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GAF Games of the Year 2016 - Voting Thread [Voting closed]

More people need to get on that Witness hype train, son. I though long and hard which game was my #1 this year, and my head just kept getting back to it. It made a lasting impression for sure, and it was one of the first releases of the year!

I bought it at launch. I didn't even put it on my list. It would've been fine as a 10 dollar game but at 40$ and in comparison to some of the amazing games this year myself and others don't really feel like it belongs on our top 10.
 

swit

Member
1. The Witcher III: Blood and Wine ; yep, it's that good.
2. The Last Guardian ; another masterpiece from Fumito Ueda
3. DOOM ; almost as fun as Brutal Doom ;)
 
1. The Last Guardian ; Because I never felt such an emotional connection in a game. And because it is such a blessing these type of games without guns, cars and women still can get a major push and budget from a big gaming company.

2. Uncharted 4 ; What can I say? Great way to finish a game series with excellent dialogues, impressive graphics, great looking locations and immersive gameplay.

3. Inside ; Beautiful game with an intruiging gameworld, excellent puzzles and an ending that remains in your head long after ending it.

4. Firewatch ; best voice acting in a game ever, intruiging premise, great world to explore. Kept me interested even until the ending that felt a bit flat in my opinion.
 
1. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; Brilliant script and voice acting, excellent graphics, its just a great action adventure game and a nice end to the main Uncharted games.

2. Doom ; Amazing reboot of the Doom franchise. Captures classic Doom gameplay perfectly, with a brilliant soundtrack, great graphics and 60fps goodness.

3. The Last Guardian ; It finally came out and despite a few technical issues it was surprisingly great. Trico's AI is amazingly realistic and brings the creature to life.

4. Batman Arkham VR ; Not only was PSVR a solid VR platform, it let us become Batman. Impressive tech demo / mini game.

5. Tethered ; God sim style game in VR with a nice bit of depth to it. One of the best VR games right now.

6. Final Fantasy XV ; Another game that took forever to come out but turned out better than expected. Looks great, amazing soundtrack and gameplay is solid.

7. BattleZone ; The first game I played on PSVR at PSX and sold me on PSVR. Nice Tron like graphics, a randomly generated campaign mode, lots of weapons to unlock and 4 player co-op make this a brilliant VR game.

8. Job Simulator ; Very funny and a lot of fun in VR with nice cartoon graphics. VR really is great and more immersive when it uses motion controls.

9. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood ; Classic arcade light gun style game in VR, which works better than expected with the Until Dawn IP and has some great jump scares.

10. Titanfall 2 ; Better than the original in every single way and an excellent campaign. Very underrated game, deserveed to sell more.

Honourable mentions to Ratchet & Clank, Dark Souls 3, The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine, Dishonoured 2, Deus Ex, Inside, Overcooked and a quite a few more, lots of great game in 2016.
 

emag

Member
1. Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen ; gameplay and level design have been forgotten by most, but not by the DMC team at Capcom
2. Momodora IV ; it's not a Guacamelee-killer, but it's the closest we got this year
3. Super Mario Maker 3DS ; amazing level design from the masters at Nintendo
4. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice ; it's Ace Attorney
5. Super Mario Run ; pretty, pretty, pretty good
6. Fire Emblem Fates ; can't say no to more tactical combat
7. Resident Evil 4; remaster/port of a masterful game
8. Resident Evil 5 ; remaster/port of another great game
 
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Even in a quick paint mock up with no eyebrows you've captured the permanently semi glum expression of the Furi Stranger, I'm impressed!
 
1. The Last Guardian
Because I never felt such an emotional connection in a game. And because it is such a blessing these type of games without guns, cars and women still can get a major push and budget from a big gaming company.

2. Uncharted 4
What can I say? Great way to finish a game series with excellent dialogues, impressive graphics, great looking locations and immersive gameplay.

3. Inside
Beautiful game with an intruiging gameworld, excellent puzzles and an ending that remains in your head long after ending it.

Fix your formatting chap. This goes for many posts by the way. Doesn't hurt to read the OP.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
1. Uncharted 4 ; Great story and characters, amazing graphics, loved the "walking sim" parts, great send off to the series.

2. Doom ; My favorite FPS campaign. Just fun as hell to play, no pun intended!

3. The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine ; The best part of one of my favorite games. I just couldn't bring myself to vote a DLC number 1.

4. Gears of War 4 ; Great return to form for the series after Judgement. Great PC Port, I need to play more horde and do the campaign again.

5. Quantum Break ; Loved the gunplay and powers, and how the story was told multiple ways through the TV episodes, in-game cutscenes and emails/notes/audio logs.

6. Dark Souls 3 ; Great level design, not as good as Bloodborne for me, but I still loved it.

7. Final Fantasy XV ; Such a conundrum as it has a dumpster fire story (that would still suck even if it wasn't poorly told IMO) and cliche fetch quests for most side content, but at 71 hours it's my most played game this year.

