Video version of my full awards:

Part 1 Where I give out awards while teaching you how to make donuts, a juicy lucy, and minty steak.

Part 2 after my phone overheated.

Thoughts on every game:

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit- Even though it’s sort of a half demo for Life is Strange 2, it still stands as it’s own work. The character of Chris is so relatable because he is sort of an everyday kid with an overactive imagination. But on a personal level, I connected with this character because of his relationship with his dad. In short, as an only child with an alcoholic dad, there were many times I wish I could boil alcohol away using my mind powers before realizing it’s not possible. Even beyond that, the ostensibly simple task of making macaroni and cheese takes on an entirely new context when you spend the whole time walking on eggshells because you’re afraid of what would happen to Chris if you, as a player, were to make a mistake. It’s storytelling moments like this that made me choose it as the best story over even the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 and God of War. I will always choose stories that use the nature of games to tell their stories over dozens of hours of cutscenes and dialog while walking to the next objective any day of the week, and The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit uses the medium to get some rather poignant themes across over the course of its 3 or so hour run time. Highly recommend if only to draw weird stuff in the snow outside.

Detroit: Become Human- If you were able to tolerate my cooking show long enough to get to the most disappointing category, you heard my short take on this game. If you frequent Giant Bomb Dot Com, you’ve heard Alex Navarro mercilessly tear this game apart multiple times. Long story short, this game is bad because it thinks it’s actually doing something unique or good by using Androids as a metaphor for racism. THERE IS A MOMENT WHERE ANDROIDS ARE LITERALLY STANDING IN THE BACK OF A BUS… But in spite of that, there was a stretch where I was actually enjoying it for some reason. Causing a war between androids and humans was sort of fun in a way. Then it’s revealed that Alice, the little girl that Kara saves, is actually and Android. I spent the rest of the game trying to get all these characters killed. Yes, I detonated the dirty bomb at the end of this game because this game is bad. Recommended to people who didn’t already know that Detroit apparently shares a border with Canada.

Donut County- As a huge Katamari Damacy fan, I was immediately hooked by the concept of Donut County. You control a hole in the ground, and you move the hole around to make things fall into your hole, making your hole bigger, so you can put bigger things in your hole (there is almost no way to describe this game without it being euphemistic). Beyond that, BK is one of my favorite characters of the year, the writing is surprisingly good, it has the best music of the year, and at the end of the day, gave me 2 of the most entertaining hours of the year. In a year where most games seemed to make me want to finish them just to be done with it, this game left me wanting more. It’s the one game I keep coming back to just to experience each fantastic element of it time and time again. Highest Recommendation Possible if you like Katamari, dope soundtracks, and raccoon gentrification.

Fallout 76- There is an alternate universe where a version of me who hated the RPG elements of Fallout 3 and New Vegas and was absolutly stoked to hear about a Fallout game that didn’t have any of the talky-talk, moral quandary stuff. I went into this game knowing what a unparalleled disaster it was in every possible way, and I still feel underwhelmed. If it wasn’t a hot mess, there is definitely an audience for this type of game, even within the Fallout community. But it is devoid of literally every single thing that would put Fallout: New Vegas is in my top 10 of all time. Recommended if you like singing along to The Beach Boys while being aggressively apathetic about West Virginia.

Far Cry 5- As interesting as its initial premise was, Far Cry 5’s complete refusal to engage with the topics it brings up was kind of lame. The whole cult drugging the water supply of Hope County felt like a cop-out in every conceivable way. If you want to write generic and uninteresting stories, this game is a decent road map. Throw in a repetitive and boring structure to the game and you have a not particularly great game. Although running through an enemy outpost with a bear and a cougar was some of the most fun I had all year. Recommended as long as you ignore all the stuff the game makes you do and make your animal friends do all the murdering in your place so you can still stick to your pacifist role play.

God of War- God of War is one of my favorite franchises in all of gaming. At first, I was both super excited and apprehensive about the new direction this reboot was taking the series. Over the course of the game, I enjoyed the more restrained nature of this game and the evolving relationship between Kratos and Atreus was one of the more interesting aspects of a game all year. But the more I played the less I liked actually playing it. The combat is okay, but I feel this game would have been better if they had gone all the way in the “SoulsBourne” direction. Hearing the way people talk about this game makes me wish someone had told me to play it like a Fallout game, where you do a bunch of side stuff, then play the main story stuff as far as you need to unlock more side stuff. Recommended if you like the word “Boy” or just want to see Kratos’s toxic masculinity bullshit get shut down by a child.

Hitman 2- What’s to say about this game beyond saying it’s more of the Hitman 2016 reboot. That reboot is in my top 5 games of this generation and all this game needed to be was more of that. It definitely is, but there are also some additions and changes in this sequel that make it not only more of the reboot, it’s a better version of the reboot. Throw in the fact that you can get all of the maps from that first season in this second season, you have a recipe for another one of the best games of the generation. It also has some of the most ridiculous Easter eggs of any game this year. Recommended if you like fun murder simulators or just want to turn half the population of Whittleton Creek into Sideshow Bob.

Into the breach- Much like Undertale in 2015, this is s game that everyone I follow on social media blew up about so I had to at least try it out. When I played, I was drawn in by it being more of a puzzle game than a Mechs vs. Aliens version of X-COM. I’m way into the whole set up of each run being a new universe in which you have to try to save as many people as possible, and each turn of a map feels just as vital as even the most important moments in other games. I have never played FTL, but this game definitely makes me want to check it out. Recommended if you like Mechs, feeling really smart, or just want the experience of knowing the extinction of humanity was your fault because you accidentally knocked your own mech into a building and managed to destroy both of those things.

Monster Hunter: World- Monster Hunter World takes everything I loved about Shadow of the Colossus and cranked it up to 100. The scale of the monsters you’re fighting is jaw dropping, the overall style makes everything pop, and the cutscene every time you order food at the canteen is a joy each time you see it. I feel like I only scratched the surface of this dense game, but just the way it feels had me hooked from the outset. Even though I couldn’t get past the Anjanath, I still really enjoyed my time with this game. Highest recommendation possible, but if you want to be exposed to the truth that cats are the only reason humans are capable of doing anything useful.

NJPW Mobile Game- When I first launched this game and I was greeted with Toru Yano’s glorious face holding the copyright info, I was immediately ready to name this game my Game of the Year. But as I played it for about 20 minutes, I wasn’t really into what it was doing and put it down, only to forget that it existed in the first place. Recommended if you want to see loading screens that give extremely useful advice to aspiring pro wrestlers.

Radical heights- Imagine Fortnite but in the context of a game show, but also with BMX bikes that you can totally do sick tricks on. I played about 2 games and then remembered that battle royales aren’t my thing. Recommended if you like Fortnite, but you need to have narrative justifications in your games.

Red Dead Redemption 2- During the hour-long conversation about this game on Giant Bombs Game of the Year podcast, the great Vinny Caravella said of this game, “Constantly impressive, but not constantly entertaining”. I think that I the most succinct way of putting my feeling on this game into words. I loved riding around the world to find hunting or fishing spots. I have 14 markers on my map, all leading to spots to grab some breathtaking pictures of the landscape. I loved how every inch of the massive world was dripping with details both big and small. I loved almost everything about this game. Then I got deeper into the story and realized that I was in for Rockstar’s formulaic and boring mission structure for a whole lot of hours. As much as I enjoyed the incredible narrative, my driving force for finishing this game was me just wanting to be done with it. Red Dead Redemption 2 is seriously maybe 3 design choices away from being possibly the best video game ever made. Highest recommendation possible, especially if you want to have a contest to see how far you can launch yourself by slamming your horse into a rock.

Vampyr- Much like all of DONTNOD’s games, this one has an incredible idea behind it. Much like all of their games outside of the Life is Strange series, it falls just short of realizing the potential of those ideas. Honestly I enjoyed my time with Vampyr, but it’s something that I will remember alongside Remember Me for being an okay game that could have been so much more. Recommended if you’re a fan of getting to know people so they taste better when you eat them.

Game of the Year

Hitman 2- As I said before, the 2016 reboot of Hitman is one of the top 5 games of this generation. This is 100% more of that, but better. They even went as far as to add the gameplay improvements into the old maps to make an infinitely replayable experience. To paraphrase Waypoint’s Austin Walker, Hitman is a game of incredible clockwork worlds and you are the wrench being thrown into the gears. As much fun as it is to follow the mission stories to kill your targets in such ways as dressing up as flamingo to get a secretive meeting with them to do your business, or pushing the target into a cocaine machine and turn him into a brick of super-cocaine, it’s more fun when you start breaking the gears and causing as much chaos as humanly possible.

Games to look forward to in 2019

Last of Us 2

The Outer Worlds

The rest of Life is Strange 2

Anthem

Hades

Tropico 6

Death Stranding

Metro Exodus

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Windjammers 2

Bayonetta 3

Afterparty

2018 game rankings for those who absolutely must know

13. NJPW Mobile game

12. Detroit

11. Fallout 76

10. Radical Heights

9. Far Cry 5

8. Vampyr

7. God of War

6. Captain Spirit

5. Into the Breach

4. Monster Hunter World

3. Donut County

2. Red Dead Redemption 2

1. Hitman 2

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

THERE WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ALL GAMES!

Krewella presents 2017’s Wettest Beat:

• Who We Are- Descendents
• Fortune- Krewella
• TH2C (Dyro remix)- Krewella
• New World- Krewella
• Dead Af- Krewella
• Look What You Made Me Do- Taylor Swift
• ...Ready for it- Taylor Swift
• I did something bad- Taylor Swift
• Humble- Kendrick Lamar

Honorable Mention:

TH2C- Krewella (both original and remix)

Dead Af- Krewella

Runners-Up:

Fortune- Krewella

New World- Krewella

Winner:

...Ready for it- Taylor Swift

NJPW Match of the Year

https://njpwworld.com

• Tanahashi/Naito WK11
• Okada/Omega 1 WK11
• Okada/Omega 2 Dominion
• Okada/Omega 3 G1 Tournament
• Omega/ Elgin G1 Long Beach
• Omega/ Ishii G1 Long Beach
• Okada/Evil G1
• Yano’s Entire G1
• Okada/ Minoru Suzuki G1
• Omega/Juice G1
• Omega/Naito G1 final

Honorable Mention:

Anything Toru Yano did- BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK

Omega/Ishii from G1 special Long Beach: I had the pleasure of being in attendance for both days of the NJPW G1 Special in the USA. Both days featured some incredible matches from the best in the world, but this match in the finals for the NJPW US Championship between Kenny Omega and the Stone Pitbull Tomohiro Ishii is the best match I've ever seen in person.

Runners-Up:

Omega/ Juice from the G1 tournament- This match has one of the most surprising endings of any match this year. This ending made waking up at 3 in the morning every day for 3 weeks worth it.

Tanahashi/ Naito from Wrestle Kingdom 11- I would go as far as to say this was the best match at Wrestle Kingdom 11. Taking nothing away from what Omega and Okada did, the story behind this match and the story told in the match make it one of the top three best matches of the year.

Winner:

Omega/ Okada 2 from Dominion- Keeping a match that enthralling for an entire hour is a feat few wrestlers on the planet could achieve. This match deserved all 6.25 stars it got. If you have the time to watch the entire match, I would HIGHLY recommend it as I would consider it to be one of the top five best matches I've ever seen.

