1) Shin Megami Tensei: Apocalypse
The fact that Shin Megami Tensei: Apocalypse probably won’t land on many others’ year-end best lists — let alone make the top spot — does absolutely nothing to dissuade me from putting it here. In fact, it makes me more inclined to include it, in hopes of getting the word out about this absolute gem of a handheld RPG experience.
Where do I even start? Apocalypse nails absolutely everything it attempts, from its macabre tone to its decidedly old-school battle mechanics. It may not be the next big innovation of the genre, but it polishes tried-and-true tropes and gameplay systems to sparkling perfection. In short, it’s everything I love about RPGs packed into a portable package — a massive, highly addictive adventure that never strayed far from my pocket in the latter half of 2016.
This is exactly the sort of sequel we so rarely see in any entertainment medium: one that takes everything great about its predecessor and ups the ante. I called the game “pure JRPG bliss” in my review, and I find no better phrase to describe it here — after well over 100 hours of exploring its hellish vision of post-apocalyptic Tokyo, the very thought of the game makes me want to play it for another 100 hours. Gaming experiences just don’t get much better than that.