Video games! 2016 will soon be behind us, and some of us will agree that that is a sight very much appreciated after everything that happened this year, be it personally, in the video games industry and overall the whole world we live in. But one thing we can all agree upon is that 2016 offered us fantastic games that make 2016 one of the better years in video games. So let's take an opportunity to take a look at some of the best ones, in this case, my Top Ten Games of 2016! (And some others that I felt needed to be mentioned.)
Honorable Mentions:
World of Warcraft: Legion
I never thought I'd ever go back into an MMO, much less WoW, but, after reading up on the expansion and what it was going to bring to the players, and then when it released watching streams and videos and noticing some quality-of-life changes Blizzard made ever since I stopped playing around Cataclysm, it made me more interested in jumping back in, and I had a blast of a time the hours I spent in the game, be it with the new Demon Hunter class they released, or jumping into an older character I had and just venture onto these new areas, which are some of the best ones, and the fact they scale the level of the mods and quests to the same as yours, allows you to progress in all of the zones, without the fear of "wasting unused XP".
Street Fighter V
Man, the Street Fighter V story since its release is such a bummer coming from a fan of, both Capcom and the Street Fighter series.
Be it the fact that the game released unfinished due to Capcom wanting to release it soon for the fighting game community and their own tournament "Capcom Cup Tour", or the lack of modes, the delays of characters that they announced would come in that month but were missed completely, the rootkit they inserted with a patch to address the use of hacks in survival mode to grind points to buy the characters WITHOUT telling them, and the amount of issues it had, and still often has, with the PC version of it.
BUT, the thing that made me come back to it every once and a while was due to the fighting just being one of the best in the series, the characters are all enjoyable to play, it just plays extremely well. I could not ignore however the amount of issues I mentioned beforehand, so that is why it didn't make it to the list.
Thumper
Thumper is a game that I really need to go back to and finish it, or, at the very least attempt to finish it in the coming year, because from the 1st hour or so that I played it, and watching several videos of it and listening to the bizarre but perfectly fitting soundtrack, I really really enjoyed it and I look forward to getting anxious about trying to finish every stage with at least an A or above score.
I will also list some other games just from the top of my head that I really enjoyed this year: The Witness, Devil Daggers, Starbound, Fire Emblem Fates, Enter The Gungeon, Clash Royale, Salt and Sanctuary, along with others I have forgotten at the moment to mention!
And now onto the actual list!
10. American Truck Simulator
Yeah, I never thought a game of this genre would make my list either, but, American Truck Simulator triggered a certain part of my brain that I just can't explain why. The act of delivering your shipment, driving through the highway while listening to some music and just close your mind and focus on the game and job in hand, is just a relaxing aspect this game gives me that I had to put this on my list, even if it is number 10.
Also the fact that the developers are going to update the game with more states and make the area you play in closer to how it is in real life, more than makes me look forward to what this game will become in 2017.
9. Oxenfree
Oxenfree is a game I had completely gone off my radar, I had no idea the game was released this year, much less in January. Both thankfully due to picking up a bundle, it came with Oxenfree, and that was the time I finally decided to play it. I am so very glad I did finally decide to boot it up.
From the very beginning, the visuals, the music immediately struck me and I loved it. And then came the characters, the dialogue they had with one another, just the whole vibe, atmosphere this game threw at me I thoroughly enjoyed.
Even though I haven't finished it, have around 2 to 3 hours of play time, it was more than enough to make an impact on me, and take a spot on my list.
8. XCOM 2
I really enjoy strategy games, squad-like games, and XCOM 2 really hit all the marks in these aspects for me this year. Its release was not the smoothest, releasing with a number of bugs, glitches, and outright unplayable aspects that some players experienced at the launch of the game.
However, I came back to the game months after its release, and I then decided to dive in deeper than I did on release time, and I experienced very little bugs compared to when it released, and I enjoyed the game lot more. That is, if, your definition of enjoyment when you oh so try and wish to the stars that that 85% shot will kill that alien that is surrounding one of your squad members. 8 out of 10 you miss. But I still find the whole game and that process enjoyable. I enjoyed the Enemy Unknown and the expansion, and I enjoyed this sequel just as much, if not more.
