[Question] The Gamingforce Game of the Year 2016: Now with microtransations - voting edition

Oh now would you look at this, the forums have been resurrected and I've returned from the land of Maple Syrup sort of in time (OK, a touch late) to get a Game of the Year thing going.

So yes, by virtue of a returning forum it is once again time for the Gamingforce Game of the Year to make its appearance! 2016 has been a bit of mixed bag across the board for a number of reasons, but all things told it was a pretty solid year for gaming with some top notch games seeing a release, including several titles with many years of development behind them that seemed destined to never see the light of day. As ever this thread becomes the arena of combat and popular choice in which they will do battle to become our Gamingforce Game of the Year 2016. Assuming people realise the forums are back, reset their accounts and take time to come post.

So yes, the year that is 2016 is done and bring on 2017, yet another year due to be full of hype, big releases, disappointments and even more games to pile onto the backlog. For those brave souls who return to GFF to vote I salute you. As ever the question we ask and look to answer is: what does Gamingforce consider the best of gaming experiences of 2016? Once again, no gimmicks this year, as ever I'd simply ask for you to take part and encourage others to do so.

As with the previous years' voting here's how this is going to work: each person has 100 points to vote for games released in 2016 (doesn't matter where, but games have to have been commercially released in 2016) and you can allocate them to as many games as you like as long as it totals 100 in the end. The only rule is that you can't award any single game more than 40 points. So you could vote two 40s and a 20, or a 40 and six 10s, or any other combination of points as long as it adds up to 100.

To vote all you have to do is post a reply with your top games of 2016, how many points you're giving each, and a brief explanation of why you feel the game deserves your points.

Example:

GAME A - 40 points
Man I loved game A because...

GAME B - 20 points
I ended up playing so much of game B that...

GAME C - 15 points
Game C gets some points because...

GAME D - 15 points
I couldn't decide between this and C, so gave both points, but D rocks because...

GAME E - 5 points
Good, but not necessarily great, but I figure E deserves some points because...

GAME F - 5 points
Like E, F gets a few points because...

--------

Voting will close on Saturday 4th February at 18:00 GMT (that's Englandland time), at which point I'll add all the points together and work out GFF's top games of 2016, posting the results in a new thread for discussion/people to complain about. I'm allowing a little extra time again this year as the thread is going up late so you've got a chance to go try and squeeze in any contenders you wanted to try before voting.

So, go on, get voting.

Oh, and get other people to come vote too.

Disclaimer/Rules:
1. If you allocate any game more than 40 points your vote won't be counted.
2. If your points allocation totals more than 100 points your vote won't be counted (totals less than 100 are fine).
3. Votes for games not released in 2016 will be ignored.
4. Only official commercial releases in 2016 count.
4a. No 'Early Access', 'Alpha', 'Beta' or other pre-release titles will be counted.
5. No negative points. I'll point and laugh and then ignore your vote.
6. Whole integers only. Fractions and decimal places will also lead me to ignore your vote.
7. Any other such idiocy will also probably lead your vote not being counted.

And as ever, I take no responsibility for Skills fucking with stuff, which if you ignore these points he almost certainly will do somehow.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Awwww yea let's do this.

Copy-pasting shameless from my journal (points are on the last four games)

TOP 12 FAVOURITES OF 2016

12.



Shardlight
[Point & Click Adventure Game of the Year] [Best Wadjet Eye Game of 2016] [The Ben Chandler Award for 2D Adventure Game Sprite Excellence]

Another lovely little point & click adventure from the reigning champions of the genre, with some wonderful world building, melancholic atmosphere and multiple endings depending on your choices. Doesn't quite reach Gemini Rue or Primordia, or even Technobabylon, but well worth playing through. And the sprites are absolutely lovely.

7/10


11.



Samorost 3
[Cutest Game] [Best Music] [Best Collectibles] [Best Third Samorost] [Best Second Samorost Sequel] [Best Dog] [The "Amanita Design Game of the Year" Award For Best Amanita Developed Game] [Best Space]

Amanita gives us another gift and Samorost 3 is more Samorost, but on a level of polish far beyond even Botanicula. It's an adorable, funny, surreal little adventure and one of the most charming titles of the year.

8/10


10.



Virginia
[Best Hard Cuts Of the Year] [The "Seriously Those Hard Cuts Were Really Fucking Great" Award For Some Surprisingly Well Done And Neat Hard Cuts] [Last Game I Played of the Year Award] [Second Best Wordless Narrative] [Most Annoying Cryptic Sequences] [Most Unexpected Little Sequence That Made Me Tear Up That Wasn't Really Meant To Be Particularly Sad]

My feelings towards this game shifted from positive to negative to positive to negative to contemplative and hesitant in the span of its very brief 2 hour run time. It's an achingly beautifully crafted linear path through a set of several mysteries, filled with absolutely stunning little touches, from the use of music and dialogueless narrative, to the superb cuts that completely delighted me. Then it'll throw you into sequences that you won't understand and at times it's spellbinding while other times it's just deeply frustrating. There are sights and scenes that make no sense, whether you try to interpret them literally or symbolically, and the last stretch of the game left me feeling disappointed initially. The more I've thought of it, the more I've warmed back to it, but it is a difficult game to enjoy outright. After sleeping on it, I've come to realize I did very much enjoy the journey, even if the conclusion could have been more satisfying. In either case it's a fascinating, ambitious and in many ways rewarding experiment in first person and video game narrative. It's just that there's another game on this list that does all that so much better.

8/10


9.