2017’s Best Games

Dishonorable Mention:

Mass Effect Andromeda- They killed Mass Effect

Honorable Mentions

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider- For some reason, Dishonored 2 didn't hit me the way the first did. Death of the Outsider, however, hit me just as hard as the original. Its fantastic gameplay and phenomenal level design are part of the reason this game is so good, but the story brings the Dishonored franchise to a brilliant close. As much as I would like another new Dishonored, if this was the last we see of the franchise, I would be okay with that as well.

Fire Pro Wrestling World- As most people know, pro wrestling games are almost exclusively bad. Fire Pro Wrestling World is rather good in that regard, but the true greatness of this game is the community creations. Any wrestler, current or past, is available in the steam workshop and the community around this game has made it easy to find incredibly well-made versions of all of the most popular wrestlers today. Pitting the best of New Japan against the best of WWE in every dream match I could conceive of is what makes this game as great as it is.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy:- Lost Legacy is what would come out if you boiled the entire Uncharted series down to its core elements then replaced Nathan Drake with a protagonist that is actually interesting. I would be lying if I said I would be glad to play another Uncharted game anytime soon, but this one is a fantastic addition to the series.

The Top 10

10.

Resident Evil 7- I came into Resident Evil Biohazard with no expectations. I absolutely hated the beginning hour demo thing they released last year, but when I got my hands on the game, I was blown away. The first two-thirds of the game are some of the most downright stressful and terrifying sections I've ever played in a game. Everything about this game has the making of a true game of the year until you get to the boathouse section. This boss fight is the moment the game jumps the shark, never to go back to the tense and frightening moments from the early parts of the game. The last third of the game you are basically a walking tank and it goes against everything that made the first two-thirds so good. The final boss is also one of the stupidest things I've seen in a while. That being said, the first two-thirds of this game are more than enough to earn it a spot in the top 10.

9.

Nier: Automata- It says a lot about Nier: Automata that I only played about 20% and yet here it is in my top 10. I did not enjoy playing the game, but every single thing I've heard about the game's story makes a strong impression. Everything about what this game is about and the things it does all sound like they would be incredible had I seen them for myself. It may have been the best game of the year if I had seen more of this game for myself, but for now, it fills the 9th spot nicely. This is a game I will absolutely return to in 2018.

8.

What Remains of Edith Finch- Ever since I played Gone Home, I've found myself drawn to the so-called "walking simulator" genre. While I enjoyed Gone Home, The Stanley Parable, The Beginner's Guide, and Firewatch, none of them hit me in the same way that What Remains of Edith Finch did. All of its flashbacks are incredibly well executed and the overall story itself leaves a lot to think about when the credits roll. I've talked about a few of the moments in earlier awards, but one thing that I caught on my second playthrough is the fact that the game sort of implies that the things you're being shown may be exaggerated in a big way. Whether they are or aren't doesn't matter because all of it leads up to an impactful ending that left me fully satisfied with this game.

7.

Hellblade- Senua's Sacrifice- I went into detail about this game in my review of it and in the best story category on day 4. There's not much more I can say about this game so it'll suffice to say that this game is a major step forward in how video games explore their themes. Also, you can V-trigger enemies so there's no way it wasn't ending up somewhere on this list.

6.

Pyre- The thing I love about all three of Supergiant's games is that they are all different and unique. What I've played of Bastion was great, Transistor was probably my favorite game of 2014, but then there's Pyre. I went into detail about the gameplay on day 4, but what really stands out is the characters and story. Whether it's the dog with a goofy mustache, the worm-knight who wants to prove his honor, the vagabond girl you can actually name Bae should you so choose, or many of the others, every character in this game is unique and memorable in various ways. Around the midway point, Volfred Sandlewood, who appears to be on the verge of betraying you at all times, tasks you with helping him start a revolution in the Commonwealth. This is one of the most unexpected twists I've seen in a long time, and from that moment on, every liberation rite becomes recontextualized and becomes much more than just helping a friend regain their freedom. This game has maybe one of the most emotionally effective third acts of any game this year. The twist that the rites are coming to an end and soon no one will be able to regain their freedom contrasted with needing to liberate as many of your friends as possible, is a gut punch knowing that many characters you've grown to care about will be trapped in the downside for the rest of their lives. All of this builds up to an ending that can go many ways based on how you performed in the rites but is effective no matter what happens. It's also one of the best sports games ever made. Pyre may have been a top 3 game in most other years, but 2017 wasn't a normal year.

5.

Yakuza 0- Yakuza 0 is a microcosm of everything I love about Japanese pop-culture. The perfect blend of the absolutely absurd with the dead serious, the soundtrack, and the overall styyyyle of this game come together to make it one of the best games of the year. I talked about the gameplay on day 4 but the story it tells is an engrossing tale of the many people trying to gain the rights to a small plot of land in the middle of a rapidly growing town. Owning the land will bring untold amounts of money and power and an all-out war breaks out throughout two Japanese towns.It's not an original story but it is the equivalent of a page-turner. Also, you can talk to a chicken named nugget and interact with a man in his underwear named Mr. Libido. This game is really good y'all.

4.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild- Breath of the Wild is an incredible game that basically rewrites what it means to be an open world game. The phrase "you see that mountain over there, you can go there" is a meme at this point, but in this game, if you go there, you will find something cool and you will also be able to see multiple other points of interest that you can go to as well. Being able to go anywhere in Hyrule is made even better by the fact you can climb everything. This one feature single-handedly lessened every other open world game that I played this year. There are so many incredible design choices that were made in this game, like giving the player all the abilities at the start, allowing the player to attempt the final boss at the start, and the way all to the ways the various systems interconnect to allow for some of the most incredible emergent moments in any game ever. Even the world itself was designed meticulously to flow well and allow the player to see multiple points of interest from anywhere on the map. But, this game does have a few major problems. The story isn't particularly great and the gameplay can be frustrating at many points throughout the game. Despite these issues I would go as far as calling The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild the best open world game ever made and it is a game that will define the genre for years to come.

3.

Horizon: Zero Dawn- You may be asking yourself how an open world game can be placed above the best open world game of all time.It's simple. Horizon: Zero Dawn may be a lesser open world game, but it is a better overall game. I tipped my hand slightly by having this game as a runner-up for best story and winning best gameplay, but I truly feel that way about this game. I would go as far as saying Horizon: Zero Dawn may have the best second half of any game I've ever played. Even if that isn't the case, I still love everything about this game. I love the way it plays, I love the story, I love the main character, I love the world, I love the fact that I found many familiar areas of my home state in the game. But there are a few major reasons that this game isn't my #1 game of the year. First off, it is basically an amalgamation of every open world game made over the past 5 years. It has towers that have plagued Ubisoft games forever (although they are hella sweet giant robot giraffes in this game), it has many elements from the Far Cry franchise, and it would feel like just another derivative open world game if it wasn't so unique in its presentation. But there is a much bigger problem.I would be lying if I say that I didn't bounce off at points in the first half on both of my playthroughs. I would get myself amped up to play some Horizon, then I would only do one mission or so. I can easily see why people may bounce off the early parts of the game because I almost did as well. But, at the end of the day, I'm incredibly glad I didn't because I would have missed one of my favorite games in years.

2.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus- There is something to be said about how certain aspects of this game work in 2017. With all of the events happening in the real world, it's incredibly hard not to view this game as some sort of political statement. It is a game about how the Nazis of your textbooks took over America, and how White, Christian, Americans were not only okay with it, some of them embraced the Reich with open arms. It's a game about how people will sell each other out to one of the worst evils mankind has ever known just to be slightly better off for themselves. As much as I'm trying to avoid doing this, there are too many things in this game that parallel elements of real-world America, to the point where I was waiting for one of the bad guys to literally say the Nazi's made America great again. But beyond the game's politics, there is a fantastic story that turns B.J. Blazkowicz into one of the most well-written video game protagonists of the year. On top of that, this game is filled to the brim with so many amazing moments that both myself and this here website were FORCED to create a specific category for the best moment in this game because it would have been unfair to any game competing against it. Still beyond that, if you play on easy like I did so you can blaze through it, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus features plenty of good ol' fashioned Nazi killin', and in 2017, maybe that's what we all needed.

Before I get to my #1 game of the year, I would like to point out that I feel this is my strongest top 10 ever, and there were a few games that I didn't get round to that easily could have made this list. However, it is worth mentioning that every single game on this list can easily be torn down by valid criticisms. Wolfenstein and Nier having less than amazing gameplay, all of the main stuff in Breath of the Wild, Horizon being every open world game smashed together but with more neon. It was hard to pick a number one because every game on this list, especially my #1, has major flaws that hold them back. I was hours away from having a 3-way tie for second place and just not having a #1 game of the year this year. But the more I thought about it, the more only one game came to mind, so without further ado, I present:

2017's Game of the Year

Life is Strange: Before the Storm- I have written many things about the original Life is Strange. In short, that game affected me in ways I never thought a fictional story ever could. Hell, my pro wrestling name, C.J. Pricefield, is a direct reference to the game. And the character of Chloe Price is the biggest reason why. I have never more strongly related to a character as I do with this one. So being given the opportunity to not only interact with her again but to see the world as she does was an exciting prospect. Before I go any deeper, I need to stress that this is a game that should have been more disappointing than Mass Effect Andromeda. It started out of the gate with everything imaginable working against it. I went into more detail about this in my best surprise category, but in all reality, this game should not have worked at all. The new team, Ashly Burch not being able to reprise her role as Chloe due to the voice actors strike, the lack of time travel abilities, and everything else this game faced, all should have tanked it. But somehow, not only does it overcome all of these, it does so in some ways that make it one of the best games I played all year. Playing this game allowed me to step back into a world I connect with on the deepest levels of who I am and there is really no other games on this list that could pull that off. On top of that, Deck Nine was able to nail everything they needed to. Rachel Amber is everything she needed to be, they flesh out Chole to make her even more sympathetic, they tell an engaging story that leads to what I would call the most brutal happy ending I've ever seen. And that leads me to my only major criticism as of right now. The unnecessary post-credits scene. The ending of this game sees a montage of Rachel and Chloe growing as people and as friends or lovers depending on how you played the game (Let's be real here, this is a romantic relationship). The final scene before the credits is a fadeaway of the two of them hanging out in the junkyard and Chloe is happy for the first time since losing her dad. This is an emotionally uplifting scene until you remember the ultimate fate of Rachel, and it makes this "happy" ending one of the most brutal things I've seen a game pull in a long time. By showing this scene after the credits, I feel they overdo it enough to be worth mentioning, but not enough to affect the game as a whole. Sure it may not technically be the "best" game of 2017 (as I probably can't actually pick what that would be), but with what this franchise and especially the character of Chloe mean to me on a personal level, this game not only getting things hella right but doing a few things better than the original, earns Life is Strange: Before the Storm my personal award for being 2017's game of the year.

Most anticipated games of 2018

Before we ring in the #YearOfTheSnowflake, I would like to take a look at some of my most anticipated upcoming games.

• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Tropico 6
• Monster Hunter World
• Metro Exodus
• God of War
• Yakuza 6
• The Crew 2
• The Last of Us 2
• Death Stranding

That does it for 5 days of personal nonsense. I hope you enjoyed reading these lists as much as I enjoyed making with them. I hope to get to writing more about games outside of the last week of December so be on the lookout for quite a few things from me next year. Thanks for reading.

You can follow me on Twitter @_CJ_Pricefield

Welcome back! I'm back after a 3-day break to bring you day 4 of my game of the year awards. On this penultimate day, we run down the games with the best stories and gameplay after discussing some things that need to please stop.

