
| 4. The Witness8 - I can see why it would take even a genius like Jon Blow several years to make a game like this. It's a nice looking island, but if you take a better look then you discover puzzle after puzzle. EVERYTHING IS A PUZZLE! |
| 9. Ratchet & Clank7 - Never played the original much, but this game plays great and looks fantastic! Really enjoyed my time with it. |
| 11. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End7 - Production value is shooting through the roof with this one. Everything impressed me with this game, except the gameplay parts. Which is a shame. |
| 10. Tom Clancy's The Division7 - Gameplay gets very repetitive, every encounter plays out the same. The setting just isn't crazy enough for a loot based shooter like this. Impressive rendered New York, though! |
| 3. Hyper Light Drifter8 - A little bit of Zelda, Diablo, Dark Souls and Fez. Cool visuals, plays great and awesome artstyle and soundtrack! Really good stuff! |
| 14. Firewatch6 - Story was OK, I wish the game was more of an adventure type, with maybe a little puzzle here and there. But it's just another 'interactive' story. |
 | 16. Furi5 - This just wasn't really up my alley. It's all boss fights and they were not that much fun either. Retrying 15 minute boss fights ain't much fun yo. |
| 5. Dishonored 28 - My hat goes off to the designers and all the other developers that made this game. I've spent the majority of game time in rooms just looking around. Art. Oh yea, it's a pretty damn good game as well! |
 | 7. Battlefield 17 - Excellent multiplayer shooter. It looks and feels like a modern war movie at times. How can they handle 64 player madness and still make it look this awesome? It's been years since I enjoyed a competitive multiplayer shooter. |
 | 8. F1 20167 - Now we're talking. A lot of good tweaks and added features this year makes it a more complete game. Thank you codemasters for adding the co-op championship option especially! |
 | 13. No Man's Sky6 - This game has so much potential, it's maddening that the gameplay is so shallow while the foundations of infinite planet creation are there. My hopes are that I will revisit this game next year and find it a much more rewarding experience then it is now. |
| 2. The Last Guardian9 - Even when fighting the controls, camera and bad framerate this game is a fantastic experience. Trico is the most believable character I've ever witnessed in a game. A piece of art. |
| 12. Inside7 - Interesting platform puzzler, the ending is fantastic. Art style is awesome too, but it's kind of a walk in the park as well and pretty short experience as a whole. |
| 15. Abzû6 - Was a big fan of Journey, but this game didn't do it for me. Quite beautiful at times, but the complete lack of gameplay made this game a snorefest none the less. |
Game Of The Year 2016
There are a few games I wish I had been able to play (Superhot, Hitman, Civ 6, Mafia 3), but other than that, I'm really happy with this list.
| 1. Titanfall 2 You're a robot inside a big robot shooting other big robots. It really doesn't get better than this. |
| 2. Doom Shooting demons with a sick soundtrack is really awesome, as it turns out. |
| 3. Overwatch Please play support for me. It's all I've done for days. |
| 4. Firewatch Is that you in the tower?!?! Yeah, it is, checking these rad books. |
| 5. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Sam Drake is a real dirtbag, but I'd hang out with him. Also, Crash Bandicoot sucks. |
| 6. Stardew Valley My mayonnaise production line is highly profitable. And my chicken is named Shutabo. |
| 7. Inside It's way better than Limbo. |
| 8. The Witness So many dang line puzzles. They never end. |
 | 9. Virginia I'm not sure what happened, but I like it nonetheless. |
| 10. Forza Horizon 3 You drive cool cars really fast and it looks good. It's not as good as the other two, but it's still really darn good. |
This has been one of the hardest years to narrow the list down to 10 games but I gave it my best shot!
GOTY 2016
| 1. Dark Souls III |
| 2. Titanfall 2 |
| 3. Overwatch |
| 4. Doom |
| 5. Final Fantasy XV |
 | 6. Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE |
| 7. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End |
| 8. Hitman |
 | 9. Rez Infinite |
 | 10. Attack on Titan |
Most of the items on my list have been listed by pretty much everyone already, so here are just the 2 games that haven't been mentioned yet (unless someone posts them between right now and when I finish typing this out).
