Well, I screwed myself over and forgot a couple of games after I hit the submit button, but before sending the code. I hit Back and added the games I missed, but it said "Vote was already submitted" when I finished that. So now I don't know what I voted for! :surprised:
I feel like I played a lot of games that were new to me this year, but it turns out that most of them were from at least 2015. Oh, well!
DOOM was #1, Overwatch was #2. The Division was my absolute last, because it made me hate it so much that I don't care about whatever the heck they did to patch it after.
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
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Batman: The Telltale Series (Mobile,PC,PS3,PS4,X360,XBO)
Overwatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
Firewatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
Stellaris (PC)
Darkest Dungeon (PC,PS4,PSVita)
Mordheim: City of the Damned (PS4,XBO)
Punch Club (PC)
Starbound (PC)
This was a weird year for me. I only played 10 games on the list this year, but three of them (DD, Mordheim and Starbound) I don't think I actually played at all in 2016 since they've all been on Early Access for ages. I don't even own Overwatch, but it places in at number four purely on the amount of fun I've had with it on the two free weekends I got to try it out on. I only got Hitman in November, but even if I hadn't, it still probably would have been my goty just from the amounts of hours I spent watching other people play it.
Rise of the Tomb Raider would have been #1 or 2 but it was excluded for reasons?
Came out last year on Xbox.
but there were tons of older games on new platforms that made the list?
like, fucking Star Trek Online was on there and that game is 8 or 9 years old.
I think the list is compiled from various sources, and adding/deleting stuff is done manually by users in the Nomination thread that just closed. There's always a few that slip by somehow.
Well, I screwed myself over and forgot a couple of games after I hit the submit button, but before sending the code. I hit Back and added the games I missed, but it said "Vote was already submitted" when I finished that. So now I don't know what I voted for! :surprised:
I feel like I played a lot of games that were new to me this year, but it turns out that most of them were from at least 2015. Oh, well!
DOOM was #1, Overwatch was #2. The Division was my absolute last, because it made me hate it so much that I don't care about whatever the heck they did to patch it after.
If you submit and then hit back, it won't let you resubmit the vote you were working on.
You can start over from the beginning and submit again though. When you claim a vote, it will replace any previous votes you claimed, so just vote and claim until you're happy.
BRIAN BLESSEDMaybe you aren't SPEAKING LOUDLY ENOUGHHHRegistered Userregular
edited January 2017
GOLLY GOSH WHAT A BLOODY BARSTID OF A YEAR
And so I thought to myself at the beginning of 2016, "they couldn't possibly top 2015, what with some of the most technically proficient games in the last few years being made", and then they went and done some of the greatest shooter games of what is possibly the last decade. To be sure, there are plenty of other great things on my list, but out of all the genres never has it been a better time and never has there been more variety in accelerating a series of projectiles towards a foe!
DOOM (PC,PS4,XBO)
Titanfall 2 (PC,PS4,XBO)
Forza Horizon 3 (PC,XBO)
SUPERHOT (PC,XBO)
Inside (PC,PS4,XBO)
Gears of War 4 (PC,XBO)
Overcooked (PC,PS4,XBO)
Darkest Dungeon (PC,PS4,PSVita)
Final Fantasy XV (PS4,XBO)
King's Quest (PC,PS3,PS4,X360,XBO)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC,PS4,XBO)
HITMAN (PC,PS4,XBO)
Battlefield 1 (PC,PS4,XBO)
Pokkén Tournament (WiiU)
Quantum Break (PC,XBO)
FRU (XBO)
Dead Rising 4 (PC,XBO)
The Banner Saga 2 (Mobile,PC,PS4,XBO)
Mirror's Edge Catalyst (PC,PS4,XBO)
Oxenfree (PC,XBO)
Notable mentions:
DOOM is an astounding achievement in making outdated, white-bread shooters fun and fresh (similar to what Machine Games did with Wolfenstein). I'd almost placed Titanfall 2 at the top of the list as the more well-rounded package but DOOM has such a polished presentation and flawless single-player performance, while elements of Titanfall 2's experience (slightly less well-optimised, abysmal matchmaking and player populations) bring it down some. Both incredible games, start to finish.
Forza Horizon 3 is a game that lets you appreciate the fun of racing games just as much as the fun of racing. It's a small but powerful distinction to make. It's an inviting, versatile package that can do many things for many types of players (not to mention its earnest love for the esoterica of Australian car culture), and as someone who hasn't cared for the genre in many years it caught me by surprise.
Other big pleasant surprises for me: Overcooked became my favorite party thing to play on the couch with friends, as was Pokkén. King's Quest was more than a throwaway attempt to cash in on nostalgia! Battlefield 1 wowed me in a way that I'd never been wowed by the franchise - not just by typical Michael Bay scale, but also by atmosphere and character. I would have placed HITMAN higher on the list if I hadn't just started playing it a few days ago.
Shout-outs to FRU for giving us a glimpse into the parallel universe where the Kinect gave us a library of fun games, and Quantum Break for giving us a glimpse into the parallel universe where the Xbox actually was the TV memeing that people never stopped going on about.
The elephant in my room: Overwatch is a hell of a phenomenon. It's a masterclass in visual and gameplay design. It got people (who never even liked the shooter genre) into the shooter genre. The gameplay loops are the best of its kind. It's actually probably the one game I've put the most time in this year. I bought it for my other friends to get into as well. I don't commonly do that.
I didn't put it on my list for GOTY because for all that it does perfectly the rewards system still grinds my gears. Never have I been so apathetic to the opening of a box of loot in any other videogame ever as I have to those in Overwatch. I wouldn't be so angry about the whole deal if everything else about the game wasn't so amazing (and they weren't getting away with half a billion dollars worth of whales), and Blizzard's solution to improving the awful, awful duplicate and exchange rate was to dole out bandaid solutions in the form of additional free boxes in additional gameplay modes. Spoilers: it didn't improve the primary Quick Play experience.
I love that game, but fuck that game sometimes. Besides, I'm sure the voting system will treat Overwatch just fine even without my input.
