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flakmunkey

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Game of the Year 2016

While 2016 came with a lot of trouble, strife, disappointment, disenfranchisement, and just an overall sense dread usually relegated to stories from the darker moments of human history or dystopian fiction, it was a hell of a year for videogames. Not only did some bangers and incredible surprises release this year but it also marked my personal entry into the videogames industry, a goal I have been striving for for quite some time now.

My original intent was to do a deep dive on each game, delving into the nuance of why they made the list, but honestly I just don't have the time nor the writing chops for that right now so instead I'll pump as much info as a can about why I loved each of these games in nice concise little chunks.

List items

  • This game....man this game is so good. HITMAN feels like a videogame designed for game designers. It a beautiful mix of incredibly complex loops and mechanics that, on paper, sound like a recipe for absolute disaster but somehow, through a combination of what feels like dumb luck and top in their class designers/developers, HITMAN works in a way that no stealth game, especially a Hitman game (a series I've previously despised) ever has before. If you told me in January 2016 that HITMAN game would make my top 10, let alone number 1, I would have... still used this tired cliche.

    TL:DR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jipO8rloA4&t=1s

  • From the moment I saw the "Best Moment" Shotgun Cock all the way till about 3 days before writing this list I was absolutely certain that DOOM would be my GOTY. While Super Mario may be what originally got me playing games, Doom (1993) is the reason I have the passion for the art of videogames that drove me to become a game designer.

    While it didn't quite hit for the right reasons, I was (and still am) a Doom 3 apologist however that game as well as the early leaked "Call of Demons" shots and what seemed like a complete implosion of id Software, my expectations for DOOM were pretty low and I honestly expected it to be garbage. Never before in my life have I been so happy to be wrong. DOOM is a perfect game, yes, perfect.

    The speed, the action, the music, the attitude, the self awareness are all top notch but the most important and amazing thing that DOOM has, something I haven't really seen in an FPS since the originals, is it's wonderful flow. Like a hot new Kanye track, DOOM has this aggressive but smooth flow that keeps you moving forward at all times, ripping and tearing through every last hell spawn in your path. As one Brad Shoemaker said, the game is "pure id" all the way through. Play DOOM, now.

  • I hate competitive, multiplayer only games for the most part but Blizzard somehow made a game so tight, balanced, and fun to play that I have not only kept with it since launch, I even play competitive. That's saying a lot if you know me and my gaming preferences. I have over 100 hours in this damn game with 778 games played and I see no end to this road in the near future.

    Nerf THIS!

  • Anyone who tells you that the witness could have just as well been an iPad game that just jumps from puzzle to puzzle is someone who clearly hasn't played much of the witness. And if they have but still feel that way you should probably not engage in dialogue with that person anymore for the safety of your IQ.

    Jokes (not) aside, The Witness is a beautiful game that at first glance looks like a collection of clever, challenging puzzles. Don't let that first impression fool you, because that island full of puzzle bozes is just the first layer of a deep and surprising onion that will slowly peel away as you explore it's depths and discover it's secrets. Or you won't, because what I think I love most about The Witness is it's refusal to ever hold your hand or point you in a direction that left me feeling like it's creators truly trusted the intelligence of it's players and didn't feel the need to coddle them through just to make sure they saw everything there was to see. It is absolutely possible to "finish" your experience in The Witness, feeling completely satisfied that you experienced a complete game without ever knowing that there is still tons more content yet to be discovered. There is a confidence to that that I really appreciate.

  • Cruising through the wacky, pseudo-realistic fantasy world of Final Fantasy XV, homies at my side all dressed up like the hottest new J-Pop boy band was way more fun then it ever deserved to be. Yes, the story is clearly unfinished and full of holes, the pacing is awkward and leveling curve completely nonsensical, but despite all these issues the main loop of Final Fantasy XV is really, really fun and pulls of something I never though I would enjoy in a Final Fantasy game, a really good action-battle system. I loved the hell out of this game and look forward to playing it again once they've patched in the rest of the story (wut?).

    **DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy 7 is the best (3D) FF game. Period. I have played it once a year since it launched and am excited for my 2017 playthrough. I know that for many this will very much color your opinion of my opinions**

  • SUPER

    HOT

    SUPER

    HOT

    SUPER

    HOT

  • Not a whole lot to say here. I love the Souls games and Dark Souls III is a really good one of those. Add in it's use of fan-service and how it's lore fills out the Souls universe in just the right ways, Dark Souls III turned out to be an incredible finally (unless FROM changes their mind, which is likely) to the series and one of the 10 best games this year.

    PRAISE THE SUN

  • I lived in San Francisco for 2 years and that is the only reason I picked this game up at all. Watch_Dogs was a garbage game and my expectations for the sequel were so very low, but somehow this game not only charmed me with it's goofy over-the-top hacktivist fantasy, it also poked fun at America's gentrification Capitol in ways that I really appreciated. I even somehow came out the other end of that game truly feeling empathy for a dude who wears a digital emoji mask and calls himself "Wrench". Really didn't see that coming.

  • This game is utterly devastating and heartbreaking. That Dragon, Cancer tells the autobiographical story (with some obvious stylization and visual metaphor) of the Husband and Wife design team as they discovered that their 12 month old son had a number of cancerous tumors. The game takes you through vignettes in a point-and-click adventure style as you relive the moments of love, anger, frustration, and conflicts of faith that the couple experienced as they fought for every last moment of life and love that they could provide their son up until his untimely, and unavoidable passing at 5 years old.

    Like I said at the beginning, this game is devastating and heartbreaking but at the same time beautiful in it's honesty and sincerity. These people loved their son so much, that they needed to find a way to share that love and their heartache with the world. It is unrelentingly human in a way that, once I was done crying my eyes out (I'm actually tearing up again writing this), made me appreciate how much this medium that I love has grown, and makes me look forward to more people like Ryan and Amy Green to share their stories with me in the future.

  • If you played the last Deus Ex game, Human Revolution, you already know exactly what to expect here. While it makes a few tweaks here and there, Deus Ex Mankind Divided follows the playbook of the previous entry pretty closely which, being only the second entry in the "new" series, isn't a bad thing in my opinion. I'm a sucker for some good, dirty cyberpunk and that's what the Deus Ex universe offers. I totally asked for this.
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