Hey everyone! Happy new years! Another year goes by and another one comes along. That means there’s another year of games getting more advanced. Games are going to continue to push the bars: games will be pushing the Xbox One and PS4 to their true potential and games will look better as a result. I’m sure open-world games will be pushing the open-world genre by making bigger worlds that are, hopefully, more detailed.
Having said that, I have to say something about open-world games. Open-world games are continually pushing the making of bigger worlds, but I don’t really care about that. I don’t want a game that has a vast world, but that world isn’t really fun to explore. I love to play a tightly made game that while linear, it gives me an awesome experience. So while there are actually a couple open-world games that have me interested this 2016, I’m really excited for some good ol’ linear games. I’m also really excited to see the PS4 actually getting some exclusive games!
Now, here’s my top 10 list of my most anticipated games of 2016 (I hope I have enough time this year to play them all):
10) Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
(PS4, Xbone, PC)
On the PS3, I got Deus Ex: Human Revolution for free from PS+ (Sony: 1, Microsoft: -0), and I downloaded it onto my PS3, but I didn’t try it for a long time. Eventually, it came to the top of my list of games that I own that I never played (oh, it’s gotten much worse), so I played it. And I really enjoyed it.
The interesting open-world that was kind of linear, with the tensions of humans vs other humans who have been given augmentations (mechanical upgrades/replacements to normal human things like eyesight) that make them superior to other fellow human beings totally strung me in.
In regards to traversing the world: I really feel hesitant about games that incorporate not having to kill everyone by sneaking past them or knocking them unconscious because when I take the route of less resistance, it just isn’t that fun for me. But I feel that this game actually had a really good handle on it by making the routes for not having to kill people so interesting.
I also feel that the world in general, which was open for you to explore, was great because it allowed you to do quests for people and explore the world, which had many secret passages and hidden places, completing these quests. I actually feel the world was complimented by a linear nature—the game was broken into several sections, which were free to explore, but these sections weren’t connected (i.e., each section was open-world, but the story limited you to one area at once).
Then there was the tension in the game brought about by inequality. The character you play as actually is a person who is augmented, but he was augmented in order to save his life. He’s got all the augmentations to make for a game where you can do all kinds of crazy stuff that you’d expect a game like this to have, which kind of shows how people in his position are actually superior to people who aren’t augmented.
This tension in Human Revolution will definitely be coming to Mankind Divided, as the title suggests, and I think that’ll be one of the best features of the game because I feel that this is a topic that can hold ground in the future as we get more advanced, and just because it’s so reminiscent of racial tensions in the world, which is stuff that always gets me interested.
9) Batman: A Telltale Games Series
(Probably PS4, Xbone, PC)
Telltale Games, where the hell do I even start when I talk about this company. They took a universe full of zombies that people love (and I find overrated), and they made a story in this universe about a convict who befriends a little girl whose parents are missing. The awesome thing is that Telltale made it a thing for the game to have different scenarios happen throughout the game depending on your actions; this made the game personal for each person because they would have a different playthrough than other people. It’s one of the reasons I find it so hard to go back to Season 1: because everything that I did in the game, I feel that it was unique to where I was at the time, and I don’t think it’d be right for me to try and override that.
Then Telltale brought this exact formula to a different universe that introduced a city full of fairy tale characters who look like normal people, but have their fairy tale character hidden deep within. Another Telltale game with great writing, complex characters, and a very personal playthrough; thus, cementing Telltale as one of the best game companies out there.
Still, Telltale has some flaws that aren’t just little dinky blemishes: they’re flaws that leave a bad taste in my mouth when I’m playing their games. I’m of course referring to the animations and lagginess. Holy shit is it bad.
The animations of the characters’ faces in the games aren’t the most realistic, and this makes me get out of the zone when I should really be getting sad or getting angry. Then there are those moments in the games where I was really getting into the characters and the story, only to have it interrupted by a huge lag. And this was constant throughout the game, there would be huge slowdowns throughout the game. I even encountered a bug in The Wolf Among Us that made my crash every single time I played a scene, so I couldn’t get past it. I kept on trying (it took me about seven times of restarting my PS4), and it miraculously didn’t crash one time. This seriously messed up my vibe.
