Once again I managed to play at least 10 games this year! As usual, I played very few games actually released in 2017 but I was lucky enough to not have to travel so much for work so I had more time to hit the games....and by hitting the games I mean I played a lot of same games for many, many hours. Anywho, let's get started!

Uncharted 1

I don't think I need to spend a lot of time on this one. It's Nathan Drakes first outing and it was a fun ride. Just enough supernatural stuff to keep me interested.

Journey

I only got this because I believe it was free on PS plus one month? I played through it twice and finally got to see what all the hub-bub was about. My fiance really enjoyed watching me play it.

Syberia 2

Oh, Syberia... Syberia 1 is still one of my favorite games ever. The second outing didn't hit quite as hard as the first and the ending is very abrupt, but I still had a fun helping Kate Walker and Hanz find the mammoths.

Fallout 4

I enjoyed my 80-some hours of Fallout 4. However, I enjoyed my time with Fallout 3 better. The whole point of the "wasteland" is for it to be...ya know...a wasteland. Fallout 4 felt too full for me. That being said, having lived in the Boston area for a few years in a previous life, it was fun to walk about Boston commons in the Fallout universe.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

Clocking in at three hours, it was a fun (and beautiful) adventure through the mind of a child that doesn't quite fit in with this rest of his family. Being that child growing up, it hit close to home.

The Last Door Season 2

The world needs more Lovecraftian games! This game is a fun 8/16-bit looking-point-and-click game that tells the tale multiple characters in Victorian England and their respective descents into madness. The "season" consists of four episodes and with every episode, you get closer and closer to the cosmic horror. The game has multiple endings (ok, it's only 2) which is neat for such a small game. If you can get past the art style, its a good game to scratch that Lovecraftian itch.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

A game that needs no introduction; my fiance bought a Switch (what a rigmarole that was...) specifically to play this game. While I am not really a Zelda fan, it was so much fun to play with her and explore the big open world and solve puzzles together. As my fiance hasn't really played any open world games, it was also fun to watch encounter all the mayhem that comes with an open world. Next, I am going to try to get her to play Skyrim.

Divinity Original Sin: EE

After receiving this game for free in....2014? I put about 40 hours into it then didn't touch it for a few years. Fast forward to 2017 and I started over and completed it, albeit with a guide on my second monitor to get the most bang for my hour. The cosmic aspect of the story was a bit weird but the game deserves all the praise it gets. The space homestead for the characters had an awesome feel to it, Zizax is an awesome character, the "talk to animals" ability can lead to some hilarious quests and the voice acting and music (RIP Kirill Pokrovsky) is really good in that game as well.

Bloodborne

Possibly the best example of a Lovecraftian game that I have ever played; except for maybe the Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. Take a completely bananas story, dark gothic victorian aesthetic, Dark Souls combat, and trick weapons, and you have a super fun game. Really once I was able to start putting the actual story together and started to really get a grasp on the Lovecraft-action happening, it hit a new high note.

Destiny 2

I played about 70 hours of Destiny 1 leading up the PC release of Destiny 2. All in all, I have spent well over 300 hours doing Destiny stuff this year. Does that make me a monster? Probably. I bought the $100 digital version. Does that make me a monster? Probably. I bought Silver...mulitple times. Does that make me a monster? Definitely. At the end of the day, I enjoyed Destiny 1 better, but having an active clan and doing multiple raid runs ever week really adds to the fun of Destiny 2. I will continue to play a gazillion hours of Destiny 2 over the next year...and probably spend even more money on it.

Honorable Mentions

Fall of Cybertron

Its another one of those games. I really enjoyed the transformation animation, that must have been a huge amount of work. There is a ton of fan service as well, which I enjoy quite a bit.

Abzu

Journey, but underwater. My fiance really enjoyed it.

I named this list the top games of 2016 since I’m not sure I even played 10 games in 2016…I TOTALLY played 10 games in 2016! As usual I played very few games there were actually released in 2016. Since my job makes me travel on fairly regular basis, I didn’t get to play games anywhere near as much as I usually do. Anywho, here is the list!

