The DeanBeat: My favorite games of 2016

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
December 23, 2016
Updated June 19, 2025
13 min

Let’s face it: 2016 was a bad year in so many uncountable ways. But when it comes to video games, it was a great year to have some relief with the escapism that games offer when you need a break from the real world.

We’re blessed to have another year of great games, and that makes the process of putting them in order on my favorites list difficult again. These games gave me moments of wonder, joy, sadness, and fun. They’re both as complex as they can possibly be and simple at the same time.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.