Stephen Varners Top 10 Games of the Year

Written by Stephen Varner on January 05, 2017

News: Our writer Stephen Varner has weighed in and nominated his top 10 games of 2016.

Thanks to the rather irritating constraints placed on me by both time and at least a passing concern for my budget there are still a ton of titles from 2016 that I have yet to play and would very much like to. I think the breadth and variety of the kinds of games that came out in 2016 is, in my mind, eclipsed only by the fact that so many of them managed to be so incredibly good.

This has been a really good year for games so trying to get this to a nice round 10 wasn't easy and I have just a few honorable mentions that almost crept on here that I want to quickly mention before getting to it. Watch Dogs 2 gave me a playground of NPC's that I had a ton of fun messing with and it expanded on every concept I thought was good about it's predecessor. Superhot probably has one of the most inventive and interesting gameplay concepts of the last couple years but also manages to deliver on it's insane fiction in ways I didn't expect. Finally among these quick call outs I want to say that Abzu has some of the most beautiful music and striking visuals this side of Journey. I grew up being fascinated by sea life so this game gave me an absolute joy of an afternoon.

I agonized on this list for a good long while knowing that I would probably adjust it retroactively in my own head as I get to the games that I missed or simply haven't yet made time for such as Dishonored 2, The Last Guardian or Final Fantasy XV. For now though and without further hesitation, here are the 10 games that most stood out to me in 2016.

10. Oxenfree

”Oxenfree"

While there's plenty of games these days that dial in on characters and story first I think most of them stand to learn something from Oxenfree. The plot is moved along by what is probably the smoothest dialogue system I've seen in a game. Killer art direction and the feeling that I was constantly being rewarded with dialogue that was both interesting and felt natural was more than enough to make up for being somewhat light on the elements that would typically be seen as "gameplay mechanics" It wasn't about what I was making the characters do so much as it was about how I was affecting the characters relation to one another that got me so wrapped up in this island ghost story.

9. Uncharted 4

”Uncharted

There is so much that could be said about Uncharted 4 but I think it's strongest elements speak for themselves. These are well established characters for the most part and everything about their story is delivered incredibly well. The writing and voice acting continue to be top notch in what is probably the most beautiful game I've ever played. I think it's the animation that steals the show here as the folks over at Naughty Dog continue to prove that they're absolute wizards in making human characters move with a natural fluidity simply unseen in other games and they blow the competition out of the water in facial mapping. There's more emotion captured in a single scene of Uncharted 4 than most games manage to cobble together at all. While it doesn't rise to be my favorite Uncharted, it's at least a close second and remains one of my favorite stories and thrill rides of this year.

8. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

”Deus

I simply can't say enough about the level design in Deus Ex. While it feels like it's a fair bit smaller in scale compared to Human Revolution there's little doubt that the city of Prague represented in Mankind Divided is much more dense. The themes of prejudice and conspiracy are woven into the narrative in ways that didn't feel cheap or exploitative even if some of the bigger questions are left unanswered by the time the credits roll. There was never a situation where I felt wanting for choice in how to approach it. I almost always play sneaky and non lethal in the games that allow me to do so and Deus Ex felt like it gave me multple options even within those paramaters and for that, i love it.

7. Hitman

”Hitman"

I'm a longtime Hitman fan. Silent Assassin was my first foray into the series and that game was formative in how my perception of what a stealth game could be evolved. While that game will probably always stand as my favorite there's no doubt in my mind that 2016's Hitman reboot is the most refined expression of what this franchise has always strived to be. My favorite part of these games has always been puzzling out what makes each of the levels tick and planning my path in and out accordingly with no mess and no fuss. This modern Hitman extrapolates on everything I love about that experience and provides the most inventive and varied possibilities in the franchise. Where the older games felt like they had just one or two ways to nab the coveted "Silent Assassin" rating this game literally has more than a dozen per level. With smoother controls and AI that is less finicky and severe than in games past I have no qualms calling this the best Hitman yet.