8. The Last Guardian ; Trico was amazing, great job developing the bond between the boy and him, would be higher if not for jank in the camera and controlling the boy at times.

9. Overwatch ; Great pick up and play online game. Would be higher if I wasn't just super burnt out on MP games and thus not played it as much as I would have in prior years.

10. Forza Horizon 3 ; Great racing game, ton of fun to play, would be much higher for me if the PC port wasn't so poor (I don't have an Xbox 1).


Honorable mentions:

X. Batman: The Telltale Series ; Probably my second favorite of the recent Telltale games after Walking Dead S1.

X. Firewatch ; Probably my favorite "walking sim." Beautiful game, loved the setting and characters, was fine with the ending.

X. Ratchet and Clank ; Great remake, really enjoyed it, looks amazing on PS4 Pro.

X. Stardew Valley ; Charming little game, very relaxing to play. A short burst game for me though as I get bored if I do more than a few days in a sitting.

X. Civilization 6 ; very well done, I'm just new to the genre and haven't dove in deeply yet. May end up higher if I play more.

X. Inside ; I liked it and all, but not nearly as much as most apparently

X. Abzu ; Beautiful and relaxing game, just doesn't live up to the high bar set by Journey

X. Street Fighter V ; Great fighting game, plagued by a bad launch, lack of SP content and server issues

X. Battleborn ; A lot of fun, especially the co-op missions that I really wish Overwatch had

X. Titanfall 2 ; Redboxed it and enjoyed the campaign, but not as much as most outside of the
time travel
stage. Didn't care for the MP.

X. Dishonored 2 ; A bit samey to the first for me, and I'm lukewarm on stealth games, but still a great setting, characters and level design Hard to get around the fact that I just don't like the gameplay in this series though as I'm just not into stealth games.

X. Fire Emblem Fate: Birthright ; I didn't like to near as much as Awakening as the story and characters were pretty bland, but still solid.
 
1. Overwatch ; One of these games that I was not going to bother with until my friends bugged me to jump in. I don't have a competitive fibre in my body, and first person games more often than not are headache-factories. I was surprised to see that the game was able to offer people like me quite a lot. If I had to pick one of the game's strengths, it's the game's roster. The thing is pretty diverse in several ways, and keeps expanding.
2. Inside ; Wasn't really into Limbo a lot, but seeing it on the PlayStation Store on Halloween made me want to give it a shot. The game's mood clicked with me, I loved its ideas and imagery, and adored the final stretch. Definitely a game that'll stick with me.
3. Pokémon Sun/Moon ; If you told me last year that my 2016 GotY list would contain a Pokémon game, I'd probably have called you a madman. First time I was really into this franchise since the first two generations. It finally bothered to make some big strides in terms of structure, UI and balance. I Nuzlocked this game, which especially made its challenge-factor an unexpected treat.
4. Stardew Valley ; If GotY was measured in amount of time wasted, Stardew Valley would easily be a top contender. As someone who loves Harvest Moon, but kind of laments the low-budget rut it's in, this game was such a pleasant surprise. It takes the Harvest Moon formula, and expands upon it greatly. Given that this is a game made by pretty much a single person, there's some slight rough patches here and there, but they're easily forgiven. ConcernedApe raised the bar in the genre, and left the door open for a mod scene that can probably keep the game going for quite another while.
5. Owlboy ; 2016 was a game where several long awaited titles came out, and while it flew under many people's radars, Owlboy was one such title for me. The game was pretty much what I hoped it was, and I enjoyed it from start to finish. Easily the best looking game I've played since... I don't know. Legend of Mana?
6. DOOM ; Another game I was hesitant on, but the game's glowing reception made me want to dip my toe into it. While I couldn't play for longer than 30 minutes at a time, I powered through and could quickly see what people liked. The game has great forward-momentum during its action sequences, and its level design lends itself really well both to exploration and dynamic combat.
7. Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past ; I didn't think this was going to happen, but the localisation of DQ7 landed in our laps after years of doubt and uncertainty. It being a remake and all made me know exactly what to expect, but what's there is stuff I loved, and it only made things better.
8. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero ; I love the Shantae games and this is no exception. Probably the first game in the series since the first one that made me feel I was playing a "complete" and "uncompromised" entry.
9. King's Quest ; I only got into the King's Quest franchise not too long ago, but I'm glad that I did. This reboot ended up being one of the nicest P&C Adventure-style games I've played in years. The individual episodes mixed things up quite a lot for better or worse, and kept me guessing pretty much all the way up to its conclusion. I don't know if it sold enough to make up for its budget, but if this is what the series has to go out on, it passed with grace and dignity.
10. Dragon Quest Builders ; Love me some Minecraft and Dragon Quest, but the combination of the two initially sounded like combining tomato soup and lemon sorbet. Luckily I was wrong, and got an engaging game. It's not quite where I want it to be yet, but all the elements are in place for a sequel that unlocks its true potential.

