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Looking Back At Gaming in 2016

2016 was an extraordinary year for video games, delivering landmark releases, genre-defining indies, and some titles that didn’t quite get the recognition they deserved. This hub brings together our retrospectives, reviews, and features exploring one of gaming’s most fascinating years.

2016 Retrospectives

Years on from release, 2016’s biggest and most interesting games deserve a second look. These retrospectives dig into how those titles hold up today, what they got right - and wrong - and why they’re still being talked about long after launch.

Looking Back to 2016 and the Brutal Warfare of Battlefield 1

The subject of today’s trip down memory lane is Battlefield 1, so called because it was set back in The Great War. So, let’s go back in time to an age when the guns were inaccurate and the tanks and planes were slow and hard to drive, shall we?

Looking Back to 2016 with Gears of War 4 – It’s a Family Affair

I vividly remember my excitement when I heard the news that Gears of War was coming back. After being pleasantly surprised with Halo 4 a few years before, I was very much hoping for a similarly enjoyable resurrection of one of Xbox’s flagship franchises. 

Looking Back to 2016 and the upside-down action of Forza Horizon 3

Before anyone complains, I know the racing action wasn’t really upside-down (although when I was racing, all bets were off) but that was just a reference to the location of Forza Horizon 3, which was Australia. Coming from Playground Games, the same as the others in the series, and with a country as varied as Australia to go at, the scene was set for a truly great experience.

Looking Back to 2016 and the Flaming Axes of Destiny: Rise of Iron

I loved Destiny. I loved it so much that when the run of DLC was done, and Bungie released the aptly named Destiny: The Collection, including all the DLC for a knockdown price, I wasn’t even bothered. Well, maybe a little. What this meandering preamble is leading up to though is the second greatest of all the Destiny DLC packs, that of Rise of Iron and Lord Saladin.

Looking Back to 2016 and the Good Robot Doggy of ReCore

Way back in 2016, the platform/3rd person action adventure genre was a sadly diminished place. Diminished that is until ReCore came along

Looking Back to 2016 with Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – Fall Of The Machines

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was released exactly five years after its predecessor, Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It built on the world set up in the previous game, whilst taking steps to evolve the gameplay further. Despite being a solid sequel, it didn’t quite manage to capture the imagination in the same way as Deus Ex: Human Revolution, despite being thoroughly enjoyable to play.

Looking Back to 2016 with Overcooked! – Cooking Up a Storm

We’re home to some fantastic creative minds from the world of video games, and of course here I’m referring to Team17. The inventive folks behind the Worms series got behind a game called Overcooked! back in 2016; a title which was developed by Ghost Town Games. It was such a hit that Team17 themselves got involved in developing the sequel.

Looking Back to 2016 and the brilliance of Playdead’s Inside

At first, Inside was a transcendent experience. I had goosebumps as I played through its fever dream environments and lucid puzzles. I loved it as a game. Over time, Inside has taken on a new meaning. A personal one, an academic one, a political one.

Looking Back to 2016 and the Glitchy Goodness of PAC-MAN 256

PAC-MAN is one of those characters - assuming you can call a yellow circle with a segment missing, a character - that has entered popular culture and shows no sign of leaving. He is instantly recognisable, and like Mario and Sonic, known by gamers all over the world. I have already written at length about his history in an article celebrating his 40 years in showbiz, and so will concentrate this time around on the subject of PAC-MAN 256 and the release of it in 2016.

Looking back to the failed parkour of 2016’s Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

Mirror's Edge will likely never get a third try. The second game does not look like a cheap effort. By all accounts it is beautiful, especially with its FPS Boost enhancements. The city glows at nights and shines in the day. Lights will reflect off of Catalyst’s many structures made of glass. It’s spectacular to run through. But such a lavish production often comes with risk aversion and sadly Catalyst crumbles under this pressure. It’s held back by the pressure to conform, rather than trying to be genuinely different.

Looking back to 2016 and the shooty stylings of Hard Reset Redux

Way back in 2013, a game was released for the PC called Hard Reset. So far, so humdrum, right? I mean, why would us Xbox gamers be concerned about a first person shooter that just so happened to come with a strong whiff of Quake? But then, in 2016, a remixed version of the game did release for the Xbox One - Hard Reset Redux.

Looking Back to 2016 with DOOM: Welcome (back) to Hell

I can’t quite believe it has been five years since DOOM, the reboot of the game widely regarded as the grandfather of the FPS, was released. Not since the excellent Doom 3 have we been treated to a full-blown, hellish, demon slaying adventure. But unlike Doom 3, the game shifted away from the survival horror and back to the run and gun spirit of the original.

Looking Back to 2016 and the MOBA Stylings of Battleborn

I remember, way back in 2016, taking in Battleborn, coming away from the experience with a decent amount of enjoyment. As it’s now the fifth anniversary of the release of the game, I thought it would be fun to look back and see what memories I can dredge up from my time with the game. So come with me down memory lane and we’ll see how the MOBA stylings of Battleborn worked.

Looking back to 2016 at the Discontinuation of the Xbox 360 – The End of an Era

As the second console released by Microsoft, the Xbox 360 had a huge amount riding on it. It was the follow-up to a brand new entry to the market, and had to go up against two very fearsome competitors in the form of the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3. With a lifespan of over ten years, there’s no denying just how much of a triumph the Xbox 360 was. On the anniversary of its retirement, let’s have a look back over the life of one of history’s most successful game consoles.

