Favorite and Not Favorite Video Games of 2016 Sort Of

I totally wanted to do this for 2015 as well but I suddenly needed to move to another city in December which cut down on the time I had for writing.  So...each category, where applicable, I have included a 2015 version for shits and giggles.  

Ground rules: I must have played the game....that's it.  Here are the best, and a little bit of the worst, games of 2016.  

Game of 2016 That Came Out in 2016...

Overwatch

Review here.
Competetive Season One Thoughts here.
A super inaccurate beta impressions here.  (Don't read that).

Like it was going to be something else?  I typically shy away from multiplayer only games but this was too good to ignore.  The gameplay is really good even if the balance is still a little off (poor useless Bastion).  They added a much needed arcade mode for more casual stuff as well as making Quick Play more of a practice mode for Comp even though the entire rule set isn't the same yet.

The characters really sell it though, from inspiring to...lets say, thirsty.  For such a shitty 2016 for minorities and women, Overwatch has a ton of representation.  While three women follow typical sexy game models (Tracer, Mercy, and Widowmaker...though I guess she represents the blueish-purple skinned people), others don't.  Pharah is old school Samus from Metroid in full armor and that's just to start.  Ana is a grandmother, Mei is short and chunky (also, bae), and Zarya is a hero to beefcake women who might be Trans according to every fan theory.  Also, recently released Sombra has been welcomed with a ton of applause from the Hispanic community because holy shit.  What other Hispanic women characters can you name in video games?  Not a whole lot out there.

The dudes are all over the place too.  Roadhog looks like he weighs 1000 lbs, Junkrat is a scraggly fucker, Reinhardt is ancient, and some of them....are robots.  Lucio might be a BIT of a stereotype as a black DJ but how many also roller blade?  Yeah.  Exactly.

The only thing that might kill this game is the community.  Don't get me wrong, it's still mostly fine.  It's not toxic.  It's also popular enough that toxicity tends to be sort of rare.  But, that liiiiiittle bit always annoys me.  I work in service jobs.  My tolerance for asshats during my gaming time isn't that high and a big reason I stick to singleplayer games most of the time.  In the right mood, I can either laugh them off or talk shit right back IF they are directing their angst to me.  Other times, even when it's not directly at me but just the whole team, which is the most common, sometimes I'm just like nah.  Quit the game and open Civilization VI instead.  Wish that wasn't the case but what are you gonna do?

2015 version:  Life is Strange.

Review here
Criticism review here.

Still love this game.  Season 2 is gonna be weird with all new characters but hey, I'm down.

Almost every critical review of this game has a, "but I can't help but kind of love it" vibe.  Yeah.  I get ya.  It's rare to see a game revolve around a relationship, specifically between two teenage girls friendship/potentially romantic relationship depending on how you played it.  That...sounds like a dumb porn but trust me it's not.  It's sweet, and touching, and heartbreaking, and all those emotions David Cage wishes he could do in his games.  There is a layer of authenticity here in its characterization that is SUPER rare in video games and something I cherish.

Runner Up Game of 2016 That Came out in 2016...

Deus Ex:Mankind Divided.

Review here.
Story review here.
Microtransaction bullshit here.  Also, one of my least read things.  I make good arguments against this practice yo.

Despite all my bitching, I do really like this game.  I'm currently playing through it a second time to try a perfect stealth, no kill run (except for some scripted moments where you have to be seen).  It's going well but I'm not at the hard parts yet.

Most of my complaining was about this games pretty good story just hitting the wrong marks.  WELL...that was before heir Trump got elected so now....I'M NOT SO SURE.  I'm (sort of) kidding here as its themes don't really match its real world references but hey, they mostly don't match BECAUSE the previous game is one of my all time favorites.  On its own, it kind of works in a sick way.

2015 version:  Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Review here.
Quiet controversy here.
Spoiler filled hate fest here.

I'm seriously sick of talking about this game but 3 real quick points.  1.  The gameplay is phenomenal and I still stand by my position that this is the best stealth gameplay of all time.  2.  The story is bizarre while also being so unlike any other Metal Gear Solid story it will infuriate long time fans.  3.  Fuck Konami.

