The Cyber Pixel Game Awards 2016

Welcome to our first annual awards post where we categorize the games that came out this year. 2016 has been a successful year for video games in both AAA and indie game terms and we thought why not celebrate that as today is the last day of the year.

We've been preparing this since the 28th of August and since then we have been compiling information to deliver this award ceremony. 

All these games have came out in 2016.


This is a post based on our opinions and yours. So here is the categories: 

Best FPS

Best RPG 

Best Open World 

Best Action Adventure 

Best Platformer

Best Free to Play

Best AAA

Best Indie

Best Art

Best Sound

Best Gameplay 

Best Story

Best Replayability 

Best Developer 

Most Mentioned

Worst Game

Best Game (based on amount of nominations on this list) 

Let's start.


Best FPS

1. Overwatch



 
Overwatch, the game that killed Battleborn and gained a loving fanbase. Blizzard's new IP will go down as one of the greatest FPS games of all time.


Runner ups

2. Battlefield 1

3.  Titanfall 2

4. Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare

5. Paladins



Best RPG

1. Starbound 





Despite being around in early access in 2013, Starbound was released last July. Combining Terrarria with space created an interesting open world sandbox game which to this date has millions of fans.

Runner Ups

2. Dark Souls III

3. Final Fantasy XV

4. Ember

5. World Of Final Fantasy 



Best Open World

1. No Man's Sky

Despite the rough launch and 3 months silence from Hello Games, No Man's Sky holds the record for not only being the biggest open world of 2016 but of the century. 


Runner Ups

2. Watch Dogs 2

3. Tom Clancy's The Division 

4. Planet Explorers 

5. Steep



Best Action Adventure


1. Watch Dogs 2 

Watch Dogs 2 takes the original gameplay from the first game and improves on it, giving out a better experience to fans and newcomers alike.


Runner Ups

2. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 

3. Hitman

4. Mirror's Edge Catalyst



Best Platformer

1. Roguelands

Blending RPG and side scrolling. Roguelands lets you explore the galaxy with your friends and save the universe from the monsters that inhabit it. 


Runner Ups

2. Headlander

3. Salt and Sanctuary 

4. Mighty No. 9

5. Even the Ocean


Best Free to Play

1. Paladins 

Often described as an Overwatch clone, Paladins takes the top spot for its over the top gameplay and fast-paced fun.


Runner Ups

2. Heroes and Generals

3. Hunger Dungeon

4. Zone 4

5. Angeldust 


Best AAA

1. Battlefield 1

Battlefield 1 is no doubt the best Battlefield yet. Destroying its main competitor Call Of Duty and taking the series back in time we think it deserves the top spot.  


Runner Ups

2. Sid Meier's Civilization 6 

3. Titanfall 2

4. Dishonored 2


5. Mafia III


Best Indie

1. Stardew Valley

Created by one man, Stardew Valley took Steam by storm and was the solution to a PC version of Harvest Moon. Worthy of the top spot.


Runner Ups

2.  Aragami 

3. No Man's Sky

4. Quadrilateral Cowboy

5. Guardians of Orion

Best Art

1. Abzu 

Released in August, Abzu took notes from Journey and used a story driven experience to deliver a short but sweet game to fans.

Runner Ups

2. Aragami

3. Stardew Valley

4. Eagle Flight

5. Overwatch

Best Sound

1. Battlefield 1

Everything from the screams of the battlefield to the launch trailer song. Battlefield 1 takes our top spot due to its superb audio experience.

Runner Ups

2. No Man's Sky

3. Guardians of Orion

4. Overcooked

5. Stardew Valley



Best Gameplay

1. Stardew Valley

Tend your crops, explore caves, socialise, visit new areas. Stardew Valley doesn't fall short content wise and for a 1 man project that's pretty impressive.

Runner Ups

2. Civilization 6

3. The Witness

4. Overwatch

5. Slime Rancher 


Best Story

1. The Banner Saga 2 

The second part of the Banner Saga franchise, The Banner Saga 2 takes the mythological story driven experience further and has a brilliant ending that we won't spoil.

Runner Ups

2. Abzu

3. The Walking Dead: A New Frontier

4. The Price of Freedom

5. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 


Best Replayability

1. Sid Meier's Civilization 6

The seventh game in the franchise, Civilization 6 improves not only the graphics but updates the way the game feels. People have spent hundreds of hours playing the game since launch and they continue to as it's in the top 10 played games on Steam.


