2016 was an absurdly good year for video games. We saw long-awaited titles like Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian, and Owlboy finally make it out of development in excellent condition. Shooters like DOOM, Battlefield 1, and Titanfall 2 all exceeded expectations not only held for themselves but for shooters in general. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt‘s 30-hour “Blood and Wine” expansion closed out some of the best franchises in recent memory.
Narrowing our list of games down to just 10 was painful, but we managed it. Over the last couple weeks, we’ve gone down why each of the games on this list gets the nod from us. Now it’s time to bring it all together. In alphabetical order, these are our favorite games of 2016:
The Best of the Best
- DOOM – The ancient one rises from its slumber to show us how shooters are done.
- Final Fantasy XV – Sometimes, years of development yields a game that lives up to the legacy.
- Forza Horizon 3 – A huge, varied open world makes for endlesly fun driving.
- Overwatch – Blizzard pointed its magic wand at the shooter genre and got something simple, fast, fun, and accessible.
- OWLBOY – One of the oldest names in indie games finally released and it was worth the wait.
- Pokemon Sun and Moon – In a year packed with Pokemon, Sun and Moon still managed to reach new heights.
- Severed – Drinkbox Studios is at the top of their game with this expertly-crafted game.
- Stardew Valley – It turns out Harvest Moon doesn’t have a monopoly on adorable farming simulators.
- SUPERHOT – Doom sped up the modern shooter and amped up the brutality. Superhot slowed it down and made it dance.
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – One of the most beloved heroes in modern gaming gets a fitting end to a storied career.
How about you – What were your favorite games for 2016? What almost made the cut? What egregious, unforgivable errors have we made with our list? Jump in the comments and let us know! Stay tuned for the games that didn’t quite make the list tomorrow.
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