6. Firewatch

”Firewatch"

Firewatch has my favorite dialogue of any game I've played not only this year but in any year of recent memory. There might be better stories in games this year but none for as affecting to me as Firewatch. Henry's summer journey was nearly as emotional for me as it was for him and the performances from both actors feel genuine in a way I hope more games try to emulate. The visual style developed by Olly Moss is striking to say the least and so the moments I had between conversation and banter between Delilah and Henry were spent admiring the forest of Wyoming.

5. DOOM

”DOOM"

I didn't really have much affinity for the DOOM games of old. My first experiences with FPS games were Duke 3D, Turok and Goldeneye. So while I have no nostalgia for those old games I've since played them and can appreciate what they did in retrospect. With that out of the way...holy $#!% I can't believe how good DOOM is. The fact that they managed to drudge up a decades old property and make it relevant again is surprising enough, but this game was for me a shot in the arm for a genre that i has gotten a little too comfortable in doing what has proven to work. The plethora of weapons at your disposal and the power arc that comes with upgrading ensured that dispatching a small army was always a spectacular display of gratuitious violence splattered with demonic entrails in a way that's befitting The Doomslayer. It manages to not only pay homage to old school FPS games of yesteryear but simultaneously provides the freshest take on a shooter campaign i've played in years. It's only the poorly implemented multiplayer that holds this game back from being a couple notches higher.

4. Forza Horizon 3

”Forza

In terms of time played there is simply no doubt that the Forza series is my most played of the last decade. In the last few years Horizon has quickly made the case that's it's every bit as good as it's buttoned up older brother. I don't often prefer open world racing games if given the choice but when the world is this beautiful, and this packed with fun things to do it's hard to not get excited about getting behind the wheel of my favorite cars and just going for a cruise. Don't sleep on Forza Horizon 3 even if you're not typically a racing fan because this game is as joyous and accessible as it is deep and rewarding for longtime racing vets like myself.

3. Titanfall 2

”Titanfall

Any great shooter has at least one moment that has me raving about just how cool it was after the fact. Titanfall 2 has several of those. I was in the minority in thinking that Titanfall didn't actually need a campaign. I stand by that opinion but boy am I glad that Respawn thought different for their follow up to the best shooter of 2014. It should come as little surpise that the minds behind Call of Duty 4 have put together a stellar campaign but there's one sequence in particular around the halfway mark that I think will stand out as among my favorite FPS levels of all time. The fact that I'm this far into talking about how good Titanfall 2 is before mentioning the multiplayer should be telling. Respawn has unquestionbly succeeded on taking the foundation it set with the first game and building it out to create the tightest and most compelling multiplayer suite of 2016.

2. The Witness

”The

Where do I even start with the Witness? Jonathan Blow spent some 6 years crafting the puzzles in the Witness and I feel like I need that long to continue peel to back the layers that are in this thing. My experience with this game is so singularly unique that it's difficult to even draw paralles to other games. I have a notebook full sketches, designs and cutout tetris pieces i used to help come to grips with everything The Witness was teaching me. You can run around the whole island from very early on but you won't actually see most of it until you understand the language in which the island is talking to you in. I've waffled back and forth for half the year trying to decide what my favorite game this year is and given just how unique every aspect of The Witness is it's still tough to decide because it's such an apples to oranges thing to try and quantify. Which brings me to..

1. Inside

”Inside"

Ultimately I land on Inside as my 2016 game of the year for a number of reasons. Some of them I can explain, some of them I can't and still others I won't because I want people to experience it for themselves. This game is a masterpiece across the board. There isn't a moment in this tight 3 hour experience that wasn't dripping with atmosphere and helping to sell a world that I've continued to think about ever since. I played it twice, immediately searching out the hidden machines that set up the secret ending after finishing it the first time and both endings left me with existential questions about the world of Inside. I appreciate it's ambiguity and could drone on forever about how carefully crafted every single frame of this game is but for that just check out the review I wrote for this very site. Spoilers, it's a 10.