What sucks about these flaws are that they hinder games that are designed fantastically. The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us are some of my favorite games made, and they have seriously good charcters and dialogue. But thinking back to all the technical difficulties pisses me off. But all of this was back on the PS3 and when Telltale Games wasn’t as renown as it is today. Yet, I seen a trailer for Telltale’s Game of Thrones and the freaking trailer had these two flaws I talked about. A freaking trailer!
I just hope that Telltale’s Batman game won’t have these flaws because I don’t want my time as the caped crusader to be hindered by some silly technical bullshit, especially, given I love Batman. The Arkham games are phenomenal, and Christopher Nolan’s films are phenomenal as well. So Telltale Games has to live up to these phenomenal adaptations, and I think that’ll be possible given Batman’s universe is ripe for the picking. Here’s to none of that “technical difficulties” crap though.
8) Unravel
(PS4, Xbone, PC)
Holy crap those vibrant colors are eye candy to me. There’s so much grays and blacks in video games that it’s great to have a game that has the rainbow as the color scheme.
But that’s not the only thing I’m digging out the game Unravel: I mean just look at that little guy made outta yarn. First off, he’s cute as hell. Second, there’s just so much personality and creativity that goes along with him being made out of yarn. Having a trail of yarn following you and being able to use that yarn to help you traverse your settings is awesome. And then all the conflicts that will arise out of this pecuilar guy’s body I’m sure will be entertaining to play through.
Now, an interesting thing about this game is that it reminds me a lot of Limbo. Funny right? It is because this game might as well be the anti-thesis of Limbo with all of the vibrant colors. Still, I feel that the platforming aspect along with you exploring a world that is bigger than you, a world that could crush you at any moment, is something these two games have in common, which is great because Limbo is the shit.
Unravel is a game that I need as a gamer. I get really tired of shooting and dull colored games. So I’m just happy that I know for sure this game will be here in 2016 to cheer me up with its charismatic character and its flamboyant colors.
7) Firewatch
(PS4, PC, Mac)
(Sony: 2, Microsoft: -0)
I’m being a little bold by adding this game to my most anticipated games of 2016. I say this because I haven’t seen gameplay or anything for a couple of years to a year. Honestly, this game wasn’t in my thoughts last year when I was thinking about the games that were coming out in 2016.
But that doesn’t make me any less excited for the game. Back when I watched the gameplay for the game, I got freaking excited. I truly cannot even recall why, but I just remember the game looked beautiful and the concept caught my attention. Being stranded in the middle of some isolated area and only being able to communicate to a random girl through a walkie talkie just jives with me, ya know?
Along with the premise, there’s the setting. I mean, just look at this photo. Sure, it’s not in game, but it’s conceptualizing the setting of the game and man. California mountains and forests to explore with no one else in sight just seems like something so beautiful. But then there’s the risk of fire. It’s a nature vs man thing, and games haven’t really done that before. So it’s great to see how Firewatch works with this conflict.
6) No Man’s Sky
(PS4, PC)
(Sony: 3, Microsoft: -0)
Yep! I’m excited for No Man’s Sky. It’s so weird what has happened with this game over the past few years. People were mad dogging this game because the concepts of millions of procedurally generated planets that even the developers didn’t know about mixed with actually exploring these absolutely stunning worlds (I seriously love the graphics) and the outer space surrounding these planets are things that haven’t been done before. The scale of this game is just way too crazy.
But then after the initial frenzy settled, people started asking what the actual purpose of the game was. And people drew a blank on this answer. This has led to many more mixed feelings on the game from people who were initially creaming their pants over the game.
Mix this with the unknown release, and it’s hard for me to tell how people feel on this game still even though, initially, I felt people thought this would be one of the best games ever. But fuck it, I’m still excited for this game.
