It may have been a difficult year for the wider world, but 2016 did at least see a lot of excellent video games, from the glossy action movie thrills of Uncharted 4 to the agenda-setting multiplayer fun of Overwatch and the solemn dystopian vision of Inside.
But we wanted to know what the industry itself thinks were the best games to come out in the past 12 months. To find out, we asked 50 of our favourite developers, including 30-year veterans, Bafta award winners and rising indie stars. Here’s what they decided.
We’ve split the list into categories, and at the end we have a list of the most popular titles of them all.
The blockbusters
Karla Zimonja (Fullbright)
Known for: BioShock 2, Gone Home
Working on: Tacoma
My favorite game this year is Dishonored 2, which I am still in the midst of. I love stealth games, so I’m taking my time with this one! Emily’s powers are super satisfying to combine in entertaining ways.
Anne Lewis (Bethesda Softworks)
Known for: Doom, Dishonored 2
Working on: Prey
It might sound like I’m shilling for my company when I say this, but Dishonored 2 is my favorite game of 2016. Dishonored is one of the reasons I wanted to work for Bethesda. I believe Dishonored 2 takes everything that made the first game great, and perfects it. Compelling characters, a stunning art style and brilliantly designed levels make Dishonored 2 one of the best games of 2016.
Charlene Putney (Larian Studios)
Working on: Divinity: Original Sin 2
I really wanted to come up with a hip, edgy, little-known game that in 20 years will be some kind of cult classic … but I must say with all honesty that the game I enjoyed most this year (by far) was Dark Souls 3. The sheer euphoria that rushed through my exhausted body when I finally defeated Aldrich propelled me to leap into the air in exultation, shrieking with joy. That’s a moment of triumph I can only remember being matched long long ago in my gaming childhood … in Prince of Persia, Monkey Island and Baldur’s Gate.
Siobhan Reddy (Media Molecule)
Known for: LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway
Working on: Dreams
My favourite game of this year was Dark Souls 3. I was new to the series, late to the party but I really lost myself in it and it helped me breakthrough some fears of playing online! The fact that helping each other is core to the experience is the clincher, despite everything being awful and scary there is always hope and all hard challenges are made better by working with others. There is something reassuring and lovely about that!
Jill Ralmark (Massive Entertainment)
Known for: Tom Clancy’s The Division
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is a fantastic finale to a series that I’ve enjoyed playing for years. The characters and their stories are wonderfully crafted and really bring the fantasy of adventure to the player. The game ups the ante from the start and only raises the intensity with every chapter. A technical masterpiece with a lovable cast.
Winifred Phillips
Known for: Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, LittleBigPlanet
One of the best games I’ve played this year was Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. A marvel of storytelling mixed with fluid interactivity, Uncharted 4 fulfills the promise of the medium as a vehicle for character-driven drama while raising the bar for excellence in gameplay design. It smoothly integrates human narrative and high-stakes action while carefully supporting the player’s sense of personal agency. It’s an excellent finale to the Uncharted franchise.
Anna Marsh (Deep Silver Dambuster)
Known for: Life is Strange
Doom, for its purity – it’s all about the combat. I played the original to death. Making Doom levels set me on the path to entering the game industry in the first place, and I actually wrote my university degree dissertation on it. So I was going to play this whether or not it was any good. Fortunately it was. I came to it after playing a fair few open-world games back to back, and its stripped-back focus and depth was brilliantly refreshing.
Multiplayer hits
Nina Freeman (Fullbright)
Known for: Cibele
Working on:Tacoma
The game I have the fondest memories of from 2016 would have to be Overcooked. I have always been a huge fan of local multiplayer games, because they can really help you create amazing and sometimes hilarious memories with your friends. Overcooked is one of those games that brings people together through its mechanics. It feels so good to see that play out and to be a part of the fun.
Anisa Sanusi (Frontier Developments)
Known for: Elite Dangerous
Working on: Planet Coaster
To be honest I would’ve liked to say Planet Coaster is my best game of 2016, but in the spirit of good sportsmanship I’d say my best game of 2016 is couch co-op game Overcooked by Ghost Town Games. It’s one of the few games that has both strengthened and destroyed the bonds of friendship. It’s simple enough for anyone to pick up and tricky enough to drive everyone crazy – most of all it’s just pure fun. Also I get to shout at people for legitimate reasons.