Best Game Of The Last Two Years Because I Played It In 2016 Despite Coming Out In 2015 And Yes, Better Than Overwatch...

Baddest ass picture ever

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Review Here......That is all I said about this fantastic game?!?!

I can not rave about this game enough.  I want to do a 11-20 favorite game post even though it gets kinda fuzzy after 15 and this one is seriously climbing the more I think about it.  First open world game I've loved.  Even in my review, my criticisms were pretty nitpicky which...I HAD TO DO because the game is that good.  One of the two non-nitpick complaints was about the oppressive number of random bullshit to do on the map but I remembered, "hey! I don't actually have to do all that if I don't want too"...so I didn't.  The other was about the absurd amount of running around needed for the crafting to work right but that's only if you want to get the best gear.  The main quests and secondary quests (which were given as much care as the main quests) were more than enough to still push this game over 60 hours on that stuff alone.  All the rest puts this game into marathon territory (I played 120 hours and still didn't do everything).

I want to talk about 3 things I didn't mention in the review.

1.  I have complained about the villain deficit in fiction a lot but the villains in this game are great.  Top to bottom!  Raid a bandit camp and afterward you will find a letter the bandit never got to send (because you murdered everyone) to his wife and kids.  It will say something about how this last robbery will let them be able to buy bread for a few weeks.  Augh...my heart breaks.  Why are you humanizing this game's version of Goombas game?  And at the top, even the main villains, the Wild Hunt, are sympathetic as fuck.  I still don't want to spoil it but trust me.  You kind of feel bad for them.

This game takes the M rating for real.  Instead of just for violence and bewbs (okay lets be fair, just bewbs) it actually deals with adult themes that younger players wouldn't notice or understand.  This game takes the phrase, "Nobody sees themselves as the villain", and makes it a trope.  It's great.  Granted, many of the monsters in the game are just fodder, but like I said in the review, even some of them are sympathetic and some question the idea of if they should even be considered monsters.  But, this is a choice orientated game.  You can choose to slay them, or not.  It's so fucking good.

2.  For a story with as much misery as this story has, this game is smart in taking time off and doing............borderline comic relief moments.  WAIT, wait, hear me out.  For being an emotionless Witcher, Geralt sure does have some sick one liners at times.  They even make fun of the ridiculous trailer to this game that seems out of character and WOW did they rush that scene out.  Also, there is a point in the game were Geralt decides to get drunk with his Witcher buddies.  Protip:  Go all the way.  Trust me.  Fun times happen.  Since this is a choice orientated game, there are times when you can quit drinking and you might think you should because the wife will get mad but I don't even care if this is a spoiler....it doesn't matter.  It won't effect anything.  Just go for it.

3.  There are a couple battle themes but Steel for Humans is fantastic battle music.

I don't have a 2015 version of this.  I just wanted to say Witcher 3 is the best game of 2015 and 2016!  It is that damn good.  I just happened to play it the year after release.  

Worst Game of 2016...

No Man's Sky

Review here.

I was skeptical of this game being like Spore in its promises but didn't want to be right and damnit...I was right.  (Yes, I will gloat about that).  But what is TRULY weird is that the game ended up being like Spore in design too.  The procedurally generated animals in the game do sort of look like Spore animals.  It's fucking bizarre.  I mean, sure, they are less penis shaped, but they are still a weird amalgamation of things....

....OH.  EXCEPT FOR SONIC.  LOVE HIM. * Best thing to come out of this game.  He just wants to go fast.....ahem, anyway.

*Why can't I embed your video bro?

I know a base building update recently came out which is super bizarre since the size of the universe makes back tracking nearly impossible.  You leave the planet you built that base on, gooooood fucking luck ever finding it again.  Also, why does so much of this game seem to rip off Subnautica, yet Subnautica still looks way better?

