GOTY 2016

[Bartimaeus]

I feel like I'm totally missing something with Undertale.  It didn't grab me at all.

 

edit:  Just tried it again.  I don't get it.

 

It starts off super slow and somewhat pedestrian, no doubt about it. The game starts ramping up some in the second major area, by which time I started enjoying myself more...then ramps up even more in the third area, and at this point I was really into it...and then even more as it continues...and then has probably has the best ending in a game I've ever played. It's just that beginning hump that I think really puts players off - I know friends I've recommended it to have had difficulty getting through the first act, but once they do, they've all finished it at blazing speeds and have loved it.

Edited December 18, 2016 by Bartimaeus

[ShadySands]

The whole style of Undertale put me off so I was never even interested in trying it

[Majek]

Of games actually released in 2016 that i've played, i guess Uncharted 4. Division was fun but has/had no lasting appeal and Dark Souls 3 while great, i just can't get back into. When all dlc's are released i'll probably try again. I haven't really played anything but these few games and Destiny in 2016 anyway. :S Plenty of games were released in 2016 that i want to own, but since i can't find the time to play then i don't buy them, yet. XCOM 2, Dishonored 2, Deus EX:MD, Salt and Sanctuary, Overwatch, Deadbolt, Hyperlight Drifter , Worms WMD, N++, I am Setsuna, Alienation, Firewatch,The last guardian and now DOOM was added to the ever growing list. ;_;  I kinda wish i was a teen again, back then i had time to play everything.

[Bartimaeus]

The whole style of Undertale put me off so I was never even interested in trying it

 

Me too, actually: a friend recommended it to me, and I looked at the Steam store page, and I was like, "...But it looks so completely and utterly unappealing." I didn't try it until months after that...and had to come back and say, "O.K., you were right."

 

But ultimately, it's probably not for everyone, so no biggie.

Edited December 18, 2016 by Bartimaeus

[Katphood]

 ;_;  I kinda wish i was a teen again, back then i had time to play everything.

 

 

I wished for that and I lost my job and got thrown out of the Uni. Careful what you wish for.

[Vaeliorin]

If Undertale didn't have that terrible style of combat, I might give it a try, but I hate bullet hell games, and that's what the combat (even the peaceful kind) reminds me of.

 

For me, I'd probably say XCom 2.  With mods, it's pretty amazing, and A Better Advent 2 makes the game really, really difficult, which I like.  It might be possible to beat it without an expanded squad size, but I wouldn't want to make any bets (and I feel the game plays a bit better with an 8 man squad as opposed to 6.)

 

I was enjoying Tyranny until I went to Lethian's Crossing and there was literally nothing to do there, and no way for me to access the third rubbing to get into the spire.  Actually, all of act 2 (I got up to the point where I was supposed to go after the Scarlet Chorus after siding with the Disfavored) was kind of underwhelming, given that every conversation pretty much literally left me no choice beyond killing everyone.  There should never be a conversation that doesn't give you any option other than attacking (being attacked is okay, but I shouldn't be forced to go on the offensive.)  I also kind of have the feeling that character diversity is somewhat lacking, because it seems that I'm always going to end up using magic unless I want to make a character who's just terrible and has almost nothing to do in combat.

[sorophx]

tried The Division during its free weekend, ended up buying it with the season pass (funnily enough, Uplay thinks I'm in Russia, so I only had to pay 1700 rubles for the whole bundle, which amounts to 20 USD; a bargain, considering most people paid well over 60 bucks for it) - the fact that you could get a 20% discount for both the standalone game and the season pass in addition to its holiday 50% discount helped too; just had to play the game for 3 days and rake up enough achievements to earn 200 Upoints. 

 

anyway, that was the long way to say I'm enjoying the game so much it's my GOTY 2016. production values are unbelievably high. I can't believe I'm playing a game that has everything of such high quality: graphics, sound design, special effects, animations, shooting mechanics, and overall stability.

 

my only gripe with it is lack of first-person view, if it had that too it would certainly become one of my all-time favorite games.

[Majek]

How far are you in Division story? :D 

[Chilloutman]

Stellaris and Warhammer Total War

[sorophx]

the game says 43%, but I'm only level 14 still, so most missions I have yet to even try

I actually like how the story is given in different forms: you find various recording of people discussing the state of things in the city during the worst of the crisis, you get some info from civilians during side missions or just while roaming the streets. the game is very atmospheric in that respect, I love that. love the world building in it.

 

that's probably why I already have 30+ hours clocked in it and still have most of the story yet to come. it's so immersive, I just spend hours running around patrolling the streets. by the time I am done with the main story line I will have clocked at least a 100 hours. that's more than my money's worth

[Hurlshort]

Yeah, I loved The Division as well.  I didn't put it on my list because I never finished the story, but the first 30 hours of running around and exploring were fantastic.  I know a lot of people had issues with it, but I thought it was a fantastic mashup of an RPG and a cover based shooter.

[Majek]

Oh no doubt about it, it was certainly worth the money i paid for it. But i expected i'd play it for months with interesting stuff happening in post game. That didn't happen ( or it may have in the mean time) and  as the season pass was almost as expensive as the base game  i never bough it and soon i just forgot about the game.   But yeah, i'd definitely recommend to play the game through once and try every activity at least once.