Ashley Ruhl (BioWare Austin)
Known for: Tales from the Borderlands
Working on: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Eternal Throne
I’d have to say my favorite game trying something new would be Overcooked. I’m a big fan of couch games I can play with my friends like Towerfall, Nidhogg, Jackbox, etc, but nothing has topped the hilariously manic co-op experience of trying to complete timed food orders with your friends in absurd kitchen layouts.
Robert Yang
Known for: Radiator 2, Cobra Club HD
Working on: The Tearoom
Overwatch. It’s Team Fortress 2 without the item grind, it’s League of Legends without the pointless complexity. This is the only game of 2016 that I keep coming back to play. Most importantly, it’s a game with 23 gay characters. The rest of the industry needs to up its game!
Karen Stanley (SIE London Studio)
Known for: PlayStation VR Worlds
My favourite game of 2016 has to be Overwatch! I’ve had so many amazing heart--stopping last-second wins and losses (mostly losses) and it’s sparked many, many lunchtime strategy meetings. I’ve also enjoyed watching the ARG game surrounding Sombra be unravelled by the community, there are some seriously clever code breakers out there.
Role-players and roguelikes
Sally Blake (Ubisoft Reflections)
Known for: Just Dance series, Watch Dogs
Working on: Tom Clancy’s The Division
Stardew Valley is an incredibly charming and completely addictive RPG-style farming game – there is such a huge variety of things you can do: grow crops, care for animals, explore the mines or befriend townspeople. The game systems are very interconnected, so everything you do can contribute to developing the perfect farm, and each game mechanic has a huge amount of depth. It’s a wonderfully relaxing and fulfilling game.
Rebecca Cordingley (Glumberland)
Working on: Moblets
My favourite game of 2016 has to be Stardew Valley. It’s an amazing achievement to have such a high-quality game where all the code, art, and music was done by a single person. There’s so much depth and personality in the game world, and I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time getting lost in it.
Caitlin Goodale (King)
Known for: Minecraft Console Editions
My best game of the year 2016 was Stardew Valley, without a doubt. Massive nostalgia trip for games like Harvest Moon, with a very high level of depth, polish and complexity for an indie title. The pixel art is lovely too!
Katie Goode (Triangular Pixels)
Known for: Unseen Diplomacy
Working on: Smash Hit Plunder
Dragon Quest Builders is my favourite game this year, and I see it as one of the best of 2016. Some may see it as an IP mashup with nothing outstandingly new to offer, but it’s an incredibly polished game that moulds RPG and Builder genres into a wonderfully endearing adventure. It’s one of the very few games I can say I’ve completed, after spending every available moment building up my towns and caring for my people.
Harley Baldwin (Schell Games)
Known for: Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified, Tomb Raider: Underworld
Working on: I Expect You to Die
The Flame in the Flood is a gorgeous post-apocalyptic survival/crafter/roguelite/rafter with deep replayability and a kind of aching loneliness that drives the experience. The world is rendered with intense focus – everything from music to art to mechanics to character fits and supports the journey. I’m a parent, so I don’t have as much time as I once did to play long-form games, but somehow I still spent over 120 hours on this game, and I’m not done yet.
Narrative adventures
Helen Carmichael (Grey Alien Games)
Known for: Regency Solitaire
Working on: Shadowhand
Although one part of the narrative sent us down a bit of a cul de sac, Firewatch stays with me for its luminous graphics and interesting, ambiguous characters. It definitely had me yearning for the solitary hills and forests of the USA.
Olivia Wood (Failbetter Games)
Known for: Fallen London, Sunless Sea
Working on: Sunless Skies
It has to be Firewatch. 2016 has been about comfort gaming. I’ve been binging on games I can finish within a couple of days, so I can get the satisfaction of completion without neglecting my own projects. I can introduce Firewatch to non-gamer friends and they get it. With the new(ish) audio commentary, it’s eminently replayable. It’s stunning. And for me, it’s (relatively) stress free escapism. Which is exactly what 2016 needed.
Emily Short (Spirit AI)
Known for: Fallen London, Blood and Laurels
Firewatch, for the gorgeous environmental art, the subtle adaptive dialogue, and most of all the story. It’s not precisely a tragedy, but it does explore human flaws and ambiguities in a way that’s rare in video games. It’s also one of those pieces that improves in memory. I had gripes about the midgame plotting at the time, but in retrospect those are pretty forgettable. On the other hand, I keep thinking over its strengths months later.