Dreamfall Chapters
[Best Zoe] [Best Writing] [Best April] [Best Crow] [Second Most Unexpected Game to Make Me Cry] [Best Episodic Game] [Best Continuation of Dreamfall] [Best Consequences for Choices] [The "Man I Hope They End Up Making The Longest Journey Home" Award For Hoping For A Final Chapter To April's Story Now That Zoe's Is Done]

I sat down and played through The Longest Journey, then Dreamfall and then Dreamfall Chapters almost back to back. People should not play Chapters without playing through the first two games in the series first. Chapters is very much a continuation (and in many ways a conclusion) of past events and the destinies of old characters people like and care deeply about. It's a beautiful adventure, with slight attempts at consequences for choices, but nothing actually major. You are essentially just observing a sequence of events that are only a minor part of much bigger things. And it's really good. Basically play The Longest Journey and Dreamfall. Chapters is fantastic and absolutely worth it. Norwegians are still fantastic storytellers.

9/10


8.



Dishonored 2
[Best Stealth] [Most Emily] [Best Stephen Russell] [Second Best Delilah of the Year] [Best Supernatural Powers] [Winner of The Best Level of the Year Award: The Clockwork Mansion] [The Most Unexpected Brandon Keener Award for Unexpected Brandon Keener]

It's more Dishonored. It's got a paper-thin main story. Its characters aren't particularly engaging. Its world building and flavour text are terrific. Its stealth is really fun. It's got a few absolutely fantastic levels. It's really pretty. It's really great if you like Dishonored 1.

8/10


7.



Doom (2016)
[Best Single Player First Person Shooting] [Best First Person Platforming] [Best Use of Music in Combat] [One of the Biggest Surprises of the Year Award] [The FURY ROAD Award For Unexpected Old Franchise Revival That Actually Turned Out Really Fantastic]

I had written this game off as garbage several times since it's first E3 reveal. It looked like crap. It turned out to be really fucking good. It successfully takes the spirit of what a lot of people love about Doom and splices it with more modern technology and trappings. The focus on exploring the levels is absolutely terrific and they reward exploration and it's all completely perfectly in line with the vast levels and oh my god it's so good. Just the way simply moving around and navigating the levels and shooting feels genuinely good and satisfying is incredibly impressive to me and should be celebrated. It loses some of its steam like two levels or so before it ends, but this is one of the best first person shooter campaigns of recent years. The fury and fun are just wonderful.

8/10


6.



INSIDE
[Depressing Danish Game of the Year] [Best Animation] [The Geez That's Messed Up Award For Implied Dark Stuff] [Best Follow-up to Limbo] [Most Violence Towards Children] [Creepiest Underwater Segment]

It's a worthy successor to Limbo. And I really liked Limbo. It's bleak, it's dark, it's beautifully paced, it's got gorgeous animation and environmental design, it's a very memorable cinematic platformer that doesn't overstay its welcome.

9/10


5.



Overwatch
[Best Multiplayer] [The Most Hours Played Award For Most Hours Played] [Best FPS]

I don't like competitive multiplayer games but I put 200 hours into Overwatch so it has to be doing something really well. It's bright, colourful, fast-paced, fun, pretty and has a world and characters that are charming and memorable enough to add that extra bit to the game. Blizzard are really good at making shiny things.

9/10


4.



Hyper Light Drifter - 20 points
[Best Graphics] [Prettiest Game] [Best Music] [Best Combat] [Best Wordless Narrative] [Awesome Architecture] [Best Atmosphere]

A slightly non-linear Zelda, but with less reliance on gadgets and more focus on combat and exploration. It strikes a good balance and the atmosphere, environmental storytelling and stunning visuals are enough to keep you playing. This was my favourite game of the year for several months.. until I played the next three.

9/10


3.



Owlboy - 20 points
[Best Graphics] [Prettiest Game] [Best Music] [Longest Development Time] [Best Finale] [The Delightful Award For Being Genuinely Surprising And Wonderful And You Should Play This Game] [Made Me Cry Award For Making Me Cry] [The Unexpectedly Emotionally Involving Award For Making Me Cry And Not Expecting It] [Most Unexpected Game to Make Me Cry] [Best Hug] [Best Grass]

Nine years it took them to make it, it feels unreal that it's actually done and here and really quite wonderful. Owlboy is a beautiful little metroid-lite adventure, set in a gorgeous world of floating islands, mysterious ruins and ancient, forgotten technology. Play it. It's absolutely wonderful and charming and beautiful to look at.

9/10


2.



Firewatch - 20 points
[Best Writing] [Prettiest Game] [Best First Person] [Second Best Dialogue System] [Best Delilah of the Year] [Spookiest Moment In A Not Spooky Game] [Second Spookiest Moment In A Not Spooky Game] [Best Walkie Talkie] [Best Character Creation] [Best Drinking] [Best Voice Acting]

Holy god damnit I did not expect this game to win me over. Beautifully subdued in pretty much everything, it's a meticulously crafted, quiet, unassuming little walk through the lives of two lost adults, as much a character study as it is a mystery to uncover. It is a stunning use of interactive narrative and I can't wait to see what Campo Santo does next.

9/10


1.



Oxenfree - 40 points
[BEST GAME OF THE YEAR] [Best Writing] [Best Voice Acting] [Spookiest Game] [Best Island] [Best Radio] [Best Music] [Best Dialogue System] [Best Alex] [The "Another Unexpected Emotionally Involving Game" Award for Being Unexpectedly Emotionally Involving For What Is Essentially A Teen Horror Trope Plot, Especially The Moments Where A Confused Alex Gets To Talk To Her Dead Brother In The Past Were Incredibly Well Done And Subtle And Hit Me Right In The Feels And Yes They Made Me Cry Ok]

Well this is it. My favourite game of the year. A completely wonderful little ghost story, with a fantastic dialogue system, terrific writing, lovable characters and a surprisingly engaging narrative and emotional punch. A remarkable debut work from a highly promising developer who know what they're doing. I love this game so much and I want to see what Night School does next.

