What will be Giant Bomb's GOTY 2016?

Well. That got heated....

I had no issues with XCOM 2 at launch, even though there were widespread issues for lots of people. It won't be on GB's top 10, it will be on mine.

This year is the first year for a while where some really good games will miss my top 10 or be down the bottom. Very solid year. Some year's I've struggled with the latter half of my list (any year that I put FIFA or NBA2k in the top 10 is a weaker year - they're generally good games but are so samey from year to year that they seldom deserve a top 10 spot, except for Nba2k12 which was really great). This year there'll be some hard cuts and positional placements.

GB top 10??

1. Doom

2. Titanfall 2

3. Hitman

4. The Witness

5. Inside

6. Overwatch

7. Superhot

8, 9, 10 - I'm not sure.

I'd love for Dan to be able to push Stardew Valley on there but given how much Drew disliked it and how lukewarm everyone else is on it I doubt it gets on there.

I don't know if Forza Horizon 3 made enough of an impressions. Dark Souls 3 seemed to come and go. Uncharted 4 is similar in that regard. I don't know if Alex will make a Civ VI push or if, even for him, it's just more the same of a good thing. Deus Ex seemed off from them, same with Dishonored 2. They don't play Total War games (thanks Dave!), so Warhammer will get missed, which is a shame because it's the best Total War game in ages!

Any Nintendo hotness this year that's gone unnoticed?

Any crazy mobile games or tap games to make it on to top 10? Adventure Capitalist?

Also Dark Souls III will not make the list. I said the same thing about Bloodborne last year and was right about that, even though people thought I was nuts for thinking that.

It would be pretty fucking sad if a clicker made the staff list, especially in this year of amazing releases both on the AAA and indie spaces.

I'd sooner bet on Pokemon GO rounding out the top 10 before Adventure Capitalist anyway.

Games have made it onto the site top 10 because of one person. Dan's also the type to fight to the end for what he wants, so I won't count out Stardew Valley just yet. Drew respects the game enough anyway, and he's never been one to be so confrontational in these discussions to really go against it.

Has Vinny played more of Planet Coaster? That could be a dark horse for the lower spots on the list if he has.

Massive underating of Hitman all around here. I think it will be Brad number 1 and it's continued brilliance all year will push it just above DOOM for its variety. Also am I correct in thinking last guardian won't enter in any discussion?

Am I crazy to think you are all underestimating Overwatch?

@wmoyer83: I love Overwatch as much as the next guy, it's my personal goty. But it isn't getting into the top 3, no way.

@wmoyer83: As a counterpoint to the other guy, I also love Overwatch, maybe more than the previous guy, and it's probably my personal GOTY, but I do think it makes top 3. It's not going to be GOTY. That's looking more and more like it'll be either DOOM or HITMAN. But yeah, Overwatch for third place!

But what about The Witcher 3, guys.

@josephknows: Dan has always seemed pretty passive during the GOTY discussions to me. If he likes something or doesn't like it he seems to only really argue when there is someone else who agrees with him. But he did like stardew enough that he may end up fighting pretty hard for it.

I was bored at work one day, so I went through the list of 2016 releases on Wikipedia and made a prediction top 10 list for the crew:

1. DOOM
2. Hitman
3. Overwatch
4. Titanfall 2
5. The Witness
6. Gears of War 4
7. Inside
8. Thumper
9. Superhot
10. Stardew Valley

Potential dark horse candidate of Final Fantasy XV (for the 10 spot and no higher), but I'm not holding my breath on that one since I don't think they even have enough time to play through it.

I would say top 3 are going to be

1. DOOM

2. Hitman

3. Overwatch

1. Doom

2. Hitman

3. Titanfall 2

Top 3 guess would be this:

1. Hitman

2. Doom

3. Overwatch

I just think Hitman will be the one that takes it since so many of the the guys love what that game does. Doom is the safe second choice for GotY though.

I think a lot of posters under-estimated Dan. I think Dan could sway Brad into wanting Hitman to be #1...

1 - Hitman

2 - Doom (super close)

3 - Forza Horizon 3

Dan might mention Pokémon Sun/Moon in some capacity (he's been enjoying it a lot with his fiancé) however I don't think anyone else has played any of it (Jeff was intrigued but didn't seem enthralled enough to play through it). Dan and Drew might mention Yo-kai Watch 2. Austin enjoyed what he played of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE so much he even got Alex to play some of it (and Vinny to lament how he doesn't have the time for JRPGs any more) however with Austin gone, I doubt TMS #FE will be mentioned at all. Pokken Tournament is a truly fantastic game (I think it's the best fighting game this year) but Jeff and Jason both hated the disparity in the field (3D) and duel (2D) phase fighting that they couldn't get into it. Finally, Dan seemed to really like Fire Emblem Fates, but didn't feel it was a big enough improvement on Awakening to bring it up much.

All in all, I'd say there have been a couple very good Nintendo games this year but none that resonated with the Giant Bomb crew to likely be mentioned at Game of the Year. I think Jeff would have really liked Tokyo Mirage Sessions* and the new Pokémon games if he got around to them.

*Last I heard, he had a copy still shrink-wrapped on his desk.

