By Rob Gordon | 4 months ago 

With 2016 nearly at an end, it’s time to take stock of some of the best games of the year that went under the radar. Here’s Game Rant’s pick of the games that deserve more recognition.

In a year full of such incredible games as Uncharted 4: A Thief’s Endand Overwatch, it seems as though video game fans have had a huge pick of incredible gaming experiences to choose from. However, with so many choices available, it’s understandable that many games have managed to fall through the cracks. After all, when Dark Souls 3 has a gamer captivated, it’s unlikely that another game will be able to shift attention away.

Much like 2015, however, there have been a large number of phenomenal games that have seen release this year without much fanfare, and without the massive commercial success that they perhaps deserve. Here’s Game Rant’s choices for the best games of 2016 that slipped through the net of many gamers.

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The Flame in the Flood

Dystopian and post-apocalyptic worlds are pretty well-traveled by video game players, as seen by the success of such series as Fallout. However, there have still been some great examples of developers doing something unique with the premise of a world on the brink, as seen with The Flame in the Flood.

The debut game by a group of former BioShock developers under the name of The Molasses Flood, The Flame in the Flood thrusts players into a flooded world, scavenging supplies from tiny islands of land and running the gauntlet of dangerous rapids. It’s a challenging, and sometimes harrowing, survival game, but one that is propelled by both a stunning art style and haunting score.

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Zero Time Dilemma

The PS Vita is an often-forgotten device among the other examples of gaming platforms, yet it was home to one of the most interesting games of the year. Zero Time Dilemma, which was also released on PC and 3DS, forms a part of the Zero Escape series, and is just as polarizing as some of the games that have come before it.

However, Zero Time Dilemma is also a great title in its own right, offering up a fantastic hybrid of simple gameplay styles that come together to help form an incredibly compelling narrative. This one may have gone unnoticed, but it’s certainly worth checking out.

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Darkest Dungeon

For some gamers, it might be hard to think of Darkest Dungeon as a game that was released this year, given that the title spent so long in the public eye in its early access form. It’s perhaps that reason, then, that the title did not become as much of a powerhouse as it truly deserved – in spite of some truly impressive sales figures for an indie title.

Those that forgot about the game after its crowdfunding promotion, though, should certainly feel compelled to give it another look, with hard-as-nails gameplay and a grim aesthetic. Just remember to check out a Darkest Dungeon Survival Guide to ensure that any adventures aren’t short-lived.

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Severed

Once again, the PS Vita proved to be a place to find some real gems this year. In the case of Severed, the game was originally only available for Sony’s handheld platform, although thankfully the title saw wider release across the Wii U, 3DS, and iOS devices. Even so, the game still didn’t quite get the attention it deserved from gamers.

Combining a wonderful art direction with a great story and fairly unique gameplay, this action RPG won the hearts of many who took the plunge and checked it out. Although it perhaps outstayed its welcome a little, Severed still packed one heck of a punch, and more than earns a place on this list.

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 League of Legends’ latest update demonstrates Heroes of the Storm’s influence
When World of Warcraft was at the height of its popularity, a familiar cycle fell into place. A game would rise up, selling itself as a potential replacement to the king of MMOs. There would be one or two features everyone adored, but when a new WoW expansion hit, everyone would immediately jump back on their old paladin or rogue and get back to the grind. The new, shiny MMO would stumble along for a while, eventually falter, and eventually its best ideas would be cannibalized into the next WoW expansion. It was the circle of life.

League of Legends has found itself in a similar cycle, with more MOBAs trying to replicate its success than I can count springing up over the last few years. Precious few of them have survived. Dota 2 has always been its own thing, separate from the League ecosystem. Smite has carved out its own fanbase. And then there’s Heroes of the Storm, the weird game. The Mid-Season Updatefor League brought some surprising changes that makes League look a little more like Blizzard’s MOBA.

Heralding the new changes

Heroes of the Storm, the Blizzard All Stars game that puts characters from Overwatch, Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo into an arena to clobber it out, has always been an odd duck. It’s taken a decidedly different path than League. Even so, League has recently—similar to the WoW cycle—borrowed a few of Heroes’ successful elements.

