It's GOTY Crunch Time - What are you trying to play before years end?

In the spirit of Giant Bomb Game of the Year time, and hearing members of the crew sweat the feeling to at least dabble in everything:

What are you hoping to at least try before the end of the year and maybe write up your own Game of the Year list?

To fill in anyone new here I suppose, Giant Bomb has a feature on your profile for making a "List". In recent years (maybe longer), its been encouraged to write up your own and, at the end of the year or early next year, someone might pull that data from all the lists and essentially make a community voted GB Game of the Year list. Before this, there is often a thread where members post links to their lists and people can read and discuss, which is what I find most intriguing.

I've been a fan of the the GB Community GOTY list since I first tried it some years ago. To my surprise, I found it to be a rather fun and thoughtful exercise (even though I don't like to write) reflecting back on the year. Not even for specific games themselves but anything I did related to gaming. At this point I also just include old games in my list because it's the first time I've ever played it, or sometimes it's left over from last years backlog etc.

For me:

At the time of this posting, I'm somewhat actively playing Gran Turismo Sport and trying to refine my thoughts. I've actually fired up Forza Motorsport 6 (which I barely played and was disappointed with, also the last FM I own) and I want to play a little more Project CARS 2, both for reference material. PC2 I bought, played a little of with and without VR, but got distracted on a real car project and just didn't come back to PC2.

I've also got Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together sitting here on my Vita. I finally forced myself to start it, dig in, and I've been slowly playing it for the last 6 months or so, and I've got about 75 hours on my save. To put it plainly, it's been mostly a game for the "throne room", but I'd really like to finish it up before the end of the year, except I have no idea how far along I am. Anyone know how close the "Hanging Gardens" is to the end?

I also dipped back into Minecraft for a week after years away. So much potential in that game but I still feel like it isn't there. Particularly with mods. So I wanted to record a little video showing off my work and maybe touching on why I find mods frustrating. It's also a way for me to immortalize what I built as inevitably I'll do a hard drive wipe and it will be gone. Haven't found the enthusiasm to record something though. Feel like a dork doing it.

So what are you working on? Anyone cramming in a bunch of games this weekend?

I'm gonna try beating Sonic Mania, Nier Automata, Yakuza 0 and Nioh at least before the year is over. Some of them are pretty damn long, though. I'm on Automata's final route, but who knows how long that is. Got stuck on the underwater level of Mania, too. I've been thinking about making something out of the games I've played this year, like a review in comic form, because just lists can be sorta dry. But that's not the sort of thing I wanna cram in during November/December if I could help it.

I'm going to try to cram in Persona 5 within the next month or so (it's surprisingly fun!)

Looking at my own personal list, I've gone down the path of playing an ass-ton of games from years past, not so much the new releases. I have a slight interest in the new Uncharted and Middle-Earth because I've been messing with those series over the year. I also have yet to check out any of the "big three" that just came out, so who knows when I'll get around to that.

Oh boy, it's way too much at this point. I still need to play Night in the Woods, Nier Automata, Sonic Mania, Golf Story, Wolfenstein II, Horizon Zero Dawn, Cuphead, and Hollow Knight. But all that has to wait because Super Mario Odyssey y'all.

EDIT: And Prey! Why do I keep forgetting about Prey?!

Playing Chuphead, Fire Emblem Echoes, Detention, Doki Doki Literature Club, The Shrouded Isle, AND Yakuza 0, with Hand of Fate 2 on the horizon! Help!! I need help!!!!

Horizon, The New Colossus, maybe Nier.

Cuphead, Knack 2 and Super Mario Odyssey

Nothing, haven't bought any 2017 release yet lol. Doesn't mean I still won't vote later too. :P

Probably just Mario. I've managed to finish all the 2017 games I bought so far besides Cuphead and Original Sin 2, and I'm not going to force myself to finish either of those because that'd probably ruin them for me and I seriously doubt GB's podcasts will be talking spoilers for either.

