Black Desert Online comes away with the Best New MMORPG of 2016 award, and frankly the race wasn’t even close. BDO has been a consistent and unique entry into the marketplace, and while it’s had a few bumps in the road with the cash shop and detractors, Pearl Abyss’ labor or love seems to be finding and holding a dedicated fanbase here in the NA and EU regions. With a steady stream of free updates and expansions already under its belt and more to come in 2017, we’re happy we finally got BDO in the West and happy to keep playing it for the months to come.
There were almost too many great RPGs in 2016. We argued back and forth over whether Tyranny or Final Fantasy XV should get this award. We know a great many of you don’t play consoles, and won’t ever get a chance to play the wonderful yet flawed FFXV. But simply put – the game’s scope, sense of grandeur, story, combat, attention to detail and bravery more than make up for its odd design choices (on rails car, for instance?). The main Final Fantasy series has been languishing for a while, but just as A Realm Reborn saved XIV, XV might have saved the series as a whole. It’s a fantastic game, and for you PC players we can only hope it gets ported in 2017. But if there’s one game you’d get a PS4 or XB1 for, this would be a good choice.
Final Fantasy XIV continues to be one of the best games in the space, which is shocking considering where it was at its original launch. Heavensward was a fantastic expansion, and Stormblood looks to bring even more stellar new content and features in 2017. With possible some of the best dungeons in the genre, as well as the best crafting, progression, storytelling FFXIV was a no brainer for this year’s Best Overall MMO Award. Congrats to the Square Enix team and best wishes for an epic 2017 with Stormblood.