Can u get my vote in for GotY 2017? Skyrim Switch please.

Shenmue 3

Just finished LG. The last half an hour was the most I've felt anything from a game, maybe even film or book, ever. Silent Hill 2 was the closest I can think of. That game was a constant descent, this a constant ascent, so they dovetail beautifully in the category of phenomenal games I'll probably only play once.

They share a unity of gameplay reinforcing narrative and narrative informing gameplay that's the best I've enjoyed. And that carries through to their obvious turn-offs, the unwieldy, unpredictable nature of the camera and controls in LG, like a reationship between a boy and a giant tame beast might be, and in SH2 the fixed perspective creating corners unseeable, disorientating you and forcing an accidental stumble into the darkness.

Games are really fucking good sometimes.

I'm not making a list though because didn't many enough games finish did I. I ran out of grammar

just started titanfall 2 today. it would be #3 if i could be bothered to find my old post and change it.

Facewon wrote:

DongleUnlimited wrote:

Final list. Out goes Firewatch, in comes Overwatch

1) The Flame in the Flood - spent an awful lot of time floating downstream on my raft, with my dog, stopping off at various deserted islands to scavenge for supplies, avoiding bears and crafting shit on the way. All to the backdrop of an awesome soundtrack. Just one more island...
2) The Division - interest totally reinvigorated by the updates and DLC - setting is king - love just wandering around and taking in the sites...shooting stuff. Obviously. Survival pushes it up..

We'll there's a good reason for me to start on flame and flood.

Won't change list as it's one attempt, but first trip down river showed a lot of promise.

Gonna say more folks should try flame and flood.

Pretty sure I could be talked into arguing division > destiny.

Yeah, Face, you're not even close to forming your own opinions. Sheesh.

Now, now, they're both shit.

Facewon wrote:

Pretty sure I could be talked into arguing division > destiny.

Hmm. I'd argue The Division is way better solo, but it then doesn't have anything like the pure brilliance of Vault of Glass for MP shenanigans.

Loved them both.

Rocket League is one of my most enjoyed games of 2016 so it would get my vote if i could but then again i played it on PS4 before 2016 i think so i can't personally

Struggled a long time to make this list and intended to do it via keyboard for legibility but stuck doing it via phone.

1. Total War: Warhammer
I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the TW series, since spending a summer holiday sat playing Shogun with my dad. Warhammer comes with the added delight of being Warhammer, a hobby I was very much into when I spent that summer holiday at my dad's place. This is essentially the perfect fusion of nostalgia, franchise and engine for me. It got me back into painting models (see Boardgame thread) as hobby, and that would be enough to secure it as Number 1.

I reckon that reasoning would be a bone of contention for a lot of people so luckily it's also the best Total War game. Each faction feels unique to play as and against, in both lore, appearance aims and tactics, and the overarching campaign that mirrors the End Times story has plenty of narrative drive. The DLC is rather pricey but the game has the advantage of evolving to accommodate it without you purchasing it, meaning the map is always mutating to introduce new factions. It is the ultimate synthesis of hobby and possibility space - Warhammer has always begged for a proper strategy port, and this is it, and it's wonderful.

2. Thumper
This game is the result hellish clarity of purpose and execution. It's a twisting torture device. It's Rez but punishing rather than pleasurable. It's white hot pokers stabbed into your eyes for 30 minute stints. It's the agony of losing the rhythm and the disconnect from the trance state that comes with it. I can't fault it, because it's exactly what it promised it would be. Particularly, the way it takes components of songs and builds on and expands upon them over the various stages, filling in blank beats with fiddly flourishes ends up making it a unique and compelling rhythm game.

3. Darkest Dungeon
A weird pick for me because I usually feel like picking a game you haven't finished is kind of doing the whole idea of picking a top 5 a bit of a disservice (especially as i've played enough to make picking a top 5 a matter of exclusion) but I've played enough of Darkest Dungeon in Early Access and release to feel secure in its inclusion.

Darkest Dungeon is another rougelike that takes the works of H. P. Lovecraft and tries to gameify then. Like Sunless Sea before it, sanity is a key element, but DD is more interested in the stress of proximity than the stress of the unknowable. It's a dunegeon crawler where failure is inevitable, and you need to do your best to mitigate. You don't make big plays that leave your party immaculate, you get undone by critical hits and devestating misses that tear your party apart in body and mind.

All of its mechanics act in confluence wth each other: excursions to the dungeons yield loot and rewards, but also debilitating diseases and quirks. Characters become obsessed with the undead, with sex, gambing, and self flagellation, they get the yips, become afraid of the dark, of death, of the light. Managing these affectations becomes a whole dimension of the game that sets it apart from X-Com. You don't name your heroes after your friends in Darkest Dungeon, because they're meat for the grinder, fuel for the engine. Their flesh and their sanity are resources to trade for success. The combat isn't too shabby either.