Shenzhen I/O: Have you played a Zachtronics Industries game? This is one of those. It's kind of like TIS-100 with a hint of Ruckingenur II.
Particle Fleet: Emergence: In all honesty, it's potentially weaker than any of the core Creeper World games, but I'm always down for more CW.
BONUS AWARD
Best Pokemon: Alolan Sandshrew. For the first time, ground-type Sandshrew gets unseated as Best Pokemon. The Alolan version has all the benefits of OG SS, plus it's a way more awesome type (Ice/Steel as opposed to pure Ground), PLUS it has ice block armor instead of scales/plates which provides 3 adorable benefits by itself:
- It looks like it's wearing a tiny puffy parka :3
- It also looks like a little baby igloo :3
- According to the Pokedex, the ice blocks are too bulky for it to roll up into a compact ball like the ground-type Sandshrew, so instead it lies down flat on the ice and slides around on its tummy!!!!! X3 X3 X3
ZZ's 10 Best Games Of 2016
| 10. Stardew Valley Wow, what a game. As a child, my grandparents, whom were chicken farmers from Mexico, always told me that farming sucks. And they were absolutely right. Fuck farming. This game however, on top of its superb social interaction and life simulation, made farming a whole lot more fun. |
| 9. Hitman I hate stealth games, but this game made me feel like a badass. Rather than feeling bored, frustrated or confused, I felt like the world's coolest predator stalking its prey. Not like a 45 year old stalking a middle-schooler, as that last sentence sounded, but like a goddamn Hitman- Hey, the should call the game that! |
 | 8. Burnout Paradise This game came to Xbox One back-compat this year, so fuck you it's on the list. |
| 7. Hyper Light Drifter I have no words - much like this game - to describe how good Hyper Light truly is. Just look at the art, and tell me it's not a good game for that reason alone. You can't. |
 | 6. Pokémon Sun/Moon What am I to say that hasn't said a million times already since 1997, Pokemon is damn good. Sun & Moon feel new, unlike X/Y or B/W, and that's great. New forms of classic monsters, great training, and a beautiful world, you can't miss this game. |
| 5. Overwatch I didn't play this game but people would hurt me if I didn't put it here. |
| 4. Battlefield 1 Last time I played a game for 12 hours in one day, my dad took my Xbox. I am an adult who lives 6 hours away from him, so it was pretty fucked up of him to do that, especially in the middle of one of Battlefield 1's epic conquest matches. |
| 3. Firewatch It is rare that a game makes me feel something real. As cliche as it is to say, this game touched me. I didn't want to stop playing, I wanted to keep going, keep talking to the voice on the other end of the radio. I wanted to keep on being in this game. It is one of the most amazing, breathtaking games I have ever played, both visually, and narratively. (Yes, I know that isn't a word. Just let me have this one). |
 | 2. Devil Daggers Just one more try, just one more try, just one more try... |
| 1. Doom Not since Doom itself, the 90's classic, has an FPS been this much fun. Id has still got it, and they have outdone themselves. Doom is the best game I have played not only this year, but since Pro Skater 4. |
 | 11. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable Best Game of Not 2016 I barely knew persona was even a thing until this year, so when I picked this game up, I was not expecting to be addicted. I have studied more in this game than I did in my entire high school career. If you got a PSP (or, uh, a 100% legit way of playing PSP games), you have to pick this game up. Don't be like me and be years and years late to the party. |
Boom.
Best of 2016
| 1. Titanfall 2 |
| 2. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided |
| 3. Final Fantasy XV |
 | 4. Salt and Sanctuary |
| 5. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir |
| 6. Dark Souls III |
| 7. Gears of War 4 |
| 8. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End |
 | 9. Let It Die |
| 10. Doom |
It was an alright year but looking back 2015 blew it away.
2017 looks promising though. Need that Platinum fix.
Log in to comment