Quite a few of the games I played this year were either holdovers from last year or older games that I was just now getting to. As such i'm cheating a little bit for a couple of the entries, since if I only count the games released this year that I played I won't get a full list. It's my list anyway there are no rules so who cares let's go.
Crosscode is one of those rare times where a confluence of themes happen and the end result feels like a thing that was made specifically for me. I loved everything about this game, sometimes despite initial biases that would otherwise push me away. The best example would be that I loathe silent protagonists in games. I think it's lazy and breaks the story and takes me out of the experience. This game has a silent protagonist, and she is one of my favorite characters i've ever encountered. They take Lea's silence and work it into the story and do things with it that make it a key part of the experience. Through her expressions and interactions with other characters she dominates every inch of this story and makes it unequivocally about herself. Her limitation ends up making her a stronger character than she would have been had she had full dialogue.
While the main thing I loved about this game was the story and characters, what helped me play it for so long and want to do every little bit of side content was the gameplay. There is a lot of freedom to customize the way you approach combat encounters through various skills, and leveling up to get a new skill unlock is always something to look forward to. It does occasionally get quite difficult, but since I played they added in an accesibility mode that lets you tailor the combat and puzzle difficulty to your liking. This is one of those rare games that I could recommend to everyone. Play this game, watch a friend play it, watch a Let's Play or a stream. Just find some way to experience it. I would, without hyperbole, put it up there with Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana in terms of quality and importance.
While i've enjoyed Assassins Creed games in the past, it's always been a fleeting thing. I'll jump from one to another if they sound good but I have no expectations for a series that's been mostly hit and miss in equal amounts. I skipped Origins last year, and when they announced that Kassandra would be the main character for this year's I figured i'd pick it up if it looked fun. So in saying that Kassandra was the main reason why I played this game let me say that she absolutely blew my expectations out of the water. She is just amazing. I had so much fun running around Greece as an unstoppable demigoddess, whirlwinding destruction wherever I went. The combat was more actiony and less focused on stealth strikes (though they are still very viable) than the other games, but being that I love action rpgs and didn't have any expectations that this be like other Assassins Creed games this was fine with me. It was fun to engage with so I never felt bad if I messed up an assassinate and had to fight my way out. The open world was enjoyable to explore and unless I was going back and forth between opposite sides of the map I would tend to prefer riding my horse from location to location just to take it all in. If this is an indication of where Assassins Creed is going in the future then I am completely on board.
It's more Hitman. What more do you want? The best game of 2016, with new maps and a few new mechanics. It would be hard to mess that up and they absolutely did not. This game is a ton of fun, and is secretly one of the funniest games i've ever played. The balance between the self-seriousness of the setting and the wacky, ridiculous disguises and methods of execution you can perform is done masterfully, each only working because of the other. The sheer amount of replayability on offer here, even before getting to the elusive targets and community challenges, is just astonishing. I am so, so glad that this game worked out. It would have been a huge loss if Hitman 2016 was all we got from these people.
I played the first God of War but didn't really have any interest in the series after that. I'm pretty bad at character action games is the main problem, probably. When this one moved to a more action rpg style of control that seemed promising, and so I gave it a try. While the combat was fun and kept me interested throughout, the real star here is the story. Kratos is an actual person in this, doing things that can occasionally be considered to be relatable. This shocking revelation aside, the other characters are also fun and interesting, Atreus being a good match with his father's grumpiness. The ending trips and falls on its face somewhat, but for the rest of the game's runtime it's a fun and engaging journey through a beautiful and interesting world.
I love stories about robots. Sci fi, ai, space, it's all my jam. The Fall Part 1 was perfectly made for me, so when I finished it and saw that it was Part 1 and the story wasn't done I was mildly perturbed. Part 2 was worth the wait though, and it expands on the themes in a way that was incredibly satisfying. Just a good-ass adventure game about the nature of consciousness and agency within a futuristic setting.
I don't care that Sunset Overdrive came out four years ago. I don't own an Xbox One, so I could only play it now that it came to PC. This game is just an absolute joy. It's on the same level as Saints Row 4 in terms of its irreverence and goofiness, and similarly the gameplay makes you incredibly overpowered pretty quickly while still having that be enjoyable to engage with. It's just fun to jump and grind and flip around this city, blowing up energy drink mutants with a record launcher or a teddy bear that has tnt strapped to it. There's nothing mean-spirited or unpleasant about anything here, it's just some dumb goofy fun and that is something that I really needed this year.
I don't know how the idea for Yoku's Island Express even came up but i'm glad that it did and was put together. This game is endlessly charming, and the gameplay puts a neat spin on the metroidvania formula. In those games exploration and traversal need to be enjoyable in order for it to not feel like a chore, and this definitely manages that. The pinball mechanics are implemented well and it's always relatively easy to achieve what I want to accomplish when interacting with them. It's pretty short for one of those games, but for what time you do spend with it it is always delightful.
I like puzzles, I like metroidvanias, I like challenging combat. La Mulana was all of that, and La Mulana 2 is more of it. I can't imagine playing this game without a guide handy, but I did get through more of it without help than its predecessor so either i've gotten better or they lightened up a little. This is a game that you absolutely need to know what you're getting into with it, but if you're willing to take what it has to offer it's a pretty good time.
I generally don't get too into roguelikes. I get frustrated easily and without a feel of progression I can find myself giving up rather quickly. Dead Cells does a decent job at making you always feel like you're accomplishing something even on failed runs. Unlocking more weapons, better abilities, or even just getting practice against an enemy you're having trouble with. I didn't stick with the loop very long, once I beat the final boss and it reset but let me pick harder difficulties (that I wasn't interested in because it was hard enough) I was done with it, but for those few hours I did spend I had a good time.
Last year had Battle Chasers Nightwar for the "Joe Mad property I never expected to get resurrected," and this year it's Darksiders. Darksiders 1 was a fun game, Darksiders 2 I liked less but it was still pretty good. Darksiders 3 keeps that level of quality. It takes more inspiration from Dark Souls than Zelda this time, but there's still item/ability collection to open up new progression routes while fighting bosses and enemies. The game could stand to have more to it, it's pretty short for a game using the Dark Souls style of world, but I had fun engaging with what was given me. If they add a NG+ I will absolutely play more of it. I'm glad this series is continuing.