Honorable mentions:

X. Dark Souls III ; Just didn't play enough of this to put it on my list. After just an hour of playing, the franchise-fatigue was setting in, and I just put it aside. It seemed well made, so I probably just need some time apart from these games. I'll pick it up again eventually, but 2016 was not in the cards for it.

Kind of a rough year for me. My actual top 10 of games I played this year would only contain three eligible titles for this vote. That's not to say there was a lack of games, far from it. 2016 was mostly full of games that either didn't appeal to me, or were not stacking up to all the LTTP titles I was consuming. When I saw this year's release schedule, I was kind of prepared for it. I went out of my comfort zone quite a lot, and did manage to find a few I ended up liking though.
 
1. Overwatch ; I'm not an MMO guy, but I was curious about Titan and what it would end up being. Even still, I'm not that much of a Blizzard die-hard so I don't follow game development that closely and I got swept up in the pre-release hype for Overwatch. I'm glad I did. It's the most polished an online multiplayer game I can ever remember and so much for anyone to enjoy, regardless of skill level. I've used this line on GAF before and elsewhere on the internet but it's completely true: Splatoon got me interested in online shooters again, but Overwatch made me fall in love with them
.
2. XCOM 2 ; I absolutely adored this game. The impact of Long War and the technical issues for some at launch dulled this 2016 installment's impact somewhat, but I still got a lot of enjoyment out of it. I really hope there's an expansion or that LW Studios recant on their pledge to not to a Long War 2!

3. Hitman ; I've actually barely played any of it myself, but I've got a whole lot of enjoyment out of it just by watching streams and the warm glow it gave me that, not only did IO understand exactly what went wrong with Absolution, but they righted the ship on their very next try. It's the true successor to Blood Money and clearly the best ever Hitman game. People put off by the whole murder-assassin thing should give it a try!

4. Rhythm Heaven Megamix ; Every Rhythm ______ game that releases I think is going to be the last and, perfect GBA original aside, each installment is generally better than the last.

5. Deus Ex GO ; I love the GO games. Plus, owning it got me two free drinks at the Kinda Funny / Square Enix party in Seattle this September. That's why it's my 5th best game of the year!
 

JBwB

Member
1. Overwatch ; A breath of fresh air from all the other multiplayer FPS games out there today. Each and every character in the game is so incredibly likable.
2. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine ; Another great piece of DLC by CDPR. The Duchy of Toussaint is beautiful and a joy to explore. A great end an amazing series.
3. Final Fantasy XV ; A step in the right direction from Square Enix. The game has it's flaws but overall the experience was truly a memorable one.
4. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; Top tier quality. A fitting end to the saga of Nathan Drake.
5. Dark Souls III ; More of that quality, challenging goodness we've come to expect from FromSoftware.
6. Battlefield 1 ; Battlefield in a WW1 setting. Absolutely brutal and hectic.
7. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided ; The main story was a little lacking but it more than made up for that with it's side content. Great game.
8. XCOM 2 ; Incredibly frustrating yet fun. A good follow up to the previous game.
9. The Witness ; The world and the puzzles spread throughout are incredibly well designed.
10. INSIDE ; An interesting experience and that's all I'll say about it.
 
1. Overwatch ; One of those rare occasions when you jump into a game blindly and it turns out to be far better than expected.
2. Street Fighter V ; The gameplay is 10/10 but everything else...
3. Dark Souls 3 ; Amazing game but I'm ready to see something new from Miyazaki's team.
 

Firemind

Member
Going through people's lists, I think I only played Pokemon Go this year lol

I blame Clint "ChoKing" Stevens.

1. Pokémon Go ; Playing it every day from July till now. Walked 1155 km. Hatched 1221 eggs. Captured 8565 Pokemon, 1609 were Pidgeys, 1196 were Weedles and 1359 were Rattatas. Accumulated 4,808,787 exp. 141 Pokédex just missing Venusaur and Kabutops. Legendaries when?
 

DNAbro

Member
1. Overwatch ;
2. Pokemon Sun ;
3. Pheonix Wright: Spirit of Justice ;
4. Final Fantasy XV ;
5. OneShot ; Play this one. There is a great chance you have haven't heard of this game. It's a 4th wall breaking short adventure game with great characters, world building, and music.
6. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse ;
7. Ratchet and Clank ;
8. Zero Time Dilemma ;
9. Tokyo Mirage Sessions:#FE ;
10. Fire Emblem Fates ;

x. Crypt of the Necrodancer ;
x. Furi ;
x. Uncharted 4

I might write out descriptions or not. Y'all should play OneShot though. Not the top but people need to try it.
edit: nvm i have to write one.
 

Ekai

Member
More people need to get on that Witness hype train, son. I though long and hard which game was my #1 this year, and my head just kept getting back to it. It made a lasting impression for sure, and it was one of the first releases of the year!

