1. Dark Souls 3 ; It's more Dark Souls with the best graphics to date and cool, fun and useful new game mechanics. What's not to love. Brilliant.

2. Darkest Dungeon ; Such brutally balanced difficulty and fun, addictive gameplay combined with a great atmosphere, and the best art, sound design and narration of all time make this near perfect. Drug like.

3. The Witness ; I was in the "but it's just line puzzles..." camp until I took the plunge at launch. Suffice to say it's so much more than just line puzzles. Genius.

4. The Last Guardian ; Who would've thought that the most lifelike vidya game character of all time would be a twenty-five ft griffin thing. Truly beautiful.

5. Titanfall 2 ; As much a first person platformer, as first person shooter with a top notch single player campaign and just about the most fluid movement in the genre. Buy it.

6. Firewatch ; Such an enjoyable ride due to the beautiful location. It was a pleasure just to do a bit of exploration. Now add to this a witty script, stellar performances and very reasonable launch price and this could've been higher. Oh, and the game also features the best vidya game song of all time via the boombox in Push Play. TURN IT UP, TURN IT UP TURN IT UUUUUUUUPP!

7. Amnesia Collection ; New to me and as good as I'd always hoped.

8. Inside ; Limbo is a favourite of mine and this was every bit a worthy successor.

9. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; They really nailed the combat in this one. The feel of the guns. The sound of the guns. The verticality of the combat arenas as a result of the introduction of the grappling hook. The options for satisfying stealth gameplay. The combat was the best it's ever been... There just didn't feel like enough of it. Still the fact that this is at number nine probably puts 2016 as the overall best year ever in gaming for me. And I'm old. Like Nate at this point. Bring on TLoU p2.

10. Tricky Towers ; Got this on PS+ and had so much fun playing it with the kids that I actually bought some skins. Which is something I would ordinarily never do.

Also put a couple of hours into Doom but it didn't grip me. I'll have to return to that. Will be looking to play Severed, Bound, Salt & Sanctuary and Let it Die in the future. Phenomenal year of gaming.

1. Dark Souls III ; Nothing beats the Souls games in terms of combat, level design, art direction, and atmosphere. If a Soulsborne game was released on that year, it's going to be my GotY, easily, and this is no exception.
2. Salt and Sanctuary ; See above! Except this time it's more Metroidvania. Which makes for a great mix. Best indie game I've ever played. Extremely polished too.
3. Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen ; The PC port that finally gives the game justice. It was my GotY of 2012 as well but now the smooth framerate, prettier visuals, item hotkeys and the option to turn off pawn chatter make this a lock-in.
4. Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir ; Improved on the original in every way, this game is quite massive and always a joy to play. Best-looking 2D backgrounds I've ever seen, but of course it is Vanillaware after all.
5. Dishonored 2 ; It's more Dishonored. Except as a woman. Awesome.
6. Xanadu Next ; Falcom action-RPG goodness. Straightfoward combat (not as intense and awesome as Ys, but still with kick-ass boss fights at least), more pronounced RPG elements, and an intricately interconnected world full of secrets. Too bad it sold like shit and it has poor controller support (have to use the mouse to navigate the menus and inventory, ack), it's actually really quite good!
7. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; Worth playing just for Madagascar. Okay, and the adorable epilogue too.
8. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II ; It's like CS1, except without the shitty school stuff and only the fun field-trip stuff and some improvements to combat. Oh hey, that's... pretty damn cool.
9. Gravity Rush Remastered ; You can fly. And you have a cat. What, you need more reasons? Pfft, you soulless monster. Okay then how about, there's an invented language like the "Panzerese" language (from Panzer Dragoon). And comic-book style cut scenes like Phantasy Star IV. Also come on you can FLY
10. Sorcery! ; Great adaptation of some of my favourite gamebooks growing up.

(Haven't played Deus Ex: Mankind Divided yet, but I'm pretty sure it would have made the cut somewhere.)

Honourable mentions:

x. Gears of War 4 ; Yay cover-shooty coop, been a while. Decent campaign, was fun while it lasted but I have no interest in online multiplayer and the abrupt ending was WTF.
x. Viking Squad ; Cool little indie 2D brawler with beautiful art and fun coop.


Special unlisted mention:

The Nioh beta: Not eligible as a full game so just listing it here. I had more fun with this (and spent more hours on it) than many full games I played. The alpha was pretty bad, but the beta sold me completely.

1. The Last Guardian ; After all these years of waiting and hoping, it was finally here. A unique and touching story that only Fumito Ueda seems to be able to make in a game that delivered on nearly all fronts minus performance. More of a successor to ICO than Shadow of the Colossus but sits comfortably alongside those two legends and my game of the year.

2. Dark Souls III ; An almost perfect merging of Bloodborne and Dark Souls that doesn't quite reach the peaks of either of those games, but comes together in beautiful ways with some of the best level design in the industry.

3. No Man's Sky ; No other game came close to offering the overwhelming size, scope, and ambition as No Man's Sky. There are failures to deliver here but what remains - and what's been added post-launch - is still an incredible experience that hits the inner child in me that grew up watching Star Trek and dreamt of exploring the stars.

4. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; The only game on my list that I enjoyed but also walked away from disappointed. It's a fantastic Uncharted game with great set-pieces, acting, and combat - everything you could expect from Uncharted - but coming off of The Last of Us and early trailers, I expected something more daring with the narrative. "Safe" is how I would describe it, especially the massively disappointing ending . This almost - almost, but not quite - falls into "great game, bad sequel" territory for me.

5. Gone Home: Console Edition ; Played the PC version soon after it came out years ago and couldn't wait to experience the story again when it come out on PS+. Still an incredibly moving experience that I feel everyone should play at least once and a must-play if you're into environmental story-telling.

Honorable Mentions
x. Furi ; The industry needs more fast-paced, high-energy boss rush games. What's here wasn't enough to hold my attention but I hope it serves as inspiration.

1. Overwatch ; One of the best multiplayer shooters I have played in a long time. The game is so well designed. Amazing art style that is pleasant on the eyes, fantastic character designs and personalities and the amazing balance of so many player heroes that are all fun to play and offer something for every playstyle. It is also the only game this year that I continue to come back and play. Really looking forward to the future with this game due to the amazing way Blizzard has been updating and listening to the community. Top
Notch.

2. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End ; An achievement in storytelling and single player design. From the great writing and character building to the state of the art motion capture that expresses the emotion to the player is all industry leading. It is also the best looking game to come out this year regardless of platform. What Naughty Dog is able to do on a PS4 is outstanding. Bravo on sending Drake out on the highest of notes.

3. INSIDE ; This game does not waste any time. A perfect little package that does everything it sets out to do perfectly. The atmosphere, sound design, visuals and animation all come together to make an extremely cohesive experience that gripped me the entire time. I was so fixated to what was taking place in front of me. The way they are able to convey what is going on without any dialogue or text is amazing.


4. DOOM ; I played this game later after hearing so much praise for it and I was still shocked at how good it was. It is insane that this game is as good as it is. The moment to moment gameplay is so much fun, topped with a hilarious and nostalgic story wrapped around it. Best single player FPS campaign I have played since Half Life 2.

5. HITMAN ; Wow they did it. An actual episodic game that fits. From the first tutorial mission I was hooked on how fun this is to play. You truly can approach this game in any fashion you wish. It has endless amount of content, with the dev constantly adding new things to do like elusive targets. This is something I will be continuing to play and look forward to season 2.


6. Titanfall 2 ; Really liked the first game and saw the potential they had with a sequel. They knocked it out of the park here. It is as if they listened to everything the community said and made good on it. A shockingly stellar single player campaign that was really good and unique. Combine that with an amazing multiplayer that is fast paced fun and we have probably the best complete package of a game this year. This game was given a disservice by EA for slotting it between BF and COD and it deserves better. Kudos to Respawn and look forward to the next installment.

7. Firewatch ; Very well crafted and original story that really pulls it off. I love how the game opens and it does an amazing job of telling you who Henry is. The music and art design are well done and fits perfectly. Also probably the best voice acting of any game I played this year by far. It is a short experience like INSIDE, but so well done and worth the time.


8. Dark Souls 3 ; Honestly this is as good or better than any game previously in the series and would probably be #1 on my list, but series fatigue does exist. Also on the heels of playing tons of Bloodborne, I just did not feel the same. Despite that, I did love this game and think it is outstanding. I will probably return to this and start a new play through once all the dlc is released.

9. ABZU ; A tranquil experience is the best way I can put it. The soundtrack fits the vibe so well. Great swimming controls and the art style is fantastic. If you want to sit back and relax, this is the perfect game.


10. Killing Floor 2 ; I am just a sucker for this type of game. Loved the first one, and Killing Floor 2 just build on that. Nothing better than slaying zeds while rocking to metal music.

Is Another Metroid 2 remake allowed? Cause that's definetly one of the best games I played this year.

Anyway my list

1. The Witness ; An absolute masterclass in game design. The Witness should be studied in game design classes as the best example of a singular vision perfectly executed into a grand adventure. This is no small three hour indie game, this is the size of a Zelda epic with near non stop game variety and surprises around every turn. I have never played a puzzle game that felt like Metroid except instead of new weapons to open new areas it's knowledge the player learns that acts as the keys.

While on the surface it seems like it's an entire game of line puzzles what Blow and his team does with that interface is nothing short of astounding. You will have puzzles that focus on sight, on sound, on perspective, on math; it's like the greatest interactive IQ test where the questions aren't some boring static words on a paper but a living breathing world you actively explore and can see in so many different ways.

The best part is how it never loses the identity that it is a video game first. This medium allows us to interact, it is the key ingredient that differentiates games from all other forms of entertainment. By allowing that interaction the puzzles are allowed to go beyond the scope of our reality, you cannot replicate these puzzles in the real world, it allows for this new kind of discovery which is what the game is about. And boy when you discover the game's biggest secret that was right in front of you the entire time it's a mindblowing experience.

To top it off the theme of the game is so perfectly woven into every fabric of this game that I feel it's also a shining example of storytelling even though it's all done in the background. This game is about the scientific method, it's about you entering an unknown world with unknown rules and applying logic and science to further explore. As you go deeper you find audio files and videos of past scientists and philosophers who's words resonate with what you are doing in game. I cannot praise the design of this game enough, it's a masterpiece.

2. Uncharted 4 ; Part of me hates this game for it's slow boring sections. It's focus on telling a story over giving me awesome moments to jump and shoot. But it's all done so well that it's excusable. The action is by far the best in the series when it's happening. The story is Hollywood level stuff with incredible acting that feels real. It's graphically the most amazing game I have ever seen. It has fun online modes. I still love the game despite it not being as good as Uncharted 2.

3. Dark Souls 3 ; The ultimate DS game. it's also the same thing again which is great but it's starting to lose it's magic.

4. Doom ; Totally blown away by this one, they actually did it. They made a modern game that had the frantic feeling of the classics.

5. Xcom 2 ; Awesome strategy goodness with a great twist to the formula.

6. Ratchet and Clank ; It's classic ratchet, not the best in the series but felt so good to play one of these games after so long.

7. Deus Ex Mankind Divided ; No as good as the last one but it's still Deus Ex. I love exploring and finding fun ways to accomplish my goals.

8. Watch Dogs 2 ; It's world is one of the most impressive to explore. Fun mechanics and great online stuff. I didn't care for it as much as the first but I am in the minority on that one.

9. The Last Guardian ; between SOTC and Ico lies this game. It's puzzles could have been better but the whole adventure was a blast to go through.

10. Titanfall 2 ; Woah where did this campaign come from?! One of the best FPS campaigns around with some great multiplayer.

Honorable mentions:

Final Fantasy XV ; One of my least favorite FF games but there is something about this game that's still great. The post game is so much better than the main game.

Chronos ; The best VR game I played this year and a game I wish was out on normal platformers. Cool mix of Dark Souls, Zelda and RE camera angles.

Superhot VR ; The best use of VR tech and touch controllers but it's an hour long so I can't give it too much praise. Feels like a tech demo.

1. Overwatch ; While I have not played Overwatch for as long as I would have liked or as long as other people have, I have about 50 hours played, those 50 hours have been nothing, but the most enjoyable multiplayer I have played since pre-F2P TF2. It's just not the game, but Overwatch has got me looking at fanart, shipping characters, and even reading fanfiction *gasp*. For all these reasons Overwatch is my GOTY.

2. Ratchet & Clank ; While the game is shorter than the original this remake is budget price and is the pinnacle of the series gameplay desing. Story is kiddie drivel compared to the decent one in the original, I blame the movie for that one, but for the sheer strength of gameplay, graphics, and my own nostalgia for the series I really, really liked Ratchet and Clank.

3. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice ; A much needed return to form for the series. Cases aren't as outlandish as Dual Destinies and the side characters are much stronger compared to the last few entries. The entry also basically serves as the Apollo Justice game that his own game should have been.

4. Headlander ; While not the funniest game that Double Fine has ever made it is definitely one of their best from a gameplay perspective. A thouroughly enjoyable, inventive, and charming Metroidvania from beginning to end.

5. Furi ; Easily the best PS+ game given away this year. A fast-paced difficult boss game accompanied by an outstanding electronic soundtrack and great character designs courtesy the Afro Samurai artist.

6. Senran Kagura: Estival Versus ; Sure it's a blatant anime fanservice game, but hey I'm a man of simple taste and this game does it with abandon and without shame. And hey it's a fundamentally decent brawler/ Musuo style game as well.

7. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth ; Better than a Digimon game in 2016 had any right to be. A well-designed addictive monster collecting game that is only brought down by it's piss-poor translation and easy difficulty on normal and insane bullet-spongy type bosses on hard.

8. The Jackbox Party Pack 3 ; An great improvement from Party Pack 2. While none of the new games are classics like Fibbage or Quiplash, the package still has Quiplash and the 4 new games are a great step up from the other games that came within 2 and are great fun and parties.

9. Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book ; My first foray with the Atelier series and I was not disappointed. A JRPG that is on a small local scale of making friends within a small town and a friendship bond between a girl and her book/ later doll friend. Shows that not every JRPG needs to have insane stakes throughout to be enjoyable.

10. Doom ; I honestly thought this game was going to be bad up to release. I know I'm not alone on that, but I can't emphasize how surprising that this game turned into one of the best single-player FPS campaigns in recent memory. Got a bit long in the tooth in the end and the included multiplayer brought to mind the days of last-gen of tacked on multiplayer, but the single-player is just so much fun. Rip and Tear.

Honorable Mentions
x. The Last Guardian ; A fantastic experience that everyone should experience, but I honestly hated actually playing the game. The bad controls and occasional frustrations from getting Trico to do what you want for extended periods of time bring the game down from being in my Top 10.

x. Pokémon Sun/Moon ; My honor for the game that would be on my list if I managed to finish it before the deadline. I believe the story focus on the game was a much-needed shot in the arm for the series along with the best realized setting in the series. Biggest issue is the weak regional dex such a step back from X and Y in that regard.

1. The Last Guardian ; I'm glad it's out. It's unapologetically a Ueda game; awkward controls, an undesirable camera but a minimalistic design fleshes out an endearing relationship between a boy and his companion.

2. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; I love chapter 4. Nostalgia probably elevated my memories of the previous entries up more than I remember, but I do enjoy the uncharted series for what it is. Witty, fun characters with some entertaining dialogue. Sandboxy open combat was welcomed, though the crates weren't at times. More down time in this final chapter but I appreciated most of it, again, specifically chapter 4. I still play the multiplayer occasionally and it's good fun, it was a good sendoff to an entertaining franchise from Naughty Dog.

3. Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir ; GORGEOUS game. I have the PS2 version but never got very far. I love me some Vanillaware, scrolling through lovely 2D repeating environments with cool attacks, skills and items across five very different playable characters. It wouldn't be a vanillaware game without delicious looking food and cooking and this game was no exception. You collect various ingredients along your journey and are able to give them to the travelling pig cook who can whip up some delicious food for you. Among some ingredients are seeds which you can use to grow all sorts of fruits and items to use for helpful and explosive potions or even grow a lamb with. You can also hatch chicken eggs and watch it grow into a chicken that lays more eggs provided that you feed it. I thoroughly enjoyed the game.

4. Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book ; My first atelier game and I loved it. It was laid back at my own pace, no worries, do whatever I want, whenever I wanted to do alchemy. It wasn't quite as daunting as I thought it would be, very straightforward, good tutorials and simple to follow recipes most of the time. It's cute and a bit anime trope-y at times but that wasn't too bad. I don't really know why exactly I enjoyed it so much, but I did. I like making shit but usually find games that have crafting all too daunting but this was very relaxing and easy to play, I guess that's partly why I enjoyed. I look forward to Atelier Firis later this year, Gust has made a fan out of me.

5. Gravity Rush Remastered ; I love Kat, she's great. Funny, adorable, strong, compassionate and independent. Controls and camera can be somewhat cumbersome and the mission structure is bland, but the movement is really cool, literally falling through the world. I hope the sequel is as enjoyable as the demo makes it out to be, I look forward to it.

6. Dragon Quest Builders ; Another laidback game, it was surprisingly enjoyable. I like minecraft just to make whatever the fuck I feel like but this is more focused; there are clear goals and it has direction instead of being a pure sandbox game. It's straightforward too, filled with very mature dialogue that kept me entertained. Has some neat building ideas that streamline crafting forts and houses and things of that nature. The only thing I detest about this game was the combat and the back to back cushioning of combat related missions near the end of chapters. The combat because it's pretty boring, just move and hit repeat. It was a very fun game despite that, I hope they (square-enix) makes a sequel.

7. Grand Kingdom ; Surprisingly fun. Very customizable characters, interesting ways to strategize combat on a 2D plain. The whole chess like pieces on the map of the battlefield was kinda simple but cool. Neat art very reminiscent of Vanillaware, also directed from a the guy who was responsible for Grand Knights History so it kind of makes sense. It's thoroughly enjoyable experience.

8. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth ; I like monster catching games like pokemon, despite not really enjoying the last iterations of pokemon. I didn't care for the story very much though there were some enjoyable characters and moments. I was just in it for the digimon catching and raising. And that part definitely was enjoyable with all the which ways you can transform your monster buddies it was awesome. Poopy little green slimes can grow up one day to become a giant metallic beast. That's probably the most significant thing I enjoy about Digimon they're pliable like the actual data they depict and become almost anything.

9. World of Final Fantasy ; A self-aware final fantasy x pokemon. Yeah I like monster catching games. Very humorous at times, serviceable but tedious battles. I really hate that shitty squirrel that adds ‘the' to everything that just ruined most of my enjoyment of this game, it's a simple thing but it was very grating to mar the self-deprecating humor of this game.
10. The Witness ;

Honorable Mentions
x. Bound
x. Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse ;
x. Darkest Dungeon ;
x. Political Animals ;

1. INSIDE ; Top notch art direction, sound design, animation and implicit storytelling come together to create one of the most hauntingly beautiful games ever. Masterpiece.
2. Overwatch ; After a long hiatus from competitive gaming, this is the one that brought me back, fantastic action FPS with great characters.
3. Dark Souls III ; Not my favorite game in the entry, but still a fantastic ARPG with gripping lore and atmosphere, I'll probably never get bored of these games.
4. Darkest Dungeon ; Found this gem just a few weeks ago, amazing, difficult dungeon crawler with a lot of unique gameplay mechanics, great artstyle.
5. The Witness ;
6. Doom ;
7. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ;
8. Final Fantasy XV ;
9. Civilization VI ;
10. ABZU ;

A lot of games I'm sure would make the list I just didn't have the time to play

1. Final Fantasy XV ; What a wait. What a game. Oh, it has problems for sure, some of which gave me pause on voting it for my game of the year. But I truly believe that the game is much bigger than its issues. Some things about it don't work, but so many do. The visual presentation was outstanding despite technical imperfection. The combat system, a main draw of the game, felt very nice and more importantly, fun. I didn't feel like I was playing a straight up action games along say the Platinum pedigree, but for an action RPG it was very enjoyable. Shimomura's soundtrack shined with some of the overworld music and especially the battle tracks. The four main characters were an enjoyable and different lot, with Noctis being one of my favorite Final Fantasy protagonists and the others added a lot of camaraderie and charisma to the group. While the story really falls apart and gets downright strange in the second half, I consider the brunt of the story to be travelling around the world, gathering power from the shrines-- sort of like in The Legend of Zelda. That, to me, was the story: reclaiming the throne, becoming powerful enough to do so, drawing power from ancestry. I can't defend the narrative direction for the back half, but the story was still solid with some real heavy emotional beats at the end and also still largely compelling because of a compelling villain. Final Fantasy XV isn't the best game in the series, but its highs absolutely did it for me and the general experience I had with the game, I feel, is deserving for my top spot.

2. Dark Souls III
3. Rise of the Tomb Raider
4. The Last Guardian
5. Titanfall 2
6. Gravity Rush: Remastered
7. INSIDE
8. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; this would have been much higher if the pacing were good, if there wasn't as much "walk and talk" and just numerous sections that absolutely drag. When there's actual gameplay, it's fantastic, but I feel like it doesn't really get there until the second half.
9. Ratchet and Clank
10. DOOM

x. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine ; I don't consider this a full game so I couldn't bring myself to put it on the main list, but it was still a great experience that I wanted to give some props to.

Still work in progress but it is what it is when the deadline hits.

1. Dark Souls 3 ; possibly the line up of bosses in the entire series and even a middle of the road Souls game is the best game of the year. Some fantastic areas as well like Irythll of the Boreal Valley.
2. Deus Ex Mankind Divided ; Has some flaws toward the end, but still a deep and enjoyable game.
3. The Last Guardian ; one of a kind experience
4. Uncharted 4 ; I love and hate this game. Amazing gameplay with god awful pacing.
5. Call of Duty Infinite Warfare ; Best Call of Duty campaign ever. Take it to the bank.
6. Hitman 2016 ; Suprise of the year. I haven't even finished all the maps but spent tons of time on just 3. Really good stuff.
7. Battlefield 1 ; favorite multiplayer shooter of this gen so far.
8. Doom
9. Ratchet and Clank
10. Mafia 3 ; haven't finished yet but good gameplay and story but too many mandatory side missions.

As usual I play way more games from previous years than the current one, but hey let's do it anyway.

1. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; Great action game with stunning visuals. Not much else to say, it's a very good game that lacks a bit of novelty to become a fantastic one.
2. INSIDE ; Very dark atmoshpere and interesting puzzle gameplay. Story is a bit weird but great experience overall.
3. Star Wars Battlefront Outer Rim ; Excellent new maps and mode. Too bad Bespin and Death Star are way worse because that first one really worth it.
4. Furi ; I'm not even halfway through the game but I really enjoyed my time with it. That's the kind of game I like to take my time with to play in sparse but intense sessions. Challenge is tough but fair and controls are very pleasant.
5. Pokemon Go ; Huge phenomenon that was especially great because of the social interactions. The game is special to me because I was playing it while walking with my baby every evening in the park last summer so I was always having good times.
6. Trackmania Turbo ; That's another trackmania for you and I haven't play it that much yet so it's not that high in the list but it is still one of the funniest game on earth. The visuals are pretty nice especially compared to the previous games I played (I skipped 2). It's on console also which is nice and the Double Driver mode is a nice surprise; I thought it would be a gimmick but we had a great time with it with a friend.
7. Ratchet & Clank ; I haven't beat it either but I played a good chunk of it. It's a good game with great visuals and good enough humor (Sonic is so bad this could have a comedy price...). I have issues with its controls though. They are imprecise and I struggle sometimes with the camera.
8. Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge ; This is clearly not as good as the other on the list, but still a decent game for free and the most useful use of my amiibos. I played it on the gamepad while watching TV or other stupid stuff and it's a good pastime when played that way.

1. XCOM 2 ; XCOM 2 is the best turn-based strategy game I have ever played. Full stop. The amount of detail that went into this game's systems are really evident. Blowing a hole in the roof and having an ADVENT soldier fall to its death, or blowing up a wall to make an impromptu escape route are at the top of some of the exciting gaming experiences I've had in 2016. Also, it's pretty crazy how much of an improvement it is over Enemy Unknown, a game that was quite good in its own right. It's still as brutal as ever, although the quality of life improvements make the inevitable RNG reckonings more manageable. Can't wait for XCOM 3, but one thing I hope they address is the strategic layer being a bit more intuitive. Also, this is more towards 2K: do better DLC next time, it was pretty bad this go around.


2. Fire Emblem Fates ; Fire Emblem Fates feels like an expansion pack for Awakening overall. That being said, I don't say that as a negative mark against Fates. Almost the opposite, actually, as I thought Awakening was a pretty solid title as well. With the exception of the story and characters (I can't believe they wrote an even worse story than Awakening's which wasn't that great either), Fates flaunts a number of improvements over the last entry. My avatar isn't nearly as broken as it was in Awakening, and the amount of design that went into the map designs (at least in Conquest) was very satisfying. I'm really glad Fire Emblem has become a prominent Nintendo franchise; crazy to think it was on the verge of death not too long ago.


3. HITMAN ; I'll start this by saying that I didn't think Absolution was nearly as bad as some people said it was. It was a really pretty game (it's actually prettier than HITMAN in many areas, but that's not important), and the levels were quite interesting. That being said, I think HITMAN is the title that fans of Blood Money were waiting for. The scope of levels has reached a new high for the series, and the amount of moving parts within them are as overwhelming as they are impressive. There's A LOT to do here (Sapienza is a GOAT level for the series). The episodic format posed no issues to me, as I didn't mind being drip-fed content considering the dearth of other games I played in the interim. Thanks IOI, for this nearly-perfect murder sandbox.


4. Pokemon: Sun Version ; It's more Pokemon, okay. After my reflections on X and Y (and deeming them ultimately disappointing), I was very impressed with this new generation. It just felt really fresh and innovative for a series that has been around for decades. The Alola region is visually interesting and varied than the other regions we have visited in the past. The quality of life improvements on display here really make the campaign comfortable to go through. I'm the type of Pokemon player that finishes the campaign, does some postgame content, makes a half-assed attempt to run the battle gauntlets, and then drops the game. This time, I've been trading, and constructing different teams to play online and take to the Battle Tree (I beat normal Single and Double circuits, something I've never done before!) well after my completion of the campaign. Good stuff.


5. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse ; ES EM TEEEEEEE! Shin Megami Tensei IV was my game of the year in 2013, so it's no surprise that its sequel is back on my GOTY list this time. I don't really have that much to say about it actually; it's functionally the same game as IV was, albeit with a number of quality of life improvements (that seems to be the theme this year), and a brand new scenario. This game plays like a dream. SMT games normally have blazing fast combat systems, and although Soul Hackers still has the crown for speed, Apocalypse feels even faster than IV was. I found the atmosphere to be worse than IV's (Apocalypse is lighter-hearted, though when viewed within the context of who you play as and follow in the game, it makes sense). I loved how Tokyo in IV felt like an absolute shithole that hated Flynn and company, so Nanashi and company's campy romp this time was admittedly less enjoyable for me. That being said, the game still dives into very dark themes like an SMT game would (the Anarchy ending is suuuuper edgy, fam). New SMT games were recently announced, so now begins my eager anticipation for more Megaten.


6. DOOM ; Like most of the internet was, I was losing faith that this game would be good leading up to its release. Happy to say I was dead wrong. This is THE action game of 2016. A violent, visceral, and fast-paced action game that encourages you to keep moving and cause a wake of carnage that would leave the Tasmanian Devil blushing. When you're not obliterating demons, DOOM is full of little secrets hidden in remote areas of the levels, which is much appreciated in a modern AAA space when secrets are almost nonexistent. Music is metal as fooooook, and it was absolutely tonally consistent with my mission as The Doom Slayer. Not much to say about multiplayer, I got the game really late in the year, so everyone was already at max level and bodied me rather consistently. Really disappointed that the Bethesda decided to focus on postlaunch development for this instead of new singleplayer content. Ah well. RIP AND TEAR.

Honorable Mentions
x. Ace Attorney 6: Spirit of Justice ;
x. Enter the Gungeon ;
x. Pokken Tournament ;

1. Trails of Cold Steel 2 ; What is there to say about Trails of Cold Steel 2? While the first game was amazing it's own right, I did feel it held itself back at times and while the pacing wasn't necessarily bad, it was a bit too slow at times. The sequel manages to fix all my problems with the first game and then some. While you can argue it's a bit easily exploited, the combat system is even more fun to mess around with. While I can always trust Falcom to provide an excellent one, CS2's OST is amazing that I still find myself listening to on it's own.

As you'd expect from a Trails game, the writing is phenomenal and shows why I love the series so much. Every NPC is a joy talk to and has their own story. That's not say the main cast is boring, far from it. Rean manages to be a great protagonist, with his character taken in interesting directions that separate him from most stereotypical JRPG protagonists, though my favs were definitely the powerful giant sword using Laura and Jusis who has a great character arc. Even the villains have a lot of charm to them! Suffice to say, it was pretty easy this year for me to pick my game of the year. The game had me feeling all sorts of emotions from joy, sadness, excitement, confusion and more, and I mean all that in the best way possible. Trails is still a niche series, but I'm glad it's slowly picking up some more mainstream attention. Obviously, I highly recommend playing the first game first because this is a direct sequel, but I'm really to have this game be my game of the year and I hope Trails' future is a bright one.

2. Fire Emblem Fates ; If there's any series I love, it's definitely Fire Emblem. Let's get this out of the way: Yes, Fates' story is a mess. A really big mess. Especially the Conquest side. It's probably the worst aspect about the game and I do hope in a future game they take heavy note of that. Everything else though? Fantastic. Largely an improvement over Awakening in every other way (and trust me, I loved Awakening!) there's so much I love about the game. While the story leaves a lot to be desired, the characters make up for it. You have to dig abit into their supports for them to really shine, but you have people like Xander, Leo, Elise, Laslow, Odin, Selena, Takumi, Sakura, Hana, Oboro, Saizo, Silas and more that I'm far too lazy to list. The music is also phenominal, probably the best OST in the series.

And thankfully, the gameplay is great as always. Birthright is basically a much stronger version of Awakening, having overall stronger maps and fun gimmicks. Conquest is reminds of good old classic Fire Emblem, having some of my favorite maps in the series and was challenging throughout the whole way, making me really think about what actions I should take. Revelations has some major balance issues, but it still is really nice to have mostly every character available from both sides. The game in general has a lot of heart and fun stuff that I can't really stop myself from putting it this high on the list. It's a really great Fire Emblem game, and while I hope Intelligent Systems take note of the criticisms this game has received, Fates is still a damn good game.

3. Pokemon Moon ; Pokemon is back...again! While the past few games have been arguably a bit too safe and leaned waaaay too much on the easy side (I know Pokemon games have never been the most challenging games, but XY's was just insultingly easy), Sun and Moon (though I mostly played just Moon) thankfully manages to shake the formula enough to keeps things interesting and also manages to be familiar enough to remind myself why I really love this franchise in the first place. The island challenges are really refreshing and interesting while the Pokemon battling and raising is still as fun as ever with some interesting new Pokemon to catch (though Rowlet's still best starter, real talk guysss).

