Let's face it: 2016 sucked. But it was a hell of a year for video games at least. It was such a good year I needed an extra couple weeks to finish playing the last few games I had hoped to finish before writing this list. Let's get right down to it.

A Series of Random Awards/Complaints/Whinings

The Top Game I Have Sitting Around I Need to Play Still: Final Fantasy XV

Runners Up: Obduction, King's Quest

FF XV is the obvious one here. There was just no way to find time for it while finishing up a lot of other games this past month. But not finding time for Obduction might have been the more painful given my love for the old Myst games.

Favorite Moment or Sequence in a Game of 2016: The first 15 minutes of DOOM

Runners Up: Kirby: Planet Robobot's last twenty minutes, Dishonored 2 Mission 4

I will refrain from spoilers here on the latter entries, but I think by now everyone knows how amazing the opening sequence of DOOM is. In fact, it might be my favorite opening sequence to a game ever. The entry here some of you might not know about though is Planet Robobot. So if you never plan on playing the game, do look it up on Youtube. If the award was "hypest thing that happened in a game this year," it would have the category on lockdown.

Cav's Personal Most Disappointing Game of 2016: Zero Time Dilemma

Runners Up: Fire Emblem Fates, Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel

Zero Time Dilemma was one big punch to the gut after another. On top of getting the game weeks after release due to the the pre-order watch fiasco, the game itself is kind of a mess. The animation is some of the worst in a modern game, the new characters are uninteresting, Junpei suffers some of the worst character assassination in a game in 2016, and the plot is kind of a mess. And I don't mean mess in a good way like most of the series. Fire Emblem Fates gets a nod here for splitting too little interesting content into three separate games.

Ashes of Ariandel is kept from the top spot here thanks to one sensational boss fight salvaging the worst piece of DLC content in a Souls game. It may sound weird to place a piece of DLC in a most disappointing category above full games, but the Souls series has produced some of the best DLC content in all of gaming. Of particular note, this follows Bloodborne's amazing Old Hunters DLC, which is my favorite piece of Soulsborne content.

Best New Character: Trico

Runners Up: Overwatch Cast Award (<3 D.Va ^o^), Delilah (Firewatch)

The heart and soul of The Last Guardian is your relationship with Trico. It's the emotional tale of you and your pet giant Bird-Dog who shoots lightning surviving against all odds. Every design decision of that game feels crafted around that fact. Every ounce of horsepower the PS4 has is put into making Trico look and act like a real animal. I'm somewhat cheating by listing the Overwatch cast as a group here, but it really is a testament to how well-designed just about every cast member is. That said, I think my personal favorite has to be D.Va thanks to the way she brings out nonstop fun BM (bad manners) out of just about everyone who plays her.

Games You Probably Forgot That You Should Check Out: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak

Runners Up: Master of Orion, That Dragon, Cancer

This is just a friendly reminder that the Steam sale is going on, and there are some good video games you probably haven't heard much about during GotY discussions still worth checking out. Deserts of Kharak is a fantastic and faithful prequel to the original Homeworld series that got lost in the shuffle. Master of Orion is a faithful recreation of what made the original Master of Orion game so much fun. Just keep in mind that MOO was always on the casual side of the 4x genre. That Dragon, Cancer is more an important game than a game you play for fun, but it might be 2016's best use of the video game medium for telling a story.

Favorite New Gaming System/Feature of 2016: Oxenfree's Dialogue System

Runner Up: Master of Orion turn rollback

This is just a reminder that I really freakin' love Oxenfree's dialogue system. If more adventure games could use this or something similar, I'd be pretty happy about it. Master of Orion meanwhile has one of the best convenience features in a 4x game: the ability to roll back to any previous turn. This cuts down the need to worry about saving in case you happen to mis-click on something or stops you from having to resume from a save half an hour ago because the Antarans suddenly invaded your homeworld.

Honorable Mentions, or Games 11-20 in Rough Order

• Dragon Quest Builders - Brad's summary is pretty spot on: it's about 6-8 bad design decisions removed from being a top 10 game.
• Forza Horizons 3 - Forza is typically good most years, but Horizons 3 is a particularly good entry.
• Kirby: Planet Robobot - Kirby might not be Nintendo's most popular series, but it might be the most consistently good one. Planet Robobot also happens to be my favorite Kirby game in some time. It just goes to prove the old saying: everything is better with mecha.
• Gears of War 4 - After how disappointing Halo 5 was, it was great to see Microsoft's other big shooter property brought back with far better results.
• Civilization VI - It's a much better game than Civ V out of the gate to say the least. The addition of districts really helps shake up the Civilization formula.
• Firewatch - The first of several indie adventure/walking simulator games in a row, Firewatch could have been a top ten game if the last portion of it had been executed just a bit better.
• Oxenfree - Oxenfree would have likely found its way into my top ten had its later content been better. Even still, yo that dialogue system.
• Abzu - Drew was right: Abzu was robbed in both Best Looking and Best Music this year. Abzu is a fantastic follow-up to Journey and produced maybe the best eye candy in a video game this year.
• Titanfall 2 - I enjoyed the hell out of Titanfall 2's single player campaign, but I haven't spent much time yet with its multiplayer as I'm not sure yet any of the modes are really for me.
• Dark Souls 3 - This omission hurts even more than not having a spot on my top 10 for Until Dawn last year. When I wrote my mid-year list, I predicted DS III was going to be an edge case. While it's a fantastic finale for the trilogy, it did follow Bloodborne (which I prefer). The deciding factor for leaving it at #11 was the disappointing Ashes of Ariandel DLC, of which I earlier listed my gripes.

