Eiji Aonuma, currently known as the director of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, has named his favorite game of 2016, and perhaps to no-one’s surprise, it’s not even a Nintendo title: instead, it’s the one game that came out that year in a format that he’s familiar with.
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The Last Guardian is Team ICO’s latest, long-awaited title, which has been in the works for a good number of years to the point that people started to joke that the next time it came to E3, it would be Fumito Ueda taking the game’s files, putting them in the recycling bin, and emptying the bin. However, it finally came out late in 2016, and got the critical acclaim a Team ICO game deserves.
However, Aonuma’s favorite game of 2016 wasn’t easily selected: before he settled on The Last Guardian, and while researching for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which will be releasing on March 3, he also took a look at a number of games developed outside of Japan, including Skyrim, Far Cry, and The Witcher, though not Grand Theft Auto: it’s too violent for his own tastes.
However, The Last Guardian was a gift from Ueda, since he and Aonuma are friends. Ueda gave Aonuma a copy of the game when it was released, and Aonuma played it (even at a busy time when he shouldn’t have). Considering how similar the game seems to be to Breath of the Wild right now, with ancient technology, little dialogue, ancient ruins, and more, it probably shouldn’t really be surprising that Aonuma liked it most, especially considering his personal history with Fumito Ueda.
In light of Aonuma’s own favorite game of 2016, what games were your favorites in 2016? Was it The Last Guardian like Ueda? Was it Street Fighter 5, or was it something else?
