We made it somehow, it's 2018. 2017 was sure a ride was it? Let us see what I thought of 2016 shall we...

Looks over his 2016 GOTY post.

"2016, what can I say? It's certainly been a year! Thanks for quickening our slide into our dark dystopian future. Truly it feels we now live in the darkest of timelines. Maybe 2017 will prove that wrong? Things can always get worse!"

Oh sweet summer child... you had no idea. We are living some Black Mirror shit. HOWEVER! This is not the forum for me to speak my political mind obviously but I will simply say this; Keep fighting. That being said you might have heard this by now, but some MIGHT say NOW is the best time to play video games. Heavens know we need the distractions...

2017's Best Game of 2014! - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.

You might have heard me say this before... the winner of my 2014 Game of the Year is still a winner in my book! This year saw "Journey to Un'Goro" in April, "Knights of the Frozen Throne" in August and most recently "Kobolds & Catacombs" in December. "Journey to Un'Goro" gave us the popular "Evolve" mechanic on cards, which adds a lot of customization and strategy to your choice mid game. "Knights of the Frozen Throne" gave us a pretty cool adventure mode with Icecrown Citadel with what was my personal last raid in WoW. It also introduced the love it or hate it Death Knight Hero cards, which turn our heroes into Death Knight versions of themselves. Personally I am a fan, but I know that not is a universal take. Lastly "Kobolds & Catacombs" gave us a new Dungeons and Dragons inspired take on things. Introducing a new single player mode, the "Dungeon Run" which pits you against a eight boss gauntlet of ever increasing difficulty, each win expanding your deck. It's super fun, and best of all TOTALLY free. It's something Heathstone desperately needed so Blizzard really deserves some kudos on that one. Not everything is rosy however in Hearthstone. Blizzard has still yet to address how new players get into the game, with 4 years of expansions out there getting into Hearthstone is becoming an every increasing hurdle. Maybe add rewards to the Dungeon Run mode? Just saying...

2017's Games I should have played but didn't.

2017 was a hell of a year for games... and I definitely didn't get to everything I want to this year. Here are the games I still want to play:

• Nioh (PC)
• Torment: Tides of Numenera (PC)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
• What Remains of Edith Finch (PC)
• Tekken 7 (PS4/PC)
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End) (PS4)
• XCOM 2: War of the Chosen (PC)
• Yakuza Kiwami (PS4)
• SteamWorld Dig 2 (PC/Switch)
• The Evil Within 2 (PS4/XBONE/PC)
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (and Wolfenstein II: New Order) (PS4/XBONE/PC)

2017's Top Ten Games of the Year:

10) Injustice 2 (PS4) - Let me preface this, I am not much of a fan of the fighting systems of NetherRealm Studio games. If I was this game would probably be higher on my list. That being said is EASILY the best fighting game to come out in years. This game is a complete package. First rate graphics are a highlight and easily some of the best facial animations in the industry makes this game a real standout visually. Music, sound design and fantastic voice acting only add to the experience. This all services both the fighting action but also one of the best story campaigns NRS has put out yet.

The story continues picking up the pieces after the events of Injustice 1. The continued characterizations and takes on the DC characters in the Injustice story line makes it truly fascinating. A highlight to me is Harley Quinn and the way they transform her from Joker's psychological victim to an empowered hero. Brainiac was a smart choice in villain here, an outsider that forces a change in the status quo shaking up allegiances.

Also a truly interesting loot system, that greatly changes how your characters look and also unlocks new move options adds a lot of reason to engage with both the single player and multiplayer modes. Single player modes bring back the MK Tower Battles, but also a new Multiverse Mode that is like a mini campaign mode with progression the resets weekly. This feels a lot like the Killer Instinct Shadow Lords mode, which is a good thing as it was inventive. I want to see more fighting games use this system. Multiplayer wise you get the standard Rank Play, Casual and also King of the Hill modes that NRS usually has in their games. Tons to do, and tons of fun.

9) Super Robot Wars V (PS4) - The newest in a the long line of Super Robot Wars game from Japan is the first in the mainline series to come out in with English subtitles. I've been playing this series since Super Robots Wars 4 F on the Saturn, so actually 100% understanding the plot and interactions of the characters is amazing to me. This title bring forth a new engine that highlights the higher graphical prowess of the PS4, making it the best looking SRW game to date.

Some strong new series were brought to the table, Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash, Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Skull Heart and Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Steel Seven bring some depth to the UC Gundam series standbys. The Brave Express Might Gaine gave the game some of that Yuusha spirit missing without GaoGaiGar around. Somehow SRW V even makes Cross Ange: Rondo of Angel and Dragon decent, much like how it usually redeems Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny and make it interesting. The standout by far was Space Battleship Yamato 2199, to say I might have been skeptical on how a series with no robots in it was going to work but it truly did. I mean, just take a look at this!

