2016 seemed to be the year that kept on giving.
There were SO many games to play, both good and bad, that it was nearly impossible to
keep up with them all.
But of course this has its benefits, it certainly kept me busy, and this year gave me some of
my favorite gaming experiences of all time.
Hey, I'm snomaN and welcome to the 3rd annual snoGlobes, my video game awards for the year.
It was so hard to narrow down the choices for these categories, but at least for me,
these contenders stood above the rest.
That means it's my opinion please don't get mad at me!
Let's dive right in!
The first award we'll be giving away is for Best Art Direction.
It seemed like this year was chocked full of games that were pushing boundaries.
Just when I thought I had seen it all and couldn't be impressed with how a game looked
anymore, I've learned to never underestimate developers in giving us truly breathtaking
worlds to explore.
While AAA's continue to blur the line of fantasy and reality, indies seem to be modernizing
art styles that appeared to be long gone.
Let's get to the nominees.
ABZU - Water levels in gaming seem to get a bad rap - they either have annoying controls,
or limited breathing mechanics, so what do you do if you want to make an entire game
that's a water level?
Well, ABZU not only created intuitive controls and removed any worry of breathing, but most
importantly - made it so pretty!
The realm of ABZU is stunning and packed to the brim with underwater life to find.
Each area is unique and fun to explore - from swimming with whales to riding the current,
and it is just long enough to be enjoyable the whole way through.
It was refreshing to see a "Journey-like" experience in a different setting, and instead
of fearing what lies beneath the surface, ABZU made me appreciate the vastness of its beauty.
Owlboy - I feel like I say this with every new pixel art game that comes out, but Owlboy
is the best looking one I've seen yet.
When you see the detail in every corner of the map, you start to understand why it took
so long to develop.
Each location is different and serves the purpose of not only giving us beautiful scenery,
but helping push the narrative as well.
The polish is so apparent, from the cutscenes to Otus's facial expressions, and I don't
think Owlboy would have been nearly as fun if it wasn't so gorgeous to look at.
Whenever a discussion of graphical fidelity comes up in my circles, the conclusion we
land on always seems to be that having the most pixels or the engine that outputs the
best renders and particle effects matters little if you don't have a cohesive direction
to guide that technology.
And oftentimes, doing a lot with a little is the more practical route to take, especially
for independent development teams of a dozen or so people, at most.
In my opinion, no game from 2016 lived more through its aesthetic than Heart Machine's
Hyper Light Drifter.
The world it puts the player in is a heaving and coughing one, far past its prime as the
result of some cataclysm many eons ago.
We explore the ruins of this once magnificent empire, breathing life into machinery and
organisms coated in what I can only describe as post-apocalyptic cyber-magitek-punk.
Not a single pixel is wasted here, and even the jaw-dropping soundtrack by DisasterPiece
contributes to an atmosphere that is equal parts curious, animate, slumbering, cadaverous,
and most of all… haunting.
And the winner is:
Owlboy!
Just when you think a certain art style couldn't get any better, D-Pad Studio reminded us that
nothing is impossible.
Pixel-art platformers seemed to be a dime a dozen a few years ago, and I'm so glad
that games like Owlboy continue to push limitations and show us that older methods can continue
to innovate.
Not only did the art direction give us a lush environment to get immersed in, but it also
told a meaningful story of an owl discovering what he can truly be.
Hopefully Owlboy will inspire even more creative games like this in the future.
Up next is the Over the Top Award.
This is for the campiest and most ridiculous games of the year.
Serious stories and hyper-realism certainly have their place in gaming, but sometimes
you just want to bash a dude's skull in, is that so much to ask?
These games not only let us live out insane fantasies and do things that would be impossible
in real life, but they are incredibly fun in doing so.
Your nominees are:
Titanfall 2 - Man this game is just the hypest.
Who doesn't love giant robots with samurai swords kicking the crap out of each other?
But Titanfall 2 is so much more than just a mech fighter, you can also glide across
walls and powerslide on the floor as you enter a room - man it feels good to kill someone
while doing that.
Movement is honestly what makes this campaign so much fun, and it'll switch things up
constantly to keep it interesting.
You'll be jumping around kicking people in the face in an assembly factory, getting
thrown by your Titan across huge gaps, and even frickin time traveling!
I was blown away by how fresh it continued to be the whole way through.
Shadow Warrior 2 - This game is just as hilarious as it is over the top.
Not only will you be slaying demons with a chainsaw left and right, but you'll also
be listening to Lo Wang sarcastically comment on everything you see (the future just got futurier!)
Shadow Warrior 2 is so beautifully grotesque in all the right ways and lets you feel unstoppable
even against overwhelming odds.
