Class Clown, Best Dressed, and More Superlatives for the Games of 2016

Welcome to the Waypoint High School Class of 2016 Yearbook. We're giving out senior superlatives to our favorite games, digging into the year's biggest stories via extracurriculars, and following our favorite characters through their adventures together in fanfic. See you in 2017! 

Like any good teacher, Emily Kaldwin of Dishonored 2 knows patience. Deposed twice, she has lived spells of her life biding her time. As a child, she spent that time with personal tutors, learning the value of student-teacher interaction. As an adult, she'll go on spent time planning (then executing) a complex plan of revenge across brilliantly designed museums, palaces, and cityscapes.

As a teacher, she has the perfect knowledge base and personality to teach you everything you need to know at Waypoint High School, from blending arcane magics and silent takedowns, to the power of patience. And if the students give her any lip, she can summon an eldritch shadow horror to quiet them down (and give them nightmares). Hey, it beats detention.  —Julie Muncy

Everyone has had a moment during this school year when they needed Bastion. Whether you had just broken up with your boyfriend or you had gotten shoved into a locker, Bastion was always there to make some cheerful beeps and boops when you were at your lowest. Also, in September Bastion turned into a tank and backed Mr. Wallace into a corner while he was cleaning a bird's nest out of a gutter. For this and many other reasons, Bastion has the biggest heart of the year.  —Cameron Kunzelman

Bound is a game about movement and everything about the Princess is designed to enhance that. The shifting, colorful facets of her dress catch the light here and there, for example, making even the most subtle movements shine a little brighter. Likewise the points of her elaborate mask make the little swan-like gestures of her head more evident.

But the real beauty of the Princess' costume is in how it never gets in the way. A longer skirt might have been more elegant, but there's no comparison for the way the short, weighted hem of hers swishes and flicks with her skips and leaps, never once hiding her delicate footwork or even clipping into her geometry.  Thatwould have been a real faux-pas. —Janine Hawkins

At first blush, there's no one more serious than Agent 47. Agent 47's the type of dude whose got a closet filled with suits assigned to various climate conditions. He's the type of dude whose lists have lists. 47's the type of dude whose barcode tattoo is more expressive than his face. And yet, he's easily been the funniest, most entertaining member of the class of 2016.

Sure, his occasional quips are funny, but what makes him a lock is his range. Hitman didn't just settle for quips, it also has hilarious NPC chatter ("Somebody's doing something they shouldn't!"), the dark and ironic comedy of revenge, and the spiraling, improv nonsense that emerges from hits gone wrong. I've never even played 2016's Hitman, but I'll never look at a can of spaghetti or a hammer the same way again. —Austin Walker

Header design by Janine Hawkins.