Runner Ups

2. Grim Dawn

3. Stellaris 

4. Unexplored

5. Loot Castle



Best Developer

1. Hideo Kojima 

Kojima is one of those developers who care about what they work on. With Death Stranding on the way let's hope his recent departure from Konami is for the best. 

Runner Ups

2. Corey Davis 

3. Scott Mercer 

4. David Prassel

5. Sean Murray (he tried his hardest)


Most Mentioned

1. No Man's Sky

Hello Games's No Man's Sky had the media rapt with confusion for 2 months until they finally released their debut update, the foundations update.


Runner Ups

2. Overwatch

3. Battlefield 1

4. Stardew Valley

5. Tom Clancy's The Division 


Worst Game

1. No Man's Sky












No Man's Sky has been a cluster****. With missing features and bugs galore it had arguably the roughest game launch in history. This being said things are looking up for No Man's Sky in 2017. Even though it has won 3 awards it still has mostly negative reviews making it not eligible for the best game list.

Runner Ups

2. Mafia III

3. Ghostbusters The Video Game

4. Mirror's Edge Catalyst

5. Unravel


Best Game

1. Stardew Valley

Eric Barone brought a better version of Harvest Moon to PC. This was received with high appraise. Stardew Valley wins the best game out of the whole of the Awards.

Runner Ups

2. Battlefield 1

3. Overwatch 

4. Abzu

5. Sid Meier's Civilization 6



That's the list! Thanks for reading and we widsh you a happy new year.

Steam Winter Sale 2016

Tomorrow marks the most important date for Steam of the year.

The winter sale.

Every year Steam holds the winter sale and the summer sale but December is when gamers have cash in their pockets ready to buy games. Unfortunately, this means nearly everyone at Valve is working on bringing it out and alongside Dota 7.0 but this means if a game was scheduled to release sometime this week, it probably won't hit its date.

One of these games was Guardians of Orion (GOO) which had a huge 2.0 update set for yesterday but it is now 6 PM and all we've received is an apology from the devs due to the fact steam won't approve the request to launch.

Weekly Roundup #20

Orion 2.0, Jingle Jam 2016 games shortage and the third Zup! game.

First off Orion, that game about the dinosaurs and the Activision lawsuit is now approaching its biggest content update yet. 2.0 delivers ships, open world galaxy exploration, at least 30 new maps, missions/quests, achievements, steam trading cards, new enemies, more items (including an ion blade) and a heap of other cool stuff.

If you're interested here's a link to the Steam page but hurry because after the 20th (the release date of the update) the game will be priced at a hefty $15 compared to its current price of $1. 

Also in January we will be talking to David, the founder of Trek Industries about the 2.0 update and what's coming in the future


If you were one of the people who bought the Jingle Jam 2016 bundle in the last few days then you won't be getting everything that is shown. 

The Humble Bundle page for Yogscast's latest Jingle Jam shows that some games are 'sold out for new purchases'. So far the only game that has this status is King Arthur's Gold but the games tomorrow, on the 23rd, 30th and 31st have been given this status aswell.


Lastly Zup! 3 has been submitted to greenlight. For you unfamiliar with the Zup! series it is a set of 3 games (so far) made on click team fusion 3. The objective is to click the red box and make sure your ball lands in the green area. The first game was given overwhelmingly positive reviews for the fact the game had 118 achievements which could be earned in less than 15 minutes of playtime. 

These achievements could be used on steam to spell out a word on your profile and some had pictures like the face of Gabe Newell. The second Zup! was released 2 months later but this time had 229 achievements. If you're interested in being a collector you can buy both of them for less than $2!

Tom Clancy's The Division is now Free for the Weekend

The weekend is here! This time Steam has given us The Division, Ubisoft's rpg shooter to try out.

Until Monday Steam users can download and play the Division which takes place in a quarantined New York after a small pox outbreak. The game can be downloaded here.

Hello Games are Hiring Staff

Since the new update for No Man's Sky Hello Games have been talking again and this time they're looking for staff. 

On Monday Sean Murray tweeted saying:

Happy Monday! If you are looking for something new, we are hiring:



He then gave a link to a page where a list of jobs were vacant. Could this mean we could be getting updates for No Man's Sky faster?

GFMSL #6

I'm not into aviation games but after buying the Jingle Jam 2016 bundle there's one flying game that stuck out for me.

