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[Nightengale]

We've got our favourites of the year, the games of the year, worst of the year, but I don't think we've heard or talked much about what we feel are the best designed games of the year.

Ones where we put on our intellectual "what if we're a game designer" cap and look at how the games are put together, what are masterfully crafted and what aren't, and how some games that despite having masterful pieces do not equal the sum of its parts, or how games with parts that on its own aren't great, but as a whole? Greater than sum of its parts.

So I'll share some thoughts on DOOM. I think DOOM is one of the best designed shooters in a long while. It has very strong components that combines excellent push-and-pull mechanics that smartly rewards forward momentum, and its glory kill mechanic that has an excellent risk-reward portion that combines regular moment-to-moment combat.

Glory kills are also, imo, smartly put together in the sense that during the most hectic moments of any arena combat, glory kills are timed well enough that they almost function like 1-second breathers of safety that you can use to recalibrate your senses, while not being long enough to be distracting. There's a sense of the game feeling like how racers have road stretches to temporarily relax themselves during high tension moments before going for the next round.

I think on its own, many components of DOOM are very very well made. The portions of the game where you traverse and explore for secrets. The arenas. The individual enemies that has the balance of your need to shift weaponry and deal with them accordingly due to the combat style. The different weapons. And design.

But the blend of it, imo, doesn't hold up as strongly over long stretches of gameplay. Increased enemy count and higher-tier enemies by the end of the game, don't feel like they are a natural escalation of the game's core combat, but rather just additional waves to deal with. Levels are broader, wider and taller, but the mastery of the spaces around you feel like it could had been better instead of how it's handled. Just a feeling, but I don't feel like the management of the space and the arena levels were handled the best it could.

Many parts of DOOM feel like 10/10s or 9/10s in terms of how well-designed it feels, but some own sensibilities don't feel like those pieces meshed as well as it could have.

So, I've thrown some thoughts out there? What are your own views of the best designed games of 2016? Any views? Etc?

 

[Phediuk]

Came in to say Doom.

You could also add Overwatch and Titanfall 2.

It was a good year for FPSes.

 

[ironmang]

The Witness

Thought the puzzles were brilliant and just loved wandering around that island. The hidden puzzles were also great and gave me a reason to further explore just to see what I could find. Plus I generally hate buying digital games, especially ones that I consider expensive, but this had a good 15-20 hours of non-filler.

 

[pa22word]

Just in terms of game design I think Dishonored 2 is probably the most complete game I've played in years. Level design is just out of this world in it, and the addition of a second playable character gives it the legs I think was missing in the first game's more binary focused game play.

Just man they /really/ should have delayed it a few months to iron out crippling issues with the engine.

 

[Tame Deity]

Tittyfall 2 does something really special with standard FPS gameplay. The speed and flow of running around in a multiplayer match is just amazing.

 

[robotrock]

thumper is masterful at doing everything it sets out to do

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

I'm gonna say Doom, it felt like every little part of that game was fine tuned by the devs. It's also the first game in a long time where I'd think I found a secret path leading to a collectible but it was actually the normal path to take for the story. I don't really know how to explain it, but usually when I find clever little paths to take I think it's a secret path, but for Doom those were it's normal paths.

 

[Icolin]

Inside.

The way it gradually teaches the core mechanics, and the way it introduces gameplay variations, all while still making sense in the context of the story is masterful.

 

[Tanaka]

Superhot is the most innovative shooter I've played in years.

 

[KatamariOnTheRocks]

Battleborn is an incredibly well designed game. Everything from the level design to the gunplay to the art style is just so good. Easily my favorite MOBA and undoubtedly the most underated game ever. If you enjoy fps and MOBAs you can get the game dirt cheap now or wait until F2P and I guarantee you'll at least get your moneys worth if those type of games interest you.

 

[DocSeuss]

Better folks than I have already said the games I was gonna mention.

