The Best PlayStation 4 Games of 2016 (Part 1)

The Witness PS4

2016 brought us some amazing things and a bunch of horrible occurrences as well.

If we’re just talking about gaming, then that aforementioned statement applies to that entertainment medium. Among all the crappy games and overhyped projects that turned out to be just as bad, there were a bunch of great games that launched. The PlayStation 4 became home to several more quality 1st-party classics and a flood of great 3rd-party games. There were awesome fighters, top-notch 3rd- and 1st-person shooters, standout sports games and tons of other memorable games from other genres. The PS4 got the best of the best last year.

Some of these you’ve played and some of these you’ve missed. We’re going to make sure you know about every superb PS4 game that launched in 2016.


The Witness

The genius behind Braid made sure to take his time creating his next project. We waited a good while for it to reach the PS4, but the wait finally came to an end at the start of 2016. The Witness employs the open world/puzzle solving structure that made Myst such a classic. Blow’s mysterious title gave its players a ton of deceptively difficult dot sequence puzzles that, upon completion, opened up the mysterious island even more. Besides the game’s main pull of throwing over 650 puzzles your way, the island’s perplexities also gave you an incentive to discover more about its past. The Witness is the best playable brainteaser of 2016.

Buy The Witness here.


Darkest Dungeon

Taken from Best PS Vita Games Description: Darkest Dungeon is one of the hardest gaming trials we’ve endured this year. Taking on grotesque creatures isn’t the only danger presented to you and your party; the dangers of mental status ailments can bring your warriors down to nothingness real fast. Managing your characters’ stress levels and also making sure they navigate through dangerous dungeons somewhat unscathed are on your to-do list. The art style perfectly reflects the horrific monsters the game’s massive manor and dungeons houses. A true challenge awaits those in Darkest Dungeon, Red Hook Studios’ mind-breaking dungeon crawler.

Buy a PSN Gift Card here so you can digitally purchase Salt and Sanctuary.


Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4

Taken from Game Review: Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 sends the long-running series out on a high note. The massive offering of recognizable characters should satisfy hardcore fans and the improved battle mechanics are now at its absolute best. On the visual front, everything looks delightful. The boss fights’ cinematic endings will most certainly have you in awe every time. The Story Mode format falters due to the overly long cutscenes, plus the use of still images throughout most chapters are boring to watch. The lip-synching could be a lot better, as well. Those nagging issues may be prevalent, but the pros behind this anime fighter manage to make it enjoyable after all.

Buy Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 here.


Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2

The 1st Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare was a surprise hit to a lot of people. It placed all of the original mobile game’s zany cast of fighting plants and zombies into a fast-paced 3rd-person shooter. The sequel did everything right when it comes to offering fans a sequel worth adopting. There was a substantial offering of new plant/zombie classes, a wealth of new online multiplayer modes and even some meaningful single-player content. Blasting apart the undead as a super-powered stalk of corn or punching all plant life into oblivion as a superhero zombie is just a portion of the manic fun this excellent sequel provides.

Buy Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 here.


Street Fighter V

When Capcom’s mainline fighter initially launched, it was the most bare bones experience the franchise has ever released. Over the year though, the devs behind Street Fighter V did a lot to make their game more worthy of its placement at the top of fighting game tournament lineups. Alex, Urien, Ibuki, Guile, Juri and Balrog all made their way onto the well-rounded roster. A cinematic Story Mode became a part of the package. Weekly missions gave players more of a reason to return, plus it awarded the currency needed to purchase more DLC goodies without real-world money. The online works a bit better than before, several updates balanced the roster and we even got Akuma when the game’s 1st season came to a close. SFV has finally turned into something worthwhile.

Buy Street Fighter V here.