8) Yakuza 0 (PS4) - This might have been higher on my list if I actually finished it, but I am only about 2/3rds of that way through. That said Yakuza 0 is great. The origin story of the stoic faced Kazuma Kiryu, Yakuza 0 takes us back to the late 1980's, well 1980's Japan anyways. Kiryu's story takes on adventure through the seedy, and sometimes comical underbelly of neon drenched Kamurocho, Tokyo. The main story tells of serious Yakuza dealings, full of back tattoos, lobbed off pinky fingers and real estate deals gone awry and weaves it with the insanity of the crazy characters that call Kamurocho. All of this is helped by how Kiryu will take ANYTHING in stride, never much more the shrugging at whatever is thrown his way.

You could, in a lot of ways call the other story protagonist Goro Majima the complete opposite, boisterous and incredulous of the situations he is throw into. Where Kiryu was relatively new to the Yakuza life, Majima was deep in it before he was released back to it as a civilian. His story takes us to Sōtenbori, Osaka another neon soaked district. Still full of Yakuza trappings, this time we have Cabernet Clubs instead of real estate deals, and trust me it's just as cut throat.

The game flip flops protagonists as you proceed through the game, keeping things interesting as you are always learning new moves and systems. The Real Estate and Cabernet Club management systems, in particular, are quite fun. Also the interesting cast of side characters and their frankly ridiculous requests never fail to entertain. As I haven't finished the game yet I am as yet unsure how these story lines will meet up, but I can see the hints of it forming.

Who knows, it could end in a epic Karaoke battle for all I know...

7) Cuphead (PC) - As someone who loves 2D games, Cuphead speaks to my soul. It is an INCREDIBLE feat of game animation. I mean, before I go on, just look at this:

I mean, it's amazing. I could just sit here looking up more synonyms to express to you the extraordinary achievement of the animation in this game but I digress. The soundtrack to Cuphead is also fantastic, full of Ragtime and Jazz tracks that fit the motif of the game, and I'll probably be buying it soon. Add to all this tight control and handling and it's a great package.

That said the difficulty of this game is pretty high. I'm only though to the second world in Cuphead and I am already struggling. Given enough time I am sure I could beat it but it's a big ask, especially in a year with so many great games. Also to nitpick; the Run and Gun levels just aren't fun and I really wish there was better hit reaction on the bosses in the games sometimes it's hard to tell where you are doing damage.

There is also a bit on contention for how this title uses this art style and does nothing to address the origins of it. The game isn't racist in itself but heavily draws from a racist background that is hard to overlook in some ways. This article by Yussef Cole point how how just white washing away the past isn't the for the best, and Cuphead in some ways is guilty of that. I don't think this should take away from the achievement of the game but one should certainly keep that in mind when judging it's worth.

6) Destiny 2 (PC) - I bounced off the original Destiny pretty hard, I never even got through the campaign something about it just didn't grab me. That makes me fairly shocked I enjoyed Destiny 2 as much as I did. Honestly I'm not even sure WHY I like Destiny 2 so much. Perhaps it's the shooting which just feels great. Or maybe it's the world design that is beautifully realized. Or maybe it's the story, full in inscrutable story lines and terms like "paracasuality". Or maybe it's simply because EVERYTHING in game works well, that it's just like a warm gaming blanket.

I enjoyed the campaign in all it's silly Fantasy/Scifi shenanigans, the highlight being the assault of the "Almighty" star destroying weapon in near orbit of the Sun, and then you walking OUTSIDE with the surface if the Sun just filling the whole screen. Also a highlight to me is the Leviathan Raid, which is quite a bit of fun. The new Curse of Osiris expansion added a lot of much needed content to the game, a new short campaign and a new Raid lair which I have yet to do, but have watched my clan complete and is quite good.

That said the game is not without flaws. Loot is pretty boring, but the newly introduced Masterwork Weapons addresses that some. Once you finish the story and post story content, there really is only about 2-3 hours of stuff to do a week in the game, and that stuff is the same every week. Eververse the real money store is not great either, hiding most of the cool looking things in the game in loot boxes.

That said, when I'm bored I find myself firing up Destiny 2 for some reason, perhaps some days I'll finally figure out what it is.

5) Pyre (PC) - Supergiant Games as yet to make a bad game. As beloved as Bastion is, I dare say this is their best game. The story is essentially about criminals playing basketball to get out of prison, but in reality it is about so much more. The game start with you, nameless protagonist, being exiled from your home in the Commonwealth and cast to The Downside, basically purgatory. You are quickly found by some fellow exiles and picked up for you have the ability to read, something incredible rare in the world. This sets you on your path of forming a team to perform the Rites of Liberation, the aforementioned fantasy basketball, to see who will be absolved of their crimes and returned to the Commonwealth.

The world of Pyre is incredible deep and realized, the more you learn of the world the more you want to know. The characters are also deeply realized, and not just the ones on your team, but opponents also. Everyone has their motivations, some more noble then others, even your own. Sometimes the "right" thing to do is to let the other team prevail over you, but in that you sacrifice your own futures. Sacrifice, you will learn is a major theme in Pyre.

Another of the big themes of this game is failure, and how to come to terms and move forward through it. You can lose Rites to the opposing teams, and the game just keeps moving on working that into the story. Failure is a chance to become stronger, to reflect on your path and perhaps see a better way forward. It's a strong message. I urge people playing not to save scum, but to accept the outcome of your choices and see it through to the end.

