10 Early Contenders For Game Of The Year 2016
Let's take stock of what an incredible year it's been so far...
At this stage it feels like the entirety of 2014 and the first half of 2015 were tantamount to the games industry revving their engines, because we're most definitely in the heat of the race now. 2016 positively fired out the gates with The Witness, XCOM 2 and Firewatch, only for bonafide hit and after bonafide hit to roll in one after another.
Uncharted 4, Overwatch, The Division (at launch, at least), DOOM, Hitman, Dark Souls III - there are enough games right there that already beat the paltry offerings we received from the beginning of the console cycle, and that's before things really got going as MGS V, The Witcher 3 and Fallout 4 rounded out 2015.
This past summer saw the likes of Pokémon GO and the divisive No Man's Sky, until most recently, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided slinked in to stake its claim as one of the year's best RPGs - all before the mighty Final Fantasy XV will finally release at the close of September.
With all that and more to consider, let me know your own early contender for Game of the Year 2016, and see what you make of my ranking so far...
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10. Inside
As much as Limbo set the world on fire back in 2010, the eight-year long-developed Inside feels like it almost came and went this summer. Clocking in at around three to five hours long, you can rattle through it in an afternoon, but don't let its length fool you - this physics-based side-scrolling platformer is the embodiment of the word 'immaculate'.
From the general feel of moving the anonymous young protagonist, to the dank, dreary aesthetic that brings PlayDead's dystopian, Orwellian nightmare to life, there's a mark of quality across Inside that deserves all those 10/10 scores and five star accreditations.
Yes, it's short, and yes you'll probably be left scratching your head at its interpretational ending, but as a video game that just feels incredibly well put together, purposeful in every regard and narratively memorable thanks to how many fan theories have sprung out of its climax, you need to see it for yourself.