12 2016 Video Game Gems You Totally Missed

6. Virginia

Interpretational almost to a fault, Virginia contains a message from developers Variable State, detailing how the road to production was fraught and interesting, resulting in a fraught and interesting game.

Casting you as a young FBI agent Anne Tarver, you'll soon be tasked with investigating your partner Maria Halperin. Precisely why, you're not told, and this personal story is set against the backdrop of a young boy who's gone missing. Whilst the game itself is only just over an hour long, the really big takeaways are just how incredibly stylised and gorgeously scored all the events onscreen are.

Many developers will hopefully learn lessons from how Virginia presents its narrative, employing a variety of musical cues that trigger as you explore the world, as well as jarringly wrenching you out of particular scenes, transitioning you from environment to environment, solely to execute on the mental state of Tarver, and the building stress she's buried under.

To reveal the entire story would obviously be a large spoiler, but sufficed to say, Variable have crafted a tale fraught with introspection - one that you'll need to ponder on for quite some time to find a definitive reading.