That's right, I'm back again this year for another list of games worth looking forward to in this (relatively) new year.

I have expanded this list from 35 to 50 games over the previous year (which didn't actually end up being finished for a variety of reasons) and it's mostly because I decided to not do the whole "leftovers" posts that I used to do, which was a side list of all the games that were on my lists in previous years and checking back up on them. For starters, it felt a little too mean-spirited to call the games "leftovers" in hindsight, especially for smaller games on this list that never had a firm release date. Second, as we're adapting to the bigger budgets and scopes of games slower than any generation before this, we also see release dates being harder to pin down. Hell, if I WOULD have finished that list from last year, there would have been 20 "leftovers" from 2016. That's a lot of extra writing! Last reason is that I kinda like the reevaluation aspect of how excited I am for the games that I've talked about before. Maybe I am way more excited about something now that it's closer to release? Maybe I've cooled on it since then as details I wasn't into were shared? Who knows! So, long story long, this list is just one big list this year instead of one big list and an ever growing side list.

I'd like to mention that this list is purely a list reflecting my own personal tastes and is purely subjective. This is not a list of what I see the whole industry is into or all of Giant Bomb or you, yes you, the person reading this. Maybe Dark Souls III is your #1 most anticipated game of the 2016 with a bullet and that's completely understandable given the quality of those games. Me? I'm STILL working my way through Demon's Souls and have barely touched the other three games, so my personal hype for the game is pretty much nonexistent. I'm sure I'll love it, but, wow, I do not see myself playing it any time soon. And there's a lot of instances of that, where there are games that a lot of people are going to be excited about and I just do not care about. So just... keep that in mind, okay?

This is a collection of posts from my tumblr, so a few of them may be a little outdated by information released since I posted the initial posts (or, in one case, the game itself was released), but hopefully it still makes you excited for the games coming out in the next 11 1/2 months. And who knows? Maybe I'll mention a few new games you've never even heard of! Anyway, on with the show!

• My 50 Most Anticipated Games of 2016 - Part One (#50-#36)
• My 50 Most Anticipated Games of 2016 - Part Two (#35-#21)
• My 50 Most Anticipated Games of 2016 - Part Three (#20-#11)
• My 50 Most Anticipated Games of 2016 - Part Four (#10-#1)

#50 - Final Fantasy XV

Platform: PS4 & Xbone
Release Date: 2016
Gameplay: https://youtu.be/txnngFuV_Ss
Position in 2014: #29

I had no expectations for this video game when it was announced (at least, when Versus XIII became XV) and, going into a year where it will likely launch, I still don’t really have any. This hasn’t changed as more people play and write about the game and it definitely hasn’t changed with the bizarre way Square Enix is choosing to market this game (what the fuck even is this trailer?). Will it be a beautiful, creative, fun masterpiece? Will it be a problematic, boring, broken disaster? I’m not even going to speculate where in that spectrum it will lie, but I have give the game props for being so goddamn weird and oddly experimental for such a big budget game. I’ll support it for that at least, even if it’s from the sidelines until I see how it all shakes out in the end.

Regardless, it’s going to be a fascinating game to keep an eye on and one I couldn’t NOT put on this list.

#49 - King of Fighters XIV

Platform: PS4
Release Date: 2016
Trailer: https://youtu.be/VmS63iQqdr4

Reaction online to King of Fighters XIV has been… unanimously aghast at the change in art style from 2D to 3D. The series had always been known for its fantastic 2D spritework, beautiful backgrounds, and very catchy music, so having something like this be the first footage shown of a new KoF game was understandably disappointing to fans

But it’s not the polygon count that makes the game. Hell, I’ve sunk enough hours into Street Fighter EX 3, Soul Calibur IV, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and Marvel vs Capcom 3 in my time to be no stranger to ugly fighting games. And what it always comes down to is how the game feels when you sit down with your controller of choice next to another human being.

King of Fighters XIII was a fantastic game for what it was, but in some ways it was a twisted version of the vision that brought Street Fighter IV success. Instead of XIII playing off your nostalgia of old fighting games, it brought back the punishing reality of those classics by having an exceedingly punishing input barrier of entry and “learned” from the newer games in the genre by adding a suite of cumbersome new mechanics that must all be mastered to even stand a chance.

And that’s why King of Fighters is so far down on my list. I haven’t played the game and we don’t know enough about it mechanically to make a solid judgement on how the game will evolve competitively. Will it learn why XIII pushed a lot of players away? Or will it cater to the same hardcore fans who relish the challenge at even doing a basic super properly, let alone lightning loops? We’ll just have to wait and see…

#48 - Genei Ibun Roku ♯FE (Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem)

Platform: Wii U
Release Date: 2016?
Trailer: https://youtu.be/sdlCRDqvPDk

Position in 2014: #4

What in the fuck is this video game?