BRIAN BLESSED on
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MachwingIt looks like a harmless old computer, doesn't it?Left in this cave to rot ... or to flower!Registered Userregular
Man, I didn't play much this year:
The Last Guardian (PS4)
Overwatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
The Witness (PC,PS4,XBO)
The Banner Saga 2 (Mobile,PC,PS4,XBO)
Dark Souls III (PC,PS4,XBO)
Hyper Light Drifter (PC,PS4,XBO)
House of the Dying Sun (PC)
SUPERHOT (PC,XBO)
Firewatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
VIDEOBALL (PC,PS4,XBO)
Duskers (PC)
No Man's Sky (PC,PS4)
Obduction (OculusRift,PC)
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak (PC)
Google Doodle - Halloween 2016 [Magic Cat Academy] (PC)
Rise of the Tomb Raider would have been #1 or 2 but it was excluded for reasons?
Came out last year on Xbox.
but there were tons of older games on new platforms that made the list?
like, fucking Star Trek Online was on there and that game is 8 or 9 years old.
I think the list is compiled from various sources, and adding/deleting stuff is done manually by users in the Nomination thread that just closed. There's always a few that slip by somehow.
The general rule that Mcc, who has run this for years, has applied is every game gets one shot. The list is mostly compiled from wikipedia, then some tidying is applied. It gets posted up and people point out the hundreds of mistakes I've made (which takes far more effort than me posting the list in the first place, so I'm very grateful!), including games that came out last year/previous year/re-releases/duplicates as well as a load of indie games that aren't included on the wiki link.
It does mean that games like Tomb Raider don't get as much coverage in previous years as they would have this year, I for one would have voted for it this year, but for that I'll blame whoever made me wait a year to play it
I almost forgot XCOM2 as it was so early in the year.
Dishonored 2 runs like crap so I have not really played a lot waiting for patches to improve things. It may be higher then.
I played a lot of games that didn't show up on the list. Apparently I'm always a year behind... But DOOM was such a good game that there's simply no way it couldn't be my GOTY. I've never had so much fun with a game.
Deus Ex was a great game too and so was Ratchet and Clank. Overall it was a pretty good year. This year has Breath of the Wild so I'm already saying it's my 2017 GOTY.
Minecraft: Story Mode (Mobile,PC,PS3,PS4,X360,XBO)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice (3DS)
Oxenfree (PC,XBO)
Trials of the Blood Dragon (PC,PS4,XBO)
DOOM (PC,PS4,XBO)
Gears of War 4 (PC,XBO)
Batman: The Telltale Series (Mobile,PC,PS3,PS4,X360,XBO)
I also played Star Fox Zero, but that game is garbage.
I didn't play many new games this year, and many of them disappointed me in some way or another, despite the high rankings. For example, I found TF2's multiplayer to be hugely disappointing (I loved the original), but the excellent campaign saved it. There are a number of 2016 games like Watch Dogs 2, The Witness, Superhot, AM2R, Inside and so forth that I hope to get to this year.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice (3DS)
Ratchet & Clank (PS4)
Alone with You (PS4,PSVita)
Bound (PS4)
World of Final Fantasy (PS4,PSVita)
Oxenfree (PC,XBO)
Abzû (PC,PS4,XBO)
Inside (PC,PS4,XBO)
Final Fantasy XV (PS4,XBO)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13 (PC,PS4)
Virginia (PC,PS4,XBO)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC,PS4,XBO)
Firewatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
The Bunker (PC,PS4,XBO)
Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories (3DS)
My rankings:
1-3: Incredible
4-7: Great
8-13: Really good
14-18: Good
19-20: Okay
And for fun, my most disappointing games of the year:
Zero Time Dilemma - After two incredible games, 999 and VLR, this was a mess. It's a real pity Uchikoshi didn't follow through with his original idea for this game
Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter - Two steps backwards from Crimes & Punishments, the QTEs and mini-games were terrible
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst - I loved the original game but the open world really killed what made the first game so fun: The level design. And DICE continue to be incompetent at writing and designing single player campaigns
No Man's Sky - I liked it and don't think the devs deserved the shitstorm they got but still, the amount of repeated assets was disappointing
Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories - Hard to be too disappointed given the price but still a big let down coming from the developers of Hotel Dusk and Last Window
1) Stardew Valley (PC,PS4,XBO)
2) Firewatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
3) Titanfall 2 (PC,PS4,XBO)
4) Let It Die (PS4)
5) Pokémon Go (Mobile)
6) Tom Clancy's The Division (PC,PS4,XBO)
7) Dark Souls III (PC,PS4,XBO)
8) Soda Drinker Pro (PC,XBO)
9) Darkest Dungeon (PC,PS4,PSVita)
10) No Man's Sky (PC,PS4)
11) Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location (PC)
12) ANATOMY (PC)
13) Imscared (PC)
Shout outs to Soda Drinker Pro (It's not a game, it's a lifestyle) and ANATOMY.
ANATOMY is $3 and awesome. Go buy it. Also, it's super spooky.
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21stCenturyCall me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered Userregular
I'm surprised myself at what wound up on there, though I haven't doubted my number 1 since I played it for the first time.
1. Mirror's Edge Catalyst
EA took everything I loved about the first game and expanded on it, the silly hyper-dystopia, the sense of speed and movement and momentum, the actual delivery/runner aspect, the super-clean weirdly sinister aesthetic, and expanded it into a huge open world that is just a joy to move through. An open world where I never fast travel, I just set a waypoint and run, jump, slide, grappling hook, fling myself through. They also took all the crap that I hated and excised it almost entirely. The overly constrained race-course levels, the dumb flash movies in place of cinematics, the quicktime events, the guns, the obvious limits on which way is the best way to go. Combining all that with a few dozens racing challenges not to mention the ones dropped in by players from all over the world, and this was by far the game I enjoyed the most and spent the most time with this year.
2. The Witness
I play a lot of video games. I at least touch every single game that comes out on Xbox One for work, and I play a fair amount on PC and WiiU. The Witness blew my fucking mind. Every single pixel in this game is there for a reason. The trees, the rocks, the grass, even the goddamned clouds are placed very precisely and for very good reason. I have never seen a game so thoroughly designed as The Witness. I have never seen a game teach you how to play so expertly and subtly, and reward you for paying attention the way this one does. And after all that, after learning all there is to learn, after mastering a truly video-game-ass video game, it turns around and says "Nope, you are NOT done!" An astonishing work of art.
3. AM2R
I never played Metroid 2. Now I have, only better. I love Metroids. So this goes on the list.
