Well, my oh my – wasn’t that a terrible year?
Thank heavens! It’s finally January and we can now close the hatch on the horrendous year that was 2016. I mean let’s face it, we’re all glad it’s over. What with all the really shitty things that took place last year (Brexit, Trump, No Man’s Sky and the copious amount of our childhood heroes passing away – R.I.P everyone) it’s difficult sometimes to shine a light on the good things that happened.
Obviously with that being said, it was a massive year for a love that we all share – Video Games.
The list of excellent games last year just continued to grow and we’ve had new and exciting experiences including the release of game that some people had to await eagerly for 10 whole years! (The impressively beautiful and sometimes gut-wrenching Final Fantasy XV). We had the 14th instalment of Battlefield, which was confusingly but aptly named Battlefield 1. Infinity Ward took a giant leap mankind and created A “brand new” Call of Duty space shooter called Infinite Warfare or as I like to call it; Super Massive Shooty Space-Time. Blizzard tried their hand and succeeded at creating their first multiplayer FPS, Overwatch – and yes, I am terrible at it. There was Bethesda’s newest instalment of the Fallout series and obviously, we can not forget the release of the PlayStation VR!
There were a tonne of titles (big and small) that slipped through the cracks for me and with all those massive games being released you probably missed out on a few aswell. Being the diamond geezer that I am; here are just a few of the gems that you might have missed in no particular order!
– Firewatch –
Firewatch is a first person adventure-mystery game and a storytelling masterpiece, developed by Campo Santo and published by Campo Santo / Panic. Sure, the chances this Golden Joystick awarding winning game actually passing under your radar are probably fairly slim… however if it managed to, then you’re in for a real treat. Some have crowned Firewatch “a walking simulator”, however it has a fully immersive world, amazing art work and superb voice acting making this “a walking simulator” one of the best I have had the pleasure of playing.
– Grim Dawn –
Grim Dawn is an apocalyptic modern hack and slash style ARPG, developed and published by Crate Entertainment. This game spent a long time the stages of Early Access on Steam (a development hell for some games) but ultimately rose to the top and was finally released on the 25th of February 2016. Grim Dawn is a smooth, epic experience and is commonly called a spiritual successor to Diablo II and Titan Quest. You have a plethora of skills, you can duel class (meaning if you want to be a Tank-Sorcerer, you can!) and there are hundreds of items to craft, collect and use to aid on your quest to rid the world of evil – in my opinion, well worth a look!
– Okhlos –
Okhlos is a rogue-like indie “angry mob” strategy game that I personally use as a method of stress release. This game was developed by Coffee Powered Machine, published by Digital Devolver and released on Steam on the 18th of August. Recruit your mob of angry followers (that includes pissed off cows, sleep and other animals), destroy buildings and take down the puny Gods of Olympus. Every single campaign is different, heroes change and so does your mob and seriously, there is nothing like taking about a bit of rage, in a safe controlled environment – take it from when I say that this one hell of a way to do it!
– Overcooked –
Overcooked is a hilariously chaotic, wonderfully inclusive, couch co-op cooking, developed by Ghost Town Games and published by Team17. One side of the kitchen is on fire, someone forgot to flip the burgers, you are sat in the corner of the room laughing and crying hysterically because you don’t know how things went so wrong – all in a days work when you’re playing Overcooked. I mean that all sounds terrible, but when it’s an experience shared by friends, it’s a great story to tell. Overcooked is actually a shed load of fun and requires human friends to play (as there is no online co-op) and I personally think that’s a good thing because it adds to the tension and requires you to actually work together to complete tasks and fill the orders as they come up.
– I am Setsuna –
Last but by all means not least is; I am Setsuna. A game inspired by the timeless classic that is Chrono Trigger – I am Setsuna is an incredibly charming JRPG game developed by Tokyo RPG Factory and published by the one and only Square Enix. The story is set in a land gripped by perpetual winter, follows a mercenary and a maiden named Setsuna who must offer herself as a sacrifice at a sacred shrine to appease hostile demons. I mean, you just have to look at the artwork and listen to the soundtrack and you’ll instantly fall in love with this game. I am Setsuna was released on the 19th of July and I would be lying if I said this was one the games I missed in 2016 because there was a time where our very own Aaron Moger wouldn’t stop talking about it…
So, there you have it – as promised, five games that you probably missed in 2016! Life gets in the way, work gets in the way, responsibilities get in the way and obviously there are hundreds of games from last year that anyone could have easily missed so be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below and jog my memory on any games that either we should have played or avoided like the plague!