Superhot is the most innovative shooter I've played in years.

too bad it's not a very good game, and it has to rely on asking its audience to type "superhot is the most innovative shooter I've played in years" to sell itself because it can't actually be sold on its own merits, which is "this one demo was cool"

Battleborn is an incredibly well designed game. Everything from the level design to the gunplay to the art style is just so good. Easily my favorite MOBA and undoubtedly the most underated game ever. If you enjoy fps and MOBAs you can get the game dirt cheap now or wait until F2P and I guarantee you'll at least get your moneys worth if those type of games interest you.

haha holy shit what

I mean, we could start with this mess of a UI, and go from there, if you'd like? The level design is atrocious, the powers are weak, weapons aren't that enjoyable, feedback is nonexistent...

 

[J_ToSaveTheDay]

Inside.

First thought here. While it ranked as my personal #10, I think it was the most cohesively designed game this year. The entire thing feels tightly produced in both its art and gameplay.

Again, even if that didn't appeal to me as strongly as 9 other games on my personal list, I still gotta give credit for Inside for feeling like it didn't compromise on anything to achieve its vision... Or at least, that's what it feels like when I play it.

I played The Witness for about 6 hours and never beat it, but I did go ahead and spoil some of the grander reveals later on in that game, and I'd say there's a very strong argument for that being immaculately designed as well. Sounds incredibly impressive, even if I don't find doing a variety of line puzzles all that interesting myself.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Inside is a good one. It's so lean. Pretty much everything that you encounter has a purpose and even the audio plays into how you solve things at times.

It doesn't do anything revolutionary. It's just really tight and there pretty much isn't any room to get lost or misinterpret what to do, yet its puzzles rarely feel obvious.

 

[Icolin]

Inside is a good one. It's so lean. Pretty much everything that you encounter has a purpose and even the audio plays into how you solve things at times.

It doesn't do anything revolutionary. It's just really tight and there pretty much isn't any room to get lost or misinterpret what to do, yet its puzzles rarely feel obvious.

This is exactly how I feel about it. It's sort of the same way I felt about Ico or The Last of Us, in the sense that I always knew what the rules and the mechanics of the game were, so I never got confused or frustrated, and that's all down to how well the game design are mechanics are gradually introduced, while still making sense within the context of the story.

That, to me, is what game design should shrive to achieve, and Inside is certainly a prime example of great game design.

 

[KatamariOnTheRocks]

haha holy shit what



I mean, we could start with this mess of a UI, and go from there, if you'd like? The level design is atrocious, the powers are weak, weapons aren't that enjoyable, feedback is nonexistent...

What about that is clunky? Are we looking at the same picture?

The level design is well thought out and allows for blocking off areas and grouping up, what do you consider good level design and be more specific when saying atrocious. The powers are not weak in the slightest so clearly you've never played the game and are making up generic bullshit to try to confirm your bias against the game. And the feedback is top notch Destiny tier. Way to out yourself as yet another loser that has a vendetta against Gearbox and is too lazy to even try the game for yourself to find out what its like.

 

[Sophia]

I'd like to go into detail about how masterfully designed Overwatch's maps are, but I'm on mobile right now. They so meticulously designed compared to almost every first person shooter on the market, however. Every nook, cranny, path, ledge has a purpose from a gameplay standpoint, with different paths intended for different heroes. It's amazing.

 

[KraytarJ]

The Witness and Inside come to mind.

 

[DocSeuss]

What about that is clunky? Are we looking at the same picture?

The level design is well thought out and allows for blocking off areas and grouping up, what do you consider good level design and be more specific when saying atrocious. The powers are not weak in the slightest so clearly you've never played the game and are making up generic bullshit to try to confirm your bias against the game. And the feedback is top notch Destiny tier. Way to out yourself as yet another loser that has a vendetta against Gearbox and is too lazy to even try to game for yourself to find out what its like.

If I didn't play it, how did I take the screenshot?

 

[KatamariOnTheRocks]

If I didn't play it, how did I take the screenshot?

You started the game and fired up The Algorithm, you know, the first mission you unlock right after the tutorial meaning you've done the equivalent of showing me the first level of halo and saying it proves you've spent more than 2 seconds with it.