For instance, one of the big pulls of Heroes is the way their jungle works. Instead of having one jungler running around and farming mobs for experience and gold like the League model, Heroes encourages the entire team to pitch in and contest jungle objectives. If you take down a camp of neutral baddies, they’ll join your team and happily push down a lane.

The Rift Herald, the mini-baron objective for top laners, is undergoing a change that feels very HotS-inspired. Now, the Herald will drop an Eye, which goes into your inventory. Activating it summons a big, angry Rift Herald to shove down the lane. It’s something that immediately brings Heroes of the Storm to mind, and is one of their most iconic mechanics.

Support items also borrow a little something from Heroes of the Storm: the quest mechanic. In HotS, upon successfully completing a small challenge, like hitting a skillshot or auto attacking while an ability is active, heroes gain quest credit. Once they’ve fulfilled the quest by hitting 10 skillshots or auto attacking 80 times, their ability gets a bonus.

Support items in League will be gaining a similar effect, rewarding successful supports with a little extra late game power and making those early game investments more useful. Quests aren’t as recognizable as a Heroes of the Storm mechanic as the Rift Herald, but it's likely that designers saw the merit in the idea.

A tale of two MOBAs 

While League has taken inspiration from a couple of Heroes mechanics, the two games hold distinct identities. League has leaned into being a competitive game of skill, and stands as the MOBA. In a recent post on his Tumblr, Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street spoke about some of the things League chooses to focus on: “We hold the laning phase as a sacred part of the game where you get to demonstrate your individual skill with only limited influence from the players in other lanes. We value counterplay as an important design value, and we think it’s harder to provide meaningful counterplay if the enemy champion is doing really, really unusual things (like not leaving base)."

Heroes, on the other hand, has carved out an identity as the MOBA that breaks the rules. There are multiple maps, each with its own objective and layout. Champions have a much greater variation than League, and the extreme cases push the envelope. Ragnaros can become a raid boss in the ruins of a Fort, raining terror down upon the enemy team. Abathur stays in a safe place and controls the battlefield by putting biological hats on his teammates. Murky is a one man army who can quickly regenerate from key points on the map and offers minimal rewards to his killer.

These two paths offer two gameplay experiences, and they’re both valid. Ghostcrawler stresses that the design philosophies between Heroes and League are both important and deserving of respect. But what’s interesting is that Heroes has given up trying to contest League’s dominance; they’re leaning into their niche as the odd MMO with wild heroes and wild map objectives like tactical nukes or shrines that summon giant, fort-punching punishers.

What’s worth keeping? 

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Ghostcrawler has confirmed that champions like Ivern or Bard are as wild as League is as willing to get: there’ll be no Ragnaroses or Murkies in the future of League. While Heroes often makes headlines for these weird, rule breaking champions, there’s way more to the game than that. In fact, some of the features that HotS has are absolutely worth stealing. While League is adapting for the midseason (and eventually, the preseason), maybe they should consider taking inspiration from the following:

One: A painstaking, multi-step new player on boarding process. Heroes’ new player tutorials makes it nearly impossible to miss out on the game’s core concepts. Right now, entering League of Legends is significantly more difficult.

Two: At the start of each game, champions exchange some banter on the platform. Right now in League, you have to taunt or joke while standing near an appropriate champion to hear those sweet lines of dialogue, and you usually get a skillshot to the face for your trouble.

Three: A little more variety. Sure, League is never going to leave the Summoner’s Rift... but why not take some notes from Heroes and throw in some different announcers? It’s always a refreshing change of pace to go from a pirate shouting at you, to an angel commanding you in the fight against Hell, to a terrified scientist hoping for his survival. While the Rift will always remain the same, why not get some new announcers in the booth?

Ultimately, I’m glad League has chosen to stay the course. We’ll see whether the new Rift Herald and quest mechanics stay in the game, or eventually filter out over the course of months and patches. Competition from other MOBAs makes League of Legends healthier. The developers have a clear vision of the game they want, and can adopt mechanics or ideas that aid them in that quest. We may never get an Abathur-style hero, but we will get tweaks to the old systems we love that hopefully make the game better.

