RockyRaccoon37

There were too many games this year, so here are some that I didn't get a chance to play: Uncharted 4, Hitman, XCOM 2, Watch Dogs 2, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Dishonored 2, Owlboy, Rhythm Heaven Megamix, Dark Souls III

With that out of the way, here is my list

2016's Yummy Games

	1. Doom It's rare that a long awaited new entry in a storied series comes out and is as good as DOOM is. Not only does it live up to the DOOM name and understand exactly what made those games so beloved, but it manages to make changes that elevate the series and the FPS genre as a whole. Rip and Tear.
	2. Titanfall 2 Titanfall 2 is probably the only competitive multiplayer game that I've played where I never feel frustrated or want to rage quit. No matter how bad I play or how many times I get crushed by an enemy titan I still want to jump back in. It's fast, beautiful and has an amazing sense of scale and place. Not to mention it has an excellent single-player story mode on top of the terrific multiplayer.
	3. Kentucky Route Zero I just finished playing Act IV of Kentucky Route Zero a week ago. It hasn't really sunk in and I can't say I have an especially coherent reading of the game just yet. This is a game that isn't afraid to challenge its audience, it won't treat you like some doofus who needs the story or what is being implied spelled out. It's very reminiscent of David Lynch, depicting familiar American scenes with a sadness and darkness that's just about to explode from underneath the surface. Well written, with a stark but subtle visual style and terrific music and audio design-- it's been 3 years in the making but very much worth the wait.
	4. Overwatch It's not a surprise to see a Blizzard game in an end of the year top ten list, but it is a surprise to see that it's a competitive FPS. In between the amazing personality, diverse cast of characters and locations is a fun game that plays best with friends. I just wish there were more things to unlock besides dumb sprays and poses!
	5. Enter the Gungeon I'm a sucker for rougelike shooters. This is a new one and it plays really well so it's here.
	6. Final Fantasy XV There's just something about this game that I can't put my finger on. The side missions are mostly awful and repetitive, the lock-on in combat is a joke, the camera can be a mess and the story is almost non-existent. But there's SOMETHING about it. The characters and how they interact with one another is just about the most endearing thing in any video game I've experienced this year. The world is absolutely beautiful and totally bizarre. Having Ignis drive while listening to any FF soundtrack is chill af experience of 2016. It has a bunch of problems, but I never want to leave these boys they're just too much fun and the world of Eos is too goddamn strange and beautiful.
	7. Stardew Valley Speaking of chill af, Stardew Valley is the runner up for chill af game of 2016. I loved Harvest Moon back on the SNES and GBA days, and this was a joy to play as a fan of those games. However much like those old Harvest Moon games it just couldn't maintain my interest for the entirety of the game and eventually I just had to leave the farm behind.
	8. Mafia III While we've certainly seen games tackle race, Mafia III might be the first big budget game to do so in a way where race is at the forefront of the game. It's not perfect, and the game design is pretty mediocre as far as open world games go, but the story of Lincoln Clay is such a driving force. More than any other game in recent memory, I wanted to see this character get his revenge and brutalize the powers that be. On top of all of that, it's one of the few games that nails having multiple endings. While the game itself is just OK the story here is worth seeking out alone.
	9. Hyper Light Drifter Absolutely beautiful. From the music, to the visuals, to the controls Hyper Light Drifter just oozes beauty. Its story is told without dialogue and without text, it just kind of sinks into you if you let it. While many people described this game as being brutally difficult, I never found it to be all that challenging. However frustration can sink in when you have to backtrack and endlessly search for where you need to go in order to progress the game.
	10. Darkest Dungeon Unlike Hyper Light Drifter, Darkest Dungeon is just as hard as you may have heard. This game is brutal and unforgiving, and at times it seems like the game will actively turn the tables on you when you're doing well. Really my only problem with this game is how often it felt like there was rubber banding (NBA JAM style) occuring in the background whenever my crew was ripping through enemies. I love a good challenge, but not at the expense of fairness. But the unfairness never got me to stop playing for very long, before I knew it I was back in that crappy town diving ever deeper into those unforgiving dungeons.