Amy Stevens (Ubisoft Reflections)
Known for: Tom Clancy’s The Division
My favorite game of 2016 was Firewatch. There was something about how natural everything felt – from navigating using a compass and map to the little bits of emergent gameplay like throwing the teenagers’ radio in the lake – that made me really connect with the main character and his relationship to Delilah.
Claire Hummel (Campo Santo)
Known for: BioShock Infinite
As someone who has also used the wilderness to cope with grief over the past couple of years, I’d have to say Firewatch. I’m a huge fan of National parks, environmental storytelling, good dialogue, and bad puns, so it really stuck with me – that and it’s one of the main reasons that I took my current gig with Campo Santo. I may be slightly biased.
Andy Schmoll (Arkane Studios)
Known for: Dishonored 2
Firewatch stood out because of the way I experienced its narrative, and empathised with the characters. I was not only mesmerised by the environment’s beauty and the breathtaking views, or how it allowed me to explore and experience my surroundings, it also made me feel like it was my story I was experiencing. The characters were loveable, and believable, and the story itself realistic – it was something that had a long-lasting effect on me.
Em Schatz (Naughty Dog)
Known for: Uncharted 3 & 4, The Last of Us
Working on: The Last of Us II
If I were to pick one favourite, I’d have to say Firewatch. Despite some flaws, more than any other game this year I think it will continue to influence my work as a developer in the years to come, specifically in terms of environmental layout and game-narrative design. It stands as a great example of how games have the potential to excel as a storytelling medium.
Bex Saltsman (Finji)
Known for: Canabalt, Hundreds
Working on: Overland, Night in the Woods
I really loved the January 2016 release of Firewatch for Playstation. The attention to detail and story have stuck with me for the past year and the level of quality and intense player immersion are something we look to emulate with our own FinjiCo projects. The Campo Santo team are crazily talented and their debut game teetered on multiple genre boundaries in the best way possible.
Roberta Lucca (Bossa Studios)
Known for: Surgeon Simulator, I am Bread
Working on: Worlds Adrift
Amanita Design has been crafting gem after gem for the past few years, with Machinarium setting every game artist alight with its wonderful setting and characters. But their latest game, Samorost 3, goes beyond anything they previously produced, resulting in something that can only be labeled as poetry. It’s a fusion of a wonderful story, lovely characters, incredible music and clever puzzles that will make any player with a heart enjoy playing it.
Lottie Bevan (Failbetter Games)
Known for: Fallen London
Working on: Sunless Skies
Oxenfree. The story is haunting, the real-time conversation is the most believable I’ve ever seen in a game, the art direction is like a beautiful selkie appearing above the lake and dragging you slowly down to your watery grave, the relationships are meaningful and interesting and funny and dark. There are lovely small touches and satisfying sweeping gestures. And it’s the studio’s debut game. Moar pls now.
Puzzles, platformers and strategy
Jane Ng (Campo Santo)
Known for: Firewatch
I love everything about Inside. There is brilliance in every single frame. As a developer, I also admire the incredible tech and polish Playdead has put into their gem, and how much discipline they have in terms of prioritising quality over quantity.
Brenda Romero (Romero Games)
Inside. It’s a beautiful, deeply atmospheric game that is a genuine work of game design art.
Holly Pickering (A Brave Plan)
Known for: Lego series, Ether One
The game that really stood out for me this year was Inside by Playdead. Artistically and thematically that game is a triumph. Inside’s minimalist style is incredibly sleek, dripping with technical achievement and striking art direction. You can see the craft, care and polish in every asset, environment and animation.
Catherine Woolley (The Chinese Room)
Known for: Alien Isolation
I was eagerly waiting for Inside after it was announced back in 2014, hoping it would feel fresh and new when compared to its predecessor, Limbo, and it definitely does from every aspect in my opinion. You really need to experience it without any prior knowledge of the story to get the full experience and where the game really excels is in its attention to detail. I highly recommend everyone play it if they haven’t done so already.
Sachka Duval (Arkane Studios)
Known for: Dishonored 2
I’ll say my favorite game this year was probably The Witness. I loved how the entire world was a cipher: not only could you explore and try to solve all the puzzles, but you could also find secret symbols in the landscape, all around you, even in the clouds. To me it was a very abstract but hopeful game in its own way, telling us that it’s worth searching, that the world is not just a random mess and that there’s something for us to find in it.
