It's almost 2017, I made one of the hugest decisions of my life this year, and unfortunately can't remember if I even played 10 games that came out this year. So lets see if I can in this one of many Game of the Year lists.
1. Stardew Valley came out around a time I had finally became employed again but also at the horrible expense of my mental health. Growing stress issues with working at my job and dealing with the distance growing between me and my parents, Stardew Valley hit me in hard in a lot of spots. Characters I could relate with and have meaningful relationships with. That on top of the stress free day job of a farmer all combined into a magical package that is hard to let go. I owe a lot to Stardew Valley, it kept me sane in a troubling time just like Undertale did before it.
2. Hitman returned to form this year as an episodic murder simulator. They did away with many things that made Absolution bad, all the while retaining the amazing ideas that game had. Hitman has become this magical dumb thing that has a really good content pipeline that has kept the game interesting for... the entire year. It's a business model I hope gets done right by a lot of games for a very long time to come.
3. What a magnificent multiplayer shooter this game is. When you get past the fact Tone rules in almost 90% of Titan battles (atleast from the last time I played it), it was fun even by myself. Titanfall unfortunately ended up as the game I convinced everyone to get... but they didn't get it. Like couldn't fork over the 30 bucks for this game multiple times. Oh well, I'm still playing it.
4. Boooooooooyyyyyyyyy Howdy did Blizzard need to do a lot to make up for Warlords of Draenor. I got on that shit late when they fixed all of it and even I thought it was garbage. Legion came out of the gate swinging for the fences. Improving on every aspect of the formula all the while making sure that the game launched with most, if not all the content that was shown during the beta periods. It's got a steady content pipeline and plenty to do from day to day operations... the only thing I'm missing is a proper raid group.
5. This is probably the best looking Shantae game to date. It also helps its case that its a very good Shantae game. It also might be the only Shantae game I ever completed. I'm about halfway through Pirate's Curse as of writing this and only ever got 10% into Risky's Revenge. It's a gem of a game that deserves its props even if it came out in the last two weeks of the year. Good job Wayforward, hopefully the next one takes even less time to put out.
6. It's pretty much Japanese Witcher but with a horrible story, and I'm super okay with it cause I've played more of this game than the three Witcher games combined. Not saying the Witcher is shit... because that would mean this game I think is shit, and then it wouldn't be on the list. POINT IS I need to play more Witcher after I finish with this game. IT IS A GOOD GAME.
7. Okay so, the story is bad, the pacing is awful, most of the new characters are bland and forgettable. Yet the game is probably the most Final Fantasy you will get out of a Final Fantasy game that isn't an MMO at this point. Also I honestly believe Square does a good job making new ways to catch creatures, rather than just "Hurt creature very much, catch." I enjoy the chibi artstyle and seeing all of the characters from Final Fantasy games I've never played. When does Y'shtola show up? Never? Oh, [Spoiler]Shantotto[/Spoiler] is here I guess, that's neat. Also the side story content is pretty hilarious.
8. This game was never going to be the game everyone I knew wanted. Yet what was there atleast when I played it was a cool loot grind game. I just wish I got to play more of it considering I managed to convince so many people to get it, and they actually get the game but decide not to play with me. My experience was ultimately shattered by the doing the hardest weekly mission with a pickup group and spending two hours in the dungeon not completing it. I still think the game was fun enough to warrant a spot on the list cause... hey atleast I beat the main story unlike some games that could have been on this list.
9. Overwatch, also known as the biggest game on the planet as of this current moment (okay so that's a lie, but I bet Riot wishes it could get as much exposure Blizzard does whenever they release... anything about this game). What started as a pretty fun class based shooter turned into a cancerous cesspool of bad memes and "metas". It left such a good impression in the beta and the first month that I still think its one of the best games to come out this year... even if I think theres still a lot wrong with it and don't enjoy it as much.