As an upcoming game developer, who is starting to get into more advanced programming topics, I have no clue how the programmers for this game have made this game. Millions of planets where they don’t even know what type of creatures are inhabiting said planet? It’s seriously bewildering to me how they have done such a thing.
Combine this with the aspect of being able to name planets that you discover and name the creatures on those planets, and I’m just excited for what this game entails.
Sure, it could be too hyped or it could be too ambitious, but isn’t ambition good? Even if a game might be too ambitious and doesn’t meet all expectations, isn’t that better than a game that just does what is expected of it? Here’s to No Man’s Sky delivering on the hype and dong something new within the video game genre.
5) Horizon: Zero Dawn
(PS4)
(Sony: 4, Microsoft: -0)
Yeah buddy! Sony has a new IP that has come completely out of nowhere! And it’s by a company known for having heavy-ass gameplay and fantastic graphics: I’m of course referring to Guerilla Games, the creator of Killzone.
Killzone is a beloved franchise for many PlayStation users, but it’s one I haven’t really gotten into. I really enjoyed Killzone 2‘s multiplayer, which I played with my little Asian cousins, but there wasn’t anything too great about the campaign (I feel this way about most first person shooters that are military shooter like). So I never bought any Killzone game, and my only other experience with the series was from playing Killzone 3‘s beta on the PS3, which was enjoyable.
Still, even though I’m not the biggest fan of the Killzone series, I got mucho grande respecto for Guerilla Games as a developer. I hear their latest Killzone on the PS4 might’ve been a little lackluster, but I saw they brought the graphics at least. I know they’ve got some real talent on their team.
So yeah, Horizon: Zero Dawn. Even if you haven’t seen any gameplay, you know the game will be looking sexy as hell given Guerilla Games. What’s crazy though is that this game is going to be open-world!
Such a change up from their previous IP, but that’s awesome! Kudos to Guerilla Games for having the cajones to do something out of their comfort zone. And for doing something unique!
Horizon: Zero Dawn is set in a sort of a post apocalyptic world. Except it’s not your desolate, sandy world. It’s a world that has moved on: nature has grown over a lot of the man made structures in the world. It’s even combined with man made things. This brings in an interesting concept: the people have gone back to their hunting roots, which totally has that Native American vibe going on. But what’s interesting is there’s technology mixed into this, technology that is better than the stuff we have. So you might be using a bow, but that bow is tricked out with tech. Also, the animals will even be a mixture between their animal roots and advanced technology. They’re pretty much 1/4 animal and 3/4 technology.
So Horizon: Zero Dawn obviously has a sick new concept that might start a trend, but it’s also got something else interesting: a lead female protagonist! And I mean interesting in the least supportive way. My manliness finds it bullshit that females are trying to take over the game industry. How am I supposed to get my manly fix of adrenaline from playing manly video games when I’m playing as a little girl? I’m disgusted by Guerilla Games and, honestly, even one of my favorite companies, Naughty Dog, for pulling this shit on male gamers. I mean WTF. #GamerGateForLife
But seriously, respect to Guerilla Games for not only mixing things up with their genre and picking an interesting concept for a game, but having you play as a female protagonist. I’m glad that big titles like The Last of Us and this one are adding strong lead female protags because it’s going to make it seem like it’s no big deal, which it shouldn’t be. It is though, and I’m tipping my hat off to Guerilla Games.
4) Uncharted 4
(PS4)
(Sony: 5, Microsoft: -0)
You know I must have solid trust in a game franchise and its developer if I’m super pumped for its next entry in the series even though I haven’t even seen any gameplay for it. Yes, I hear by some I have strong willpower when it comes to trying not to spoil things like gameplay and story, but I Just love going into games (and movies) with no idea what they’re going to be like. But obviously, I have some idea what I’m getting into; otherwise, I’d give five fucks about this game. Nah, who am I kidding. I’d pre-order any Naughty Dog game even if I knew zero details about it.
