No matter how you feel about 2016, it has definitely been a great year for games. Xbox continued to improve both its software and sales, the reveal of Project Scorpio kickstarted the 4K HDR era and of course, dozens of amazing games hit Microsoft platforms.
This year we’re naming what we think are the ten best games, with the top ranked game winning our incredibly non-prestigious Game of the Year award. We only chose games that were first released this year (so no remasters) and are available on Xbox (so no Civilization VI).
Our picks might not all be games that we gave the highest scores to, but they are all games that have remained in our hearts and minds over the months. With all that said, here are the winners of the 2016 ICXM Game Awards!
ICXM.net 2016 Award Winners
10th – Doom
After years of not-always-positive speculation, Doom finally returned to consoles to near-universal acclaim. It was a welcome change from the tired FPS genre tropes of brown military shooters; with fast-paced combat, creative level design and lots of colorful monsters to fight, not to mention a rocking soundtrack. Doom has proven that there is room in the market for shooters that aren’t just copying Halo, Call of Duty and Team Fortress. For that, we thank it and the team at id Software.
9th – Forza Horizon 3
While its track-based brother dominates the simulation scene, the Horizon series has gone from strength to strength in its efforts to create the ultimate open-world racing game. While the previous two games in the series were awesome, the third took it to the extreme, with a huge map – twice as large as before – full of breathtaking Australian scenery and heart-pounding off-road races. It was a near-flawless game and fully deserves to be one of the games of the year.
8th – The Witness
One of the several exceptional, non-shooty-bang-bang games this year, The Witness used the inherent advantage of video-games – interactivity – to allow players to find meanings and connections between otherwise, mostly unconnected puzzles. Taking some inspiration from Myst (1993), The Witness challenged players intellectually, encouraging them to problem-solve both directly and indirectly. It’s not for everyone, but it’s unquestionably one of the most important experiments in the continuing development of games.
7th – Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Combining action and thoughtful storytelling is something very few games have done effectively, but Deus Ex’s cohesive relationship between the two enabled it to achieve a deep level of both immersion and commentary that almost nothing touches. Set in a disturbingly convincing and painstakingly detailed dystopian future, Deus Ex uses allegory to draw you in while simultaneously presenting real-world problems in new lights, all while maintaining a coherent narrative and offering semi-linear, open-world gameplay, where violence and pacifism are equally valid options. A truly remarkable game, let down only by an underwhelming ending.
6th – Dishonored 2
The two biggest criticisms that can be leveled against Dishonored 2 are that it has some technical flaws on PC and that it’s more of the same. Thankfully, the original was great, so some familiarity isn’t all that unwelcome. The world design and core gameplay is as engaging as ever, with a new protagonist and enhanced stealth mechanics, making Dishonored 2 a refined delight. Even though it doesn’t raise its own high standards as far as it could, they’re still really high.
5th – Superhot
SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT. SUPER. HOT.
(PS: It’s a time-stop FPS with a clever plot and it’s really good.)
4th – Dark Souls 3
The supposedly final game in the series ends on a high, with yet another masterful demonstration of perfectly refined combat and some of the best game design in the business. The sweeping adventure takes you through another hauntingly beautiful world full of monsters that are challenging but (mostly) fair to fight, giving a sense of satisfaction after each victory that practically doesn’t exist in major games these days. While there’s certainly more this series could do with its lore, the fundamentals basically don’t get any better than this.
3rd – Virginia
Yet another game that evolves the so-called “walking simulator” genre far beyond any kind of tedium, Virginia perfectly blends interactivity with cinematic storytelling to take the player through a compelling FBI-noir thriller. The story itself has shades of Twin Peaks and The X-Files and while it may not fully come through at the end, it’s one of the most memorable experiences of the year and will no doubt inspire even more creatively designed games.
2nd – Inside
Another aesthetically unique puzzle-platformer from the makers of Limbo, Inside presents one of the most surreal, tense and fascinating experiences in years. The puzzles are expertly crafted and engage you throughout the narrative, which itself intrigues well past the credits. In our opinion, only one game has a better payoff this year, but Inside came so very close indeed.
ICXM.net 2016 Game of the Year
1st – Firewatch
Boasting one of the best mystery stories in gaming, Firewatch delivers the single most cohesive blend of game and narrative elements this year, which is really saying something considering the outstanding quality on this list. The game immerses you through its fantastic exploratory design and engages you emotionally using naturalistic interactivity better than almost any game we can think of, this year or otherwise. It’s with great pleasure that we can say Firewatch is our 2016 Game of the Year. Congratulations, Chris Remo and the team at Campo Santo! Thanks for a wonderful experience!
So that’s our ten best games of the year, but there were plenty more that came very close to being a part of this list, but missed out for unfortunate reasons. We definitely wanted XCOM 2 to be here, but technical problems on the console version were too much to overlook. Gears of War 4 and Battlefield 1 impressed us too, taking their series’ in new directions, but didn’t do anything particularly special.
Let everyone know in the comments if there’s anything you loved this year that we didn’t mention, so the whole Xbox community can share the fun over the holidays! Here’s to a great gaming year in 2017 and thank you so much for being a part of our wonderful, fantastic, awesome readership! We love you all!
Dean was a regular ICXM contributor between 2015–2017, publishing 39 articles across game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative. They post on X as @SpookyWomble.