2017 was the year I truly gained a passion for video games. It's not that I didn't have some sort of a passion before, but this was a year that took gaming to more than just a hobby I enjoyed and into something that I felt much stronger about. At just about any point in 2017, I was in the progress of playing a video game, and while I've certainly been engaged with gaming news and streaming websites like Giant Bomb, I've never really been able to put together a true end of year top 10 list before. Hell, I think the first time I've actually written about video games in over a decade.

I bought and played more new releases than I have in any other year, and saw gaming go in so many new and ambitious directions in so many different genres. This includes a new and ambitious console from Nintendo, which changed the way I experienced video games. The Switch allowed me to take my games on the bus during my long commutes and return to them on my TV or couch and at any point when I got home. As someone who has always been a terrible offender of buying Steam games and never playing them, the Switch gave me the kind of flexibility I needed to engage with gaming on my terms, both with expansive big console titles and bite size indie games.

So without further ado, here are some of my favorite games I played in 2017.

Honorable Mentions:

Destiny 2: I have some major issues with the way Destiny 2 handles post-story content, as none of the events, crucible, or its raid did much for me at all. However, it did provide a much stronger campaign than the vanilla game or even The Taken King, and was still a fun social hub to hang out with friends during my time with it.

Puyo Puyo Tetris: Puyo Puyo Tetris technically came out in Japan in 2014, but was finally ported over to the States this year. It has some of the worst visual novel story bits I’ve ever seen, but otherwise is an ingenious puzzle game that was both a fun time at parties and a good way to kill time on my commutes.

Pyre: I absolutely love the way Pyre looks and sounds, and I thoroughly enjoy the way its cosmic basketball/hockey/sports ball thing segments play. Even its visual novel aspects bring something new to the table, as the ability to hover over words for a reminder of what they mean in its fantasy universe is something that similar games should be utilizing from this point forward. However, I still haven’t finished it, and despite loving nearly every individual part, I’ve found some of the dialogue to be a little dry and long winded. I like the game and plan to finish it, and it wouldn’t shock me if by the end I regret not putting Pyre in my top 10 for the year, but I just can't yet.

Tekken 7: I don’t consider myself a Tekken fan at all, but the small chunks I’ve played of Tekken 7 make me want to include it here. I actually find it fun to play, and if you had told me that in a year with a new Marvel vs. Capcom and Injustice game I would rather play Tekken, I never would have believed you.

10. Sonic Mania

Sonic Mania was a huge surprise for me, in part because of Sonic’s notorious recent history, but also because I’ve truthfully never really enjoyed 2D Sonic much at all. Yes, that even includes the classic Genesis games. However, Sonic Mania is the best type of retro game, as it plays like how you remember the classics, not like they actually played. That leaves Sonic Mania feeling like both a loving tribute to the early platformers, but also a cleaned up modernization that translates Sonic’s sense of speed and open level design to a game that looks, sounds, and plays beautifully in 2017.

9. Splatoon 2

Splatoon 2 is a lot like the original Splatoon, but having never owned a Wii U, this was my first time getting hooked on Nintendo’s light shooter. And despite some unforgivable limitations in multiplayer options for a 2017 game, I really did get hooked. The basic gameplay loop of covering as much of each map with as much paint as you can simply infectious and presents a unique take on both the traditional shooter gameplay and aesthetic. The matches are quick, making it my go to game to play on the couch between watching UFC fights, and Nintendo has kept the game fresh by periodically adding new maps and weapons.

8. Doki Doki Literature Club

I don’t want to say too much about Doki Doki Literature Club, as it's best to go in as blind as possible. It pretends to be a horny visual novel and turns out to be a game that challenges the notion of how interactive storytelling can work. I found that it took a little took long to get where it wanted to go, even in a 3-4 hour run time, but the last half makes the tedious first hour worth it. I’m not going to say any more. It's free, so just go play it.

7. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

For all of its many problems, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds feels like a revolutionary shooter. It’s certainly far from the first battle royale style game, but it’s the first that makes the tension, precise shooting, and rush of even getting one kill accessible to the masses. I’m terrible at it, but I’ve still had a ton of fun playing it with friends, seeing the crazy moments that transpire and trying to stay calm and strategize as we get into the top 20, 10, 5, and in that moment where it’s just me (or one of my squadmates) against one other player. I haven’t wanted to play it over and over again like some have, but it’s simultaneously home to some of my tensest and funniest moments of gaming in 2017.

6. Persona 5

To put it simply, Persona 4 is a game that, on most days, I consider my favorite game of all-time. That left Persona 5 with a lot to live up to it, and while I would admit that parts of it really disappointed me (after all, it’s not my GOTY or even in my top 5), I still found it to be a mostly great JRPG that improved on quite a few elements of the Persona franchise. In particular, the visual novel segments where you move around the city and spend time with your “confidants” is far more expansive than its ever been in a Persona game, and everything from the menus to the music are oozing with style. The dungeons have become much more involved as well, which is great when it works, and far less great towards the end when it introduces annoying gameplay mechanics that start to make progressing a chore. Still, the story and characters mostly worked for me, even if doesn’t reach the heights of Persona 4, and as a whole Atlus has managed to make a JRPG that feels relevant in 2017.

