Our Best Action-Adventure Game Nominees for 2016

Here are IGN's nominees for Best Action-Adventure Game of 2016. We'll announce our winner in January, but our opinion isn't the only one that matters — cast your vote in the poll at the bottom of the page to help decide the IGN People's Choice winner!

From IGN's Review: "Aside from the smaller-feeling plot, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided improves upon its excellent predecessor in every other way. Its impeccably designed environments are flush with possibility, remaining completely coherent while supporting a wide variety of routes and character builds, and Jensen’s prodigious new feats of techno-wizardry add new dimension to both combat and exploration. Mankind Divided never stopped challenging me or rewarding my curiosity, which pushed me to thoroughly explore its beautiful, ruined world while carefully weighing my decisions along the way."

From IGN's Review: "With two unique sets of skills to play with across 10 themed chapters that keep things interesting and a gorgeous, evocative world that feels alive, Dishonored 2 is a remarkable experience. Though I would have liked a little bit more originality in its central story, which again revolves around a usurper to the throne, it’s the stories that I’ve created on my own using its many creativity-enabling powers that I’ll remember, every graceful, fumbling, and hilarious one of them. I’m compelled to create many more in the months to come."

From IGN's Review: "Dragon Quest Builders is totally, thoroughly engaging. Its gameplay is accessible to kids while its dialogue offers enough sly references to keep Dad or Mom amused. Collecting, crafting, and building all sounds familiar, but this package encapsulates so much of the best parts of this creative process and wraps it in light roleplaying progression and storytelling. It doesn’t matter that there isn’t a multiplayer component, because it wouldn’t have contributed to the world. So that means this is a gold-standard RPG for the non-connected gamer to flex all their cerebral muscles wherever they want it to go."

EditHeadlander

From IGN's Review: "Headlander is an unexpectedly great take on Metroidviania-style action. Some of the objective design renders its flashier, body-endangering powers moot, but the quick and complex moment-to-moment gameplay carries it splendidly. It’s difficult but fair, and fast-paced but satisfying through to the end. And with a story so dangerously loaded with trope upon trope, it’s a joy to see Headlander sidestep some cliches with a beautiful setting, dark humor, and, well… a rocket-powered head. That’ll do the trick."

Hitman's rich environments are deliciously-detailed playgrounds of murder chock full of deadly weapons and insidious traps waiting to be exploited by the canny assassin. Clever enticements encourage you to try the same missions over and over, experimenting with vastly different and original approaches to killing that cleverly reuse the lush and lovingly-crafted sandboxes.

From IGN's Review: "The divide between the highs and lows of The Last Guardian is staggering. For every wonderful moment of absolute beauty and emotional attachment to its lifelike companion, there’s an equal and opposite baffling moment that ruins the mood with frustrating controls and camera angles. But I found myself willing to put up with all of these hiccups if it meant experiencing any of its multitude of incredibly-beautiful moments."

From IGN's Review: "LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the most gaming fun I’ve had with either series in years. The story is great, the levels are dense with fun puzzles, and unlocking all of the secrets is a blast. Whether I was going through it solo or playing alongside a buddy, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens proved to be an adaption worthy of its incredible source material."

EditSalt and Sanctuary

From IGN's Review: "You could call Salt and Sanctuary a 2D mashup of Dark Souls and Castlevania, and you'd be right. But such a simple pronouncement would be a disservice to the tremendous amount of thought that's gone into Salt and Sanctuary, whether it's in the graphic style that evokes horror through the style of comic strips or in the intricate web of dungeons and castles that serves as its map."

From IGN's Review: "Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is a remarkable achievement in blockbuster storytelling and graphical beauty. Though it’s let down by a lack of imagination and some self-indulgence, especially in a third act that drags on far too long, Uncharted 4 carries on the series’ proud tradition of peerless polish and style, with a great multiplayer component to boot. Most importantly, it’s a gentle sendoff to the rag-tag group of characters we’ve known for nine years. A worthy thief’s end, indeed."

From IGN's Review: "Watch Dogs 2’s distinctive hacking and puzzle mechanics do a great job of reminding you that you’re not playing just another Grand Theft Auto clone as you tear through its beautiful Bay Area map. Marcus is a bit too friendly of a guy to be believable as our instrument of mayhem, but the flexible missions let you get through mostly non-violently if you’re good enough at stealth. And when it works, multiplayer is good unconventional cat-and-mouse fun, too."

Vote for what you think is the Best Action-Adventure Game of 2016 in the poll below.

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