You can slice and dice everything that comes your way, and with friends, the missions are
even better!
So grab some katanas, put on your sunglasses and have a bloody good time.
DOOM is one of the most over the top games I have ever played, and it is, personally
speaking, my game of the year.
In a world with mostly narrative driven and slower cover-based shooters, DOOM sets itself
apart immediately by beginning your guns-blazing adventure through hell within the first 30
seconds.
And from then until the credits, it is a non-stop rollercoaster against demons of all shapes
and sizes that may come off as a bit repetitive but it never fails to be satisfying.
There is a story, but I mean, you're a one-man army plowing through hell, there's no time
for that.
Add in weapon upgrades, minigames, and an arcade mode that favors speed and quick rapid-fire
kills, DOOM is far and away some of the most fun you'll ever get with an FPS, if not in
games PERIOD.
And the Over the Top award goes to:
Titanfall 2!
I never thought I would say this, but I LOVED shooters this year!
They finally realized that you need to keep changing the gameplay to stay engaging, and
Titanfall 2 does this in spades.
You'll be jumping around terrain like a ninja when you're out of your mech, and
decimating anything standing in your way when you're in it!
From ridiculous boss fights to an outstanding multiplayer mode, Titanfall combined a gritty
first person shooter with over the top campiness to make a truly memorable experience.
Our next award is for Best Game Design.
As you know, we love talking game design on this channel, so this is the one award that
comes back every year.
2016 had lots of games that blew me away, but these nominees either tried something
new in regards to gameplay, or just refined what we've already seen before to an unbelievable
standard.
Level design, character design and overall game feel all play a role in this, and these
games nail it to the degree that they have stuck with me long after finishing them.
Let's get right to it:
Furi - I was sold on Furi just from its art
design and music alone, but when you dig deeper it has a really deep set of mechanics!
Each boss in this game is a test of endurance and skill, but there are so many different
ways to tackle each one.
Obviously you can shoot with your gun, or chop 'em with your sword, but you can also
charge these attacks for more damage, although it will leave you exposed.
You can parry and dodge to get a better attack angle or to avoid incoming damage.
And above all, each boss has a different strategy and moveset, so you have to learn the right
puzzle pieces to take them down.
Furi was just the right combination of challenge and excitement, oh and some boss music too.
All I heard about Overwatch when it was first released was how there are 21 playable characters,
but they all handle completely different from each other, which seemed unrealistic, but
man, after I played it, yeah they really do.
So much of Overwatch's gameplay is streamlined - all characters move at around the same base
speed and everyone has unlimited ammo so you can focus on the variety of abilities the
heroes bring to the table.
There is no regular "deathmatch" mode; instead you have an objective that you must
accomplish as a team, and eliminations play a much smaller role so that you can work as
a cohesive unit to reach your goal.
However, there's still things like Play of the game to reward players that do exceptionally
well.
The Overwatch development team works tirelessly to make sure the game is balanced, polished,
and most of all super fun!
Owlboy - Purely from the trailer, you wouldn't expect Owlboy to be that inventive, it just
looked like a simple adventure game with an owl carrying a guy that shoots stuff and you
fly through some rings or something.
But when you actually play it, you realize that there is so much care and detail put
into every aspect of the experience.
You'll go all over the place trying to solve the mysteries of the relics, and face some
wildly different enemies and worlds in the process.
From the variety of partners and abilities to the memorable boss fights and set pieces,
Owlboy just gets it, and gives the pixel-art platformer a fresh coat of paint.
And the winner of the Game Design award is:
Owlboy!
More than anything else, what Owlboy has going for it is polish and charm.
This was not a game that was hastily thrown together for a quick buck, but clearly a passion
project that had so many hearts poured into it.
The level design and puzzles were creative, and each scene had something new to offer.
Characters had deep backgrounds and motives that made them so much more than simple NPC's.
But most important, it was enticing, and I couldn't put the controller down until I
finished it, and that's hard to come by these days.
Next up is the Most Disappointing Award.
While there were a lot of great games this year, without a doubt there were plenty of
bad ones too.
From unfulfilled promises to lackluster final products, there were several titles that left
people wanting more, or at least a refund.
Not every game can live up to expectations, but these nominees were exceptionally crummy
in faulty design choices and how they handled fan outcry afterward.
Now, I wanted to address The Witness real quickly - Yes, I didn't enjoy it much when
it came out and made a whole video about it, but now after the dust has settled I can understand
what it's trying to do, and that it was more just not a game for me.
So, basically, I'm over the salt and I don't think it's deserving of this award.