Never played it. Been vaguely interested.

These are my thoughts on Oxenfree, tbh. : P
 

Tankman

Member
1. Doom ; Great level design, satisfying progression system, and headbanging soundtrack.
2. The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine ; Beautiful locale. Amazing finish to the best game of this gen.
3. Total War: Warhammer ; Most polished Total War game in a decade while successfully molding the series' mechanics to a fantasy setting.
4. Uncharted 4 ; Best characterization in the series and satisfying conclusion for Drake from Naughty Dog.
5. Rimworld ; (Technically Early Access) Addicting colony sim with AI driven storytelling.
6. Oxenfree ; Excellent sound design, soundtrack, and conversation mechanics.
7. Ratchet and Clank ; Solid remake of a great game.
8. Battlefield 1 ; Multiplayer nails the chaos of WW1 warefare while maintaining BFs tactical depth.
9. Firewatch ; Gorgeous visuals accompanied by a story that opts for emotional moments rather than huge twists or setpieces.
10. Abzu ; Short, sweet successor to Journey.
 
1. Street Fighter V ; male and female body hyperbolism at the service of the purest versus fighting gameplay ever.
2. Abzu ; in this brutal world, one needs some art to evade.
3. Inside; Limbo made better, and Limbo was so good.
 
1. Overwatch
2. Pokemon Sun
3. Pheonix Wright: Spirit of Justice
4. Final Fantasy XV
5. OneShot
6. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
7. Ratchet and Clank
8. Zero Time Delimma
9. SMT:#FE
10. Uncharted 4

x. Crypt of the Necrodancer
x. Furi

I might write out descriptions or not. Y'all should play OneShot though. Not the top but people need to try it.
You need at least one description or you'll be dq'd
 

Timeaisis

Member
1. Dishonored 2 ; I love everything about this game. From the sandbox-style encounters to the complex but accessible level design, Dishonored 2 is a game about power and experimentation in one of the most beautiful wrappers I've ever seen.

2. Overwatch ; The best team-based FPS since Team Fortress 2. Fantastic character designs from both an artistic and mechanical perspective, really gives the game staying power.

3. Dark Souls III ; Doesn't quite reach the highs of the original, but they really nailed the formula down. DS3 is consistently great.

4. The Last Guardian ; Fighting with the obtuse controls and command system are no fun, but when this game clicks it's like no other. It is also incredibly beautiful.

5. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided ; Prague is so well realized, quests are well designed, and the combat and progression mechanics are legitimately fun. It's a shame some weird design decisions with Jensen's powers mar the overall perience. The sandbox is really great.

6. Paper Mario: Color Splash ; It' a Mario RPG. Funny, mindless, and colorful. And man, is it colorful.

7. Titanfall 2 ; A surprisingly satisfying single-player campaign with a good-to-great multiplayer mode.

8. Doom - A game where you shoot a lot of demons with refreshingly good FPS level design.

9. Uncharted 4 - For every single thing Uncharted 4 does right, it does two things wrong. The poor pacing and long stretches of nothing interesting really drag the whole experience down. But when it fires, it fires on all cylinders.

10. Final Fantasy XV - A fun open-world RPG that feels like no one on the development team actually sat down and tried to play.
 

Haganeren

Member
1. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice ; Well, it's not only Phoenix Wright, it's an INCREDIBLE Phoenix Wright, the best one i have played since... The third. I loved nearly all cases, loved the mechanics of seeing what the victim saw as its last moment, liked the new characters, loved the focus on Apollo and found some parts absolutly incredible. It was one hell of a ride !... And i just LOVE Phoenix Wright.

2. The Last Guardian ; I played this game totally blind and was immediatly in it. Trico is so..... CUTE it's criminal ! All its expressions made me care about him a lot more than more video game characters. The game itself is more hardcore than i thought, i was stuck a lot of time but by carefully observing Trico, i always found a solution. It would be a lie to say that the IA was perfect 100% of the time but it was really a part of the game and found it quite charming... I'm actually defensive like that because i was really surprised to see near the end of the game that a whole lot of people actually disliked it because it wasn't a very easy game to control where i had no problem. That being said, i can understand that for people who come from Shadow of the Colosseus, The Last Guardian is a lot less impressive so more disappointing.... Personally, i loved it.

3. Kirby: Planet Robobot ; I always loved Kirby games but i felt the GBA/DS games were kinda bad for them. I'm not really hype for remake (Nightmare in Dreamland, Ultra Super Deluxe), Mouse Attack was the most blend game ever and Mass Attack was........ Not THAT bad but kinda annoying at time. Only Paintbrush was a truly incredible game in my opinion. But Triple Deluxe really took me by surprise since it was sooo good. Return to Dreamland from the same director was more blend even if there was some very good things in it. Here Planet Robobot have a lot more interesting levels with an artistic direction which felt really good to me. The new powers are cool, the Mecha Gimmick is the best one Kirby ever had (and the super aspiration was already a lot better than the super power) and the OST is still incredible. The true bosses are incredibly hype for a huge fans of the serie like me and tied with other kirbies in a neat way. (Yes, i enjoy the Kirby stories and lore quite a lot). I only thought that the boss (albeit the last one) were less good than Triple Deluxe... But the levels were a lot better so... Hey ! Oh of course, the OST is still fantastic ! I loved this game a lot.