9/10

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Doom - 5 points: It turned out to be better than I was expecting, and I was pleased with the set pieces.

Civilization VI - 5 points: Needs more seasoning. Hopefully by the time all the inevitable expansions and mods are out it'll be flawless like Civ5 became.

The Witness - 10 points: This game. I was having a lot of fun with the puzzles and the beautiful world, but I hit a wall once colors and shapes got involved and ended up watching the rest in a playthrough. I would have loved to have been smart enough to finish the game but I just couldn't figure it out.

Stardew Valley - 10 points: I never got into Harvest Moon but I enjoyed SV quite a bit. The grind was entertaining for a while, then going to the desert added another layer to that, but it also diverted my attention from the farm too much and I couldn't find a pleasing enough balance. I haven't played since v1.1 was released, but I am glad that it got a big update; if I didn't just get a 3DS I might have the time to replay it. I'll get back to it eventually someday.

Rise of the Tomb Raider - 20 points: Hey look, a single-player game I finished! I disappointed myself by beating the game before finding all the secrets, but I loved the puzzles and platforming. Combat could've been better; I would've appreciated more hand-to-hand battling instead of all the shooting, saving the weaponry for bigger animals, but I guess I should know better than to expect less shooting in a AAA action-adventure game.

Overwatch - 25 points: I don't have quite the time investment as some on GFF but I'm quite sure I'll come back to this frequently throughout the future. I spent the first month dealing with the leaver penalty, not realizing that it wasn't a good game to drop in and out of, which spoiled my excitement quite a bit. I'll get back to spamming Junkrat 'nades and failing at Mercy soon.

Pokemon Moon - 25 points: This is my first Pokemon excursion since Ruby. So far, I have no complaints beyond the disappearance of move effectiveness notifiers when switching Pokemon in battles. I'm looking forward to focusing on fleshing out the Pokedex and trying my hand at breeding.

It's been a long time since I've played this many new games.

Most amazing jew boots

Stardew Valley: 15 points

What the entirely-too-small farm RPG genre should always aspire to be, for the first year or two. It's not too long before you find yourself with nothing to do except some pretty clunky dungeon-delving, which isn't enough to hold the game up long-term. A great time while it lasts.

Death Road To Canada: 30 points

It's basically "Oregon Trail (with zombies <played for laughs>)" which is a dangerous level of premise stacking, but it's salvaged thanks to the devs actually having a sense of humor instead of just pushing /r/dankestmemes onto your monitor. Fix your car by punching it, remove a beefy man from your path by shoving him really hard, and leave your best friend stranded in an infested junkyard because you needed room in the car for this friendly machete-wielding masked hitchhiker.

Overwatch: 20 points

Overwatch's matchmaking remains... dubious, but it allows me to play a cyborg ninja who double-jumps around the map spamming MERRY CHRISTMAS, which is probably worth the price of entry. Plus, when you do occasionally get balanced teams, it's a really solid game... although it's still Blizzard PVP, so bring your salt.

Superhot: 15 points

Do I... do I need to justify Superhot? It's kind of stupid that it took this long to see the Cool Polygon Man Shooty Game we all imagined in 1995, but it's here and it turned out we were right to imagine liking it. Superhot VR (which, admittedly, I haven't personally played) appears to justify the purchase of a VR headset sans any other software.

World of Warcraft: Legion: 20 points

Uhhh, hopefully DLC/expansions are acceptable candidates? Legion took a lot of WoW things that were tedious and made them not tedious, which is a pretty solid design decision independent of the actual new content, which is also pretty solid (although gated behind the inconvenient Mythic mechanics entirely too often). Long story short Blizzard has enabled my desire to turn all games into a fabulous dress-up party and throwing fruit at instance bosses works again and I guess that's worth $40? Yes.

Conspicuously Absent Street Fighter V: NOBODY BOUGHT IT, ALL OF YOU CONFIRMED TERRIBLE

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Doom 2016 - 40 points

I'm not much of an FPS gamer but I did play a lot of Doom, Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena during high school so I have a soft soft for fast, twitch shooters. Doom was a breath of fresh air from the cover based and over shoulder games and grabbing health packs adds such a different flavor than waiting for your regenerating health. Above all else, Doom's atmosphere was captivating. It took me to hell. And it's never looked better.


Oxenfree - 30 points

Beautiful looking game with great music. But what really stood out was the dialogue system. In other game, dialogue choices seem to stop time or sometimes they will add a timer, but nothing has ever felt as naturalistic as Oxenfree that I've played. I'm excited to see this mechanic incorporated in other games.


Abzu - 15 points

Abzu was created by the art director of Flower and Journey and it really shows. A breathtaking underwater exploration game. Just so damn soothing playing this game. There are some incredibly sequences in this game that just need to experienced first hand. It clocks in at around 2 hours and I highly recommend it, even if it's not your cup of tea.


Song of the Deep - 10 points

An underwater metrovania from Insomniac games. Not particularly challenging although the puzzles are rather inventive and the story is standard stuff. The game is certainly pretty to look at and has a lot of polish. Your submarine has a lot of different functions. If you are looking to scratch that metrovania itch, definitely check it out.


Pokemon GO - 5 points

I traveled to Japan this summer and it was really the perfect place to play Pokemon GO. Maybe I missed out on the western crave over the game, it just felt fantastic playing in Japan. All the hotpots were close together, everyone seemed to be playing (children, mothers, businessmen, elderly), and there was a level of cultural-game synergy that is hard to replicate outside of Japan. I stopped playing after coming back to the states but at the peak of its popularity, it is impossible to deny the sheer scope of the player base and the unique feel of seeing trainers in your everyday settings.