4. The Witness
Jonathon Blow is a total fucking genius, and The Witness is testament to his brilliance, and his team's dedication to an idea. It is a video game by a man disillusioned with most games, and delights in its artifice in ways that are joyful to behold. Its ability to teach your without words, and the way it makes almost every facet of its world an elaborate puzzle to be solved is are both brilliant ideas that have rarely been realised as well as they have here. It might wear its philosophies rather heavily on its sleeve, but in doing so it at least adheres to them rather than capitulating in the face of entertainment. I'd go on, but it's best experienced blind.

5. DOOM
It was a tie between this and Titanfall 2 for the FPS inclusion, but DOOM. pipped it for nailing the Platinum style combat loop at the core. It's a pure game, free of moral concern or narrative grandstanding: these are demons, they can be destroyed without reproach. The glory kill conceit looked dubious in reveals, but in the hand it is a joy, brutal punctuations in an endless flurry of gunshot.

There's probably a case to argue out the bosses which lose the impact of the puzzle style combat arenas that make up the game, and the perk system whilst brilliant was constantly distracting me from the violence at hand, but they're minor issues when the rest of the game is so proficient in its central aims. After years of FPS games losing their way, it's great to see the king come for his crown.

Notable Mentions
Titanfall 2 - a campaign that was lightning in a bottle, furiously inventive and forward facing, and an exhilarating multiplayer to boot

Oxenfree - a delightful story of teens and ghosts on an abandoned island with a sumptuous aesthetic.

Duskers - the closest you can get to experiencing the horror of Alien, it transforms your PC into a spaceship floating through empty space, using a series of drones and crude menus as your only method of interacting with a sparse and hostile universe.

Furi - a rhythm game masking a a combat game, with some arena shooter elements chucked in for free. Too cool for school aesthetics, and a delightful roster of devilish delinquents to dethrone.

Monster Hunter Generations - It's monster hunter.

Hitman - The social side of James Bond mixed with Peter Sellers and absurd theatre. It's murder as performance, a grand dance of pastiche and comedy, the funniest game in years and perhaps the only AAA comedy game ever.

Firewatch - a beautiful game of loss, longing, and the propensity of life to fail to resolve itself neatly.

Superhot - a sublime twist on an old classic, prevented from greatness by a ridiculous and overbearing plot that refuses to shut up and let you play. When it is quiet, it's excellent, it just needs to be quieter more often.

XCOM 2 - 20 hours of impressions suggest it is absolute greatness, but thanks to some DLC mishaps I didn't get to explore it deeply enough to really get to grips with its intricacies.

Overwatch - this is absolutely great but I don't have a crew to play with so I can't really say i've loved it. It's everything that's good about MOBAs condensed into an arena shooter with that typical level of Blizzard competence.

Inside - a delirious experience when it feels seamless and and cinematic, but too often robs itself of steam for unnecessary puzzling. A great climax with some great themes, but again hampered by its puzzling.

Two Things I Wanted to Play But Missed
Final Fantasy XV - just slipped through the gaps sadly, I really wanted to play more of it but after an initial burst I just stopped and didn't go back.

The Last Guardian - Didn't buy it,had no chance to play it, looks like my kind of thing though.

That's about it. I probably missed a bunch of stuff but my head tells me I am being fairly comprehensive at least.

You like the finishing move thing in Doom, huh Tempy? I played the demo and that was the only thing that stopped me instantly buying it. I really want to play it now.

I've had a nightmare with games for this

Hmm. Despite playing about 20 on that list I've not finished any of them. Plus Rocket League is far and away the best game of last year and this year so I'm NOT VOTING.

Tempy wrote:

It's integral to the flow of combat. It takes a while for the game to become tough enough for it to click, but it's basically the from the same school of design philosophy as Bloodborne - to get back health you needs to be on the offensive. The trick in DOOM is that the less health you have, the more health a glory kill gives you back. It invited you to toe the line for optimal play. Also there is a power up that lets you spam them for a duration and it's amazing.

I do wonder what is an acceptable amount of time to allow it to hook in. I was playing some yakuza and a lot of that first chapter is so fucking nothing that I could easily have given up. Luckily I stuck until some stupid side quest and I'm totally into the game now.

On the other hand with doom I sort of played a couple of chapters. Found the combat a bit easy (normal mode) and everything sort of parallel scaled (weapons v monsters) so the rhythms felt largely samey. Maybe I quit too early but by the time I'd got lost a couple of times around as rat maze and fell into lava while on a thin plank the game lost any patience I had stored for it.


(the smashing monitors jokes were good - but conflictingly doom man was still following despite shows of belligerence)