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Here are nine things we're hoping to see from The Creative Asse

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More War is coming. The Creative Assembly recently announced Total War: Warhammer 2 with a trailer showing off the High Elves, Dark Elves and Lizardmen and hinting that the ratmen Skaven as the game's fourth new faction. Warhammer 2 looks like a meaty standalone expansion to the original game—its new map will combine with Warhammer's already huge depiction of the Old World for a "vast combined campaign map." The Creative Assembly also gave us some tidbits about a new endgame, but there's a lot we still don't know about Warhammer 2, and that set our minds to wandering.

What does our dream sequel to the most imaginative Total War in years look like? Here are nine things we want to see in a bigger, better Total War: Warhammer 2.

More Warhammer influence, less Total War holdover

Look, I know 'Total War' is in the name, and Warhammer 2 is designed to interlock with the first game like a mega expansion. So I'm dreaming a little, here. But after seeing The Creative Assembly cut loose a bit with wonderfully creative Warhammer units and diverse races, I'd love for their future games to feel less like Total War with a Warhammer skin. There's so much more they could do. Quests are an awesome addition to these games, giving you a bit of narrative flavor to a campaign and reason to move your lords across the map. But why does that narrative text have to be delivered in a tiny text box, a holdover of who knows how many Total War games? 

Are there cool formations from the tabletop that units could adopt? Could magic be used on the strategy map instead of just in combat? In Total War, hills in combat are important for charge bonuses—would terrain in the Warhammer world influence combat in different ways?  Should there even be a diplomacy system? 

I don't know Warhammer lore well at all, but I feel like there are tons of things, big and small, that could make a future Total War: Warhammer feel more unique, keeping the core combat Total War does so well and building cooler, weirder systems around that. I guess I'm more or less asking for the fantasy version of Dawn of War 3, which is built to bring out the best of Warhammer 40,000. Now that The Creative Assembly has proven that Total War + Warhammer = Big Hit, I want them to run with it. — Wes

Rework the Agent system to be less rote

When I first started playing Total War: Warhammer, I wrote about how ready I was to see Total War revamp its 'agents,' aka Warhammer heroes, to be less, well, boring. And yep: still feel that way. I've played enough Total War games now to be a bit tired of units fulfilling the exact same strategic role just with a fresh coat of paint. In Rome 2, I had spies I'd run around the map poisoning other agents and generals. In Warhammer, I do the same thing, except with a vampire. These heroes inevitably pile up late in the game, and micromanaging dealing with the enemy's AI heroes always becomes a grind. There's no fun in it.

But you know what is fun? Using those heroes in battle. This is the one thing Total War: Warhammer does differently than previous Total War games, where agents could only be used strategically on the world map. They can now fight in battle and gain abilities just like the lords that lead armies. And it's both way more satisfying, and way more varied, to level up a hero and take them into battle to cast spells or wade into the melee. I want Warhammer 2 to emphasize this strength, giving heroes quests and more involved leveling and skill trees. Maybe cut back on the number you can recruit to make them more meaningful, and give the same ol', same 'ol world map micromanagement a rest. — Wes

Create the perfect endgame

No pressure. Seriously, though, this is one of the biggest problems with grand strategy games generally, in 4X games and turn-based RTS hybrids like Total War. If you’ve played well your power curve puts you past a point where you can feasibly lose, but before you’re allowed a victory screen you have to mop up dozens of cities. This takes hours, and I always give up once a campaign has loosely run its course.

Total War: Warhammer 2 aims to fix this with the vortex. Theoretically this gives every faction an objective to race towards. It’s an interesting subversion of the typical endless expansion grand strategy victory condition that could force some interesting decisions in the late game. CA haven’t gone into much detail about how exactly the vortex will work, but the very idea of it raises interesting questions. When you do stop expanding and start chasing the prize? Will there be an event that triggers the race for the vortex? Most importantly, can it fix the sluggish final third that most campaigns experience? — Tom

Do Skaven justice

When asked whether there are Skaven in Total War: Warhammer 2, the official Creative Assembly line is “what’s a Skaven?” Coincidentally this is the official line offered by Karl Franz and the Empire in the Old World. The insidious ratmen are a myth, a story used to terrify children and force them to behave. To serious-minded individuals the idea of a society of rat people living in vast hives under the Empire’s major cities is simply madness. Giant invisible vermin, stealing vagrants from the streets, running through the sewers? Such nonsense couldn’t possibly be true, could it?