This game desperately needs a purpose.  It's an existential nightmare.  I think the reason so many of these survival crafting games never make it out of "Steam early access" is because they fail at, you know, THE POINT.  Why am I doing any of this?  I can play around with mechanics in a setting for a while but without a reason to do so, I get bored.  And for such a huge game world, this is one of the loneliest I've ever seen.  Why do the AI aliens suck so hard?  How was that part of the game fucked up so bad?  They're like 1990's (hell, maybe 80's) era PC adventure game NPCs.  They were not good then.  I just remember thinking, "Man, I can't wait for technology to advance to the point where these NPCs can walk around and be active and act like they exist".

I shouldn't dog pile so much on an indie developer that bit off more than it can chew but come on.  They bought into their own hype and over sold their product to an insane degree.  I'd love it if a indie game could compete with AAA games and....wait.  I forgot.  One already did.  It's called Minecraft.


Other Noteworthy Video Game Things:

Shockingly good soundtrack:  VA-11 HALL-A

I gotta course correct here.  In my review I linked to the soundtrack and picked the song that LEAST represents that game.  If anything, take one of my favorites, Every Day is Night.  Yeah it's poppy (no singing though if you are scared) but I dare your head not to start bopping.  I love the transition at 1:40.

I also really like Skyline, which has a slow start but it builds, and You've Got Me which I think is a re-work of the same song.  It sounds like an 80's love ballad.  It's great.

A Horror Game That Was Actually Scary:  Anatomy

While not nightmare inducing, I did distract myself with non-scary Youtube videos before going to bed.  I'm super bummed my stream of it kept quitting and also didn't record but I fixed the recording part at least.  It also made my wife wonder what the hell I was buying when I bought something from someone named "Kitty Horrorshow" on my checking account.

A Game I've Played A Lot But Can't Write a Review On:  Civilization VI

It's like any other Civ ever.  It's the same good game with minor adjustments here and there.  Don't fix what is not broken.  That said..

Probably Best Game I Didn't Play:  Firewatch

It's pretty up my alley.  It just didn't happen and I've seen so much of it I may not actually get around to it for a long time.  Also, 2015 version: Undertale

Two games inexplicably missing...

Back in January, I wrote about 5 games I looked forward to in 2016.*  I've played one of them, Deus Ex.  Two of them got delayed to 2017 (Mass Effect and Persona 5, both of which coming out near each other goddamnit) but what about the other two?

*"Year of Jason"....dude.  I think I've handled 2016 with a fuck ton of grace considering.

Mirrors Edge:Catalyst is still on the back burner and it might be there for a long while.  I got turned off from the constant "combat improvement" talk which I can't see without serious compromises to the parkour controls.  I also hate that it is a prequel since there was so much more to explore in the original game's universe.

Dishonored 2, despite being my Twitter header, is just too similar to Deus Ex (it's steampunk Deus Ex) and I'm not ready to play another stealth game.  Also, the PC launch was super rough so patches are nice.

Finally.

Oxenfree has been sitting on my hard drive for over a month now.  Part of me wants to stream it but my internet will probably make that impossible without constant interruptions.  Also, it's a story driven game so it's questionable how entertaining that would be for people.  I dunno.  I'll likely just play it on my own.

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Other best/worsts of 2016 coming soon.

Anatomy (A Kitty Horrorshow Game) Review. *Light Spoilers*.

Indie horror games are not usually my thing mostly because they suck.  They usually follow the same cliches, the same premise, the same settings, the same eight million jumpscares, and the same doofy looking monster.  There are exceptions of course but even with the better ones do I rarely feel all that scared.  They're just too predictable.  So for this indie horror game, I went with an unusual developer.

I'm not sure why, but I've always heard of Kitty Horrorshow without actually playing any of her games.  Again, I have no idea why.  Maybe she was brought up in articles or videos discussing other horror games and I just remembered the name for some reason?  I dunno.  Looking at other reviews and videos of her other games make me think....okay, do you remember a game called LSD Dream Emulator for the Playstation?  Of course you don't really remember it since nobody played it but you've probably heard of it.  Her style is almost like she took LSD Dream Emulator and decided to make it purposefully scary and not accidentally scary like the original game.  LSD Dream Emulator is a shit game though and Anatomy, which isn't really like that game but maybe some influence here and there, is great.

