The Best Games I Played in 2016

These aren't necessarily limited to games released in 2016. This is a list of the games I personally enjoyed most in 2016.

List items

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  1. Dark Souls II

  I wanted to see what the "Souls" series was all about, so I bagged DSII on Steam Sale last year. I finally got around to playing it this year.

  At first, I found this game brutally impenetrable. There was minimal plot, the environs were sprawling, and the difficulty was insane. I died, and died, and died. I re-rolled a few times, thinking I'd somehow fucked up my build. Nope, I just kept dying and dying. "Fuck this!" I said, vowing to never play the game again.

  Doubt gnawed at my mind. "There IS something about that damn game, I just wish I could figure it out..." I knew I loved the character models, the sound design, the beautiful and haunting level design, but the game was just so damn hard! Maybe I'll re-roll one last time, and give it another shot.

  Finally, it clicked! I started playing more and more conservatively. I carefully plotted out my moves. I knew that Dark Souls II could (and would) destroy me at any time, so I began playing that way. I have never felt greater satisfaction playing a game than when I first began making progress with DSII. It was slow-going for sure, but bit by bit, I was grinding through.

  Make no mistakes, Dark Souls is not for everybody. It is unforgiving, brutal, at times impenetrable. The game destroys you, builds you up, tears you down, then rewards you. It forces YOU to adapt to IT, and you WILL get better. It's just such an amazing experience to feel that thrill of barely beating a boss. Equally enthralling is the devastation of losing lots of progress to an enemy ambush or falling off the map. For sure, Dark Souls is the S&M of games: not everybody's kink, but for those select few, it's the best game in town.

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  2. Overwatch

  Never would've expected one of my favorite game of this year to be an objective focused, team based, multi player online FPS game, but Overwatch is easily one of the best game I played this year.

  Overwatch is almost more of a platform than a game, and I can honestly see myself playing it for years to come.

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  3. Dark Souls III

  Oh my. I only just finished the harrowing 100+ hours I poured into DSII, and I rolled up a character in DSIII. Obviously, it's a "Souls" game, and it plays by the same basic rules of that micro genre. For me, it is already apparent the technological advances made by From Software in this installment. The lighting and textures are substantially better than DSII's.

  I've only really just scratched the surface of this one, but I know that I'm in for one hell of a ride. Emphasis on HELL.

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  4. Hacknet

  Oh, what a sublime joy it is to finally type away at my keyboard and channel the sweet 90's vibes of Johnny Lee Miller in the infamous 1995 film "Hackers." If only being so good at this game would get me a shot at a 20 year old Angelina Jolie decked out in 90's Cybergoth regalia. HACK THE PLANET!

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  5. Street Fighter V

  This game launched so incredibly fucked up. No single player arcade experience, too few characters, network issues, loads of input lag, a totally jacked up online store, and it was a total departure from the previous SF generation.

  It definitely shouldn't have launched as it did, and it probably shouldn't have taken the better part of a year to fix the game, but the game is finally rounding out into the great fighting game we all expected.