I remember when I would go to Walmart, and they used to have a Playstation 3 with demos that I could test out. Uncharted 1 was there, and I digged what I played. I wasn’t in love or anything, but what it was offering was something interesting. Its emphasis on climbing your surroundings (I had no clue what the hell I was doing back then) and its cover based shooting was nice, but it didn’t totally get me pumped for some reason.
It’s to be noted that I was messed up in the head during this time. I had bought an Xbox 360 even though, before that, I was a loyal Sony fan who played the hell out of the Playstation 1 and 2. But for some reason I got the 360, and my time with it was alright. Not having money to waste on Xbox Live was a bummer, but, otherwise, my time with the console wasn’t too regretful. I did get to play Gears of War on it, which was a great Xbox exclusive game.
Eventually, though, I got a sign: my Xbox 360 broke. I might blame Cali for it getting the RROD, but it’s whatevs. I eventually came into some money—I’ll have to go over this baller story another day—and I bought a PS3! I sold all of my Xbox 360 games, and I bought a bunch of PS3 games. Of the games I bought, Uncharted 2 was one.
I was pumped for Uncharted 2. I heard so much good stuff about the game. Everyone was raving over it. I mean, Tom McShea gave it a “9.5” (and this guy is super critical). I heard it combined things from Gears of War and Tomb Raider while also adding its knack for tight storytelling, funny dialogue, and insane graphics. And when I tried the game out, I was definitely not led amiss.
I mean the first thing that happens to you in the game is crazy. You’re inside a bus that is hanging off a cliff, and you have to climb up the freaking bus using your spiderman abilities (alright, no supernatural abilities, but man can Nathan Drake climb). And there were so many game defining moments like this throughout the game.
And Uncharted 3 had the same qualities as Uncharted 2, and as a result, the series became one of my favorites. Naughty Dog became one of my favorite developers again (I grew up on Crash Bandicoot). Then they came out with a new game called The Last of Us. Phew, that was awesome too!
The Last of Us was a much darker game than Uncharted though. Uncharted has those funny liners, and the action isn’t too violent. It’s just like a James Bond film in regards to its violence. Now, The Last of Us was way different, and it makes sense. It’s a zombie game that reflects on the nature of humanity that has lost site of civilization. The violence reflects that too. But why am I talking about The Last of Us when I should be talking about Uncharted 4?
Because the directors who worked on The Last of Us, Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, are the directors on Uncharted 4. This is a change up because Anny Hennig actually directed Uncharted 1, 2, and 3. And it’s a big change up. Neil and Bruce are bringing that dark edge from The Last of Us to Uncharted 4, and I’m actually really excited about that. I think that the stakes involved in this game are going to be at their biggest because these guys will let characters die off as seen from The Last of Us.
Still, it cannot be as dark as The Last of Us; otherwise, it wouldn’t be Uncharted. So I’m sure they’re going to strike a balance between dark and light, and I’m sure this balance in the final entry of the series is going to be a balance not seen in the other Uncharted games. Damn, the final entry in the series. It makes me sad that Uncharted 4 will mark the end of one of my favorite series of all times, but I’m glad it’s ending before it gets milked. If only Ubisoft could learn from Naughty Dog…
3)The Last Guardian
(PS4)
(Sony: 6, Microsoft: -0)
It’s a really interesting thing. I was a big follower of Gamespot for many years. And every year I followed them, they made a list of what they hoped would be at the year’s E3. The Last Guardian was on that list every single year I was a follower of the site. It became like a Half-Life 3 thing where each year they were like, “Sure, we thought last year was the year, but I think this year is the year for sure.” Eventually, they became kind of depressed with it, and it became a “Hopefully it’s this year, but damnit, screw the company.” And people’s anticipations lowered, and it became a hopeless thing. People thought the game wouldn’t be made, and when there was news they were making it on the PS4 (it was originally going to be on the PS3), I think people were kind of like “And Santa Claus is real…”
But here comes along E3 2015. I stopped going on Gamespot, so I don’t know if they made a list of what they hoped to be at E3. Luckily, I got them mad googling skills, and they did make a little rumor list. Half-Life 3 wasn’t on the list, but The Last Guardian was on it (Here)! It seems they were actually kind of expecting it, but I’m sure they were actually really surprised when they were watching E3 2015, and The Last Guardian came on with gameplay. Hell, I was surprised, and excited, even though I didn’t even care about the game all those years everyone was anticipating the game.