4. Mecha Ritz : Steel Rondo ; "... Hum, it's been since Touhou 15 that i didn't played a shmup game, would be nice to try something new... Oh what's that ? Mecha Ritz ? Seems fun enough, let's try..."... One hour later, i was already loving every bits of the game, enjoying not only the incredible pace, bosses and rank system but also the atmosphere with the kinda strange story, the graphics and most of all the fantastic OST.... What an awesome ride ! Now one of my favorite shmup ever ! It's just incredible !

5. Rhythm Heaven Megamix ; Always loved the Rhythm Heaven and wasn't too annoyed by knowing 80% of the musics here. The new story was cute and enjoyable, the new mini game like the Sumo or the Martian Language are now some of my favorites in the whole serie and the game was a lot bigger than usual.... I couldn't put down my 3DS for more than a week, it was an incredible surprise.

6. Severed ; I wasn't a big fan of Guacamelee... I was even quite disapointed by it. As a huge fan of Metroidvania i found Guacamelee level design quite.... Boring really. Even the battle system was kinda repetitive to my taste and all those meme jokes didn't enlighten the mood for me... It still had a lot of charm in its environment though and some move was fun to use but nothing more... So yeah, I played Severed with caution.... But to be honest, i loved it. It's actually the same kind of stuff than Guacamelee, really, taking the Dungon Crawling genre and make it simpler with a very unique artstyle... But I found the Level Design more interesting this time around and since I'm not a huge fan of Dungeon Crawling, it was a really cool game for me.. Also, it's a lot more serious which I found was fine. It was a very good ride !

7. Paper Mario : Color Splash ; I may have been seen defending Sticker Star but I was still kinda disappointed of it. Yes, the writing was still charming but with no story and character to speak it, it was not that great... But Color Splash was a lot different. From the very intro with some kind of mystery with a boat going through a tempest to very good lighting, I was already enjoying it. In the end, the game was filled of very memorable moment which doesn't come close to the bests from Paper Mario 2/Super Paper Mario but can still be a very part of the Mario RPG family that I really enjoyed. After the disappointment which was Mario & Luigi : Dream Team Bros and ESPECIALLY Paper Jam I played this game with a joy which come at a relief.... Now just make some original character instead of taking those annoying Toad/Koopalings/enemies we already know. That's really the most annoying thing about this game.


8. Xanadu Next ; Well, technically I played it way before from a fan translation but I heard that it officially came out quite recently so i'm putting it to my list in order to say that it's a really amazing game. The gameplay is kinda hybrid but really enjoyable with a mouse and I loved the Level Design which came out a lot more interconnected than I originally thought. The environment is really gray... But I didn't mind since it added some sense of mystery in the game. I always loved Falcom but I didn't thought bosses would be great in that game... But they were... At the end of the day, it's a little gem which doesn't last long but left me with a big overlasting impression.


9. Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir ; Actually just finished it ! I played the original release on PS2 but really... The game wasn't very fun to me... And it was a shame because outside of the very memorable fantastic environment, the story and characters was greatly written and I loved to see them with their inner dialog.... And then the PS4 remake came out. I actually don't like remake most of the time because I always feel like the original intention was lost for the sake of convenience and to be totally honest, I think that's also the case here at some very specific point... But in return, I had a game as fun as Muramasa gameplay wise with new bosses and area during the dungeons in order for them to feel less repetitive (They are STILL repetitive... But less) and we now have skills in order to play in a lot of different way, that's just fantastic !... But still, at heart, it's very repetitive and some plot point seems forced in order to have 7 chapters for each characters so I can't put it higher than that... Even if I really enjoyed it.

10. Downwell ; To be honest, i tend to hate procedurally made game... And don't advice me Spelunky, I hate this game even more ! But Downwell..... Is good... I mean, it wouldn't be honest to not put it on my Top 10 Game since I played it so much ! The fact you only have one button is very elegant, the game is procedurally done but they are not too much trap compared to other game like that, everything looks the same so it doesn't feel like i'm seeing the same brick over and over ironically and the game is very short which is less annoying when I finally lose. I'm still not liking that kind of game too much but that one... Is alright.


X. The Last Door : Season 2 ; Actually, if it was Season 1 I would have put it on my top 10 since I really loved that game but the Season 2 is... Maybe a little less interesting ? Not too much of course but I put it down for now. The fact I have to play another character when I only want to know what's happening with the one from Season 1 is an old writing trickery that I never enjoyed very much... But still, it's a very charming horror point & click with a lot of big blocky pixel, it's really fun to play ! I like it !


