When we went to put our Game of the Year list together for 2016, the thing that became immediately apparent was that 2016 was a crazy good year for games. The list of titles we were tasked with whittling down to a Top 10 was sixteen shades of chocolate bonkers. As a result, there were many that, regrettably, did not make the Top 10. This, of course, does not dimish their extreme quality in any way. These titles are our Honourable Mentions, culled from a list that, at its longest, ballooned out to fifty seven games.
Battleborn (PS4, XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
Born into the world only a few weeks ahead of its greatest rival, Blizzard’s Overwatch, Battleborn presented a fun, fast-paced and very Gearbox take on the team shooter genre. Sadly, its userbase dissolved in the face of its all-conquering competition.
Darkest Dungeon (WINDOWS PC)
We know people whose obsession with this game is as strong now, almost a year after release, as it was when the game was still in early access. Tough as nails, grim in its presentation and featuring some of the very best art direction of the year, this is a must play for those who crave the indie challenge.
Dark Souls III (PS4, XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
Speaking of challenge, we went back and forth for quite a while on whether or not to include Dark Souls 3 in our top 10 or not. A greatest hits of everything that makes the Souls series great, with a little carry-over DNA from PS4 exclusive Bloodborne, should this truly be the end of the franchise it will have gone out with a gruelling, blood-soaked bang.
Dead Rising 4 (XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
A last minute addition to the list to be sure, Dead Rising 4 is just like it’s protagonist Frank West — loud, dumb and out of shits to give. It wants you to have a good time, it was you to blow up some zombies and it wants you to do it your way. It’s how the holidays were always meant to be.
Dishonored 2 (PS4, XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
That Dishonored 2 didn’t make our top 10 may irk some of the game’s more militant fans. While still an interesting and artistically beautiful take on the stealth and action genres in its own right, we still feel that this series has a long way to go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZX3MgsRb0A
Firewatch (PS4, XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
“Walking simulator” titles get a bit of a bad rap from the gaming community at large. They’re seen as beautiful-but-empty timesinks, distractions that keep you from playing other, better games. There are, however, those walking sims that make these same people sit up and take notice. Firewatch blends a beautiful art style reminiscent of the Don Bluth/Ron Clements/Gary Trousedale era of film animation with clever storytelling and some of the best voice over work of the year.
Fire Emblem: Fates (3DS)
Fire Emblem is a series that has won legions of fans through its combination of character work and deep turn-based strategy. The latest in the series, the multi-part Fire Emblem: Fates took a bit of a commercial risk. It broke the game up into two seperate titles (both sold at retail), each with a different story involving the same group of characters. By all accounts a rousing success, the games were later followed up with a substantial DLC expansion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTSUgXkfooA
Forza Horizon 3 (XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
Alright, look. This was easily one of the weirdest experiences of the year for us. Racing through parts of the Australian landscape that we know exceedingly well — Surfer’s Paradise, Byron Bay, the Yarra Valley just to name a few — and finding them recreated in strange and sometimes wildly amusing ways was surreal. The game itself, however, is every inch the world-class racer its predecessors were and demonstrates exactly how much fun this kind of game can be when you get out of the player’s way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji2aU4EdQww
Gears of War 4 (XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
The beginning of a new chapter in the Gears franchise that highlights the unbelievable scale of the original trilogy before squeezing its narrative down to a very intimate level. It’s a real departure for the series and one we feel is decidedly for the better. We’re ready for our next adventure in The Coalition’s expanded Gears universe.
Oxenfree (PS4, XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
Oxenfree stands as one of the very best examples of storytelling in games this year. A campfire horror story about teenagers, time travel and otherworldly beings, this is a fantastic indie that truly deserves your time and attention.
Pokken Tournament (WII U)
Hands down the weirdest fighting game of the year. A fever dream mashup of Tekken, Soul Calibur and Pokemon, Pokken Tournament is a host unto itself. Picking your squad of battle Pokes, training them up and then duking it out in real time is a real thrill and, while it doesn’t always work as intended, when it does it is truly a sight to behold. We be more behind this kind of out-of-the-box thinking.
Pokemon GO (iOS, ANDROID)
Speaking of Pokemon, this year’s biggest gaming sensation has to be the world-conquering Pokemon GO, which launched mid-year on mobile devices around the world. People were found all everywhere, walking the streets with phones in hand, discovering new parts of their neighbourhoods, meeting new people, causing headaches for property owners and finding ways to exploit the hard-line egg hatching system. All of this in the name of catching Pokemon IRL. Pokemon GO tapped into the nostaglia vein with precision and became a global phenomenon. New updates are still rolling out regularly and those Pokedexes are getting pretty well filled out by now. New year, new Pokes? We’ll have to wait and see.