How about you talk about the game itself to prove that you know anything since you obviously don't and cant speak in depth about it.

 

[DocSeuss]

You started the game and fired up The Algorithm, you know, the first mission you unlock right after the tutorial meaning you've done the equivalent of showing me the first level of halo and saying it proves you've spent more than 2 seconds with it.

How about you talk about the game itself to prove that you know anything since you obviously don't and cant speak in depth about it.

I just did a four thousand word piece on games today. I don't feel like diving into a gigantic-ass discussion on every single minute detail of why Battleborn is a bad game, especially because I played it, what, during release week, and I'd rather not have to reinstall the damn thing just to give you few pages on its many, many flaws.

It's a bad game. It could have been a great game, but there are too many issues with level design (frequently too flat and open/not good at encouraging lateral motion or vertical looking), UI (cluttered, communicating a lot of information it doesn't need to communicate or could communicate in other ways, and in some cases, communicating one piece of intel in too many ways, creating visual noise), feedback (there's almost none), and so on and so forth.

If you like it, cool. That's great. But it flopped because it was a deeply problematic game. Gearbox's biggest weakness as a developer is their core gunplay (and the way guns/LD relates). This has been a persistent problem, and it's really something I'd like to help them fix at some point in the future.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

The Witness is next level game design.

 

[Twelvy]

The Witness and Inside come to mind.

I was about to post the same ones.

 

[Tanaka]

too bad it's not a very good game, and it has to rely on asking its audience to type "superhot is the most innovative shooter I've played in years" to sell itself because it can't actually be sold on its own merits, which is "this one demo was cool"

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree then. Along with Inside, this was one of the most tightly designed games I've played this year. Every level builds on the last with interesting and fun ways to go about completing the level. To be fair, the game is only designed around one mechanic, so I can definitely see why some folks don't enjoy the game.I found that mechanic incredibly satisfying and enjoyable though, so .

 

[Strangelove77]

Doom isn't my favorite game ever or anything, but credit where it's due - it's exceptionally well designed in almost every way.

I'm also no expert, but I'm sure it's a bitch to balance Overwatch characters and stages considering how different a lot of the characters play. I think they've pulled it off so far.

 

[DocSeuss]

I hope it's cool if I quote part of the Doom piece I freelanced for Kotaku a few days ago:

Doom lets you carry everything, but you can’t pick up ammo from your enemies unless you use a finisher to tear them apart, and it might not be enough ammo to see you through an entire combat encounter. If you want ammo, you’ll have to go exploring.

Shooters really start to shine when they encourage players to think about the combat space. By having an old-school approach to ammo, where you have to find ammo crates for each weapon type, Doom players must always be on the prowl. Instead of walking from gunfight to gunfight, you have to be on the lookout for useful supplies that give you an edge in combat.

One of the biggest weakness a shooter faces is that games have taught players to take the path of least resistance. This is rarely the path of the most fun. Doom remedies this with its weapon upgrade system. Each weapon has multiple upgrades that drastically change the player’s playstyle. The rocket launcher, for example, can either lock onto enemies or be manually detonated in the air. Manual detonation is great for killing groups of enemies, while lock-on is useful for tangling with some of the more mobile foes. To complete each upgrade tree, players must approach the game in certain ways, killing specific enemies with specific fire modes. I’ve seen some games try to punish players into varied play. Doom wisely dangles the carrot of upgrades instead.

 

[Brandon F]

Zelda preview footage.

 

[NinjamicWZ]

Doom definitely is choice material. The only thing that I felt was wrong was that rune challenges took place in instanced arenas that had to load in. I would have preferred them to be on location and organic, and if that meant placing them in more suitable secret locations, so be it.

Inside is definitely a smart, intuitive and smooth take on the Eric Chahi genre. Another top choice.