5. SteamWorld Dig 2

Out of all of the games on this list, SteamWorld Dig 2 might be the most pleasant to play. The core gameplay loop of digging through mines, collecting gems, and bringing them back to town to sell for new upgrades made hour long commutes feel like 10 minutes. Each of the many upgrades you encounter feel meaningful, and the game allows you to respec any time you are in the main town to better explore new areas. It’s one of the most fun and purely addicting “Metroidvania” style games I’ve played, and while I’m mostly thankful it chose that style of exploration instead of a procedural generated Spelunky-like loop, I loved it so much that wished it had something more to keep me playing for longer than its 6-7 hour story.

4. Cuphead

Just look at Cuphead. This is one of the most gorgeous games I have ever seen, with art and music that seem straight out of a 1930s cartoon. Even years after its initial announcement and after hours of playing, I’m still struck every time I see the way this game moves. It’s something special. The good news is that playing Cuphead is also incredibly fun, and in a way I didn’t expect. I’ve never been a huge fan of Contra, Metal Slug, or tough as nails style side scrolling shooters (Super Meat Boy type platformers on the other hand…), but Cuphead mixes things up in intelligent ways. Most of the game focuses on bite size boss battles that are generally very difficult, but easy to restart, learn patterns, and allow you to get better at the more you play. There are also platforming and aerial levels that are fun in their right and provide a different type of challenge. Whether playing solo or co-op, I’ve had a great time with Cuphead, and hopefully I’ll get good enough at it to finally finish it in 2018.

3. Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is an exercise in constant gratification. While its newest gameplay mechanic is “capturing” different objects and creatures to use them to platform and solve puzzles, its real hook is how every inch of space in each of varied worlds is there for a reason. Whether it’s sitting in plain sight, hidden behind an elaborate puzzle, or a reward for completing increasingly difficult platforming sections, there are moons to collect all over Super Mario Odyssey, and the game constantly rewards your creativity and exploration. Combine that with touching moments of nostalgia, a wide variety of ways to interact with each world, and some of the most elaborate post-credits gameplay I’ve ever seen in a video game, and you have what is easily my favorite 3D Mario game to date. It also so happens just happens to be the weirdest.

2. Nier: Automata

Nier: Automata is a game that means a great deal to me. From the outset, it routinely references philosophers and presents fairly common questions about what makes a human being, whether machines can be human, and that type of thing, but it’s not until hours later when you start to see the layers of Nier’s own philosophy come to the surface. This is a game about what it means to connect to human beings, to be part of a culture of violence, and to do “human” things that none of us really understand. It’s a game about how we as people can never really connect to each other, as much as we try, and experiencing that story while interacting in that world, slaughtering countless “machines” when you start the see the real devastation of continuing a cycle of violence in that world and peeling back the layers over multiple playthroughs is something remarkable that can only work in a video game.

Nier has its problems from a gameplay perspective, although I do think it is fun to play, but its combination of hack and slash JRPG, platformer, and bullet hell shooter has a way of feeling like something completely new for gaming and like the creators haven’t played a video game since the PS2 days. Parts of it are repetitive and the open world is full of invisible walls, but some of its shoddier elements are more than made up for by its narrative and a soundtrack that is simply second to none among video games I’ve played. And even when the gameplay on its own falters at times, what I interacted with always connected the narrative and world that Nier created. I had an emotional reaction to both the decisions I was making in a more traditional storytelling sense and the things I had to do from a gameplay perspective. No game I’ve ever played has managed to merge those two things in quite the same way Nier does, and it does so with moments that left me completely amazed and utterly broken. This is one the strongest and most ambitious narrative focused games I’ve ever played, and Nier: Automata is an experience I will never forgot.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Every so often, I become completely consumed by a game. As in, for an extended period of time I want to spend every bit of time I can experiencing that world, discovering every bit of it I can. Persona 4 was like that for me. The Witcher 3 was like that for me. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was like that for me, and I look back upon my time in this amazing universe as one of my favorite months and change playing video games.

I’m far from the first to mention that Nintendo turning one of its flagship franchises into an open world survival game was a shocking and ambitious move, but more than anything the reason I love Breath of the Wild is how it rewards the player for thinking creatively. All of its gameplay mechanics work together and create a sense of immersion rarely found in games, and no point does it force the player to solve a puzzle, fight an enemy, or complete a challenge in one specific way. It’s a giant sandbox full of rewards, and even after 100 hours of playing, I never got tired of exploring and finding new things. This is a game where simply wandering in one direction will eventually lead you to something amazing, or at worst a couple of shrines (essentially puzzle rooms that have loot inside) along the way. It values your time and rewards exploration in a way few games do, and despite being a single player narrative game, how you interact with the world along your journey feels like a very personal story in and of itself.

I was awe-inspired the first time I scaled a giant mountain, discovered a shrine from new my vantage point, and paraglided down to it. I was awe-inspired the first time I knocked a weapon out of an enemy’s hands at the same time mine broke, with both us running towards the flung club trying to grab it first. I was awe-inspired the first time I encountered a dragon, shot it down, and used its scale to solve a puzzle for a shrine I had no idea was even there. I could go on for about 100 more sentences, and I haven’t even mentioned its wacky sense of humor, Miyazaki-esque love of nature, and the fact that its lack of RPG progression keep it from ever feeling like a grind. I love this game and all of the amazing moments I had with it, and in a few years it would not surprise me if I look back upon The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and think of it as my favorite game of all-time.