Quantum Break (XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
This was one of those games that we almost forgot about until it was upon us. An interesting take on the third-person shooter genre that featured some of the most fun combat of the year, Quantum Break took a few liberties with the way its narrative unfolded. Like developer Remedy’s previous title Alan Wake, it broke its story up into TV-like “episodes” and bookended each level of gameplay with a short live-action video. While this was divisive among players, we think there’s a strong gameplay backbone here and we’re keen to see what Remedy could do with a sequel.
Ratchet & Clank (PS4)
In a year that had more than its fair share of HD remasters and reboots, Ratchet & Clank stood out. This was a game that had to serve a number of masters — it had to be a loving homage to the original game in the series, a tie-in to an animated movie, and it had to update the R&C experience in a meaningful way. It succeeded on all fronts, and actually ended up being far better than the movie it was built to promote. A welcome return to the PS2 era and a genre that doesn’t get as much love these days.
Street Fighter V (PS4, WINDOWS PC)
Alright, look, Street Fighter V was unfinished and broken as hell at launch. It was clear that Capcom put a rush on release because they wanted to get it into the hands of the competitive scene as quickly as possible. This does not change the fact that Street Fighter V, now with around nine months of release under its belt, is an exemplary fighting game. Great balance, a deep combo system and an excellent and ever-growing roster of characters mean this is one title we always have installed on our PS4’s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vi_JBJ5yoE
Superhot (XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
Have you played Superhot yet? One of the inventive and off-beat indies of the year, Superhot puts you in a familiar first-person shooter scenario with the twist being that the world around you only moves when you do. If people are shooting at you, stop moving and those people, the bullets they are firing and the world around you will halt. An amazing amalgam of shooter tropes and spacially-dominated puzzle gameplay make this one you have to play if you haven’t already.
That Dragon, Cancer (WINDOWS PC, MAC, iOS)
Again, the phrase “walking simulator” rears its head here for some but the fact is That Dragon, Cancer is so much more than merely a video game. It’s a love letter from a grieving parent to a child gone too soon, a living document of grief and its effect on us. It screams in a towering rage at a disease that gets a free pass to ravage anyone it likes without discrimination or remorse. It weeps, exhausted, in the face of defeat. That Dragon, Cancer is an important moment in video game history. It isn’t the most technically proficient game you’ll ever play and it certainly isn’t the most cohesive, but its emotional beats will ring in your ears for weeks after the credits roll and you find yourself hugging those you love all the closer to you.
Tom Clancy’s The Division (PS4, XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
I wasn’t much of a fan of Destiny when it launched. The dependency on mulitplayer for progression, the aimlessness of the experience, it all felt a bit aenemic to me. When I saw what Ubisoft was up to with The Division and found it to be in a very similar vein, I felt like it would go the way of Destiny and be quickly relegated to the shelf. Here’s the thing though — I’ve kept going back to it. The shooting isn’t the best but it’s fine. The missions are interesting and, now that the player base has levelled out, it’s easier to match with someone who isn’t an asshole. The game’s map of New York is beautifully realised and it gets its completionist hooks into you right away. The Division is fine work, and it’s good to see Ubi continuing to support it the way that they have.
Watch Dogs 2 (PS4, XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
The Division wasn’t the only big game from Ubisoft this year, however. The biggest game by far for the studio was Watch Dogs 2, the follow up to their troubled 2014 misfire. An improvement in every way over the original game, Watch Dogs 2 is the best direct sequel Ubisoft have produced since Assassin’s Creed 2 in terms of what it brings to the franchise. San Francisco is a great choice of city, the art direction is ultra modern and the hacks are far closer to what the original game should have been shooting for. We love Watch Dogs 2 and we’re glad this series is poised to kick on for a third entry down the line.
The Witness (PS4, XBOX ONE, WINDOWS PC)
Puzzle games don’t get much play on major consoles these days with the genre largely relegated to the mobile gaming space. This would mean that if The Witness didn’t stand out as much as it does already, its choice of genre certainly would have. Braid creator Jonathan Blow’s first new game since the release of his 2008 surprise indie hit, The Witness takes a simple maze-solving puzzle and twists it into some truly brain-meltingly difficult challenges. More than once we had to walk away from the game in frustration, but we always came back ready to look at it again with fresh eyes. A remarkable achievement with a style and story-telling methodology all its own.
Phew. Okay. Fifteen exemplary titles down! Ten more to go, mates! We’ll see you back here again tomorrow for our Top 10 Games of 2016 and our Game of the Year!
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