WITH TODAY’S CATEGORIES, THERE WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

The "Shipping Broke-Ass Games" award for things that need to Please Stop:

• Abusing the early access model
• Open world games
• Loot boxes
• Games being maliciously designed to push toward microtransactions
• Dan Ryckert

Runners-Up:

Open world games: It was during my time with Horizon that I started feeling major fatigue with open world games. The reason I bounced off of Assassin's Creed Origins is that by the time I played it, I was done with open world games. Maybe they don't need to stop, but they should probably slow down.

Dan Ryckert: Every day I'm more convinced that this is Dan's world and we're just living in it. He got married in a Taco Bell, continued his perpetual twitter feud with Jose Conseco, had an hour and a half long conversation about what wheat does, and too many other things to remember. However, Dirty Dan is a danger to us all. This monster brought the intro of The Pest into the lives of many innocent people. It was this that made me realize that he must be stopped before he decides to run for office. Although he may be an improvement in that regard. Either way, him and his amiibo army must be dealt with.

Winner:

Games being maliciously designed to push toward microtransactions- There are too many recent examples of this name. You can probably come up with many of them on your own, but one I want to bring attention to is probably the most egregious example, GTA Online. Over the past few years every single aspect of this game has gotten so expensive that if you don’t want to spend dozens upon dozens of hours grinding mission and heists, you can pay $100 to get about 8 million GTA$. The things is that now, 8 million GTA$ will get you enough to buy the bare minimum it takes to experience the new major features they’ve added since release. If you don’t want that, you can buy a flying car that cost GTA$ 3 million. This would take hours of serious, job-like grinding, multiple days or weeks of casual play, or 50 REAL WORLD DOLLARS. $50, for one thing, in a video game. Battlefront 2’s issues were rightfully called out and were changed, but GTA Online shows that this method is still incredibly viable. If this trend doesn’t stop and games keep being designed with microtransactions in mind, Battlefront 2 is only the beginning.

Best Story/storytelling:

• Jeff Gerstmann’s HQ head cannon
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Nier: Automata
• Pyre
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
• Yakuza 0

Honorable Mention:

Jeff Gerstmann’s HQ head cannon/HQ creators interview- Scott from HQ has been brought up multiple times over this year's awards, but Jeff's head cannon about the real goings on behind the game is one of the best stories of the year. I am thoroughly convinced that Scott may be cattle prodded in a cage while being on the verge of being fired thanks to Jeff's narrative. This all became all the more likely after this insane email interaction with the Daily Beast. This story is one of the most entertaining and surprising things of the year. #FreeScott

Runners-Up:

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice: Hellblade may not have the best story, l but I firmly believe it is the best-told story in games this year. Its portrayals of mental illness are extremely effective, and they make it easy to empathize with Senua as well as real people with mental health issues. The story it tells is good in its own right, but the ways they tell that story are some of the best uses of the medium I've seen all year.

Horizon: Zero Dawn: When I first saw Horizon: Zero Dawn, I was blown away by the possibilities of the gameplay. Despite this, everything I saw about the story before release made me worry. When I started the game, I had no idea that what I was about to play would be one of the best stories of the year. Obviously, the main questions are why the world is full of mechanical animals and why the inhabitants have separated themselves into tribes as opposed to reforming the civilizations of the past. The story drops some great hints along the way, but about halfway through the game, it starts dropping reveals left and right and these moments are what elevate the narrative above most other stories in games. Humanity was threatened by an army of robots that glitched out and began devouring all organic life on the planet. Humanity was forced to come up with a plan to avoid extinction so Elisabet Sobeck came up with Project Zero Dawn. Extinction, however, was unavoidable. This project was a series of AI programs that would essentially rebuild the planet from scratch in an attempt to preserve the future. The programs created all of the robot animals to repair all of the elements that make life possible, but a failsafe called Hades was implemented in case the attempts failed. Over Aloy's journey, she discovers that not only is a cult being manipulated by Hades, but she is the only one who can stop it. All of these reveals build to an ending that is incredibly resonant and sets Horizon: Zero Dawn's story above most of the others listed. The only reason it is a runner-up is that I really don't like that most of the story is told through cutscenes and audio diaries that require the player to stand there and listen for minutes at a time without being able to move very far away. Despite that, Horizon: Zero Dawn tells an incredible story that stands among the best of the year.

Winner:

Nier Automata: Talking about Nier: Automata, let alone giving it the award for best story, is weird because I only finished route A. As much as I didn't care for the way this game played, it was hard to ignore how much I enjoyed 2B's character arc. I wanted to see where the story went, but I bounced off early in route B, so I decided to look into the story. It's hard for me to do it justice, but everything I've heard about the story sounds amazing. Instead of me talking about themes of a game I played about 20% of, I'll link some good breakdowns of the game's ruminations on what it means to be human. Super Bunnyhop video, Giant Bomb best story conversation, Giant bomb best moment conversation,

Best Gameplay:

• Destiny 2
• Disc Jam
• Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Mass Effect Andromeda
• Nioh
• Pyre
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Yakuza 0

Runners-Up:

Yakuza 0: Yakuza 0's gameplay is absurdly fun and even includes a breakdancing fight style that is incredibly overpowered. Not every game allows you to beat up a bunch of dudes with a motorcycle.

Pyre: Half the reason I enjoyed Pyre as much as I did is the game's take on sports. The rites are a mystical game played between two teams as a way for players to regain their freedom to live in the capital city of the game's fictional world. The game is played by rules similar to that of the original rules of Basketball where only the player holding the celestial orb can move. They can then pass or move as wanted in order to either dunk or shoot the orb into the opponents pyre. you win when you have fully extinguished the other team's pyre. On top of this, the game mode has an incredible balance to it. Any player that dunks is banished until a team scores, but any player who shoots isn't, but the amount of damage they do is based on a power meter. You can also temporarily banish opposing players by shooting your player's aura at them. Each character has their own unique stats and abilities that create a ton of different combinations for each playstyle.

Winner:

Horizon: Zero Dawn: There's a lot to be said about how a game feels. I enjoyed the simple act of shooting a bow in Horizon that it became the first game I ever kept coming back to long after I finished the main story. Whether it was completing side missions or fighting massive thunderjaws, the gameplay kept me coming back to the world of Horizon: Zero Dawn long after the credits, and will keep me coming back to it for years to come.

And that does it for day #4. On day #5, we end the year on a high note by recounting the year's best including; Best New Japan Pro Wrestling match, Krewella presents 2017's Wettest Beat, and finally The top 10 games of 2017. Thanks for reading!

You can follow me on Twitter @_CJ_Pricefield

Welcome back for day 3. Today we start down the homestretch toward the top 10 best games of the year, but today we have some major obstacles to get over. Let's get down to it.

Day 1

Day 2

Just a reminder that these lists are filled with spoilers. you've been warned.

Mass Effect Andromeda presents the Mass Effect Andromeda award for Most Disappointing game:

• Mass Effect: Andromeda
• Outlast 2
• South Park: The Fractured but Whole

Dishonorable Mention:

Outlast 2- I love the first Outlast. It is a game that sticks in my mind anytime someone brings up horror games. The sequel, however, isn't so great. It has its moments, but it feels like it was too ambitious for its own good. The levels are too open for the game to really build the tension the first game had, and when the game goes back to being tightly designed in the flashbacks, it somehow gets even worse. It also seems to be more reliant on shock in ways that detract from the horror. Arguably the worst part about it is that to find out what's actually going on, you have to go so far out of your way only to find the most forced connection to an original game I've ever seen in a sequel. If you want the experience of being crucified or witnessing a childbirth, then this is your game, but if you want a well-designed horror game, there are many other options.

“Runners-Up”:

South Park: The Fractured but Whole- The Stick of Truth was my #2 game in 2014. While there are a few improvements there are many ways that this game doesn't step out of the shadow of its predecessor. Overall this game wasn't bad, just a major disappointment.

Mass Effect Andromeda- Mass Effect is my favorite thing in existence. How Dan Ryckert feels about Metal Gear is how I feel about Mass Effect. This game was so disappointing that I named the award after it and listed it as 2 of the top 3 most disappointing games of the year.

“Winner”:

Mass Effect Andromeda- I was heartbroken upon finishing this game. Not because it was bad, but because it wasn't. It has quite a few great moments, and the last few missions are actually rather good. The rest of it is just a soulless mess that betrays everything the Mass Effect franchise was. I honestly wish this game was completely terrible because that's easier to get over than a game that has many flaws but is still okay in a few ways. Brad Shoemaker nailed it when he said it felt like a straight to DVD sequel. It just happened to be a straight to DVD sequel of 3 of the best games ever made. From now until it gets unseated, this category will now be known as the Mass Effect Andromeda award.

Best Surprise

• Destiny 2
• Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Resident Evil 7
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Runners-Up:

Destiny 2- The only reason this game makes the list is because I hate the original. I honestly don't know if it's better or worse than the original, but I do know I liked it more.

Resident Evil 7- When I played the demo thing, I had no hope for this game. Upon playing the full game, I found that I could not have been more wrong if I tried. The first ⅔ is easily the best horror game made in years. Despite a weak third act, this game was absolutely a massive surprise.

Winner:

Life is Strange: Before the Storm- After Mass Effect Andromeda, the SAG-AFTRA strike, and the different team working on it, I was prepared for another massive disappointment. Much to my delight, this game is not only good, it's downright better than the original in some ways. With how much this series means to me on a personal level, I don't know what I would have done if it were bad, but thankfully I don't need to worry about it.

Best performance:

• Katie O'Hagan as Mia in Resident Evil 7
• JB Blanc as Rost in Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Ashly Burch as Aloy/Elisabet in Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Lance Reddick as Sylens in Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Valerie Rose Lohman as Edith in What Remains of Edith Finch
• Rihanna DeVries As Chloe in Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Kaylie Brown As Rachel Amber in Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Claudia Black as Chloe in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Laura Bailey as Nadine in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Scott Ragowsky as Scott Ragowsky in HQ
• Melina Juergens as Senua in Hellblade

Honorable Mention:

Scott Ragowsky as Scott Ragowsky in HQ- 100% of the reason I keep playing HQ is because of how over the top the host is.

Rihanna DeVries as Chloe- While it is a shame that Ashly Burch wasn't able to reprise her role, Rihanna Devries fills in as a solid replacement for all three episodes.

Runners-Up:

Ashly Burch as Aloy/Elisabet- Ashly Burch is quickly becoming one of the most prevalent actresses in games and for good reason. She breathes life into both of these amazing characters and elevates them to being two of the most memorable characters of the year.

Kaylie Brown as Rachel Amber- Rachel Amber is everything she needed to be and this performance is a large part of the reason why.

Winner:

Melina Juergens as Senua- What makes this performance remarkable is that Melina Juergens was working on the game and filled in for the testing of the motion capture tech. She was so good that they decided to keep her as Senua, and the fact that she beats out some of the most talented voice actors around shows that they made the correct decision.

Trap Trebek presents the Woke Woolery award for Best New Character:

• Aloy- Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Elisabet Sobeck- Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Sidon- Breath of the Wild
• Sir Gilman- Pyre
• Rachel Amber- Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Steph- Before the Storm
• Mikey- Before the Storm
• Sister Grace- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
• Super Spech- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
• Horton- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
• Scott- HQ
• Senua- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Dis-Honorable Mention:

Cayde-6 from Destiny- In my review, I mentioned how much I hate this character. I really hate Cayde-6. So much.

Honorable Mention:

Scott from HQ- The man with as many nicknames as Austin Walker, Scott is the sole reason HQ is as entertaining as it is.

Aloy from Horizon: Zero Dawn- As much as I believe Aloy should replace Lara Croft as the quintessential female video game character, she doesn't really compare to three characters that make this list. I adore this character to the point that I spent $30 on an Aloy sackgirl keychain, but I think there are a few better characters this year.