4. Clustertruck
Sometimes it's important to remember that games, while art, can also be silly. Clustertruck makes no sense, and is perfectly fine with that. Leaping from Peterbilt to Peterbilt through an infinite void filled with death lasers is just a glorious thing. It's tons of fun to play and probably just as much fun to watch.
5. Inside
I'm going to go cry and have a lie down, now. For a game with no words or text, it's not often that a game makes me feel as sad and lonely as Inside does. I won't go into the ending, because what the fuck, but the raw desperation and despondency that the game conveys through visuals alone is impressive, sort of like Papers, Please. The raw oppressive atmosphere is half the game, and the constantly escalating fear is the other half.
I could have sworn I played more new games than this in 2016:
Overwatch (PC,PS4)
Civilization VI (PC)
Mafia III (PC)
DOOM (PC)
Tom Clancy's The Division (PC)
Titanfall 2 (PC)
Pokémon Go (Mobile)
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4)
Firewatch (PC)
Watch Dogs 2 (PC)
Tyranny (PC)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC)
Dishonored 2 (PC)
Considering I'm terrible at online multiplayer shooters, it's still a huge surprise that Overwatch was my most played game of this year. Switching from the PC to the PS4 version helped, though.
I am probably the only person who will vote for Mafia III. The ambiance, characters, and plot made up for all of the usual open-world tedium these sorts of games have. I'm still hoping it gains the sort of cult following that Alpha Protocol did.
DOOM was a pleasant surprise, as was the single player campaign in Titanfall 2.
The Division was fun while it lasted, as was Pokemon Go. Oddly enough, both involved wandering around New York City.
Got a PS4 around the holidays, hence Uncharted 4, but a few other PS4 games that might have made the list (Last Guardian, Ratchet & Clank) didn't get enough playtime for me to vote for them.
The bottom of my list were the less memorable but still good ones. Tyranny gets bonus points for having an easy mode that's actually easy enough that the tedious retro bullshit combat can be facerolled through so I can just enjoy the choose your own adventure plot, unlike Pillars of Eternity.
Biggest disappointment of the year: XCOM 2. Ugh. I know I'm in the minority, but the apparently last-minute decision to spike the difficulty to "Fuck You" levels combined with the utter random bullshit that XCOM is infamous for combined to make a singularly unfun gaming experience.
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Andy JoeWe claim the land for the highlord!The AdirondacksRegistered Userregular
Crossposting from the NeoGAF GOTY thread:
1. Fire Emblem Fates ; According to my activity log, Fates is the 3DS game I have put the most time into, supplanting its predecessor Awakening, and no wonder. Fates corrects Awakening's two most glaring flaws, open and uninteresting level design and the overpowered Pair-Up mechanics, with a rebalanced system that forces players to choose between offense and defense, and thoughtful maps that require moving units thoughtfully. The Conquest campaign gets the most credit, and rightfully so, with varied objectives and punishing design that never leaves you completely comfortable when advancing on an enemy formation. Birthright, while easier, has some interesting layouts as well. In particular, Chapter 23 holds up favorably against any Conquest map you might care to name. Revelations...is honestly a little too weird, especially towards the end, but I was glad to see some experimental ideas from Intelligent Systems. The music is excellent and widely varied, with distinctly western and eastern instrumentation representing the two countries.
The removal of weapon durability in favor of tradeoffs for stronger weapons was pretty successful, though it seems the saved costs of replacement weapons has been balanced out by higher prices and more varieties of specialized weapons. While Awakening introduced buffs to an extent that had never really been present in the series before, Fates does the same for debuffs, with shurikens/daggers and Seal skills. They're powerful abilities when used against enemies at the right time, but at the same time a potentially serious hazard for the player as well. I don't know whether integrating bows and tomes into the weapon triangle was necessary, but after a little adjustment it never seemed to hurt my experience.
The stories work out all right if you view them as tragedies about the perils of excessive filial piety, but admittedly they are melodramas carried more by emotion than logic. And Fates, while correcting Awakening's major flaws, unfortunately continues or doubles down on its minor ones (thin worldbuilding, extraneous-feeling side characters, particularly the children, and a number of embarrassingly sexed-up women's costume designs.)
Finally, I want to give a shout-out to the Heirs of Fate DLC missions, several of which are designed to pressure units in your starting area to the point where it is not feasible to cautiously bait out small numbers of enemies as you advance because you must charge towards your goal so quickly. I just thought it was interesting how the game experimented with discouraging a very prevalent, very conservative playstyle.
2. Pokémon Sun/Moon ; Sun and Moon create a unique and distinct sense of place, succeeding wildly at something X and Y made a game attempt at, despite coming up short. The ever-present tropical environment, the music, the Alolan variant Pokemon (Gen I nostalgia bait that they are aside), the substitution of trials for gyms, even Kukui's quest to create a League to make the region the equal of others, all of them contribute to making the play experience feel real and interesting.
Mechanically, there's relatively little new here, the biggest addition being the long-awaited replacement of HMs with Ride Pokemon. Box sorting gets more streamlined as it does every generation, and the new Pokemon registration effects pop more than ever before. I appreciate that they now occur when obtaining a new Pokemon via evolution, hatching, or trade, not just capture as in previous games. The totem Pokemon bosses are tactically interesting fights, as they essentially come in having set up already, although most are tragically vulnerable to status effects.
There's actually a good story, too! The last time Pokemon put emphasis on story was Black and White, which tried to be this grand epic about the inherent ethical problems involved in the core conceit of the series but ended up having nothing to say. Wisely, Sun and Moon serve up a highly character-focused story, with Lillie's journey of self-improvement, settling of personal problems, and overcoming the loveable morons of Team Skull in the foreground, and Kukui's efforts at makinga League a constant background presence that eventually results in something for the player character to do after Lillie's arc is done. And make no mistake, Lillie is the protagonist, the player character a mere bodyguard. She is John Connor and you are T2 Arnie, tasked with brutally dismantling any hostile Pokemon trainer that gets in the way of her journey. Also, if you play as a girl their relationship comes off as super gay, which is always appreciated.
The Ultra Beasts are just a light dip into Lovecraft, but the mere fact that they are catchable Pokemon is enough to make it impossible for them to be as weird or as dangerous as they seemed they might have been at first. Also, the framerate tanks when there are more than two Pokemon on screen. Hopefully Stars will fix that problem. Overall, probably my favorite Pokemon game ever.
3. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice ; It's true what everyone is saying, this is Apollo Justice's game more than the one with his name in the title, with more backstory on his childhood and development into a fully realized and independent attorney. Otherwise, it's another amazing Ace Attorney game, full of high drama, quirky and memorable characters, horrible pun names, great music, and wacky freakouts. The animation generally looks like it's gone up a notch in quality since Dual Destinies. The game goes relatively light on the 3D object gimmicks and the Divination Seances, having them enough to be interesting without getting irritating. Maya is back, which is great, but isn't given much to do. And I don't think it was necessary to have yet another case revolving around Ace Attorney's patented Troupe Gramarye Bullshit(TM). Overall though, it's great, up with there with the very best of the series.
4. Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma ; The developers' reach exceeded their grasp when it comes to making animations here, but after playing for a bit you adjust to the jank and it stops being distracting, leaving you with another mindbending story full of twists. There's nothing quite as shocking as some of the revelations in VLR, but the story more than makes up for it with more emotionally affecting scenes. The puzzles are easier than past games, which suits me just fine. The character arcs of the series mainstays are satisfactorily wrapped up, while leaving enough loose ends in the main plot for potential continuations.
5. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE ; This game is weird, both conceptually and in practice. An SMT/Fire Emblem crossover? Sure. It's a dungeon crawler with FE characters? Fine, we basically have the reverse with Devil Survivor anyway. It's about performing artists who use FE heroes as Personas to fight monsters trying to suck the energy from showbiz? Now that made me skeptical at first, and the game's short attempts to connect it to music and theatre's origins as religious rituals wasn't super convincing, but if you just embrace the weirdness you'll find that the story is mostly a charming tale of a group of people who grow into friendship while helping each other pursue their life goals...and fight off monsters in another dimension.
Practically, this is an SMT game, but with Fire Emblem terminology and concepts permeating everything. Say you encounter a new monster, and you don't know its weaknesses. Typical SMT-style problem, right? But you notice it's flying and caries lances, so you can (if you're familiar with Fire Emblem game mechanics) determine right away that it's weak to wind, bows, and axes. Then you attack with SMT mainstay abilities like Zandyne or Grant Tack. An SMT problem with an SMT solution that must be arrived at with Fire Emblem logic. The whole game is full of stuff like this, and if you're familiar with both series it's a real trip.
The battles are fast-paced and reward targeting weaknesses in a basic system reminiscent of Strange Journey, that gradually gets more and more added on to it at just the right rate, so that you never feel bored or overwhelmed, and by the end you're doing crazy, awesome-looking combos. There's a satisfying loop of going into the dungeon, getting new materials, going back to make new weapons to get more skills, going back in to use your new skills and getting more materials, etc., at least after your learn not to leave every time there's something new. Between the dungeon-crawling and the party member side stories it scratched that Persona itch, although to be honest the side stories have more in common with Mass Effect loyalty missions than either Supports or S-Links. It's a great Wii U swan song for anyone who's getting BotW on Switch.
6. Titanfall 2 ; Calling this game the Mario Galaxy of shooters is something of an overstatement, but I get the intent. Every level feels different and (past the first couple) fresh, with unique environments, weapons, abilities, or narrative context that always mesh well with the core movement and shooting mechanics. I found the boss fights to be somewhat tougher than the rest of the game, but over time I have come to realize that was probably due to my own stubbornness in not changing loadouts enough. (Except Viper. Viper is bullshit.) The story is thin but not actively bad, and the growing bond between Cooper and BT gets genuinely touching. This game also sets the gold standard for how game voice actors should be credited.
7. Kirby: Planet Robobot ; .The same engine and basic structure of Triple Deluxe, but with smashy robots! Hyper Mode was a satisfying experience, but there wasn't much to it, whereas the Robobot has access to several powers and unique movesets that all feel super great to use. There's a certain story development that genuinely surprised me, and the final battle is even more epic in scale that we've come to expect. I wanted the Robobot to be involved in more boss fights than it was, though.
8. Superhot ; The most innovative shooter I've played in years...is still Splatoon. But Superhot is still great, an anti-Hotline Miami with the same focus on limited weapons, positioning, and quick kills for both you and enemies, but a hyper-minimalist style and strategic time-moves-when-you-move mechanics. The game throws you into all sorts of situations where you're basically forced to do cool shit just to survive, although a couple of the late levels feel like a slog of too many enemies. The story is a serviceable cyberpunk affair with transhumanist themes, although games that criticize the player for following the critical path without offering alternatives have officially gotten old as far as I'm concerned.
9. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse ; I was only able to put a little time into this game, but everything I've seen was great. The very solid SMT IV foundation was improved by putting work into some half-assed mechanics, namely the Smirk system, which can now be much more actively managed and has a wider array of potential effects, and the partner system, which has been overhauled to give the player more control and behave less randomly. This is another conceptually weird SMT game, beginning in the endgame of the previous title, but at least here it seems obvious that the cost-saving from reusing lots of old sprites and models can explain it easily enough.
10. Star Fox Zero ; The gamepad gyro control system takes some getting used to, but once it clicks it feels good. (You don't have to actually look down at it very much.) A stylish nostalgia-fest to Star Fox 64, I again couldn't put as much time into it as I wanted, which is a shame. The best part of these games is mastery from repetition, and hopefully I'll be able to master these cool levels later.
11. Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past ; I just barely touched this one, just getting through the first dungeon. What I saw sure seemed full of that unmistakable Dragon Quest charm.
12. Super Mario Run ; A nice little Mario game. As usual, beating the level is pretty easy most of the time, and the challenge comes from finding all the secret items. Even pink coins are sometimes tricky to get, and the black coins are some downright evil motherfuckers. I do wish there were more unique environments and enemies, and maybe even some kind of story explanation for why Mario can't stop running now.
13. Tadpole Treble ; A charming little indie game, with basic rhythm mechanic and nice music. Chiptune Lagoon, full of 8-but Duck Hunt ducks, is a personal favorite level. I feel like the final boss needed to make it clearer what you're supposed to do, though.
@Mr_Grinch@Infidel What happened to Steins;Gate 0 (PS4,PSVita)? It was on the nomination list but it does not appear in the final list that we can vote. Was it accidentally omitted?
I think this is a top 10 list I can be okay with. I thought spots 1 and 2 would be a harder choice, but #1 is something I'd play right now and #2 I'd have to psych myself up for.
