20 Best Video Games Of 2016

8. Stardew Valley

On its face a farming sim, but under the hood there's a far more complex beast at play. See, developer Eric Barone was sick of Nintendo's Harvest Moon games never recapturing that same spark the old school originals had in spades, so he set out to create his own.

The result is Stardew Valley, a gorgeous, serene, relaxing game about, yes, farming, but also dungeon crawling and Animal Crossing-style village bonding. By implementing a solid quest and reward system (and a bulletin board for monsters to slay in the local mine/dungeon) you're given far more purpose and immediacy when it comes to what to do, than in any of Nintendo's titles.

Narratively framed as your character leaving their cubicle office job to rediscover themselves, the game excellently plays on such corporate themes by having a 'villain' in the form of a major Wallmart-esque manager attempting to overtake the otherwise idyllic town.

The sort of game with the kind of heart only an independent philosophy could produce, Stardew Valley is a place everyone should visit once in their lives.