1. The Witness ; 2016 was a good year for games with actual artistic ambition. While some people may be put off by the pretentious nature of something like the Witness (or inside, or Virgina, or Firewatch, or whatever), to me these games are all about showing what the medium is capable of. The Witness is probably one of the most divisive games of the last 10 years. To me, it was one of the most profound experiences I've ever had with a game. On the surface, the game is nothing more than a couple of hundred different line puzzles where you connect two dots by drawing a line while obeying various rules. But the context in which these puzzles are presented is what makes the game so special. Placed on a empty island in the middle of the ocean, you are thrown into the game without any explanation for what you are doing or why, how to solve any of the puzzles or how to progress. Instead of telling you what to do, the game becomes a vehicle for your own discovery and a tool for you, the player, to teach yourself how the world works and how everything fits together. In fact, The Witness is all about these two themes – discovery and knowledge. The game demands quite a lot of you as a player. Nothing is served or given, everything has to be earned and figured out by yourself. But The Witness makes this challenge a pleasure by crafting a beautiful world that is shock full of nuance, detail and secrets. Oh, and those secrets. The thing about The Witness is that it gets under your skin. Soon you will start to discover things about the world and how its put together that opens up new possibilities, new puzzles and new solutions. Soon, the whole game world (and the real world) becomes a giant puzzle and you find yourself scouring strange corners and looking for signs in the sky like some demented mad man yelling at clouds. The Witness is truly a special game.
2. Inside ; While it is easy to make comparisons to Limbo, for several different reasons, Inside is so much more than a spiritual successor to 2008's Danish indie darling. It is one of the most cohesive artistic visions in any kind of medium, from the way it tells its story to how you interact with the game's mechanics. The heavy dystopian undertones, the themes of control and power, of individuality (or lack there of) run through the game like a thread being spun into a fabric by the choice of visual design, music and gameplay. Without spoiling too much I will say that the way Inside conveys its themes through gameplay is nothing short of brilliant. Nothing in this game is ever wasted, hence the pretty short running time (2-3 hours). Everything you encounter is bespoke – every enemy and animation, every puzzle and every environment feels handcrafted and meticulously placed. Visually, Inside is remarkable. Every frame of every scene is like a painting. The sparse use of color, the carefully lit environments, the animation all adds up to a strikingly beautiful (and horrible, disgusting, weird, sterile and creepy) looking game.
3. DOOM ; This game has no right being one of the top 5 games of 2016. It should barely exist, let alone be this good. No one would have though that id software, itself in a creative downhill spiral, could resurrect DOOM, a franchise so lost in irrelevance and nostalgia, but here we are. DOOM is stupid, fun, silly and bad-ass. It is an intense shooter experience with fantastic level design and combat encounters. It is also fully aware of how stupid and silly it is and it goes all in, but without ever being pandering or having its tongue poke out through its cheek. We've already seen the deconstruction of the gruff action hero and the lampooning that followed. We've seen the attempts at recreating the balls to the walls action of a 1993 shooter that ends up looking like a 13 year old edgelords wet dream and groan inducing yawn to the rest of us. But DOOM saw both these paths and went a different way. In a sense, this is both ironic and post-ironic at the same time. Demonic invasions and the DOOM Marine (yes, he's actually called the DOOM Marine) are laughable concepts and the game knows it. They laugh at it, we laugh at it. And yet, the DOOM Marine shooting up a bunch of demons and traveling to hell and back manages to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen in a game. If anything, the fact that DOOM is such an enjoyable game with an actually cool and fun story is probably the work of some demonic force.
4. Dark Souls III ; A ”best of" Dark Souls is bound to be fantastic and Dark Souls III really does deliver on all the high notes already strewn throughout the series. Where it perhaps falters is in originality. There is nothing new to see here. Some might even say that the game is creatively bankrupt. Harsh, but also quite true. There's a certain sense that Miyazaki & co felt the need to pander to fans of the series instead of trying something new, and it shows in certain areas and certain aspects of the plot that feel like unabashed fan service. Still, its a stunningly beautiful game with some truly amazing environments . Combat is fun and satisfying as always and once I finished the main game I went directly into New Game+ and did it all over again so I guess I like this game.
5. The Last Door Season 2 ; Don't let the 4-bit graphics fool you – this is one of the most atmospheric and engrossing games I've ever played. A follow-up to a point-and-click adventure from 2014, this game sees you further uncovering the occult mysteries of the first game. Set in a late 19th century England this game is full of mystery, parapsychology and interdimensional travel. A masterfully crafted game, exquisitely paced and directed, the sound design is fantastic, as is the brilliant soundtrack. The story follows on from the first game but manages to expand upon and wrap up what was left dangling without falling into any of the trappings of bad sequel writing. A rare thing indeed.