Also the ending song to Pyre is AMAZING, just saying.

4) Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) - Nintendo has scarcely made bad Mario game. This is a great Mario game. In fact, this is probably the BEST 3D Mario game to date. Odyssey is nothing but a joy to play.

Odyssey starts off as any Mario game. Bowser kidnaps Peach, and Mario needs to stop him from his nefarious plan of forcibly marrying Peach. Mario is joined this time by Cappy, a Ghost Hat that allows Mario to possess enemy and items in the world. Mario chases Bowser from Kingdom to Kingdom using the Odyssey, a flying hat ship while occasionally being impeded by Bowser's evil wedding planners, the Broodals.

Besides the questionable moral implications of Mario forcible entering creatures bodies against their will this is tons of fun! Want to become a Goomba, sure! How about a Cheep Cheep? Now enjoy not drowning! Hammer Bros? Hell ya toss hammers for days. The Kingdoms of Odyssey are incredibly varied ranging from Cap Kingdom, full of Ghost Hats like Cappy to New Donk City where Major Pauline of Donkey Kong fame runs things. Each of these Kingdoms have enemies new and old to deal with, new outfits to buy, and moons to collect. So many moons.

o/~ Put a smile on that face / There's no time to waste / Oh, let's do the odyssey! o/~

3) Persona 5 (PS4) - I consider Persona 4 one of the all time best JRPGs ever made so Persona 5 had a to prove. Did it, not quite but don't get me wrong Persona 5 is still a fantastic game. We start with our cast of highly stylish gentlemen thieves mid-heist stealing a case from what appears to be a casino. Shortly the heist goes sideways and our protagonist, Joker, gets capture and we are tossed into a holding cell where we are being brutally interrogated. Soon a prosecutor comes to interrogate you, who seems to know you and then asks you this "How is it even possible to steal an other's heart?" We soon flashback about six months, arriving to Tokyo from your hometown to live with a family friend, much like P4, you are an outsider to everything and we begin from there.

Like all Persona games, the game is on the surface is about some over arching supernatural event, but truly it's about the bonds you form with your friends and acquaintances, in this case keeping with the theme of the heists, confidants. The cast of P5 is pretty great, not quite reaching the lofty heights of P4 greatest characters but overall stronger I think then the whole of P4. There are some great story lines with the confidants, the standout to me being Tae Takemi, a doctor who runs the local medical clinic looking for redemption from a past failure. Another standout is your new guardian, Sojiro Sakura, who's initial gruff attitude comes off pretty harsh but he really comes around by the end of your time with him. Overall your confidants as a whole are engaging and interesting.

This is a Persona game, and I'd be remiss not discuss one the the series standout points, it's Style. This game just OOZES style, from the character, the menu's, the enemy design, everything. It just looks so cool. But my far the coolest thing in P5 is it's music. This game as some FANTASTIC tracks, from the opening song:

To the jazzy song that is the theme of your after school time:

To the best boss fight theme's in the game:

Now I am not going to say everything is great about Persona 5. The game has some pacing issues, especially in the last quarter of the game. The last two dungeons, known as Palaces in P5, aren't very good. Also the "twist" in the game really takes a lot of faith to believe and is pretty complicated and not very well explained. That said those as a whole it's incredible enjoyable.

I'm looking forward to Persona 5: The Animation that is due to some out Spring 2018 and reliving the adventure!

2) Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4) - Typically I'm not a huge game of Open World games as I find their generally directionless nature not very compelling. However the world of Horizon: Zero Dawn grabbed and enthralled me to the point where I got a Platinum trophy, something I almost never do. From the very beginning of the game, meeting young Alloy with her Guardian Rost, learn to hunt the strange robotic animals of the world I was fascinated. It quickly becomes obvious this is the future of our world, so what happened!? How did humanity fall to a hunter gather culture? What are these robot animals? Who is Alloy, and why of all people, is she somehow special.

Horizon might be one of the best looking games ever made. The world is just simply stunning and how Guerrilla Games got that quality out of the PlayStation 4 is incredible. Also to be praised is the robot design. The amount of detail in each is stunning, from the lowly Watcher to the huge towering Longneck. Each has a detailed musculature and a logical design for there function that is linked into the resource gathering mechanics of the game. Bayformers these are not... @brad!

Not to take a back seat to the robots, but the humans look great too! Alloy animates incredible well, and the performance by Ashly Burch really brings her to life.

Gameplay wise the game controls great, and the combat options you gain over time really let you tackle things from a lot of different angles. Want to just go in hot you can jump around and shot exploding arrows at the enemy, you can do that. Maybe you want to be more tactical, you can set up traps with your Tripcaster and Lure the enemy into them. You can even try the stealth approach and sneak up do a silent take down. There are tons of options on how to approach a combat situation. Also as you play the game, you will learn each enemies weaknesses and the ideal methods to bring them down. Here is a ProTip for you: Use the Ropecaster to tie down flying enemies!