Liz England (Ubisoft Toronto)
Known for: Scribblenauts, Sunset Overdrive
Very rarely do we get a game that is as well-designed and tightly paced like The Witness. This game asks nothing of you as the player other than to give it your attention, teaching you its carefully crafted puzzle language each step of the way. And it’s all set inside a gorgeous world where every stone, leaf, and polygon is placed with intent. The Witness is one of the few games that I can recommend to everyone – gamers and new players alike.
Rosie Ball (Chucklefish)
Known for: Starbound, Stardew Valley
Kingdom: New Lands – This update makes Kingdom my game of the year for a second year running. The new islands add another layer of mystery, while the new seasons are beautifully cruel to endure, shaking up the original formula I’d begun to know and trust. Plus, the balance tweaks make you feel like an efficiency powerhouse, and what’s not to love about that?
Ana Casner (Stained Glass Llama)
Known for: KEL Reaper of Entropy
Working on: Divergence: Online
As a huge fan of Firaxis Games I was very excited about Civilization VI and I believe it’s the best game of 2016. It’s not just some fancy makeup added on top of the previous game, and that is important to me both as a gamer and as an independent game developer. It inspires and challenges me to keep improving the games I’m working on.
Virtual reality
Laura Dilloway (Guerrilla Cambridge)
Known for: Killzone 2, 3, Shadow Fall
Working on: DLC for RIGS Mechanized Combat League
I think I’m going to have to call out the VR version of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. A highly enjoyable experience that ticks so many boxes for me – social, requires loads of teamwork, puzzle-solving that really makes you think, frantic fun, and completely addictive. I love that it takes gaming off of the screen and into the realms of physical media (via the manual), and there’s much that I think people of all ages could get out of playing.
Auriea Harvey (Tale of Tales)
Known for: Luxuria Superbia, Sunset
Working on: Cathedral-in-the-Clouds, The Endless Forest: Second Decade
The popularity of VR (or at least the current hype) is a wonderful opportunity to re-think how we can create for and inside virtual environments. So much power has been taken away from users on the web and inside our blandly designed, increasingly corporate controlled, computer systems. Tilt Brush is a playful space and a bright moment in VR history where open-ended creativity is placed paramount. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Jo Haslam (Mediatonic)
Known for: Buzz!
Working on: Fantastic Beasts – Cases from the Wizarding World
PlayStation VR Worlds. Whether I was exploring the deep sea in Ocean Descent or being threatened by a crime lord in the London Heist, I forgot I was playing a game and felt like I was actually there. Whatever may happen with the technology in the future, PlayStation VR Worlds perfectly captured what makes the platform so magical. It gave me a rare chance to experience something purely as a player and not as a game designer, and for that reason I think it’s an amazing achievement.
Smartphone games
Anna Kipnis (Double Fine)
Known for: Psychonauts, Broken Age
Working on: Psychonauts 2
I end up playing games on my phone the most these days because I get so busy. My favourite mobile game by far this year was the somewhat avant-garde Reigns. It’s a perfect example of how a low fidelity game can still be gorgeous. The audio work is also impeccable and does a lot of the heavy lifting for setting the atmosphere for various surreal circumstances players find themselves in. It’s well-written, really fun, and perfectly suited to the platform.
Jill Murray (Discoglobe Interactive)
Known for: Assassin’s Creed series
Working on: Mainlining [http://store.steampowered.com/app/454950/]
This was a year I worked constantly and played nothing I thought I would play. I spent a lot of time soothing my nerves in Stardew Valley, and allowed No Man’s Sky to sharpen my goals for procedural work. Then Reigns surprised me by becoming the game I connected with the most attentively, over many subway commutes: yes, no, if you say so … burn it all down, live again.
Jennifer Schneidereit (Nyamyam Limited)
Known for: Tengami
My favourite game this year was Reigns. Simple and intuitive gameplay, with a one more go factor. I loved how the idea of “playing cards”-meets-Tinder was used to create a strategic resource management and narrative experience. Just wish I could have played as the Queen. Long live the Queen!
