For me, INSIDE is not just the best game on PS4; it’s the best game of 2016. Yes it’s short, and yes it may not encourage multiple playthroughs, but its pinpoint level design, tense chase sequences and eerie atmosphere are unmatched by any game to come out in 2016. It wasn’t necessarily an easy decision to pick INSIDE as 2016’s best game, as I feel like Uncharted 4 and Overwatch make for compelling cases as well.
But no game has stuck out in my mind quite like INSIDE has since its credits rolled for the first time this past summer. The game was as authentic an evolution of its predecessor as any game I’ve ever seen, and one of the very few to top it. INSIDE just masterfully captured my attention from the beginning and refused to let me look away until the very end. Its story was told without words, and while it was a little bit odd, I’ll take different over cookie cutter any day.
So there you have it, these are the finest games money can buy on PS4. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t others that are worth your time, but these I are the ones that will leave the most lasting impact on both gamers and developers going forward. Here’s to an excellent 2016 release calendar.
Overwatch is the best multiplayer game to release in 2016. The hype on this game has been virtually non-stop since its reveal at BlizzCon 2014, and frankly, it’s continued even after the game’s incredibly successful launch back in May. It was no surprise that the game was in the running for GOTY 2016, and even less so that it won.
Overwatch is simply a masterclass in multiplayer level design, and a lot of that had to do with the fact that Blizzard went with a “quality over quantity” approach and it paid off. Blizzard is known for supporting their games post-launch, and they have more than lived up to that reputation with game balance tweaks, new modes, and a new character.
Overwatch has a character for nearly every conceivable playstyle, with some that blend over with each other. It’s easy for anyone, veteran or n00b to fall into a roll they can feel comfortable with and set out on night long binges or short play sessions, and still feel like they got something out of it. In a nutshell, Overwatch is brilliant.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was 2015’s best game, and developer CD Projekt RED has continued to support the game via patches and two very meaty expansions, Hearts of Stone and this year’s Blood and Wine. While some might argue that an expansion of a game released a year ago should not be considered, I would say that if the expansion offers enough content and is better than the competition in its genre (check and check IMO), than it warrants consideration.
Blood and Wine is a larger game than many standard releases, clocking in at about 20 hours strictly on its main story. The expansion also brings with it a plethora of side quests, which can easily add to that total. Some of the quests, including the ones with the statue castration and the banking bureaucracy, stand out as some of the most memorable of the entire series.
That said, since Blood and Wine is an expansion, it doesn’t break the mold of what Wild Hunt and Hearts of Stone laid down before it. To appreciate and Blood and Wine, you have to like the other two, not to mention that it helps to be a fan of the original game and Assassin’s of Kings to be privy to a lot of the smaller details.
Uncharted 4 is the game PlayStation fans were hotly anticipating from the moment the PS4 was announced. Then once the game got revealed, said fans got even more pumped. After a few delays, we finally got our hands on the game this year, and in traditional Naughty Dog fashion, it did not disappoint.
Nathan Drake’s final (or “final”) adventure showed us a different side of the swashbuckling treasure hunter, as he attempts to earn an honest living in a more quiet and relaxed lifestyle. Obviously, "quiet and relaxed" is not Nate’s style, and eventually, he gets roped back in by his long lost brother, Sam. Uncharted 4 also brought together two of gaming’s best voice actors in Nolan North and Troy Baker (I know, he’s everywhere), and the result was one of the most engaging, yet poignant interactions between two characters that I’ve ever seen.
Uncharted 4 has also received consistent support from Naughty Dog via content and multiplayer updates, and with the announcement of The Lost Legacy, the Uncharted series is a long way from being over.
And now, the best PS4 game of 2016 is…
Darkest Dungeon was an Early Access game on Steam that originally came out in January of 2015, but it finally released in full at the outset of 2016. The game remained a PC exclusive until September 27th when
the game came out on both the PS4 and the Vita. Darkest Dungeon’s main hook was its combination of 2-D dungeon exploration, turn-based combat, and insane difficulty.
What made the game unique was that your characters would gradually lose their sanity over the course of a dungeon crawl, before inevitably reaching a breaking point. These breaking points could be anything from refusing to fight to gaining a Defensive Buff. There was no way to know for sure, as a lot of Darkest Dungeon’s systems revolve around RNG, but they worked beautifully within the game’s context.
