I can't say if this was a standout or disappointing year for most becauseI just didn't play much of the new stuff. If I made a personal top 5 list, it would consist of most of the games I played long enough to have a fair opinion of (versus stuff like Far Cry: Primal which I only played for an hour). So I'll just keep it simple
My top games for 2016 were easily
Dark Souls III (of course)
Overwatch (didn't think I'd still be playing months later but here we are)
Tyranny (not close to finished but I love it)
I did not play what are surely the worst games of 2016, but I did have expectations and disappointments.
Monster Hunter Generations was a good game, but a step back in quality from Monster Hunter 4.
No Man's Sky ... yeah, no need to elaborate.
Riot (League of Legends) made $1.6 BILLION in 2015. It really shows how much the "pay to win" type of FTP game is missing the point.
#9
ThatNickGuy
It's crazy, really. When I played TF2 more frequently, there were people with the latest cosmetic DLC on the SAME DAY as its release. Not just one guy, but several people. Some of those were upwards of $10. I couldn't imagine getting that stuff even if it was on sale.
On the other hand, I HAVE bought a number of Awesomenauts skins. But it's when they're on a big (75% off) sale, usually with leftover change when I used new credit to buy a few games. From my perspective, it's giving back to a game that I play often, and probably helps supports their servers a little.
In DOTA 2? All Heroes are free on release, even new ones. The only paid stuff in it is cosmetic stuff, or battle passes, which essentially unlock more cosmetic stuff. Luckily, the cosmetic stuff is really good and I've personally bought some.
#11
Jay
That Steam List is Garbaaage.
To me I'll focus only on the best, since there's been many poor 2016 titles.
Witcher 3 to me is probably the game of the decade, I played the entire series and when the last scene ended I had happy tears flowing down my cheeks. Sure the combat wasn't the greatest but it's functional and the lore/story/characters were A+.
Rocket League - best 10$ I spent. Addicting fun game.
Stardew Valley - waited on this since the author of the game randomly posted about the game about half a decade ago on another forum, REALLY happy this came out. Indie success.
How is it sad? If you make a great game that people love and play religiously, they are going to be willing to spend money in your game. I don't personally like DOTA 2, but I can recognize that it's pretty damn good at what it does.
#13
Gruebeard
I just don't get spending the cash on virtual clothes. I'm old and out of touch I guess, and that's sad.
I played that for a bit last night. I still like it as an exploration simulator, but my addons are disabled and I don't care enough to go through the trouble updating them.
#15
bhamv3
Oh hey, I actually bought some games that were released this year. Usually I never do that.
My picks for the best of 2016 are probably Stardew Valley and Doom.
#16
Frank
Best games I played this year:
1. Tyranny. I love Obsidian RPGs, I'm unashamed about this. This is more isometric goodness in much the same vein as Pillars of Eternity in a much less generic fantasy world and with much more interesting characters. This game is the best game this year.
2. Stardew Valley. Mother fucking time vampire.
3. Witcher 3: Blood and Wine. This expansion came out this year to cap off one of the best games ever made with more content than most full games. CDProjekt Red is right up there with Obsidian in my books as a company who I will blindly follow to the ends of the computer gaming Earth. Take your time with Cyberpunk guys, make it goooood.
4. Dark Souls 3. I'm a very recent Dark Souls convert (like well after Scholar of the First Sin came out). This one I really enjoyed, despite the fucking complete lack of stability it had but felt it relied WAY too much on nostalgia for the first game.
5. Owlboy. Beautiful and fun 2D action game that's just challenging enough. The game was like 200 years in the making and the unbelievable sprite work in it shows.
Shit games I played this year.
1. Batman Arkham Knight. It ran fine for me when I finally purchased it in August. Unfortunately, it sucked.
2. Space Hulk: Deathwing. Was REALLY looking forward to this one. Ran like shit. Was boring as hell and did nothing for me. Shouldn't be surprised. Warhammer games generally suck.
This is it really. Nothing else stands out as being too bad. I didn't play many bad games this year.
Games not good enough to be in the best, but still worth playing:
1. Halcyon 6. Fun little psuedo RPG expansion game where you're in command of an ancient space station. It's worth a bit of time.
2. Enter the Gungeon. Bullet hell Binding of Isaac. If that interests you, this is for you.