Top 10 Games of 2016

10. Inside

I think I ended up liking sequences of Inside more than the game as a cohesive product. But that being said, those sequences are so good that it was enough to propel it into my top ten. Inside is an improvement on Limbo in every way. Its dark, nightmarish imagery will stick with you long after completion. The last section of the game is particularly memorable. I ended up enjoying the discussion around the game's message about as much as the game itself.

I just hope Playdead's next game can evolve a little further in the gameplay department now that they've kind of wrung out about all they can from this style of puzzle game.

9. XCom 2

It's somewhat difficult to balance my love for this game with the numerous technical issues surrounding its release. Despite that, I devoured XCom 2 for a solid 50+ hours when it first came out. XCom 2 is an improvement on the core of the original XCom in almost every way. While the early game might actually be a bit harder than the original, it did allow for a more diverse range of strategic options. If the Meta game was just a little better, it could have easily been in my top five.

It has been a really good year for strategy games of every type, but XCom 2 earns my top recommendation.

8. Hitman

I admittedly only picked Hitman up in November, so that may have kept it from ranking higher. Then again, the sheer amount of great content Hitman produced for Giant Bomb this year might have helped it crack the top ten despite that. This is definitely the game I look forward the most to playing more of next year either way. This is also the second year in a row Square Enix showed the rest of the industry how to best leverage the episodic gaming format.

I do kind of wish I had picked up on this earlier to fully experience all of the elusive targets and such, but this was a tough year to find time for everything.

7. The Witness

Even at the seventh spot in my top ten, a part of me still sighs every time I think about this game over the fact it could have been much higher. I love just about every aspect of this game's design. The Witness is the first of two puzzle game in my top ten to hold itself firmly to its core tenants, for better or worse. That said, I also hate just about every aspect of what passes for a "plot" with the game.

Don't get me wrong: i am glad Jonathan Blow had the artistic integrity to put himself out there the way he did. I just still think the execution is kind of bad.

6. Severed

Severed is not just a good game, but it's an important one in that it proves mobile games can be as complete as our idea of a traditional video game. Every moment of the game oozes style. The use of Aztec-inspired imagery and folklore perfectly straddles the line between macabre yet cool. Sasha's tale of revenge is also one of the best examples of how to best execute minimalistic storytelling this year.

A couple of small issues keep it from ranking just a bit higher, but if there's one game from my top ten I think more people need to play, it's this one.

5. Uncharted 4

Uncharted 4 would be the winner of a "game I didn't want, but it turns out I did" category if I had one. Naughty Dog clearly learned a lot from its work on The Last of Us and applied those lessons to the Uncharted series. Action is toned down here in favor of plot and character development. Combat is much more robust with new stealth elements added to the series. Naughty Dog also proves once again that it's capable of wringing out every last ounce of power the PS4 has available to it with one of the best looking games of 2016.

Also, did anyone ever expect Uncharted 4 to receive awards for Best Story without being in sneer quotes?

4. Dishonored 2

Dishonored 2 is very much the Thief 2 to the original game's Thief in the way it improved on and realized the potential of the first game. I would even go so far as to say it features the best level design in a game this year. The story might be a little rough, but I love the hell out of the game's rogue gallery. Much more than the first game, Dishonored 2 lets you shift between stealth and action without having to worry so much about messing up your desired ending. It also features a much better collection of enemies than the original.

As soon as I find time to play through it again, I also look forward to a second playthrough, this time as Corvo.

3. The Last Guardian

The Last Guardian is the first of three games I seriously considered for my top spot this year. I still can't quite process that this game even is out, never mind how good it is. The Last Guardian is a game of such artistic integrity that you can't help but respect it even if you don't like it. You can almost feel the game collapsing under its own weight as the PS4 struggles to keep it optimally running and Trico's AI sometimes acts kludgy.

But past all that is one of the most emotionally rewarding journeys you can take in a video game in 2016.

2. DOOM

Deciding between my top two games this year was like trying to pick a favorite child. Yo, that DOOM single-player campaign is pretty good. From the music to the art design, from the weapons to the enemies, from the shockingly good boss design in an FPS to the even more shockingly good platforming in an FPS, DOOM has an impeccably designed campaign. It's just too bad the multiplayer is so mediocre. Part of me still can't believe a DOOM game in 2016 could be this good.

Also, Mick Gordon might be my favorite composer in gaming right now. Please use more metal soundtracks, gaming industry.

1. Overwatch

I am almost embarrassed to admit how much time I've sunk into Overwatch at this point. Game developers dream of designing a game this well. Just about every aspect of Overwatch is so carefully and thoughtfully designed. I love the cast. I love the art design. I love both Quick Play and Competitive. I hate the salty mofos I run into in competitive, but I love the fact I can so easily mute them. I love the community surrounding the game. I hate the fact it's so addictive that I can't stop playing this game, but I love the fact I have twenty-three different characters with different playstyles that keeps it fresh and interesting. I haven't put this much time into an online shooter since my Team Fortress days, and I'm not sure I will again. But Overwatch reminded me this year of all of the best, and sometimes worst, aspects of a multiplayer shooter.

I play this game casually with friends from twenty to forty. I also amateurishly coach and shotcall for a six-stack group from six different countries. I help moderate a Discord channel with 25,000+ members now, and I still enjoy writing those Overwatch guides (I hope you've been enjoying them!) every so often. I enjoy watching EnVyUS, Rogue, Lunatic-Hai, and the rest compete at the highest level, and I enjoy watching streamers of every skill level and Youtuber's like Muselk and Tyrodin simply enjoy the game with friends.

Overwatch may not be your cup of tea, but you'd be hard-pressed to not show it admiration from afar. It's 2016's biggest hit game, and it just so happens to also be its best.