@Mr_Grinch@Infidel What happened to Steins;Gate 0 (PS4,PSVita)? It was on the nomination list but it does not appear in the final list that we can vote. Was it accidentally omitted?
Steins got dropped out on one of the first posts,likely because it was released in 2015. That said, researching shows it probably should have been kept in because it got its NA release in 2016. I don't know if it made last year's list.
@Mr_Grinch@Infidel What happened to Steins;Gate 0 (PS4,PSVita)? It was on the nomination list but it does not appear in the final list that we can vote. Was it accidentally omitted?
Steins got dropped out on one of the first posts,likely because it was released in 2015. That said, researching shows it probably should have been kept in because it got its NA release in 2016. I don't know if it made last year's list.
Looking at the posts, the same thing happened as Dragon Quest Builders. You had two entries on your initial list, mcc and I pointed this out and you accidentally deleted both entries.
BeryllineOne Tiara to rule them allRegistered Userregular
Stardew Valley (PC,PS4,XBO)
Firewatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
Meadow (PC)
Seasons after Fall (PC,PS4,XBO)
Oneshot (PC)
Oxenfree (PC,XBO)
The Huntsman: PCter’s Curse (PS4)
Abzû (PC,PS4,XBO)
Epistory - Typing Chronicles (PC)
The Walking Dead: Michonne (PC,PS3,PS4,X360,XBO)
There were a number of games on the list that I just haven't gotten around to playing yet (like Dishonored 2), but I don't think anything could have knocked Stardew Valley off of the top for me.
(Also, I'm assuming "The Huntsman: PCter's Curse (PS4)" really meant "The Huntsman: Winter's Curse (PC, PS4)")
Overwatch would have been my #1 though gameplay alone. It also happens to be extremely polished, good looking, optimized, balanced, and had a smooth launch.
Hitman is the first in the series that I can recommend to my friends. I've enjoyed most of the other games in the series, but they have always had a little jank you had to get past. I'm generally more forgiving of bugs/bad design than average, but I don't need to be with Hitman (2016). Not only is it a great game, but it has an amazing amount of content too.
Dead by Daylight is pretty much the opposite of the above two games. For about two weeks, my friend and I were waiting 15-20 minutes to find a game and not because of population issues. This was not go afk for 15 minutes either. Both of us had to be ready to re-ready up, rejoin the party, or even restart the game at any moment.... then matchmaking got worse. Add in balance issues, bugs, crashes, and a slow patching process and you have the game that I probably have forgiven the most. I wouldn't be that forgiving if the game wasn't fun though, and man did it hook ( :P ) me.
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I feel like I played a lot of games that were new to me this year, but it turns out that most of them were from at least 2015. Oh, well!
DOOM was #1, Overwatch was #2. The Division was my absolute last, because it made me hate it so much that I don't care about whatever the heck they did to patch it after.
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Rise of the Tomb Raider would have been #1 or 2 but it was excluded for reasons?
Edit: whoops, forgot something. revoted to slide in Four Sided Fantasy (PC,PS4,XBO) at #6
This was a weird year for me. I only played 10 games on the list this year, but three of them (DD, Mordheim and Starbound) I don't think I actually played at all in 2016 since they've all been on Early Access for ages. I don't even own Overwatch, but it places in at number four purely on the amount of fun I've had with it on the two free weekends I got to try it out on. I only got Hitman in November, but even if I hadn't, it still probably would have been my goty just from the amounts of hours I spent watching other people play it.
but there were tons of older games on new platforms that made the list?
like, fucking Star Trek Online was on there and that game is 8 or 9 years old.
I think the list is compiled from various sources, and adding/deleting stuff is done manually by users in the Nomination thread that just closed. There's always a few that slip by somehow.
I didn't play a ton of new games this year! And ANATOMY is something I watched an LP of because I'm a huge baby.
Those top 5 though, mwa. This was a good year.
If you submit and then hit back, it won't let you resubmit the vote you were working on.
You can start over from the beginning and submit again though. When you claim a vote, it will replace any previous votes you claimed, so just vote and claim until you're happy.
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/209217/game-of-the-year-2016-vote-here#latest
Or do you mean just this exact thread?
And so I thought to myself at the beginning of 2016, "they couldn't possibly top 2015, what with some of the most technically proficient games in the last few years being made", and then they went and done some of the greatest shooter games of what is possibly the last decade. To be sure, there are plenty of other great things on my list, but out of all the genres never has it been a better time and never has there been more variety in accelerating a series of projectiles towards a foe!
Notable mentions:
DOOM is an astounding achievement in making outdated, white-bread shooters fun and fresh (similar to what Machine Games did with Wolfenstein). I'd almost placed Titanfall 2 at the top of the list as the more well-rounded package but DOOM has such a polished presentation and flawless single-player performance, while elements of Titanfall 2's experience (slightly less well-optimised, abysmal matchmaking and player populations) bring it down some. Both incredible games, start to finish.
Forza Horizon 3 is a game that lets you appreciate the fun of racing games just as much as the fun of racing. It's a small but powerful distinction to make. It's an inviting, versatile package that can do many things for many types of players (not to mention its earnest love for the esoterica of Australian car culture), and as someone who hasn't cared for the genre in many years it caught me by surprise.
Other big pleasant surprises for me: Overcooked became my favorite party thing to play on the couch with friends, as was Pokkén. King's Quest was more than a throwaway attempt to cash in on nostalgia! Battlefield 1 wowed me in a way that I'd never been wowed by the franchise - not just by typical Michael Bay scale, but also by atmosphere and character. I would have placed HITMAN higher on the list if I hadn't just started playing it a few days ago.
Shout-outs to FRU for giving us a glimpse into the parallel universe where the Kinect gave us a library of fun games, and Quantum Break for giving us a glimpse into the parallel universe where the Xbox actually was the TV memeing that people never stopped going on about.
The elephant in my room: Overwatch is a hell of a phenomenon. It's a masterclass in visual and gameplay design. It got people (who never even liked the shooter genre) into the shooter genre. The gameplay loops are the best of its kind. It's actually probably the one game I've put the most time in this year. I bought it for my other friends to get into as well. I don't commonly do that.