Like, seriously, how the fuck did we get here?

When they announced a Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei crossover, people were expecting some sort of post-apocalyptic strategy RPG or, you know, maybe a European medieval fantasy twist on the Japanese end-of-the-world JRPG.

What we’re getting is a Persona game that takes out the high school aspect and instead replaces it with the creepy world of J-Pop Idol culture. We get Persona gameplay with the classic FE weapon triangle to make physical attack resistances a little less random. We get our favourite Fire Emblem characters taking the place of personas with some weird redesigns. And the art style is so vibrant and anime it kinda makes my eyes hurt.

None of this is saying that this game will be bad (though sales aren’t doing too hot in Japan), it’s just… shocking how different this game is than anyone imagined it would be. It’s like someone has been pitching an idol RPG at Nintendo or Atlus for decades and they finally saw their chance to double down on the idea with this crossover, adding the Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei aspects as an afterthought.

I sure hope whatever this is ends up being good. Cause even as a fan of Fire Emblem, Persona, and Shin Megami Tensei in general, there’s a lot about the game that is, understandably, rubbing me the wrong way.

#47 - Gang Beasts

Platform: PS4 & PC
Release Date: 2016
Trailer: https://youtu.be/UQdkkmP7amI

Position in 2015: #35

There’s not much to really say about Gang Beasts. If I want to drunkenly punch my friends’ doughboy babies, pick them up, and throw them off a moving truck, I can do that right now. Gang Beasts has been an Early Access success from the player’s perspective, but as the core of Gang Beasts is a multiplayer title, you can have a blast with it right now. There isn’t a brick wall where the content runs out. You can play the current version of it for an hour or a hundred hours, knowing that when the game is updated (and released!), the game will only get better. So, while I love Gang Beasts, it’s eventual release isn’t going to make as big of a splash in 2016 as other games on this list, but be sure to keep your eye out for it regardless.

You can buy Gang Beasts on Early Access right now.

#46 - Cook, Serve, Delicious 2

Platform: PS4, PC, & iOS
Release Date: 2016
Trailer: https://youtu.be/QhvlNVCgMUU

Cook, Serve, Delicious was a wonderful surprise. The intense, frantic, and stressful (in a good way) job of washing dishes while juggling 4 chicken breasts almost burning in the oven, a steak that is just sitting there waiting to be seasoned, and a salad that a customer has already been waiting on for 30 minutes made for an exhausting, but addicting restaurant simulator I could get behind. But the tension and exhaustion prevented me from enjoying the game in long chunks and I would end up being satisfied after just a 20-30 minute session. So, while I do love the original and think it’s a fantastic game, I can’t really put Cook, Serve, Delicious 2 higher on this list because I know that, by the time this releases, I’ll still be toiling away in my 4 star restaurant in the original.

Still, it warms my heart to a crisp brown that the original did well enough to get a sequel. It deserves all the success it has received.

#45 - Pokkén Tournament

Platforms: Wii U
Release Date: March 18th, 2016
Trailer: https://youtu.be/rrii1LAksoE

Like King of Fighters XIV, I just don’t know enough about Pokkén to rank it any higher, but that’s 100% on me. I love that Nintendo is teaming up with the Tekken developers to finally make the game that I thought Pokémon Stadium was going to be when nine year old me read about in Nintendo Power, but my apathy to 3D fighting games has me just so cautious about whether I’ll enjoy the game, even if it exceeds all expectations and ends up being one of the best games in the genre. So, I may not know much about the game at this point, but it doesn’t really matter. I will need to have this game in my hands to know if it’s for me. So, I will try Pokkén and I will likely even buy Pokkén, but who knows if the gameplay will connect with me.

I mean, design wise the game already has. There’s a goddamn Pikachu Libre Stone Cold Stunnering her opponents, so obviously it has to be good on some level.

#44 - Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir

Platforms: PS3, PS4, & Vita
Release Date: June 7th, 2016
Trailer: https://youtu.be/aHLW5UO-XGk

I’m a big fan of Vanillaware’s output and not just because they make the most beautiful games in the industry. They make inventive takes on stale genres, whether that be action RPG’s, beat-em-ups, or real time strategy games (no one remembers GrimGrimoire ;( ), with cool mechanics, wonderful storylines, and memorable characters,

And did I mention the graphics because oh my god the art and animation in Vanillaware games are so goddamn perfect.