I still need to finish Persona 5. Played it almost nightly when it came out, got about half way through, then dropped it for other things and never came back.

I love the Persona series but I'm not really enjoying the story or characters of 5 at all :/

I also need to finish Yakuza Kiwami (which shouldn't be hard, that game is great!) and actually properly start Tales of Berseria.

Like, pretty much everything? I have to start choosing my battles. I have a feeling Mario will be taking the majority of my time in the near future. 2017: the year where playing all the games during it feels like a 2nd job.

I don't own a switch and am probably gonna wait to buy one until next year so Zelda and Mario Odyssey are out of the equation for me. I bought Horizon Zero dawn on release and spent more time on Yakuza 0. My plan is to finish horizon and probably purchase persona 5 and nier during black friday.

Nothing, I've played everything that I was really keen on this year. There's only a few remaining games that I'll wait until they're on sale next year probably before I get them.

I managed to play 10 at least! sadly 2 of them were quite disappointing so I'll only have a top 8 this year.

I wanna finish Persona 5 before they spoil it during the GOTY podcasts, but I keep putting it off and honestly think more about replaying P4 Golden instead. I may try and get through Nier, but I got like half spoiled already so I may just save my money on that one.

Ah yea I forgot about Yakuza 0.. Hmm I have that on my honorable mentions as I had kinda written off finishing that at this point. I believe I put 30 or so ours into it? No idea how close to the end I am. I just kinda faded off it.

I need to play Pyre. It seems unique and also seems like the sort of game that may get eaten alive by the sheer magnitude of excellence we've all been bombarded with in 2017.

Mario, cuphead, wolfenstein, xenoblade, maybe mario and rabids, but i dont think that is making my list.

There are others ill play, COD, shadow of war but im not expecting them to change my current list.

I'd really like to play more Persona 5 and hopefully I'll get back to it after a long hiatus from earlier this year. Prey is another game I played a lot of and I'm pretty sure I'm in the final stretch. Other than that I'd like to play The New Colossus (in theory). Right now I'm still headfirst in Destiny 2. I would've moved on, besides the occasional end game activity, if not for me double dipping with the Pc version. Now I'm grinding that out to get raid ready by next week.

I bought Super Mario Odyssey, buuuuuut I've yet to get a switch. Probably gonna look for one at a discount on Black Friday. When that finally happens it's, as one might say, MARIO TIME! No idea if I'll ever get to Nier. I know it's good and I already own it; just gonna have to see on that one. I've played enough of Cuphead to know it'll be somewhere on my list, so I'm probably gonna save this one for some other time when there aren't a ton of titles coming out. Gonna pass on AC origins altogether and the same goes for Shadow of War. Other than that I can't really think of much I'd seriously think about playing.

Call of Duty WW2.

Just Super Mario Odyssey, Assassin's Creed Origins, and Wolfenstein, then whatever else is coming out. I know some games aren't going to be widely considered as the game of the year material, like Assassin's Creed most likely, but it's for me personally. There are some games that I don't really care about playing that I have available to me because my brother has an interest in them, like Persona 5 and Nier. I might like Nier, but it's just not on my list of games to play by the end of the year. Oh, I might go back to Cuphead I guess. I haven't gotten it yet; wasn't sure if I was going to.

Cramming to keep up with GOTY sounds like a great way to take the fun out of gaming.

...But I'm hoping to play Horizon and Nier before the year is done. Gravity Rush 2 also. I'm not going to play things I have no personal interest in though.

Will go through Assassin's Creed Origins this week so I can write about it.

As for stuff I still plan on playing:

Wolfenstein: The New Colossus

Super Mario Odyssey

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Horizon Zero Dawn

Cuphead

Prey

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider

Observer

The Sexy Brutale

Little Nightmares

Night in the Woods

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

Rime

Blackwood Crossing

somebody pray for me

Exactly what happened to me, as well... and I'm not sure I'll bother to finish it.

I mostly try and beat games with stories or moments I'm worried about having spoiled during the GOTY podcasts.

