My Favorite Game Experiences of 2016

Hello hello! 2016 was quite eventful for me personally, and games were a big part of it. Thankfully it was a fantastic year to be playing video games. I even participated in a Backlog Blitz to try to get to more games, but sadly only ended up cutting into it by 3 total.

As always I'll preface this list by stating these are the games that I had my favorite gaming memories of the year with. There are some where the game itself may be higher solely for the people I was able to play with, and the stupid funny crap we got ourselves into.

Also note, I did a personal cut off of before this last week, though I had bought and have been playing a ton of Dark Souls 3 throughout this week. It would probably be in the top 10 if this year extended to the end of January.

The same can be said for Overcooked and Chroma Squad as well. I've had a lot of fun with them already, but not enough time spent to add it. Onto the list!

10. Firewatch

I was extremely interested in Firewatch leading up to it's release, but hearing the impressions on the story meant I focused my time on other things, until a buddy gave it to me for the holidays.

I'm glad he did and that I played through it in a single session, because overall I think it's a really nice experience. I felt the game gets a bit too much flak for how it ends. While I do think there are a couple simple ways they could have made it better, it didn't take away from the fantastic voice performances and beautiful woods they crafted.

Without going into detail, the very beginning was surprisingly powerful for how it is handled. It got me thinking about how the mind works with storytelling, and I could have it on this list just for that alone.

9. Enter The Gungeon

I really like these types of rogue likes. I'm pretty terrible at bullethell games, but this was the first that really got me thinking about it. I'm still pretty terrible, and I think I've only made the 3rd or 4th level a few times, but it's extremely well produced and fun. I ended up liking it more than Nuclear Throne, but think they're both great games.

Maybe 2017 I'll have another indie darling that will satisfy my craving for a new Spelunky-like.

8. Rocket League

A game I still play multiple nights a week, and I don't see that stopping anytime soon. Psyonix has kept their word in terms of consistent free updates that has made this just as much fun to play.

This year I was also working a new job, and one of my coworkers was a big Rocket League fan. We started playing together and even participated as a duo team at our local game night's RL tournaments. We actually won the first, but came up short at the bigger second tourney.

It's just so damn good, and may be my favorite game ever.

7. Dragon's Dogma

This was actually one of the first games I bought in 2016, and it's damn good! I spent about an hour or more creating my character and pawn, and love the pawn system. It's a really neat way to integrate a form of cooperative experience into a single player game. I did enjoy the abilities and combat for the most part, but at a certain point I was ready for the game to end.

It's rough around the edges but a really great action RPG, and I'm hoping there's still more in the future.

6. Tricky Towers

Tricky Towers rules. There have been so many fantastic moments playing this with friends, thankfully because of the built in online multiplayer.

Indie devs, I know it's extremely hard work to get online multiplayer working for your games but Tricky Towers is an example of why you absolutely should. Simple but such a blast.

5. Forza Horizon 3

This was my most anticipated game of 2016. I paid $100 because I wanted to play it that weekend, and now that I've done that once in my life I can move on and never do it again. However, the time spent playing it, and quality of the product helps tide the feeling of shame a bit.

Also, I'm so happy it actually functioned with Xbox players well. We're finally starting to get online multiplayer experiences I've been wanting since middle school.

4. H1Z1: King of the Kill

This is not a quality product, however it is probably my favorite premise for a competitive multiplayer shooter. I scoffed at playing it when it became it's own game, just because of what I had seen of the bugs and crashes. I now have 200+ hours playing it, thanks to a great group of friends who also got into it.

The game gave me some of the best feelings of accomplishment ever, even though the screen for winning a round was completely busted.

I'm here waiting for the first polished version of Battle Royale to come out, and when/if it does I'll be playing it as regularly as Rocket League.

3. Overwatch

This was probably my second most anticipated game, and it's exactly what I was hoping for. There are so many smart ways Blizzard approaches the multiplayer shooter experience to make it fun for any group. Really looking forward to seeing how it develops in it's second year. I loved Team Fortress 2 for years, and I'm hoping this will be similar.

2. Titanfall 2

Another shooter! 2016 was seriously the return of amazing first person shooter campaigns, and it was a super refreshing to see. I loved how in TF2 they were able to present many cool ideas, but none of them overstayed their welcome. They showed you exactly what they wanted and moved on.

As for the multiplayer, it's still just so damn fast and good. I hope going forward more teams steal their system of factions so that you can find good groups to play with. That meant I could actually play with people consistently on PC, which I was worried about when buying it. Please let the third game come out on Steam, it would be so much more healthier EA.

1. DOOM

At my local game night, I was actually filmed/interviewed about Doom as a franchise as a lead up story to this new release. I doubt the footage ever made it on Forbes because frankly I remembered the first Doom but only as a treat playing it on other people's computers in the 90's.

This game though, my bloody goodness. I tried playing it initially on my old graphics card, and could only get a steady 30 on low. So I actually upgraded to a 1070, bought a 144hz monitor, more RAM, and said let's GO!

Game completely maxed I was getting 150 FPS. After finishing a level I uttered out loud, to an empty apartment, "This is one of my favorite gaming experiences I've ever had."

I actually had to take breaks after each level because of how much was going on. It's just a fantastic campaign, with a fantastic soundtrack, and I'm so happy id software pulled it off.

Unfortunately I went from DOOM to Wolfenstein The New Order, which feels like a disservice to Wolfenstein. The New Order is a great game in it's own right, with a really well presented story, but it's no DOOM.