Underdog answer is I'm pretty happy with Street Fighter V. The V trigger system, the two-button everything-important set up, and takes on characters (whether taking great liberties, reinventing, or making minor alterations to a classic) just work wonders for me. The front facing UI is slick, geared towards discovering and finding what you want at all times. Lots of QOL little things. Cross platform play between PS4 & PC. Even though it had terrible marketing ramifications and initially priced itself out of acceptability, I believe the online focus and seasonal business/distribution model was the right thing to do... as a way to bring people to a more rewarding play space rather than being intimidated away. I think the readability of the art style and action, the underlying fighting is a sweet spot of accessibility and potential finesse, as well as the basic network functions and matchmaking decisions (standard 2/3 cycle, rage quit punishment etc). They came with the exact right recipe to get me actually playing a fighting game again for the first time in 10 or 15 years. It must be doing something right.

 

[KatamariOnTheRocks]

I just did a four thousand word piece on games today. I don't feel like diving into a gigantic-ass discussion on every single minute detail of why Battleborn is a bad game, especially because I played it, what, during release week, and I'd rather not have to reinstall the damn thing just to give you few pages on its many, many flaws.

It's a bad game. It could have been a great game, but there are too many issues with level design (frequently too flat and open/not good at encouraging lateral motion or vertical looking), UI (cluttered, communicating a lot of information it doesn't need to communicate or could communicate in other ways, and in some cases, communicating one piece of intel in too many ways, creating visual noise), feedback (there's almost none), and so on and so forth.

If you like it, cool. That's great. But it flopped because it was a deeply problematic game. Gearbox's biggest weakness as a developer is their core gunplay (and the way guns/LD relates). This has been a persistent problem, and it's really something I'd like to help them fix at some point in the future.

I feel that and Its cool that you don't go into detail now but I'd like to hear your thoughts in the future if you ever get the chance. I honestly disagree with everything you've said though as the game has been massively re hauled since launch in every regard from toning down the on screen effects to improving level geometry for better optimization (some multiplayer levels were really rough on low end hardware) and fixing issues where people would get stuck on parts of the geometry. The levels definitely encourage vertical traversal as several characters are built to take advantage of those spots like Marquis and Benedict. The feedback from characters like Ghalt with his hook (way more satisfying than a Road Hog hookshot) or Benedict with his rocket launcher feel spot on so I just can't agree about a lack of feedback, even characters with normal guns feel good when you land a shot. Even the UI is incredibly easy to understand though I agree that a better tutorial could help people learn it quicker.

The game flopping had nothing to do with merit, look at Titanfall 2 if you want to see what happens when a good game goes up against another, more popular, good game. Battleborn is a great game but nobody gave it the time of day and I know they will once it eventually goes f2p and the barrier to entry is lower.

 

[Raptor]

Titanfall 2
Doom
Uncharted 4

 

[OneUh8]

Overwatch or INSIDE

 

[More_Badass]

Stephen's Sausage Roll is the best designed puzzler of the year. Through level design alone, the game hides mechanics in plain sight until it's time to introduce them. It's quite brilliant, because the core gameplay is all about using the environment to maneuver.

So for example,

Spoiler

you can skewer sausages with your fork to carry them around, but you don't discover that till the levels are designed to give you the space to place a sausage against a solid surface and the space to face the sausage with your fork

Inside, SuperHOT, and House of the Dying Sun are up there as well

 

[Robot Pants]

The Witness

Thought the puzzles were brilliant and just loved wandering around that island. The hidden puzzles were also great and gave me a reason to further explore just to see what I could find. Plus I generally hate buying digital games, especially ones that I consider expensive, but this had a good 15-20 hours of non-filler.

.

 

[jblank83]

Hyper Light Drifter - What a tight 2d action game. Beautiful art, beautiful music, interesting world to explore, challenging and rewarding gameplay. The map design is fantastic as well, shuffling smartly between "platforming" challenges and combat. The rhythm of that shuffling is varied as well, so the game doesn't become predictable. Another smart piece of design is that secrets really are secret, not oppressive and marked out on maps for you, as in some games. They're just there to find if you want to really explore the game. If you do, many of them lead to a deeper appreciation by giving little glimpses of the world's story. Lovely little game.

