10 Early Contenders For Game Of The Year 2016

5. No Man’s Sky

From one divisive game to another, and No Man's Sky continues to be raked across the coals for not delivering on various talked-about features in its run-up to release. Namely, a multiplayer component.

If you take the game as it is though, discard any preconceived notions of what it 'should' be, No Man's Sky is a beautifully ethereal game about humanity's place in the universe, why we explore and chart everything from the depths of the oceans to the tops of Everest - and why space itself is so endlessly fascinating.

It may lack certain features developer Sean Murray described across the last three years, but - for me, at least - when I finally fixed my broken ship and hopped in the cockpit, leaving the planet's atmosphere and feeling the full breathtaking scale of what Hello Games have built - that feeling is why No Man's Sky still has an intrinsic value that shines brighter than any broken promises could otherwise tear down.