Guns of Icarus Online is one of them games that have a unique style and has never been done before. You take on a role (engineer gunner or captain) and help man a ship. You and your 4 other teammates need to work with the other ship on your side to bring down the 2 ships on the enemies side. 

The engineer's role is to hit things until they work again. The gunner can use different ammunition to take down the ships by manning the guns and the captain steers the ship and gives commands. With a steampunk look and feel, beautiful graphics and active devs make the game one of the best hidden gems on steam. 

I'm putting this game in the good game section for its fast paced gameplay and superb multiplayer. 

Weekly Roundup #19

This week has moved fast, and with us now giving some stories their own post  there's less to cram into the weekly roundup, but here's 3 stories.

First up Watch Dogs 2 first DLC has been set for a release date of 22nd December instead of the 13th due to the amount of patches needed for multiplayer. 

Also this week Yogscast's Jingle Jam 2016 has raised 1.5 million pounds at the time of writing with over 50,000 bundles sold meaning they've ran out of keys. We bought the bundle before they hit the 50k mark and we'll showcase all the games in GFMSL. If you want to donate to a good cause and receive some keys (but not all listed) then you check the jam out here.

Lastly, Paladins, the free to play fantasy shooter got patch 39 on Monday and it brung a new map, cosmetics and a bunch of bug fixes. You can check it out here.

Rocket League gets update v1.25

Fans of the game have been waiting the arrival of a Steam workshop and they finally got it.

v1.25 brings steam workshop integration along with 3 new stadiums and a bunch of new antennas and DLC. Oh, and the Christmas 2016 items.

The patch notes can be read here and to celebrate the update you can buy the game for 40% off until Monday.

While many people are enjoying the new content some fans are having problems getting the game to work.

a Massive Winter Update is Imminent for Battleborn

Battleborn, the game Gearbox refuses to stop updating is getting its biggest patch ever. For some Battleborn is an obstacle getting in the way of them and Borderlands 3 but for the 200 people playing it at the time of writing it's about to get a lot better.

Gearbox tweeted yesterday saying they have 'big changes' for Battleborn. The patch notes can be read here.

GFMSL #5

So far I've shown you cars with football, games based around grinding and a rather odd simulator but this time we go to a special place called Pandora. 

I've had Borderlands 2 for 3 years now and i'm just about to reach 100 hours in the game. I own every game in the series with all the DLC (I even have Tales From the Borderlands) and I have one thing to say about the game,

It's awesome. Everything from the guns to the maps, Borderlands has it all. You may see a theme occurring with this blog involving RPGS but Borderlands is a hybrid of shooter and RPG which turned out well. 

Borderlands is one of them games that have their own genre. A game that can not be copied. With 4 characters (6 with DLCS) to choose from and each with their own unique skill tree. Here's a rundown:

Pros:
150 hours of gameplay 
Skill trees
Memorable characters 
Humorous dialogue 
Great locations
GUNS!

Cons:
Optimization issues
A grind sometimes
Claptrap


Overall this is going in the good category for the huge amount of content packed into one game.

Weekly Roundup #18

This week has seen many new releases, news and updates to games you wouldn't expect to have, Here's 5 stories from the gaming world.

First up Ubisoft's 30th anniversary year is almost up. Each month we've had classics like Beyond Good and Evil and Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon but December has fans in for a treat.

On the 7th December, all Uplay users will be able to download and keep Assassins Creed 3. This announcement came during this week after a month of speculation of what the next game will be. Will you download Uplay and get AC3? Let us know in the comments.


Speaking of surprises Grand Theft Auto 4 got the first update in 6 years. The patch notes are below:

• Added error code "WTV270" to indicate a problem with connecting to Windows Live Sign in Assistant / Games for Windows Live Servers.
• Added Windows 8, 8.1, and 10 to compatible OS check.
• Added Display Controller image in Controller Configuration.
• Fixed a bug which made completing "Out of Commission" mission impossible when frame rate exceeds 60fps.
• Fixed a bug with the "Resource Usage" indicator on graphics cards with more than 2GB of VRAM.
• Fixed a bug that restricted settings changes when using modern video cards.
• Fixed a bug with the map crosshair on certain resolutions.
• Fixed a bug with text scrolling in "Brief" Menu.
• Fixed "drawlist overflow" crash.
• Minor performance optimizations.