DQ Builders - Really well designed mashup of "Minecraft" and Dragon Quest, in the vein of Soul Blazer, Actraiser, and Dark Cloud. The building interface is simple and effective, which makes it fun. Nor does building become tedious due to a town size limitation and quests that push you to explore. The world is fun to scour, with a lot of interesting content and quests. The mashup of designs seems like it shouldn't work so well but it does.

Rhythm Heaven Megamix - Yes, it's a bunch of old games (and new) but it's tied together really well with a very nice UI. Beyond that, it's Rhythm Heaven, which means it's great.

Dark Souls 3 - People have cited franchise fatigue, but I felt it was the best designed of the Souls games, with the best levels, and, personally imo, the best bosses. Levels felt somewhere between Bloodborne's fast linearity and Dark Souls 1's more open, meandering areas. IMO, it felt like a culmination of From's past efforts, masterful. Bosses were varied as well, from From's trademark "puzzle/gimmick" fights, to "Big Monster with Swipe", and really unique stuff like the Watchers. The story was a satisfying "conclusion" to the entire Dark Souls series as well, poignant even. I loved it.

Rimworld - In development for a long time now but it only released onto Early Access in 2016. I don't dip into sim builders very often but when I do it's for something great, like Sim City SNES. Rimworld has that sort of overarching cohesive thought put into its design. Everything impacts everything, like a good sim should. With a really well designed interface, it's satisfying to build a home and torture to watch it destroyed. And it has that "one-more-turn" factor.


There are still a lot of games I haven't gotten to yet also, like DQ 7 3DS, Ace Attorney 6, Grow Up, Last Guardian, and Uncharted 4.

 

[Nightengale]

Stephen's Sausage Roll is the best designed puzzler of the year.

It truly is. I've only played a little bit of it, but it's a wonder how much depth there is for what it appears to be.

 

[The Dear Leader]

Dishonored II is one of the most intricately crafted games I've ever played.

 

[saunderez]

Enter The Gungeon

A perfect fusion of rogue-lite, twin stick shooter and bullet hell shmup and at first glance the appearance of a lovechild of The Binding of Isaac and Nuclear Throne.

Enter the Gungeon perfectly combines it's unique play style with an amazing soundtrack, charming pixel art graphics that never get in the way of the gameplay and procedurally generated levels which makes each run different to the last. Despite its simplistic look there is a surprising amount of depth and strategy to the game which has kept me coming back (63 hours and counting). The upcoming free Supply Drop Update will add even more weapons, enemies, rooms and bosses as well as other content to a game already jam packed with things to do.

My game of the year and well worth checking out.

 

[supernormal]

I think Inside is one the best designed games ever. I've talked about this in many threads before but it is so efficient and deliberate in it's execution it feels like there's no waste.

It doesn't try anything that it can't achieve perfectly. There's no half steps in any direction. They've labeled their visual approach as low complexity/high fidelity.

They work with simple low poly models freeing their render budget to allow high fidelity lighting and other effects to be applied to their game creating a pretty much flawless cg look in their presentation.

That same level of care is also given to their audio as well. Using very minimalist cues that enhance the experience, with no filler.

 

[wapplew]

Overcooked is quite well designed.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Devil Daggers

#3 on my GOTY list for 2016 so I'm just gonna quote myself from that thread:

Devil Daggers is pretty much the FPS distilled to its purest form. It has a handful of very simple mechanics that work excellently together and contribute to its "one more try" nature. Every time I go back to it, I find myself getting sucked in again. It's also impressive how the simple visuals and sound design add to this. On one hand, the 90s inspired graphics (especially the first Quake, I assume) and menacing sounds create a really unsettling hellish landscape but it's only after playing for a bit that you realize how this helps you navigate the game. Especially the directional sound design is incredibly impressive and I'd wager the game is nigh unplayable without it. Probably the best 5 bucks I have spent this year.

 

[Zoggy]

Smh at no hitman mentions itt

 

[joe2187]

Im gonna go for an odd one.