2016 releases I desperately want to play:
Stardew Valley, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Superhot, Owlboy, Hyper Light Drifter, Inside, Firewatch

I was speaking idiomatically.

Through some weird combination of factors I ended up barely playing any of 2016's games, so there's not much I can give points to this time around. I'm positive that if I had played them, Kirby: Planet Robobot (my new favorite game soundtrack ever), Pokémon Sun/Moon, and Zero Time Dilemma would all be on this list.


40 Points - Oxenfree
So Oxenfree is my game of the year largely by default, because it's the best game in the tiny pool of games I played. But it's also a great point-and-clicker and a very impressive debut work by a studio, and I feel like it'd definitely hold its own in a year where I actually played 10, 20, 30 commercial releases too.

1). Beat for beat it's a teen horror flick, except it uses that to tell a ghost story that's really a senior year of school story. All the layers are done well, and I'm always 100% down for video games taking on narrative styles from other media that they don't do often and they don't do well often. (One of the reasons I loved Gone Home.)

2). It looks like that pic Q posted and it sounds like this: https://scntfc.bandcamp.com/track/beacon-beach

3). Conversations happen in realtime, and when you choose something to say you can interrupt the person who's talking and steer the conversation in a different direction. Or, you can remain silent and let whatever was last said hang awkwardly in the air. Combine this with a good script and you have the most naturalistic dialogue system there's ever been in a video game. (The secret behind the whole thing is that the script is 1,200 pages long.)

Play this game.


40 Points - Swapdoodle






20 Points - Day of the Tentacle Remastered
You can play the game with the same music, graphics, and controls as Day of the Tentacle, so as a baseline it's exactly as good as the original. But there's more streamlined interactions with objects, and MIDI muzak if you like that sort of thing, and Flash-y graphix if you like that sort of thing, and remastered voice clips from the original tape records which is neat. And DotT is just a solid as fuck game, holds up extremely well for an early '90s adventure game.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Thumper - 40 Points



No words, no backstory, no bullshit. You're thrown onto a space rail at blistering speed and promptly begin to Thump for your life as the game introduces the basics with short, deeply immersive tutorial segments. Thump. Bank to survive corners. Slide through obstacles, hover above deadly traps, and more as you complete the first few levels.

Words cannot do justice to the intensity of Thumper's gameplay. The visual/audio design is fabulous and will immediately make you feel its trademark "rhythm violence". The adrenaline really builds up as the segments get longer, faster and more twisty. And oh my god, the MUSIC. It just fits perfectly within this brutally psychedelic universe.

Hardcore. With its ever-increasing speed and rhytmic complexity, Thumper gets hardcore real quick, or surely feels that way. But never the wrong kind, the punishng, the restart-your-entire-level hardcore (unless you choose the Play+ mode). As challenging as they become, the segments are never unreasonably long and you get a checkpoint at the end of each one, with as many retries as you need. Thumper is perfectly possible to enjoy on a casual level, although the Leaderboards will make you cry a little inside. Yet the subtle scoring mechanisms may well make you feel like the levels you've already beaten have a bit more potential and depth than you thought... and nudge you into inflicting some of that rhytmic violence upon yourself again.

Thump, get thumped. Play Thumper.



Furi - 20 Points



Final Boss Simulator 2016.



Deadbolt - 20 Points



As the most stylish hitman ever - the Grim Reaper himself - you are sent on a series of missions to terminate various kinds of undead beings for a mysterious employer.

Deadbolt could be described as a 2D action/stealth/puzzle game. Each stage consists of a more or less complex area to infiltrate, guarded by a number of enemies. As the difficulty increases, so do your options: a wide array of weapons becomes available as you progress, in addition to those you might find during the missions.

As one hit instantly kills you, balance and level design were always going to be critical. Fear not, Deadbolt is absolutely brilliant in both respects. The tight balance leaves little room for error, but most levels are short enough that you won't mind redoing them until you've figured out how you want to go about them. Then you'll experience the deep satisfaction of a well thought-out and precisely executed plan, clearing the stage like clockwork... or dying to a minor detail that you overlooked. The gameplay is full of clever ideas, of things you can do (enter a vent, switch off the lights, knock a door to distract your foes, etc.) to approach each mission in a number of subtleicious ways.

Thankfully, the visual and audio design is on point. The "film noir" atmosphere is simply awesome, not the least thanks to yet another memorable soundtrack from Chris Christodoulou. As for the visuals, this may well be the most stylish pixel art I've seen in a video game. Everything fits so well within the setting, from the vampires in tuxedos and elegant dresses to the blood splattering the walls.

In conclusion, the makers of the outstanding Risk of Rain have pulled another jewel out of their bag - very diffferent, but somewhat more polished and still unmistakbly theirs. Deadbolt's campaign will last you a solid 10 hours, and these alone are well worth the price tag - but then you can set about completing Hard mode, earning a five-star ranking on every mission or even create your own content with the level editor, as well as exploring the hundreds of custom levels already available on the Steam Workshop. Spread the word about this relatively obscure gem!



Dying Light: The Following (DLC) - 10 Points



If you're willing to excuse some rather uneven writing, the base game of Dying Light was excellent. Released early in 2016, The Following is also an excellent add-on, way closer in spirit to classic expansion packs than modern-day DLC.

Techland made a brave move in The Following by giving a much lesser importance to a universally lauded element of the base game: the parkour. You no longer get to climb buildings, zip line down from antenna towers or hop from roof to roof in Harran's countryside, at least not as much. But you get a nice twist in exchange: vehicular manslaughter. YUP.

