Since board games are are expressly eligible, I’m afraid you will have to hold the line, @divedivedive.
Gloomhaven
So far, so good. Excellent dungeon crawling, interesting legacy aspects. Can’t wait to get into a regular playing-rhythm and seeing if if holds up. The setting seems to have its own twists on generic fantasy, with a lot of different races.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Sure, it has some warts. It doesn’t really understand what makes an open world interesting. A lot of the ideas and mechanics are spread a bit to thin. But it did many things right. Several of the plot and companion missions were quite good. The basic gameplay was very good, felling like a natural evolution of ME3. The multiplayer was mechanically excellent, adding in something I didn’t know was missing from ME3 with the jet-packs. It was too grindy, though. Sad to see the support for this one dropped.
Battle Brothers
I have still only scraped the surface, but this is so good. I think I will miss some more meat on the Mercenary Company Management bit after a while, but the tactical combat is solid. Interesting trade-offs for equipment and leveling up, good sense of discovery. Someone should made a game like this with a bit more of the XCOM2 style of digital board game-yness added on top.
Renowned Explorers: The Emperor’s Challenge
A very good expansion to an excellent game. It does not add that much in terms of MORE STUFF, but the new game mode really changes the experience by adding small micro-goals that you have to pay attention to at every stage in the game. I hope they make another expansion or a full sequel where they do more with the overworld between expeditions.
Destiny 2
The gameplay feels like Borderlands 2 crossed with Guild Wars 2. The level design is really good, and the art direction too. Too bad about the writing and mostly not-stellar voice acting.
Honorable Mention: Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide Death on the Reik
Bumped off the list due to Battle Brothers, but it was mostly to sneak in Vermintide, since I never got around to playing it much until this year. A very good improvement on the Left 4 Dead type of game, but the loot system is way to wonky. Fingers crossed for Vermintide 2!
If I had gotten around to picking it up and playing it I would probably have had XCOM2: War of the Chosen on the list, but I never got around to picking it up.
Honorable mention: Monster’'s Den: Godfall, which I just didn’t get around to playing again after my summer vacation. Very competent, quite challenging. Maybe just a bit too big? I don’t know, I keep planning on returning to it.
That was great. You just need to alternate Cthulu with a My Little Pony mod or something positive like that so I won’t always have nightmares when I read it.
Okay, I gotta give this a try. You had me at Darklands.
Lone Echo - VR’s killer app of 2017 for me. Space, wonderful physical movement, and manual manipulation puzzles.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - the most un-Nintendo Nintendo game I’ve ever played, and all the better for it. Some unnecessary annoyances keep it from being no. 1, but definitely the most refreshing game of the year.
Gorogoa - Delightful puzzle game with beautiful handdrawn art style
Super Mario Odyssey - It’s not Galaxy, but it’s the best thing that isn’t.
Horizon Zero Dawn - Wore out its welcome, and the script was dumb, but it looked amazing and mastering the combat was a thrill.
Runners up: Edith Finch, AssCreed, Prey, Hob
Would likely be contenders if I had played more: Heat Signature, Opus Magnum, Mario + Rabbids, West of Loathing, Terraforming Mars
Mass Effect: Andromeda. Exploring planets for places to expand my colony? Check. A buggy I can drive around on the planets that’s fun to drive? Check. The Best Boss-battle I’ve ever played? Check. A cover shooter in which sometimes you have to make your own cover by hiding behind your vehicle and then getting in the vehicle when things get too hot and driving to a better spot? Check. There’s just so much in this game that gave me pleasure. I haven’t finished it, only played it for about 50 hours, but that 50 hours was excellent. The game does have its flaws, but the sheer joy it imparts to someone who loves cover shooters and wants to boldly go and explore new places, it’s unmatched by any other game.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Wow, this game is single-handedly keeping the single player campaign linear shooter alive. Thank you Machine Games for this gift. And for not just making a shooter, but making one so relevant to the return of a certain kind of ideology back on the world stage in 2017.
Nex Machina. Twin stick shooter by the person who invented the genre? Oh man, I can’t believe how good this one feels to play. Best twin stick shooter since Geometry Wars 2. GW2 fans should really check this one out. Seriously.
Prey. I’m going to cheat and vote for this one just based on playing the demo. I love the immersive sim, and I’m sure I’m going to love playing the rest of Prey when I finally get the time to play it.
Cuphead. Super challenging, but it feels fair to me. And the artwork and music is so gorgeous. I love this game even as its kicking my ass.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild This one reinvigorated my love of video games. It’s obvious how much care and attention the creators put into this, when so many big budget games now are by-the-numbers cash grabs. What’s especially exciting about it is that the game is essentially a shell of a much bigger, deeper game. When the inevitable sequel is released it’s going to be amazing.
