To say 2016 was a weird year would be an understatement. But in the world of gaming, 2016 was one of the best years on record. No matter your taste, there were many great games waiting for you at all levels of development. If you like big, open world, blockbusters, there were multiple games that you could put 100's of hours into. If you like smaller, more focused experiences, this year in particular was filled with fantastic experiences. If you will, join me for the next 5 days as I celebrate one of the most diverse years in gaming.

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

List of 2016 games played (alphabetical)

Before I get to the awards, I would like to thank Gamefly, Redbox, Playstation Plus, the Steam Marketplace, Steam Sales, Free .io games, Free weekends, and Open betas. Because of all these things I was able to play all of these games, and only bought 5 of them, and only 3 of those were at full price.

• Battlefield One
• Dark Souls 3
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
• Dishonored 2
• Doom
• Far Cry: Primal
• Firewatch
• Flail Rider
• Furi
• Giraffes Volleyball Championship 2016
• Hitman
• Homefront: The Revolution
• Inside
• The Last Guardian
• Let it die
• Mafia III
• Mario Run
• Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
• No Man's Sky
• Overwatch
• Oxenfree
• Sid Meier's Civilization 6
• Stardew Valley
• Tom Clancy’s: The Division
• Uncharted 4
• The Witness
• Titanfall 2
• Tricky Towers
• XCOM 2

If a game isn't nominated for an award, it's because I didn't play it. Sorry Watch Dogs 2 and Superhot :( But for the games I didn't play this year, I have a category for them next year. With that being said, let's get started.

2016's Non-2016 Game of the Year:

This award is for games that I played for the first time this year or a game I have played before that did something major to bring me back into it.

• AdVenture Capitalist (2015)
• Bayonetta 2 (2014)
• Borderlands 2 (2012)
• Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin (2014)
• Fallout 4 (2015) (survival mode and mods)
• Fallout New Vegas (2010)
• Metal Gear Solid (1998)
• No one has to die (2013)
• Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015)
• Shellshock Live (2015)
• Spec Ops: The Line (2012)
• The Static Speaks My Name (2015)
• Time Clickers (2015)
• TIMEframe (2013)
• Town of Salem (2014)
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012)

Dishonorable Mention:

Borderlands 2: The first of many "dishonorable mentions", Borderlands 2 has the distinction of being the worst game I played all year. From its garbage mission structure, to its repetitive gameplay, to its rather terrible story, to its downright awful attempts at humor, there is literally one thing that was worthwhile in this game. Tiny Tina. Literally the only saving grace this pile of garbage game has is Tiny Tina, who I only enjoyed because I am a fan of Hey Ash Whatcha Playin'. Anthony Burch writing a character performed by his sister, Ashly Burch, was exactly why this character worked for me. Everything else about this game though, not so much. Top-to-bottom, Borderlands 2 may honestly be the worst, non-broke ass game I have ever played.

Honorable mention:

Fallout: New Vegas: In stark contrast to my thoughts on Fallout 4, New Vegas drew me in without leaving me immensely disappointed. There are a lot of great things to experience in the Mojave Wasteland, but this being my first true experience with mods outside of Steam workshop only heightened what was a mostly fantastic experience.

Runners Up:

Spec Ops: The Line: When it comes to video games, the thing I value most is what I call "Ludo-narrative cohesion". This is the blending of narrative and gameplay, or telling a story through mechanics. 2012's Spec Ops: The Line, for the most part, does a rather good job of this. By taking away player choice at key moments and then examining whether the player actually has a choice in the first place is one of the better ways I've seen player agency toyed with in a game. Spec Ops: The Line works as both an examination of how much control a player actually has, as well as a criticism of U.S. military actions in the Middle East. It will take a while for most games to get there, but Spec Ops: The Line shows that games can explore somewhat heady themes while still maintaining player engagement.