X. Tokyo Mirage Session ; I was sure this one would have been on my top 10 because I really loved the dungeon, battle and overall balancing in the game. At some point, I also really enjoyed the whole craziness with the idol songs which attacks the enemies... But I felt it was still "not crazy enough" you know. The casting is enjoyable but really, I already know all those characters by heart... They are not very interesting and the hero is especially not memorable. (And it's coming from someone who LOVES J RPG, Trails in the Sky, Tales of, I eat those with passions... So yeah, i'm "used" to "not that memorable hero") Also, the combo system tends to be a bit too long to see everytime at the end of the game. Finally, I regret that the whole idol theme wasn't explored more deeply, everything is fine in the world of Tokyo Mirage Session, when a newbie come by, it's immediately a big success, everyone is successful anyway and happy all the times.... And yeah, it seemed a bit forced at time.


X. Star Fox Zero ; I'm not someone who hated Star Fox Zero, I actually took the control very quickly and liked it. I also love the hidden objectives which can be very fun (i don't think I have done everything here though)... That being said, the fact it's the same story as Lylat Wars was a big mistake for me. It means each stage will be compared to the Lylat Wars version and... Well... Star Fox Zero very rarely win in that aspect unfortunately. It's a very good game because it's a "less good version of Lylat Wars" for me... And Lylat Wars was incredible... But it's not a very elegant victory.
 

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
1. The House in Fata Morgana ; Gripping story, beautiful art and haunting OST
2. Momodora Reverie Under the Moonlight ; Great atmosphere, memorable bosses and nice OST
3. The Count Lucanor ; Tons of atmosphere, interesting story and fun gameplay.
4. Dark Souls 3 ; May feel like Dark Souls 1 remix but still a great game
5. MELTY BLOOD: Actresss Again Current Code ;Best 2D Fighter out there and hard to top still
6. Under Night In-birth Exe Late ; Amazing battle system that flows damn well and the characters are each quite unique to play with.
7. Shantae Half-Genie Hero ; A bit on the easy side but the game has tons of personality, charming characters and fun gameplay to acompany it. Also the soundtrack has some stand out tracks.
8. Dragon's Dogma ; Just for the combat system really
9. Earth Defense Force 4.1 ; Just plain cheesy fun
10. God Eater 2 Burst ; Currently the best hunting game on Steam.
 

gngf123

Member
1. VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action ; Great OST, the perfect relaxing game
2. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight ; Phenomenal soundtrack and atmosphere, and satisfying difficulty.
3. Stephen's Sausage Roll ; The best puzzle game to release this year
4. DOOM ; First FPS campaign that I have been able to enjoy in years
5. The Witness ; The second best puzzle game to release this year
6. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse ; SMT goodness, and plays better than 4, but unfortunately also introduces some really awful storytelling.
7. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero ; Will add comments later
 

Pafnucy

Member
1. Total War: Warhammer ; Best Total War game since Medieval 2. Turns out that total war and warhammer franchise are a perfect match for each other. Campaign, while simplified in comparison to previous titles, is still very engaging. Battles are absolutely insane with all the monsters, guns and magic. What is most surprising is how well polished the game is, much better release than Rome 2 was when it launched. My personal GOTY of this year.

2. Dark Souls 3 ; A love letter to Dark Souls 1, with better graphics and some of the improvements from DS2. From Software delivered once again. Great finale to the trilogy.

3. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Blood and Wine ; A beautiful send off to Geralt. After the perfection of base game and Hearths of Stone expansion, I expected another excellent addition to the Witcher world and, oh boy, CDP delivered. Great story, great villain and probably the best looking open world in RPG history.

4. Life is Strange ; Amazing story and soundtrack. And dem feels... :(

5. Doom ; You shoot hell-spawn demons with big guns. That's it. And that's why Doom was the best single player shooter this year. It's simple, but it's perfect at what it does.

6. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada ; Warhammer 40k and big, epic space battles with capital ships shooting torpedoes at each other. What else would you want? It's great.

7. XCOM 2 ; A worthy sequel to Enemy Unknown. Great tactical turn-based strategy.

8. Overwatch ; Best multiplayer game of the year, Blizzard still has it.
 
1. The Last Guardian ; This is the most cinematic game I have ever played. The story is constantly unfolding whilst actually playing the game, and god damn if it wasn't beautiful. A wholly unique experience that is honestly unlike any other game out there.

2. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; A beautiful sendoff to one of gaming's best franchises ever. This is also the most visually stunning game I have ever seen.

3. Titanfall 2 ; My favorite FPS of the year. Titan gameplay is exhilarating, and gosh that gameplay...so damn good. I can't remember the last time where I took pause with a game just to notice how well it controls. Beautiful stuff from Respawn. And that single- player? Amazing.