….except for Dragon’s Crown which had some… problems.

A lot of problems….

Anyway, the less said about Dragon’s Crown the better. I’m here to talk about good Vanillaware games. The best Vanillaware game, in fact, and how exciting it is for Odin Sphere to get a second chance at both an audience it deserves and on hardware that can handle it. Even though Odin Sphere is one of the best games on the PS2, oh boy was it not the right platform for it. Not only was it in standard definition, which is depressing considering how amazing the art is (did I mention Vanillaware makes beautiful art), but the game tried to push the PS2 far beyond what it was capable of and slowdown and lag were everywhere. There were some boss fights that I’d be surprised if the framerate was double digits.

Although the slowdown definitely made those parts of the game easier (in early SNES-style fashion), it was already easy enough because you had fought that boss 3 times already as different characters. See, Odin Sphere follows a Norse Mythology inspired storyline from 5 different characters perspective, all culminating to Ragnarok, the legendary world ending event in the mythos. So, naturally, some characters will run into encounters with each other and you’ll play it from both sides. Unnaturally, the game does it’s best to shoehorn nearly every single boss fight and location into every campaign, even if there is really no reason for character X to be fighting this dragon or for them to be wandering the Netherworld for the fourth time.

Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir will improve all of that… hopefully. Vanillaware already promises the game will be locked at 60 fps throughout and the game’s art was nearly completely redone to be in high definition (the art somehow looks BETTER), but the only other changes they’ve talked about are adding some difficulty options and the option to retool the gameplay system to be more in line with Muramasa (an unnecessary change if you ask me). They’ve shown a little footage of new enemies, new locations (and variations on old locations), and new bosses, but haven’t really explained if the constant repetition of areas and bosses will happen again. They’ve said that the story will still linearly progress from Gwendolyn through to Velvet, but didn’t mention if the gaps in the story will be smoothed out like they were in the Vita remake of Muramasa.

And that’s pretty much why I can have a remake (not just an up-res) of one of my favourite games of the last decade be coming out, but rate it so low on this list (beyond there being just a ridiculous amount of exciting games in 2016 to talk about, that is): I don’t know exactly what the developers are going for with Leifthrasir and I don’t know if they’re going to change too much of the game or not enough. I’ve scoured the internet for more information, but I just can’t tell if they’re bloating the game, changing the core of the gameplay too much, or patching up all the holes and realizing the game’s potential. Again, this is another “just have to wait and see game” on this list, but hoping for the best is really all I can do at this point.

Regardless, this game is going to look amazing on my OLED Vita.

#43 - Night in the Woods

Platforms: PS4 & PC
Release Date: 2016
Trailer: https://youtu.be/eEErDK1FJtI

Everything I have heard about the Night in the Woods sounds amazing. The art is vibrant and a splendid mix of cartoons and dreamscapes, the animation is fluid and expressive, and, most magically, they blend together so well that you begin to forget that this game is about anthropomorphic animals. The story cuts to the core of anyone who grew up in a small town: your hometown losing all luster as you age and it slowly dies as our society moves on from small communities, friends are split apart as some change rapidly when they roam the globe while others sit in a standstill as they cling to the place they call home, and those caught between clinging to your past and their desire to move forward struggle to find their place in the world. It. With a premise like that in the game, I’m already on board and, really, don’t care if the game ends up being heavily narrative focused and very light on the actual gameplay.

But hints at a spin on the mode of the game as it approaches its final act(s) that has me hesitant. The developers are trying to add some inertia into the lives of Mae and her friends, forcing them to act instead of being stuck in that standstill where they are headed in their lives, but it’s a tonal shift that I’m not confident they’ll be able to pull off (especially with how squeamish I am when it comes to horror). The initial world and story is so appealing to me, but I can’t tell from what has been shown if it will end up being something I even want to play, even if it gives such a fantastic first impression.

Just like how Night in the Woods is about being stuck on the fence with how to proceed through your life, I’m stuck on the fence with whether or not I’ll end up playing it.

#42 - Day of the Tentacle Remastered

Platforms: PC, PS4, & Vita
Release Date: March
Trailer: https://youtu.be/LUDAUowgS4E

There are two major gaps in my old LucasArts adventure game knowledge and they both involve Maniac Mansion. While the first game can be played on the internet archive, there currently isn’t a way to play Day of the Tentacle legally other than eBaying an old copy of it. And, while that is a route I’ve considered (even after this version was announced), I was so satisfied with how Double Fine handled Grim Fandango that I will happily wait for an opportunity to play my last classic LucasArts era adventure game in a meticulously remastered form. I just hope this game holds up as well as Full Throttle and Grim Fandango do.