I think that plum has a lazy eye.

Yeah I know that title is bleh.  I'm pretty sure there are 2,000 pieces of media titled "Anatomy" without even including actual anatomy textbooks.  Most are horror and/or thriller stories, many are zombie and/or evil doctor related, and a handful are porn....don't ask why I know that (or do I don't care).  This Anatomy is about a house.  A very, very, dark house that the player goes into for some reason and collects tapes in which a narrator gives a philosophical treatise on what is, a house.

For a game built on the Unity engine, it is fantastic.  The atmosphere is superb even if it might be a little too dark at times (mainly the basement but I think that may have been on purpose?).  Anatomy is a horror game that uses more psychological horror and that never ending sense of unease.  If I could describe this game in one word it's "dread".  You walk through a very dark house seeing through a VHS tape (you get the tracking lines and everything) with almost no sound.  You collect tapes to play in a old school tape player in the kitchen while constantly feeling like something is coming after you, or something is wrong with this house, or ghosts or something.  It's set up SO WELL that you are not sure why you are afraid....but you are, and that deep dread sinks in.  This game is intriguing and a game I'm afraid to ever play again.  Its horror is that good.

You also can't see shit.

Everything other indie horror games get wrong are not here.  The cliches are mostly absent but if they are used, they are used ONCE and only after you've had some time to get a feel for the house.  The premise and setting is similar to other games, a haunted house, but this has a major twist on that idea.  There are almost no jumpscares* and no monster whatsoever.  There is nothing chasing you.  There is nothing to run from.  You are dead the moment you start this game, maybe.

*There are only two "jumpscares" but neither are traditional.  One is a game breaking glitch, the other is a pre-ending.  They are used rarely and thus far, far, FAR more effective than the run of the mill indie horror games that jumpscare too often and get predictable.

This is a game you absolutely have to play repeatedly.  3 times just to get one real ending, possibly several more for the "true" ending.  I'm not sure but I think they are random or dependent...on....some....thing I can't find out.  I even read a goddamn NeoGAF thread and nobody there seems to know what causes what ending.  There is a read me file that says one ending is the "true" ending so ehhhhhhh???

When you open the game a 2nd time things change.  The horror intensifies and other Kitty Horrorshow tropes (?) start happening.  The game uses glitches to add to the unease.  The second playthrough alters enough that you start to think the house is infectious, actually altering the code of the game.  It's fucking bizarre and also one of the best jumpscares I've seen in a long time at the end.  You know you've finished an act when the game just hard quits.  It just crashes.*

*This is a small spoiler but right before the crash, the door to the basement opens on its own and I nearly shit myself.  Unlike every other indie horror game that uses opening/closing doors 15 fucking times, this is the only time it happens in Anatomy and is far more effective.  It's really the only time anything moves on its own.

....I'm sorry?

The third time you play it is out of this world.  The deep dread is realized in this final act.  You start out on the top floor in one of the bedrooms instead of the entryway.  The glitches are out of control.  Objects in the house will have doubles overlapping or be placed where physics says no.  And even though I knew what the house WAS after the first playthrough....this act was still terrifying.  The ending in the basement got me good too.

It's amazing that somebody can make a Unity Engine game feel this wrong (in a good way).  The game is very, very, very quiet....which makes every stupid little sound dreadful.  They aren't bombastic in a jumpscare way, but you hear a slight...thing in the distance and it's THE WORST.  You can check.  Nothing is there.  Yet there is a primordial instinct that good horror uses and Anatomy uses it so well.  There was a sound where there shouldn't be.  Be afraid.

I can't stress enough how great this game is and a true horror classic that almost nobody has played.  It is certainly more accessible than a normal Kitty Horrorshow game (I don't want to dig through folders to find your game) but that new age meta horror is all the rage right now and this one hit.  It hit hard.  It's available for 3 bucks on Itch.io if you wanna give it a go.  Almost all of her other games are free.

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I recorded video of my play through but it's of poor quality and there is no way I can edit it into something decent before the spooky month is over.  Here is a good spot in the game about the door and the hard crash.  Or, you can watch the whole video for the full effect.