I mean, I knew The Last Guardian was some big deal because people loved the games Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, and the maker of those games, Fumito Ueda, was the maker of The Last Guardian, but my experience with Ico and Shadow of the Colossus was limited (I played the demo for Shadow of the Colossus when I was young). So I wasn’t really too excited for the The Last Guardian; however, I thought it was really funny seeing it on the list each year.
But seeing what the game was actually about through its gameplay reveal at E3 has gotten me super hyped for this game. I’m not sure if I would’ve been excited for this game years ago, but this is a game that I need now. I’m a bit tired of guns and killing, so The Last Guardian has gotten me really excited.
What the gameplay video showed me was exceptional. It showed a little boy with some sort of creature (a mixture between an eagle, a dog, and a cat), and the boy used commands to get the creature to help him traverse his environment. The gameplay video set up their relationship and how they interact with each other fantastically, and it made me realize I wanted this game a lot. This just shows, again, how I’m a sucker for cute things with huge personality or character.
And there was a puzzle aspect shown in the video, which definitely can be something that turns out great, but it’s definitely the relationship between the little boy and the creature that has me pumped. I just need their cute relationship in my life when there are so many guns and blades in video games these days.
2) The Witness
(PS4, iOS, PC)
(Sony: 7, Microsoft: -0)
This game has gotten me chanting one thing and one thing only: Jonathan Blow. I freaking love that guy.
Jonathan Blow is definitely one of the more well known indie game developers, but I don’t think he’s as popular as someone like Edmund Mcmillen (the creator of Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac). Still, he’s definitely up there, and he should be up there. He’s one of the founding fathers of the indie game movements.
Jonathan is actually featured in Indie Game: The Movie, and it shows how he feels after the financial success of his game that he made by himself (he programmed and designed it all by himself): Braid.
Braid came out in 2008 (whereas Super Meat Boy came out in 2010), and it became very financially successful. It sold 45,000 copies in its first week, which is huge for a team of one person. If each copy was $15, he would’ve made $675,000 dollars. It’s listed as selling 450,000 copies as of 2012, which is millions of dollars for him. It is one of the first indie games to have sold so many copies, and it’s stapled Blow as one of the most important figures in the indie game movement.
So people, and me of course, have been anticipating his next game called The Witness. He’s been working on it since 2008, so he hasn’t given himself a break from making any games, which makes sense. Blow is the type of developer who wants to make a game that he feels is a masterpiece. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever do that, but he’ll keep on trying. That’s why he’s invested all of the money he made from Braid (millions) and then some (loans I assume) into making The Witness. It’s because he doesn’t care about the money; he just cares about making a good game.
And this is one of the big things for me, for why I’m excited about the game: because Jonathan Blow is working on the game. I know this is going to be a game that he’s truly put all of his efforts into, and I’ll know there will be nothing he could’ve done to have made a better game.
But I’m also excited about this game for other reasons: first off, it looks freaking beautiful. The Witness is going to be an open-world game where you solve puzzles, and the open-world is going to consist of lush islands that have so many different terrains and colors on them. I mean look at that picture above. Those colors are just so eye catching, and the style they’re going for in the game is just fantastic. I really cannot compliment the art direction enough.
The second reason I’m excited is that in this open-world game, there are hundreds of puzzles (around 650) spread throughout all the islands, and the time that Blow thinks the player will take in solving them all is 80 hours. Holy crap right? I mean if you know puzzle games like I do, you know they aren’t that long. Portal 1 and Portal 2 were probably like 15 hour games. The Swapper was probably 10 hours max. Good puzzle games aren’t that long because it’s hard to make puzzles that are smart (and then smarter than the previous ones), but it’s something Blow will be doing in his game.