It’s true. The shot of a red-eyed rat at the end of the intro trailer very much suggests that the furry hordes will be a force in Total War: Warhammer 2. This is great news, but I hope they do this unique faction justice. On the battlefield Skaven swarm in extraordinary numbers and melt enemies with hideous warpfire. As a species they tend to lurk parasitically beneath existing settlements in vast cave networks. I’d love to see this faction’s unique characteristics reflected in the way they operate on Total War’s strategic map.

Also, Deathmaster Snitch would make an amazing assassin agent.  — Tom 

Improve diplomacy

Diplomacy is hard to model in a world full of factions that fundamentally hate one another. A Warhammer game should be about the war-war, rather than the jaw-jaw. Still, if you’re going to let the factions talk to one another there should be some point to it. 

The existing system, which records the relationships between factions and lists positive and negative modifiers, does a good job of allowing your behaviour on the world map to influence factions’ opinions of you, but the way the factions act on these ratings can be plain weird. Outmatched opponents will repeatedly demand that you surrender. Factions will turn down a deal and, turns later, come back to you with an offer that’s worse for them. A solid diplomacy system is going to be even more important in a campaign that has factions racing to the vortex at Ulthuan. Forming allies to bludgeon through enemy blockades, and acquiring free passage through friendly lands, will be vital.  — Tom 

Make the underway less obnoxious

The underway is bullshit. Oh, it's great if you're an elf or a dwarf or some obnoxious little warherd, but if you're not, say goodbye to the notion of ever catching an enemy army, or defending your territory at strategic chokepoints. Those dreams are dead. Several of Total War: Warhmmer's factions can use underground pathways to duck under mountains and other world map obstacles, and there is a risk of being intercepted by an enemy while doing so. But the benefits to mobility far, far outweigh that risk, and as a result those factions can harass the hell out of other factions, like the Empire and the Vampire Counts. 

Even with a mod that gives you extra movement distance in your own territory, catching armies that use the underway to sneak in or out is an obnoxious, near-impossible task, especially once you conquer a large chunk of Warhammer's map. The races that can't use the underway need a better counter to those sneaky bastards next time around. — Wes

Properly sneery Elves

The haughty, precious High Elves and the kinky Dark Elves will face off in Total War: Warhammer 2. This is the perfect opportunity for some reedy British voice actors to deliver some icy, condescending put-downs. I want to feel their arrogance. I want to experience the full force of their fierce derision for the unperfumed, unwashed denizens of the Old World. 

The interplay between Warhammer’s lurid generals should always be characterful, and there’s plenty of opportunity for comedy. I can’t wait to force a High Elf hero to address an Orc warlord. There’s little to no chance of them ever doing a deal, but it should be worth trying just to watch them try to share a screen together.  — Tom 

Even more imaginative battlefields

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The Warhammer setting gives CA the chance to render The Old World at greater scale and higher fidelity than any game that has gone before. The first game did a good job of this with a beautiful world map and characterful locales for both underground and overground conflicts, but Total Warhammer 2 takes the series to more exotic places. Lustria is an dense, exotic jungle region and Ulthuan is varied land of dragons, magic, rainbow skies and vast mountains. Just off the coast of Ulthuan you’ll find a concentration of of magic islands that deform under shifting, magical mists. It’s really weird out there.

There are plenty of opportunities to create some spectacular battlegrounds from this varied mix of biomes. They should be a refreshing change from the Imperial flatlands and Ork wastelands of the first Total War: Warhammer. Total War needs to give you open, relatively flat spaces to fight on, but these can take place against ambitious skyboxes that show the Old World in all its glory.  — Tom 

Find DLC pricing that works for the community

This is hard. I don't want to presume how much work goes into a faction DLC for a game like Total War: Warhammer, because I honestly have no idea how much time and money and effort it takes to create a new race like the Beastmen or the Wood Elves. But a large chunk of the Total War audience was clearly deeply upset by the $19 (£14) price, a third of the cost of the base game. Each DLC does add a chunk to the map and new races with some new mechanics, but the Beastmen, especially, feel like recycled hordes from Attila (or like Chaos in Warhammer) with a bunch of minotaur units added in.