4. Ratchet and Clank ; I absolutely adored this game. It may have had a bigger impact on me than others because Ive never played the original on PS2, but the visuals, platforming/shooting, and story were just so jolly and gorgeous. I'm a big fan of Insomniac in general but this game reminded me of why I love their games so much.

5. Inside ; Stellar presentation and world building, an intriguing story/plot, and some really cool puzzles. I'll definitely remember this game for a long time.

6. Overwatch ;

7. Doom ;
 
1. Uncharted 4 ; Best Uncharted and Naughty Dog does it again with great pacing, gameplay and story. Was fun completely throughout.

2. Titanfall 2 ; Really fun story and even better multiplayer. Last Titan standing is so addictive.

3. The Last Guardian ; The wait is over and the game is just gorgeous. The connection with Trico is emotional and it's fun using him in all the puzzles. Well worth the wait. Technical problems are annoying.

4. The Witness ; Probably the best puzzle game I've played. There's no hand holding; if you can't do the puzzle, you haven't learned it yet. The world is beautiful and I loved the videos.

5. Forza Horizon 3 ; One of the best racing games I've played. Great races, great environment, really really fun.

6. Final Fantasy XV ; I'm waiting for the patches before finishing, but the story and characters are great so far and I love the journey.
 

alext5

Neo Member
1. Gears of War 4 ; Very solid entry in a franchise I thought was done.
2. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End ; Amazing game with graphics I didn't think were possible on console. Very good story.
3. Overwatch ; Never thought Blizzard would put out a FPS. Was entirely wrong. Very good one at that.
4. Battleborn ; Flawed but very interesting game. Probably my most played this year.
5. Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide ; Left 4 Dead in a fantasy universe. Enough said.

Played way less this year than I ever did. My second child was born in April and took a lot of my free time and motivation to play games.

Backlog that would be eligible for this year:
Deus Ex : Mankind Divided
Ratchet and Clank
The Division

Looking forward to get:
Batman Telltale
Firewatch.
Watch Dogs 2
Dishonored
Final Fantasy XV
 

Alfredo_V

Neo Member
1. Dark Souls 3 ; Latest entry in my favourite gameseries didn't disappoint, but didn't reinvent either. I had also hoped for a more interconnected world like DS1. Meanwhile from software still makes brilliant and challenging games, and IMO rules in the gameplay category. My hopes for next Miyazaki game is of a gigantic proportion!

2. Uncharted 4 ; A fantastic and magical end of the series. Visually stunning, atmospheric and entertaining adventure.

3. DOOM ; As many others, I was really surprised by this game. Super fun shooter and hopefully a start to something new (and retro at the same time).

4. Salt & Sanctuary ; Yes it is a Souls clone in 2D and is built upon the same formula, but SKA studios makes something unique with it. Its addictive and quite difficult, and also rewarding.

In 2016 I replayed so many older games and didn't really leave space for all new ones. Looking forward to play The Last Guardian the most, hopefully soon.
 
1. Banner Saga 2 ; I only really played a couple games that released this year so I'm just going to pick my one favourite. Absolutely fantastic game in appearance, story and music, gameplay is still decent.
 

Zemm

Member
1. Titanfall 2 ; This just beats my #2 pick because it's a whole package rather than "just" a great singleplayer. Both the MP and SP are great, you can tell it's the original CoD devs straight away with just how good everything feels, in particular the movement and shooting. The campaign has one of the GOAT FPS levels and it changes things up frequently so the player never gets bored, it feels a bit like a Valve game from when Valve made games.

2. DOOM ; The only reason this isn't number 1 is because the multiplayer isn't near the standard of TF2. I honestly thought this game was going to be shit and apparently so did Bethesda because they kept marketing the game with multiplayer footage and beta's. A funny thing happened just before release and Nvidia of all people release a video which showed the game off 100 times better than Bethesda ever did.

The gunplay, level design and sound are absolute top tier for an FPS. The soundtrack is also my Soundtrack of the Year. It's not just background noise, it actually reacts to the player and it kind of becomes a part of the character and really pushes you to keep moving forward. One of the best implementation of music in a non-music game.

3. Dark Souls 3 ; The best Souls game for me, some nice nostalgia and great level design. Other Souls games always had a glaring weakness such as some really awful bosses, movement (DS2) or levels, but this has none of that. This really needs to be the last Souls game though, I don't think they can or should take it further.

4. Overwatch ; Loved this game, great set of characters and really fun multiplayer but I stopped playing much quicker than I thought I would. The loot box microtransactions are pretty gross and put me off a bit. I returned to it after a few months of not playing it and it feels so slow and quite boring compared to TF2 now.

5. Hitman ; Episodic gaming done right, some of the best level design you'll see in a game.

6. Shadow Warrior 2 ; Humour, fun combat, a pretty good combination.

7. Witcher 3 Blood and Wine ; I'm only about halfway through this but it's still good enough to make the top 5.

8. Quantum Break ; Outside of some pacing issues I really liked this game. Remedy really do combat well and I always love the little weird stuff they put in their games.