The final reason I’m excited for The Witness is because of one of Blow’s philosophies behind his game: that there is a problem with point-and-click adventure games, which I love to death. He talked about how point-and-click games kind of suck because you start clicking everywhere and combining objects with everything in hopes of solving the puzzle, which is really lame. I’ve done this before in all point-and-click games, and it’s definitely made the experience a bit suckier for me. So Blow has designed his game so that you cannot just mindlessly click on your environment trying to solve his game.
He does this through panels. Panels are the puzzles in the games. This is what they look like (Here). Panels are the only way you interact with the world, so there’s no need for you to click on anything other than the panels. In order to solve the panels, you will need to use the world as a key, so you will be using the world around you, you just won’t be clicking on every single thing that you see in the world. It’s this thinking from Blow that really gets me excited for The Witness because while I’m a die hard point-and-click fan, through my recent playthrough of Broken Age, I really noticed myself clicking all over the place randomly trying to solve puzzles.
So much thought, money, and hard work has obviously been put into The Witness, and I just cannot wait for it to release. (It’s actually coming out this month!) I see so much ambition in this game that I just get giddy at the thought of seeing how much of it actually pans out well.
Fun fact: he says there’s a puzzle that he suspects no more than 1% of the players will be able to beat. Holy crap. I mean, I thought Braid was hard (I didn’t ever finish it because I got stuck on a puzzle).
1) Persona 5
(PS4, PS3)
(Sony: 8, Microsoft: -0)
Things sure do change. I used to love Final Fantasy growing up (VII and X specifically), but XIII showed me how tedious JRPGs could actually be. I remember the time I spent with the game gameplay wise was practically just me clicking one button the entire fight and winning. It was horrible. This opened up the part in my life where I just kind of stopped playing turn based RPGs.
Then came along the Vita. My good friend Alex sold my girlfriend and me his Vita for a badass price a few years ago, and up until that point, I had, unknowingly, been preparing for that day by purchasing all of the free Vita PS+ games even though I never thought I would get a Vita. I just did it because it was free, ya know? But yeah, I got lucky, so when I got my Vita, I had a buttload of free, awesome games.
But even though I had a sizable chunk of very good games to play on the Vita, I didn’t have the supposed gem of the Vita: Persona 4: Golden. On Gamespot, which I was a devout follower of at the time, it had gotten a rave review, and everyone in the comments section was saying it was the bomb. I had absolutely no clue about the game, but I knew I needed to buy it. Boy, was I in for a surprise.
From even me just starting up the game, I was in for a whole different type of experience. The opening sequence is unabashedly Japanese with its J-Pop song and its character art that resembled characters in a manga series. I was totally jiving with the song though, which is honestly super catchy (the soundtrack for the game is ridiculously good). I was ready for what was ahead.
So I started up the game, and I was introduced to my character, who I got to name. Me naming him made sense because throughout the game, the protagonist doesn’t have a voice. The only communication he does throughout the game is through you and whatever he says is decided by you through dialogue choices. This is important because this character became me. All of his decisions and choices throughout the game reflected what I wanted and who I was, which is really special because it felt like I was actually in the game.
And I could go into so many more details, but I won’t because then this would be super duper long (I will re-review P4G, though, as part of my “old reviews, new reviews” thing happening on my site). Ultimately, though, what happens is that you move to a new town where you are going to live with your uncle and his daughter, who you really aren’t familar with. And you will have to go to a new high school where you will make new friends. This stuff is huge to you given your a high schooler, but then there are a series of unsolved murders happening once you arrive that you must solve.
All of this is very special because as you go along on your journey of solving the murders, you make more and more friends on this journey. And that’s where the heart of the game lies: making connections with these characters. The writing is just so phenomenal that you really feel like these are people that could be at your high school, and the bonds you make with these people feel real.
And there are so many other things that make this game one of the best games ever made and, certainly, my favorite, which is a big deal because Red Dead Redemption was my favorite for a long time. But it ultimately got me reinterested in the JRPG genre again (to an extent), and it’s gotten me super duper excited for Persona 5, the newest entry in the Persona series.