Vicki Thompson (Mediatonic)
Known for: Bounty Stars
Who would’ve thought that I’d be writing that my game of 2016 was a mashup between Crusader Kings 2 + Tinder? Reigns really blew me away this summer. It’s not often that we see games designed so intuitively for a platform – we as Games Designers have all grown up with PCs and consoles, and keep trying to replicate those experiences on small touchscreen devices. Reigns broke out of that way of thinking, and beyond its accessible start is a game with a surprising depth.
Jenny Jiao Hsia (Hexecutable)
Known for: Beglitched, Stellar Smooch
Working on: Morning Makeup Madness, Consume Me
Pokémon Go is definitely the best game of 2016 for me. I loved how it brought so many people together in a way that games haven’t really been able to do before. I remember many instances where I played Pokémon Go outside and was well aware that the people around me were also playing the same game. I felt like there was this unspoken understanding and mutual appreciation for the game that changed the way so many people interacted in daily life, at least for a little while.
Adabelle Leiram (Massive Entertainment)
Known for: Tom Clancy’s The Division
Even though it had a bit of a bumpy start and there were a few gameplay designs that weren’t completely ironed out, I chose Pokémon Go due to the way it opened the world of gaming to people that don’t necessarily call themselves “gamers”. I’m hoping that Pokémon Go has sparked the start of even more games like this, that include people who don’t usually play video games and that uses games to benefit us in unexpected ways.
Uncategorisable oddities
Delphine “Dziff” Fourneau
Known for: Sacramento
Working on: Oniri Island and BOKIDA
It’s always hard to point at one specific game among so many good titles, but without any hesitation ABZÛ is the game that blew my mind. It was so soothing to explore these colourful environments, and be so close to this undersea wildlife that I could have been there for real. I loved the art direction, but also the way you feel part of this world through the character, and how the storytelling subtly appears along your journey.
Brie Code (Tru Luv Media)
Known for: Child of Light, Assassin’s Creed series
Working on: #selfcare
My choice is Quadrilateral Cowboy. More than any other game this year, Quadrilateral Cowboy surprised and delighted me. It did so on many levels – the storytelling was of course fantastic, and the gameplay played with convention, and there were just so many lovely little unexpected details. Must play.
Robin Hunicke (Funomena)
Known for: Journey
Working on: Wattam, Luna
My favorite commercial release this year is definitely Thumper. It is a slick, beautiful, intense and engaging experience created by two people who love games, and who love exploring what it means to experience media on traditional screens as well as in VR. Right now, as the world is wrestling with so many difficult questions about culture, race, class and how to conduct meaningful political conversations – a game that pushes you to make forward progress in the face of hellish difficulty feels right on point.
Llaura (DREAMFEEL)
Known for: CURTAIN
‘I will never forget you because you have made me the happiest dog on Earth’ by jacqueline. Like a favourite pop song this three minute game fills my heart with joy and draws me back far more often than anything else I’ve played this year. The writing and the art is loose, alive and hilarious. It’s refreshing. It’s so completely disconnected from any contemporary video game culture and what people think video games should be, that it feels like a video game from another, happier dimension.
Phoenix Perry (Goldsmiths University)
Known for: Code Liberation, various installation games
Breakup Squad by Catt Small. This is a game about toxic relationships and collateral damage. It’s packed full of diverse characters with connections and complications. Given how many times the characters that are not white simply die in video games to underscore a white protagonist’s importance, this game is a welcome addition to my life.
Rhianna Pratchett
Known for: Mirror’s Edge, Tomb Raider, Overlord
Working on: Lost Worlds
I tend to be at least a year or two behind the curve when it comes to playing current games. However, in my current hectic and ‘interesting times’, intergalactic pottering sim No Man’s Sky, was exactly what I needed. I knew very little about it going in, which probably helped. Travelling to beautiful worlds and not being obliged to shoot the inhabitants in the face, has been refreshing. Therapeutic, even. Now I strafe mine ore nuggets in my sleep.
The five best games of 2016 – as chosen by developers
Firewatch (Campo Santo)
Campo Santo’s rural drama was the undisputed hit of the year for our panel.
Overcooked (Ghost Town Games)
The fast-paced couch co-op game cooked up a storm with our developers.
Reigns (Devolver Digital)
The clever mix of real-playing strategy and Tinder proved enticing.
Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe)
Chucklefish does it again with another genre-bending adventure.
Inside (Playdead)
The makers of Limbo to it again with another dark but beautiful puzzle-platformer.
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