Cuphead Surprise hit of the year. It’s like an NES game married a creepy old Popeye cartoon and had a satanic baby. Couch co-op, punishing difficulty (without being cheap), amazing art and music, cute and scary characters, and replay value not from boring filler quests but just because its fun and you want to do better. What other game starts you off fighting a giant carrot and ends with defeating the Devil himself in the bowels of hell?
Destiny 2 Despite it’s flaws, it’s still surviving on the core gameplay which is outstanding. The new raid is wicked fun. The space porn is still gorgeous. The level where you assault the giant spaceship eating the sun is mind blowing and had me stopping (and dying) just to take in the awesome sights. Fighting a frantic battle against giant alien orcs while getting roasted by the Sun, which was like right there, was a truly epic moment. The only game I put more hours into this year is Zelda.
Hearthstone I just got into it this year. Fuck this game and fuck Blizzard’s addictive gameplay. I haven’t spent real money on card packs yet but I’ve come close several times. I will soon, I know it, and I’ll hate myself for it.
Minecraft Better Together My 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter play Minecraft together almost every day. He plays on the Xbox and she plays on her iPad. The new cross-play features, Xbox Live integration, and overhauled UI are so good that babies can play it. It’s the cutest thing in the world to see that my little girl spelled her name with stone blocks and ran out to show me. Then she made a fence on an island and filled it with animals and my son blew them all up with TNT. Quality family time.
Horizon Zero Dawn What a great game. In both looks, story, feelings, and characters - I enjoyed my time in this world immensely.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Yeah, what is to be said here. One of the greatest rpgs of all time. Such a great surprise, from a wonderful company.
Total War: Warhammer 2 - Awesome, aweinspiring, and one of the best Total War games ever.
Assassin’s Creed Origins - What an amazing world. I can’t wait for the update where we get to visit everywhere and learn about egypts history as well. There simply is no-one better at making worlds than Ubisoft these days.
Titanfall 2 - I am not normally interested in PVP, but this game? wow - this is amazing fun. And of course, the single player campaign is amazing!
Logistical - Who knew a simplistic strategy puzzle game featuring trucks, roads and cities could be so damned compelling, but it is. To me at least. Most games only last a few hours with me. I’ve clocked dozens in this one.
Star Fleet Armada Rogue Adventures - Sure, it looks like a throwback to the early 90s – intentionally so, it seems – this series of compelling minigames with an overarching exploratory narrative is just a delight to play.
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock - Media tie-in games can be such hit or miss, but this one was definitely a hit. Exceptional tactical combat, a varied and replayable campaign and fun multiplayer make this one truly special.
Orbital Racer - A late entry into the year, nonetheless, it’s an amazing mix of three dimensions with the usual checkpoint racing we love so much. Gorgeous, with wicked AI, this game keeps me coming back to it.
Starpoint Gemini Warlords - Take some Freelancer-style combat, mix it in with some mild 4X and RPG elements, and you have what could be a disaster with other games. Here, it works, there’s so much to do, and it’s just super fun to play.
Really close runner up:
Everspace - A very fun mix of combat and roguelike that frustrates me a lot, but it still a ton of fun to play.
Prey - Arkane never disappoints. Prey is a brilliant take on “abandoned on space station infested with alien scum” theme, in both gameplay design and narrative. Must be played by any self-respecting gamer.
Uncharted: Lost Legacy - Just as fun as Uncharted 4, just as beautiful. Must play for any fan of popcorn indiana jones-likes.
Mass Effect: Andromeda - Immensely flawed, but I only played it once fully patched, and while the lazy quest design and occasionally embarassing dialogue bothered me, the strength of Mass Effect atmosphere kept me entertained. Plus most of the main story missions were still really good. And some nice exploration and beautiful graphics as a bonus.
Evil Within 2 - Well designed, well tuned action horror. Not quite as imaginative as the first game, but stronger in narrative department. Enjoyed all the way through.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice - Impressively atmospheric walk through one girl’s psychosis.
The rest:
Horizon: Zero Dawn - Beautiful graphics, fun gameplay. Narrative was somewhat weaker than expected from John Gonzales (lead writer on brilliant New Vegas) and it felt a bit too theme parkey, which is why it is not higher. Solid 8/10.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus - Strangely uneven game that disappointed in level design, but pleasantly surprised in narrative. Some scenes reminded me of Tarantino. Worth playing.
