Is Civilization VI Your "Game of the Year" for 2016 so far?

[TheSpaceCowboy]

While I’d imagine this audience has something of a bias, I’m still curious to know what everyone would list as their Game of the Year for 2016.

My personal list is as follows, with the only omissions the yet to be released Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Pokémon Sun, and Final Fantasy XV, all of which AiPT! has me reviewing (though sadly no advanced copies on any of them).

1. The Witcher III: Blood and Wine
2. Civilization VI
3. XCOM 2
4. Quantum Break
5. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
6. Tom Clancy’s The Division
7. Oxenfree
8. Paragon (open beta)
9. Doom
10. Duelyst
11. Inside
12. Trials of the Blood Dragon
13. The Witness
14. Pokemon Go

I’ve yet to finish either Hyper Light Drifter or Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkuni, though I still plan to; the former is gorgeous but unforgiving, whereas the latter is mindless fun that simply came out at a busy time. Nothing of what I played this year was bad, with most falling squarely in the 8 out of 10 range.

 

[redwings1340]

Hmm... Of all the games I've played this year, I think civ VI is high up there and has the most potential for amazingness. However, the flaws with the game makes it hard for me to say it's the best game of the year. That said, I don't know what the competition is, so I can't make a good judgement on this.

 

[redwings1340]

I might play with no AI and just myself vs barbs and see how quickly I can win a science victory or something.

That actually sounds moderately terrifying. Without the AI to keep the barbs busy and taking up space, there are going to be so many barbarians attacking you!

 

[Zenstrive]

Those barbs will be busy having fun with city states

 

[CoconutTank]

Splatoon is still my game of the year since it's my game of the forever ;P

Absent of Splatoon though, yes Civ6 is my game of the year for 2016. I admittedly haven't gotten many other games this year though.

 

[dexters]

Splatoon is pretty great. My GOTY has no meaning anymore since I only play 2-3 new games a year. Civ6 is my most played new purchase for sure.

 

[Ozisl]

Civ6 isn't the top, but given an expansion in a few months, it will be better.

 

[Animist7]

@TheSpaceCowboy

Haha, I've only played three games on your list but they happen to be the top three so I guess I've chosen wisely! I'd also put Blood and Wine at number 1 but probably XCOM 2 second for now. I've had, and am still having, a ton of fun with that game, especially with the mods like some of the cool Mass Effect character mods that have come out recently. Civ VI is close behind - might creep up to second place depending on if a patch comes out this year.

 

[bbbt]

Absolutely, but it's basically the only 2016 game I've bought in 2016, so there's not much competition!

 

[TheSpaceCowboy]

@TheSpaceCowboy

Haha, I've only played three games on your list but they happen to be the top three so I guess I've chosen wisely! I'd also put Blood and Wine at number 1 but probably XCOM 2 second for now. I've had, and am still having, a ton of fun with that game, especially with the mods like some of the cool Mass Effect character mods that have come out recently. Civ VI is close behind - might creep up to second place depending on if a patch comes out this year.

 

[The Highwayman]

Civ VI is my GOTY for sure. Uncharted 4 is the runner up.

 

[Falk]

Grim Dawn for me. Fantastic game and it was released as a finished product.

I also love Battleborn which was released unfinished (matchmaking and performance issues mostly), but has improved a lot. Sadly no one is playing it.

Civ6 is also unfinished and they don't have much time left in 2016. I'm fairly certain Civ6 is going to be my GotY 2017 though.

 

[Barathor]

My GOTY has no meaning anymore since I only play 2-3 new games a year.

Hah, same here.

I've never even heard of a lot of those titles; I surprised Stellaris and Total War: Warhammer were reduced to the "Other" option.

Civ 6 is definitely my own top pick; I'm really enjoying it. XCOM 2 is a very close second. I was still playing that and some Stellaris until Civ 6 came out.

 

[need my speed]

Dishonored 2, I predict.

 

[Jolly_Roger]

My Summer Car, of course!

But XCOM2 and CIV6 are both great games too.

 

[GAGA Extrem]

Looking at the list, it is definitely Doom for me - and that's coming from someone who isn't even all that interested in FPS anymore.
A fantastic game that showed me there is yet hope for that genre.

 

[TomBeard]

Overwatch was a lot of fun but I'm always biased towards civ games. I got caught up in a game that was new for me but a couple years old in Fire Emblem Awakening. That game got ahold of me for over a month. Nothing compares to the 3000 hours I can log on the life of civ game tho.

 

[Haggbart]

Yes.

 

[Uberfrog]

Of that list, I've only played three games! I'm not much for buying new games these days, and aside from these I spent most of this year on Team Fortress 2 (which I return to perennially) and Dragon Age Inquisition.

So while Civ VI is a ton of fun, it needs a little bit of work before it's close to edging out my personal GOTY Overwatch. Despite being completely different games the one thing that is striking between them is the level of polish. The various interacting mechanics of OW have clearly had eons of careful balancing put into them, even on release, and the UI and visual clarity of the game is astonishing. That's not to say there haven't been issues and tweaks since then but Blizzard have been very good at communicating with their audience about them.

In contrast, the myriad issues with balance, UI and AI in Civ VI show a game that was released too soon. I'm really enjoying it and the new mechanics are great, but the level of polish doesn't compare. I have every faith that Firaxis will improve it over time, but there's no real competition as to which is my GOTY.

(The other game, if you're wondering, is Pokémon Go. It's a fun diversion on a walk for a few times, but the grinding mechanics are extremely tedious and shallow, and I find there's very little incentive to the flailing combat system...)

 

[UponATime]

Seeing Blood & Wine as its own game of the year contender says a lot about CDPR and the videogame industry as a whole. Voted for it in any case, nothing came even close to the fun I've had playing this expansion this year.

Civ 6 is good, don't get me wrong. I'm enjoying it, but it's definitely not GOTY material as of right now.
Hopefully 2017 brings a lot of patches/expansions to it! It has great potential.