10. Star Wars: The Old Republic

SW:ToR and I have a very on-again, off-again relationship. When the game was announced back in 2008-2009 I remember thinking, “Bummer, I didn’t really want an Old Republic MMO. I just want KotOR 3.” That sentiment still stands. However, for all of its warts, SW:ToR still pulls me back in every now and then.

For some reason, I become stricken with a crippling online gambling addition whenever I play this game. When I see a new set of armor on the Cartel Market, I will spend too much money to get it. Which is a bummer in itself, but on top of that, I spend half my time in-game dressing up my characters in, what I think, is cool armor. This game compels me to spend too much money and to just sit and play dress up with my characters. No other game can do that to me so SW:ToR deserves some recognition.

I do not want to sound like I am poo-poo-ing the game. In fact, earlier this year I re-subscribed and played through a handful of the class missions for the first time. I bought the collector edition back in 2011 so I should at least see some of the main quests through. I completed 4 of the 8 class lines and completed the newest expansion, Knights of the Fallen Empire. The content was…fine. It was not anything to rave about, but they took the game in more of a “single player campaign with multiplayer aspects”. The class stories are all pretty solid, but some are better than others. The planets you visit are unique and interesting. The codex is full of cool information (that no one reads…ever). The art is stylized and interesting. Player housing is pretty neat. There are several things that make this game fun to play, but not enough for me to really, really get into.

SW:ToR is a game that should be great. I really want to like it every time I log into it. I should enjoy running around cutting things up with my lightsaber or blasting them with a…blaster, but I don’t. There are just too many little things that add up an experience that isn’t as great as other games, or even MMOs. Music bugs (finally fixed), gear preview pane glitches, broken quests, and boring dungeons are a few of the issues that SW:ToR.

This entry is getting pretty long so I will summarize by saying that I enjoyed my few weeks of time with SW:ToR this year, but I won’t be begging my friends to reactivate their accounts and come play with me.

9. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2

Having played Dark Forces 1 back on my PS1, this was a fun game to take for a spin. I have tried to play it in years past but there were always video driver issues so the game was a vomit rainbow all over the screen. Somehow everything worked great and I got to play through it with very few issues.

The game is known for its hokey cut scenes, and they did not disappoint. Low budget and overacted, there were still a joy to watch. The game does not hold up well after all of these years, but the modding community is still very much alive and mods actually cover up most of the games serious flaws. New textures for enemies, weapons, and environments make it a much easier pill to swallow. Overall, it was still fun to see this chapter in the story of Kyle Katarn.

8. Might and Magic 7

Might and Magic 7 is a relic in my GoG library. Having heard many great things about it from my friends who played it back in the day, I decided to give it a spin. The game is super old so the graphics are a bit much to look at, but the game itself is a joy to play.

The open world aspect is impressive considering the games age. Combat is a bit awkward but is manageable once you get used to it. The character development is standard DnD/RPG material. The dungeons are fun and the enemies can provide quite a challenge, which is where my one major complaint lies.

Walking into a wine cellar and having my entire party obliterated by a phantom was a huge bummer. AutoSaves didn’t really exist when this game came out so losing a bunch of progress is a real danger. When you actually do lose an hour to progress, it is a huge bummer and is very disheartening. Despite this, the game is still great and one day, I will probably finish it…probably.

7. Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide

Vermintide is a one of the more underrated B-tier games out there. Melee-focused Left 4 dead with fantasy Warhammer trappings and loot? Count me in! They recently added “contracts” which are essentially daily quests. The melee combat is very well done and a lot of fun.

My favorite thing about the game, however, is the characters. The banter between the characters is very clever, and even after many hours of playing, I am still hearing different dialogue. Since the different races of the game have tenuous relations, at best, the dialogue is usually pretty quippy and fun.

While the game is not without flaws, it do enjoy playing it, and actually wish I had more time to play it.

6. Ryse: Son of Rome

Ryse was the type of game that I needed, when I needed it. The game was essentially a tech demo for the new consoles and looks great on PC. It is short, dumb, and looks really good. 6-10 hours of enjoyments for around five dollars. It was a good deal, and a good time.