Metal Gear Solid: Speaking of "Ludo-narrative cohesion", Metal Gear Solid exemplifies that in a rather controversial way. The Ocelot torture sequence was one of the most frustrating experiences I've ever had, but it is easy to see what they were going for, and for the most part they achieve it. Outside of that, this game is still incredibly innovative, and it was disappointing noticing just how many modern games would benefit by taking some influence from this one. Metal Gear Solid is an experience is still wildly enjoyable and unlike anything else out there even 18 years later.

Winner:

XCOM: Enemy Unknown: Also known as Giant Bomb's 2012 game of the year, XCOM: Enemy Unknown executes on something that a large portion of games utterly fail at doing. Tension. Playing on ironman mode is one of the most tense and engaging experiences I've had in a long time because I began relying on certain characters, then they would die. This lead to a tangible feeling of loss. The mission where I went in with my best squad and retreated with none of them alive is an experience I will not soon forget.

Best "little” thing:

This award is for some of the lesser talked about things games do. From clever uses of controls, to entire moments that can be completely missed, this award celebrates these additions to the games of the year.

• Turtle- Firewatch
• The boat- The Witness
• Videos- the witness
• Bed visual trick- Stardew Valley
• Trowel- Firewatch
• Don't feed the animals trophy- U4
• R3 as the use button- Doom
• Doom guy being a dick- Doom
• Elevated directional path- The Division
• Fist bumping the collectible dolls- doom
• Petting a tiger- Far Cry Primal
• Stage fright trophy- Uncharted 4
• Instant Transition from day to night- Mafia 3
• Radio on the way to the last mission- Mafia 3
• Injury animation- The Last Guardian
• Yoga mushroom- Let it Die

Honorable mention:

R3 as the use button- Doom: Even though I despise 2016's Doom, I will give it credit for something that I would like to see more games do in the future. Having the use button be R3 (on PS4) was a nice little touch because I never had to move my thumb off the right stick.

Runners Up:

Trowel- Firewatch: In the southern part of Firewatch's well-crafted facsimile of Yellowstone National Park, you can come across a small shovel. The humorous conversation that follows leads to a fantastically subtle fourth wall break and is one of the more lighthearted moments of the game.

Don't feed the animals trophy- Uncharted 4: Arguably the epitome of this category, this moment can be completely missed and is just a small, dumb thing that exists with no connection to the rest of the game. Anyway, don't feed lemurs.

Winner:

Radio on the way to the last mission- Mafia 3: The radio in Mafia 3 is one of the best parts of a damn good game. The greatest hits list of the era adds immeasurably to the game's sense of place. However, when crossing the bridge to get to the last mission, the radio takes an interesting turn, eschewing the likes of the Rolling Stones and Creedence Clearwater Revival, replacing them with The Misfits, Ramones, and few other modern covers of songs from the game. This is a fantastic way to change the soundtrack to match the tone of the events on screen and it goes a long way in setting a mood for the final confrontation. Also apparently no videos of it exist for some reason.

Best Emergent Moment(s)

With games heading in a more player controlled direction, there are many situations that the developers never could have envisioned. This category celebrates the meeting of gameplay systems and player input, that usually leads to unexpected situations.

• Wrecking the opposing team with dragons- Overwatch
• Quad Spraying with Bastion- Overwatch
• Dalso the astronaut- Far Cry Primal
• Flaming Rhino Stampede- Far Cry Primal
• Beating the final boss with a saber-tooth tiger- Far Cry Primal
• Actual T-Rex murders Flower Face- No Man's Sky

Runners-Up:

Dalso the astronaut- Far Cry Primal: In Far Cry Primal's tutorial, the player and companion, Dalso, are sneaking around a herd of mammoth, this video demonstrates what happens when impatience and trying to break the game meet a massive, not so happy creature that can and will launch you into orbit.

Actual T-Rex murders Flower Face- No Man's Sky: No Man's Sky is what it is and there's no changing that, but when it allows for demonstrations of how the T-Rex earned its name, I'll let it slide on a few things.

