VG247 Games of the Year Awards, half 2: The Even More Obvious Picks We’re Even Less Sorry About

Come one, come all, and gaze upon the video games that stand panting on the sting of the pit, topped in glory, as their rivals squirm and scream beneath them.

To a soundtrack of the dying gasps of the slaughtered 12 months, we dip our fingers in its pooling, cooling blood and smear it upon our faces; we take small items of it and put on them as trophies. We dwell to see one other 12 months daybreak. We have conquered. We are triumphant.

You know who else is triumphant? The video games chosen by VG247 to obtain a recreation of the 12 months award. Of all the many, many excellent or at least interestingly terrible games of 2016, solely 15 made the minimize, watching in intent silence as their foes fell earlier than them, to make our listing of greatest and brightest. Here are three of them: The Even More Obvious Picks We’re Even Less Sorry About.

This is the turning level, you realize. In the deepest chilly, which speaks of final entropy, is the seed of renewal: the solar returns. There can be extra video games, sooner or later. But for now, these are the last word victors. Return right here, to us, when the brand new day begins, and we will provide up one more slice of VG247’s Game of the Year Awards, which we’ve got butchered into 5 writhing items.

The Division

Ruthlessly championed by: Matt

I’m performed with The Division now. I do know that. But I can not deny the enjoyable I’ve had with that recreation and I really feel like I definitely received my cash’s price.

I largely keep in mind one of the best of it; sprinting via the superb marketing campaign and nailing the ultimate boss in co-op, the tense push and paranoia of extractions within the Dark Zone

It went via some actually messy technical and steadiness phases however I largely keep in mind one of the best of it; sprinting via the superb marketing campaign and nailing the ultimate boss in co-op, the tense push and paranoia of extractions within the Dark Zone, the revelation that the Underground DLC truly felt very totally different to the principle recreation above the sewers.

I didn’t ever really feel that I received probably the most out of the assorted loadouts and equipment units in Massive’s loot-shooter. It appeared over sophisticated. But ultimately that didn’t matter. The Division wasn’t revolutionary however I spent the primary half of 2016 exploring it’s stunning metropolis and making new pals throughout frantic cat-and-mouse firefights.

I can’t fault that and I’m thinking about seeing the place The Division 2 goes from right here as a result of regardless of its faults I discovered it probably the most attention-grabbing shooter of 2016.

Dishonored 2

Loved better of all its friends by: Brenna

Now that Assassin’s Creed has gone on prolonged vacation and became a generic open-world motion sandbox anyway, right here comes Dishonored 2 to fill the hole within the 12 months the place we must have an immersive murder-’em-up.

The exacting, demanding imaginative and prescient cone-based stealth adjustments into one thing fluid and ever-moving, permitting you to stay a crowbar proper into these tiny breathless gaps in patrols and yank them large open.

Some individuals complained that the primary Dishonored gave you all these attention-grabbing powers after which punished you for utilizing them, however I’ve spent an excessive amount of time accepting the values of snobby stealth followers to ever ponder unleashing stated powers besides when it’s all gone flawed and I do know I’m going to reload anyway.

What I like is Blink, or Emily’s different, Far Reach. I like the way it adjustments the exacting, demanding imaginative and prescient cone-based stealth into one thing fluid and ever-moving, permitting you to stay a crowbar proper into these tiny breathless gaps in patrols and yank them large open. Kills or knock outs merely add extra of these openings, and for those who’re actually good, you by no means want them.

But additionally, I like the setting and lore. The stunning quasi-modern, quasi-historical aesthetic, rendered in brush stroke caricatures. The themes of rising corruption and the mundanity of on a regular basis evil. The extraneous tales that reward the diligent explorer. It has led to weird obsessions with certain characters and a delicate ache in my coronary heart each time I keep in mind I’m not a well-heeled determine transferring via the night time in silence and shadow.

Hitman

The Chosen One of: Alex

Look. Hitman. Amazing. God, I’ve written about Hitman a lot on this web site. I think about you have to be all sick of it. But hear. HITMAN. Who knew this recreation could be so superb when it lurched in direction of an unsure launch initially of the 12 months? Shifting launch schedules, refunded pre-orders, angered followers – you title The Bad Thing, Hitman did it, however in some way got here out smelling like roses!

You can costume up as a scarecrow and tamper with a person’s carefully-built life order to make him so confused that he smokes a packet of cigarettes you laced with LSD earlier on.

The recreation is sensible; the episodic construction that IO Interactive settled on ended up being one thing of a stroke of genius. It completely interlocks with their ‘live content’ system, updates being funnelled to the sport with limited-time assassinations and funky seasonal add-ons such because the free Christmas replace.

This is a online game the place you’ll be able to kill a person with an exploding golf ball. You can costume up as a scarecrow and tamper with a person’s carefully-built life order to make him so confused that he smokes a packet of cigarettes you laced with LSD earlier on. Suffocating any individual in their very own birthday cake? Check. Sabotaging an operation in progress whereas your goal is on the working theatre? No drawback. How about blowing any individual up with a huge tank shell? Sure factor.

So, yeah, I actually love Hitman. It’s sensible from the angle of these precise gameplay issues that matter such because the movement of the sport, but it surely additionally simply has a way of coronary heart and intimacy to the way it has been constructed that feels all to absent from most video games now.

I’d by no means have guessed that it’d be one in every of my prime video games of the 12 months, and I’d definitely by no means have dreamt it’d be my favorite from Square Enix over a brand new Deus Ex and a brand new Final Fantasy, however right here we’re. Season 2 can’t come quickly sufficient.

If you survive one other night time, come again to us, pricey coronary heart; on the morrow, we proceed this journey. Let’s do it collectively.