I feel I'm a bit late to the party but since I completely ditched doing a "best of 2015" list last year I feel I owe people a list of my favourite games from 2016. So... here we go!
10. RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER
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| Jaw-dropping vistas are still commonplace in Rise of the Tomb Raider... |
2016 got off to a great start with this one, a highly anticipated game on my part as I've been a huge fan of the franchise ever since my childhood, practically growing up with Lara. While I still haven't finished it, all I can say is that so far it's been a pure joy to play, carrying over the gameplay style of the first game while still doing its own thing and having a story and atmosphere of its own. I also feel a ton of subtle hints to the classic games in here. My only complaint so far though is STILL NO DUAL WIELDING?! Stop teasing us, Square Enix and let Lara dual wield some pistols already!
9. FALLOUT 4
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| Billy Idol with an explosion behind him. Yeah, kinda obvious why this game still appeals to me! |
While it technically launched in 2015, I still played a fuckload of Fallout 4 in 2016 as a lot of new DLC still came out for it and the mod scene pretty much exploded around the game. Being addictive as fuck, with a ton of stuff to explore and a lot of stuff to do, it's still an amazing game to play and all I can say is that I'll likely keep playing it for the next few years...
8. DUSK
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| Polygons so sharp they probably hurt. |
Even if it's still in early access and beta, Dusk was an amazing game to play this year. It perfectly captures the look and gameplay of late 90's shooters such as Quake, Redneck Rampage, Half-Life and Blood. If you're at all a fan of those types of games, I highly recommend keeping an eye on this one!
7. RAD RODGERS: WORLD ONE
I'm admittedly a huge Interceptor fan at this point, and while their games aren't as polished as I'd like sometimes, they still deliver fun games that pay homage to the old days while still feeling fresh. So I feel like giving them two spots on the list this year. Rad Rodgers was a kickstarter game that is made in the spirit of classic Apogee run'n'gun platformers, and it's actually really good with a lot of humor and bright colorful graphics. The animation is also really good and I really love the synthwave soundtrack. I'm probably gonna write a full review of the game later on so stay tuned! Can't wait to see more coming from the guys at Apogee!
6. BATTLEBORN
While I did enjoy Overwatch this year I simply didn't get around to playing it much as I never bought it (I plan on maybe doing so later though). However, I did play a lot of Battleborn this year and in my opinion, it is the superior game in the FPS MOBA genre that seems to have taken off lately. Made by the team who brought us Borderlands, it offers a co-op campaign with pretty good writing in the same style as Borderlands and it honestly had me chuckling a lot and laughing out loud at certain things. I love the style of humor here and it feels very classic Gearbox. The versus mode is the only game mode I'm not a particular fan of, and my recommendation is to just play the game with a few friends.
5. BOMBSHELL
Bombshell had been teased for a while by Interceptor. Starting out as a Duke Nukem action RPG, after losing the rights to the IP, Interceptor instead decided to do their own thing and make a new IP. Bombshell had been a concept character for Duke Nukem Forever, where she would pretty much act as a female sidekick that ended up on the scrapping floor. So it was decided that she would now get her own game. Bombshell is an isometric shooter and while it is marketed as an action RPG, the RPG part is kinda lackluster. But if you go into it expecting a solid overhead shooter, you can definitely get some fun out of it. While it had some lukewarm reviews on launch, the game has since been patched a lot and most of the issues have been fixed.
4. CALL OF DUTY: INFINITE WARFARE
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| Space ace! |
When I heard there was going to be a Call of Duty in space, I was kind of unsure what to feel, but after seeing the trailers I was sold on the concept. And boy, Infinite Warfare did deliver and not disappoint! I'm eventually going to write a whole review for the game so I won't say too much here except that the game is probably the best CoD campaign so far and the multiplayer is solid as fuck with great controls and some of my favourite guns so far.
3. SHADOW WARRIOR 2
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| Explosive orgasm...? |
Flying Wild Hog did an amazing reboot of the Shadow Warrior franchise back in 2014 and it didn't take long for them to start working on a sequel. While I haven't completed it yet, Shadow Warrior 2 is an amazing game so far that carries over what made the first game great and pretty much improves on it. If you're not into the Serious Sam style of shooters, then this is probably not gonna be your cup of tea or win you over in any way, but if you liked the first Shadow Warrior, then this is a must-have. Helps that you can also play it co-op!
2. DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED
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| The future, now with anti-gravity refridgerators... |
Ever since Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I had been eagerly awaiting a sequel. And while The Fall offered a temporary fix for my Deus Ex cravings, Mankind Divided eventually did deliver the full package. While the story feels cut a bit short, and the addition of microtransactions is a bit confusing and frustrating, there's no denying the game is solid as balls (of steel even) and I have no problem recommending this game. It offered pretty much everything I wanted out of a Deus Ex game and then some.
1. DOOM
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| Giant pillars of light in the sky is usually a bad sign in a FPS... |
There's just no other game that could be the game of the year for me. Pretty much taking Doom 3's "horror" approach and shoving it into the ditch and burying it with a dirty shovel, DOOM 2016 is just fucking DOOM. It brings back the badass protagonist with the double barrel shotgun, and strangely enough gives him more personality than most FPS protagonists these days without a single line of dialogue. DOOM, like Shadow Warrior 2, goes the Serious Sam route where you go from room to room, clearing out waves of enemies in a brilliant ballet of death, ripping and tearing enemies to shreds. I was a bit unsure about the game to begin with but after playing it, I was won over quickly. Add an amazingly cool industrial soundtrack and a self-aware tongue-in-cheek story that doesn't take itself too seriously, and you have easily my favourite game this year.