Your characters could die if you weren’t careful, but unlike most games that feature permadeath, Darkest Dungeon didn’t make you mourn their passing. The game is about facing impossible odds, and it doesn’t shy away from the fact that some just weren’t meant to make it.
DOOM was far and away my favorite First-Person Shooter campaign of 2016, and probably of the last several years as well. In this day and age where seemingly every creator is trying to reignite past glories, DOOM is one of the very few that manages to make what worked then, work now alongside modern game design.
DOOM didn’t bother wasting your time with serious or dramatic storytelling, as you were literally handed a gun to shoot something in the face within the first two minutes of the game. But perhaps what makes DOOM such an excellent game, is that it is a far more cerebral game than it makes itself look on the surface.
Every encounter not only requires your pinpoint accuracy with a gun but a sense of knowing how to navigate the environment without pausing to think about it. DOOM’s masterful level design adheres to the flow of its combat, with very few of its environments ever proving to be an encumbrance. I was not surprised in the least to see DOOM in the conversation for GOTY 2016 at The Game Awards, and I also wouldn’t be surprised if a sequel is already in the planning phases.
I’ve had a quiet love affair with Hyper Light Drifter over the course of 2016. After seeing (and failing to back) it on Kickstarter a few years ago, Hyper Light Drifter was one of those games that just kept sticking in the back of my mind until it finally released in full on PC at the end of March before then
releasing on both the PS4 and Xbox One back in late July. Naturally, I bought it on Day 1, and I never regretted it.
Hyper Light Drifter is almost like an homage to old Zelda titles like Link’s Awakening. It’s a top-down Action-Adventure game with RPG character enhancement systems and relies heavily on player skill to navigate its fierce battles. While this isn’t a Souls-calibre challenging game, Hyper Light Drifter is no walk in the park.
The game also takes aspects of Metroidvania design sensibilities, letting the player freely tackle any one of its areas at any time. The art direction on Hyper Light Drifter is also some of the most stellar pixel art you will ever see, as simple shading techniques bring forth the long-dormant hulking mechanical giants that once roamed the land. The game tells a story, but uses no words at any point, choosing instead to rely entirely upon expression and symbols.
Suffice it to say; you won’t regret investing in Hyper Light Drifter.
The year is just about over, and that means it’s time to reflect on 2016’s best. For PlayStation gamers, we could assume that we would be talking about Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End at year’s end….so to speak. Fortunately, the game did not disappoint, and it was one of the best games of the year, not just on PS4, but on all platforms. But a year is a long time, and it leaves plenty of room for surprises and for skepticism to become excitement as games roll out and live up to their promise.
This year saw two long-awaited games finally release at the tail end of the year with The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy XV, and while there is a lot of built-up emotion tied to both, it’s tough for me to cement them into the category of “best games for 2016.” That’s not intended to be a knock against them; I just haven’t spent enough time with either to grant them that label. The same can also be said for the likes of Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1.
That said, the list I have compiled is derived from games I have spent a considerable amount of time with and followed extensively in the time since their release. The list is intended to be as varied as possible and incorporates games both big and small. I didn’t intend to show any favor to one side or the other; it just turned out that I simply liked a number of smaller games over big games and vice versa. It's worth noting that I've hyperlinked each game to their PlayStation Store page, so if you're interested, head on over and check them out.
So before we dive in, I want to start with an honorable mention.
MLB The Show continues to be one of the best sports games on the planet, and for baseball fans, it’s the stuff of dreams. Sure, if you buy the games on an annual basis, you’re bound to be disappointed. That said, it’s 2016, and by now there’s no excuse not to know that there’s only so much that can change in a year when it comes to a sports game franchise.
What MLB The Show 16 continues to provide is as great a baseball simulation that has ever lived (unless you count the Stat-oriented Out of the Park Baseball franchise). Road to The Show remains as authentic as ever as you work your way up from farm-hand to All-Star, carving out roles for yourself through the seasons. My personal favorite is and will always be the classic Franchise mode, which puts you in the GM seat, managing every aspect of your roster.
The Show teaches you the little intricacies of roster management, from knowing the difference between DFA and Removing a player from the 40-man, as well as what the hell a Rule 5 draft is and why it’s different from the player draft. The community is as passionate as one you’ll ever find, as they continually upload rosters to the game’s servers with the most up to date major and minor league rosters there are.
It’s good to be a baseball fan on PS4.