#41 - Mighty No. 9

Platforms: PC, Xbone, Wii U, 3DS, PS4, Vita, PS3, & 360
Release Date: February 9th, 2016
Trailer: https://youtu.be/4qqUl16IJHg

Mighty No. 9 is in a pickle. It’s been demonized by part of it’s "fanbase", but that’s not what I’m talking about. The people going all doomsday about Mighty No. 9, saying that it’s trash because the game doesn’t live up to “what was promised” (i.e. they don’t understand the concept of concept art) and that Inafune lost all credibility once he launched a second kickstarter (i.e. people don’t understand the realities of game development) hold about as much credibility as the part of the gaming public claiming Broken Age’s kickstarter was a failure because [insert inane reason] or the assholes who say Anita Sarkeesian’s kickstarter was a fraud even after she delivered more than promised because [insert sexist reason]. Honestly, at times they sound like and have as much credibility as Immortan Joe: “Do not, my friends, become addicted to crowdfunding! It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence!”

No, Mighty No. 9 is in a pickle for a much different reason. A related, but realistic reason: messaging. Even on the parts of the internet that aren’t wearing tin foil hats or making 60 minute rants on youtube, Mighty No. 9 isn’t getting flattering press. And that’s not because people hate the game. Those who play it seem to be big believers in it, actually, but you’re not hearing that. Search the news around the game on most major sites and it’s centred around the conspiracies (mostly making fun of them, but still), the “shady” delays, the developers doing damage control against their “fans” (see: detractors), and a few trailers that have squeaked by unnoticed (mostly because, truth be told, they’re kinda bad). Mighty No. 9 launches in less than a month and Deep Silver and Comcept have so thoroughly lost control over the messaging that I fear it’s just going to be shipped out to die at this point.

I do have hope yet for this game. Again, the reaction to Mighty No. 9 from the people who have actually played it, especially at PSX last month, have been nothing but positive. While I have reservations of my own about the art style, it’s nothing that can’t be overlooked if the gameplay is stellar. And all of the gameplay being shown looks really fun, a nice balance of modern game mechanics and a throwback to the mechanics of Mega Man games of old. There’s even precedence with Comcept that they can deliver satisfying action platformers without needing a lot of buzz around it, as Azure Striker Gunvolt, another Mega Man-alike from them, launched to little fanfare or attention in 2014 and it ended up being fantastic.

You have to feel for the development team for Mighty No. 9. You can really tell they gave it their all with the funding and tools they had, really trying to do what they can to meet the impossible expectations thrusted upon them, but they were hit with such toxic backlash from multiple angles (some far, far more legitimate than others) that, if I were in their position, I’d be very tempted to just push the game out the door with two middle fingers raised high in the air before retreating into a hole to cry. But their sticking through it, trying to make the best game they can for the fans that still believe in it, despite having been dragged through the hellish side of the gaming public that refuses to die out. I hope, in the end, it was somehow worth it.

#40 - Star Fox Zero

Platform: Wii U
Release Date: April 22nd, 2016
Trailer: https://youtu.be/A2mmnOBJPTI
Position in 2015: #30

Last year I was fretting about Miyamoto being in charge of such a mechanics focused series like Star Fox (which isn’t what Miyamoto is exactly good at) and was hoping for a team that had proficiency in mechanically deep games to take the reigns.

You know, someone like Platinum!

Well…

It happened.

Platinum Games (though not Kamiya) is co-developing the game, which puts a lot of my fears about the game’s mechanics at ease. The legacy of a franchise that still only has a single good game (Star Fox 64), the skepticism around how the motion controls will play out, the suspicious lack of actual on-rails shooting in the footage that has been shown, and the feeling that all the new vehicles are just gimmicks that will get in the way of Star Fox’s juicy core are all still there, mind you. So, while I’m really pumped by that announcement, Star Fox Zero didn’t exactly skyrocket up this list, but at least I know the game will feel great… when you can see where you’re going, that is.

#39 - ReCore

Platforms: Xbone & PC
Release Date: Q2
Trailer: https://youtu.be/D2xgu4QnYA0

Another game on this list that we just don’t know enough about for me to rank it any higher. It has a fantastic premise with a ton of potential and a good team behind it, but until we know more about this new project, there’s not much to really say about it beyond that. It sure does look pretty though and it’s great to see that the Xbox One is getting interesting exclusives, which are far too few and far between on that platform.