Probably the best part of the game however is the story. Learning about the world, what happened and how Alloy personal journey ties into all of this is incredible fascinating. I think this is truly one of the better Science Fiction stories told in a video game. The ending is incredible satisfying and really ties up everything well.

That said there is a bit of an issue with the content of the game with cultural appropriation of Native Americans that shouldn't be overlooked. Video Game writer Dia Lacina pointed this out in a medium essay she posted. Guerrilla Games did respond with comment saying they took efforts not to offend any groups, but the lack of consult with the cultures they cribbed their designs from shouldn't be overlooked. Perhaps in the sequel they will reach out and hopefully be more careful in their designs.

1) NieR: Automata (PS4) - Yoko Taro has always made interesting games, flawed but interesting games. By bringing in Platinum Games to work on the game play aspect of the title, Square Enix and Yoko Taro have created a near masterpiece. NieR: Automata is an indirect sequel to NieR, which in turn is based on an Ending E of Drakenguard III. Confused yet, well don't worry you don't need to know all the backstory to appreciate the game.

NieR: Automata tells the story of two androids of YoRHa; 2B and 9S in their war to save the Earth from the alien created Machines Life-forms that have invaded and driven the last of humanity to the Moon. As you play the game you encounter the Machines you begin to learn not everything is how you understand it to be. Without going into further story details NieR: Automata deals with a lot of philosophical themes, what is death, what if being alive, do you have a soul and many others. The revelations shown to you are you progress through the game will make you look at events in the game in totally different perspective, in a way no other video game has really done. One in particular, the culmination of Pascal's story line made me stop playing and just sit there digesting what occurred.

Gameplay in NieR is serviceable, the highlight of which is the Plug-In Chip system, which allow you to totally customize your character in various, and interesting ways. Much in the same way the graphics are also serviceable, with the character designs being a real standout. Ultimately one of the best parts of the game is the music, which is used in great effect in the game.

One as such is Pascal's theme:

Or this one, the theme of the Opera Boss:

I could go on but the soundtrack is fantastic.

There probably hasn't been a game I have thought about more then NieR: Automata in years that is how much of a mark the game left upon me. Yoko Taro has a fan for life in me.

Honorable Mentions:

• Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 - More great GGXrd, also if resolves the story! We know who That Man is now!
• Sonic Mania - It's a GOOD Sonic game, in 2017!
• Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle - Rabbid Peach is the best, take all the selfies!
• Windjammers - No thanks for Dave Lang we got a legit, online playable Windjammers game!
• Hand of Fate 2 - More of the same, but when it's good who's complaining!
• Doki Doki Literature Club - Just Monika.
• And you, if you got this far in this post! Thanks for reading!

Hello all to my new monthly blog that reviews my last month in gaming. I decided when I was writing my GOTY list for 2016 I really should write down my thoughts on what I am currently playing and what I am looking forward to. So here we go!

Currently playing:

- Let It Die : I'm still grinding away in the Tower of Barbs, I've beaten the first two bosses and am currently making my way up to Floor 30. Floor 1-10 was honestly pretty easy once you got the hang of the games mechanics. Floors 11-20 were a bit rougher but manageable. Floors 21-30 aren't that bad either HOWEVER, once I unlocked 4 star characters it put level 100ish haters into my game and I just keep getting destroyed by them. I've gone through a lot of Death Metals due to stupid deaths by Haters one-shot'ing me with maxed out Third Tier weapons. It's really drained some of the enjoyment of the game for me. I'll probably keep at it however.

- SD Gundam G Generation Genesis : I am loving how these games are now getting English translations for the Asian markets. I can now play these games and understand 99% of everything going on instead of like 20% of what is going on. Also it's all UC timeline so for an old school Gundam fan like me this is really great stuff.

- Nioh: Last Chance Demo : Played through the demo, quite enjoyed it. I am curious to see how the game reviews.

- Final Fantasy 15 : I haven't played this much this month. I'm still in Chapter 3, so I got a long way to go. I liked what I played however.

- Sunless Seas : Yah I know this is pretty old, but the Sunless Sky Kickstarter just launched so I went back to the UnterZee and puttered around some. I still think this is a real underrated game but I can see how it's not for everyone.

- Overwatch : Zenyatta is still by awesome healing death robot buddy. Now with a 1000% sexier skin!

- Hearthstone : Yup...

Looking forward to:

- Super Robot Wars V : Super Robot Wars? In English? On the PS4? Very much yes please.

- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard : I have PSVR, so I really should get around to playing this. I really have little excuse to not, other then crapping my pants in fear.

- Yakuza 0 : I will probably play this some this weekend. I want to be ahead of Alex and Dan's play through if possible.

- Nioh: See above.

- Horizon: Zero Dawn : I have high hopes this is cool. I will wait for reviews.

Parting Comments:

Lots of stuff to play, and to look forward to. Almost too much! As always there are other distractions out there like movies (John Wick 2 comes out this month!) and sports (Lets go Capitals! ROCK THE RED! Oh... and I guess the Super Bowl...). Distractions are good, but I do ask that we all keep an eye on the happenings in the world around us and engage. I'm not going to get into my politics here (I'm not crazy) but please just don't ignore things. That being said... GAME ON!

