I played a lot of games this year, however I didn't play a lot of 2016 releases this year. Maybe some of these games wouldn't be on this list if I had played more, but they're what I enjoyed the most from this year.
I would recommend trying every game on this list.
Although it's not a game I've played a ton, I love everything about Overwatch. The game play is the most fun I've had this year, and the graphics are some of the most beautiful I've ever seen in gaming. While tons of people are busy leveling and playing daily I haven't really played a ton of hours, but what I've experienced from this game was enough to make me say it's my favourite release this year.
I waited years for Stardew Valley and it delivered. As someone who loved Harvest Moon as a child and grew up being disappointed by how bad they became this is what I have been waiting for. If you followed the game from it's announcement trailer you have got to experience how much the graphics have changed.
It's Kirby. I haven't really played a Kirby game in years and this felt like a refreshing return for me to get back into the series. I loved the levels and theme of the entire game, and the unexpected game play elements made me love it. Also he's my favourite Nintendo character that helps.
For those who played Gmod Tower I'm sure Tower Unite can be disappointing. I never got to play Gmod Tower until the day it shut down, but I have had so much fun with this game even in it's early access state. I'm looking forward to see how this game is in a year, and I wonder how many hours I can end up in it in a few years time.
The biggest draw for this game to me was the games graphical style. I'm not aware of any game that looks like this, but I love it. The game play is simple but fun.
I like a fun open world game to play every year and Mafia III filled that itch. Maybe It shouldn't have been a Mafia game, but I enjoyed the story line enough when it happened. The issue is just getting that story to happen is a real grind. I enjoyed the story, the characters, the setting, and the smooth but repetitive game play.
2016 for me has been a year of playing hilarious multiplayer games. Duck Game, Worms, and now Ultimate Chicken Horse. This game is so much fun and cracks me up constantly. I recommend trying it with 3 other people, as t's probably at it's funniest then.
I wanted to play Owlboy after seeing a small bit of it. I love platformers, but this didn't exactly feel like one due to how unique it plays. While the game play didn't exactly blow my mind, the amazing pixel art and engaging story kept me wanting to play.
I love Terraria and Minecraft, but I didn't exactly want to dedicate even more hours playing them. I thought maybe Portal Knights would be that next game for me, and while it's been disappointing in some aspects it was a lot of fun. I don't exactly like how small the islands feel, and that it's limited to 4 players staying together in that small map. The game has a lot of room to improve and it likely will in early access but I can't see a huge amount of hours in this while it has those limitations. I love the graphic style, the combat, and just having a nice looking game to mine, resource gather, and build stuff in.
I love Halloween. I love platformers. You put those together and you get this game. It's seriously awesome. If you love platformers like I do then I cannot recommend this enough.