Runners-Up:

Sir Gilman from Pyre- Pyre has a cast of great characters, but none are as honorable and downright overpowered as Sir Gilman. During the actual rites, Sir Gilman is the fastest character in the game and can lead to absolutely lopsided victories for your team. Beyond that, he is still a lovable character who just wants to prove himself to the world. What's more relatable than that?

Rachel Amber from Life is Strange: Before the Storm-Throughout Life is Strange, you heard everyone talk about how amazing Rachel Amber was. In Before the Storm, she turns out to be everything she was made out to be and so much more. She is the near perfect girl that juxtaposes Chloe being a train wreck. Over the course of the game, her and Chloe become each other's anchor and this leads to some fantastic moments. The quality of Rachel's character leads to the final decision being one of the hardest choices I've ever had to make in a game.

Winner:

Elisabet Sobeck from Horizon: Zero Dawn- Elisabet Sobeck was the brains and heart behind Project Zero Dawn. She is also not one to take any nonsense from anybody. She is built up as a godlike figure in the world, and her actions throughout the story only justify this. Her arc is brought to a beautiful close at the end of the game and is what elevates her above any of the other characters of the year.

And that'll do it for day 3. Tomorrow, Day 4, we get serious. The heaviest hitting categories come tomorrow as I run down the things that need to Please Stop, Best Story, and finally, Best Gameplay. Hope to see y'all tomorrow and thanks for reading.

You can follow me on Twitter @_CJ_Pricefield

Hi there! If you're back from yesterday, welcome back, and if you're new, welcome for the first time. Day 2 is filled with the lightest categories of my awards before we start getting serious on day 3. Anyway, let's get started with the prettiest games of the year.

Day 1

MOST GRAFIX

• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Resident Evil 7
• Uncharted: the Lost Legacy
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Runners-Up:

Horizon: Zero Dawn- NEON ROBIT DINOS

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy- REAL PERTTY TREES. Also winner for BEST PHOTO MODE

Winner:

HQ- CAN THE SCOTT LOOK REAL IF HE’S LOCKED IN A GREEN SCREEN CAGE? #FreeScott

MOST STYYYYYYYYLE

• Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• HQ
• Zelda
• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Pyre
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
• Yakuza 0

Honorable mention:

Life is Strange: Before the Storm: Before the Storm carries over most of the style from the first game, but modifies it to fit Chloe’s “punk” aesthetic. The soundtrack is the biggest change, but the visuals and some for the presentation stuff are all modified in some pretty cool ways.

Runners-Up:

Yakuza 0- Yakuza 0 is made of style. The visuals, the J-rock soundtrack, and the fact you can use the ancient, overpowered art of breakdance fighting all come together to make an incredibly styyyyyyyyyyylish experience.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus- The entirety of Wolfenstein II is a wonderful mixture of pulp and grindhouse put in a creative world where The Beatles are Nazi propaganda. Every cutscene is dripping with styyyyyyyyle and the presentation is half the reason this game is as good as it is.

Winner:

What Remains of Edith Finch- Technically What Remains of Edith Finch wins because it has the most styyyyyyyleS. Whether it's the comic book style for the flashback of a former child actress, the cannery flashback that won best moment, the soundtrack, or the absurd design of the house itself, this game has a variety of different styles that make it stand above the rest of the competition.

Best Music:

• Doki Doki Literature Club
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• HQ
• Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Outlast 2
• Prey
• Pyre
• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Yakuza 0
• Yooka-laylee
• Zelda

(Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was disqualified for the garbage tier cover of “We’re not gonna take it” during the credits)

Honorable Mention:

Doki Doki Literature Club- I’m still not sure how I feel about where this game goes, but the music sure is great. It starts with some of the catchiest tunes of the year, and as the game gets going, the soundtrack adjusts accordingly at times. The times it doesn't change, the cheery nature of the music beautifully juxtaposes the events of the game.

Runners-Up:

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice: Hellblade’s soundtrack is fantastic in much the same way Shadow of Mordor’s was. It's a lot of what sounds like modern Vikings chanting and it gives off the same feeling as the best Manowar has to offer. I've never felt more powerful in a game than when I had Norseman chanting alongside all the other voices in my head.

Yakuza 0: Yakuza’s action music is the most over the top, cheesy J-rock I've heard in a long ass time. It fits perfectly with the rest of the game. Even when not in combat, the game offers some amazingly chill music throughout the rest of the game.

Winner:

Life is Strange: Before the Storm- The original Life is Strange ran away with this award for having the best licensed music since GTA: Vice City. While Before the Storm’s soundtrack isn't as memorable, every time music plays you can be sure that it matches perfectly with the events on screen. The developers of the game even created a fake band that is rather good as well.

Best battle royal mode

• Fortnite
• Pubg

Runner Up:

Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds- A group of YouTubers I follow have been playing this type of game for a few years now. Starting with original DayZ, then H1Z1, then H1Z1’s king of the kill mode, I've been exposed to this concept for a while now, so when I got to experience it first hand, it's effect was certainly lessened. I do enjoy PUBG but I'm not in love with it the way many other people seem to be.

Winner:

Fortnite, but only the 50 vs 50 mode- I would put Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode on the same level as PUBG, but the 50 vs 50 mode was a fantastic way to change the game and I wish it was a full-time thing.

Most Fun to Watch:

(Aka the let's play award)

• Friday the 13th
• HQ
• Playerunknown's Battleground
• Snipperclips

Runners-Up:

HQ- Every time I play HQ, I last about 7-8 questions. Also every time, the question after I get eliminated is just as easy as the first few. However, the mixture of Scott being Scott and the chat being the chat, make me stick around long after I've lost.

Snipperclips- Snipperclips seems like a really cool idea, and watching people play it makes me wish I had a Switch. It just seems like a pleasant time for everyone.

Winner:

Friday the 13th- Maybe it's the people I was watching play this, but Friday the 13th seems like a fantastic idea and there are many fun possibilities and shenanigans to be had in this game.

And that does it for day 2! Consider today to be the calm before the storm as day 3 brings the awards fro most dissappointing, best surprise, best performance, and best new character. See you tomorrow and thanks for reading.

You can follow me on Twitter @_CJ_Pricefield

Man 2017 sure was a year. Many things happened this year, and many of those things were not great. But video games sure were pretty amazing this year. I would go as far as to call 2017 one of the best years I've ever experienced as someone who plays and occasionally writes about games. Without further ado, let's get to the celebration of one of the best times to be playing video games. To start, here are all the games I played this year. If a game is not nominated for a category, it's because I didn't get around to for a variety of reason. Also, due to an unfortunate PS4 system crash and mandatory reset, I lost all of my personal videos and screenshots. None of the screens or videos used over the course of these lists are mine. :(

SPOILER WARNING: Over the course of the next 5 days, I will be spoiling things without warning (except for this one). If you are sensitive to spoilers then be warned that major things may be ruined for you especially today and on day 4.

List of 2017 games played (alphabetical)

• Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
• Assassin’s Creed Origins
• Des2ny
• Disc Jam
• Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
• Doki Doki Literature Club
• Fire Pro Wrestling World
• Fortnite
• For Honor
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• HQ
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (WiiU)
• Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Mass Effect: Andromeda
• The first route of NieR: Automata
• Nioh
• Outlast 2
• PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
• Prey
• Pyre
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
• South Park: The Fractured but Whole
• The Surge
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
• Yakuza 0
• Yooka-Laylee

2017's Non-2017 Game of the Year:

This award is for games that I played for the first time this year, games I haven’t played in a long time, recent games that made some major changes, or games that I played this year that feel didn't get their due in the years they came out.

• Destroy All Humans (2005)
• Destroy All Humans 2 (2006)
• Game Dev Tycoon (2012)
• Grand Theft Auto 4 (2008)
• Grand Theft Auto 5 (2013)
• Mass Effect 3 (2012)
• Sid Meier's Civilization VI (2016)
• Skyrim without mods (2011)
• Skyrim with mods (2011)
• Superhot (2016)
• Tropico 4 (2011)
• Tropico 5 (2014)
• Watch Dogs 2 (2016)

Runners-Up:

Watch Dogs 2- Put simply, Watch Dogs 2 is everything GTA V tried to be. Where GTA very loudly says very little, this game actually has quite a bit to say about the increasing pervasiveness of technology in our society. On top of that, its cast of characters is memorable and it's humor actually lands more often than not. After the trash fire that was the original Watch underscore Dogs, I was blown away by the sequel and can't wait to see where Watch Dogs 3 goes.

Destroy All Humans 2- Destroy All Humans 2 was one of my favorite games growing up, and when it got released on the PlayStation Store earlier this year, I was excited but cautious. Upon playing it I was relieved to find that this game actually holds up rather well. The game still feels good, and most of the humor still lands quite well. I was overjoyed to find that one of my favorite games of all time is still fantastic 11 years later.

Winner:

Superhot- On paper Superhot sounds intriguing enough. A first-person shooter where time only moves when you do. In practice, however, Superhot is such an insane, wonderful thing that I can't even begin describing how damn good it is. Meticulously working your way through a level and then having that entire sequence shown back in real time is one of the most powerful things I've ever experienced in a video game. Just watching Superhot is better than playing most other games. The narrative is also presented in one of the most unique ways I've seen in a while. If I had gotten my hands on this game last year it would have run away with most styyyyyle and easily made the top 3 on my 2016 Game of the Year list.

Best incidental thing:

• Aloy’s idle animations- Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Balloon room- RE7
• Bae Joke- Pyre
• Cooking Jingle- Breath of the Wild (cooking has many benefits, but the jingle is the best)
• Snow bowling- breath of the wild
• Chloe's walk cycle in the junkyard- Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Smash prompt- Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Shot of Chloe in the bathroom after graffiti- Life is Strange: Before the Storm.
• Changing facial expressions in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy’s photo mode
• Kicking Hitler trophy- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
• Pressing square to interact with the pig- Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
• Pressing X to eat the enchirito- South Park

Runners-Up:

Getting a trophy for kicking Hitler in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus-After some of the events of 2017, Wolfenstein 2 is cathartic in a few ways. None more so than blasting der fürher himself directly in the face with a good ole fashion American boot of Justice. Sure, you die almost immediately after doing this, but it was well worth the reload. You even get a trophy for doing it.

Shot of Chloe in the bathroom after graffiti- Life is Strange: Before the Storm- At the beginning of Before the Storm Episode 2, Chloe makes a stop in the ladies room to “freshen up”. After Chloe vandalizes the entire restroom, the camera is positioned behind her as she exits a stall and the following shot is a direct callback Max’s iconic photo from the first game. This was a wonderful reference to the first game that felt organic and was there long enough to notice, but not long enough to draw attention to itself.

Winner:

Cooking Jingle- Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild- The cooking mechanic in Breath of the Wild… exists I guess. I rarely used for it's intended purpose because I discovered overpowered recipes that healed more hearts than I had. I mostly used it because the music that plays while the items are cooking is infectious. By the end of the game, I was just throwing stuff in a pot so I could hear this jingle. There is even a jingle for when cooking fails that might even be better than the successful jingle.