It seems like Persona 5 will be going down a dark road of conspiracies, so it seems like the story will definitely have some dark twists hidden throughout the game just like Persona 4: Golden. And along with the story, which was definitely a very strong point in P4G, I’m sure the bonds you will make with characters at your school will be something very special. I mean the picture above is already awesome. I mean what the hell is that thing in the lower left? That thing will be my best friend or else.
But yeah, I just cannot wait to get sucked into a new world where I get to become a new high schooler at a different high school with different people with different conflicts. It’s definitely my most anticipated thing about this year for sure. Nothing on this list comes close to how excited I am for Persona 5. At a time where I find it harder and harder to be wowed, I’m just really curious how blown away Persona 5 will get me.
Honorable Mentions
I’ll be honest: there are some games that are coming out in 2016 that are exclusive to the Xbone, and it get’s me a little jealous even as an avid PS4 fan. There’s only two though: Quantum Break by the fantastic Remedy Entertainment and Sea of Thieves by Rare Entertainment (Sony: 8, Microsoft: 2). Remedy has made some really great games like Max Payne 1 and 2 and Alan Wake, and Quantum Break looks just as promising. The cinematic nature of the game with an interesting time manipulation concept along with being handled by Remedy makes it seem like Microsoft is going to have a great new, exclusive IP for their current gen console.
And then there’s Sea of Thieves, which is getting me very reminiscent towards the old days of when I used to play Pirates of the Caribbean Online, which allowed me to command pirate ships where the cannons were all operated by real people. And that’s what Sea of Thieves looks like: it looks like you will be having pirate adventures with real people, and you will attack other pirate ships that have real people on them. That just sounds tight as hell.
Now, there’s also a Wii U exclusive that seems pretty cool: The Legend of Zelda. I played Twilight Princess on the Wii, and that game was truly something special. It felt like an open-world game with a linear constraint pushing you along on your journey, which made the journey oh so great. And now this Zelda is going to be straight up open-world, and the open-world part looks beautiful. It looks like the Wii U could be getting an exceptional title this year.
Now, those titles I didn’t include because I don’t have an Xbone or a Wii U, but these titles I’m about to list I didn’t include for other reasons. First there’s Allison Road, which is inspired by the absolutely haunting P.T. It’s set in a house that has more rooms, and even an outside, than P.T., and it looks like you’ll be exploring this house while there is something in the house trying to murder you. I hear there might be a VR component to this game, but, nonetheless, I’m just excited for this game because it has some great inspirations (and the gameplay for the game looked frightening). I just didn’t include it because I already had so many other good games on my list. I really am looking forward to how this title will be though, and I definitely might get it.
The second, and last honorable mention, that I didn’t include is called Inside. This is by the company called Playdead, which is known for making the crushing Limbo. Limbo is one of my favorite indie games out there, and what it does with sound, visuals, and feeling is just incredible. And Inside looks to do the same, if not more. It’s being called the spiritual successor to Limbo, and it makes sense. It has the monochrome colors of Limbo; however, it looks like your character has a red shirt (totally a throwback to Schindler’s List). It also seems like your character has the same vulnerability as the kid in Limbo. I just cannot wait for this game. The only problem is I’m not sure if it’s coming out this year. If it is, I’d totally add it to my list, but the lack of info on its release date made me decide not to add it…
Special Shoutout
I’d just like to end my my most anticipated games of 2016 with this: screw you Ubisoft for turning the Far Cry series into your next milk machine. Easily one of my favorite series ever, but you turning it into a yearly release thing shows me it’s probably going to be going downhill.
Far Cry is a series that has always been about the creativity and being bigger and better than the one before, and that’s just something that won’t happen on a yearly release schedule. It’s extremely disheartening to know that Ubisoft has its eyes set on making sure Far Cry becomes its new cash cow. I mean, Far Cry: Primal seems like it has a promising enough premise, but I just cannot trust it when Far Cry 4 just came out last year. Nor do I need it given Far Cry 4 just came out. A Far Cry every three years is all I can handle.