I didn't put it on my list for GOTY because for all that it does perfectly the rewards system still grinds my gears. Never have I been so apathetic to the opening of a box of loot in any other videogame ever as I have to those in Overwatch. I wouldn't be so angry about the whole deal if everything else about the game wasn't so amazing (and they weren't getting away with half a billion dollars worth of whales), and Blizzard's solution to improving the awful, awful duplicate and exchange rate was to dole out bandaid solutions in the form of additional free boxes in additional gameplay modes. Spoilers: it didn't improve the primary Quick Play experience.
I love that game, but fuck that game sometimes. Besides, I'm sure the voting system will treat Overwatch just fine even without my input.
The general rule that Mcc, who has run this for years, has applied is every game gets one shot. The list is mostly compiled from wikipedia, then some tidying is applied. It gets posted up and people point out the hundreds of mistakes I've made (which takes far more effort than me posting the list in the first place, so I'm very grateful!), including games that came out last year/previous year/re-releases/duplicates as well as a load of indie games that aren't included on the wiki link.
It does mean that games like Tomb Raider don't get as much coverage in previous years as they would have this year, I for one would have voted for it this year, but for that I'll blame whoever made me wait a year to play it
Nomination thread is closed now and was here: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/208361/goty-2016-last-day-to-nominate-a-game-voting-starts-monday
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I almost forgot XCOM2 as it was so early in the year.
Dishonored 2 runs like crap so I have not really played a lot waiting for patches to improve things. It may be higher then.
I played a lot of games that didn't show up on the list. Apparently I'm always a year behind... But DOOM was such a good game that there's simply no way it couldn't be my GOTY. I've never had so much fun with a game.
Deus Ex was a great game too and so was Ratchet and Clank. Overall it was a pretty good year. This year has Breath of the Wild so I'm already saying it's my 2017 GOTY.
Would have had WoW: Legion in there somewhere if it was available. Probably by far my most played game of the year though was World of Warships.
I also played Star Fox Zero, but that game is garbage.
I didn't play many new games this year, and many of them disappointed me in some way or another, despite the high rankings. For example, I found TF2's multiplayer to be hugely disappointing (I loved the original), but the excellent campaign saved it. There are a number of 2016 games like Watch Dogs 2, The Witness, Superhot, AM2R, Inside and so forth that I hope to get to this year.
My rankings:
1-3: Incredible
4-7: Great
8-13: Really good
14-18: Good
19-20: Okay
And for fun, my most disappointing games of the year:
I am bad at playing games the same year they come out
- Overwatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC,PS4,XBO)
- The Witness (PC,PS4,XBO)
- Stardew Valley (PC,PS4,XBO)
- Planet Coaster (PC)
- HITMAN (PC,PS4,XBO)
- Firewatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
- Watch Dogs 2 (PC,PS4,XBO)
- Deus Ex Go (Mobile)
I didn't play many games this year.2. Monster Hunter Generations (3DS)
3. Pocket Card Jockey (3DS)
4. Zero Time Dilemma (3DS,PC,PSVita)
5. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice (3DS)
6. Pokémon Sun and Moon (3DS)
7. Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter (PC, PS4, XBO)
8. Pokémon Go (Mobile)
9. No Man's Sky (PC,PS4)
10. Firewatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
11. Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE (WiiU)
12. Pokkén Tournament (WiiU)
Firewatch probably would be higher, but I only played the beginning.
2) Firewatch (PC,PS4,XBO)
3) Titanfall 2 (PC,PS4,XBO)
4) Let It Die (PS4)
5) Pokémon Go (Mobile)
6) Tom Clancy's The Division (PC,PS4,XBO)
7) Dark Souls III (PC,PS4,XBO)
8) Soda Drinker Pro (PC,XBO)
9) Darkest Dungeon (PC,PS4,PSVita)
10) No Man's Sky (PC,PS4)
11) Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location (PC)
12) ANATOMY (PC)
13) Imscared (PC)
Shout outs to Soda Drinker Pro (It's not a game, it's a lifestyle) and ANATOMY.
ANATOMY is $3 and awesome. Go buy it. Also, it's super spooky.
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I'm surprised myself at what wound up on there, though I haven't doubted my number 1 since I played it for the first time.
1. Mirror's Edge Catalyst
EA took everything I loved about the first game and expanded on it, the silly hyper-dystopia, the sense of speed and movement and momentum, the actual delivery/runner aspect, the super-clean weirdly sinister aesthetic, and expanded it into a huge open world that is just a joy to move through. An open world where I never fast travel, I just set a waypoint and run, jump, slide, grappling hook, fling myself through. They also took all the crap that I hated and excised it almost entirely. The overly constrained race-course levels, the dumb flash movies in place of cinematics, the quicktime events, the guns, the obvious limits on which way is the best way to go. Combining all that with a few dozens racing challenges not to mention the ones dropped in by players from all over the world, and this was by far the game I enjoyed the most and spent the most time with this year.
2. The Witness
I play a lot of video games. I at least touch every single game that comes out on Xbox One for work, and I play a fair amount on PC and WiiU. The Witness blew my fucking mind. Every single pixel in this game is there for a reason. The trees, the rocks, the grass, even the goddamned clouds are placed very precisely and for very good reason. I have never seen a game so thoroughly designed as The Witness. I have never seen a game teach you how to play so expertly and subtly, and reward you for paying attention the way this one does. And after all that, after learning all there is to learn, after mastering a truly video-game-ass video game, it turns around and says "Nope, you are NOT done!" An astonishing work of art.
3. AM2R
I never played Metroid 2. Now I have, only better. I love Metroids. So this goes on the list.
4. Clustertruck
Sometimes it's important to remember that games, while art, can also be silly. Clustertruck makes no sense, and is perfectly fine with that. Leaping from Peterbilt to Peterbilt through an infinite void filled with death lasers is just a glorious thing. It's tons of fun to play and probably just as much fun to watch.
5. Inside
I'm going to go cry and have a lie down, now. For a game with no words or text, it's not often that a game makes me feel as sad and lonely as Inside does. I won't go into the ending, because what the fuck, but the raw desperation and despondency that the game conveys through visuals alone is impressive, sort of like Papers, Please. The raw oppressive atmosphere is half the game, and the constantly escalating fear is the other half.
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Considering I'm terrible at online multiplayer shooters, it's still a huge surprise that Overwatch was my most played game of this year. Switching from the PC to the PS4 version helped, though.
I am probably the only person who will vote for Mafia III. The ambiance, characters, and plot made up for all of the usual open-world tedium these sorts of games have. I'm still hoping it gains the sort of cult following that Alpha Protocol did.