It's arguably the best Pokemon games in a while and while it has it's flaws (aka the online is unnecessarily convoluted for no real reason), everything else more than makes up for it, from QOL features, to the visuals, to surprisingly enough, the story (it has some great characters and was much better than XY's), if there's any Pokemon you should play, it's probably this one.

4. Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator ; The best fighting game of the year deserves more recognition. An actual feature rich game, the best looking fighting game this gen, an anime as hell, but great and colorful roster, with some super solid gameplay (...Danger Time aside). There's not much else to say because it IS just a second version of an old game, but it's still a great game and if you love fighting games, you should probably pick it up already (it's on PSN AND Steam right now!)

5. Overwatch ; I'll be honest, I'm not really a big of first person shooters in general, but Overwatch manages to be one of the few exceptions to the rule. It's just a blast to play especially with friends and wide variety of heroes to mess around with from the mech controlling D.VA, the cyborg ninja Genji to the speedy time jumping Tracer to the healer Mercy. It's not a game without it's flaws (especially if you're playing this with people who won't stay on the damn payload...), but it's really fun to play all the same and I look forward to playing more in the future.

6. Kirby Planet Robobot ; Kirby is back and better than ever! If you liked Triple Deluxe, Planet Robobot is the game for you. While there's a lot of familiar Kirby stuff here, the mecha gimmick is the most fun one in the series in my honest opinion! There's so much to love about the game that I couldn't help myself from playing through the whole game with a smile on my face. Is it a bit too easy? Maybe, but games like Kirby aren't meant to be challenging. They're just meant to have a blast with and this goes it exceedingly well. It's charming, visual appealing, cute, music is amazing, lore is surprisingly indepth, but most of all, it's just fun. Planet Robobot is probably the best Kirby game in a while (and I say this as someone who thinks Kirby has always had a consistent track record), and I'm super happy to have played it.

7. Dark Souls 3 ; The (...probably...?) final entry in Dark Souls had a lot to live up to, and while I thought the beginning of the game was kinda on the meh side, the rest of the game is excellent and has all the Souls goodness I really enjoyed from the series. It has some of the best bosses in the series, has interesting lore and the combat is still fun and challenging as ever. There's not much else to say if you're familiar with the Souls series. If you're a fan of the series, 3 will scratch the itch if you're looking for more (much moreso than 2 which I felt was disappointing at times) and is a great sendoff to the amazing series.

8. Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse ; While a lot of people including myself are still eagerly awaiting for Persona 5 (geeeez is it still not out over here yet?), the next entry in mainline SMT is still a great one and improves in pretty much every aspect from the previous game. The combat system is rebalanced and more fun while still remaining challenging enough to make you sweat, characters (with the exception of a few...) are stronger and more likable, while the story isn't amazing, it manages to expand upon the previous game's and make it all the more interesting. While I recommend playing the first game first, Apocalypse is still a great game and if you're interested in the SMT franchise, you should definitely check it out.

9. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice ; I always love me so good old Ace Attorney and this game is no exception. In fact, it's one of the best games in the series. The cases are more intense than ever and had stuff I didn't see coming in the best way, the characters and stories more likable (Apollo Justice in particular finally gets a chance to shine here and he's kind of amazing) and gave me some strong feels at the end I wasn't prepared for. All in all, this is another great entry in my favorite mainstream VN series and I'm glad to have played it. Objection!

10. VA-11 HALL-A ; This visual novel bartending game kind of took me by surprise at first, but it manages to exudes style and has one of the most killer soundtracks I've heard all year. It has some really likable and complex characters, has this pretty cool system where you can get someone drunk or not to get different (and often times, hilarious) dialogue, and is generally this really charming game with an atmosphere I couldn't get enough of. It's a pretty chill game I like playing if I just wanna relax and it's pretty cheap get on Steam, so you should definitely check it out if you haven't already.

Honorable Mentions

x. Final Fantasy XV ;
x. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth ;

1. The Last Guardian ; Yes, there are technical issues, but despite that you still have a completely unique and moving experience. One that amazes multiple times. Something that only Ueda's team seem able to create. It was worth the wait.

2. World of Final Fantasy ; Both the best Final Fantasy and the best pokemon game released this year.

3. Uncharted 4 ; I appreciated the slower paced adventure and the combat was amazing but I thought they played it safe with the ending. It was a fitting finale though.

4. Final Fantasy XV ; A disappointing main story which felt like large sections were missing. Not a great Final Fantasy game but a very enjoyable RPG.

5. Dark Souls III ; Another brilliantly designed Souls game, way better than DSII, but at times felt more of the same. I'd be ok if the series ended with this one.

6. Dragon Quest Builders ; As someone who got bored of Minecraft after 30 mins, I've been glued to this game. Has a lot of charm.

7. Firewatch ; The game didn't have as much freedom as I'd hoped but the story, dialogue, character depth was fantastic. Love the relationship that builds up throughout the game.

8. Ratchet & Clank ; Probably the most consistently "pure fun" franchise around.

9. Inside ; Not what I expected at all, well designed and completely unique.

10. Salt & Sanctuary ; A well designed 2D Souls.

1. INSIDE ; There's no competition here. Hands down the best game of the year and one the best games of all time. The atmosphere, story, animation, sound and art design was superb, out of this world. An experience unlike anything before.
2. Firewatch ; The main characters and the chemistry between them was marvelous. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, dialogue and the setting. Kept me hooked straight into the end.
3. The Last Guardian ; I'm giving this one the same amount of praise as for the game above. It succeeded in the same areas but in totally different ways. The physical interaction between the boy and Trico was mesmerizing at times.
4. Overwatch ; Blizzard simply did it again. Only thing that doesn't work is the Competitive mode played with randoms/strangers in the same team.
5. Final Fantasy XV ; Seems to be a pretty great for a game that was doomed to fail by many. This is the only game in this list I haven't finished but after 32 hours (chapter 5 currently) I'm confident that the rest won't let me down.
6. Hitman ; A perfect example of transforming an old game series in to a modern episodic experience. Also the best Hitman game ever.
7. No Man's Sky ; Propably the most hyped game of my life. Turned out it wasn't as hardcore and deep as promised. But I enjoyed it then and enjoy it now. One of the most "chill" games I've ever played.
8. Quantum Break ; Remedy hit a jackpot with the game and tv-show crossover. The stylish gameplay could have needed something more to keep the action fresh straight till the end. But the interesting story was the highlight for me.
9. SUPERHOT ; When I was a kid, like twelve years old, I came up with an idea for a FPS shooter where the time moved only when you did. Well about 15 years later these guys made it a reality. Gotta love this one.
10. DOOM ; Doomed to fail as well but this just showed the middle finger to everything and fucked some shit up. Tight controls, gunplay and the guns had that oomph.

Honorable Mentions
x. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; A technical and visual masterpiece...but nothing more.
x. The Witness ; Some nauseating puzzles and a lackluster ending hindered this otherwise beautiful game.
x. XCOM 2 ; A mixed bag compared to the original reboot but entertaining nonetheless.
x. Grow Up ; Couldn't capture the originality and sense of progression it's predecessor had. An enjoyable game still.

1. The Witness ; It takes a special game to be equal parts video game, notepad, and MS Paint drawings. This is an experience that will consume you, even when you aren't playing it.

2. Stardew Valley
3. Overwatch
4. HITMAN
5. Titanfall 2
6. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
7. Dark Souls III
8. SUPERHOT
9. DOOM
10. Virginia

1. Hyper Light Drifter ; I have played very few games that have done atmosphere as well as this game does. The combination of music and color choices and lack of text and everything makes the world feel lonely and mysterious and dangerous. And on top of all of that, it's difficult in a satisfying way, and it doesn't hold your hand - you need to figure things out on your own.

2. The Witness ; I had been supremely curious about this game for years, mostly because I wanted to know if Jon Blow could create something as compelling as Braid again. I thought the premise seemed intriguing, but I wondered whether creating a 3D world and having a larger team (but still small) would dilute the tight experience that Braid was.

I don't think the game is as tight as Braid is, but I think it gains a tremendous amount of ground in atmosphere, and it leads to many more satisfying moments - those moments when you figure out a puzzle you've been banging your head against for some length of time.

3. Doom ; I completely missed the early PC shooter days because I was too busy playing games on various Nintendo systems. My first few shooters were GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, and Halo. So I have no affinity for anything id has done in the past. But this game was generating such buzz that I had to give it a try.

As it turns out, crazy speed in an FPS is fun. Also, I wish I could have been there to listen in on some of their discussions about various aspects of the game's design. I like to imagine they went like this:

"What's the point of reloading?"
"You have to reload guns."
"But this is a video game. Why do we have to reload a video game gun?"
"Because other games do it? That's just how it is."
"I don't like it. It slows things down. Get rid of it."

4. Salt and Sanctuary ; This game original caught my eye because of its art style. It had been described - even by the developers, if I'm not mistaken - as 2D Dark Souls. I haven't played all of the Souls games, but I've enjoyed what I have played, so I gave it a go. I don't think the combat is quite as interesting as the combat in Dark Souls, but they nail everything else, and it works way better than I thought it would. It's quite difficult, exploring the world is enjoyable, and it doesn't push you in any direction. You're dropped into the world and you just go.

5. Superhot ; This game is very short, but I had a smile on my face for almost the entire time I played it. The mechanic of time basically freezing while you're not moving is very cool, but even the story, as dumb as it is, is fun. It's dumb fun.

6. Ratchet & Clank ; I have a soft spot for Insomniac's games. Something about upgrading guns by using them a lot just does it for me. The game also looks great - it's very colorful and animates well. It isn't as cheesily funny as past games have been, but it's a solid entry in the series. I hope they keep making these.

7. Titanfall 2 ; I'm not a multiplayer shooter sort of guy - you'll notice Overwatch is not on my list. As such, I never played the first Titanfall. I value the feeling of progressing toward something too much, and that something is usually finishing a game. People had such positive things to say about the first game that I was excited to get to play this game's campaign.

I don't think it's quite as revolutionary as some other people think, but it's great. The difference between being in a Titan and being on foot provides a lot of variety, and being able to move around by double jumping and running on walls makes moving around much more engaging than in most other shooters. This game even got me to play the multiplayer off and on for a few weeks.

8. Stephen's Sausage Roll ; This game is hard. The puzzles feel very different than something like The Witness, but it provides lots of the same feelings of satisfaction when you solve a puzzle - particularly when you solve a puzzle that caused you to give up on the game for about a month, but then you come back to see if your brain has unconsciously worked out a solution, and it sort of has.

I know the price turns people off, but I've played the game for nine hours, and I'm probably only about 1/3rd of the way through it. It's a very clever game, and if you like a deceptively simple puzzle game, I can't recommend it enough.

9. Inside ; I was extremely late to the party on Limbo, so I vowed to not be late to this game. It's extremely Limbo-like, which is why it isn't higher on my list. It has moments that are great, and the fear and anxiety I felt throughout reminded me of my first time playing through games such as Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. Sweaty palms and a rapid heartbeat from wondering what's waiting to kill me in the next room.

10. Hitman ; I didn't play this game as the episodes were released - I binged a couple of times throughout the year. I sort of wish I had spent more time on each individual level, but I thoroughly enjoyed figuring out each level ticked and trying to find the sneakiest way to eliminate the targets. This is a lot of game in one package, and I applaud them for their episodic structure because it gave people (not necessarily me) to really dig into each level and find a lot of cool situations.

x. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; Putting this game into my honorable mentions doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. I had a great time with it, but at the end of the day, it's a much better version of Uncharted 2, and while I respect these games a great deal, I think they're held back by being big budget video games. In most big budget video games, you shoot people/aliens/whatever. I don't think this game does the shooting poorly, but I desperately wish we could move past the need for these types of games to be about shooting things. I keep hoping Naughty Dog will be the developer with the guts to say "this is our big budget western game where you never even use a gun, or if you do, things are very, very dire." The times when this game is about solving puzzles or climbing walls or playing Crash Bandicoot are great. When this game is about shooting dudes, it's adequate.

x. Quadrilateral Cowboy ; I want to put this game higher. Stringing commands to do things together was very satisfying (even if it isn't ever as complex as I'd hoped it would be), but I just encountered too many bugs. The bugs were extremely frustrating and held the game back.

1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II ; The first game was my favorite of 2015, so it's not surprising that it would make my list this year. Although I feel it's not as good as the first, it still has the best story of any recent JRPG.
2. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse ; An improvement over the original SMT IV, which already was one of the best RPGs on the 3DS.
3. Dragon Quest Builders ; Never got into Minecraft before, but I found myself addicted to this game.
4. Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past ; Never played it before on the PS1, so it's basically a brand new game. Haven't finished yet, but I already like much more than DQ6.
5. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare ; I don't normally play first-person shooters, but I was drawn to this game because of the sci-fi setting and jackal battles. As far as action games go, this is the best I played this year. I only played the campaign mode, but the story was surprisingly well done.
6. World of Final Fantasy ; The better of the two FF games this year, but only because WoFF is much more polished than FFXV.
7. Final Fantasy XV ; This is the first mainline FF I've really enjoyed since FF IX. Although I will probably wait until the game is patched a bit more before finishing it.
8. Xanadu Next ; I played this game years ago in Japanese, but it's nice to play it again to understand the story. An underrated action RPG that more people need to try.
9. Stranger of Sword City ; Despite being a very punishing dungeon RPG, I still found myself hopelessly addicted to it.
10. Shadow of the Beast ; This game is probably not for everyone, but it brings back a lot memories of playing the original on my Turbografx.

1. Overwatch ; When a game drags you in so much that you can't even finish most of the games you planned to list, then you know it's something truly special. At face value, this is something I'd normally hate: No single player, $40-$60, heavily reliant on loot boxes and only 3 game modes outside its arcade mode, and a set of cartoony characters.

However, it is something far greater than the sum of its parts. It's incredible how well Blizzard succeeded at balancing all characters. Each has unique ways to contribute to the team and yes, you need to work as a team in order to win. Killeath Ratios are almost disregarded entirely as awards can be given out for simply blocking damage or healing teammates. Players can develop true specializations that change much more than the gun in their hands. The maps are diverse and built for specific game types so nothing feels out of place.

As for the loot boxes? Not only does nothing affect gameplay but the game has the greatest array of cosmetic DLC I've ever seen. Blizzard put a great amount of effort into costume design as well as the uniqueness of the rest of the content, recording additional voice lines and creating new animations. And I usually receive at least one pack every time I play the game so there's no grinding whatsoever.

An incredibly in depth series of objective modes, unique arcade modes, plus constant updates and support which we will probably see for the next decade, Overwatch offers my favorite Multiplayer I've experienced since Halo 3. With their first new IP since the 90's, Blizzard has knocked it out of the park, creating a game that will last longer than many series.

2. Dark Souls III ; Yes, franchise fatigue has indeed become apparent. But that should not distract us from what the final entry in this incredible trilogy has accomplished. DS3 combines the best aspects from the Soulsborne series into one, ranging from the fast paced combat and Lovecraftian atmosphere of Bloodborne to the covenants and build variety of its predecessors.

The game offers not only some of the best boss fights in the series but some of the best ever made as well. While at face value, it repeats the DS2 mistake of having too many humanoid figures with swords, the unique movesets and twists to each fight make them drastically different from one-another.

Although it is not one of the most original games this gen, it is among the best and it represents a fine culmination of the series.

3. Titanfall 2 ; While many on GAF were surprised by the success of this sequel, I expected it from the moment its development was announced. Respawn, as Infinity Ward, created some of my favorite shooter campaigns in CoD4 and MW2 and while Titanfall 2 lacked the insane twists, it utterly destroyed them in terms of gameplay and level design. Through its vertiality and platforming, levels are a blast to run through. Abilities unique to certain levels make each mission feel unique. And the Titan battles live up to the hype. While the multiplayer wasn't the best of this year, its dynamic gameplay and free DLC make it the best in a traditional FPS this gen.

4. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; Naughty Dog once again succeeds in creating an incredible cinematic experience with a cast of characters somehow featuring nobody I disliked. It open levels elevate the encounters of the series yet the set pieces are still among the best. While I was not a fan of the pacing, when you finally reach its best moments, which come frequently, they're very much worth the wait.

5. Doom ; I think I'm only halfway through this but the gameplay is too good to leave off this list. Powerful weapons, satisfying glory kills, and very fitting soundtrack make it oddly comfortable to play. And no reloading is a joy. I'm sure I'll finish this if I can bring myself away from Overwatch.

I wasn't able to get to all the games I would've liked, so this is more of a work in progress GOTY 2016:

1. Inside ; beautiful, haunting, thought provoking, meticulous - an exceptional game
2. Dishonored 2 ; Exceeds the original, with some of the best level design I've seen recently.
3. Firewatch ; Great narrative, characters, environments, and exploration, wrapped in a stunning aesthetic.
4. DOOM ; Thank you id, for letting us go balls to the wall.
5. Gears of War 4 ; It looks and feels just like the previous Gears games, which is good and bad. Still, I had a great time
6. Battlefield 1 ; I really enjoyed the vignette style campaign, lots of different settings and gameplay opportunities in a small package. Probably my favorite overall Battlefield game

Honorable Mentions - even though I've stopped my list at 6, given the games I've yet to play, I don't think these would've landed in the top 10 anyways (except Gone Home):
x. Gone Home: Console Edition ; I'm not sure how eligibility for this game this year works, so I'm listing it here. Overall, it would've probably been in my top 3 for the year.
x. Quantum Break ; I'm glad Remedy was able to make this game, but I don't think it needs or deserves a sequel. I enjoyed my time with it, but almost 9 months later, I don't think it was very memorable.
x. Oxenfree ; I liked it, just didn't love it
x. The Solus Project ; I got about half way, then sidetracked and haven't gone back. I enjoyed my time, but not enough to pull me away from other games in my backlog

Games I've purchased, but haven't had the time to play yet:
o. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided ; Loved HR, and look forward to getting into this one
o. Titanfall 2; As a big Titanfall fan, I found the mp beta disappointing. I still want to give mp another shot, and I'm really excited for the campaign.
o. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare ; The first time I've been compelled to purchase a COD game since MW2.
o. ReCore ; I love the style and setting from what I saw. Looking forward to play it this year

I also haven't played: Uncharted 4, Overwatch, FH3, FFXV, XCOM 2

1. The Last Guardian ; Hugely emotional and is simply the most cinematic game I have ever played. I think I like it better than Shadow of the Colossus.
2. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; What an epic way to end of the most iconic franchises ever, and the ending in this game is something I still think about time to time.
3. Final Fantasy XV ; I can't believe I enjoyed this game as much as I did. I absolutely adore the world, characters, and yes even the combat. I played this game for a week straight, and an entire day would pass by me without me even realizing where the time had gone. This was also my first FF and this game inspired me to play past entries as well. Can't wait to experience FF VII Remake now too.
4. Titanfall 2 ; One of the most creative shooters I have a played in a long time, and the mechanics of this game make this the best multiplayer of the year for me.
5. Inside ; The atmosphere and world building of this game left a huge impression on me, and I really feel like the puzzles were basically perfect in design. Everything in this game has a purpose and feels necessary - one of the very few games I can say that about.
6. Doom ; Never played a Doom game before and this came out of no where, it was an incredible surprise. When I think back on this game, what I remember most was just how thrilling it was. A total rush to play.
7. Overwatch ; I didn't stick with it as much as I thought I would, but this was definitely one of the most fun shooters I've played in a long time.
8. Ratchet & Clank ; Beautiful, fun as hell, and incredibly charming. Insomniac does it yet again.
9. Street Fighter V ; I haven't played a fighting game in years, and this game was able to bring me back. I'm excited for the genre as a whole again.
10. The Witness ; I haven't finished it yet but I can already say that this is one of the most intriguing, addicting puzzle games I've ever played.

1. The Last Guardian ; The reason why I'm voting on GAF GOTY for the first time. If I saw it only needed one more vote to get a better position, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. It's yet another brilliant lesson in game design from Fumito Ueda, and without a doubt one of my favorite games of all time. The emotional connection created with Trico is unprecedented, achieved through both its incredibly realistic AI and also simply using the basic game mechanics to go through this journey. This isn't the kind of game that will stop to tell you its story, at most keeping you holding forward while the characters interact. You live through it, every moment playing is perfectly integrated into the story, and through actual cooperation with your AI companion, you develop a bond stronger than any amount of dialogue telling you why you should care about this character ever could. This is the game people should look at when they're considering adding a forced slow walking section for character development. Some of the most intense action sequences this generation and the most emotional ending I've ever experienced in the same package, no need to pick one or the other.

2. Final Fantasy XV ; The wait is finally over, and though this isn't even remotely the same game I imagined way back then, it's still a very unique experience, thanks to the whole roadtrip theme, that permeates the entire game and its design decisions. The simple gameplay loop of sleeping at an outpost, eating something for buffs, picking up some quests and a hunt, going out to do my things and camping along the way if needed was just so well realized. I fully bought into this game's vision, and had an amazing time with it.

3. Hyper Light Drifter ; One of my favorite indie games, it puts you in the ruins of a world that was once great, and exploring such an intriguing environment keeps me invested all the time. Every new monolith I find, I can't wait to decipher and read what it's telling me. These are very well realized ruins, reminiscent of Ueda's games, actually. It was no surprise to recently find out that they both share Nausicaä as an inspiration. It's a very challenging game that requires your full attention and deliberate inputs to beat every encounter, and very distinct areas full of secrets and shortcuts to uncover.

4. Dark Souls III ; The fire fades, and the lords go without thrones. The ending to the Dark Souls series might not have been as incredible as I hoped after Miyazaki's two previous games, but it's still an amazing entry in the Souls series, which is now my favorite gaming series for sure. The depth their worlds have is so engrossing, with characters like Aldrich bringing a surprisingly sinister aura to the story, considering how dark the whole series already is. Getting to know a little more about that world, exploring some of the best designed maps in the series and fighting some amazing bosses made it a worthy ending to Dark Souls. I'm excited for the next DLC, but I'm insanely hyped for Miyazaki's next IP. I'm glad they ended it before it started to become too much.

5. ClusterTruck ; Motherfucking ClusterTruck. I did not know what the hell to expect when I played it, but the sense of speed is so intense it had me contorting myself in front of my monitor. I don't think I've experienced anything like this before. And though the mechanics are simple, their intricacies bring so much depth that I can't help but repeat each level until I beat all of my friendlist, which some times proves to be incredibly difficult. It's a shame the global leaderboards are meaningless because of hackers, but it's still an awesome game.

1. Picross 3D: Round 2 ; A refreshing spin on a classic that adds another layer of logic. The perfect lazy Sunday morning game, best enjoyed with coffee. I'd love to see those wooden toys on the big screen in HD.

2. Rhythm Heaven Megamix ; Just based on the sheer amount of content, this is surely the best title in this brilliant series.

3. Pokémon Sun ; In my opinion, every generation of Pokemon is better than the last. This is no exception. Very excited for the future of this series.

4. Ratchet & Clank ; The new gold standard for remakes. Really highlighted how well designed the original was, then added polish and a rewarding upgrade system. Looking forward to see what's next for Ratchet & Clank.

5. Overcooked ; Pure gameplay. Deceptively clever level design. Best local multiplayer since Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.

6. Pocket Card Jockey ; Probably the most played game on my list. Massively addictive and easy to pick up and play.

7. The Last Guardian ; Despite some glaring flaws, this is a really special experience.

8. BoxBoxBoy! ; Shows how much you can do with simple graphics and a clever gameplay mechanic.

9. Pokémon Go ; The first month or so of it's release was a gaming experience that I don't think we will ever see again. I'm glad I was there to witness it all.

10. Fire Emblem Fates ; Greatly appreciated the tweaks to this entry. The improved pair-up system, removing weapon durability, and battle locations differing by the placement of the unit are all improvements on Awakening.

Honorable Mentions
x. AM2R ; Ineligible for GOTY, but this was seriously impressive. The Metroid game I've been wanting for years.

.

Reading these lists and comments is like "Brandon, you shoulda played more games"

I just keep getting caught up in huge timesink games. I put many hours into The Witcher 3, FF14 (especially this good lord), FF15, Dark Souls, and replaying games like RE4-6. I need to hone in on the shorter stuff and knock some of those out. Won't be before the deadline, but I'm happy enough with my list.

Wanted to do a proper write up but not really had the time so just gonna spew out some thoughts before the deadline.

1. Overwatch ; Bar far and away my GOTY, and the best multiplayer shooter I've ever played. It's actually made it hard for me to play other games cos every time I boot up my ps4 and see it sitting there I don't wanna play anything else. Everything about this game design from to the ability interactions to the sound design is super well thought out and polished. Love the characters and the games personality too. I can see myself playing it for years.
2. Hitman ; First hitman game for me and it was fantastic. The episodic design really worked in the games favour because I probably wouldn't have replayed the maps that much otherwise. The systems have surprising depth and I'm continually surprised by just how many ways there are to interact with the environment in order to take out the targets.
3. Abzû ; Journey was my game of the last generation so not surprising that I enjoyed this so much. Doesn't quite reach the same highs but the combination of the amazing music and visuals is a wonderful experience to let wash over you.
4. Bound ; Another audio/visual treat, love inventiveness of using the dancing for this kind of game.
5. Titanfall 2 ; Awesome single player campaign. A lot of great moments not necessarily stitched together in the most cohesive way but boy are there some good moments. Cause/Effect was insanely good.
6. Pokémon Sun/Moon ; Long time fan of the series but my love for it had really faded and this was the big kick start the franchise needed. The first island is way too slowly paced and cutscene heavy but after that it was great. The story was surprising good and I liked Lillie as a character. Even used Solgaleo in my party despite usually having a strict no legendary rule cos I couldn't bring myself to box Nebby.
7. Dark Souls 3 ; Fatigue finally set in for me I think with this entry. At the end of the day it's still Dark Souls which means it's great but I didn't enjoy as much as From's other games. The boss fights in the first half of the game in particular I felt were very weak with the one exception of Abyss watchers.
8. The Witness ; Kind of amazing how far they are able to explore the same basic puzzle concept without it ever really feeling old. Beautiful visuals. Wish there had been a bit more of a story to discover.
9. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; Objectively it was the best in the series in pretty much every respect but I was just a bit over the series already. And in their attempts to balance the pacing with less gunplay they relied too heavily on the platforming which isn't engaging or challenging enough and the ”walking simulator" sections which were just a bit boring to me.
10. Doom ; Went on just a little bit too long for me but it sure is a fun romp. The style isn't necessarily to my tastes but I sure appreciate how hard they committed to it.

1. Hitman ; Hitman is a theme park. You can ride the rides or find ways to create your own fun. The levels feel nearly endlessly replayable, with each being a clockwork machine of moving characters that you need to observe and dissect to understand. And once you start to figure it all out the game really starts to shine as you learn to push the limits of what you can do in the game. Hitman delivers a massive amount of content, and it does a great job of giving you a progression path to improve. It starts with the more guided opportunities leading into the challenges and then the more difficult escalations and elusive targets. It slowly takes away the safety nets until you're running through the streets of Sapienza getting shot at because you just sniped an elusive target while standing in the middle of the plaza and you need to get to the exit before you get shot dead and fail the mission permanently. Hitman is full of great moments, some scripted and some not. Some are incredibly tense and some are hilarious. The writing especially is fantastic. The level design and the refinement of game mechanics makes this easily the best Hitman game yet and one of my favorite games of all time.


2. Doom ; What can I say about Doom other than it is just about as close to a perfect FPS campaign as I've ever played. It manages to capture the frantic pace and incredible level design of old school shooters. Levels are packed full of secret areas to find and connect back on themselves in great ways. Add to that a great soundtrack and some top notch sound design and you have one of the most enjoyable shooters of the past decade. The story also works surprisingly well with the Doom marine having the perfect amount of irreverence towards everything that's going on around him. Doom operates with the currency of flow. The game rewards movement and aggressiveness. When you really get a hang of the combat it starts to feel like a dance, a dance of death.


3. Uncharted 4 ; I have a soft spot for this franchise and its characters but I was not expecting this game to blow me away like it did. I enjoyed the slower pace of the story, I loved seeing the gang back together and I'm glad that the series got the ending it deserved. The gameplay felt like a huge step up from previous entries, particularly the movement. Naughty Dog really polished everything up and the new and enhanced mechanics like the improved swimming and the grappling hooking work really well and complement the game as a whole. The stealth mechanics also really hit their stride after some awkward moments in earlier games.


4. Final Fantasy XV ; Final Fantasy XV is somewhat of a controversial game, it has received a lot of criticism and some of it has been very much warranted. Despite its issues I loved it. The whole road trip concept was fantastically executed, I could spend hours just driving around, listening to old Final Fantasy music and soaking in the environments. And while the car does feel a little restrictive the chocobo riding makes up for it in a huge way, the chocobos have just the right amount of weight to them in a way that no other previous Final Fantasy has really managed. The combat is fast and fun even if the stealth didn't really work well in execution despite being an interesting idea. The story may have had issues and felt fragmented but I still found myself loving a lot of the individual character moments between the main cast. That made the final camp fire scene all the more powerful.


5. Hyper Light Drifter ; Hyper Light Drifter is a gorgeous game, I absolutely adore the art style and the soundtrack sets the tone for the game so well. Add to that solid action with a rewarding learning curve and tight controls and I was totally sold on this game. It manages to nail so many of the things that I love about the Souls series, and brings them successfully into 2D.


6. Zero Time Dilemma ; It's difficult to talk about this game without getting into spoilers. It didn't quite reach the highs of VLR but it was still a great ride and at least one of the big reveals re-framed majors parts of the series for me in a way I didn't think was possible. Its puzzles can be a bit wonky sometimes with what part of the screen you're actually supposed to click but on the whole it was a great experience.


7. Watch Dogs 2 ; If you had told me that the things I would end up enjoying most about a Watch Dogs sequel would be the story and characters I would have said you were crazy, but here we are. I was starting to worry that maybe I was taking Ubisoft's habit of releasing much improved sequels to flawed new series for granted. I was also skeptical, after seeing prerelease footage, that it would be able to deliver. Watch Dogs 2 managed to deliver not only the story that I had hoped for but also with mechanics I didn't even realize I wanted. The focus on drone based stealth worked much better than I would have thought and by the end I having a blast finding ways to use the drones to distract and disable guards as I snuck through areas. The story was the biggest surprise though. It managed to capture the feel of 80s/90s era hacker movies with a cast of lovable characters while making a story that felt super relevant. The character interactions between the Dedsec members really makes the whole game, particularly the moments between Marcus and Josh.


8. XCOM 2 ; XCOM 2 feels like two steps forward and one step back in a lot of ways. The new stealth mechanic works well and the way the game pushes you to move quickly through is a nice addition but the game ended up launch with some pretty annoying bugs. Sometimes the level up screen wouldn't allow me to pick the option I wanted, and the performance during take off and landing was abysmal. They made some great changes to the way the classes work, I particularly like the Grenadier but I found the Ranger's melee abilities to be pretty disappointing. The final level also felt annoyingly long. Even with all of that XCOM 2 is a joy to play, they iterated on the formula in a lot of great ways and I really enjoyed my time with it.