Best Emergent Moment(s)

• Getting your leg cut off then reattaching it - Resident Evil 7
• Making two thunderjaws fight- Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Solving a shrine puzzle in a unique way- Breath of the Wild
• Accidentally clipping through a wall to solve shrine- Breath of the Wild
• Mastering the reload cancel- Destiny 2
• Guard throwing himself down a flight of stairs and dying- Death of the Outsider
• The hook mine escape- death of the outsider
• Seeing firsthand the true insanity of the 50 vs 50 battle royale mode- Fortnite

Runners-Up:

Seeing firsthand the true insanity of the 50 vs 50 battle royale mode- Fortnite- One of the most unfortunate casualties of my PS4 reset is the loss of this video. Near the end of a 50 vs 50 game of Fortnite Battle Royale, the 25 or so people on each team started building. By the time the teams were directly engaged with one another, both sides had built up absurdly large structures and were peppering the other team’s structure with rockets and bullets. Until the storm closed in and forced the remnants of my team to abandon their massive construction. The last 15 or so members of my team rushed the remaining 8 enemies in their fortified structure and were able to pull off the victory. Even though I died about 10 minutes before any of this happened, I stayed to watch this insane nonsense and was having a blast the entire time.

Solving a shrine puzzle in a unique way- Breath of the Wild- One of the most incredible things about Breath of the Wild is how all of the systems work in cohesion to allow for some common sense things that other games simply don't. One of the many examples of finding a creative way to solve a shrine is by laying a bunch of metal swords and shields on the floor to carry an electric charge across a room. It just goes to show that there is always more than one “right” way to solve a shrine.

Winner:

Accidentally clipping through a wall to solve shrine- Breath of the Wild- While there may be many right ways to solve the shrines, I certainly found a wrong way. I was messing around with the bombs to see if I could find a way past the current puzzle, or at least spark some ideas. I was standing a little too close to the bomb when I detonated it and it sent me flying back. Somehow, I managed to clip through a wall and skip the entire shrine. Breath of the Wild is a game full of incredible emergent moments, but nothing beats accidentally breaking the game to finish one of the game’s many shrines.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus presents Best Moment or sequence in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

• Intro
• Nuking a Nazi Base in Roswell
• Farm flashbacks
• B.J. confronting his father
• Spech’s death
• Post-Courtroom sequence cutscene
• Being beheaded/B.J.’s head being saved and put on new body
• Horton’s introduction
• The entire movie casting sequence
• Kicking Hitler
• Birthday party
• Ending
• B.J. Proposing to Anya

Honorable Mention:

Kicking Hitler- As I mentioned earlier, kicking dear old Adolf in the face is satisfying, but Wolfenstein has many moments that surpass kicking the mustache off Hitler’s face.

Runners-Up:

B.J. Proposing to Anya- After blowing up the Nazi base in Roswell, B.J. takes some time to visit his childhood home. While there he relives some memories from his childhood and also finds the ring his mother gave him, that he would then give to a special woman later on. This ring eventually even becomes a plot point when it is taken by Engel. After a whole lot of insanity, explosions, and Nazi-killin’, B.J. takes his ring back from Engel's corpse and proposes to Anya. This emotionally resonant scene pays off one of the game's major plot elements (B.J.'s relationship with his mother) in an incredible way.

The entire movie casting sequence- Dear lord where to begin with this sequence. The setup: The Nazis are making a propaganda film about Terror Billy and they are holding auditions for the lead role. The intro: B.J. kidnaps one of the actors auditioning, steals his identity, and heads to GODDAMNED VENUS for the audition. The Audition: During this scene, you find out the producer is Hitler himself. The Auditon 2: B.J. then pretends to be himself, and the line reads in the part are some of the most hysterical moments in any game this year. The Audition finale: B.J. murders the ABSOLUTE FUCK out of a Nazi soldier and is given the honor of playing himself in the movie, then shoots up the entire Nazi base on Venus. If all of that sounds ridiculous, you haven't played Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

Winner:

Being beheaded/B.J.’s head being saved and put on a new body- The reason this sequence wins is because of how many times in a 5 minute period the game plays with your expectations. First, B.J. gets captured and is beheaded on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, all in the first person. Then the game cuts to a scene of his crew enacting an absurd plan to save his head. They save his head in a jar, Futurama style, and then put his head on a super body stolen from the Nazis. The single most insane thing about this moment is that it is foreshadowed the entire time with the doctor's weird cat, dog hybrid thing. This moment is completely insane on its own, but the fact that it was foreshadowed, and the writers put in the work to earn this absurd twist makes it the cherry on top of the insanity that is Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

Best Moment/sequence

• Happy birthday tape- RE7
• Introduction to molded- RE7
• The Proving- Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Reveal of the Zero Dawn/GAIA Project: Horizon: Zero Dawn
• The Mountain That Fell/ Gaia prime- Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Fighting a thunderjaw for the first time- Horizon Zero Dawn
• Ending- Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Divine Beast Vah Ruta- breath of the Wild
• Barbara Finch Comic book Flashback- What Remains of Edith Finch
• Cannery flashback- What remains of Edith Finch
• Playing as the other Ryder- Mass Effect Andromeda
• Master Kohga boss fight/ending- Breath of the Wild
• First space walk- Prey
• Intro- prey
• Winning first liberation rite- pyre
• Tabletop RPG- Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Junkyard scene- Life is Strange: Before the Storm
• Intro- Nier
• Theme Park- Nier
• Playing as a robot- Nier
• The Tempest- Before the Storm
• Post-Tempest scene- Before The Storm
• Riding the Elephant- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Credits cutscene- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Ending- Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
• Lapdance scene- South Park
• Bootay boss fight- South Park
• Unlocking the glitch ability-South Park
• Anytime you fight Kyle’s cousin Kyle- South Park
• Sober Towlie boss fight-south park
• Musical at old folks home- South Park
• Final Choice- Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Dis-Honorable Mention (things that stand out for the wrong reasons):

Operation blind justice-South Park: The Fractured but Whole- Operation Blind Justice is South Park’s attempt at addressing racism in police departments. Unfortunately, the game handles this about as poorly as it possibly could have by having you be the one who beats up innocent black people so the police can arrest them. There are many ways this issue could have been addressed, but this moment is handled in such a poor and heavy-handed way, that it undercuts any of the actual commentary (which is already as shallow as possible, to begin with).

Honorable Mention:

Tabletop RPG- Life is Strange: Before the Storm- In episode 1, Chloe has the option to play a tabletop RPG with great new characters, Steph and Mikey. It's a straightforward RPG, but the presentation of it and how Chloe can interact with the game make it an amazingly entertaining sequence.

Runners-Up: Junkyard scene- Life is Strange: Before the Storm- On the flip side, this less enjoyable moment sees Chloe dump her heart to Rachel Amber before getting smashy. Finally, she stumbles upon the wreckage of the vehicle in which her father was killed. This entire sequence packs an emotional punch on par with most of the events of the first game. On top of that, new Chloe, Rihanna Devries, delivers a memorable performance that drives home this emotional sequence.

Reveal of Project Zero Dawn- Horizon: Zero Dawn- This moment is a pivot point for the entire story of Horizon: Zero Dawn. All the build-up to this moment presents Project Zero Dawn as a way to save humanity from the army of corrupted Faro robots that are devouring everything in their path. This reveal is one of the few times this year a moment dropped my jaw. The reveal is that humanity is completely doomed, and Project Zero Dawn is essentially the attempt to create a set of AI programs that will rebuild the entire world from scratch after all organic life has been eradicated. This moment is such a turn on what I expected going into it, and the way it recontextualizes every aspect of the game is phenomenal (more on how the game builds on this reveal later on). It even provides the reason for the existence of robot dinosaurs. There aren't many moments that singlehandedly elevate an entire narrative, but this absolutely is one of them.

Winner: Cannery flashback- What Remains of Edith Finch- This moment is one of the most brutally poignant moments I've ever seen in a game. This scene is a flashback to the death of Lewis Finch, who worked a repetitive job at a cannery. The game starts this sequence out by having you perform the job of grabbing a fish, moving it to the guillotine, and chopping its head off. As you keep doing the job, Lewis starts fantasizing and creating his own world which eventually takes over the screen. It's hard to describe this moment in words, but it's easy to describe the feeling. There have been many times where I worked a repetitive job and let my mind wander. I would brainstorm ideas for wrestling or fantasize about being on podcasts, or daydream about hanging out with cool people I follow on social media. These fantasies became a way to escape the mind-numbing, soul-crushing job I was doing. The fact that a game was able to capture this at all was amazing, but this game has you doing Lewis' job and exploring his fantasy world at the same time perfectly captures this feeling that I have had at every job I've ever done. It was a strangely relatable moment that uses the medium of gaming to explore a feeling that I'm sure I am not alone in having. This Super Bunnyhop video breaks it down in a more eloquent way than I am currently capable of doing.

And that does it for day 1. There are still many more categories to go and on day 2 I will be taking a look at the games with the most graphics and styyyyyyyle, the games with the best music, what games were the most fun to watch, and I will either settle or ignite the debate over which game has the best battle royale mode. See you tomorrow and thanks for reading.

You can follow me on Twitter @_CJ_Pricefield

It's finally here. After what seems like the longest, most drawn out year in recent memory, it is finally time to rundown the best games of the year. But first, we take a trip back to 2015.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

2015 retrospective:

Life is Strange: Earlier this year, I picked up a local beat magazine that had this story reprinted in it. As I read the story, I couldn't help but think of 2015's Game of the Year, Life is Strange. Life is Strange is a game about rape culture and the situation of the girl in the story reminded me of Kate Marsh's situation in episode 2 of the game. I highly recommend reading the whole story I linked, but the reminder of Life is Strange made me want to play the game again. As I played through each episode on the dates the game takes place, I was instantly reminded of what makes this one of the most important games of all time. As I mentioned, this game is about rape culture and it looks at sexual assault and rape from the point of view of the victim, attacker, friends and family of the victim, and even the victim blamers. What still stands out about this game is just how well they handle these sensitive topics. This game is important not only because of how well it handles these topics, but because of the backing it had from Square Enix. In the image above, Max is sitting in between two of the most iconic game characters in history in Agent 47 and the quintessential female video game character Lara Croft on stage during Square's E3 press conference. This game is the first game with this big of a platform to take on issues like this, and the fact that it didn't fail is an achievement on its own. Putting care into these issues has also cultivated one of the most accepting and supportive fanbases I've ever seen. This game hits many people on such a personal level and seeing things like this Reddit thread is always an amazing experience. On my own personal level, Chloe Price is still my favorite video game character ever because of how much I relate to her and this game is still one of the most brutally affecting experiences I've ever played. It is now the only game that I will play once a year, every year for a long time. My wish for the future of gaming is that bigger budget games take similar risks to the ones this game took.

Rocket League: I've put more hours int Rocket League this year than I put into my top 15 games combined. The continued support for this game will give it legs for a long time to come and following the RLCS got me into e-sports in a way I never expected. Next year, I will probably put just as much time into it as I did this year.

Fallout 4: The main reason I got back into this game was the survival mode and waiting for console mods. I wrote about survival mode and mods were exactly what I wanted out of them, but the more I play this game the more I enjoy it and the more I’m disappointed by it. The fact that I waited for almost a year for mods and then played with them for about 25 minutes, says more than I possibly could.

Splatoon: I love the entire aesthetic Splatoon. The Nickelodeon meets punk look and sound of this game is one of my favorite things I've ever seen in a game. I would consider Splatoon to be one of the best multiplayer shooters of the past five years

2016 GOTY

Weirdest game:

Let it Die/ Giraffes Championship volleyball 2016: These games are both weird as hell, but they are also both free. I highly recommend trying both of them.

Dishonorable Mention

Doom: As the writer of the only negative review of this game on the internet, I have the authority to say that Doom is the second worst game I played all year.

