I have a
pretty huge backlog to work through, and I wait for sales on most things, and this year I've pretty much only been playing my 3DS and whatever can run on my laptop, so I really didn't play many 2016 games. A lot of my favorite games from this year were actually from 2015 or 2014 because I finally caught a sale. So this is actually every 2016 release I played in 2016, in no particular order.
5.) Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright
I'm pretty bad at actually finishing games (
Sourcce), so I haven't gotten Conquest or Revelations yet, but I really like what I've played of this so far. I suck at strategy games, so I really appreciate that Fates has options that still let me enjoy the story and characters without having to water down the experience for people who can actually play it (I actually haven't used Casual or Phoenix Mode yet, but I'll probably need it when I play Conquest (Now that I think of it a big part of the reason I haven't beaten it is because I play on Classic and reset every time someone dies, and for most of the year my L button was broken so I couldn't soft reset)).
Five) Pokemon Moon
Also haven't finished this, but what I've done so far is pretty great. I haven't been this drawn into a Pokemon since my first game (HeartGold), if ever. Getting rid of HMs was huge. When the games first started, HMs were a cool immersion thing -- your moves have effect outside of battle too! -- but after twenty years, having to have so many HM moves (or having to swap your Pokemon around through the obnoxiously slow PC) to have full mobility shackled the game in a way much similar to
what I've complained about before in the DS version of Mario 64. Sun and Moon for me are about a bunch of minor QOL tweaks that should have been done a long time ago, along with a lot of little additions that make it feel more like Pokemon actually exist in the Pokemon world (which will be enhanced even more if Stars adds the overworld partner thing they planned on).
V.) Planet Coaster / Parkitect / RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic
Combining these all into one entry so I can talk about all of them, because otherwise there'd only be like one or two games not on my list. Each represents different branches off of the RollerCoaster Tycoon tree, and they're all good in their own way. Planet Coaster is a very powerful park creator that gives complete creative control over everything if your computer is powerful enough for it (mine's not), while also have a good game behind it. Parkitect (which is technically still in alpha) is kind of an alternate universe RCT3, or maybe 2.5. It's basically the first two RCT games but with the ability to rotate the camera in 3D, with more of a focus on tweaking the management mechanics of the game. And RCT Classic is just RCT2 ported perfectly to phones, with no microtransactions or energy or anything like that. I'm still kind of amazed that it works so well. I never really play mobile games, but lately my battery has been dying at work because of this.
2+3) SteamWorld Heist
So this one's kind of cheating -- the Wii U version came out in 2016, but the 3DS version, which I played, came out in 2015. And that's also probably the last time I played it (it's really good; I'm just lazy), so my memory's a little spotty. I just wanted to say this is really good.
cinco) Hustle Cat
Just got this a couple days ago in the Steam sale. It's a really cute visual novel (pretty sure there's no porn in it (not that there's anything wrong with that (except when there is))) where you play a non-binary 20-something who works in a cat cafe, so it makes sense that I'd be into it. I finished one of the six paths the other day, so technically this is actually the only 2016 game that I beat in 2016. Definitely gonna get all the paths soon; I love all the characters. Really fun writing. Nice music. Cats.
...And yeah, actually the only other 2016 releases I've played are Miitomo (fun for a while if you have friends who are into it), Swapdoodle (same), and Inchworm Animation 2 (need to play around with that some more). I also have Azure Striker Gunvolt 2, but I haven't played it yet because I haven't finished the first one. It's probably really good, though; I love what I played of the first one.
I think I'm a casual now.