9. Dark Souls III ; One of the most damning things I can say about Dark Souls III is that it's more of Dark Souls, it's also one of the best things about it. It doesn't really live up to Bloodborne or the original Dark Souls in terms of level design but it manages to capture the formula of the earlier games in the series in enough ways that I still ended up loving it. I was glad to see that they really embraced the multistage boss fights that were so prevalent in Bloodborne and that they used it to spice up fights that initially seemed fairly rote. I nearly didn't include this game on my list but the back half of the game has some really fantastic areas and bosses, most notably Irithyll, which is easily one of the best looking areas in the entire series, and Pontiff Sulyvahn who was one of my favorite bosses in the series. The Souls series may not have ended on the highest note it could have but it was still a hell of a ride.


10. The Last Guardian ; The Last Guardian is sometimes a frustrating game, but I think a lot of that is by design. Trico feels like a living, breathing animal that sometimes doesn't give a damn about the fact that you need it to jump up onto that ledge so you wait and wait and then get off thinking you need to do something else and then Trico jumps up without you. Everything from the visual design, the animation and sound design of Trico add up to something that feels so completely unique and genuine in games. I actually found myself talking to Trico out loud at times, knowing full well that it was doing nothing. Also this game is absolutely gorgeous, particularly once you get outside. This is the only game on my list that I haven't finished but nine hours in I can easily say it deserves its spot on here.

Honorable Mentions:

x. Titanfall 2 ; It hurt me not to include this game in my list but it was a packed year. Titanfall 2 has a great campaign that is always varied enough to never be boring. The SERE Kit moment was pretty incredible. My only real complaint is that the relationship between Cooper and BT is not as well developed as it could be.

x. Superhot VR ; If this game were like 2 or 3 times longer it would probably be top 5. Superhot VR is one of the coolest things I've played all year and easily the best VR game I've played but it really is too short. I will say though that no other game this year had me lying on my back shooting into the air like I was in Point Break. This game was enough for me to justify buying the Rift.

x. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE ; This is the game I most wish I had had time to play this past year, I think it could have cracked the top 10 but ultimately it's tough to find time for a 50 hour JRPG.

Well everything else may have gone to shit in 2016 but it was a good year for games. So much so that there's plenty I haven't got round to yet. DOOM and Forza Horizon 3 are sitting on my shelf unplayed and I still haven't got round to buying Dishonored 2, Hitman, Titanfall 2...quite a few really.

I thought I'd try and put some effort in this year.



1. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; After being a bit disappointed by Uncharted 3 and its constant need to try and one-up the previous set piece, I was pleased to learn that Druckmann and Straley would be talking the lead on Uncharted 4. It has the exciting set pieces you would expect, but there's more of a focus on the characters than in the previous games. I've always been invested in them, but Nate and Elena's relationship was really fleshed out and the cast seemed to step it up with the quality of the material. The scene where Elena finds out Nate's been lying to her is brilliantly done. Rafe is also the series' best villain. What a great performance from Warren Kole.

The combat is also the most exciting it's been in Uncharted with more intelligent AI, greater opportunities for flanking and offensive play, and I really enjoyed the more open areas that have been absent in previous games. Lots of people seemed to knock the pacing, but I really liked the slow build up and the game's reluctance to overwhelm you with too much action. Combat encounters were more evenly spaced out and less exhausting as a result. To top it all off, it looks incredible and is undeniably the best looking game I've played this year. The Last of Us Part II can't come soon enough.



2. The Last Guardian ; At the time of writing, I haven't got round to finishing it after only starting about a week ago, but I felt The Last Guardian definitely deserved a place on my list.

Trico really is the star of the show - full of personality, brilliantly animated and more realistic than any creature I've encountered in a game before. Every time you both survive a close call, there's a huge sense of relief and I've grown really attached to Trico over the course of the game. I haven't come across any truly difficult puzzles yet, but there's a sense of satisfaction after overcoming each obstacle together, especially in some of the latter areas. The score is used sparingly, but works extremely well when it is. There are problems; the camera can be irritating and the controls are clunkier than they should be. As with FFXV, you get dealt a fair bit of frustration as well as enjoyment. That said, I can look past the niggles when the game's been such a journey and I've felt such attachment to the characters. I hope it ends well. *gulp*



3. Overwatch ; Overwatch is one of the few games I've revisited time and time again this year. With multiplayer games, I tend to stick with them for a couple of months at most and then put the game down for good. After Overwatch gets its claws in you, that's not really an option. I love the art style, the range of characters and how differently they play. If I'm struggling with one character, switching to another can almost feel like playing a different game. Like one that I'm actually good at! The characters all have their own unique personalities and I like the little pre-battle conversations that hint at their relationships in the past. Blizzard have done a good job continuing to support the game with content and events and despite it being an online only title, I definitely feel I've got my money's worth despite some initial concerns.



4. The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine ; Of course my 2015 GOTY had to find some way on to this list. CD Projekt Red released one of the strongest pieces of DLC I've played in Hearts of Stone, and though Blood & Wine's narrative isn't quite as strong, it's still a worthy addition to a fantastic game. Toussaint is a joy to explore; offering a setting that's considerably different to the locations in the base game. Owning your own property is a fun novelty and I can never resist the temptation of more Gwent.

CDPR's fantastic attention to detail and brilliant sense of humour remains strong too. As you'd expect, there are some excellent side quests that put other RPGs to shame. The one where Geralt keeps being fobbed off by a bank is hilarious and one of my favourite gaming moments of 2016. What a fantastic last hurrah for Geralt. If this is his last adventure, it's a damn good one.



5. INSIDE ; The most atmospheric game I played in 2016. I was never a huge fan of Limbo, but Playdead really knocked it out of the park with INSIDE. The world is strangely beautiful, but I always felt too on edge to admire it, urgently rushing towards my unknown objective. There's a great sense of dread from the off, especially when you run into a dog or reach a body of water. The puzzles are relatively simple but still quite clever, and they never frustrated me like Limbo's could. Many of the questions that pile up over the course of the game are left answered, but I liked how it allowed the player to form their own interpretation of what it's about. The finale took me by complete surprise too, I won't forget it for some time.



6. Dark Souls III ; Dark Souls III is actually the first Souls game I've completed. After enjoying Bloodborne so much, I had to give the series another chance and I'm so glad I did. After the more offensive combat in Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3 was actually more welcoming than I expected. I liked the more balanced style where defense is still crucial but you can afford to be a bit more gung-ho. I wouldn't say the game world was as atmospheric or as fun to explore as Yharnum, but there were still some really great locations, such as Anor Londo and Irithyll of the Boreal Valley and some very memorable boss fights.



7. Final Fantasy XV ; As someone's who never really been a big FF fan, I was going into this game with fairly low expectations and found a lot to enjoy in it despite its problems. The story is a mess admittedly and none of the side characters left much of an impression, but the game's main theme of brotherhood really worked for me. I found myself attached to the main characters, enjoying the banter after completing a quest and the daily meal around the camp fire. Some of my favourite parts were the random moments where Gladio would ask Noctis to fish with him, or Ignis would ask him for help cooking first thing in the morning.

It did feel empty at times, but I enjoyed exploring the world, whether it was zooming around in the Regalia or riding a chocobo. Coming across a new monster to fight or enjoying a scenic view still felt fresh after forty or so hours of play. Surprisingly, I was still enjoying the combat as I reached the game's conclusion too, despite finding it a bit simplistic at first. The summons and special moves were always fun to pull off and some of the latter dungeons proved to be a bit of a challenge. The game probably should have been harder overall though. All in all, I had a great time with it, but preferred the first half of the game where you could wander at your own leisure and take in the world. FFXV is at its best when it lets you do that.



8. Gears of War 4 ; Gears 4 is the comfort food of my list. It doesn't take a huge number of risks or alter the formula that we've known for the past decade or so, but crucially it's still fun to play and has demonstrated that The Coalition understand what makes Gears tick.

The campaign was enjoyable and I liked the new characters. They don't feel as over-the-top as Delta Squad, but they don't have as much charm either. Kait's definitely the most interesting of the new trio, with a good performance from Laura Bailey and the tease at the end of the game. The campaign has plenty of adrenalin-pumping encounters, especially when you're taking on both the Swarm and the DeeBees. I completed the campaign on Hardcore and it's possibly the most challenging Gears yet, with enemies behaving more aggressively than I remember and forcing you to stay mobile, instead of just bunkering down behind cover. I've completed the previous games by myself on Insane, but I don't think I'd be able to manage it with this one.

As with the previous games in the series, the meat of the game is in Versus and Horde. I had some issues with lag at launch but for the most part, Versus is competitive and extremely addictive. The Gnasher continues to dominate, but that's what the fanbase wants and it does make Gears a pretty unique multiplayer experience. However, I haven't been a fan of The Coalition's approach to unlockables. It's improved since launch with cheaper packs, as well as packs that are available exclusively using in-game credits, though it doesn't feel as fair as the Overwatch model and some of the pay-only packs have been obscenely priced. Despite that, it's still a blast to play and as with Overwatch, I plan to return to it in 2017.



9. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided ; The reaction to Mankind Divided seemed to be quite negative on GAF, but I found it to be an enjoyable sequel to Human Revolution. The main quest wasn't as strong and it definitely felt like a small part of a larger story, but it reminded me what I loved so much about HR - exploring every crevice of the world, unlocking shortcuts and rummaging through my neighbours' property without their permission. The art style and music is fantastic as you'd expect.

Additionally, the side quests are definitely quality over quantity and go in some really weird and interesting directions. The stealth gameplay is still enjoyable, but after MGSV's master class in stealth, it doesn't feel quite as tight as it did in HR and it hasn't evolved all that much either. However, I still enjoyed my thirty or so hours with it and look forward to some of the lingering questions being answered in the sequel. Going through a Deus Ex game without setting off any alarms or killing anyone is still a thrill.



10. Gravity Rush Remastered ; I remember trying the original demo of Gravity Rush on Vita and enjoying the art style and music, but struggling with the controls. I jumped at the chance to give it another go on PS4, ended up loving it and got the Platinum. The quests can be a bit too repetitive at times, but the real star of the show here is the traversal. Shifting the gravity never gets dull and continues to be fun after twenty or so hours. Kat's a charming protagonist and I loved the comic-book style cut scenes. I can't wait to dig into GR2 after I've cleared out my backlog.

Honourable mentions:

x. Valkyria Chronicles Remastered ; Another remaster. Another great game I'm glad I got another chance to play. There isn't nearly enough good strategy games on the home consoles and after all the praise on GAF, I felt I had to give Valkyria a chance. I'm glad I did. Not only is the gameplay fun and pretty challenging at times (damn that tank level), but I was surprised how invested in the story and characters I became. The music and is really great too.

1. Overwatch ; Never ever in all my gaming years would I expect to not only enjoy a FPS this much, but to love it enough to nominate it as my game of the year. I don't typically enjoy Blizzard games, I've never been able to get into WoW, Starcraft or Diablo, and I admittedly did not care for the Overwatch beta either. However, after being convinced by some friends to pick the game up for some multiplayer fun, I took the plunge and dove in. Boy, what a mistake that was I have been utterly addicted to the point that it's now literally become a daily routine to boot the game up for that ”one more game" scenario. I generally dislike competitive games, but the user friendly interface, multiple class system, and art direction pushed me over the edge. I find myself straying away from my comfort zone and trying out new characters far more often than I anticipated. I appreciate the attention Blizzard gives to the game, and the fact that they listen to user complaints and suggestions. It's been my go-to game for months, and I cannot wait for further additions to the game

2. The Last Guardian ; The game we all had deemed as vaporware at one point or another. I found Ico to be ”okay", found SotC enjoyed, but LOVED The Last Guardian. The relationship between Trico and the Boy is something that is so special, so heartwarming that it completely made this experience for me. Granted, I have a background in veterinary medicine, and work with animals on a daily basis, so I'm already partial to games that allow you to have an animal companion of some sort, but it was watching the evolution of Trico and the bond that builds between the two characters that made this game rank so high on my list.

3. Batman: The Telltale Series ; Every single Telltale game I have played has managed to make it's way on my list, and Batman is no exception. I appreciated this fresh and new take on Batman and playing as two sides of the same coin was definitely an interesting concept. I clearly already have a bias to a certain feline companion, but I found the cameos of other notable Batman characters to be great as well. As a big fan of comic book characters, I hope Telltale is given more properties to work with, as I have been pleasantly surprised at their ability to capture the feel of the world and characters that live within it.

4. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice ; So great that this series is back, and actually had some quality cases. Dual Destinies was serviceable, but Spirit of Justice brought me back to a point where I actually cared about the characters. Plot twists and turns galore, this one really escalates things to a new level!

5. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; A year ago, I would have anticipated Uncharted to be nominated as my GOTY. I have loved every Uncharted game I have played, and have poured countless hours into both the single and multiplayer campaign. However, I was left a little left down after completing my time with the recent release. Jaw dropping graphics and spectacular performances couldn't save the game from poor pacing issues. I'm still thrilled we got one last adventure with the crew, and the game is still incredibly good, but it just didn't live up to my expectations.

6. Fire Emblem Fates ; Fire Emblem Awakening was my first foray into this series, and boy what a deep rabbit hole I fell into. I was lucky enough to have owned the special edition of Fates, so I luckily had access to all three versions, which were all good in their own way. I loved the variances in personalities, and the pairing system is still as addicting as ever. Story is cliched, but I still thought it was appreciated the effort. Looking forward to the 2017 Fire Emblem content!

7. World of Final Fantasy ; WoFF wasn't even on my radar this year. I typically adore jrpg's, but I was trying to spread out my purchases and with FFXV releasing shortly after, I was more inclined to just pick that one up instead. I am so glad I chose to get it anyways. World of Final Fantasy oozes charm. I've enjoyed Pokemon games in the past, and adding the monster hunting element was a pretty great feature. I wasn't expecting the game to be so funny, but I found myself actually laughing out loud and taking screen shots of the many creature descriptions. Both main characters are likeable, and the inclusion of many nods to previous Final Fantasy games sealed the deal.

8. Titanfall 2 ; I don't associate good campaigns with first person shooters, but Titanfall 2 positively proved me wrong. I wish I could have dedicated more time to the multiplayer but what I played of it was fun. Kudos to that team for the great comeback.

9. Ratchet & Clank ; Playable Pixar world. That's how I would describe this. Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is the game that I bought my PS3 for, and I have had a soft spot for the series for years. Finding fun combinations with the myriad of weapons never seizes to be fun, and the stunning graphics kept me glued to my TV.

10. Final Fantasy XV ; Team Broforce! Great music, fantastic world settings, fun combat and a close, believable camaraderie elevated this game into my list. I had my reservations with the game and Square's ability to deliver a genuinely good game, but I truly believe they succeeded. I'm still not 100% done with it, which is why the game isn't ranked higher, but I'm fairly confidant if the game continues to be as amazing, that it will be one of my favorite things from this generation.

Honorable Mentions

x. Pokémon Sun/Moon ; I wish I had more time to dedicate to this, but from the little I did play I was highly engaged and entertained.

x. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel ; What a fantastic, underrated gem. It was a huge time sink so I didn't get a chance to finish it until the year, otherwise it would have easily made my list last year (NA release)

1. Overwatch ; A triumph for multiplayer games. This game combines a beautiful aesthetic with unique characters each with their own personality and abilities to battle it out in 6v6 objective based maps. Blizzard has done a great job listening to feedback, updating the game, and adding lots of new content for free. The visuals, the sound design, the gameplay and map design all come together to form a highly polished game loaded with replay value. With almost 400 hours played, not only is Overwatch my favorite game of 2016 but one of my most played game ever and will be played for a long time to come.