Honorable Mentions

Titanfall 2: I could not care any less about Titanfall 2's multiplayer, but the single-player campaign is worth experiencing. The amount of insane ideas they put into each mission really pushed it above any FPS since Call of Duty: Black Ops. From titan on titan combat to time travel and almost anything in between, Titanfall 2 is worthy of at least a mention for its great single-player mode.

Inside: The first 2/3's of Inside are memorable in just how striking some of the set pieces are. The sound wave room especially stands out as the high point of the game. The last third however, almost ruined the game for me. The blob thing is cool and all, but the way that moment comes out of nowhere and undercuts the first parts of the game left me disappointed with how Inside ended. But those first two-thirds are very much worth seeing.

The Witness: This is a game about line puzzles. You're reward for completing those puzzles... more line puzzles. This may not sit well with everyone, but The Witness has some incredible small elements that make it a fantastic experience to beat using a walkthrough.

The Top 10:

After a long year of pyro, ballyhoo, and bad PC ports, we have finally arrived at the 10 best games of the year, ranked, in order from the 10th best to first best.

10.

Overwatch: Starting off the list is one of the most fun multiplayer shooters since 2015's Splatoon. I may not be the biggest fan of this game, but the way Blizzard combines traditional MOBA tropes into an accessible, stylish as hell package is something worthy of praise. Another thing worthy of praise is that Overwatch is one of the most diverse games out there. As a white, straight, cis, male who wants to see all people represented the way I have been, a game with the backing and commercial availability that Overwatch has is a fantastic way to show other companies that diversity and representation are important and can sell just as well, if not better than a game featuring more lame-ass white dudes. Although it may not give me the lawlessness of some of the more... "Eccentric" Team Fortress 2 servers, I got more enjoyment out of Overwatch than any other first person shooter this year.

9.

Oxenfree: Much like 2015's Game of the Year, Life is Strange, Oxenfree is a game about friendship with some supernatural stuff going on as well. The game features some of fantastic character development, a great story, really clever uses of multiplayer (according to this Errant Signal video), and some rather cool ways of messing with the player. I wish it hadn't had gone as far in the supernatural direction as it did, but despite that, Oxenfree is one of the coolest games of the year.

8.

Mafia III: Mafia 3's unflinching look at racism in the 1960's southern United States did what I want more games to do. Give me an experience that I will almost certainly never experience. Not only does the game explore racism by liberally throwing around all sorts of racial slurs, but by representing systemic racism through mechanics. Police will respond immediately in the well to do, white neighborhoods, but will take a while or not even show up at all in poorer, black neighborhoods. On top of that, entering a whites-only business will be met with open hostility and possible police action. Even when walking down the street, police officers will stop and watch your every move and throw accusations and insults your way should you stop long enough to hear them. At the risk of epitomizing white privilege, giving someone who has never experienced discrimination directed toward me the experience of discrimination (even if by proxy) was eye-opening to say the least and I would like to see more games do similar things. I never thought that a game would task me with invading a literal Klan rally, but Mafia 3 does this and damn was it enjoyable to murder a bunch racist white dudes. The game even delves a little into the effect of PTSD at times and goes deeper than expected given all the racial themes. Pulling all of this off is incredible, but Mafia 3 suffers from being an open world game. You will often be performing repetitive tasks for hours just to get a snippet of story. I can't help but fantasize Mafia 3 designed like its predecessors. Despite this, the game did a fantastic job of exploring its themes and is still one of the best open world games in years.

7.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End: Uncharted 4 has it all. A great story, great gameplay, and the most striking visuals I've seen in a game to date. But like every Naughty Dog game, the more I think about it, the less I enjoy it. Uncharted 4 falls into literally the exact same trappings that made The Last of Us one of the most overrated games ever made. That being said, I think it is still the best game Naughty Dog has made and that is still massive praise.

6.

Dishonored 2: Dishonored 2 is an amazing game that suffers from some really bad sequalitis. It changes just enough to step out of the shadow of the original, but not enough to completely eclipse it the way something like Mass Effect 2 did with the original Mass Effect. That being said, I would put this game on par with the original and the only reason it didn't win this award was because it faced some seriously stiff competition for Game of the Year.

5.

XCOM 2: It doesn't top the first game, but by being slightly below that one, XCOM 2 comes in pretty damn high on this list. The only truly negative thing I can say about it is that I hit a bug that caused the enemies to never move or attack allowing me to get a flawless ranking on the last 7 missions, including the final battle. As much as I loved XCOM 2, ironman mode should have been on by default.

4.

Firewatch: The running meme here on videogames.com about this game is what first put it on my radar. But what exactly is Firewatch? Firewatch is a game that explores mental illness while also exploring the appeal of escapism. The story follows Henry on his journey deep into the Wyoming wilderness, as he tries to escape from the crushing reality of his wife's worsening dementia. I went into detail about this game in the best story category, but the questions the game poses are some of the most brutally poignant and thought-provoking questions I've ever seen a game pose. Firewatch may not be a game for everyone, but to miss it would be to miss out on one of the best games of 2016.

3.

Stardew Valley: Stardew Valley drew me in like no other game this year. I fell in love with everything about this game and I felt like it loved me back. This game is so earnest in everything it does that it is hard not to love it. Each character is interesting, the systems are fantastic, Pelican Town is a joy to explore, and Leah is objectively the best wife in the game. In a medium where too many games rely on sarcasm and irreverence, Stardew Valley's earnestness sets it apart and makes it stand out among the many 2d, pixel art games that were made by one person. Now if I could get a rabbit's foot, I would be able to finish the community center and move on with my life. Until then I will keep coming back to this game for a long time to come.

2.

HITMAN: For those who will inevitably disagree with my #1, I will direct you to HITMAN. This game so perfectly nailed how episodic content should be delivered that I want to see more genres try it. Each episode features some of the most enjoyable stealth systems I can think of, and those only get more refined with each new map. This game plays so well and is filled to the brim with so much goofy nonsense (like killing Gary Busey) that it is outright my favorite game in years. Much like my #2 pick last year, Rocket League, I will almost certainly put dozens of hours into this game over the next year. But also like Rocket League last year, this is #2 because my #1 is truly one of the most special games I've ever played.

2016 Game of the Year

The Last Guardian:

"Hitokui no Ōwashi Toriko 人喰いの大鷲トリコ, literally "The Great Man-Eating Eagle Toriko" is this game's badass Japanese title, but it is misleading. Trico eats you multiple times, but at least has the decency to throw you back up each time. The real reason this is my game of the year is because of how affecting the story of unspoken friendship between boy and bird-dog-cat thing is at times. Trico itself is one of the most amazing technical feats I've seen in a game. Its animations are so on point for a cat, its behaviors so on point for a dog, and its way of ignoring your commands is so on point for any animal that Trico actually develops a personality of its own. In a medium that struggles to give personality to human characters half the time, giving this much personality to an animal is downright incredible. The actual gameplay of this game may not be the best, but it didn't need to be. This isn't a game about solving puzzles, it's not a game about commanding Trico to swat away a ton of bad guys, it's a game about the unspoken bond between humans and animals. If you've ever had a pet that you've cared for, this game's story will hit you hard. Just hanging out with Trico is as simple as a joy in gaming can get. I can't tell you the amount of times I stopped even trying to get the damn thing to listen to me, and instead just wanted to pet it and feed it barrels. Every time Trico was in danger, there was a tension of losing a friend that other games don't give you. Every time I was in danger, Trico was there to save me. As we went back and forth helping each other out of dire situations, I began deeply caring about Trico. It is rare that a game can get me to care about a character let alone enough to actually worry about it when it gets hurt or needs help. As I said, the way this game plays might turn away some people, but the story and the majesty and companionship of Trico are worth it to the point that I didn't even care that I got stuck at one part for an hour because the movement controls didn't want to cooperate with me. The ways in which this game connected with me so far outshine the few negative parts of it, that those negative barely even register with me. I fell in love with The Last Guardian the same way I fell in love with Life is Strange. But unlike that game, The Last Guardian didn't betray my trust with a not so great ending, because my trust was put into the most incredible companion ever to exist in a game. The 15 hours I spent caring for a gigantic imaginary animal and loving every second of it is why The Last Guardian takes my 2016 Game of the Year award with almost no second thought.

If you enjoyed my 2016 game of the year list, I encourage you to go check out the rest of the days: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.

Before officially closing things down, I would like to point out some games hopefully coming out next year that I am looking forward to.

Most Anticipated Games for next year:

• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Mass Effect: Andromeda
• Tacoma
• Vampyr
• Pyre

Thanks for reading and have a great 2017!

Welcome to the penultimate day of my 2016 Game of the Year awards. Today, we celebrate "interesting" writing, the biggest trainwrecks of the year, things that need to stop, and finally, the games that are the most fun to watch. Let's get down to business.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 5

HITMAN presents

Best Line(s):

Every game has a line or multiple lines of dialogue make me laugh uncontrollably because of how ridiculous they are. Here are the ones that stood out the most.

• "Somebody's up to something they shouldn't be."- guard in Hitman
• Sully's vegan joke-Uncharted 4
• Sam's pirate joke- Uncharted 4
• Sully's response to joke-Uncharted 4
• "Hey, what's cooking? (Bud-um-dis)"- a waiter to player dressed as a chef in Hitman
• Guard talking to her stomach- Dishonored 2
• Steve Gaynor joke- HITMAN
• Doctor getting emotional- HITMAN
• "This man is possessed by the devil..."- HITMAN

Runners Up:

"That man is possessed by the devil..."- HITMAN: The thing that absolutely makes this line is how the guy stares me down for a good 10 seconds before dropping one of the most out of nowhere lines of the year.

Guard talking to her stomach- Dishonored 2: As you can see in the video, I was busy stealthing around in Dishonored 2 when I had to stop and take in this silly conversation a guard was having with her stomach.

Winner:

Doctor getting emotional- HITMAN: Yesterday I talked about the payoff of the Helmut Krueger running joke. This is that payoff. There are so many lines I could have chosen from HITMAN but this one wins by being more over the top than any other line of the year.

Biggest Trainwreck:

• Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare reveal trailer reaction
• Oculus Rift Launch
• CSGO skin gambling
• No Man's Sky PC port/ Fan response to NMS
• Fallout 4 PS4 mods
• Aug lives matter marketing campaign
• CSGO graffiti sprays.

Runners Up:

CSGO graffiti sprays: Counter Strike: Global Offensive did not have a great year. The graffiti sprays were a prime example of a how Valve seems to be alienating its own community at an alarming rate. Here is the short of this issue: Valve reintroduces previously free sprays as a paid commodity but gives every player a free one, sprays only have 50 uses, once those are used the spray is gone, players can get sprays from drops after games but can only sell unopened sprays. The real crux of this issue is the fact that the limited use sprays are a paid commodity. The reaction to this from the community was as you would expect, but the whole thing reeks of a company putting profits above its fan base.

Fan response to No Man's Sky: This is an issue that I take a controversial stance on. Instead of blaming the marketing machine behind this game, I have to blame gamers themselves. It goes without saying that publishers and developers are going to hype the ever loving hell out of their games, and that includes the countless games that have utilized "bull-shots" and misleading trailers since marketing games became a thing. This is not new. What makes this situation downright embarrassing, is how gamers whipped themselves and each other into a frothing frenzy without ever questioning what they were being shown. Yes, Sony and Hello Games shoulder part of the blame, but at some point, the people who play games have to take responsibility for buying into hype. There should be two rules plastered all over every game related thing in existence: Don't buy into hype and Don't preorder games. These pieces of advice would have made this situation just another reaction to a bad game, as opposed to the trainwreck it became and still is.