I recently played through Nier and meant to move on to Night in the Woods, Wolfenstein II, Pyre, and Cuphead but have gotten completely sidelined by the Destiny 2 PC release.

It would be great to play Mario Odyssey too; if I could get my hands on a Switch.

I really need to go back and finish Nier, Horizon, and Metroid. Once I finish Mario Odyssey I'll knock 'em out.

Also wanna check out Divinity OS 2

I hope LiS Before the Storm ep3 releases this year so I'll have at least one 2017 game completed by the end of it.

Pyre

Persona 5 (don't have it yet, but even if I don't play it I already watched a playthrough)

I really want to get Horizon: Zero Dawn at some point. I heard the story is fantastic and without being overly philosophically dreadful and also cinematic I've heard. I only watched the Quick Look but a lot of people said its actually stellar, gonna find out soon.

I disregard Wolfenstein for now, this year I'm not too fond for playing FPS games.

Buying a Switch with Super Mario: Odyssey and BOTW somewhen before Christmas, perhaps one of these will topple the best game I played this year? We will see.

Replaying through Nier: Automata a second time because of the recent Beastcast. I had fun with it, gameplay nicely complements the story.

I played a ton of games this year and because so many games are incredible its difficult to find games that actually stood out, but all things considered I do already have a #1 game of the year however. Unfortunately TLG came out last year so I can't include that in my list, which makes me kinda sad.

At the moment The Evil Within, then after i need to play Mad Max or Tomb Raider 4.

Need to finish Neir Automata. I feel like I'm on the home stretch, so much wild shit has happened...

I'd love to get my hands on a Switch and play through Odyssey before the end of the year, try out that Breath of the Wild a bit.

Might just be something I buy myself come Christmas time. Hell, I've got a birthday that same month, so getting myself a bigger gift between the two works well enough. Now it's just a question of whether I can actually find a console over here in Europe-land.

But we'll see how that pans out. As is, I'll be working my way through The Evil Within 2 and Wolfenstein. I'm also in the very end-stretch of Divinity 2: Original Sin, and boy, is that a hell of a game.

In a better world, one without commitments and having to keep acting like an adult in mind, I'd also play through Nier: Automata again. That game is already resting easily at spot numbero uno for the year, hell, for the last few years, but.. I find myself actively missing it. It's a hell of a tale.

I'm not really trying to cram anything until the GOTY podcasts, but I'd like to play Pyre before then. I would've bought it and played it by now, except I've seen it discounted at least twice on Steam already, so I've been waiting for it to go on sale on PSN. Also, now after listening to this week's Beastcast, I feel like replaying Nier and Night in the Woods. I know I loved playing through them at the time, but both seem like a blur at this point.

Going to be busy this weekend specifically, but I'm hoping to get Danganronpa V3 and Ys VIII done for my goty picks. Going to wait on a good number of bigger releases (Nier, Yakuza, Wolfenstein) for next year probably.

@dray2k said:

Some might say it's their game of the year at this point.. :P

Just don't let your expectations get too wild. I see plenty of people on here saying it's their biggest disappointment.

Super Mario Odyssey

I'll probably play some Zelda too

Other than that, I'm just having a good time with Stardew Valley

I'm currently playing through Wolfenstein, but I really missed everything from the first half of the year. Gotta try to play Horizon, Cuphead, Prey, Nier and Resident Evil 7 before the podcasts which will be impossible. What a great year for games!

Wolfenstein 2, Mario Odyssey, Life is Strange prequel, Destiny 2 and Night in the Woods for me. So many awesome games this year! Gonna be a busy month

This year I've played through NieR, RE7, FFXIV, The Evil Within 2 and the Darkest Dungeon DLC. Still have to finish Horizon, but so far am very happy with this years releases. I'm surprised to like 2-3 games every year, let alone 5-6. I'm sure that Zelda and Mario are both amazing, but i don't own a Switch so those are 2 i definately won't end up playing.