2. The Last Guardian ; Was it real or just a dream? I had almost given up hope of this game ever releasing yet here we are and it far exceeded my expectations. Trico is a monumental accomplishment as an AI companion and beautifully animated. I was instantly attached to Trico and went on an unforgettable journey with a boy and his beast companion. Beautiful and mysterious, the world demands to be explored. Tense and stressful at times with puzzles and level design that is at the top of the class and platforming through environments with breathtaking scope. The game takes full control of your emotions and takes you on an unforgettable ride with highs and lows. In my memories... the monster always has kind eyes.

3. Dark Souls 3 ; I went through a Souls binge in 2016, playing through Demons Souls, Dark Souls, and Dark Souls 3 back to back. They all had their strengths and Dark Souls 3 triumphed in many areas, featuring a lot of quality of life improvements. The combat is the best its ever been and there's a lot of content in the game with call backs to Dark Souls and even Demon's Souls. The enemy designs are very well done and haunting at times. Many memorable bosses and the atmosphere and level design is still so good. That moment half way through the game resonated with me hugely and I never was as big of a Dark Souls fan as most. A lot of elements are streamlined to not be as obtuse but most importantly this game is a lot of fun to play, even when constantly dying to the same boss.

4. Inside ; If you haven't played this game then the less you read about it, the better. Dark, mysterious and haunting, Inside is designed to be minimalist. Puzzles are seldom repeated and always mix it up, the game is begging to be explored. As the boy you keep venturing onward hoping to find some answers, Who are you? What is this place? What is going on here? The game raises a lot of questions but leaves it up to the player to answer them. In your curiosity you keep running to the next area hoping to make sense of it all before the game crescendo's in a disturbing and grotesque yet beautiful finale which will be remembered for years to come.

5. Enter the Gungeon ; As a huge fan of Binding of Isaac, its great to finally have a worthy alternative/successor which retains the huge variety of weapons, random, factor, and charm. Enter the Gungeon is a very addictive game. Being a rogeulike, the game is different on every run with different weapons, bosses, and map layout. With hundreds of guns to unlock and a rather high difficulty curve, this game kept me coming back for months.

6. DOOM ; What a beautiful and focused game. Trim all the fat, throw it all away to focus on insane balls to the walls action. The elevator cutscene at the beginning sets up the tone perfectly, the Doom Marine isn't interested in story exposition dumps, he smashes the telecom panel and steps out to kill demons. The game runs beautifully, the music is an accomplishment working in tandem with the gameplay to deliver an unparalleled adrenaline rush as you rush around the battlefield demolishing demons of all shapes and sizes.

7. Titanfall 2 ; After a disappointing beta, I had written the game off but the story impressions were positive which made me pick it up. Not only is it a great shooter, there's a great buddy story here with a robot, and some mind blowing setpieces and level design you'd never see coming. While I haven't put much time into the multiplayer, the campaign alone is very refreshing and a sign that FPS games can still be creative and explore new elements to offer new experiences.

8. Final Fantasy XV ; I'm not too far in the game but my first impressions sum up how I feel about the game. These cutscenes feel a little disjointed. I don't really know what's going on. Well the game's finally starting, the music kicks in and I start warming up to it. The bros start their banter and I'm at home. The combat is fun and for once I am hopeful and positive about not just Final Fantasy XV but for the future of the series.

9. Kirby Planet Robobot ; Kirby games are low key, they don't light the gaming community or sales charts on fire but you can count on Kirby to always deliver a solid experience which is a blast to play through. Planet Robobot is no exception, it takes Kirby's classic power absorbing abilities and adds in giant robots, because who doesn't love giant robots? Not only can Kirby absorb different abilities but so can his giant robot which always has you curious to see how the robot will morph to make use of new powers. The levels are well designed and each level offers its own unique quirk or gameplay element to play around with.

10. Pokemon Moon ; I've only put a few hours into Pokemon Moon but the new setting is immediately inviting. Just enough has been changed to make it feel fresh while refining existing elements to be better than ever. Despite the hardware limitations, the game looks gorgeous and seeing fully animated Pokemon models in combat is very entertaining. There are some quality of life issues, combat could be faster and menus could be navigated faster but that's the nature of RPGs I suppose. Its still a blast to play and will have you hooked for hours on end if you let it.


I have but one regret, that I wasn't able to play more games released in 2016 and boy were there a lot of quality releases.

1. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; A beautiful journey, there is not much to say...
2. The Last Guardian ; Because Ueda.
3. Inside ; A masterpiece. Playdead has managed to top Limbo.
4. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine ; Incredibly gorgeous and generous DLC, this could be The Witcher IV.
5. Life Is Strange ; The Butterfly Effect.
6. Abzû ; The next best thing after Journey.
7. Final Fantasy XV ; After 10 years it's Final Fantasy time again!
8. Alienation ; The new gem from the masters of the twin-stick shooter genre.
9. Watch_Dogs 2 ; A great open world map and a significant improvement over the original Watch_Dogs.
10. Hitman ; Agent 47 returns in one of the best Hitman games in the franchise's history.

Honorable Mentions
x. Gravity Rush Remastered ; Kat is adorable <3
x. Dragon's Dogma ; where is my PS4 remastered version, Capcom?!?
x. Senran Kagura: Estival Versus ; Full of fan service and fun to play.

1. Pokemon Go ; Shitty time waster with borked mechanics becomes global phenomenon despite developer's valiant and continuous efforts to sabotage itself.

2. Titanfall 2 ; After desecrating the memory of WW2 and victims of terror, Infinity WardRespawn now culturally appropriates Japan and turns it into tasteless jingoistic American bullshit.

3. The Last Guardian ; The story of a dim-witted, clumsy creature who doesn't listen to any of the player's commands, and the bond it develops with a mythical animal called Trico.

4. INSIDE ; Look at us, we created a nonsensical final act, we're so deeeeep. Or, the parable of how a young boy ventures deep into the offices of EA to uncover Mac Walters' design notes and gets consumed by the speculation.

5. Bound ; A game about a woman who keeps dancing harder and harder to forget her past. This is aptly translated into the gameplay, as you keep dancing harder and harder to forget the crummy game you're playing.

6. Uncharted 4: A thief's end ; The game designers made a big fuss over wanting to introduce pockets of down-time so that the characters and story could breathe. I applaud them for this. Next time and to make it even more interesting, they should try to introduce pockets of up-time.

7. Firewatch ; This game starts as a live fire, you then spend the rest of the game watching it slowly peter out.

8. The Lab ; Valve shows they are one of the very few developers out there that can match Nintendo in the way it polishes a game until it just feels right, in this VR version of Wii Sports. Now they need to also try to match them in making it feel fun and rewarding.

9. DOOM ; A game solely designed to give pre-teen edgelords a stiffy. I feel so metal, said nobody with a developmental age above fifteen.

10. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE ; Hey hey let's go kenka suru. Taisetsu na mono o protect my balls. Boku ga warui so let's fighting. Let's fighting looooooove, let's fighting loooooove.

Honorable mentions
X. No Man's Sky; (11) A procedurally generated exploration game is an incredibly dumb idea. Exploration is interesting for teleological inferencing&#8212;how did this come about? However, in small pockets, it actually worked, and that's pretty cool. The rest of the game not so much.

X. Virginia; (12) Here's a thrilling mystery occupying a small town that you're set out to solve, by pushing forward on the control stick.

X. ABZU; (13) Took the template and art from Journey (and also Bound), but unlike those, forgot to meaningfully tie them together.

X. Overwatch; (14) Blizzard continues their uncanny ability to take something derivative and polish it so much until it becomes a lot of fun. And derivative.

Dishonorable mentions
X. Rise of the Tomb Raider; (15) Incredible, how could they mess this up? They laid fantastic groundwork with 2013, a tight and eminently playable survival metroidvania, and felt the need to add daddy issues, rip off the story of Uncharted 2 and Ubisoft up the map until all the fun was sucked out of it.

X. Ratchet and Clank; (16) Absolutely beautiful. Absolutely vapid.




Why Pokemon Go is the hero we don't deserve
Wait wait hold up spekkeh, don't you like, teach game design at a university, how the hell can you put a game as shallow and broken as Pokemon Go at your number one? Well, yes, that requires some explanation I agree. First off though, I don't really ”believe" in some kind of objective ranking of game quality. Too often I've played a game where I thought it was very well made and then proceeded to forget about it two weeks later (case in point Ratchet and Clank). Rather, an end of year list should in my opinion reflect the games that touched me in some meaningful way that year. Games that I will actually remember as belonging to that year, many years later. Pokemon Go's merit in this case is undeniable. Also, while I'm on the topic, I should defend Pokemon Go's design a bit. Yes it has flaws in its design, most notably that the game is a wasteland outside of big cities, and nobody is ever going to retain a gym for more than one day (or at its peak for even one hour) in order to collect Pokecoins. But the shallowness of the mechanics is not a design flaw. It purposefully casts as wide a net as possible, because the fantasy of living among Pokemon only really works if a sufficient number of people buy into it and share the experience. Pokemon Go used your mom's phone, it's very effective.

The great thing about Pokemon Go is that more so than most other games, talking about it invariably leads to little anecdotes. Mine isn't very compelling, but bear with me. I downloaded the apk one week before it would be released here in Europe. During a Euro 2016 semi-final I looked at my phone and suddenly saw something interesting happen at the end of my street. And before I knew what happened, I found myself outside approaching the end of the street. I walked out on one of the biggest football matches in the world just to look at something on my phone. Admittedly Euro 2016 was dreadful, but still. As I approached the corner I saw a couple of people talking to each other, hunched over something. They hastily looked up at me, whispered &#8216;happy hunting' and scuttled away quickly, too embarrassed that I would say something back. That was the beginning. It only proceeded to get much, much more crazy, day by day. I remember going to the university during summer, and seeing, I'm not exaggerating, 80% of the students walking about and playing the same game on their mobile phone. Utterly surreal.

Even more poignant was how it changed the narrative of games. Back when I started my PhD on game design, the Wii had just released. I have to say it was a pretty amazing time to be working on games. All the time people of around 50 or 60 years of age would approach me and ask about the games I was working on. Games they said, are going to change our lives, they knew it. The Wii had opened their eyes. The future would be playful and much healthier because of this. Of course us gamers rejected it. If gramps liked it, it couldn't be good. So we lambasted the waggle and went to other more core pastures. The vitriol for casuuls and anyone else deemed not a true gamer got bigger, culminating last year in the utter disgrace that was Gamergate. Suddenly working on games wasn't so awesome anymore. People of around 50 or 60 years of age would approach me and say &#8216;I heard something on the news about gamers calling in bomb strikes to universities because a woman was presenting something, what the fuck is wrong with you people'.

But then Pokemon Go happened and it did a number of things right. For the first time, it made good on the promise of augmented reality. It dragged the physical world in a digitally mediated magic circle. It made parents and kids go outside and play together. But above all, it made working on games great again, as everyone and their mother was completely amazed what good the power of play could accomplish.

On Titanfall and Doom
The original Doom will always hold a special place in my heart, ever since I played it as a twelve year old edgelord who was really into hell and death and hard rock when it first came out. But there have been many FPSes since, to the point I burnt out on the genre some five years ago. This year practically all the good games (or at least the ones that scored highly) were FPSes, and given that the year so far had been pretty mediocre for the genres I liked, it seemed like as good a moment as any to jump back in and reassess my opinion of (twitch) FPS gaming. You'd think DOOM would be the prime candidate to rekindle my love, and while I really liked the incredible speed and bunnyhopping, circlestrafing gameplay as of the olden days, it also dawned on me exactly why the genre moved away from that. In essence the core mechanics of first person shooters are some of the oldest in the industry, lining up a reticule with a moving target harkens back to the days of Asteroids and Missile Command. And essentially, that's still what it is. It suddenly appeared to me modern FPSes have a short campaign and lots of big explosion setpieces to obfuscate the simplicity of the interaction. Laid bare, DOOM only held my interest for short bursts; I love the game for twenty minutes and then get bored with it, and I have to wait a week for it to feel fresh again. Conversely, Titanfall 2 manages to take those simple mechanics yet feels fresh throughout the campaign's running time, as it constantly adds and then immediately discards new gimmicks and perspectives. I prefer the new FPS style I'm afraid must say. I'll leave my old guy card at the door.

On Uncharted and down-time
I always find a way to at least randomly plug one of my papers, and in this case Uncharted 4 is the dubious (but deserved) recipient. It's becoming a pet peeve of mine that games always focus on escalating action. Perhaps a remnant of the arcade days, when good players needed to be relieved of their quarters, or because we always want to experience a one-up of the previous thing. Story games never get a time to breathe, for some denouement after the action. And if you don't exhale, the story actually doesn't resonate; there's no time to reflect, let it sink in, and elaborate. We found that introducing moments of downtime can be a very successful design strategy to make players appropriate the game text, to make them feel what the protagonist feels. So when Druckmann mentioned that they deliberately introduced moments of down-time, opposite to what other game designers generally do, I was very happy. And I think it helps the game story greatly; Uncharted 4 is my favorite Uncharted by some margin. But down-time in my opinion needs to follow moments of high octane storytelling or visceral engagement. Things that are profound but you don't have time to reflect on. The game too often (at least in the middle sections) has a long climbing segment be followed by some leisurely walking or arena shooting which then gets followed by a long climbing segment again. What is there to reflect on? Boy I sure killed those people? Long sections of low engagement but also nothing to mull over ultimately leads to tedium, and it's a shame the game suffers for it. However, then they end with a great denouement (also something very, very few games incorporate), and I can't help but like it again.

Link to last year's list spekkeh's GOTY 2015

1. DOOM ; I thought that my love for FPS games had died many years ago. Turns out I was just waiting for the right one to come along and show me otherwise. DOOM is simply a relentless experience that reminds me why I fell in love with the genre two decades earlier. An incredible OST is the icing on the cake.

2. Hyper Light Drifter

3. Furi

4. The Last Guardian

5. Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir

6. Axiom Verge

A little short of time, and with the deadline rapidly approaching I hope I can comment on my other choices before it's too late. 2016 was a great year for me personally and in terms of video games, and 2017 has the potential to be even better.

Spekkeh, that TLG write up is CEO Kaz Hirai twitter account tier.

The Rain King said:

Spekkeh, that TLG write up is CEO Kaz Hirai twitter account tier.

Click to expand...

Word up! Great job, Spekkeh.

This has been a great year (for games) and I had a hard time thinking of which ten to put on my list. Surprise has also been a defining feature of this year, and a positive in the case of games, with many that had been written off due to bad marketing or incredibly protracted development coming out and being excellent. Plus FPS finally seem to be working their way out of the rut they've been stuck in post-2007. There's still various games I haven't played that end up being good enough for this list, but I haven't so I can only go with what I have played.

1. Overwatch ; I wasn't expecting any game to usurp a Souls game for my GOTY, but Overwatch managed it. After Team Fortress 2 was ruined around the F2P transition (as far as I'm concerned), I've been hoping for another game to capture and build upon the greatness of TF2 before that. Despite some issues (like the way the patches tend to be handled in a way that replaces one fixed "meta" composition with another) Overwatch comes about as close as I dared hope a game would.

On top of that, having everything gameplay related unlocked from the start (along with the promise of all future gameplay-relevant content being free) is a huge deal to me. As a complete defiance of (bad) modern expectations, it's almost strange how much this gets looked over to complain about the loot boxes (and I even agree about the issues with that system). Just being able to play the game without having to grind for hours to be on level ground in terms of choices is part of the reason I bought it at launch.

2. Dark Souls 3 ; As I said above this would be GOTY without the surprise of Overwatch. Though it's hard for me to say too much beyond "it's more Dark Souls" (in part because I'm still waiting for all the DLC), but given the Souls series is easily the best new franchise of the last ~10 years that's not really an issue.

