Of 2016: The Might’ve Been Cools

First, a quick check-in with 2015’s “Might’ve Been Cool” entries:

Deception IV: never got it, still interested.
Lara Croft: Rise of the Tomb Raider: waited for it on PS4, now waiting for it to be on sale again.
Murasaki Baby: still haven’t touched it and the Vita memory card is in the PlayStation TV so I probably never will.
Just Cause 3, Mad Max: a friend gifted me Mad Max and I still haven’t played it! Just Cause 3 will have to be a bargain bin find for me to jump in now.
Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture: got it with PlayStation Plus, I should really give it a weekend to see it through.
Helldivers: solo’d a ton of it, absolutely love it. I really do need a crew to get farther though.

Eeeesh, 1 out of 7 ain’t bad, right? How very disappointing. Now let’s move on to 2016’s titles that looked great, cool or promising that I just never got to.

Watch Dogs 2
I really, honestly enjoyed the first installment of Watch Dogs as long as Aiden wasn’t talking. Being a cyber ghost and playing non-lethal (or at least without firing guns) was a great experience. The sequel expands on all of that and has a more approachable attitude but, ya know, I may have finally played enough open world games. The idea of spending another 50 hours on minigame side quests and looking for collectibles has put me off of this and Dead Rising 4, for now.

Dishonored 2
Here’s another sequel to a game I greatly enjoyed that has somehow left me uninterested. I haven’t touched Dishonored since 2012 but it still feels too soon for me to go back. Maybe on sale in 2017 I’ll finally get the urge for methodical whalepunk stealth.

No Man’s Sky
Unlike the vast majority of the gaming populace, I saw the shaky early reactions to the game and *gasp* decided not to jump in almost totally blind. What a wild idea! I honestly think I would’ve enjoyed the game as it was but the additions that have since rolled out only make a stronger case to finally give it a go. I’m just waiting for the right magical price point and maybe another update or two.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
That Activision got me to even consider a Call of Duty game should make them feel especially proud. Not since the very first game have I entertained the possibility. I did think about renting Infinite Warfare from a Redbox over Thanksgiving weekend but The Dailies kept me perfectly entertained. Maybe some idle weekend I’ll finally give it a go.

The Flame in the Flood
I went overboard on roguelikes for a few years there and have felt more than a little burnt out on them lately. But there never seems to be an end to new ones that look intriguing, exciting or gorgeous. The Flame in the Flood has been one of the more appealing in recent years but I just don’t know how long I’d stick with it if I got it. The outstanding soundtrack has helped push me closer to a purchase but 2016 remained another year that I didn’t play this game.

Hitman
Io didn’t do me any favors by making Absolution one of the worst experiences and then following it up with the “live” and regularly-updated 2016 Hitman. I still plan on getting the GOTY package at some point but I do feel like I missed out on being part of this year of Elusive Targets and celebrity cameos.