Mario Odyssey and Nier are the only two I feel like I have to play. I'd also like to spend more time with Golf Story and Sonic Mania as well as try to play Prey, South Park and Shadow of War.

I'm in no hurry to finish anything within in this years time frame.

I would like to go back and finish Horizon, and I'm waiting for the last piece of Zelda DLC to drop before finally beating Ganon. That's really about it for GOTY stuff.

I've debated on getting Nier and beating it a million times, but I already know about certain endings and it sounds like a slog up front; so I guess I'm alright with having it spoiled.

I do want to play Wolf 2 because it sounds like the beginning has a possible moment of the year in it--according to Alex's twitter. But I never finished the first and would feel compelled to do that before playing this.

I've already decided that nothing will top Persona 5, I'll try and work through EO5 and Divinity

I've come to terms with the fact that I don't play games for a living and I ultimately spend more time watching Giant Bombsmen play games than I play them myself. My lists the past couple years have pretty much been a complete compilation of the games I played that released that year.

Currently I'm playing Mario Odyssey and I've already pre-ordered Battlefront 2. That's all I plan on playing this year. Maybe I'll pick up something on sale late in the year, but it's not likely going to be a 2017 release. Haven't counted, but I'm hoping I'll be around 10 games played by then.

Horizon, Assassin's Creed and Wolfenstein will have to wait.

Divinity 2 and Wolfenstein are at the top of my list, I'm inching through Divinity now and a friend's gonna buy Wolfenstein, so hopefully I can borrow that at some point. Mario would be great, but I'm trying not spend too much more on games this year, so unfortunately that's probably gonna get sidelined to next year.

The games I'm looking to play still this year are South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Wolfenstein The New Colossus and possibly SteamWorld Dig 2. I don't own a Switch or PS4 so all of the games on those consoles that came out this year are off the table.

Well I was gonna play a lot of things

But I have feeling I'm just gonna play a ton of Divinity: Original Sin 2. That game has its hooks in me pretty deep.

@ht101: Yeap don't miss out on Steamworld Dig 2. I thoroughly enjoyed it and may have already placed it in my list.

I just spent all day tidying mine up. I had to fill out a bunch of my thoughts as I tried to add most games I played to it as the year went by and just jotted down some initial thoughts. It can be hard to remember how I felt in detail when I first played a game like 8 months ago. Then I go back at the end of the year, look at what I have down (if anything), and expand upon it. Adjust it if my feelings have changed as time passed.

Wrote a whole intro up plus all the extra presentation goodies. Links, images, formatting etc. I'm feeling like my overall list of games, even beyond the Top 10, is kinda finished for the year. I'm not sure there is anything else coming along that I'll pick up. If I do, I can just merge it in somewhere relevant.

Give it a test run. Some more games I should flesh out. I'm sure I'll find more typos and bad english as I read it a dozen more times.

Edit - Picked up Wolfenstein 2 earlier today. Had to get through the bullshit BSoD stuff first but eventually got it work. Aren't PC games wonderful?

The big three for me are Mario, Zelda, and Persona 5 (40 hours deep). The maybies include Nioh, Wolfenstein, Evil Within 2, and Sonic Mania. I’m probably forgetting stuff, there have been a lot of great games this year.

I just finished Persona 5, which slowed things down for a long time. Main things left that I want to try and tackle by GOTY time are:

• Mario Odyssey
• Wolfenstein II
• Cuphead
• Prey
• Nier Automata
• SteamWorld Dig 2

I already can tell you my game of the year Wolfenstein 2 easily this year has been one of the worst years in gaming for me next year looks much better.

Working through Mario Odyssey at the moment.

Will go back to and finish Shadow of War

I want to get to and play Yakuza Kiwami before the end of the year.

I will re-start Diviinty: Original Sin 2 and XCOM: War of the Chosen next year. Warhammer 2 will be a next year purchase. So too will Wolfenstein II and AC: Origins.

I might try and go back and try to get into Breath of the Wild again but not sure.

Will try to finish Sonic Mania