2016... 2016. Well...

2016, what can I say? It's certainly been a year! Thanks for quickening our slide into our dark dystopian future. Truly it feels we now live in the darkest of timelines. Maybe 2017 will prove that wrong? Things can always get worse!

Well, maybe not everything is scary, horrible, existential dread. As some might say, NOW is the best time to play video games. However to make sure lets look back to more holycon days, back to 2014!

2016's Best Game of 2014! - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.

The winner of my 2014 Game of the Year is still a winner in my book. With the addition of two great expansions and an adventure Hearthstone continues to keep it's hooks deep in me. The first expansion "Whispers of the Old Gods" themed around the eldritch horrors of Azeroth brought C'thun and his other tentacled friends to the inn. "One Night in Karazhan" adventure was a ton of goofy fun that brought some interesting cards to the game. Finally "Mean Streets of Gadgetzan" was recently released and really mixed things up with it's Tri-Cards representing the three warring crime families of Gadgetzan. Blizzard games really shine with polish and ooze with charm.

2016's Worst Trend in Gaming - No Man's Sky Backlash.

No Man's Sky is a complex situation. As a game it is flawed but not the disaster that people make it out to me. I actually had a pretty good time flying around and exploring planets and taking pictures of weird ass animals. It definitely didn't live up to the marketing promises and that is part of the problem. Sony noticed how the internet responded to that first trailer and hyped the hell out of the game. The internet then amplified this hype to levels that no game could ever hope to reach. Combine all this insane hype with a development studio that was naive and definitely over their heads and you have a PR disaster.

However all of that wasn't 2016's Worst Trend in Gaming. It was the backlash that came out of this. Calls for class action lawsuits and legal actions against the studio, dox'ing attempts and death threats against the developers, the list goes on. This caused the studio to basically go into lockdown mode out of fear leading to a lack of communication to the customer base which further aggravated things. The rotten cherry on this crap pile was how Sony washed their hands of the whole thing and laid the blame for the feet of Hello Games. Classy Sony! Nice third party support there. The mix of internet entitlement, corporate BS and poor communication by the studio exploded into a sickening and toxic backlash like we've never seen. If that's is a bad trend I don't know what is.

2016's Best Trend in Gaming - Virtual Reality.

The best trends are the ones that show you a bright feature. Virtual Reality I firmly believe is the future of gaming. It's certainly a nascent technology. Rough in a lot of ways but when it works, it works! I first bought an Oculus Rift and while impressive the lack of motion controllers was a real let down and I quickly cool a bit on VR. I tried the Vive and was fairly impressed but I couldn't bring myself to pay more money for VR. When the PS VR came out I decided what the hell and got one of those. I was pretty impressed with it. The addition of the move controllers reinforced my belief that motion controllers are required for the VR experience. Sony also did a good job getting a fairly decent launch line up for the platform. Finally Oculus Touch came out and wow... the hand tracking that the other two controllers lack adds so much to the experience. It's really something to have your hands in a virtual space be exactly where you think they are moving in the ways you are.. I wouldn't recommend to many people to run out and get one unless you have disposable income. VR is not cheap, but definitely find someone who does and try it out!

2016's Games I should have played but didn't.

There was only so much time this year to play games, and these are the ones I really wanted to play but never got around to. Maybe one will be 2017's best game of 2016?

Final Fantasy VX

Firewatch

Hyper Light Drifter

Superhot VR

Owlboy

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

2016's Top Games of the Year:

10) World of Final Fantasy - Where did this game come from? I haven't even heard of it until the Quick Look and even then I mostly wrote it off. It wasn't until the Jefflr crew kept talking about it I decided to try it out. I figured this was going to be nothing more then Final Fantasy Pokemon and a bunch of bad nostalgia. However it's utterly charming and well written, with it's tongue firmly in it's cheek. It knows exactly what it is and leans into it and it is better off for it. Do yourself a favor and try it out, you may be surprised!

9) Street Fighter V - Street Fighter V, you should easily be my number 1 or 2 game. Sadly you are dragged down by a bad launch, bad single player modes, a joke of a tutorial mode, over priced DLC and the list goes on. To Capcom's credit they fixed a lot of the issues from launch on this game. Adding new Story mode which was "OK", weekly missions to earn Fight Money and getting the online store running. Even with these additions it still lacks somewhat.

However the core gameplay of SFV is so good it saves it for me. Impressive graphics and art, fantastic animations, a varied rosters with some interesting newcomers (Rashid the best of them) and decent online play still make it fun to play. The V system is really the highlight of the game. V Skills and V Triggers make every fighter feel different and fun. There is a lot here to love once you dig in. The shame of it of it all is what you need to dig through to get there.

8) Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers - This installment features the "Original" characters from the other games making it a cross over of cross over games, it's weirdly meta. The games featured in this one didn't do much for me: Super Robot Wars Judgement, and Super Robot Wars GC, however Haken Browning from Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier showed up so that was great. Still it's a SRW game and I love them. Oh did I mention this one has an official English release?! Released for the Asian Market, you now can play a SRW totally in English! The translation is rough in points but it is more then serviceable. SRW V comes out in February and this is getting an English release too.