Anyway, whew, here we go:
No Man's Sky - I started to worry about
this game as soon as I saw statistics of what it was trying to accomplish online.
Quintillions of planets, all unique and different, a universe so big that while it is supposedly
online, you probably will never come in contact with anyone else.
And while it was a giant feat to achieve, it didn't translate to a grand adventure.
Combined with advertized features that were never implemented and radio silence from the
developers for months, players were disappointed to say the least.
Mighty No. 9 - It wasn't really a huge surprise that Mighty No. 9 was bad, but seeing the
final product and all the hopes and dreams of what it could have been be flushed down
the toilet was certainly a let down for those that backed the game.
A rebooted Mega Man spiritual successor sounds nice on paper, but due to poor management
and now notorious delays, Mighty No. 9 became a joke before it was even released.
Now what we're left with is an annoying, poorly made platformer, with pizza explosions.
Let me repeat that.
Pizza.
Explosions.
So I'll be up front in saying that I don't actually dislike Star Fox Zero; with that
said, it's hard to deny that it failed to live up to expectations.
Many would say it's been nearly two decades since we got a proper Star Fox game.
Miyamoto's general secrecy mixed with the constant delays built a ton of hype for Starfox
Zero, only for it to tragically crash.
It has some of the least intuitive controls I've ever seen in a game, and while you
can get used to it, that just requires far more commitment than most players are willing
to put into it.
Due to Zero's poor performance, we're probably not gonna get another traditional
Starfox Game for another 10 years.
Which sucks.
In the meantime, maybe we'll get an HD Remake of Starfox Adventures.
Anyone?
Ehh?
Ehhhhh?
And the loser is:
No Man's Sky!
This one probably seemed too obvious, but man were people really pissed about this one.
While the gameplay itself isn't necessarily broken or completely dysfunctional, it didn't
deliver on everything fans were hoping for.
It got boring really quickly, and even though there are near infinite possibilities, it
somehow ended up all looking the same.
The breadth of scope ended up hindering the goals and overall achievements that the game
was hoping to produce.
It truly is a showcase of how size without depth can cause major problems in game development.
Our last award before Game of the Year is for Best Story.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that a compelling narrative is important in feeling a connection
with characters in a game.
While many titles can excel with purely fun gameplay mechanics, a deep story can draw
us in and make us care about what happens next.
Luckily 2016 had lots of games that caught me by surprise in how they told their tales.
And while some people will write off "walking simulators" as not true games, they still
can give such a meaningful experience if they're done correctly.
Your nominees are:
Inside - Now this is an interesting one as
Inside doesn't really have an in-your-face narrative, but rather tells it subtly through
the background and scenes happening around you.
As you journey farther and farther into the game you realize that something it truly wrong
with this metropolis, as people are being forced via mind control to behave how they
would like.
There are several security measures trying to keep you out and guards wanting to kill
you at every turn, so when you do reach the end and see a huge spoiler that is seriously
too crazy to think up yourself, you're left with a lot of questions and not many answers.
It's something that has still stuck with me long after playing, and no matter if you
thought it was good or bad, it certainly was memorable.
Oxenfree - What begins as a simple "teens go to a deserted island to get away and have
a fun weekend" turns into a paranormal fright fest that I was NOT expecting going in.
I played Oxenfree with no previous expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised by the depth
of the storytelling.
You get an idea of how Alex thinks based on your responses to questions, but also learn
about her tragic backstory, and how it all ties into the current theme.
The voice acting is great, and while the gameplay takes a backseat to the plot, the twists and
turns that play out kept me engaged the whole time.
You see and hear ghosts, people die and come back to life, you jump through time warps
and have to solve the mystery of the island.
Oxenfree shocked me, in a good way, and much like Stranger Things or Westworld, it's
a fresh take on an overdone trope of years past.
Earlier this year, Developer Campo Santo delivered a game about escapism and avoiding your problems,
something the average human being can easily relate to.
This is what the player experiences in Firewatch after protagonist Henry takes a job as a park
ranger in the remote forests of Wyoming.
The gorgeous backdrop of the Shoshone National Forest is the perfect getaway for Henry and
his boss Delilah, and we as the player echo that sentiment.
The game is intentionally crafted with stellar attention to detail and interactions to astound
you with its beauty.
And when the conflicts and cracks starts to show up in the story, the allure of the forest
suddenly starts to crumble.
And that's the beauty of the narrative in Firewatch.
And the winner is:
Firewatch!
I did not think I would connect with a story based on forest rangers, but Firewatch blew
me away with how instantly I was drawn in.
The voice actors who played Henry and Delilah did such a phenomenal job at delivering purposeful,
and often sarcastic, lines that are just a pleasure to listen to.