5. Lords of the Fallen

A love letter to Dark Souls, but with more of a Western-culture twist; Lords of the Fallen was another game that was a quick, not terrible challenging game for me to sink my teeth into. The “Gruff McGrufferson” main character was a nice departure from the silent Dark Souls protagonists and the big bulky armor made me wish it was a Warhammer game.

The weird pacing and gear flow, along with random crashes made the journey through the game a little rough, but it was still a fun jaunt. Lords of the Fallen is not nearly as challenging as Dark Souls, and I am ok with that. I hope they made a sequel and smooth out the rougher edges. The armor and characters sold me into the world.

4. Destiny

There is not much for me to say about Destiny that hasn’t already been said. The reason it is even on this list is that every time I turn of Destiny, I remember why I enjoy playing Destiny. On top of that, every time I play Destiny, two and a half hours goes by.

The art and design of the game is top notch, but everything else is a bit of a bummer. I am currently trying to get geared up for the raid and I hope to get a few runs of that in before everyone leaves or Destiny 2 comes out.

3. Doom

Doom was exactly what it needed to be. I really enjoyed playing, and enjoyed listening to it even more.

2. Killing Floor 2

Another underrated co-op game. I put close to 200 hours into the first Killing Floor and I immediately purchased Killing Floor 2 when it entered Early Access last year. I didn’t play too much of it during its Early Access period, but since its official release in November I have played dozens of hours of it.

Killing Floor’s strength comes from the attention to detail in the guns that you wield. The reload amination are spectacularly fun to watch due to their accuracy. This accuracy is heightened when Zed-time occurs. The game goes into slow motion and you can watch the bullet from your new magazine enter the chamber….it is so awesome!

If you have a squad to play with, pick this game up on sale and play a few games, its great.

1. World of Warcraft: Legion

Oh World of Warcraft, will I ever be rid of you? Probably not. Even after a decade of near continuous play, I have put hundreds of hours into the newest World of Warcraft expansion, Legion.

This expansion brings back an old enemy that has been around since the early days of Warcraft: the Burning Legion. The Burning Legion is a space traveling army of demons that razes worlds to ash. While the Burning Legion has made appearances in WoW before, this time around they have brought back nearly everyone: Tichondrious, Azgalor, and several others. It is your job, as a hero of Azeroth, to destroy them…again…sometimes for the third time. And the reason it falls to you is because Metzen left and they killed off all of his heroes.

Believe it or not, this game is closer to its roots than most of the recent expansions. Most will tell you that this expansion is the best WoW expansion yet. While I am hesitant to agree with that, it has been a lot of fun. There are tons of caveats that I could go over, but at this point, you know if you like WoW or not. Are you prepared? I sure was!

Honorable Mentions

Let It Die

Let It Die is a bonkers free to play game from Japan with a bunch of Dark Souls DNA. I have only played a handful of hours of it, but I plan to play way more.

Smite

I added Smite to the list simply because of the sheer number of hours I played of it. At the end of the day, it is a MOBA. It is a MOBA that I enjoyed for the 250 hours I put in this year. However, I am pretty much done with MOBA as a game type. There are way too many other games to play…ya know…like WoW…

That was my list! Thank you for reading and here's looking forward to a new year of games!

I am proud to be a member of this community and of Team Giant Bomb. I am also proud to have raised nearly $1000 for sick kids. I cannot wait for the fun to happen this year. I am hoping to meet or exceed my record amount of $500 this year! I am also hoping to have some prizes to give away at certain times/donation levels (more on this at a later date).

So please, donate to help sick kids HERE. Feel free to watch the fun and hang out on game day (Nov 5th and 6th) on my twitch channel, HERE.

Saturday 11-5-16 (9 am to 9 pm): Conclusions, Staples, and Happy Memories

Finish Julia Among the Stars: A slow paced adventure game first thing in the morning!

World of Warcraft: Need to do my dailies! Karazhan! Old Raids!

Diablo 1: Still my favorite Diablo!