7) Let It Die - Well, this game really came out of no where. Announced at PSX in early December and released the following week this is a latecomer to my list. I really like this game. I might have put this higher on my list but I felt three weeks isn't enough to really chew on it. However, the game withing a game conceit, the general tongue in cheek nature of it (Have you seen the boss video intros!?), and just the whole aesthetic really does something for me. It's brutally hard and unforgiving but somehow you always feel like you are making progress. You will notice between the better equipment and your skills increases on floors you once struggled on you mow through them, then you get to a new floor and the game suddenly remind you of the harsh reality of the world. The free-to-play aspect of the game may turn some off, but once you wrap your head around what to spend premium currency on (Protip: storage and progress) it really isn't bad at all. Come say "Hi!" to Uncle Death, what you have to lose?

6) Hitman - "Come with me / And you'll be / In a world of pure assassination. / Take a look / And you'll see / Lots of dead bodies."

The clockwork world murder world of Hitman shouldn't have been such a great game. However the staggering amount of detail and fantastic characters and writing make it a joy. If Hitman was a serious and dark game it would have never worked however the game really knows what it is and doesn't take itself overly serious. Murdering Russian chess masters by rocketing them into space in an ejector seat, posing as a Fashion Icon and then using his phone to set an appointment with the target, killing your target with an exploding golf ball while he practices his swing in his seaside villa are just some of the ways you can fulfill your contracts.

It is also one of those games that is as fun to play as it is to watch someone play. Every time I watch someone play I go "HUH! Look at that", it's really mind boggling the amount of ways to off people in this game. Oh also the Elusive Targets are brilliant. Time limited single attempt contracts, they are super tense and require a mastery of the game.

5) Doom - Doom is amazing. A semi-reboot of the franchise it totally nails everything it needed. Fast, frantic and loud it is everything the original Doom was brought into the modern era and made better. The Glory Kill system is brilliant and strikes me as the complete opposite mechanic to the tried and true Cover Shooter System brought forward by games like Gears of War. I'm not 100% done with the campaign but I have loved everything I played so fair. I think if was I better at these kinds of games I would have this much higher on my list.

4) Thumper - It bills itself as a "Rhythm Violence" game in which you are a space beetle basically flying through hell to battle a future demon from while an Industrial Techno Nu Metal soundtrack attempts to melt your brain. How could you not love that!? It's oppressive and grinds at you, and leaves you feeling unsettled. Oh did I mention it's also a VR game, and that in VR all of that is cranked up to 11! It's super good, in fact it's one of the better music rhythm games ever made. It probably would have been way higher on my list too if not for...

3) Darkest Dungeon - "You remember our venerable house, opulent and imperial. It is a festering abomination! I beg you, return home, claim your birthright and deliver our family from the ravenous clutching shadows of the Darkest Dungeon."

There is so much I love about this game it's hard for me to unpack it all. Lets start with the presentation. I love the art style with it's hand drawn comic book Gothic styling, I love the narrator with his over wrought quips on your impeding doom, I love the soundtrack that sounds a mix of rock and funeral dirges. Next is the gameplay. This game is hard and unforgiving. Combat swings wildly, one second you are sure of your victory the next your party is near destroyed. Your heroes are go insane from the stresses of the horrors they see, lashing out at the party and themselves. No one comes back the same usually for the worse.

This is not a game about winning, it's about capitalizing on your small successes. It's a game about managing your losses to make the most progress. You band-aid what you can between forays into the dungeons. Two steps forward, one step back. Slowly you inch your way towards your goal, the end. However as the narrator says: "Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer." Nothing is a victory here... in the Darkest Dungeon.

2) Overwatch - Leave it to Blizzard to basically smash a MOBA style hero game with Team Fortress 2 and make one of the best shooters on the markets. What really makes Overwatch stand out to me is it's never ending positivity. Lets take for example the characters. Like any good hero game, all the characters are unique and easily identifiable full of personality and charm. They are also diverse and inclusive at the same time, there is a little of anyone in any of those characters to relate to. One thing I would like to note here is the overall art style filled with bright colors and small details. Overwatch feels to me like it would easily be a spin-off of "The Incredibles".

Positivity also extends to how the game surfaces player stats, you don't get a scoreboard with K/Ds on it. You get medals for contribution to the team. You get those if you win or lose too. Players vote for who added to most to the game, from both teams. Finally you can play a support or healer role and feel like a team player.

Overwatch also make you feel like a competent badass pretty much all the time. You are pretty much just doing cool things constantly. Then they show you the "Play of the Game" which usually is the coolest thing that happened that game. The you get "Play of the Game" and you can't help but smile. That's what Overwatch does, it make you happy, it makes you smile and makes you feel good.

1) Stardew Valley - 2016 was a rough year in a lot of ways for a lot of people. Stardew Valley's promise to you is that it will take you away from all of that to a world where things are simpler. In fact, that is exactly how the game begins. You leave your life in your humdrum office job to take your Grandfather's farm over, with dreams of a new life and what a life it is.