DOOM was a pleasant surprise, as was the single player campaign in Titanfall 2.
The Division was fun while it lasted, as was Pokemon Go. Oddly enough, both involved wandering around New York City.
Got a PS4 around the holidays, hence Uncharted 4, but a few other PS4 games that might have made the list (Last Guardian, Ratchet & Clank) didn't get enough playtime for me to vote for them.
The bottom of my list were the less memorable but still good ones. Tyranny gets bonus points for having an easy mode that's actually easy enough that the tedious retro bullshit combat can be facerolled through so I can just enjoy the choose your own adventure plot, unlike Pillars of Eternity.
Biggest disappointment of the year: XCOM 2. Ugh. I know I'm in the minority, but the apparently last-minute decision to spike the difficulty to "Fuck You" levels combined with the utter random bullshit that XCOM is infamous for combined to make a singularly unfun gaming experience.
1. Fire Emblem Fates ; According to my activity log, Fates is the 3DS game I have put the most time into, supplanting its predecessor Awakening, and no wonder. Fates corrects Awakening's two most glaring flaws, open and uninteresting level design and the overpowered Pair-Up mechanics, with a rebalanced system that forces players to choose between offense and defense, and thoughtful maps that require moving units thoughtfully. The Conquest campaign gets the most credit, and rightfully so, with varied objectives and punishing design that never leaves you completely comfortable when advancing on an enemy formation. Birthright, while easier, has some interesting layouts as well. In particular, Chapter 23 holds up favorably against any Conquest map you might care to name. Revelations...is honestly a little too weird, especially towards the end, but I was glad to see some experimental ideas from Intelligent Systems. The music is excellent and widely varied, with distinctly western and eastern instrumentation representing the two countries.
The removal of weapon durability in favor of tradeoffs for stronger weapons was pretty successful, though it seems the saved costs of replacement weapons has been balanced out by higher prices and more varieties of specialized weapons. While Awakening introduced buffs to an extent that had never really been present in the series before, Fates does the same for debuffs, with shurikens/daggers and Seal skills. They're powerful abilities when used against enemies at the right time, but at the same time a potentially serious hazard for the player as well. I don't know whether integrating bows and tomes into the weapon triangle was necessary, but after a little adjustment it never seemed to hurt my experience.
The stories work out all right if you view them as tragedies about the perils of excessive filial piety, but admittedly they are melodramas carried more by emotion than logic. And Fates, while correcting Awakening's major flaws, unfortunately continues or doubles down on its minor ones (thin worldbuilding, extraneous-feeling side characters, particularly the children, and a number of embarrassingly sexed-up women's costume designs.)
Finally, I want to give a shout-out to the Heirs of Fate DLC missions, several of which are designed to pressure units in your starting area to the point where it is not feasible to cautiously bait out small numbers of enemies as you advance because you must charge towards your goal so quickly. I just thought it was interesting how the game experimented with discouraging a very prevalent, very conservative playstyle.
2. Pokémon Sun/Moon ; Sun and Moon create a unique and distinct sense of place, succeeding wildly at something X and Y made a game attempt at, despite coming up short. The ever-present tropical environment, the music, the Alolan variant Pokemon (Gen I nostalgia bait that they are aside), the substitution of trials for gyms, even Kukui's quest to create a League to make the region the equal of others, all of them contribute to making the play experience feel real and interesting.
Mechanically, there's relatively little new here, the biggest addition being the long-awaited replacement of HMs with Ride Pokemon. Box sorting gets more streamlined as it does every generation, and the new Pokemon registration effects pop more than ever before. I appreciate that they now occur when obtaining a new Pokemon via evolution, hatching, or trade, not just capture as in previous games. The totem Pokemon bosses are tactically interesting fights, as they essentially come in having set up already, although most are tragically vulnerable to status effects.
There's actually a good story, too! The last time Pokemon put emphasis on story was Black and White, which tried to be this grand epic about the inherent ethical problems involved in the core conceit of the series but ended up having nothing to say. Wisely, Sun and Moon serve up a highly character-focused story, with Lillie's journey of self-improvement, settling of personal problems, and overcoming the loveable morons of Team Skull in the foreground, and Kukui's efforts at makinga League a constant background presence that eventually results in something for the player character to do after Lillie's arc is done. And make no mistake, Lillie is the protagonist, the player character a mere bodyguard. She is John Connor and you are T2 Arnie, tasked with brutally dismantling any hostile Pokemon trainer that gets in the way of her journey. Also, if you play as a girl their relationship comes off as super gay, which is always appreciated.
The Ultra Beasts are just a light dip into Lovecraft, but the mere fact that they are catchable Pokemon is enough to make it impossible for them to be as weird or as dangerous as they seemed they might have been at first. Also, the framerate tanks when there are more than two Pokemon on screen. Hopefully Stars will fix that problem. Overall, probably my favorite Pokemon game ever.
3. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice ; It's true what everyone is saying, this is Apollo Justice's game more than the one with his name in the title, with more backstory on his childhood and development into a fully realized and independent attorney. Otherwise, it's another amazing Ace Attorney game, full of high drama, quirky and memorable characters, horrible pun names, great music, and wacky freakouts. The animation generally looks like it's gone up a notch in quality since Dual Destinies. The game goes relatively light on the 3D object gimmicks and the Divination Seances, having them enough to be interesting without getting irritating. Maya is back, which is great, but isn't given much to do. And I don't think it was necessary to have yet another case revolving around Ace Attorney's patented Troupe Gramarye Bullshit(TM). Overall though, it's great, up with there with the very best of the series.
4. Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma ; The developers' reach exceeded their grasp when it comes to making animations here, but after playing for a bit you adjust to the jank and it stops being distracting, leaving you with another mindbending story full of twists. There's nothing quite as shocking as some of the revelations in VLR, but the story more than makes up for it with more emotionally affecting scenes. The puzzles are easier than past games, which suits me just fine. The character arcs of the series mainstays are satisfactorily wrapped up, while leaving enough loose ends in the main plot for potential continuations.
5. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE ; This game is weird, both conceptually and in practice. An SMT/Fire Emblem crossover? Sure. It's a dungeon crawler with FE characters? Fine, we basically have the reverse with Devil Survivor anyway. It's about performing artists who use FE heroes as Personas to fight monsters trying to suck the energy from showbiz? Now that made me skeptical at first, and the game's short attempts to connect it to music and theatre's origins as religious rituals wasn't super convincing, but if you just embrace the weirdness you'll find that the story is mostly a charming tale of a group of people who grow into friendship while helping each other pursue their life goals...and fight off monsters in another dimension.