More on deck and I will even be taking requests!

Sunday 11-6-16 (9 am to 9 pm): New Worlds, Old Worlds, Dead Worlds

Dark Souls 2: I have owned it for a few months and have never played it, so this should go well!

Skyrim: The music! The sky box! The snow!

More on deck and I will even be taking requests!

This is an early list and will likely change on stream day.

Once again, thank you for helping our awesome team here at Giant Bomb and, more importantly, helping heal sick children!

Trying to get involved in the community; how is it done?

Smite: players, game types, sexy goddesses, and why I have spent so much money on it.

Extra Life plans and ideas.

Leveling a new character with my girlfriend in the new WoW expansion, and streaming.

Kotor 1 vs Kotor 2; which is better and why?

Why is Doom Guy so mad?

Why can't I seem to get into Bloodborne?

Currently Playing: WoW, Smite, and a smattering of Bloodborne and Destiny

Trying to get my legendary ring quest done before the next WoW expansion. I wish I could do normal raids with a guild but my work schedule doesn't allow for any type of commitment like that. Just doing dungeons and LFR...sigh.

For some unknown reason I got back into Smite after six months of not playing it at all. I bought the Founder's pack way back in 2013 so have access to all of the new gods right out the gate is nice. Sadly, I was never very good at MOBAs and Smite is no exception.

I have been slowly (and I mean slowly) chipping away at Bloodborne. Bloodborne hasn't grabbed me the way Dark Souls did. Probably because I was unemployed when I was playing Dark Souls.....anyway. Once I can find time to sit down with the PDF strategy guide on my tablet, I can make some headway, that doesn't happen as often as it should. I would rather play WoW or Smite with friends than sit and be angry at Bloodborne by myself.

Since I heard there was going to be an update (already happened as of this writing) I had a hankering to play more Desitny. While the update doesn't provide content that I am looking for, running strikes and trying to get gear is still a lot of fun. I also wish I could do the King's Fall raid a few more times. Why aren't there tons of Destiny novels.....

For Extra Life 2016, I have a couple ideas. A friend of mine is doing a Warhammer 40k themed fundraiser and I might jump on board. Either that or make my friend play co-op Diablo and Diablo 2 with me for as much of he 24 hours and I can. Still in the early planning phases. November will be here before I know it.

Top 10 Games of the Year

Note: Since I can't really afford to play all the new games, my list is comprised of games that I played in 2014, regardless of their release date.

2014 was a slow year for games - personally, as well as the industry. However, I did play some high quality games.

10. Dead Trigger 2

Dead Trigger 2 is a great way to pass 10 or 15 minutes. It is a zombie First Person Shooter built in Unity; it looks pretty great for a Facebook/tablet game. While it is free to play, money in necessary unless you don't mind waiting for days for upgrades to finish. I tossed them ~$25 as a tip and to get some sweet guns. It has become one of my daily "game chores" - collect the money, do the daily bonus mission, log out.

9. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

8. Tomb Raider Reboot

7. Metro Last Light

6. Wolfenstein: The New Order

5. Legend of Grimrock 2

4. Divinity: Original Sin

3. Darksiders 2

2. Shadowrun Returns

1. Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Honorable Mentions

Burial At Sea

Warlords of Dreanor

I will be making a postmortem for my experience with Extra Life in the next week days. It was quite the experience and I have some things to say about it.

First off, thanks for taking a look at my Giant Bomb blog! The main focus here will be the Extra Life fundraiser.

I have been involved in youth development for the past 7 years and I wanted to become even more involved while doing what I love, playing video games. On Saturday, October 25th, I will be streaming for 24 hours to help raise money for the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Here is a (brief) list of the games I might play:

• Killing Floor
• Diablo 1,2,3
• World of Warcraft
• The Witcher 2
• Kingdoms of Amalur
• Skyrim
• Legend of Grimrock 2
• Deadspce
• Bastion
• Sleeping(y) Dogs
• Divinity: Original Sin
• Wasteland 2
• Syberia 2
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

...just to name a few.

I hope to raise $500, wish me luck and thanks again for having a look!