Sure, you walk around the trees and investigate disturbances, but the story that unfolds is
not only captivating, but emotional and touching.
As a happily married man, Henry's struggle with his wife hit home so hard for me.
I couldn't imagine having to go through what he was, and I wanted to see what happened
to him next.
It's incredible how well I connected with a character that has an established personality,
backstory and voice, but I did - and we need more games like Firewatch in the future.
It's finally time - let's give out the Game of the Year award.
This was easily the hardest award for me to narrow down, there were SO MANY fantastic
games this year, and even just condensing it to 5 nominees was hard enough.
Just know that all of these games, and even more that I couldn't fit on this list are
great.
2016 was a great year for gaming.
But of course there must be a winner, so without further ado, your nominees are:
Dark Souls 3 - The series has finally ended, but I can't think of a better way to finish
the Dark Souls franchise.
All the things I loved about the games are here - beautiful worlds, deep hidden lore,
crazy difficult bosses, and secrets galore.
They did a wonderful job of giving us so much new but also several nods to the previous
entries, and connecting the dots in between.
I play Dark Souls for the challenge, and it lived up to that expectation, but I'm always
blown away at all the little details it includes as well.
I'm excited to see what From Software does next, but Dark Souls 3 was a journey I won't
soon forget.
Overwatch - I didn't expect to enjoy Overwatch as much as I did.
It's hard for me to get into shooters, but obviously Blizzard's newest IP isn't like most of them.
Everything is so bright and vivid, from the maps to the roster.
All of the characters have distinctive personalities, playstyles and purposes.
No match of Overwatch feels the same because of how diverse the teams can be
and each hero is fun to play as, even the less desirable positions like support.
With how much the dev team is updating and making changes,
I think Overwatch could be around for a long time to come.
Owlboy - Sometimes you go into a game hoping it will be something special.
Since Owlboy was right up my alley in regards to genre, I was really wanting it to succeed,
and by golly, it was awesome!
Of course this game was visually sublime, and had enjoyable levels and mechanics, but
I was treated to a heartfelt story as well!
Otus is unlike most heroes, being a mute and an outcast, but that's what makes him so
appealing as a character - he's different.
The whole package was exactly what I was wanting, and it went above and beyond in its charm.
Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight - this one sort of came out of nowhere for me, but
it was exactly what I needed at the time.
Combining 2D Metroidvania exploration with challenging Dark Souls-esque bosses seemed
like a match made in heaven.
Much like Owlboy, the art was stunning, and also had a deeper story hidden below the surface.
Momodora is the kind of game I can play over and over and over again, and what you put
into it is what you'll get out of it.
Whether I'm trying to beat it as quickly as possible in a speedrun, or finding all
of the secrets and collectibles, Reverie Under the Moonlight is delightful and gripping the
whole way through.
Hyper Light Drifter - I actually didn't like this game at first.
I made the mistake of playing it while I was in a call with friends, and I got lost and
didn't know where to go next.
But I gave it another shot, this time with my full focus and WOW Hyper Light Drifter
is amazing!
I love that even without a single word spoken in the entire game, you know what you need
to do, and it's open ended enough to let you figure out the best way to tackle your
goal.
It's pretty brutal, enemies and bosses don't mess around, but it can feel so rewarding
when you pull off a tough battle.
If you like dashing around, exploring, and a sort of 80's cyberpunk, ancient ruins
aesthetic, you really need to check out Hyper Light Drifter.
And the game of the year is:
Overwatch!!
While the concept of a cartoony MOBA shooter isn't something new, there are so many elements
causing Overwatch to be successful.
A creative cast combined with animated shorts coming out before the game was even released
caused players to feel a bond with their favorite characters.
The hype for Sombra's debut is an obvious example of how much breathing can intensify.
But of course this wouldn't matter if it wasn't fun to play.
I can't even think of the amount of precision and dedication it takes to make Overwatch
balanced and enjoyable, but Blizzard seems to be working nonstop, adding little tweaks
to make the best experience possible.
With 23 playable heroes and counting, it's sort of mind-boggling to think of the amount
of play-testing that requires.
Overwatch doesn't have a single-player campaign, but it doesn't need one because it built
a community outside of the game, and with special events and new content spicing things
up all the time, Overwatch could be the go-to game to play with friends for years to come.
So there you have it, those are my favorite games of 2016, but I'd love to hear from
you!
What are some of the games you enjoyed most this year?
Tell me in the comments below, maybe for these categories I listed, or make up your own!
Thanks for sticking around to the end, be sure to subscribe if you haven't already,
and share this video with a buddy, and I'll see you guys next year.
Stay frosty my friends!
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