#38 - A Hat In Time

Platform: PC
Release Date: 2016?
Boop: https://youtu.be/JceJ-3yyuK8
Position in 2015: #28

Originally I saw this as the revival of the 3D platformer, the jumping off point for a resurgence of the genre, but 2015 kind of changed that. Grow Home was an excellent take on the genre with a simple, singular goal, intuitive controls and mechanics, and a relaxed pace; Yooka-Laylee’s Kickstarter promised the Banjo-Kazooie spiritual sequel that fans of the genre had been clamouring for for years; and Psychonauts 2 was the biggest announcement at The 2015 Game Awards. The resurgence has sort of already arrived and other games are hogging the spotlight while this indie effort remained relatively quiet, releasing promising updates on it’s Kickstarter, but receiving very little attention.

But that all being said, 2015 was also where I stopped being excited about A Hat In Time due to what it meant for the genre and just was excited because the game itself looked awesome. Maybe I just wasn’t paying enough attention, but the game just started looking… better. The structure of the game was more cohesive, the mechanics seemed to be tightened up and more enjoyable just to look at, and the art and level design improved drastically, filling out the levels to make them seem more like worlds to explore rather than just random filler. I still don’t think A Hat In Time is going to be this revolutionary game that will set the world on fire, but I’m now sure it will be a damn fine game.

#37 - Tokyo Xanadu

Platform: Vita
Release Date: 2016?
Trailer: https://youtu.be/RFpXVV4XHAY
Position in 2015: #27

When I put this game on my list last year, I was coming off a Falcom high. I had just completed Ys: Memories of Celceta, a fantastic vita Action RPG and one of my favourite games from 2013. I was excited to see what Falcom had to offer in the genre next and, given the Xanadu series’s legacy, figured Tokyo Xanadu would be my next fix.

Between then and now, the game was shown, marketed, and released in Japan. The gameplay indeed looks similar to Celceta in many ways, with a just a bit more flash, but it’s also yet another game that is trying to bank on Persona’s success.

Look, I love the Persona series, but not every game needs to be Persona. Not every game needs to be about modern day high school students fighting demons in an alternate world while juggling their day-to-day high school life, Not every game has to be a dungeon crawler/high school simulator mix complete with goddamn social links. Hell, some of your party members are basically just knockoffs of Persona characters* like Rise, Kanji, and Mitsuru.

(yes, I know those characters themselves are stereotypes found in anime and Japanese games, but the parallel is still there)

I still want to give the game a try, but much of the appeal of Celceta (and other Falcom games like Trails in the Sky) was the smart world building, excellently written characters, and more personal scope of the storytelling. It’s sad and disappointing to see Falcom instead go the copycat route.

Tokyo Xanadu does not have a western localization announced at this time.

#36 - Darkest Dungeon

Platform: PS4, PC, & Vita
Release Date: January 19th, 2016 (PC), 2016 (Vita, PS4)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-mXN3akTPU
Position in 2015: #26

The word of mouth I’ve heard around Darkest Dungeon has been exceptionally kind. The design is striking home with the game’s audience, more and more people I know are getting on board as the game nears its release, and the only major complaint I’ve heard, which was a while ago now, was there just wasn’t enough of it. And if that’s the worst complaint the development team is also hearing, they should feel pretty good about that. Chances of that are pretty low though, considering there’s always going to be someone kicking and screaming with every small change to the game the studio makes, but such is the nature of Early Access, I guess.

But, from my perspective, it’s been pretty much the ideal Early Access experience and these types of stories make me happy to see people embracing the funding model. Early Access, when done right, has developers getting constant testing and feedback as they reach the homestretch, the audience getting a preview before the game launches, and the game itself ending up being better because of both. Early Access has a ton of potential, but very few reach this ideal. Developers don’t hit the funding they need and have to end development early, the audience doesn’t click with the game being delivered and the word of mouth you expect to receive backfires, some developers deliver a terrible product and the audience feels scammed, and certain fans take too much ownership over the whole thing and demand, berate, and harass the developers, ruining it for the rest of the audience. It’s a gamble to go through Early Access, especially with so many still apprehensive about it, but I sure hope Red Hook Studios are receiving all of the benefits they deserve, as the audience has been pretty stoked about it.

And if you are one of the many that are still skeptical about Early Access, you will be delight to hear that the journey is 4 over. Darkest Dungeon will be was released out of Early Access tomorrow earlier this week, which is so close I can practically taste it. right now!

You can buy Darkest Dungeon on Early Access Steam right now.

P.S. Darkest Dungeon was originally about 8 spots higher on this list, but I needed to get this post up before it was released close to when it was released so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And that's it for Part One! Thanks for reading! Hopefully you've enjoyed it so far! I'll be posting the next two parts in the coming month, so be sure to keep a look out!