It’s time for another game of the year ceremony. And as always, we’re starting with the pre-show and random awards. To help keep things in order, we’re doing the pre-show with my #10 pick this time.
Since this is the first GOTY show with more people tuning in thanks to the YouTube channel, I’ll go over the rules. The award show is completely fixed; only games I’ve personally played will count. The game had to have come out for 2016 and expansions or DLCs to games will not count.
With that said, we’re going to start with the pre-show and my random awards list.
Late to the Party Award — Bloodborne
I finally played Bloodborne thanks to getting a PS4. And while I loved the game, I’m still several years late to put it on my 2016 GOTY list.
It’s still not Happening Award — Call of Duty Infinite Warfare
They keep making Call of Duty games, and I’m going to keep getting endlessly killed by people online.
You’re going to Hate Me Award — Overwatch
Overwatch may be another amazing game from Blizzard, but it’s not one that really hooked me. I bounced off of Team Fortress 2 a few years ago, and not even Blizzard’s charm is enough to get me to jump back into team-based multiplayer.
I Could Have Been a Contender Award — The Witness
I love puzzle games; giving top honors to The Swapper from a few years ago and sadly missing out on The Talos Principle for 2014. If anything, The Witness could have been a sure hit on the list. The problem though is that it never discounted high enough and money has been tight this year.
Most Disappointing Award — Clockwork Empires
Clockwork Empires has been one of my most anticipated games for some time now, and unfortunately it wasn’t ready for prime time. The game is still being worked on, but it’s far at this point from the game that was going to be on my top 10 list of 2016.
This Spot Reserved for 2017 Award — Resident Evil 7
After playing the demo and seeing the footage of it, I’m really hoping that Resident Evil 7 will be the shot in the arm for the survival horror genre that RE 1 and 4 were.
The Slipped Under the Cracks Award — Dishonored 2
Dishonored, despite hearing the accolades, is not a series that I have given much time to. I actually need to sit down and play through the first game at some point, which is why I skipped out on the sequel.
With that said, let’s turn our attention to #10.
#10 — Hitman
The Hitman series has always remained popular among PC gamers, but not reaching the same heights as other series. The up and down nature of the titles didn’t help matters either. When it was announced that the next Hitman would be episodic, fans were noticeably worried.
Despite not having experience with the model, IO Interactive managed to deliver on completing the entire season, and providing enough content for new and old fans. The episodic nature allowed them to deliver on unique areas with a lot of challenges to go after. The elusive target system provided content in-between the releases of each new episode.
The model has proven to be successful enough for them to continue with a season two. This could be the shot in the arm that the series needs to get back into the limelight.
Up next for #9, we have a retro horror experience.
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