Winner:

Flaming Rhino Stampede- Far Cry Primal: Far Cry games may have some of the best fire physics in gaming. I can't tell you how long I spent just setting stuff on fire just to watch it burn. So once during my prehistoric adventures, I decided to shoot off a random fire arrow in the direction I was heading. Usually, this didn't result in much, but in this video, it resulted in a terrifying moment that tops most horror games.

Best Moment/sequence

• Activating your first laser- The Witness
• Finding your first environmental puzzle- The Witness
• Chapter 4 "A Normal Life"- Uncharted 4
• Opening- Firewatch
• Ending- Firewatch
• Killing the final boss- Doom (put BFG in boss's mouth, full charge blast)
• Abyss watchers fight- Dark souls 3
• Completing an elusive target- Hitman
• Ancient wyvern fight- dark souls 3
• Visions of Fire quest/ blowing up the moon- Far Cry Primal
• Destroying stuff while riding a mammoth- Far Cry Primal
• Leaving your first planet- No Man's Sky
• Moral dilemma- Oxenfree
• Final Boss fight- Deus Ex
• Playing as the commander- XCOM 2
• "A crack in the slab"- Dishonored 2
• The Grocery Store- Mafia 3
• Confronting Sal Marcano- Mafia 3
• "Effect and Cause"- Titanfall 2
• Ending- The Last Guardian
• "Secret" Ending- The Last Guardian
• Trico playing in the water- The Last Guardian
• Trico Fight- The Last Guardian
• Discovering the Human Blob- Inside

Honorable mention:

Confronting Sal Marcano- Mafia 3: The entirety of Mafia 3 leads up to this moment and one rather cool thing they do is avoiding any cliche, video game ending by having this confrontation be a conversation.

Runners Up:

Opening- Firewatch: When I booted up Firewatch for the first time I didn't expect this opening. This text-based intro provides some vital context to one of the most thought-provoking games of the year.

Finding your first environmental puzzle- The Witness: The Witness is a game about solving line puzzles that show up on electronic boards around the world. However, keen-eyed observers will notice some things in the environment that look like they can be interacted with. The most obvious ones are the clouds (such as the incomplete puzzle pictured to the right) and the stream leading from the mountain, but there are many other puzzles that blend in seamlessly with the environment around them. One of my favorites involves using the boat to travel from one area to another and you must follow the puzzle while flying by it. These environmental puzzles open up the game in a truly mindblowing way.

Winner:

Chapter 4 "A Normal Life"- Uncharted 4: This entire sequence from start to finish is a great way to develop the one character in the franchise who needed it most, Nathan Drake. This sequence shows that Nathan is still stuck in his ways, in need of the rush of past adventures. Then after playing Crash Bandicoot, the relationship between Nathan and Elena is explored further. The way that this moment goes against everything Uncharted was set the fourth game apart in many respects.

Best Scripted Hitman Assassination:

Hitman is a game that allows for the player to be as creative as possible, but also has many scripted assassinations, called opportunities, that help the less creatively blessed (such as myself). These are only a few of the many options that this game gives the player.

• Ejector seat
• Toilet
• Giant moose
• Exploding golf ball
• Yoga
• Watch bomb
• Birthday Cake
• A tell tale heart
• Battering ram

Runners Up:

Birthday Cake: When 2016 started, I never thought that at some point I would be smothering someone in a birthday cake. Yet, here we are.

Exploding golf ball: When watching Dan and Brad play the Sapienza level, they noticed some information regarding an explosive golf ball. The first thing I did was find and use said golf ball to hilarious effect.

Winner:

A Tell-Tale Heart: In the last mission of HITMAN, one of the targets is in need of a special heart transplant. Agent 47, using his wits and guile is able to gain access to said heart. And then throws it straight in the trash. This moment is hysterical because of just how cold it is and the reaction Brad and Dan had when they did it made it even better.

And with that comes the end of Day 1. Tomorrow, we get into the best audio and visual aspects of 2016, before we start getting serious with Most disappointing and Best Surprise. Thanks for reading.