Get Even - Black Mirroresque scifi short story, less you know the better. Not successful everywhere, but the story carries it well enough to be seen to the end.
Observer - Atmospheric cyberpunk little walking sim, with a pretty interesting twisty story.
NieR: Automata
I don’t know, man. Playing the game itself was this white-hot, thirty-hour flash of fast combat, overwrought JRPG plot, and existential whatever. After it was over, with my save deleted and the game uninstalled, the scorch marks from that white-hot flash are still on my brain. Most of the details have faded away – I can’t tell you what order the levels went in or what all of the bosses were like – but I still think about this game all the time. I think everyone should experience it, even though I don’t think everyone will like it.
Cuphead
I love this game. It puts a little electric probe in the part of my brain that thinks about “game mechanics” and “boss design” and sends a steady, gentle current the entire time I have the game on. It’s tough but fair. There are no cheap deaths, but there are also no cheap wins – Every death and every victory is 100% earned. I love how the game alternates between making you learn a fight or a phase and then making you execute it near-perfectly. It’s an immensely satisfying loop. And that’s without even taking the aesthetic into account!
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
A late Christmas gift, it’s already wrapped me up. I can’t get enough of the combat. I run into every enemy I see, so I can have a fight. I take every side quest because it might take me somewhere I can have a fight. I spent a lot of time trying to articulate why I like this, but then someone else did it for me. Every battle, you are sequencing, prioritizing, and timing to achieve short-term goals and long-term goals. It looks overcomplicated, but it’s engaging. It helps that the story is good, but I’d honestly still love the game if it was just a series of fights.
PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS
I love and hate this game. It doesn’t look great. It runs like shit. It brings out the worst parts of our entire subculture (anonymity, griefers, cheaters, AFKers). It’s a game where NOT playing it is a pretty good strategy. But that adrenaline rush, when you hear some guy in the same building as you, and you’re trying to figure out where he is and what he’s doing and whether he heard you too and whether he’s above or below you and what’s your best route out of here and how much time do you need in order to make it to the circle and so on and so on? So few games trigger that adrenaline response, and this is like the perfect distillation of that, even if you spend a lot of downtime to get there.
Honorable Mention (no 2017 port or DLC) - Twilight Struggle
From the tournament at the beginning of the year (which constituted my first five plays EVER), to me buying a physical copy, to me playing said physical copy, Twilight Struggle has been the nougat holding my year together. I wish it were a little less intimidating for new players (“Hey, come try this multiple-hour game that you will DEFINITELY lose at a few times until you understand it” is a hard sell for my friends, even though they are aware of the game’s depth and good reception), but even knowing only one person willing to play it with me has been wonderful.
Horizon Zero Dawn
I’m only about 20 hours into it, but I’m loving it so far. Hits all my Far Cry buttons, which I love. It might be better than Prey, but it absolutely loses points for being a console exclusive. This would be so much better on PC.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Had this game ended at Act 3, it might be my GoTY. As it is, however, it went on too long. Also, if I alt-tab out while the enemy makes their moves, you’re doing something wrong.
Pathfinder: The Adventure Card Game
Cute, fun game. I’m only about 2/3 of the way through the campaign. Card management is frustrating.
I feel like I didn’t play enough games released in 2017 to actually be able to score them but what the heck:
Mass Effect Andromeda
Not only did this game make me realise I didn’t hate sci-fi games as I had previous thought, but it also brought me back to play the original trilogy which I hadn’t done before. After a few hiccups and setting the game to easy, I really enjoyed it. Might even play through it again since a lot of the bugs seem to have been fixed after I played it.
Assassins Creed Origins
I loved this for the first couple of 30-40 hours, but I became really bored with it after that, so I’ve put it on hold for a while. It’s stunning though, and I love riding through one of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen in games…
Horizon Zero Dawn
which directly brings me to this game for the same reason as above. I’ve really only spent a shameful amount of time on this game, probably because I got it around a time where I didn’t feel like spending another whooping amount of hours sneaking around in grass and killing creatures that looked the same, but I hope to start this up again soon.
What remains of Edith Finch
Even if it was only one nights play, I really loved this. What a beautiful little gem.
Firewatch
I’m putting this up here mainly because I don’t think I’ve played any other games released in 2017 than these, but it was enjoyable for one weekend. I think the ending put me off REALLY liking it, cause it was just stupid and felt rushed, but I loved the concept and the stillness of it.
Most played games of 2017:
The Witcher 3
Mass Effect Trilogy
Dragon Age Origins
I think it’s safe to say that du to the three games above, I willl probably not see a better year in gaming for the rest of my life. Sadly. But hey - who knows.