9. Inside ;

10. Firewatch ;
 

KooopaKid

Banned
Not a good year for a fan of Nintendo's game design philosophy, but here's are my favorites of 2016:

1. Hyper Light Drifter ; A cross between Nintendo's Zelda and Platinum's combat and upgrade systems with a unique artstyle
and soundtrack. Excellent pacing, world building, secrets and bosses. The only game I consider "perfect" this year. 5/5.

2. Inside ; Very polished cinematic experience, a bit light gameplay wise and the last 30 minutes are a bit overated
but still worth it for its uniqueness. 4/5.

3. Superhot ; Very original concept. Too bad it's too short and doesn't expand on the main mechanic with interesting
and varied scenarios. Very basic presentation. 4/5.

4. Thumper ; The first 3 hours were exhilarating. Perfect controls and artistic direction. Unfortunately it became
too difficult with trial & error gameplay after that. The difficulty curve killed the fun. A shame the visuals often don't
really match the beats too. 3/5.

5. Firewatch ; The dialogues, artstyle and scenery make this game worth going through. 3/5.

6. The Witness ; Fantastic setting and clever puzzles. Unfortunately, the game is austere, with sometimes slightly cheap
solutions or just unfun puzzles to solve. The game often felt like work. Didn't finish it. 3/5.

7. Owlboy ; Beautiful indie game with an original cast and world but the combat, level design and puzzles
lack depth. 3/5.

Played but not ranked:

The Banner Saga 2
No Man's Sky
Grow Up
Rise Of the Tomb Raider
RIVE
Quantum Break
Furi
TMNT: Mutants In Manhattan
 
1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II ; one of the best jrpg battle systems and a great and clever story with interesting and loveable characters.

2. Thumper ; such an intense music/arcade game and my favourite VR game.

3. Tyranny ; playing the bad guys never felt so good.

4. Overwatch ; excellent designed team based multiplayer shooter
.
5. Hyper Light Drifter ; love the atmosphere and the simple but challenging dash/attack gameplay.

6. Inside ; the ending was one of the greatest and most grotesque scenes in gaming.

7. Pokémon Sun/Moon ; nice evolution for the pokemon series and a lot of nostalgia.

8. Dark Souls III ; the first entry of the series is my goat and ds3 was a great conclusion for the souls-games.

9. Here They Lie ; a game with some flaws but a very intense VR experience.

10. The Last Guardian ; a beautiful friendship between a boy and his (impressively designed) pet.
 

Arion

Member
Seems Uncharted 4 might have diminished chance of winning since more than a few people are not using the full title. Use the full title folks or your vote won't register.
 
Seems Uncharted 4 might have diminished chance of winning since more than a few people are not using the full title. Use the full title folks or your vote won't register.
You're not giving Cheesemeister enough credit. It'll count.

By the same coin Dark Souls III wouldn't count because people say Dark Souls 3
 

Lan Dong Mik

And why would I want them?
1. Inside ; A 2D masterpiece with jaw dropping animation and a fantastic story left up to interpretation that has build up towards the end that will leave you speechless. One of my favorite games of all time.

2. Doom ; Doom is back and better than ever! reclaiming the FPS throne! A technical marvel on PC and it's played at a frantic pace that will take your breath away.

3. Dark Souls 3 ; Best game in the series in my opinion. Amazing combat and locations. Bosses that gave me nightmares. By far the most fun I've ever had with a Souls game.

4. Titanfall 2 ; The surprise of the year. An absolutely amazing campaign that completely came out of nowhere. BT is my favorite character of the year in gaming. MP is a blast too!!

5. Battlefield 1 ; Best looking game from a graphical standpoint that I have ever seen. It constantly feels like you're in a real battle and it runs beautifully. My favorite MP game of the year.

6. Gears of War 4 ; Very solid game with great MP and a very good campaign. Best Gears game to date.

7. Overwatch ; Most addicting game of the year. Keeps me coming back to this day. Blizzards attention to detail is astonishing.

8. Uncharted 4 ; Nathan Drake is back and better than ever. PS4's best looking game. I wish all AAA games were this good. Story was a bit run of the mill but when the action and gameplay is this good, it doesn't really matter that much.

9. Steep ; Talk about an underrated game. I have so much fun just kicking back and enjoying this open world in the mountains. The controls improved sooo much over the beta imo. I've read numerous posts on GAF about how this game is a dud and that it's going to bomb (if it hasn't already) but I truly love this game and feel like it deserves a spot on this list. It's does something completely unique and it succeeds in nearly every way (fuck you paragliding!!!)

10. FFXV ; I like this game a lot, I have not beat it yet, but I have about 15 hours on it and I'm really starting to get into it now. the story is a bit lackluster, but this game really spices up the FF series in a way I haven't seen in a long time.
 
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