3. Doom ; Another surprise, but I think that part of the story has been told many times over. I have issues like some AAA checklist bloat sneaking in, and the level design mostly getting much simpler in the latter parts. However, it's great to see a modern "old-school" FPS that shows some understanding of the overall design and isn't just a string of arenas; at least in the first half, the level design is a great shot at the how older FPS are actually designed like, with gradually unravelling level layouts full of secrets and other optional aspects. Of course, the combat itself is good too, despite some balance issues, and things that seemed questionable like the glory kills work great in practice. It's also way cleverer than it lets on in terms of how it executes it story, and, despite a few cumbersome "locked in a room for exposition" sequences, it handles what it's trying to do perfectly. On top of being a great game in itself it's ripe for expansion in a sequel or DLC, especially as it's reception and success hopefully means that ID will have more freedom in the future.

4. Dishonored 2 ; I really liked the first Dishonored, but I felt it was lacking a certain something to put it on par with the best of the genre like Thief. Dishonored 2 has that. Every level is full of little secrets and vignettes, and certain levels gave me a feeling of Thief 2's best level "Life of the Party", with the path to the mission areas being as rich as the actual objective area. Not to mention how creative and surprising some of the actual missions are. It also does a great job expanding the non-lethal paths so you're not just choking everyone, while still closing off the freedom that full lethality offers. The character choice also adds some nice value to replays.

5. Final Fantasy XV ; This game certainly has its issues, in fact, it's kind of mess in some ways, but the strengths are such that they outweigh many of them. Most importantly, it made me care about Final Fantasy again, after the ~ten year final fantasy XIII mess killed any care I had for it's future. Now the series can finally move on towards new things. The post-game support is also promising, and this might be quite a different game in a year or so.

6. The Last Guardian ; Shadow of the Colossus is the only game of Ueda's "trilogy" I'd played before this one and it didn't really do it for me; in concept, it sounded like a perfect game for me, but something about it didn't resonate with me (though I still need to play the remastered version as the technical problems were part of what dragged it down for me). TLG is what I hoped SOTC would be as an overall experience; it builds up the central relationship perfectly and knows just how to play with it and your expections, and it all comes to a great conclusion that solidifies it as a masterpiece. It's also nice to see a semi-major release that doesn't hinge on combat as the main element. Trico is one of the mind mindbogglingly complex AI implementations I've seen in a game, that also results in one of the most believable characters I've seen in a game. I personally had very few issues with it's AI, and, if anything, it's a miracle it doesn't mess up more with how much it has going on.

7. Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear ; It's a shame most of the release thunder got overshadowed by nontroversy (though I guess that might have worked in it's favour sales-wise), because this is about what I could hope for from a new game made by a different team in a series featuring one of the best games ever made. I can see some of the complaints about the writing (that is, the valid ones beyond said nontroversy), but I feel it does a good job as a transition overall, and, playing in sequence, I was pleasantly surprised how smoothly the ending segues into Baldurs Gate 2 (though I hope they add in some continuation to the content here at some point).

8. Furi ; This came out of nowhere as an Alien Soldier (my favourite action game) style boss rush game, while I have a couple of issues (I think the endgame could have done with one more mechanically intense battle, as they're mostly focused or gimmicky at that point, and the forced walking is irritating, even if I understand what it's trying to do, and it's skippable after you unlock the other modes), it does the concept well. It has the kind of skill curve where you find something incredibly difficult, then replay it after progressing and wonder how you ever found it hard. It also has a great soundtrack.

9. Titanfall 2 ; It's kind of strange to have a game known for it's multiplayer on this list almost solely for the singleplayer, but that's how it is. While I'm not as big on it as some are (I think it's still a little too wrapped up in miltary shooter tropes at times, especially in the last few levels), it's another surprise with how well executed it is, and some of the level concepts are genius in how they leverage the sci-fi theme to actually deliver on original ideas and avoid generic settings. That's not to say the multiplayer isn't good (and it'd probably be my most played without Overwatch crushing everything), but the campaign is what got it on this list.

10. INSIDE ; I enjoyed Limbo but I can't say it stuck with me too much; it had it's moments but I felt like it ran out of steam after the Spider, and I felt it's overall setting and style got less interesting after that too. INSIDE is essentially the developers successfully managing to carry that feeling at the start of Limbo through a whole game. Every time I thought I'd worked something out a new thing came to surprise me, and both the art and gameplay keeps mixing itself up throughout. I'm still not entirely sure what to think of the overall story, but it's certainly got some interesting things going on. Given that they've confirmed a new game, this may be slightly premature, but INSIDE feels like the apotheosis of what the developers were going for in Limbo (and, as one of vanguards of the initial modern indie movement, shows they're still at the top despite all the competitors that now exist), and is probably one of my favourite Cinematic Platformers.

Honorable Mentions

x. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; This is like a twisted monkey's paw wish of what I wanted out of an Uncharted sequel, except the paw was having a good day so the wish mostly worked but everything feels slightly off from what I actually wanted. I wanted less combat, and that's done... except the out of combat systems remain fundamentally the same, so the platforming, puzzles and exploration are still very simple and barely require interaction at all, yet these sequences can last half an hour or more. I wanted better combat, wish granted... Except there's not that much of it despite the length of the game. I wanted further improvements to the storytelling... But the game has long sections with little going on just to accommodate conversations between the characters. I still like it a lot and it's still my second favourite in the series after Uncharted 2, but it feels like it could have been something much more if it had fleshed out the base systems to accommodate the lesser combat focus.

x. Rise of the Tomb Raider ; Overall this is mostly just an incremental improvement on Tomb Raider 2013 in almost every way, including the issues I had with it. I do think the overall setting is more interesting in it's implementation though. I'd actually say I enjoyed Rise more than Uncharted 4, as it has more interesting interaction despite still being pretty basic outside of combat.

x. The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine ; I had a hard time putting this on the main list as it's "just" a DLC and not a full game, but it could easily sub in for something above. Compared to the very focused Hearts of Stone, it's interesting what a contrast this is; while it's much less focused and more flawed than HOS, it's also far bigger and has much more going on. The main story has some issues (there's a dumb timeskip and one of the ending paths is MUCH better than the other), but it still does it's incredibly difficult job of closing the whole series off.

x. Monster Hunter Generations ; This would be on the list as it's one of my most played games this year, but the fact an improved version is coming next year made me hold off.

x. Salt and Sanctuary ; This is about as good a 2D Souls game as could be expected, especially since it's made by a small indie team. It doesn't quite make the list but it could have been there.

1. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; Basically the perfect end to the series, for me it delivered on all aspects of what an Uncharted game was.

2. Severed ; Drinkbox Studios knock it out of the park again, the best Vita game I played, the game can get a touch swipey swipey in the backend, but there is a level of depth that means you still have to plan what to focus on in the encounters otherwise you will get destroyed. Awaiting their next title and I will be there on launch.

3. Ratchet & Clank ; Not alot to say on this, but an amazing recreation of the original game, sure there were some changes, but all in all it was highly faithful and worthy of anyones time.

4. The Last Guardian ; I am enjoying this alot, but I have yet to finish the game, so it's possible this could have jumped higher on the list but here we are.

5. Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault ; I don't know what I was really expecting, picked this up on a whim in a local retailer sale, the end game can get a touch grindy and once you work out what is the best defence and layout it becomes easy mode, so in that respect it it does have some issues, but I had heaps of fun with this, perhaps because I haven't played something like this in a long time, but I'll be in for a followup!

6. Assault Android Cactus ; Another game that I haven't fully completed, but as twin stick shooters go, you won't find many better.

7. Firewatch ; Nice short story and great visuals, truly unnerving to begin with and you do get paranoid throughout it.

8. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X ; Gameplay is still flawless, but the things they tried to change in the backend were not so great. Still a great selection on songs though. Picked up Future Tone today, so that will cover alot of 2017 for me

9. Senran Kagura: Estival Versus ; Another great followup in this long running series, lots of good fun to be had.

10. Gal*Gun: Double Peace ; Played on the Vita and it has some framerate issues and hard crashes, but the game was pulled from stores here in Australia, so managing to get one was priority for the sake of it, only in Japan!

Honorable Mentions
x. Amplitude ; Loved the previous games, Frequency and Amplitude and the gameplay is was great, but the campaign and soundtrack was underwhelming for me, Mileage will vary depending on what style of music you like.

x. Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni ; Only in Japan again, and some western countries now, expect Australia, but that is what importing is for!

Dance Inferno said:

Dude, you don't owe anyone anything. You can write a top 10 list without trying to play every single game that came out last year. Just play the games you want to play, whether or not they came out in 2016. If that means they don't qualify to be on your list, so be it. As long as you're enjoying yourself that's all that matters.

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I think it's important to be transparent and well informed about candidates and nominees, especially when voting for an award or otherwise. What would be the point of a major art award if the committee didn't read, watch, or play anything that could be potentially nominated? As shown in the 52 game threads, I've played a lot of games, not just one's released in 2016, and as said in my opening statement there will always be glaring holes, but I do think it's important to try to play as many possible candidate before voting. And of course, these candidates are pique my interest for one reason or another.

1. Doom ; Just an outstanding revival. 10/10.

2. Dark Souls 3 ; Perfect ending to the trilogy.

3. Overwatch ; This has been the bigger time waster. So many classes just adds so much replayability.

4. Gears of War 4 ; This game has gotten a lot of flak but it's extremely impressive. Great campaign and also a great multiplayer that receives free content every month.

5. Titanfall 2 ; Speaking of great campaigns. Outstanding.

6. Forza Horizon 3 ; A beautiful racing sim that is graphically stunning.

7. Paper Mario: Color Splash ; Not quite as good as past Paper Mario games but I believe is a step above sticker star. A very comical game.

8. Battlefield 1 ; A definite Battlefield multiplayer experience.

9. The Last Guardian ; A surprise hit to me. Teally felt like something special.

10. Wild Guns Reloaded ; I had to include Wild Guns on here. I wish more games came back to the forefront like this.

1. The Last Guardian ; Fumito Ueda delivered with this game so much it made me forget all the years I had to wait for it. Most of the technical problems it seems to me come from people not wanting to adapt to how the game is meant to be played. There are some difficulties but they never got in my way of enjoying the game. The game is great because Trico is such a technical marvel and the game to me looks absolutely phenomenal (animation, lighting, wind effects etc.). One of the only titles this gen that gave me a proper next-gen experience that goes beyond a solely quantifiable step. It’s, in the truest sense, a game that no one has yet tried to do. I also really loved the simple but strong narrative structure of having to climb to freedom but ending up getting thrown back only to get up and try again.

2. The Witness ; The Witness is initially just a puzzle game. A puzzle game though that has a fundamental strong point which elevates it to higher spheres. While the player’s input is simple (everything you can do is basically draw lines) the game’s ingeniousness lies in the fact that the game not only gives you puzzles to solve according to rules it told you beforehand but makes the rules themselves a part of the puzzle. These rules are not only related to the puzzle input device itself but pertain as much to the wider context of the puzzle (be it visually, acoustically etc.). Consequentially the world in which the puzzles reside in is as important as the puzzles themselves. The game therefore becomes some kind of constant learning process that builds on the structure of solved puzzles to introduce new ones. Through this process of reimagining puzzles for each new region the game naturally touches on the basics of human cognition, i. e. the recognition of patterns and what comes along with it (e.g. symmetry). In a way this aspect makes the game some kind of super elaborate CAPTCHA. The game though doesn’t stop there. Through the things you find on the island and by making the player recognise patterns in the world itself the game alludes to a much deeper meaning behind everything. It introduces concepts of history, culture, education and tradition. Through this the game finally manages to serve as a parable of humanity itself. Humanity revolves around knowledge and especially the transmission of this knowledge onto each new generation which must become a witness to what the world has come to be.

3. Hyper Light Drifter ; This game is everything I want from an indie game. It has a wonderful unique art style and polished gameplay. It may be my most cleared game ever (first on pc and later on ps4, then doing coop etc.). The moment to moment gameplay is just so satisfying that I practically can’t get bored playing this game.

4. Thumper ; The only rhythm game I have really gotten into. Super fast, super merciless, this is a game that brings you into the zone making you feel as though you’d possess reflexes that exceed those of a normal human. It has a perfectly balanced difficulty. On your first run you only want to survive but in the end you realise that you haven’t seen anything yet by playing like that. So you do the s-rank run and the game gets even better. The feeling of s-ranking a level even though you missed one note by upping the risk and owning the rest of the level is just the best. It’s possible to s-rank levels on your first try even in the last stage, the difficulty is not something you can only overcome by memorising levels. It’s also a perfect game for VR (I haven’t played it outside of it).

5. Dark Souls III ; A true Souls game, what is there to say more about it. Miyazaki was again the man at the helm and it shows. Art direction, level design, story is imo much better than II. Though it doesn’t reach the highs of Bloodborne I enjoyed it as part of my yearly Souls fix. One thing I didn’t like: too many samey weapons that weren’t really that useful. Good game but I realised again that I prefer new IP’s from Fromsoftware.

6. The Silver Case ; Started the Japanese version some years ago but stopped playing. With the Remake out I finally got to play it a lot more. It’s a Suda game through and through with a lot of quirks I have come to love in his later titles already present. The Film Window presentation works really well at giving the game a cinematic feel. Although this isn’t a game for anyone (its age shows) it’s certainly a game that shouldn’t be missed by Suda 51 fans.

7. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood ; After Thumper imo the best game for PS VR. I liked Batman VR too, really loved some things about it, but it was to me more a proof of concept than a fleshed out game. But Until Dawn: RoB lives up to what you expect from a proper game. It has a good amount of content and the gameplay is tightly designed to fit the possibilities of the PS VR Hardware (move controllers are a must for this game btw).

8. Inside ; Played this relatively late after release seeing it being lauded on GAF and by the press. Really nice short indie game. Superb aesthetics and animation, interesting setting and clever puzzles. Inside is already by virtue of creating a specific and strong mood a truly outstanding game.

9. Let It Die ; It’s punk, it’s stylish and "although" it’s F2P you don’t have to pay a penny to play and enjoy it. The fight system could be better as I’m mostly relying on the same strategy but the various weapons and special attacks are quite fun and the item management system works well. Overall a game with enough GH flavour to be great but maybe not quite as great that it could make me forget about Lily Bergamo :-b.

10. Abzû ; Nice little, aesthetically pleasing indie game in the vein of Journey.

1. Overwatch ; Virtual tie with INSIDE. I picked OW as #1 mostly for poll purposes. My most played game this year.
2. Inside ; Virtual tie with Overwatch. It's almost the perfect single-player game. Story told through gameplay and not cutscenes. One of the most polished experiences ever.
3. Doom ; The game made me feel like Doom was back.
4. Dark Souls 3 ; It's more Dark Souls. A sequel to the GOTG.
5. Hitman ; Just like Doom, it made me feel like Hitman was back. In fact, it felt better than ever.
6. The Witness ; The closest thing to puzzle perfection this year.

1. The Last Guardian ; After all this time Fumito Ueda hasn't lost his touch. Whatever technical quirks the game has are overcome by a wonderful marriage of all that made its predecessors the classics that they are. Evoking a breathtaking sense of scale and place, The Last Guardian's greatest strength lies in the bond of mutual understanding and cameraderie forged through the player's interactions with the majestic beast known as Trico.
2. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; This highly polished entry in the ever popular pulp adventure series combines rock solid gameplay and compelling character interaction with a flawless cinematic presentation, providing a satisfying conclusion to this merry band of thrillseekers, while leaving some doors open to the continuation of the franchise.
3. Gravity Rush Remastered ; The lighthearted tone, colourful aesthetic and charming protagonist make this game an absolute delight. Falling in games has never been this much fun.
4. Gone Home: Console Edition ; A haunting tale of self discovery, dripping with atmosphere.