I think it was a great move for Creative Assembly to offer the Bretonnia faction for free, and several other pieces of DLC were free or much more affordable. But I think most fans would prefer more affordable new factions, even if that means slightly less unit variety. Maybe the solution is simply Creative Assembly being more transparent about how much work it takes to make new factions and why $19 is the right price for them. So far, that pricing has been a really tough sell for the community, and it's something Creative Assembly should address before Warhammer 2 DLC starts rolling out. — Wes

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Everything you need to know about our new subscriptions beta

We’re introducing two additional ways for communities to support their favorite partnered streamers: $9.99 and $24.99 subscriptions. These new subs allow you to support streamers you love, while Partners are able to reward their super fans with perks like special emotes.

This program will be launching soon as an opt-in beta, so Partners can try it out and give us their feedback.

So, what can you expect?

Our new subscription options let Partners reward and interact with their most passionate fans (that’s you!) in new ways:

• Send a custom message to the community upon first subscribing.
• Access to additional emotes for $9.99 and $24.99 subs, if provided by a Partner.
• Help a Partner unlock new emotes faster, as $9.99 subs are worth two subscriber counts and $24.99 subs are worth six subscriber counts. Combined with our revamped emote tiers, this means new emotes will be rolling out for communities even quicker!
• Participate in new $9.99 and $24.99 subscriber roles based within theTwitch App, if offered by a Partner.

What’s coming next?

As we build this program, our goal is to provide partnered streamers with a better way to earn a steady income and to give viewers more options to support streamers on Twitch. This includes long-requested features like the ability for a user to gift a channel subscription to another non-subbed user, which will be coming to Twitch later this year. We’re already working on it, and expect to start testing this within the next few months.

FAQ (For viewers)

When will the beta launch?

A. Very soon.

Will the $9.99 and $24.99 subscriptions be available on all channels?

A. Initially, these new subscriptions will only be available on Partnered channels who opt into the beta. This will be a rolling beta with new channels added weekly. If you are a Partner, please check your email for opt-in info.

When will $9.99 and $24.99 subscriptions come out of beta?

A. Our new sub options will be available universally (across all Partnered channels) over the next several weeks.

Will the $4.99 subscription still exist?

A. Yes, you will still be able to support a streamer with this option.

Will the new options auto-renew like the $4.99 subscription?

Yes, it will be similar to our existing monthly subscriptions.

How does this apply to Twitch Prime?

A. Twitch Prime members can continue getting a $4.99 subscription at no additional cost every 30 days with their Prime membership.

Do the new subscriptions support proration?

A. We do not currently support the proration of subscriptions. This means if you upgrade before the end of a billing cycle you will not receive credit for the remaining amount until the end of the billing cycle. If this is a concern, we recommend upgrading at the end of the billing cycle. For more info on purchase support, see our FAQ.

FAQ (For Partners)

Are additional emotes for $9.99 and $24.99 subscription required?

A. No, it’s optional. We encourage you to do what’s best for your community.

I’ve heard about permanent emote unlock — how will that work during the beta?

A. When the beta launches, the emote slots you gain will start to be yours permanently. However, you will not be able to switch your emotes freely if you fall under the required active sub count right away. We’ll be adding this feature once the new subscriptions come out of beta, and will carry over the peak emote slot count you reached starting from the beta.

How and when can I upload additional emotes?

A. When our beta launches, you will be able to upload all your emotes (including new emotes for $9.99 and $24.99 subs) via your dashboard. We anticipate an influx of new emotes and required approvals, and are working to ensure that your new emotes are live as quickly as possible.

How will this work with existing overlays & notifications?

A. We’ve partnered with developers like StreamLabs, Bit Boss Battles, and Muxy to ensure support for this feature upon our beta launch.

Are there any changes to the API to allow to us to access more info about subscription status?

A. Absolutely! We’ve updated the existing subscriber APIs to include subscription types, tenure, and more. A PubSub topic for subscriptions was added to make it even easier to integrate with the system. For more info, visit dev.twitch.tv/docs.

I have additional questions. Where can I learn more?

A. Please check your email for more details. In that email, there’s also a registration link for a Partner-only webinar we’re hosting, which will go over this info plus address some top question

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