World of Final Fantasy.

The game was one of the best surprises of 2016 for me in terms of how much enjoyment I got of it.

But mostly because it takes out all of the dreck of playing an long JRPG and curbs it. Which is something that is lacking in even a modern JRPG like FFXV.

Side quests can be completed at any time, and all at once while you're playing and can even be completed and cashed out from the in game menu. Making backtracking a thing of the past.

The optimal quests, bosses and dungeons have all been unique and enjoyable and easily accessible by the in game world map.

Your party loadout is customizable on the fly, giving you access to a plethora of ways to min max your chracters and abilities to your hearts content, giving you the freedom to expermient with all sorts of new and interesting powers and combinations.

The stacking of your mirages and characters is an interesting mechanic that encourages you to try level up and try different creatures and their transfigurations, making sure that you're not just playing the game with entirely a handful of your first few captures.

The fan service for FF fans of all ages is pumped up in full force and they're treated with respect and care.

The dungeons are just the right length not to get too repetitive and boring and end with an equally fulfilling finale.

The light hearted tone, and the top notch english voice acting that accompanies was also a welcome surprise, with old FF VAs appraising their original roles and what not.

I was very surprised to find out how much I enjoyed pretty much everything about WoFF. And would love to play more like it.

 

[Taramoor]

The Witness is perhaps the most painstakingly designed thing I've ever seen.

Not a single pixel in that world is where it is by accident or just because it looks good. Everything serves a purpose and is part of the gameplay.

 

[Dabi]

The Last Guardian...

Everytime I got stuck it was just long enough too have an "aha" moment instead of "fuck this" moment. Other times the puzzles came naturally with a few minutes of experimenting.

 

[Cave Johnson]

The Last Guardian...

Everytime I got stuck it was just long enough too have an "aha" moment instead of "fuck this" moment. Other times the puzzles came naturally with a few minutes of experimenting.

Seconded. The level design is the best I've experienced. I knew exactly where to go and how to progress simply by observing the layout of the architecture. The game gives you panoramic views outside so you can plan out your way even before you visit it.

 

[bman94]

Pokemon Sun & Moon...when compared to older games in the series. Like holy shit, the game is a whole nother beast. The movement, animations, character designs, environment, everything about the game design is top notch. And it's not like they really added much to the core gameplay other than Z moves but the look and feel of the game is phenomenal. I booted up Pokemon Y yesterday and it felt awful. So restricted, the characters looked smushed and everything felt so rigged. It's almost amazing that it's running on the same hardware.

 

[duckroll]

I will talk up SaGa Scarlet Grace later when I'm not so lazy. It will also allow me to then copy the post to the OT to offer more impressions lol.

 

[Tyrant Rave]

The level design and setting for Dishonored 2 blows away everything else I've played this year for single player games. Every area is so incredibly layered and open ended and after every encounter you look around and find out you could've approached it in a million other different ways. And then you factor in how every single area must be full utilized by two different characters, stealthy or all-out, and with or without powers and it becomes pretty damn mind-blowing. It's super impressive.

For multiplayer games, I'm between Overwatch and Guilty Gear Xrd.

For Overwatch, the most notable thing off the bat is how amazing the sound design is. You can really tell a lot of work was put into the sound between the unique noises for everything. The maps are all really well designed for the cast and like everything has some kind of purpose for the most part.

For Guilty Gear, it's really just a revision but outside of Danger Time (which I don't even completely HATE) I have absolutely zero complaints about any mechanic. Blitz Charge was a nice addition to Xrd both offensively and defensively and the Roman Cancel system works beautifully as ever. I do like the new burst super stuff too.

 

[Timeaisis]

Edit: ^^oh hey look at that my opinion twin

Dishonored 2 in the SP category and it's really no contest.

Overwatch is very well designed, too.

 

[JBwB]

The Witness was incredibly well designed.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

I can't stop remarking at how much more The Witness gets it than pretty much every other game that comes out, so yeah, that one.