[sorophx]

the 2 major DLCs added end-game raids. one of them restricted to 30 level players: with randomized dungeons, mutators and hunting bounties; and another - DayZ inspired hardcore survival mode - is available to all players from the start (has both PvP and PvE modes). the 3rd DLC is coming in March, and I have high expectations for it.

[Malcador]

Needs R6 style kills though.

[sorophx]

you mean no bullet spongy enemies, and dying to single well placed shots? I am really into tactical shooter like Rogue Spear and Ghost Recon, but this particular game - the way it was designed - wouldn't work that way, unfortunately

[Gorth]

My problem is, the few games I truly enjoyed in 2016 were most likely released 2015 or earlier

 

Dishonoured (the first one) and Pillars of Eternity being the better known ones. Yes, I'm always a bit behind the curve when it comes to catching up on games. A Curious Expedition being the lesser known title I had fun playing.

[Fenixp]

I did a slightly more detailed write-up, and as an attention whore that I am, I'll post it here too, so that you can get to have 2 lists by Fenixp! This one's... Not necessarily 2016 tho.

They're mostly identical, but eh...

Dishonored 2
The detail, the atmosphere, the sheer amount of options presented to you organically with no disruption - it's why I love the first game and it's why I love the second one. It's pretty much improved version of Dishonored 1. However, it loses points for lack of originality, and in spite of slightly worse level design, worse gameplay and worse... Things in genearal, Dishonored 1 still feels like a better game. The tone was darker and Dunwall was a fair bit more interesting than Karnaca. Not to mention Dishonored's the innovative one whereas Dishonored 2 is pretty much the same thing.

DOOM
For soundtrack by Mick "God" Gordon and some of the best FPS core gameplay look I've ever seen in my life. While it does get a bit samey towards the end and level design seems to decline just a little bit, going from vast levels filled with exploration towards progression from one arena to the next, I've still had (and am still having) absolutely insane amounts of fun with DOOM. It works doubly when I'm angry about something and need to vent.

Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
A fantastic DLC for an already fantastic base game. It enters parts of the original books that I wanted to see digitized for ages, and does so with grace and respect that I've come to expect of CD: Project. Sure, Witcher books are still not exactly material that's necessarily worthy of transferring to other media as they're not that great either, but with what they had, CDP:R did a fantastic job. It also gets bonus points for getting many things the original W3 screwed up right.

Dying Light
Oh it's just the best zombie game I have ever played. Finally somebody went in and thought "Well, zombie flicks are not really about killing hundreds of zombies for the most part, are they?" and made a game focused much more on running, driving, jumping and sliding across one big city and massive country-side. Add to that pretty much the most satisfying character progression mechanics that I've seen in years where pretty much each and every new skill unlocked means new gameplay options as opposed to boring stat increase and you get a damn good package.

 

8-bit Multiverse

A classical RTS in the style of the original Command and Conquer by former Westwood with soundtrack by Frank Klepacki. Some of the most fun I've had while playing a new RTS in ages, if I don't count Homeworld: Remastered as 'new' that is. And when the three games are joined (Armies, Hordes and Invaders), you get a wonderfully fun RTS with 6 factions where evil necromancers can battle space marines. It's fast-paced, reasonably simple, with fantastic music and so, whenever I just feel like having fun with an RTS, I play one of the 8-bit Armies, Hordes or Invaders for 20 minutes and them I'm happy with my life.

[redneckdevil]

Only games I've liked this year (Doom was surprisingly a dud for me) was dying light and total war warhammer.

I've been broke and the few games I've gotten this year (minus dying light but we counting the gory version) isn't really capturing me.

[the_dog_days]

My favorite 2016 title (I'm not saying it's the best, but it is my favorite) was Oxenfree.

[SadExchange]

Well, I'll put my GOTY in the near future, but what I will say is that Doom 2016 was gonna be on that short list, but last night, about 3/4 the way through and on a boss fight with a couple huge demons, after dying a couple times, the game kicked me out to the Playstation home screen.  So I went back into the game, but when I went to load my game, it said the file was corrupted.  

 

So, like any sane person with limited time, I promptly uninstalled and went on to something else and told myself, "Maybe next year."  

 

I completely understand any game can do that, but was a little burnt due to investing all that time.  Solid game though.

[Wrath of Dagon]

What annoys me beyond all measure is games that only allow auto saves, but then don't make sure their save system is rock solid.

[Tel Aviv]

I actually found Dishonoured 2 and Mankind Divided to be two of the year's most underwhelming games. Not because they're bad, but because they felt like a backward step.

[Blarghagh]

Ehh. There were a couple of games I played a lot and had fun with that still had enough issues that I wouldn't award them that GOTY title especially considering how many I didn't play or haven't been able to devote the time to to play proper. I'd say Overwatch is by far what I enjoyed the longest, but with the caveat that I no longer enjoy it now.

[GhostofAnakin]

Witcher 3's Blood & Wine is my choice.  I also liked Mankind Divided, but not nearly as much.

 

Haven't played Dishonored 2 yet. 

[HooAmEye]

OneShot made me cry like a baby.  Dragonspear was fun for the time I spent with it. Probably my favorite game of the year was XCOM 2, followed by my three playthroughs of Tyranny