GOTY 2016

I didn't play all of the games I would have wanted to this year, and I don't have the strong feelings about most of the games on this list. With that, here are the top ten games I played this year.

List items

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  1. Picross 3D: Round 2

  This was the most fun I had all year. My only issue is that there wasn't enough of it.

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  2. Pocket Card Jockey

  I became obsessed with this thing for a few weeks. The way all of the mechanics work together is a thing of beauty and the writing is charmingly silly.

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  3. Firewatch

  This was the most emotionally effecting games for me this year, and I also respect what it does to bridge the gap between the modern adventure game genre and the "walking simulator" genre (for lack of a better term). This would have been my GOTY if the 3DS hadn't had such a good year.

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  4. Watch Dogs 2

  This is probably my favorite open world game this year. I actually found the silly characters and lack of heavy narrative through-line to be refreshing. What I wanted from this game was to run around and do random side content, and what I got was a game that downgraded its main missions to be little more than side content.

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  5. Stellaris

  The only bad thing I have to say is that I did not play as much of this game as I wanted.

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  6. Grow Up

  It's just more Grow Home, which is all I could ask for.

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  7. Kentucky Route Zero

  NOTE: This is just for Act IV.

  This series continued to push the boundaries of its genre, and even though I didn't enjoy it as much as past episodes it still belongs on this list.

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  8. No Man's Sky

  I found this game to be really relaxing. Playing this for an hour or so after work a few times a week is a good improvement to quality of life.

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  9. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

  This had the most "wow" moments for me this year and is one of the most technically impressive games I've ever seen. It does the best to make good on Naughty Dog's cinematic aspirations of any game they've made. But even with all of that, I couldn't muster enough enthusiasm for the gameplay or story to even finish it.

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  10. The Witness

  I both incredibly respect this game and also despise it. The positives and negatives of this thing are well documented and won't build on it. It's on this list out of a grudging respect for the things that it accomplishes.