Edit - Also Picross 3D: Round 2, and Rhythm Heaven Megamix came out on 3DS this year, however, the former came out in Japan last year (and I don't know if any of the crew played it then via import) and the latter has a lot of repeat content from previous games.

@wmoyer83:I think we're somewhat correctly estimating the the GB staff's feelings on that game, which is lukewarm. Around launch everyone at least tried it but I think after that Dan was the only one who truly stuck with it. It's a good game but you have to ask how many people are really going to try and make a case for it, especially when most could probably name 2 or 3 games they'd rather see high up on that list. I don't think it makes top 3.

In the vein of unanimously enjoyed video games I think Hitman probably reigns supreme this year, likely followed by DOOM. Everything else is up for grabs as it's going to be niche pick vs niche pick. Expect some dark bargaining as everyone struggles to give their game the most daps.

1. Nitroplus blazters: Heroines infite duel (actually Doom)

2. Hitman

3. Titanfall 2

4. Overwatch

5. The Witness

6. Gears of War 4

7. Inside

8. Superhot

9. Uncharted 4

10. Stardew valley

Uncharted 4 might be a stretch, but Dan obviously liked it a lot and I think I remember that Brad and Vinny also enjoyed it.

Dan seems like the only one who really put any time into Stardew valley, but he also loved it. The other guys with the exception of Drew seemed to think it looked neat I think. Stardew Valley might be this years Invisible inc. I put extra points into this prediction because Stardew Valley also happens to be the true, actual, objective, undisputed GOTY of 2016. (Holy crap that game is so good!).

DOOM, Hitman...

What year is this?

Can't see how Hitman would be #1 with only Brad & Dan having played enough of it.

1. Doom
2. Overwatch
3. Hitman
4. Titanfall 2
5. The Witness
6. Forza Horizon 3
7. Uncharted 4
8. Superhot
9. Inside
10. Darkest Dungeon

Possible dark horse: The Last Guardian

Do they do a segment on games that missed the cut off the previous year or is that the kind of thing that comes up in podcasts? I know there is 'Old game of the year' but that's not necessarily the same thing. Unless they just use that segment as a place to talk about late games from the prior year before talking about older games.

Final Fantasy XV and The Last Guardian seem to have come up after the cutoff for people to have put enough time into them. Obviously same games are always going to be left behind with a cut off, but I'm always interested to hear how they rank against other things.

@dgtlty: Haven't both Vinny and now Jeff both played a good deal of Hitman?

DOOM, Titanfall 2, Overwatch in that order would be my guess. Hitman probably top ten, maybe top 5? It's certainly the most important game for the site this year content-wise, but there's so much to nitpick that I can't see it come out anywhere near the top, considering how those discussions usually go.

What I really wanna know, though, is their Watch-GOTY: Overwatch, Watch Dogs 2, Firewatch or Yo-Kai Watch 2?

@hans_maulwurf: I see Hitman at least top 3 and would be very surprised if it wasn't top 5. Brad and Dan have had a hell of a time with it, and the other west coast crew have been exposed to it enough to appreciate what it does.

I think their -watch GOTY should be Firewatch!

I used to think Doom, and voted for that when this thread was new, but now I'm thinking hitman might give it a run for it's money as more of the staff play it and realize just how great it is. Personally, i still love dark souls 3, but realize it won't get much love.

The rules and awards are totally up to their discretion each; they add and remove categories each year based on if there is something they really want to highlight. For instance, if they decided that enough games came out late this year (Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian.... maybe Dead Rising 4?) then they could do a category next year titled "2017's Game of 2016 that came out way too late in the year to be considered for GOTY". It's all up to them.

They have stated, though, that they send messages to publishers/PR notifying them when they are planning on doing their GOTY award nominations so if the game is released close-to/after that date, then the publisher needs to send them an early copy. We know Sony did that in the case of The Last Guardian but Square Enix did not send an early copy for Final Fantasy XV (in Giant Bomb's case). This is typical Reviewer/PR Relation stuff.

@dixavd: Sony didn't send copies early for GOTY consideration, they just sent them early for review purposes. It's pretty rare you don't get Sony games at least a week early as long as you are in their good graces. Actually, that's the case for all first party games.

@ericsmith: GOTY is essentially just an alternate form of Review but that's just me being nitpicky I guess. Regardless of the reasons, journalists would have notified Sony of needing the game early both for reviews (as usual) and GOTY award nominations and it's up to Sony whether to agree with that on a person-to-person basis. Many outlets actually go their GOTY-style awards much earlier than Giant Bomb (especially more general buying-guide sites) so I'm sure Sony would have sent The Last Guardian even earlier if GB had needed it earlier.

@paulmako: I don't know. Hitman is probably in third or fourth place on a lot of the crews personal goty lists. But I think they all have different top games - that they are probably willing to make deals for to get them into the top positions: Doom, Titanfall 2 and Witness for Jeff, Stardew Valley and Overwatch for Dan, Doom and Inside for Brad.