The buggy is a much-welcome addition to travel the distances of the huge new area. It is also very nicely implemented. Driving is never a hassle, crafting/buying buggy parts is just as simple as repairing and refueling, plus you get to customize your ride with some pretty sweet murder devices. If parkour defined Dying Light, then the buggy does likewise with The Following - and successfully.

There is plenty to do as well in the new area, and even though the writing still has its flaws, I thought the story was somewhat more compelling than the main game's - except for the god-awful ending(s). The idea of building up trust levels as you help people and complete quests was interesting. Plus there were far fewer lazy corridor-FPS sequences.

If you liked Dying Light, this really is a nice addition. If you haven't played it yet, the base game now comes bundled with the DLC and this is frankly one of the best recent takes on the open world zombie apocalypse genre.



Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - 10 Points



Eidos Montreal's hugely anticipated sequel to Human Revolution was met with mixed reactions. I hate to say it, but a lot of the criticism had a fair basis.
1. The game is short, feels like half the scope of DX:HR.
2. The final mission is underwhelming, and the ending gives you so little closure that you effectively feel like you've only played half a game that promised so much more.
3. Story DLC was announced at release, confirming that Squenix intended to make you pay again - several times - for the other half.
4. Jensen's new augmentations look promising, but you can't use them without a rather clumsy overclocking mechanism for 75% of the campaign, and realise they are anything but critical to completing the other 25%.

Yet.

Yet I'd be dishonest if I claimed I didn't enjoy this new installment in the series. If I said the story wasn't compelling, if I claimed the atmosphere wasn't powerful, if I pretended the themes were not thought-provoking. Sure, the resonance with modern issues such as racism, segregation and terrorism feels naive or simplistic at times. Yet the picture can be strikingly convincing at others.

More importantly, I had a good helping of classic Deus Ex fun while navigating, exploring and infiltrating the multiplee layers of DX:MD's recreation of Prague. My cyberpunk itch was massively triggered by the exploration of Utulek and the subsequent infiltration sequence, which is up there among my best memories in the series. And even though I was ultimately let down by the ending, this only emphasizes how deeply I had been into the game up until that point.

I would still recommend it to DX enthusiasts, although maybe not full price, and certainly not with season pass or any DLC. There isn't even that much extra content released or announced yet, so better take MD for what it is: a very solid half game. Maybe 70% of a game. Episode 1 or something. Episode 2 might suck, be a ripoff or just never materialize, but 1 is solid.



Honourable Mentions


2016 releases yet to play or barely touched, but very eager:
ABZU
Clustertruck
Don't Starve Together
DOOM
Duskers
Firewatch
Hyper Light Drifter
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
Owlboy
Oxenfree
Samorost 3
Shadow Tactics
Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

Anterior releases deeply enjoyed in 2016:
Axiom Verge
Dying Light
Endless Legend
Geometry Dash
LYNE
Nuclear Throne
One Finger Death Punch
Rogue Legacy
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse
Super Hexagon

FELIPE NO

[00:06] <+Pang> just vote for Death Road based entirely on my assurance and nothing else

100 points to that game

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

dee-squall-ified

Jam it back in, in the dark.

40 Points - Stardew Valley

Absolutely the best game by a mile I played all year. Brilliant HM-like that's better than most HMs since...well. FoMT probably. Constant updates, great playability, and I haven't even tried the 1.1 content yet. MP hopefully soon yes?

20 Points - Overwatch

I haven't played in a bit because reasons, but this game is super satisfying and I love the diversity in both gameplay and character design. Props for Blizz using it as a social commentary tool as well, and I appreciate the inclusiveness of a bunch of it. Super sharp in pretty much every capacity.

10 Points - Trackmania Turbo

Really, really solid and a great TM addition, and it comes with four car types out of the box. Difficulty progression is really well tuned, and despite a few Ubisoft weirdness issues, the rest of it is clever Nadeo all the way through. Wish it wasn't so maligned by the TM community at large, but I can understand some of their logistical concerns.

10 Points - Pokemon: Go

Ok so it was oddly implemented and never seemed to get the right things going for it, but it was a fun and cute experience and it was a good reason to get out of the house and go for a walk when it was nice out. (Now, not so much). Some QoL improvements lately have improved it (like the radar telling you where to go, finally), but walking and catching is so much better than battling. A fun and different experience.

I have so many things I haven't properly looked at this year, yowza.

Most amazing jew boots

Please note, I've now extended the voting period by a week. Votes need to be in by 18:00 GMT on Saturday 4th February.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm actually going to list all the 2016 games I've played because it didn't seem like that great of a year for me for new games. One game I would've love to add was Super Mario Run. I've only played it once when my brother let me try it on his Apple Device and I could see how I could get hooked on it rather quickly. Now if Nintendo would just RELEASE IT ON ANDROID.

Anyway, games below and points start after the first two:



Street Fighter V

I can't quite put my finger on it but to me SFV seems kind of bland compared to SFIV. I don't know if it's the not so exciting announcer, the not so exciting music, the characters that haven't been released yet, but it just doesn't feel fun and I feel like I'm having to force myself to play through some of these characters stories and that's just unacceptable. I find myself going back to Street Fighter IV and playing a few rounds almost every day.


Huniecam

I went into this game knowing it was different than Huniepop, somewhat knowing that it was a clicker. I TRIED to like it, but there was no depth to this game whatsoever and I ended up being disappointed by it anyway. The rewards are almost non-existant in this game, hell the girls can even contract STD's and at that point they're pretty much non-playable. If I had to give a Worst Game of the Year 2016 Award, this one would receive it.





