Greetings and welcome, I'm Ash and with 2016 now well and truly over it is time to engage
in one of the most well-renowned of Internet traditions - the totally not pointless top
5 list.
As such, allow me to show you which games I enjoyed the most throughout this past year,
and most importantly, which games I plan to continue playing well into 2017 as well.
Naturally, all of this is just my opinion and its based around the games I've actually
had the chance to play, so don't be surprised if your favorite is nowhere to be found.
Furthermore, the whole ranking business is mostly meaningless because I enjoy all of
these games for separate reasons, so don't waste your time arguing why X is better than
Y.
And with all of these disclaimers now out of the way, let's get down to the fun stuff:
Total War: Warhammer, or as it should've been called Total: Warhammer
I am a big fan of both the Warhamer universe and the Total War series, so I fully expected
I would enjoy Total War: Warhammer as well.
But what did come as a surprise is how just how perfect this combination ended up being.
Unlike our rather boring real world where everyone uses similar technology and fighting
styles, the races in Warhammer are about as far removed from each other as it gets.
The Vampire Counts don't use any ranged units and instead swarm enemies with vast undead
hordes; the entire Greenskins 'battle strategy' revolves around taking the biggest rock and
smacking the enemy across the face with it; the Dwarves mostly rely on superior technology
and well-entreched defenses in order to compensate for their numbers, and so forth.
All of this makes each campaign feel drastically different, and even though you're doing basically
the same thing each time I can't say I've gotten tired of it just yet.
Another good thing about Total War: Warhammer, and I can already sense the pitchforks being
sharpened, is all of the DLC.
I haven't bought any of it because I simply cannot justify spending €15 for a single
race, but luckily I don't have to because they appear on the campaign map for free!
I might not be able to play as the Wood Elves or Beastmen, but having a constant trickle
of new races is a great thing indeed as it keeps Total War: Warhammer fresh and interesting.
Combine this with all of the balance updates and dozens of free battle-maps released so
far, and you've got a strategy game I fully intend to keep playing well into 2017 as well.
The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine expansion We're only on the second member of this list
and already I've started cheating!
The Witcher 3 released in 2015, so technically it shouldn't belong here, but its latest expansion
Blood and Wine did arrive in 2016, so that's my excuse.
And it is a good excuse given that Blood and Wine is one of the best expansions I've ever
seen!
The world is vast and interesting, the story kept me constantly going forward until I could
physically play no more, and the overall gameplay of The Witcher 3 has been brought to its absolute
peak.
If this is to be Geralt's final adventure before a much needed retirement, I am glad
to say that he has gone out with a bang... in more ways than one!
But to understand why I love Blood and Wine so much you only need to take one look at
the various quests you can undertake.
There is basically no filler, and even some of the sillier quests out there offer enough
of an emotional attachment that I found myself getting invested in the outcome.
It is amazing how far a combination of good writing and voice acting can take an RPG,
and after playing The Witcher 3 I simply could not get into any of the numerous generic open
world games any more.
If the choice is between completing 3-4 minigames ad nauseam or spending hundreds of quality
hours with The Witcher 3, there's really not much of a choice at all, is there?
Dark Souls 3 Dark Souls is my favorite game of all time,
and even though I hold a great deal of love for it I consider Dark Souls 3 to be the better
game objectively.
Its world is much larger, the monsters are more diverse and dangerous than ever, there
is a far greater variety of viable weapons, and even the PvP imbalance is far larger than
ever before!
As it turns out, slapping dragons around with a mace made out of their bones is quite an
enjoyable activity...
well, unless you're the dragon anyway!
But all joking aside, I had a ton of fun with Dark Souls 3 and have already managed to beat
it twice, and with a brand new piece of DLC coming in the near future I have a feeling
that number will soon become even higher.
On a slight side note, it is worth mentioning that the difficulty is greatly over-exaggerated,
so if this has kept you away from the series I would recommend you reconsider.
You will spend a lot of time getting your teeth kicked in, have no doubt about that,
but with each death you'll be slightly more prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.
So just take things nice and easy, don't charge forward like one of those bomb-headed freaks
from Serious Sam, and you should be perfectly fine.
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Unlike most of the games on this list, and
in general, I've only heard of Shadow Tactics about a week before its release.
And a good thing I did, because Shadow Tactics is one of the best stealth/strategy hybrids
I've played in years.
The mechanics are solid, the characters are surprisingly engaging, the Japanese setting
is beautiful, and most importantly of all, the puzzles are so deliciously tricky that
I couldn't tear myself from the keyboard until I've completed an entire level.
There's nothing quite like that moment when you rise victorious after an entire hour of
getting shot, stabbed, and blown straight off!
Shadow Tactics is a fairly niche game, however, so I'm fully aware that most of you won't
enjoy such a thing.
But if you number yourself among those players that enjoy deviously difficult puzzles that
will force you to restart over and over again in search of a perfect solution, then you
are most likely going to find a gold mine in Shadow Tactics.
Each level has multiple ways to solve it, each character has a unique skillset, and
each and every single new map brings with it new mechanics and features to toy around
with.
So if you're a fan of the Commandos series, or strategy games in general, make sure to
give Shadow Tactics a look as well!
And finally we have Overwatch, as you can probably guess from the thumbnail of this
video Ever since Valve more or less abandoned Team
Fortress 2 I was left without a competitive shooter to play.
Call of Duty and Battlefield are too 'serious' and way too random for me, while Counter Strike
requires such a ridiculous amount of dedication that I simply cannot play it for long without
fear of my sanity slipping away... and then came Overwatch.
Given Blizzard's inability to even remotely balance World of Warcraft after a decade of
trying I must admit I was skeptical about Overwatch, but once I finally got my hands
on the Open Beta I knew this was the game that will consume all of my free time moving
forward.
So what is it that makes Overwatch so great?
Well, besides the obvious stuff such as great audio-visual design, the most important factor
for me is the character variety.
Swapping from Genji to Ana feels like a completely different experience, and then swapping from
that to Reihnardt feels even more distinct given that his playstyle is truly unique.
What this means is that no matter how skilled you are, and no matter what type of playstyle
you enjoy, there is something for you!
Is your aim currently shit but you feel like you can outsmart the enemy?
Go Reinhardt or Winston!
Do you feel like an FPS god and just wish to tear the enemy limb from limb?
Take Widowmaker or McCree!
Do you like winning and would like to ensure your monkey-brained teammates reach a life
expectancy of more than 5 seconds?
Go for Ana or Lucio!
Combine all of this with the strategy and communication needed to actually beat a competent
enemy team, and you've got yourself the virtual equivalent of hard drugs: easy to get into,
but so endlessly addictive once you get started!
But unlike my terrible analogy Overwatch is pretty damn great, and despite playing it
for well over 200 hours now I feel I can easily put in double that amount without ever getting
bored.
So if you feel like adding a team-based shooter to your repertoire, I fully recommend you
give Overwatch a try - it truly is one of the best games out there!
And there you have it: my favorite games from 2016, and games that I am highly likely to
continue playing for many years to come.
You might not agree with all (or any) of my choices, but I hope you can at least understand
why I picked these specific games.
Ideally, I hope you can give them a try for yourself as you might just have a sudden change
of heart!
And speaking of hearts, allow me to end all of this by listing the runner-ups, i.e. a
bunch of amazing games that I greatly enjoyed but didn't feel like they belong at the very
top for various reasons.
Here they are, in no particular order:
Thank you for watching, and if you enjoyed this, or even if you didn't, please do let
me know!
And with that said, I hope you have a nice day and I'll see you soon!
See ya!