And they all leveled a lot of (small, but consistent) criticism towards Hitman already, the kind of stuff that often gets blown up to critical issues in their goty discussions. So I'd at least not be totally surprised if it didn't make the top 5. It just feels to me like Hitman's the game they all like, but few of them actually love it (and even Dan seems to not have played it that much outside of work).

Firewatch certainly seems to deliver on the watch part as promised in its title, but since the irrelevance of Skyrims sky didn't stop them from crowning that the best sky-game (clearly the biggest upset that year!), I wouldn't bet on it yet.

XV should absolutely be on the list, but it won't since none of them will have played enough of it. That is unless Brad/Jason/Jeff catch fever with it and just plow through it. Don't see that happening though.

1. Doom

2. Hitman

3. Overwatch

4. Titanfall 2

5. The Witness

These are the games that immediately come to mind when I think about which ones got closest to universal praise. Even though the west coast guys seemed super high on The Witness, the East fellas didnt seem too impressed, so I expect that to round out the top 5.

I don't think FFXV is top 10 material, and I know they won't have the time to look at it thoroughly. I really enjoy FFXV, but it is very flawed in all aspects of it. I think people praising that it should be top 10 are just stuck in the "launch hype" window of thought. It's a very fun game, and it's great they seemingly made a good FF game again, but there were easily 10 better games this year. 2016 was a powerhouse year for gaming.

I'm not really seeing DOOM and Hitman back-to-back because the same person (Brad) is the champion of both. I haven't really heard Alex, Vinny, Jason, or Drew express much interest in it (though Drew is hard to predict). And Dan (at least in August) indicated Overwatch was his GotY. I think at this point Jeff is going to throw his backing behind Titanfall 2 and Brad is likely to be pushing DOOM over Hitman. It's hard to exactly predict where it will land. It could end up as high as 3rd or 4th or as low as even 6th or 7th, but I can't see it top 2.

Anyone else think whatever wins Best Surprise wins GOTY? That's for sure going to come down to DOOM versus HITMAN, and I can see the arguments they'll be making for both in that category be referenced in the final deliberations for GOTY.

are the gotv podcasts in the can yet?

Doom takes top spot, Hitman takes number two.

@rkofan87: I believe they are. I think they did them last week with this week being them working on getting the videos taken care of.

Can Jason's sheer force of will get God Eater 2 to the #10 spot? If Brad could Destiny there and Austin could get Invisible Inc there, anything is possible.

Based on a tweet from Alex yesterday, they finished their Game of the Year deliberations. Now we have three weeks to wait until we find out which game they picked.

Ugh, I hate this type of argument. The 'if you don't agree with me then X must be the case' is the worst type of argument to make.

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM !!!

He only gets a minute to make his case.

Think so. Alex tweeted " *white smoke* " the other day, which he's done past years to signal they've reached a conclusion.

Overcooked is easily the most fun I have had with a multiplayer game in ages. As for the guys pick this year I have to go with Doom.

@bushpusherr: I would be willing to bet on that top 5. In that order too.

I would maybe be willing to sub out Witness for Uncharted but that's a tough call.

1. Doom

2. Overwatch

4. Hitman

Ok, here's my final prediction for the staff list, along with my view on the tier breaks where you could have toss ups.

1. Doom

2. Hitman

----

3. Overwatch

4. Titanfall 2

-----

5. The Witness

6. Inside

7. Superhot

-----

8. Stardew valley

9. Civ 6

10. Gears 4

Other back end potentials: darkest dungeon, Uncharted 4, Forza horizon, Fire watch, thumper

If thumper or darkest dungeon make it on, then civ 6 falls off. That spot depends entirely on which game Alex goes to bat for.

Titanfall 2 has gotta be over Overwatch. I don't think any of them liked Overwatch enough to put it in the top 5 other than maybe Dan. I was really hoping at least one of them would so they could fight for it, it's been my favorite game to come out in ages.

@bizmarkiefader: Alex and Jason adore Overwatch. And to a lesser extent, Vinny. It will absolutely be in the top 3 and most certainly favoured over Titanfall 2 by all except Jeff.

Jeff will exploit Brad's weakness for Doom to pull him away from hitman. I reiterate my vote for Doom being number 1

I think DOOM absolutely has to be #1, both because of the glowing praise the whole crew showered on it and the fact that none of it was hyperbole: DOOM was the most remarkable game I've played in years.

I think Brad and Dan will push heavily for Hitman in the #2 spot and the rest of the crew will allow it due to their positive albeit brief dealings with it and the sheer amount of Hitman that's come through the site this year.

What I'm really curious about, then, is the likely fight between Overwatch and The Witness for #3. While I personally adore Overwatch and bounced off of The Witness within a few hours, I still respect the hell out of that game. The Witness is a particularly interesting case here because Brad and Jeff seemed just as enraptured with it as they were with DOOM (and as I type that I'm starting to remember that Dan was right there with them, just a little later), but it didn't sound like anyone else really touched it at all. Then you have Overwatch which was never going to win GOTY but that Alex, Vinny, and Dan seem to have all been playing consistently throughout the year.

After slumming it with Shadow of Mordor and then the revelation to come through Super Mario Maker that Jeff will simply negate discussions with an iron fist when he cares to, this year seems posed to be a much more interesting listen.