7. Dark Souls 3
This is the only occasion where the fact that I played this on my 2-year-old laptop, stopped Dark Souls 3 to be even higher on the list due to it running on the bare minimum in my PC. Nevertheless, I did manage to put in 56 hours and being a third near the end of the game, and from what I played it was enough to think that Dark Souls 3 is a fantastic instalment to the Souls Series and the main regret that I have for not finishing it due to my limitations.
We can't forget to mention how noteworthy the launch on the PC was and how it was basically unplayable to several players, myself included.
Despite all of it, however, the game delivered to expectations in every aspect that makes the Souls games what they are and the spot they take in the video game world.
6. Killing Floor 2
I’ve followed Killing Floor 2 ever since its release on Early access early last year, and right from that point, I was already sure of finding a way to add it to the list even if it was early access back then due to how polished it seemed right from the get-go, even with not enough content.
However, the months were going, and they finally added new classes and old ones from the original Killing Floor, and added more maps, both original and fan-made, and they kept improving and improving that once it officially released, I went back and put another 20+ hours after it came out of Early Access and I had, even more, fun with it.
The whole game itself is such an improvement in every aspect compared to the first one, it truly is the best definition of what a sequel should be: grab the base of the first game and from there just improve and improve.
5. Overwatch
Overwatch was, personally, one of my biggest surprises of this year, alongside another game on this list. I had little to no interest for Overwatch when it came out, I just thought “Oh, a shooter game made by Blizzard uh? Seems like a neat idea.”.
But then I got my hands on it during one of the betas before launch and I immediately fell in love with all of it. From the controls to the characters, it is all in all a complete package that I never thought I’d put it so many hours (and money because the loot boxes are a real guilty pleasure). With the continued support Blizzard is giving the game, and with the constant patches and fixes and upcoming new content in the next coming years makes me really excited to see how much the game will grow.
4. Darkest Dungeon
3. Sid Meier's Civilization VI
When two religious units fight, lightning comes from the sky. It’s amazing.
Oh yeah and the whole game is fantastic, best Civilization game in a long time. But those religion fights, though.
2. Pokemon Sun and Moon
Pokemon Moon was the sole reason to why I decided to this be the year I went forward and bought a 3DS and I’m so glad I did because Pokemon Sun and Moon are the best Pokemon game by far, compared all of the games before.
They changed the whole pace of the game, instead of going from gym to gym to gym, it mixes things up, as much as a Nintendo game can do, and makes it seem like a fresh experience.
Yes, the battle system is still the same, they even simplified it by telling you what moves are weaker and stronger to that Pokemon if you’ve faced it before. But it’s not the battle system that I always come and play these games, it’s the whole experience of getting some Pokemon I like, train them, and take them along the ride and just have fun with them. The villains feel fresh for Pokemon standards, the music is phenomenal and it had an actual upgrade to the graphics, it overall is the best Pokemon experience for such a long time and I highly recommend it.
1.Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley is, to me, the purest definition of a total package in a videogame.Stardew hits so well in every aspect, be it gameplay, graphics, soundtrack and sound design, atmosphere, the whole game itself.It grabbed what Harvest Moon/Rune Factory did very well, mashed the two, and just made a game that I can really closely say it’s just a perfect game.Yes there are a few little fixes and bugs that could be taken care of, but are just so minor that don’t even matter at some point.
The whole aspect of having a farm, maintaining it kept me so into the game, then starting to insert farm animals and trees, and then creating other items with both the vegetables and the animal products. And then there is the whole social aspect of the game, giving gifts to the NPC’s that every, single, one has a backstory to them, and you can befriend and get rewarded for doing so.
And from this list, it’s the one game that I just kept going and going and going without a specific goal in mind, I just really like to keep my farm going and get a wife/husband, get a family going and continue to explore each day and aspect of the game. Even at this moment while writing this, I am listening to the soundtrack and it fits perfectly.
And if I throw in personal aspects to this list, this game kept me distracted and helped me just overcome certain aspects of how rough this year was at a certain level. I’ve tried to keep the personal aspect away from this list, but, Stardew Valley is so special that I just couldn’t keep myself quiet.Stardew Valley really is one of the games I’ll remember for years to come, and to that aspect, I can safely call it my number 1 game of 2016.
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