BUSTED! - 5 points

Okay, I'm not a fan of clickers but this one is rather amusing. You're at home on your computer like Windows with three menu options at the bottom...word document, paint, and BUSTED which is a censored picture of a girl covered in boxes requiring various clicks to destroy. Every time you click, you are throwing a pair of breasts (they all have tops on, don't worry) to try to break open the boxes covering the girl. Depending on the color of the box, it can take only 3 clicks to break it or maybe up to 6 or 7. An auto-clicker is handy though.

You have to be careful though, because your Dad randomly peeks inside of your room to make sure you're not looking at naughty images. If he does catch you, you lose all of your progress and have to start over from Day 1. At the beginning he only comes in via the door and attic door, but as you progress through the later levels he tries to catch you from your clothes wardrobe, the security camera rotating, even your TV screen! Before he can catch you, you have to quickly search to your word or paint document and wait until he leaves.

Brilliant, although difficult and I have yet to beat week 1. This game apparently has 3 weeks.




Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Fortune - 5 points

Though it has less mini-games compared to it's predecessor, Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 is still pretty fun. This game wasn't even released in North America due to "cultural differences" but it was probably also due to pressure from groups and their views about how women are depicted in video games.

So how did they get around this? They released an Asian version which included an English language option and was region free. Play-Asia reported that they had their highest preorder record yet with this game with Westerners wanting to import it and eventually the game even broke sales records at Play-Asia. So to those groups who didn't want this game released in the West, fuck you and fuck off.

Alright, so you get a choice of 9 characters to play as. In order to play volleyball, you need to become partners with another character on the island. The other games can be played without one as they're usually 1v1. These games can be played in the Morning, Afternoon, or Evening. Also during these times, shops can be visited to purchase gifts for the ladies or for yourself such as collectibles, food, and swimsuits.

When it's nighttime, you're at your room and you have the option to either skip to the next day or go to the casino and try to raise your earnings.

You can also play something called Owner mode where you as the owner initiate activities with the girls and possibly even date them (I have yet to try this mode).

Overall, if you've played the second game it's pretty much more of the same but as with FF7: Advent Children it feels like this was made for the fans.




Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice - 5 points

This is a continuation of the story with Phoenix Wright along with the characters Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes. However even with the title, the game feels like it centers on Apollo Justice this time around (BOOOOOOOOOOO) at least at the final cases.

The new gameplay concept introduced is very interesting for the trials that take place overseas. Basically this priestess has the power to call the memories of the souls of the deceased in their last moments before death, showing what they saw as well as the sensations they had at the time.

The new prosecutor is uh...well, let's just say Simon Blackquill was more entertaining. Other characters make a return as well such as Maya Fey (about friggin time) and Ema Skye as the main detective (the hell happened to Gumshoe?). Overall the story is wacky as to be expected in an Ace Attorney game, and the DLC case was pretty interesting as well however not as crazy and over the top as it's predecessor where you were defending an orca.




Star Fox Zero - 10 points

FINALLY! I've been complaining about a new Star Fox for many years and with it being absent from the Wii even though the motion controls would've been great for it (it worked just fine in Warioware: Smooth Moves), I thought this was going to be the return of the franchise...and unfortunately, it didn't do so well.

The game is a retelling of Star Fox 64. You could argue it's also a retelling of the original Star Fox, but there's so many references to 64 (certain pilots appearing).

First off let's go with the different vehicles you can use. The Arwing and Landmaster make their return, and really that's all you should need since they cover air and land battles. Now one thing they've introduced with both of them are transformations. The Arwing can transform into a Walker, which basically is a walking chicken on land. To be fair, this one isn't so bad and it seems to travel faster than the Landmaster. However the Landmaster's transformation, the Gravmaster, is a clunky disgrace compared to the Arwing. It can only stay in the air for a limited amount of time and then it drops and transforms back to the Landmaster. Then we have the worst of them, the Gyrowing, which is basically a slow moving helicopter that can fire shots like an Arwing and pick up boxes and crates as well as use a little robot to descend and unlock areas like R2-D2.

Now even with all of this in place, Zero probably still would've been a pretty good game. Keyword here is WOULD'VE. There's one thing that kills any hope of this happening...the controls.

Oh you can move the Arwing around just fine, but you have to aim by looking down at the WiiU gamepad and moving the cursor to fire at what you want to shoot at. Immediately, your head, neck, and arms get tired real quickly and this is not a fun position to be in. If it wasn't for this fatal flaw, this game would've been much better. Still it was a fun playthrough and a good attempt by Platinum to breathe new life into the franchise.




Pokemon GO - 15 points

I need to quit this game. The first Nintendo franchise to become a mobile game, Pokemon Go is free to play. There are in-app purchases you use fake money to buy, which can either be gained by paying real money or by sticking one of your Pokemon in a gym and redeeming 10 coins for each day it's stayed in there. I've bought the Go Plus bracelet, but so far haven't made any in-app purchases.

The game makes you choose one of three teams once your trainer reaches Level 5: Valor (Red), Instinct (Yellow), and Mystic (Blue). Your trainer gains experience by catching Pokemon and collecting items at Pokestops. You can fight for your side to show dominance for your team by taking over gyms, but there's still the initial goal of catching all of the Pokemon...which you STILL CAN'T CATCH ALL ORIGINAL 150, and they're already putting out ones from the Silver/Gold generation.

It's very addicting and I would have given it more points to put it 2nd in my list but with Niantic killing third-party trackers, which by the way made the game more enjoyable, they've shown what kind of assholes they are.




Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice - 20 points

My God, it's a miracle! I played the demos for the original Boom games on both 3DS and WiiU. The 3DS one seemed to control fine but was very boring. The WiiU Boom is by far the worst Sonic game I've ever played. I ended up not buying either game.