"Winner":

CSGO Skin Gambling: Where do I even begin with this one? In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, skins are cosmetic items for weapons and knives and some of them can cost almost $500 on the Steam Marketplace. Skin gambling is something that started as betting on the e-sports aspect of the game, but many third party websites simplified that to a mere coin flip that anyone could access. This is an issue because anyone who has played CSGO will tell you there are a TON of kids even as young as 7 years old playing the game. It goes without saying why children gambling is a bad thing, but this gets even worse. On these third party sites, betting was done by putting both players steam inventory items into the inventory of a neutral bot account. The winner would then get a trade request from the bot and collect their winnings. There are the obvious ways of scamming people through this process, but the way it was done by two rather well-known YouTubers, may take the cake. Two Youtubers, one of whom I was subscribed to a long time ago, secretly ran one of the most popular betting sites, and this meant they also had control of the trade bots. What gets even stranger is how they were caught. One of them was streaming some skin gambling, as a ton of YouTubers were doing, when some viewers noticed that the streamer was logged in under a trade bot account. Here's where most people may ask what the big deal is about something you can only sell on the steam marketplace is, but there are many shady as fuck sites out there that will exchange items in your Steam inventory for real world currency. This whole thing blew up seemingly overnight and in the aftermath, Valve was actually forced to do something, and the Youtubers in question are under federal investigation for running an illegal betting site. Sometimes the biggest train wrecks in gaming barely involve the actual games, and this whole fiasco was certainly worthy of this award.

The "Shipping Broke-Ass Games" award for things that should Please Stop

• Call of Duty
• Yearly sports games
• Reboots (even if they are good)
• Dan Ryckert
• Tutorialising 2/3 of the way through the game or further. ME:Catalyst/Far Cry/Mafia/ pretty much every game ever
• Valve

"Honorable" Mention:

Dan Ryckert- This man must be stopped before he actually decides to run for president while double fisting beers in a Waluigi costume. The corruption has already begun.

Runners Up:

Call of Duty: I didn't play Infinite Warfare despite having the beta installed for a few days as well as being able to play the game during the free weekend Activision had a few weeks ago. Judging by critical and fan reception, it may be time for Activision to either take a few years off or start taking steps to replace COD as their marquee title.

Tutorialising 2/3 of the way through the game: One of the most annoying things modern games do is telling you how to play them even after you've already put a dozen hours into them. I hope this trend is on the way out.

"Winner":

Valve: If you're aware of Valve, then you must be aware of their customer service reputation. On top of that, the general way they handle everything is terrible. The way it took federal action to get them to do something about skin gambling, the way they keep ruining CS:GO with every update (one of the last updates seriously added gloves for your player character that you can only get from cases), how their sales are a shell of what they used to be, and their refusal to just be on top of things anymore. Seriously Valve, knock it off and just be cool again.

Most Fun to Watch:

(Aka the let's play award)

• Hover Junkers
• Any VR game Jeff plays
• Move or die
• Gears of War 4
• Hitman
• Dead By Daylight
• Pokémon Go
• Overcooked
• Space Trucker

Runners Up:

Pokémon Go: Observing the social phenomenon this thing became (no matter how short) is one of the craziest things I’ve seen in my 3 years of writing about games.

Any VR game Jeff plays: Watching Jeff play any VR game is the sole reason why I won't be getting VR for a long time. Not that I don't want to, but the way he is able to just shatter any experience seems like a better and more fun representation virtual reality than I will ever be able to experience on my own. Until VR gets to a good place, I will continue watching Jeff test the limits of shooting himself in the face with every game that allows him to do so.

Winner:

Hitman: Watching Dan teach Brad the ways of master stealthery lead to some of the most entertaining content here on Nuke.com. The entire reason I checked HITMAN out was because of this video series and watching duo react to all the ways the game could break was a joy every time a new video was posted. Their joy was infectious and I will spend a few days rewatching the entire Hitdan saga. They also brought Vinny in on the fun, leading to quite possibly the best video on the entire site.

And with that, we prepare for the final day. Tomorrow, I look back on the games of 2015 that I played again this year and see how they hold up, then I get to the top 10 games of 2016. Until then, feel free to check out Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3. Thanks for reading.

Welcome to day 3 of my personal Game of the Year celebration. On the list today, best voice acting performance, best new character, best gameplay, and finally best story. It goes without saying that many things WILL be spoiled today. With that being said, let's get down to it,

Day 1

Day 2

Day 4

Day 5

Best performance:

As the graphical fidelity of games increases, the look of characters will also increase. While characters may look realistic, they still need a great performance to truly bring them to life.

• Cissy Jones as Delilah in Firewatch
• Rich Sommer as Henry in Firewatch
• Laura Bailey as Nadine in Uncharted 4
• Emily Rose as Elena Fisher in Uncharted 4
• Troy Baker as Samuel Drake in Uncharted 4
• Warren Kole as Rafe Adler in Uncharted 4
• Erin Yvette as Alex in Oxenfree
• Gary Busey as Gary Busey in Hitman
• Gordon Greene as Father James Ballard in Mafia 3
• Alex Hernandez as Lincoln Clay in Mafia 3
• Nolan North as Dr. Richtofen in Black Ops 3 DLC
• Nolan North as Remy Duvall in Mafia 3
• Nolan North as Nathan Drake in Uncharted 4

Honorable Mention:

Gary Busey as Gary Busey in Hitman: Yes it is actually Gary Busey and yes it is as great as it sounds.

Runners Up:

Cissy Jones as Delilah in Firewatch: Serving as your only contact in Firewatch, the performance of Delilah was the most important part of this character. The performance by Cissy Jones brings to life a character with great depth, and her range extends from humorous to paranoid, to remorseful, and damn near everything in between. Cissy Jones nails every single line she delivers in one of the best performances of the year.

Warren Kole as Rafe Adler in Uncharted 4: Almost the perfect amalgamation of The Rocky Mountain Pro's Warren Cadence and Curtis Cole, Warren Kole delivers a performance fitting of a sniveling, pretentious, rich boy, who with every line just makes you want to punch the character straight in the face. Even beyond those traits, Kole steps up his delivery in the phenomenal third act to be more than deserving of being on this list.

Winner:

Emily Rose as Elena Fisher in Uncharted 4: Reprising her role from the previous Uncharted games, Emily Rose is given more to work with as the character of Elena is explored. She delivers every line to perfection, making Elena a relatable and sympathetic character in the beginning of the game, and one of the strongest female characters in the medium for the latter half of Uncharted 4. Nolan North may be the star of the show, but Emily Rose's fantastic performance helps elevate both of their characters to new heights for the series.

Best New Character:

• Delilah- Firewatch
• Henry- Firewatch
• Bastion- Overwatch
• Nadine- Uncharted 4
• Samuel- Uncharted 4
• Rafe- Uncharted 4
• Tensay- Far Cry Primal
• Plastic- Mirror's Edge Catalyst
• Helmut Krueger- HITMAN
• Gary Busey- HITMAN
• Jonas- Oxenfree
• Ren- Oxenfree
• Ashly Nakamura- Xcom 2
• Penny- Stardew Valley
• Sombra- Overwatch
• Father James Ballard- Mafia 3
• John Donovan- Mafia 3
• Uncle Death- Let it Die
• BT- Titanfall 2
• Trico- The Last Guardian

Honorable Mentions:

Ashly Nakamura- Xcom 2: It may be cheating to include a character I created, that was based off a character I created in a Fallout 4, on this list. But I'll be damned if my badass sniper, who was the sole reason my squad surviving as many missions as they did, didn't at least get a mention.

Delilah/Henry- Firewatch: I put these characters in a tie because of how much their individual characters rely on playing off the other. The reason they're both honorable mentions is because their arcs play more into the narrative than the characters themselves, but believe me, I'll get to that soon enough.

Super Honorable Mention:

Helmut Krueger- HITMAN: Everyone's favorite fashion model, serves as both an overpowered disguise and an incredibly silly running joke that pays off in an incredible way in the last episode of the game. Also, He's HELMUT... FUCKING... KRUEGER. Do I need another reason?

Runners Up:

Tensay- Far Cry Primal: Tensay is a great character because he routinely makes you drink something that leads to some of the best moments in the game. One of these moments involves your character hallucinating that he blew up the moon. Also, he has the same voice actor as Kratos.

Father James Ballard- Mafia 3: Mafia 3 is a game full of strong characters, but none are as well written as Father James. A Vietnam veteran who joined the church as penance for things he did during the war, Father James serves as the foil to John Donovan's crazy nonsense. In every scene, there is a tangible feeling of remorse delivered through the great writing and a fantastic performance by Gordon Greene. Father James might be one of the deepest characters in recent memory, but this sadly poignant speech is one of the things that set this character apart in many ways. (Not my video)

Winner:

Trico- The Last Guardian: Unlike last year's winner, Chloe Price, I can't say Trico is one of the best written or deepest characters of the year. But much like Chloe, the emotional connection I had to the bird-dog-cat thing transcended simply liking a video game character. Throughout my adventures with Trico, I grew to care about it the same way I cared about pets in the past. From the opening moments, which see the playable character pulling spears out of Trico, then feeding it, then escaping and seeing the full majesty of the creature. Every movement is so lifelike, and the behaviors are so believable that Trico feels like a real animal. He will ignore you half the time, he will pick you up and playfully swing you around as you try to take in a scenic vista, and he will whimper if you get too far away. One of the defining moments of this character comes just after he eats you a third time. After throwing the boy up, Trico can't wake him up. It then proceeds to carry the boy to a pool of water waking him. Trico's reaction upon the boy waking is one of the most powerful things I've seen in a game. The Last Guardian is a game that relies entirely on the relationship between the player and Trico and if the character didn't work, the game would go with it. It is safe to say however, that the game works because Trico is one of the most believable and sympathetic characters in the medium. Also, it shoots lightning from its tail.

Best Gameplay:

• Dark Souls 3
• Dishonored 2
• Far Cry Primal
• Furi
• Hitman
• Overwatch
• Titanfall 2
• The Witness
• Uncharted 4

Runners Up:

Titanfall 2: To be entirely honest, I am at a point with games where I will immediately write off first person shooters if they don't do something wildly different (Overwatch is a good example of how wildly different an FPS needs to be for me to even begin caring). Titanfall 2's campaign puts you in situations that allow for the game mechanics to truly shine through in some incredible ways. On top of that, the game just feels really good to play.

Dishonored 2: I love the original Dishonored. I consider it to be one of the best games I've ever played. Dishonored 2 continues that but also adds in a ton of new abilities that can open up the game in a ton great ways.

Winner:

HITMAN: HITMAN is a game about hiding in plain sight. Getting a disguise, then eliminating a target in an absurd way, then getting a new outfit to blend back in like nothing happened is easily the best gameplay experience of the year. Even beyond how ridiculous it can be, that nonsense is built on some of the best stealth mechanics I've seen in a long time.

Best Story/storytelling:

• Firewatch
• The Last Guardian
• Mafia 3
• Oxenfree
• Uncharted 4
• XCOM 2

Honorable Mention:

XCOM 2: The actual story of this game isn't great, but I bring it up because of how it tells an element of its story through mechanics. By allowing you to fully customize every soldier, the game develops an instant connection that only gets stronger. The reason Ashly Nakamura was mentioned for best character was because of how many time she saved the rest of my customized squad with a well-placed shot from across the map. The most fascinating part was my reaction when a character I had on success with on many missions would just die because I made a bad play the turn before.

