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Necropolis – Games of 2016
I really like Necropolis as an indie redemption story. When the game was announced as a souls-inspired roguelike, I thought it sounded rather ambitious. I knew that it was technically possible, but making a difficult dungeon crawler with randomized elements puts the fun factor at high risk. After a rough launch, Necropolis bounced back with…
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Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak – Games of 2016
I love the Homeworld franchise. Something about watching a Destroyer unleash a barrage of missiles while squadrons of fighters and frigates buzz around like righteously pissed off hornets is mesmerizing. So I was nervous when Deserts of Kharak was revealed because there was no space to speak of. Everything was on the ground. Thankfully, Homeworld…
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Oxenfree – Games of 2016
Oxenfree had a lot working against it even before I played it. I had cooled on narrative games prior to its release and word of mouth was pretty mixed. For some reason though, it stuck out enough in my memory that months after release I randomly decided to play through the entire game in a…
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Final Fantasy XV – Games of 2016
Contrary to what my opponents may think when they engage me in predictive conversations about upcoming major video game releases, I really do enjoy being proven wrong. Well, I enjoy being proven wrong when the result is that a game turns out to be quite awesome when I thought the opposite would happen. To that…
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Owlboy – Games of 2016
We’ve been on a journey, Owlboy. At your announcement you established a new bar of excellence in art that I didn’t think was possible for indie games. As the years went by, other games came out and raised that bar and made me question what was taking you so long. In the end, a development…
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Hyper Light Drifter – Games of 2016
2016 saw me play a wider variety of games than probably at any time in my history, including this frustratingly difficult pixel art game with absolutely no dialog. I tried really hard to love Hyper Light Drifter but ultimately couldn’t do it. …Which is a shame, because the atmosphere of this game adopts the creepy…
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Let It Die – Games of 2016
I had no idea how much I missed a Suda51 flavor in my video games. Let It Die came out of nowhere (because I forgot about it) and all of a sudden I’m playing a better-than-it-deserves-to-be tough as nails roguelike with a skateboarding Death that’s trying to break down the 4th wall. I was tripping…
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Overwatch – Games of 2016
Could Blizzard pull off a first person shooter? Even with its track record, it seemed like a valid question. Hoo boy, what a waste of energy that question was. I should have been asking, "How will first person shooters change after Blizzard makes one?" That’s a much more interesting question. Overwatch is certainly a landmark…
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Pokemon Sun and Moon – Games of 2016
It had been a long time coming for me to experience my first Pokemon game. You see my childhood ended just outside the reach of the original and it wasn’t until recent years where I really felt I was missing out on this cornerstone of gaming. Even when confronted by that realization, it wasn’t exactly…
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FIFA 17 – Games of 2016
FIFA 17 rewrote the book on the sports game ‘Story Mode.’ I bought the game on the chance that there might be some fun multiplayer football action during the lull in late summer, but ended up getting engrossed in Alex Hunter’s tumultuous journey into professional soccer. Easily glanced over, but still very impressive, is how…