It's a life where you are a farmer, a fisher, an adventurer and most of all a member of a community. There is a certain sense of purpose instilled in you when you arrive in Stardew Valley, you are the fresh blood here shaking things up in a place that seemed to have needed it. As you slowly build up the farm, you are also building up bonds with the town folks. Getting to know them better, doing small errands for them, and over all just making the world a better place. You become friends with these people, and you can if you wish even date and marry one of them.

I haven't quite "finished" Stardew Valley yet, if you can say there is an ending to it. I've been taking my time with it, heading off to the farm when I just needed to get away from it all. Letting the hours melt away as I planted strawberries, spelunked in the mines and fished for those legendary fishes. It's a world that gives back to you what you give it but never demands more. In a year that seemed to take from you and give back very little, Stardew Valley was exactly what I needed.

Honorable Mentions:

Titanfall 2 - The campaign is amazing, THAT level is one of the best moments I've played in games this year. However, I got bored with multiplayer pretty quickly. It's not really a fault of the game, I'm just not that much into shooters and when I want to play one, well... Overwatch.

Forza Horizons 3 - The game looks and plays fantastically, but quickly felt like more of the same.

Dragon Quest Builders - Charming and full of nostalgia, it's a really fun minecraft style game. Unfortunately the resets of knowledge between chapters drags it down a bit.

Enter the Gungeon - Plays great, I had a ton of fun with it. It years with lesser releases this would have easily made my top ten. It's getting some DLC early 2017, so I'll probably be going back in to see what's up.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 - A lot of smart additions make this a much better game then Xenoverse 1, however just home many times can I play through the DBZ story, I did it just a year ago!

Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator - GG Xrd is one of the best anime fighters out there. The sequel to Sign adds a few new characters but doesn't do enough new things to make top ten. Story mode did answer a lot of questions however, it's worth it just for that.

2014.

You were full of changes. Personally it's mostly been good! Got a new job and the Washington Capitals are doing pretty good in the metropolitan division, can't complain!

Gaming however was mixed. We saw the ushering in of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and with those we have a new generation of problems. Consoles running into issues, games shipping full of bugs or just straight up not working. However even with those negatives we've seen some positives. Here is a list of the top ten bright points of this year for me in gaming.

10) WWE Super Card (IOS)

WWE Super Card, you are not a good game.

You are hardly a game.

I can NOT stop playing WWE Super Card! I'm not sure what it is about this game, if it's just my commute on the Metro to work every day, or the slow trickle of progress that keeps me coming back but I just can't let it go.

To developer Cat Daddy/2K's credit they keep updating the game. Since launch they added "King of the Ring" mode which is a sixteen player tournament, "People's Champion" mode which is a king of the hill ladder mode and the newly added "Road to Glory" mode which is beat the pro tiered challenge.

Oh... and for Christmas they added lights and snowflakes to the cards!

9) Killer Instinct: Season 2 (XONE)

I loved last years Season 1 and Iron Galaxy's takeover of the franchise seems to be even better. They've done come balance adjustments, beefed up the visuals and added some great new and classic characters. Characters are still coming out so I'm keeping this low on my list so it could go off the rails but I really have been enjoying KI.

SUPREME VICTORY!

8) Dungeon of the Endless (PC)

This is this year's FTL for me. A unique combination of a tower defense game and a turned based dungeon crawler tossed into rogue-like blender. Add a sprinkle of to a bunch of unique heroes with differing abilities and synergies that extends the re-playability and a online multiplayer mode and that is a recipe for a great game.

In addition the pixel art visuals, great art design, sci-ft trappings and chiptune inspired soundtrack and it's a super great package.

It's also hard as HELL. No joke... this game is tough. This would probably be higher on my list if it wasn't quite so hard.

7) Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PC)

The latest expansion to the Diablo franchise brought Diablo III to where most people expected it to start. While I didn't think the vanilla Diablo III was as bad as people made it out to be Reaper of Souls is fantastic.

The new Crusader class is a blast to play. The increase of level cap and new skills to the existing classes really balanced things out. The new artisan "The Mystic" helps solve the problems with making "prefect" loot drops.

Adventure mode and Rifts totally revitalized the game giving it a more compelling reason to loot grind without having to play the campaign over and over again. The addition to Seasons play post launch gives players a compelling reason to keep diving back in keeping the community active. Blizzard really put a shine on a already great game.

6) Threes (IOS)

The OG sliding number combo game that spawned countless clones in app stores everywhere. I played the hell out of this game. I still do.

It's addicting, it's cute, utterly charming. It has some great UI, art and sound design. Perhaps on of the all time great IOS games? Maybe!

Oh, and it's out on the XBox now too.

5) The Banner Saga (PC)

I played through this game in one marathon sitting, it has been years since I've been drawn into a game to do that. Banner Saga is a mash up of genres that's sum is greater then it's parts. It's Oregon Trail mashed with a light Tactical RPG with fantastic hand drawn art work and a bleak and dire the story compels you to see it through.