Runners Up:

Uncharted 4: As far as I'm concerned, Neil Druckmann may be the best writer in gaming. The Last of Us and The Last of Us: Left Behind are easily two of the most well-written games I've ever played. This high quality continues in Uncharted 4, which sees the end of the adventures of Nathan Drake. The story itself is fantastic with its fair share of lies, betrayals, and Elena being way to caring about the cast of terrible people around her, but the level of character writing in this game is some of the best I've seen in the medium. Not only are the new characters individually memorable, but Nathan Drake himself gets some much-needed depth to his character. The story in this game is top-notch, I just wish 90% of it wasn't told through cutscenes.

The Last Guardian: The Last Guardian follows the traditional Team Ico method of storytelling. Keep everything as simple as possible, but use mechanics to explore themes. This model works to utter perfection in this game, because it's hard to make "boy walks large animal home" sound amazing, but because every major theme is explored through mechanics it transcends that simple narrative. Arguably the best thing about this story is its ending. They could have easily went with the Trico sacrifices itself to save the boy, but they didn't. Keeping both of them alive long after the events of the game, is one of the most positively affecting endings I've ever seen in a game. I wasn't crying because it was over, I was crying because of a beautiful story of unspoken friendship being told in the most effective way possible.

Winner:

Firewatch: When the meme around Firewatch was going around this fine website, I had no idea that Firewatch would provide an experience that not only hit home, but made me question where my own mind is now and where it is going. Firewatch's strange middle, where the main characters become victims of their own imaginations, is kind of out there, but still makes sense in a way. Firewatch's beginning and third act are where it comes into its own. The game has you playing as Henry, a man who took a job as a lookout deep in the wilderness of Wyoming trying to escape the thoughts of his wife who has developed early onset dementia. Immediately you start communicating with a fellow lookout named Delilah over a walkie talkie and the game explores their relationship with each other and the reasons they came to the middle of nowhere. As I said, the whole conspiracy arc the game takes isn't great, but surrounding it are some fantastic meditations on escapism and whether or not we are all running from something. This hits quite well but some of the ways they handle Henry's relationship with his wife are where this game hits me the most. From Henry's point of view, it's easy to understand the reasons for his actions, but it is his wife's point of view that provokes the strongest feelings. As someone with a history of traumatic brain injuries (years of playing football on top of currently being a pro wrestler in training), early onset dementia and other mental illnesses are a very real possibility later in life. And it's that aspect of Firewatch's story that is so affecting. The thought of finding the love of my life and then slowly losing everything until the one I cared about the most is a complete stranger is something more terrifying than any boogeyman in the woods. Firewatch even works this into the ending with a brilliant visual metaphor. At the end of the game, a fire rages out of control and fills the air with dense smoke. The map you've been exploring for the past several hours becomes a confusing mess. That shortcut you discovered earlier in the game is now hidden in the smoke, the path you thought lead to Delilah's sector now leads straight into a wall of rock, the once familiar becomes foreign. It may not have the best writing in a game this year, but the touches like this, the way it made me feel an existential dread, and the way it questions if playing the game in and of itself is a way to escape those feelings, all make Firewatch's story the best of the year.

And that's the end of day 3. Tomorrow, we begin heading toward the homestretch, but there are some obstacles with Best Line(s), Biggest Trainwreck, Please Stop, and finally most fun to watch. If you've made it this far, there are only 2 days left so be thankful, and if you are just joining me, welcome and please feel free to check out day 1 and day 2. Either way, thanks for reading.

Day 1

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Welcome to day 2 of my 5 day rundown of all the best and worst of gaming in 2016. Today is a celebration of both the audio and visual aspects of games and then I get to the games that disappointed me the most, and some games that came out of nowhere to be my favorites of the year. With that being said, let's get to it.

As with yesterday, spoilers will be thrown around at will and all the videos/screenshots are mine unless otherwise stated.

Most Grafix

What started as a joke award that went exclusively to FMV games, has now become slightly more serious. Anyway here are the games of 2016 that have the most grafix.

• Dark Souls 3
• Doom
• Far Cry Primal
• Hitman
• Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
• Uncharted 4
• The Witness

Runners Up:

Dark Souls 3:

Of all of Dark Souls 3’s breathtaking environments, the one that stands out is the Irithyll of the Boreal Valley level. Most of the levels look amazing, but this gorgeous level stands out as one of the best-looking areas in a game this year.

The Witness:

When first starting up The Witness, you will be greeted with a dark tunnel. After solving a few simple tutorial puzzles, you will open up the door and lay eyes upon one of the most jaw-dropping art styles in the medium.

Winner:

Uncharted 4:

There is not much I can say about Uncharted 4 that the screenshots can’t say for themselves. Simply put, Uncharted 4 is the best-looking game I have ever played. Here are many screenshots to demonstrate that.

MOST STYYYYYYYYLE

Every once in a while, a game will come along with a combination of a unique art style, soundtrack, mechanics, and an overall feel that no other game can replicate. This award celebrates the most stylish games of 2016.

• Doom
• Furi
• Inside
• Let it Die
• Mafia 3
• Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
• Oxenfree
• Overwatch
• Stardew Valley
• The Witness

Runners Up:

Furi: Furi's style can only be described as cell shaded, cyberpunk anime. This combination works brilliantly on top of gameplay presentation that brings the whole game together in a cohesive, styyyyyyyyylish package that I would recommend to anyone looking for a great looking game. (Not my video)

Overwatch: So much has been said about Overwatch's style that I really don't need to go into detail with this one.

Winner:

Let it Die: Despite what I personally think of Let It Die, this game oozes style out of every pore. The overall aesthetic of this game gives off an amazing first impression that carries the rest of the game further than it should have. There's a skateboarding Grim Reaper, a ton of ripping guitars, and a mushroom that makes you do yoga to restore your character's health bar. I feel that it lacks in many key areas, but it certainly does not lack in STYYYYYYYYYYYYYYLE.

Mafia 3 presents the award for

Best use of a song in Mafia 3

• Ace of Spades by Motörhead- Call of Duty Black Ops 3 DLC #3
• Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones- Mafia 3
• Bad Moon Rising by CCR- Mafia 3
• You Belong to Me by The Misfits- Mafia 3
• Green River by CCR- Mafia 3

Runners Up:

Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones- Mafia 3: One of the opening scenes of Mafia 3 is a celebratory moment cut short by the legendary intro to this song. The rest of the song is used to great effect and sets up the rest of the game. (Video is not mine)

Green River by Credence Clearwater Revival- Mafia 3: Late in Mafia 3, the game tasks you with disrupting a riverboat party. After destroying the riverboat, Lincoln stalks the main target of the mission through the swamps while this song plays in the background. (Not my video) It is also worth noting that, John Fogerty actually says "New Bordeaux", the fictional New Orleans in which the game takes place, in the song.

Winner:

Bad Moon Rising by Credence Clearwater Revival- Mafia 3: CCR is one of my favorite bands ever, so I am always overjoyed when one of their songs gets used in a game. Mafia 3 uses about half of their greatest hits, none more effectively than this classic track. While it may be a little on the nose, the song is still used in a fantastic way. (Not my video)

Best Music:

• Doom
• Firewatch
• Furi
• The Last Guardian
• Mafia 3
• Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
• Oxenfree
• No Man's Sky
• Stardew Valley
• XCOM 2

Runners Up:

Firewatch: Firewatch's soundtrack mostly comes down this acoustic guitar riff, but it is a good one and it is used effectively every time it comes up.

Stardew Valley: At first Stardew Valley just seems like another 2d pixel art indie game, but the second the music kicks in, it sets itself apart. Not just that song but the entire soundtrack is pretty damn enjoyable. When this is the first song you hear, you know it's going to be a good game. And a bonus song for the holiday season. (Not my videos)

Winner:

Mafia 3: Mafia 3 wins this category by virtue of having damn near every major hit from the 1960's. This soundtrack helps give the game a sense of place and is just pretty damn amazing in its own right.

Most Disappointing:

This category isn't actually as self-explanatory as it seems. There is a lot that goes into being disappointed by a game, such as previous expectations, hype from people you trust, or just being able to see a game's good ideas being overshadowed by the bad ones.

• Sid Meier's Civilization VI
• Dark Souls 3
• Doom
• No Man's Sky

Runners Up:

Sid Meier's Civilization VI: It's not that Civ VI is a bad game, it just does nothing to grab me the way previous games have. I love the new art style and the smart gameplay changes, but there is just something about this one that makes me uninterested in playing more than 10 minutes of it. Maybe when the game gets Steam Workshop support and Mass Effect mods I will come back to it, but for now, I will just stare at it wonder why I just don't enjoy it.

No Man's Sky: What do I even say about No Man's Sky (other than the 4000 words I've already said about it). I played this game after all the grievances about it were aired and yet I still came away from it wanting more. Similar to Fallout 4, the more I played No Man's Sky, the more I saw what it could have and by all means should have been. Despite this, I do want to go back to it and see what the new creative mode is like, but I don't think anything will be able to alleviate my disappointment with this game.

"Winner":

Dark Souls 3: Coming off the heels of one of the best games I've ever played in Bloodborne, I expected the world of Dark Souls 3. What I got instead was the third game of this type (fourth if we count the Dark Souls 2 remaster) in as many years. On top of this, many people described it as a "greatest hits" of the Souls series, which isn't a bad thing, but it describes the game perfectly. This was a game I hoped would learn from Bloodborne, but it seems to have gone in the opposite direction, making it an easy choice for the most disappointing game of 2016.

Best Surprise

The opposite of Most disappointing, this category celebrates the games that may have slipped under the radar for a variety of reasons before I played them, but left a positive impression when I finally got the chance.

• Far Cry Primal
• Firewatch
• Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
• Oxenfree
• Stardew Valley

Runners Up:

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst: Mirror's Edge: Catalyst may not be a great game. In fact, it may have the worst story of a game I've played all year. But very few things match the fluidity of motion that this game allows for when running around the environment. I enjoyed the freerunning, I really like Faith as a protagonist, I found some of the supporting cast to be rather enjoyable as well. I heard a lot of bad things about this game, but it was nowhere near as bad as people made it out to be. I'm not sure if the Mirror's Edge franchise will ever get the game it deserves, but this game was a step in the right direction in a lot of ways.

Far Cry Primal: My past experiences with the Far Cry franchise weren't particularly memorable. I hated what I played of Blood Dragon and I enjoyed some parts of Far Cry 4. In Far Cry: Primal, I found a game that I had a ton of fun just running around and making my sabertooth tiger maul any bad guys I could find. Anything the game makes you do is terrible, but that didn't stop me from making my own fun with the systems the game gave me. And at the end of the day, isn't that what open world games are about? Also riding around on a wooly mammoth is just as fun as it sounds.

Winner:

Stardew Valley: If Stardew Valley is a time vampire, then I'm time Bella Swan. Over the course of SEVEN days, I put over 60 hours into this game. It is one of the rare games in which I just lost myself. If you've seen the quick look, the exuberance Dan shows is exactly how I felt throwing 13 straight hours into this game on some days. Every aspect hooked me and if I got bored of those, I would move on to one of the other million things to do. The best part is how this game seemed to come out of nowhere. One day some of the people I follow on Twitter lost their damn minds over it. Then I saw the quick look and gave it a try. Needless to say, I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaallllllly like this game. Now if my damn rabbit could drop a rabbit's foot, I could finally finish the community center.

And that's the end of Day 2. If you've made it this far, I hope you are enjoying my lists. If you are just joining me I suggest going to check out Day 1. Either way, I hope you join me tomorrow for day 3, as things really pick up, as I celebrate best performance, best new character, best gameplay, and finally best story. Thanks for reading.