So I was very shocked when they announced a sequel to this franchise on the 3DS. After seeing that it was achieving decent reviews (better than its predecessors), I decided to bite and buy this game to hopefully keep me tided over until Sonic Mania. Again I was surprised, this time in a good way...the game actually is good. It doesn't focus on exploration as much, that's only if you want to gather the items to unlock extras. This also allows for multiple paths you can take to clear the level, although most of the time these can just loop you back so you can take the other path.

You can switch seemlessly between 5 characters with the touch of a button as well as switch between Ice and Fire powers. Fire allows you to melt ice blocks in your way and light explosives. Ice allows you to freeze water so you can traverse over it and freeze enemies in place.

Each character has their own unique abilities, but they all pretty much travel at the same speed making Sonic not seem like the fastest thing alive.

I'm still in the process of playing this game since I didn't get it until late this year. While it's not saying much by saying this is the best game in the Sonic Boom series, this is probably the best game I've played on the 3DS this year. Hell, this is the best Nintendo game I've played this year (sorry, I had no desire to get Pokemon Sun/Moon).




Sakura Dungeon - 40 points

I've always praised the Sakura Visual Novels on Steam. Their first attempt at a game, Sakura Clicker, even though it was free-to-play was a bad idea considering Steam had just come from a sale where you made various clicks against enemies.

So next they tried a dungeon RPG where you traverse several floors in an underground labyrinth. This game...is awesome.

It starts off with a fox demon being freed from her imprisonment in the labyrinth by a female warrior who's overconfident for her own good. This leads the fox demon and the warrior to battle, with the fox demon prevailing and knocking the warrior out. Afterwards, the fox demon reveals that the labyrinth is hers but she had been trapped for a long time and someone else had taken control of her domain. She then cast a spell to make the warrior her subordinate to help go through the labyrinth and reclaim what is hers.

I should go ahead and point out that all of the characters in this game are females, some of the enemies wear animal costumes thus varying up the characters a bit. You can capture these enemies to add to your own team as you fight further into the labyrinth. Sometimes you can get unique characters to join your cause as long as you fulfill special conditions.

Now for the battle system. I'll go ahead and say the animation is exactly like the original Pokemon for Game Boy where the characters twitch and make an attack with sword slicing or other effects appearing on the character being attacked.

Each character and enemy has a certain amount of armor points. If the armor is broken, damage will increase and the character's armor/clothing will tear and reveal some skin. The enemies will stay this way until they're defeated. Items and resting at the inn will restore the armor to normal.

The story is pretty entertaining and the bickering can change depending on the characters in your party (you can have up to 6). The music is great as well, gets a little overdramatic in the final battles but not too overwhelming.

However, this game can be enjoyed even further...with the download of the 18+ patch. This now adds a second broken armor phase where all of the character's clothes/armor is gone completely and of course damage is increased. This patch also adds more lewd scenes.

All in all probably the most enjoyable game I've played this year. If you see this on sale on Steam definitely give it a try.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone (PS4) - 40 Points - OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN 200+ VOCALOID SONGS IN ONE GAME AND IN HD OH MY GOD THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER THANK YOU SEGA

Bunny Must Die: Chelsea and the 7 Devils (PS4) - 15 Points - BUNNY IN HD HOLY SHIT YEAH BUNNY IS THE BEST

Doom 2016 (PS4) - 10 Points - Quite literally how retro remakes should be handled. They took the old Doom formula, sped it up, and made it much more intense, all without taking away what made Doom what it is. Definitely lived up to the hype.

Hyper Light Drifter (Steam/PS4) - 10 Points - What a hell of a game, and a really amazing love letter to the older Zelda/Metroid style of game exploration. Also the only game on earth where a Disasterpeace soundtrack isn't a minus because it somehow fits the game. Chain Dashing is mucho fun.

Overwatch - 10 Points - A game where people are more concerned with one of the character's sexuality than the game's actual objectives. 10/10 would push the payload by myself again.

Gravity Rush Remastered (PS4) - 10 Points - I never got to play the original on the Vita, so this was an amazing way to finally get to experience it (and prepare for the sequel). Really engaging and entertaining game once you get the hang of its mechanics.

Sakura Dungeon (Steam) - 5 Points - lmao SuperSonic

I was speaking idiomatically.

I didn't play a huge amount of new games this year, so my list will be simple:

Overwatch - 40 points

All the TF2 without the hats with all of the Blizzard humor and silliness. Still playing it, loving the fact that they keep giving free maps, game modes, and heroes without a DLC pricetag.

World of Warcraft - Legion - 30 points

As Pang said, all of the grueling grinding of WoD without the feeling of grueling grinding. They listened to people complaining about not enough content in WoD by unleashing a fuckton of content at the start (and the first patch of) Legion. I am still trying to get through it all and the next patch is around the corner.

Pokemon Go - 20 points

I played way more of this than I'd care to admit. It is a dandy little time sink when you're out and about. Plus I get to hear about all of the dumb people who tried to catch Pikachu while driving at 40MPH and crashing into cop cars!

Dead by Daylight - 10 points

It was alright. I didn't play it a lot, but the concept was good. I wasn't a fan of how they did the online quickplay. I would have liked an option to allow random killer/escapees instead of picking one side ahead of time.

Most amazing jew boots

25 points FFXV



YEAH. It was the most stupid engrossing fun I ever had from a FF title. I really loved GTA series mind you, this FF hit that mark for me. Even more so after that MGS: PP open world and my 100% that (platinum AND ingame), I was sating for more. FFXV served me quite well. I'm even more pleasantly surprised by the NO NONSENSE story. Its pretty straight forward and precious.

Spoiler:

Fucking tearjerker ending.