Your choices feel meaningful, you fret about them worried about the consequences. People die, yet you push on. The ending is bitter sweet and exhausting. I can't wait for the recently announce sequel and see how the world ends.

4) The 3rd Super Robot Wars Z: Time Prison Chapter (PS3)

One of the best selling game series from the Land of the Rising Sun, otherwise know as Japan. This import holds a special place in my heart. It's probably the greatest example of legal fan fiction ever made! It's a mash up of decades of popular robot anime put into a Strategy RPG.

Probably far to high on this list objectively but my heart wants it higher. Come on, it has Simon from Gurren Lagann bro'ing out with Ryoma from Getter Robo and both of them freaking out about how awesome Noriko from Gunbuster is. How can you not love that!?

3) Transistor (PC)

- Supergiant Games second game doesn't quite hit the highs of Bastion but man, it's still fantastic. One of the best art designs of the year the game is absolutely beautiful. The world looks practically hand painted at time. The soundtrack is immersive and haunting, meshing fantastically with the visuals.

The combat system that just gets better and better as the game goes on and forces you to stop and think about your actions. The various "functions" to your attacks stack in interesting ways letting you take the game in a variety of ways depending on your play style.

The story is a bit muddled with much of the plot hidden away in the character bios that unlock as you progress. If you dive in and read everything you will get the full picture which is unfortunate.

2) Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4)

I don't really like open world games that much. They always feel dead to me. Too static, never changing, meaningless other then a place to run through going to missions to progress the story. The Nemesis system fixes all of that. Now the world feels alive, the random characters actually become interesting. It's perhaps the most meaningful game system created in years. You will see something like it in games for years, and all the better for it.

Beyond the Nemesis system the combat is fun and tight, the world expansive and overall the game is shined and polished unlike many games were this year. Everything just meshes into a great experience.

It would be my number one game of the year by a mile if it wasn't for...

1) Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC, IOS)

Hearthstone. I love you. I've played you pretty much daily since launch. I miss you when I'm not playing you. I creepily watch you as your are played by other people on Twitch. I am pretty sure I have a bit of a problem.

All kidding aside this is a fantastic game. Free to play, Blizzard has crafted it in such a way you don't hate it for that. Constructed play is fantastic with a constantly evolving metagame, Arena mode is great and horrible and addicting.

Since launch there as been two expansions. Naxxramas was an interesting single player adventure, the reward cards shook up the meta in a much needed way. The recently added Goblin vs Gnomes expansion totally change the game making an already active game feel brand new. Available on both PC and IOS you can't escape Blizzard's clutches, those icy claws are in deep.

Hearthstone I can't quit you.

SPECIAL BONUS

2014's best 2013 game.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PC)

NANOMACHINES SON. This game was fantastic, ridiculous and it's even better on PC. How I missed it last year I'm not sure but I am glad I played it this year. Pick it up on Steam at a deep discount if you haven't yet and let Jack the Ripper cut loose!

So firing back up the Secret World. I was playing this back in beta. My PC has a hard time playing it smoothly though which king of hampers the experience. My roommate has a pretty beefy PC and he was playing it a while back with all the effects up and it looked pretty awesome. It made me not want to play it anymore on my PC.

Anyways, I fired it back up, wanted to see what was up with the new F2P model and the end of the world event and stuff. I'm Denny "Ironsouls" Michaels on Cerberus if anyone wants to play.

Yup, I'm done with it. 37 losses in a low. I can't even get out of Fighter ranking anymore. I obviously just don't get the game system in some extremely fundamental way. Oh well it was "fun" I suppose... game has no replayablity other then online play though so I think it's off to gamestop with it this weekend.

So played a whole bunch more MvC3 this weekend. I think I'm coming to the conclusion I just am not all that good at it. I have a *REAL* hard time in the game with fireball zoning. Someone fast like Dr. Doom or Sentinel will just keep me pinned in the corner. How do people deal with the keep away pressure tactics?
 
Also I went and finally bought myself at Mad Catz SSF2:T Fight stick off amazon for 150.00... maybe that'll help. Probably not.

Played a bunch of MvC3 this weekend. Graphics/Sound/Presentation is fantastic. Game play is pretty fun and easy to get into but has more depth then you might at first realize. Some reason Capcom went and got the netcode from SF4 beta release and is using that for the matching system. It's fucking awful. Just BAD. I also wish the move list would list the extra moves, like Dr. Doom's Hidden missiles and M.O.D.O.K's barrier... or that matter the effect of some of the moves. Not sure why it's not better documented.
 
That being said I still played a bunch, I'm not all that good however. Got almost to Eight Lord rating on PSN, I haven't really gotten the hang of the air combo system yet and using the X factor to cancel into another combo. That seems to be one of the higher level play keys. Oh well more playing around is needed.

Just finished Dead Space Extraction tonight on the PS3, wasn't bad actually. The voice acting needed some help, but the game in general was decent. Actually filled in a lot of the back story for Dead Space. I'm actually fairly excited for the Dead Space 2 DLC with the surviving characters from Extraction now. Now I need to beat Dead Space 2.

Yup... I really do.
 
Check this shit out! 
 
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