6. Hitman ; One of the biggest surprises of year. A much maligned announcement and launch, Hitman soon proved to be a brilliant concept both in terms of gameplay but also the episodic nature. Having a new level every other month has been a real treat. Hitman really nails the free form assassination concept, giving you a plethora of tools and opportunities to cause murder and confusion in equal measure. Everything about Hitman is ridiculous and silly, from the way that you can dress up as anybody just by taking their clothes to they way that every thrown object has a way of magnetically attach itself to the targets skull. Developer IO knows this and lets you revel in it. At its best, Hitman is a perfect sandbox for the player to dick around in and try to mess up the games rigorous clock-work diorama. The game shines when its level design plays to the strengths of the gameplay and tone, with Sapienza being the perfect example. This map alone is enough to convince anyone of the games brilliance. It's a multi-level, multifacetted sprawling playground full of interesting characters, big open areas, small secluded hideaways, secrets, hippies, haunted bedrooms, a fort, the ability to dress up as a priest, Gary Busey and anything else that you can think of.
7. Virginia ; Set in a small town in Virginia, you play as an FBI detective working a missing persons case. Much like Thirty Flights of Loving before it, Virginia uses jump cuts to direct the pacing of the story and create dramatic tension. Throw in some Lynchian themes, a dash of suspense, LSD trips and some surreal dreamscapes and you've got on of the most interesting games of this year. This is the kind of game Tale of Tales wishes they could make (instead of whining about how nobody understands their unplayable art). Brilliantly executed, the game features very little interaction but delivers on everything else. There's a clear and palpable rhythm to the pacing of the game that so many other story based games lack, making it a far more engaging experience.
8. Oxenfree ; The trend of games featuring teens being normal teens in a modern setting while strange paranormal shit goes down continues on from last year's amazing Life is Strange. This time the visuals are a bit scaled back but none the less atmospheric. Featuring a brilliant dialogue system and some spot on writing, Oxenfree is emotionally striking and manages to balance Lovecraftian vibes with teen drama without sacrificing one for the other. There's not much there in terms of interaction and the 2D graphics means a much smaller sense of presence, but in terms of writing and atmosphere Oxenfree nails it.
9. Firewatch ; This game comes so close to being truly special, but as it stands, the way the game's mystery resolves is a bit of a fumble and a tarnish on an otherwise excellent, moving and beautiful game. The first two thirds of Firewatch are incredible – arriving in the forest, slowly getting a sense of the vastness and loneliness of it all and getting to know the games two bright and shining stars, Henry and Delilah. Acting and video games seldom go along very well, but both actors and the writing team pull off something incredible here.
10. Darkest Dungeon ; A brutal, almost sadistic game both in terms of story and themes but also gameplay as well. Tasked with uncovering the secrets of your ancestors old abandoned manor, Darkest Dungeon serves up a brutal dungeon crawl whose intense battle system is supplemented by an intricate resource management where the mental health of your dungeon faring heroes is one of the most vital stats to keep in check. Punishing and difficult, you will die and fail again and again and much like the heroes in your party, you will eventually start to go insane. Especially once you reach level 5 and realize that the random numbers are total bullshit and it's a matter of pure luck whether you make it out or not. Oh well, the atmosphere is great and the sense of dread is truly oppressive (in a good way). Extra props to The Narrator, whose lines I've been quoting all year.
Honorable mentions
X. Hyper Light Drifter ; I'm a sucker for pixel art and this game is a thing of beauty indeed. The gameplay is nice and challenging, the story telling is minimalistic in a way that I love. Something with it just didn't click enough to push it all the way.
X. Day of the Tentacle Remastered ; The greatest adventure game ever made, remastered for modern resolutions and with pristine and restored audio. It was either a number 1 spot, which felt wrong for a 25 year old game, or an honorable mention.
X. Pony Island ; You play a cute arcade game. It's filled with happy ponies and they're jumping and being happy! Except the devil has hacked the arcade machine and your stuck in it. Good fun.
X. We Know the Devil ; a delightfully weird and somewhat subversive visual novel.
X. Twilight Struggle ; A deep, tactical and detailed digital version of the acclaimed board game of the same name. The AI is pretty terrible, but the core game is fantastic.
eserts of Kharak; Most atmospheric RTS since the original Ground Control. 