Practically, this is an SMT game, but with Fire Emblem terminology and concepts permeating everything. Say you encounter a new monster, and you don't know its weaknesses. Typical SMT-style problem, right? But you notice it's flying and caries lances, so you can (if you're familiar with Fire Emblem game mechanics) determine right away that it's weak to wind, bows, and axes. Then you attack with SMT mainstay abilities like Zandyne or Grant Tack. An SMT problem with an SMT solution that must be arrived at with Fire Emblem logic. The whole game is full of stuff like this, and if you're familiar with both series it's a real trip.
The battles are fast-paced and reward targeting weaknesses in a basic system reminiscent of Strange Journey, that gradually gets more and more added on to it at just the right rate, so that you never feel bored or overwhelmed, and by the end you're doing crazy, awesome-looking combos. There's a satisfying loop of going into the dungeon, getting new materials, going back to make new weapons to get more skills, going back in to use your new skills and getting more materials, etc., at least after your learn not to leave every time there's something new. Between the dungeon-crawling and the party member side stories it scratched that Persona itch, although to be honest the side stories have more in common with Mass Effect loyalty missions than either Supports or S-Links. It's a great Wii U swan song for anyone who's getting BotW on Switch.
6. Titanfall 2 ; Calling this game the Mario Galaxy of shooters is something of an overstatement, but I get the intent. Every level feels different and (past the first couple) fresh, with unique environments, weapons, abilities, or narrative context that always mesh well with the core movement and shooting mechanics. I found the boss fights to be somewhat tougher than the rest of the game, but over time I have come to realize that was probably due to my own stubbornness in not changing loadouts enough. (Except Viper. Viper is bullshit.) The story is thin but not actively bad, and the growing bond between Cooper and BT gets genuinely touching. This game also sets the gold standard for how game voice actors should be credited.
7. Kirby: Planet Robobot ; .The same engine and basic structure of Triple Deluxe, but with smashy robots! Hyper Mode was a satisfying experience, but there wasn't much to it, whereas the Robobot has access to several powers and unique movesets that all feel super great to use. There's a certain story development that genuinely surprised me, and the final battle is even more epic in scale that we've come to expect. I wanted the Robobot to be involved in more boss fights than it was, though.
8. Superhot ; The most innovative shooter I've played in years...is still Splatoon. But Superhot is still great, an anti-Hotline Miami with the same focus on limited weapons, positioning, and quick kills for both you and enemies, but a hyper-minimalist style and strategic time-moves-when-you-move mechanics. The game throws you into all sorts of situations where you're basically forced to do cool shit just to survive, although a couple of the late levels feel like a slog of too many enemies. The story is a serviceable cyberpunk affair with transhumanist themes, although games that criticize the player for following the critical path without offering alternatives have officially gotten old as far as I'm concerned.
9. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse ; I was only able to put a little time into this game, but everything I've seen was great. The very solid SMT IV foundation was improved by putting work into some half-assed mechanics, namely the Smirk system, which can now be much more actively managed and has a wider array of potential effects, and the partner system, which has been overhauled to give the player more control and behave less randomly. This is another conceptually weird SMT game, beginning in the endgame of the previous title, but at least here it seems obvious that the cost-saving from reusing lots of old sprites and models can explain it easily enough.
10. Star Fox Zero ; The gamepad gyro control system takes some getting used to, but once it clicks it feels good. (You don't have to actually look down at it very much.) A stylish nostalgia-fest to Star Fox 64, I again couldn't put as much time into it as I wanted, which is a shame. The best part of these games is mastery from repetition, and hopefully I'll be able to master these cool levels later.
11. Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past ; I just barely touched this one, just getting through the first dungeon. What I saw sure seemed full of that unmistakable Dragon Quest charm.
12. Super Mario Run ; A nice little Mario game. As usual, beating the level is pretty easy most of the time, and the challenge comes from finding all the secret items. Even pink coins are sometimes tricky to get, and the black coins are some downright evil motherfuckers. I do wish there were more unique environments and enemies, and maybe even some kind of story explanation for why Mario can't stop running now.
13. Tadpole Treble ; A charming little indie game, with basic rhythm mechanic and nice music. Chiptune Lagoon, full of 8-but Duck Hunt ducks, is a personal favorite level. I feel like the final boss needed to make it clearer what you're supposed to do, though.
I think this is a top 10 list I can be okay with. I thought spots 1 and 2 would be a harder choice, but #1 is something I'd play right now and #2 I'd have to psych myself up for.
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Steins got dropped out on one of the first posts,likely because it was released in 2015. That said, researching shows it probably should have been kept in because it got its NA release in 2016. I don't know if it made last year's list.
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Looking at the posts, the same thing happened as Dragon Quest Builders. You had two entries on your initial list, mcc and I pointed this out and you accidentally deleted both entries.
There were a number of games on the list that I just haven't gotten around to playing yet (like Dishonored 2), but I don't think anything could have knocked Stardew Valley off of the top for me.
(Also, I'm assuming "The Huntsman: PCter's Curse (PS4)" really meant "The Huntsman: Winter's Curse (PC, PS4)")
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Fixed that one up in the database. Looks to be the only one hit by that, doing a quick PC[letter] scan.
Overwatch would have been my #1 though gameplay alone. It also happens to be extremely polished, good looking, optimized, balanced, and had a smooth launch.
Hitman is the first in the series that I can recommend to my friends. I've enjoyed most of the other games in the series, but they have always had a little jank you had to get past. I'm generally more forgiving of bugs/bad design than average, but I don't need to be with Hitman (2016). Not only is it a great game, but it has an amazing amount of content too.
Dead by Daylight is pretty much the opposite of the above two games. For about two weeks, my friend and I were waiting 15-20 minutes to find a game and not because of population issues. This was not go afk for 15 minutes either. Both of us had to be ready to re-ready up, rejoin the party, or even restart the game at any moment.... then matchmaking got worse. Add in balance issues, bugs, crashes, and a slow patching process and you have the game that I probably have forgiven the most. I wouldn't be that forgiving if the game wasn't fun though, and man did it hook ( :P ) me.