1. Forza Horizon 3; Eye melting to look at. Heart warming to play. Just the perfect driving experience around

2. Overwatch; Top quality mp with amazing characters and abilities

3. Recore; Platforming like i remembered back in the day

4. Dragonball Z Xenoverse 2; Deep single player with fun mp component

5. Gears of War 4; Story just simply amazing. The campaign was like a blockbuster movie of the year

6. Last Gaurdian; unique and unforgetable

7. Quantum Break; incredible tps mechanics and looks really good

8. Inside; so good

9. Team Fortress 2; fun take on shooters

10. The witness; puzzles, puzzles, and puzzles which i love

1) Overwatch ; Overwatch is pure Blizzard polish applied to an idea that people already liked. But we all fell for it once again, and it's incredible. This is the class/hero-based team combat of Team Fortress, polished to a blinding sheen. The heroes are truly dripping with personality, and have wildly varied gameplay styles that are all distinctly fun to play in their own ways. The gameplay itself is smooth, with the many different abilities each feeling satisfying. The presentation is slick in every way, and the game consistently highlights how you performed well rather than surfacing the ways you failed. As with most games of its ilk, it is best played with friends. I've spent many hours this year playing it, more than any other recent release, and I won't stop any time soon.

2) Hitman ; I mean, honestly. I love Hitman. I've told myself that a lot. But if you think about it, it's probably not really true overall. I loved Blood Money, but by the time I got back to the older games they were just too rough around the edges for me. Absolution had its moments, but it was simply not a real Hitman game. The signs before release were not great. The game would be episodic. What? But man did they deliver. It's real Hitman. The levels are large, clockwork simulations filled to the brim with fun and ridiculous things to do. Unlike prior games, the design actually funnels you towards the interesting strategies (if you want it to). Impressively, this really never takes away from the enjoyment of pulling it off. But you can do so much. Run in with an assault rifle if you want, but you probably won't last long. Attempt a very serious stealth run, or let the absurdity shine through as you throw an axe at a man's head from across a room. This game enables you to play how you want, in dozens of situations. Everyone should play it.

3) Stardew Valley ; What a pleasant surprise this game was. Stardew Valley is one of those rare releases where you haven't even heard of the game until it's out, and you try it and fall in love right away. Stardew scratches that Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing itch really well, the kind of game I could just keep playing for hours on end. It's impressive to realize the game was made by just one guy, and then you have to appreciate even more just how much content is in this game. Farming, mining, exploration, socializing, buying/selling, rebuilding the town center, filling the museum, fishing, crafting. I haven't mentioned it all. The game substantially changes with the seasons, each of them offering yet more surprises. I was consistently happy every minute I played Stardew Valley, and it's a game I'll come back to now and then for a long time.

4) DOOM ; This is a game I didn't have much interest in playing. Sure, I've played previous Doom titles and found them enjoyable shooters. But I was a tad bit too young to have that strong nostalgia for the early games. Even if I had, the series had been so stagnant for so long that even longtime fans had no hope. What id delivered is nothing short of miraculous. A development cycle plagued by delays and other bad press ended in a game that is truly the pinnacle of first person shooting. The action is fast, fluid, and brutally fun. The music, a very heavy metal and synth fusion, seems to always sync perfectly to the action. The story might as well not exist, but the game's narrative revels in its own irrelevance in a way that is often very funny. I didn't even touch the multiplayer, never will, but regardless this is easily one of the top games of 2016.

5) Rocksmith 2014 Remastered ; It feels almost unfair to list this game here. In a certain way, it's more like listing 'playing guitar' as one of my favorite games of the year. It is certainly more of a hobby in itself than it is a game. That being said, Rocksmith (which had a standalone release this year) is a truly incredible piece of software. It breaks the guitar down into basics that are simply many, many times more accessible than any traditional method of learning. It offers basic lessons for simple concepts, and then breaks down songs into their simplest forms which let you actually play along (sort of), then build up your skills naturally. As a long time prior fan of plastic instrument games, there is simply no feeling comparable to that of playing a riff and knowing you're truly playing it. Most important of all, the game is a starting point. You can begin to learn to play. Eventually, you really should go back and learn your fundamentals. Memorize those chords, practice chord changes and strumming patterns. But I never would have wanted to do that without this game. Finally, the game still offers a lot for the competent guitarist. Rocksmith's conception of tablature is very intuitive and will probably remain my primary way of learning songs I already know.

6) The Witness ; With the next game from Jonathan Blow due to release early this year, expectations were very high. Shockingly enough, the game actually delivered above and beyond. The basic gameplay is deceptively simple, but the game quickly introduces complications that are unique, at times maddening, and frankly genius. The Witness plays with its environment in a way that few games ever had, and there were multiple moments that left me truly agape. The atmosphere and graphic design of the island itself are gorgeous, and exploring the nooks and crannies of that strange place was the perfect way to decompress from puzzle-solving that could be at times frustrating.

7) The Jackbox Party Pack 3 ; These games pretty much feature on my list every year. I could see how these game bundles could lose their luster for some, but for me and my particular group I'm not sure it will any time soon. This is the best release from Jackbox yet. While their previous two packs each included at least one or two weak games, every game in this pack is solid fun. Quiplash remains my favorite, but all the others have unique ideas and play out in really entertaining and varied ways.

8) Overcooked ; One of the absolutely most fun couch multiplayer games in years. The art style is charming, and the gameplay is the perfect blend of chaotic while still being a thorough joy to play. While our group would start out with a solid plan for who was going to do what task, it would always collapse into everybody screaming and running around in circles. One or two of the later levels stray too close to frustrating in their design, but overall it was the perfect game to play with a handful of friends.

9) Final Fantasy 15 ; I've never been a huge Final Fantasy fan, overall. I've always felt like JRPGs had a place in my gaming life, but that place was once every four or five years. This game is a mess in a lot of ways: the characterizatio (in game) is weak, the story is actually somewhat minimal, and the RPG aspects of it are streamlined overall. Yet I still had a lot of fun with it. If you watch the anime and the movie (which you shouldn't have to), the story takes on a surprising amount of life. The combat, while really simple, is fun and allows just enough room for variation to avoid overt repetition. The world is huge and overall pretty enjoyable to explore. Sadly the side quests are mostly pointless. I still haven't quite finished the game, but it's an experience I'm glad I've had.

10) Sid Meier's Civilization 6 ; There's not a ton to say about this game. It's Civ, through and through, and it comes with the same host of strengths and weaknesses it usually does. The gameplay has that same powerful and insidious hook that will keep you going for hours more than you planned to. The AI has its problems, but overall feels strong. The graphical style, which didn't translate well to prerelease screenshots, is very nice. Most importantly, it's easily the strongest vanilla Civilization games in a long time. I've only played a couple full matches of this, and though I thoroughly enjoyed them, I know the best is likely yet to come for Civ 6.

1. Overwatch ; the first multiplayer game that's actually hooked me in a long long time.
2. Dark Souls 3 ; Natural successor to my favourite game of all time.
3. Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice ; My favourite game in the sequel trilogy and return to form for the AA series.
4. Inside ;
5. Rhythm Heaven Megamix ;
6. Super Mario Maker 3DS ;
7. Zero Time Dilemma ;
8. Watch Dogs 2 ;
9. Darkest Dungeon ;
10. The Witcher 3 Blood and Wine ;

1. Titanfall 2 ; no other game hooked last year as much as Titanfall. Tight mechanics with a campaign that doesn't disappoint and a multiplayer so fun and engaging that brought me back to competitive shooters.

2. Inside ; from the beginning sequence you feel the effort put into the game. An experience calculated at each step from start to end, resulting in a masterpiece.

1. The Last Guardian ; A masterclass in animation, AI, world design, and storytelling. It was a long time coming, but Ueda did it again.
2. Inside ; A near-perfect journey through an incredibly dark and well-realized world.
3. Overwatch ; An incredibly fun and addictive multiplayer shooter where there's a character for virtually any playstyle.
4. Sid Meier's Civilization VI ; As addictive as Civ's ever been, and it actually feels like a complete game this time!
5. Destiny: Rise of Iron ; Destiny has made me literally hundreds of friends since its launch, and its expansion is my most-played game this year.
6. Stardew Valley ; Does Harvest Moon better than Harvest Moon.
7. Final Fantasy XV ; A hot mess, but in the best possible way. Still a bit surreal to talk about.
8. Pokemon Sun and Moon ; Like taking an awesome vacation.
9. Doom ; The surprise of the year for sure. This Slayer-album-come-to-life puts the pedal to the floor from the first few seconds and doesn't let up.
10. The Witness ; A beautiful puzzler that does a lot with a little.

Honorable Mentions
x. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided ; More of what made Human Revolution so great.
x. Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past ; A crazy-long journey through a charming world.
x. Fire Emblem Fates ; A triple helping of SRPG goodness.
x. Firewatch ; One of the best-told stories this year.
x. Gravity Rush Remastered ; Kat's adventures look so much nicer on PS4.
x. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD ; First time playing TP and it didn't disappoint.
x. Tom Clancy's The Division ; Was fun as hell...at least until level 30. Need to get back into it now that it's ostensibly fixed.

1. Star Fox Zero ; Honestly, not the best played this year but the reason for it's inclusion is what it represents: A creator's vision and interface/control method impacting interactivity. And how by doing these things a game runs the risk of being stigmatized.

Interaction is the key element here, i don't think a game director should refrain from taking certain design decisions that convey a vision just to appeace the largest user base possible. Some of the complains leveled at the game seem contradictory. Some players expect an standarized control method as if a videogame session should be the equivalent of hitting the play button on a videoplayer.

Critically, there was hell to pay because it's control setup didn't adhere to conventions. When in reality, the game used the hardware control system and interface to create an unique experience similar to what players could get in an arcade environmental cabinet.

And let me extended this bridge of thought to the following entry...

2. The Last Guardian ; ... To some extent complains adressed to this title are a mirror image of Zero. Design decisions that don't complay to player's expectations are labeled as missteps. In this case a player's lack of patience is seen as a flaw of the game not ourselves.

If this game wasn't the most significant release of the 8th generation, when trying to explain the rationale behind the game systems, a person would run the risk of been considered a delusional apologist, just like what happens when Star Fox Zero is the main subject of such analysis.

3. Hitman ; One of the best action/stealth series stays relevant when it remains true to itself.

4. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided ; While not as pure as the original, Eidos Montreal keeps doing a commendable job at bringing action/stealth to new players with a more up to times presentation and "sensitivities".

5. Rhythm Heaven Megamix ; A collection of very creative rhythm games across the series. Everyone can pick and play due to the simple interface but only the rhythmic coordinated can conquer.

6. Box Box Boy ; An example of how to achieve engaging gameplay with minimalist design and simple interface. The sequel manages to add new layers of depth over the original while retaining the original's intuitive controls.

7. Fire Emblem Fates ; Undoubtedly, Intelligent Systems can still cook a fine strategy sim, one that manages to cater to new and most of the old audience. However, with the announcement of 3 additional games and 1 spin off one wonders what this could mean for the series overall quality and viability. Nevertheless, Fates is still worth the time .

8. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice ; Even if not at it's best, this Classic Adventure game is worth the time spent. Captivating art style and animations greatly enhanced by the 3DS stereoscopic effect.

9. Sid Meier's Civilization VI ; One gets to a point of anticipating a Civ game just as much for it's gameplay as well as it's titular song, Civilization 6 continues the trend.



10. Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 ; Another interest case for the Interactive Medium. Is not the play mechanics nor the story telling that engages players... but the downright visual overdose of sublime imagery. Coupled with the simple interactivity, one gets all the elements for a very entertaining experience.

It also makes the curious of us wonder about the future of videogame adult content and if indeed virtual AV stars could rival the flesh ones in a not so distant future.

Deserve of Mention.

x. Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma ;
x. Paper Mario: Color Splash ;
x. AM2R: Return of Samus ;
x. Pocket Card Jockey ;
x. Dragon Quest VII
x. Picross 3D: Round 2 ;
x. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero ;
x. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse ;
x. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE ;
x. SteamWorld Heist ;

1. The Last Guardian ; No game has ever had me under its spell like this did. If ever an example of what auteur gaming was needed, Fumito Ueda's newest jewel would be it. Never does it deviate from its laser focused vision by introducing extraneous systems or text dumps. Ueda uses procedural animations to convey pure love in an adventure more earnest and engaging than the biggest RPGs or the most ambitious narrative games. Its beauty warmed my soul.
2. Dishonored 2 ; Arkane completely understands that great level design is the cornerstone of the best stealth games. Each mission is intricate and memorable, Karnaca is one of the most well realized cities in gaming and the new powers fit beautifully into the existing framework. Just a shame the main story wasn't as engaging as the world building.
3. Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun ; A complete surprise and a masterful homage to the Commandos games of old. Despite being new to the genre the developers never put a foot wrong and perfectly use its feudal Japan setting in possibly the best tactical stealth game ever.
4. Battlefield 1 ; BF1 proves that Dice is at its best when focused and constrained because of hardware (BC2) or historical reasons. Gone are the hundreds of weapon attachments and gadgets that made matches frustrating and hard to read, the simplicity of BF1's arsenal and its (mostly) fantastic maps make it the best BF in years. Operations uses the chaos and brutality of the BF experience to craft a mode that's almost overwhelming.
5. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse ; Despite re-using so much from SMTIV, Apocalypse feels like its own beast. The story is lighter but much better paced and less predictable than the last couple of mainline games, the difficulty curve is easier to negotiate and the games adds a myriad of small gameplay improvement that make the traditional SMT combat and dungeon crawling tighter than ever.
6. The Witness ; Like Braid, this game managed to completely re-wire my brain, only it did it a dozen times. Like learning a new language or a entirely new way of thinking. The Witness is a game that asks you to let your mind process its world until patterns and logic emerge. A gem of game design.
7. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; I feel like ND finally found what the want this series to be about in this fantastic action game. Where Indiana Jones is about faith and the struggle between good and evil, Uncharted 4 is about the tension between one own's search for greatness and one's need to preserve relationships with those we care about. The action has never been more fluid or exciting, the scenery has never been so beautiful and the characters have never been so believable than in A Thief's End.
8. Dark Souls 3 ; How From manages to keep coming up with new and exciting bosses and levels when they're on their 3rd Soulsborne game in as many years is a mystery to me. DaS3 is a great game on its own and a fantastic conclusion to the Dark Souls trilogy
9. Inside ; A much smoother and more interesting narrative platformer than Limbo in my opinion. Where the latter ended up becoming a succession of frustrating physics puzzles in a factory, Inside has a sense of momentum and mystery that never lets up, culminating in a WTF finale that's suitably baffling and creepy.
10. Overwatch ; The most cheerful and welcoming online shooter I've played. The simplicity of a FPS without loadouts and skill trees with a fantastic roster of characters that are unique and fun to play as.

1. Final Fantasy XV ; I don't think this was ever not going to be my GOTY. Sure, the 10-year wait was a rollercoaster ride, and sure, some development choices are questionable, but SE has delivered a game that oozes atmosphere and is the most "Final Fantasy" Final Fantasy in a long time. Plus, there is tons of post-game content that I am not even halfway through. Well done SE, now bring on FFXVI!
2. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; The ultimate Uncharted experience. It's essentially more of the same, but everything perfected and wrapped up in a beautiful package. And the ending perfectly wraps up a fantastic series.
3. World of Final Fantasy ; A charming and genuinely funny Saturday morning cartoon-like take on Final Fantasy. I would love to see this become a series.
4. Inside
5. The Last Guardian
6. Yokai Watch (PAL version)
7. Ratchet and Clank
8. Firewatch
9. Nights of Azure
10. Kirby: Planet Robobot