The patch doesn't add any content but fixes some important bugs (such as the games for windows live servers).

No Man's Sky has been cleared of their investigation into whether or not the games screenshots are misleading. the ASA have 'ruled in favor' of Hello Games and will take the investigation no further.

 

Fans are getting back into the game after the foundation update which brings basic base building and models for future updates including a station to build vehicles.

Steep, an open world skiing game was released on Friday and looks a lot like SNOW. After a public beta in November, Ubisoft pushed the game out just in time for Christmas. 

Yogscast has partnered with Humble Bundle once again to bring fans the Jingle Jam 2016. Gamers can pay $5 (£4) to get DATLOF and a shoutout on the Yogscast stream. Pay $30 (£23) to get over 50 games throughout December. 

Every day until the 31st December a game or 2 will be released and available to buyers of the bundle. So far Kholat, Psychonauts, Goat Simulator and many others have been revealed and at the time of writing the 4th day is yet to be revealed. 

Alongside the games, members of the Yogscast team will be streaming different games every day. All proceeds from both twitch and the bundle will go to various charities. Visit here if you are interested in buying $650 worth of games.

GFMSL #4

Welcome back, We haven't posted in a few days due to being busy but it's now the weekend! To start it off here's a game that I bought a while back but never played, Grind Zones.

I got this game (along with 9 other games) for less than £2. I didn't really pay attention to it until now. The game is an endless grind fest where you go around the same map killing hordes of zombies. While this may seem like a chore to some, it's a heaven for me. 

Something about endlessly killing mobs, leveling your character and getting better gear appeals to me. The difficulty gets harder as you pass more levels and quests ask for larger amounts done. 

Here's a summary:
Grind-fest 
Leveling
Quests
Better gear
More potions
Harder Enemies 

I'm putting this in the good section but this game needs new maps. 

We're going to start a series on Youtube where we showcase the game by playing it as far as we can get, the first episode will be up shortly.

No Man's Sky 1.1 is Pretty Good

The 1.1 foundations update came out yesterday for No Man's Sky and we've been playing it. 

And it's pretty good.

The new update not only brings a building feature, freighters and a bunch of other features too. The new building features give players a goal to work to even after reaching the center as most things need blueprints to build. 

Even for the people who hate mining can also benefit from the update. An auto miner can now be built in order to harvest massive deposits. 

Weekly Roundup #17

A LOT of things have been going on this week, here's a full rundown.

First we'll start with the obvious. On Friday Hello Games revealed the Foundation update for their open world survival game No Man's Sky. Not much was known until an hour ago when Sean Murray posted this on his Twitter:

"If you could have lived our lives over the last months, you'd know how meaning full this is.

Here's update 1.1:
http://www.no-mans-sky.com/foundation-update/ "

The link shows a 6 minute explanation of what's coming in the next update which includes building bases and freighters to store resources. It's uncertain when the update will launch but we know it will be next week sometime.



Next up the Steam fall sale launched on Wednesday. PC players have access to discounts to over 13,000 games and can save a big sum of money for purchasers. 

you can check out all the deals here.


Alongside the sale valve has released the first ever Steam awards. Users can nominate games for 9 categories  including an option to make their own. 



The winners will be announced in December.

No Man's Sky Devs FINALLY Respond

No, this isn't just a patch. 

Sean Murray has finally announced the foundation update for No Man's Sky 2 hours ago titled the 'foundations' update. 

They haven't released a date but we know it's coming next week.

Weekly Roundup #16

We've been inactive this week due to a sickness going around, but here're some news stories you might be interested in.

First off the dino shooter Orion is getting an inventory wipe soon. Trek Industries announced the removal of certain items in the game for the new 2.0 update.

The items being removed are: 

Ion Currency
Trek Credits
Inventory/Gear
Guardian Levels
Skills/Progression

Trek has offered a reward program to users where depending on what they had in the older version will be traded for certain items in the new version. The reset is due to augments for gear being used to exploit the virtual currency. You can read everything here.


We asked the developers when they plan to release the update and responded with a date of 20th December. 



Lara Croft fans have been treated to a sale of all Tomb Raider games. The sale lets you purchase the games for up to 75% off and even lets you buy every Tomb Raider (except Rise of the Tomb Raider) for 81% off its original price! 

This includes all DLCS.

That's all for now but stay tuned as we'll keep you updated about next week.