25 points Dragon Quest Builders



HUGE HUGE HUGE fan of Dragon Quest and a love for Minecraft? Sign me the FUCK UP. The game literally take place in the alternative reality of the very first game where the hero accepts the Dragon Lord's offer to reign the world by his side. Its fantastic and I really adore the whole cast of characters and the story but I must say the mechanics can get some getting used to because Minecraft had really spoiled me on efficiency as well as convenience. Huge nostalgia trip with the music here.


25 points Deus Ex Mankind Divided



Yep. NON-LETHAL SNEAKING! Huge fan! I love that there's items EVERYWHERE. Trying to figure out how to sneak into the shop and steal stuff without alerting the guards!

25 points Dishonored 2



YES! EVEN MORE NON-LETHAL SNEAKING!! I really like that you can choose between Emily or her dad and apparently they have different play styles. But again, their world is impressive to explore in and trying to figure out ways to take down the guards without being seen is heaven for me!

FELIPE NO

Oh good I just checked and Nintendo Badge Arcade came out in 2015 and I even gave points to it for the GOTY 2015 thread. Well, ever since June I haven't started that application up. Not even to collect more Ashley or Nikki badges.

For you see...









Swapdoodle (3DS) - 40 points
...I get my Nikki fix on the resurrected form of Swapnote. Now with more ink! Up to four additional simultaneous colors in your notes! The best use of my money on Nintendo DLC this entire year. CHz draws triangles. Skills draws words. I copy things I find on the Internet. Abby draws herself sleeping. Q draws Abby sleeping. Term makes masterpieces. It's a free application (additional ink colors, more ink, and more note storage can be yours for a low price) and you probably have a 3DS and GFF friends. Get Swapdoodle already! It's GOTY 2016.




Overwatch (PC) - 30 points
Oh yeah Overwatch came out this year too. I played that game. I think mostly only that game. Yup. It's good. I like Winston. He's voiced by Crispin Freeman. I too enjoy peanut butter. Also Lucio is the best. I like to break it down.




Stardew Valley (PC) - 10 points
I smashed some rocks and I think I named my dog after Skills or something. Tried to woo the ladies and failed. I think I played it for 2 days maybe I dunno. It's got that Harvest Moon feel and I remember liking Harvest Moon. It also has mining and uhhh fishing and stuff. You can waste a lot of time in this work simulator. *thumbsup*


Honorable Mentions




Fairune 2 (3DS)
Looking over my picks from last year again... oh son of a bitch Fairune 2 came out last year and I didn't even know it. FUCK!



Pokemon Sun/Moon (3DS)
IT'S GOT CUTE OWLS! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! I didn't even play it but I've enjoyed all the new takes on Pokemon this game has invented.


Sorry I really didn't play much at all this year.

How ya doing, buddy?

A lot of what I played this year came out in 2015 or older, but there were still some good picks.

Overwatch (PC) - 25 Points


Probably the most fun I've had with a shooter since Team Fortress Classic, and it's inspired some amazing memes. I love Dad 76 so much.

Grand Kingdom (PS4) - 25 Points


I never expected to like this as much as I have. Its strategy battles play out quickly and with hilariously easy friendly fire, especially with medics and halberdiers. The online War is a neat way to earn extra items on top of the free exploration.

Monster Hunter Generations - 15 Points

http://imgur.com/gallery/0uZY7

I thought about choosing one of these images, but this whole gallery really shows off Monster Hunter the best. It was nice seeing some monsters and areas from the older games again.


Pokemon Go - 15 Points


Sure, they never put in battling or fixed gyms, but it's still a fun little time killer that I usually turn on at least once per day. The watch app finally made egg hatching simple too.


Dragon Quest Builders - 10 Points


I lost a lot of interest in DQ Builders after finding out it had no real online multiplayer, but its single player campaign is surprisingly fun. If only it didn't make vertical building a pain in the ass.

Picross 3D: Round 2 - 10 Points


This finally getting localized was a nice surprise. Adding in a second color of block to add curves to the figures makes it a bit more complicated, which helps since this is much more forgiving than the original game.

Honorable Mentions:
- Firewatch - Very interesting game, but the end felt a bit too quick.
- INSIDE - Butt worms.
- Pocket Card Jockey - It's a bit infuriating when you get a bad hand every major race.
- Fire Emblem: Conquest - Haven't played this as much as I'd like, but Nohr is the best.
- BOXBOXBOY! - MORE BOXES.
- Dead Rising 4 - Barely played this, but it's great to finally get a Dead Rising with no timer focused purely on mayhem.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

maybe I am too late but who cares

Persona 5 30 points
music is good, gameplay is a bit rusted but I think they improved a lot of things from the last game.

Ryu Ga Gotoku 6/yakuza 6 30points

Honestly the amount of stuff in this game is pretty insane and the story is actually decent this time around!

Inside 20 points

Very short, but the game blew me away.

Overwatch 20 points

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Super lastminute points:

ABZÚ - 40 points
Beautiful underwater journey with excellent orchestral OST, highly recommended for maximum relaxin.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - 25 points
Really solid RPG and I'm glad I got it after hearing Q hype it for years.

Owlboy - 25 points
Great visuals, good ost, pretty interesting plot, gud job devs.

Overwatch - 10 points
Blizzard made such a fun game that I couldnt remember what I played in 2016 before it came out, turns out quite a few games. Well played Blizzard.

Honorable mentions:
Firewatch, neat if not short story.
Civilization VI, they really got many things right with this one.
INSIDE, interesting as fuck, you go blob.
Samorost 3, always a pleasure to play these.

No mentions:
Oxanfruh
>=(

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Voting is now closed, I am counting juan and boo's votes because fuck it, late votes are still voters

EDIT:
although I reserve a spot for Omagnus if he gets a chance to post his

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?