Looking Back to 2016 and the brutally unforgiving world of Dark Souls III

Ah, Dark Souls, how many times have you killed me? Through three games (four if you count the remake of the original a little while back), my death toll must be in the thousands, maybe even higher. And yet, I keep coming back for more!
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2016 In Review

As well as revisiting individual games years later, we also covered 2016 as it unfolded. These articles capture how the year was judged at the time - from the biggest hits to the most disappointing releases.

5 of the most surprising Xbox One games of 2016

Okay so 2017 may be here, but with so many games due out each year it can take a while before we finish the delights of the year before. After all, every game maintains that it will offer everything we want in a game and with so many failing to deliver it can more often than not end in disappointment anyway. Sometimes though the opposite happens, and whilst we sit watching a release come by, expecting it to be a bit pants, there will be millions of players out there enjoying a fine masterpiece right under our nose.

Were 2016’s free Xbox Games With Gold titles worth the bother?

Whilst it is great to have free games thrust our way each and every month, has the Xbox Games With Gold scheme delivered enough quality throughout 2016 to make it worthwhile?

5 of the worst Xbox One games of 2016

Forza Horizon 3. Battlefield 1. Final Fantasy XV. Rocket League. DOOM. I could go on and on about the great games that came the way of Xbox One owners throughout 2016, but I won't because this article isn't about those fun bringers. Instead it's about those games which have failed to deliver any inkling of entertainment. The ones which have failed straight off the bat. The ones which have, without beating round the bush, been a bit crap.

5 of the most disappointing Xbox One games of 2016

2016 has been a great year for gaming, with hundreds of titles making their way to the Xbox One, including the arrival of some of our most anticipated titles yet. But whilst no game is perfect, there are unfortunately several games this year that didn’t live up to expectations, ultimately leaving fans disappointed. So, with the year’s final releases now out the door, we take a look back at 5 of the most disappointing Xbox One games of 2016 – and one honourable mention.

TheXboxHub’s Indie Xbox One Games of the Year 2016

Being an Xbox One gamer is great. Not only do we get access to a number of huge titles from big developers and publishers, but the indie scene is alive and kicking. In fact, it could be said that the indie developers working on Xbox One games are what keep things flowing so nicely. So with that in mind the entire team here at TheXboxHub have got together to nail down our top 5 (/6) Indie Xbox One titles for 2016. What is the best indie title to have released on Xbox One in 2016?

TheXboxHub’s Xbox One Games of the Year 2016

It's been one hell of a year to be an Xbox One gamer with a huge number of new games arriving on our favourite console throughout 2016. Some came with huge budgets, others dropped with little fanfare or cash behind it. Here at TheXboxHub we spent the year reviewing more than 300 titles, from the good and the bad, the the beautiful and the ugly. But which were our favourite games of the year and which one title should be crowned TheXboxHub's Xbox One Game of the Year 2016? Well, we got our heads together and saw the following come up trumps.

2016's Must Read Reviews

Many games launched in 2016, but a few really stood out. Check out our must read reviews from the year

Unravel Review

At E3 2015, Martin Sahlin won over the crowd at the Electronic Arts press conference with his genuine, nervous reveal of Unravel. Sahlin, the creative director of Coldwood Interactive, gave us a glimpse of Yarny and his travels through Sweden in a shaky voice that showed how important this project was to him and his team. From that moment, Unravel became the talk of the show. Now that it is finally in the wild, does Unravel life up to the hype? In every single way, the answer to that question is, yes.

Oxenfree Review

So lets take five American teenagers. Done. Lets put them all on an island for the night and make sure they can’t leave until the morning. Seems okay? Did I mention that the island used to have a military base that was used to perform strange science experiments linked to radio frequency’s and other dimensions? No? Well anyway, what’s the worst that could happen?

Quantum Break Review

Xbox One has received a new release that sets the bar pretty high for itself with a potential game-changing concept in Quantum Break. The idea of a live-action TV series integrated into gaming, at a time when television shows are peaking, was music to not only my ears but also many others. Can Remedy, developers of Alan Wake and Max Payne, deliver on what they originally set out to do, or does Quantum Break fall short of its high expectations?

Gears of War 4 Review

There comes a time when every great series faces a choice: to continue on imperfectly and tarnish its legacy, or to hang up its boots while it’s still on top. For Gears of War, this point was ‘Judgement’ – a game that, while still receiving generally positive reviews, paled in comparison to the spectacular ‘Gears of War 3’. With Judgement being what was ostensibly a step backwards, the release of another unfulfilling instalment threatened to wreck the series. With new characters and with the original developers, Epic Games, out of the picture, I would have predicted that Gears 4 would do just that. But God, am I happy to admit I was wrong.

Forza Horizon 3 Review

I always thought Forza Horizon 2 was the closest a racing game was ever going to get to perfection. I was wrong. Forza Horizon 3 is.

Why 2016 Still Matters

At the time, 2016 felt crowded. In retrospect, it feels special. Digging back into its games shows a year full of confidence, creativity, and ideas that still echo through today’s releases. It’s why so many of these titles remain worth talking about now.

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