Since the death of The Besties (perhaps the best and most antagonistic video game podcast of all time), I really don't stray much from the Bombcast and the Beastcast. I've listened to Waypoint Radio and really enjoy it, but I'm not a big fan of Danielle personally. Danielle has an energy that comes off as grating to me personally and I don't like people who chime in with one-word responses ("yeah!" or "huh" or "wow") while someone else is talking-- Jason also does this exact same thing and it's just as grating to me.

Very wrong. No Overwatch but you think Dishonored 2 will make the cut? No way.

My guess:

1. DOOM
2. Hitman
3. Overwatch
4. Titanfall 2
5. Inside
6. Uncharted 4
7. The Witness
8. Stardew Valley
9. Overcooked
10. Mafia 3

I think Watch Dogs 2 could maybe sneak at at 10 instead of Mafia, but my guess is the storytelling in Mafia would push it on the list over Watch Dogs. Overcooked seems like the co-op game that everyone really enjoys. Stardew might not make it since I think only Dan really put serious time into it. The Witness will be on here, and my guess is it'll be towards the end of the list. Uncharted and Inside will likely be towards the middle of the list only because I think the top 4 is basically a lock-- the order is the only question. I would personally like to see Titanfall 2 over Overwatch, but I don't know how that argument will shake out. Seems like Dan, Alex, Jason and Vinny are all still playing Overwatch (to some degree) while Jeff is the only one really into Titanfall.

I'm thinking DOOM will likely take it, but Hitman is a late entry dark horse for sure-- especially since Vinny and Jeff both recently started playing and enjoying it.

Should be a damn good year for discussions though!

EDIT: Forgot that Superhot came out this year too, so that would probably make it in place of either Mafia 3 or Stardew Valley

I'm curious, what was it that your read by Arthur that was so off putting that you wrote the entire website off? And to be fair I'd hardly call him the face of the website, he's only a reviews editor after all.

To each their own and all that, just seems highly reactionary to me.

100% agree with this. The video production side of things at Polygon is experimental, weird and more often than not really funny and entertaining. You mentioned Griffin McElroy, but I'm also way into what (former Giant Bomb baby boy intern) Nick Robinson and Simone de Rochefort are doing with video there too.

I'm also a fan of some of their writers and they've definitely published some great written pieces as well, both from freelancers and their staff.

There's this persistent hatred of the site as a whole that comes off as so bizarre. Reminds me of the Gamespot "System Wars" mentality. There are people at the site who I disagree with, and straight up don't like (Ben Kuchera, Arthur Gies' reviews) but the "Polygon sux" comments are just so reductive. Polygon is more than a handful of bad articles or specific writers you don't like and reducing the creative and critical output of that site to Polygon as a whole is unfortunate.

@spaceinsomniac: Thanks for this, just joined!

Just picked up a PS4 last week mostly for Titanfall 2 (PC doesn't cut the mustard anymore), and boy howdy it's been a while since I've played an FPS with a controller. One of the things that I've found helpful is changing the default controller layout to "Bumper Jumper" so your jump button is on L1 instead of X, I've found it makes it a lot easier to aim while wall-running and jumping.

Really hoping to see some balance patches come through that make Legion, Scorch and Northstar worth picking because right now they seem like the wrong choice almost always.

I'm almost always in the bottom of the score list too, but the game is still almost always a fun time with few frustrations. Like everyone else here, loving the BOMB network and hope to see that in more multiplayer games in the future.

"there are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning

they are leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever"

I've adored Leonard Cohen's music and poetry for years. When I heard the news this was the first song to come to mind:

Love the podcast so far but I do wish it was a little longer, even an hour long each episode would give it a little more room to breathe. The dynamic between Austin and Patrick is solid and both are really intelligent so I think it will produce some interesting and unique takes on games and stories in the games space.

And considering Patrick isn't in the studio with Austin the conversations have been surprisingly free of awkward pauses and talking over one another. That being said I think them both being in separate locations will always keep this podcast from reaching the heights of other podcasts where all participants are in the studio together and can play off of one another-- frankly I think that's just an impossible hurdle to overcome.

Obviously that won't stop it from being a great podcast though and well worth tuning into each week, which it already is as far as I'm concerned.