2017 will be one of the best years of video game history, with so many excellent games coming out in one year. While not the easiest year on the wallet, hopefully this is the start of a great trend in game quality going forward. I wanted to try and get to the biggest games that were offered this year, but with limited free time I do not think I'll be able to finish a few of the more surprising ones. So, sorry, no Assassin's Creed: Origins or Wolfenstein II: New Colossus.
Wow, Persona 5. This was my first entry into the persona series and what a start. This game has everything I enjoy about an JRPG/RPG. Turn based combat, excellent soundtrack, impressive visuals/style. The story of Persona 5 may not be to everyone's liking, but I found it to be highly entertaining and can definitely see some similarities in today's climate. My first run through took me about 110 hours to beat, without even doing every side quest that came about. Even when I beat the game this was all I could think about. So naturally I restarted immediately. Hopefully when Persona 6 comes out in 10 years I'll love that one just the same.
Evil Within 2 took me completely by surprise. I was never interested in the first game, as the letterboxing and general gameplay never looked good. Even when this was announced at E3, while visually interesting as trailers go, I was still apprehensive. I'm glad I decided to give it a shot, as it became my favorite sleeper hit of 2017. Evil Within 2 plays like a more modern Resident Evil 4, which isn't surprising as the lead designer Shinji Mikami helped create this new IP. A variety of weapons and horror creatures to fight with a highly interesting villain helped start this game off right. It's too bad then, that the game decides to introduction a much less interesting villain a little more than half way through and turn that section of the game into a boring hellscape. that aside the ending more than makes up for that, with one of the most visually and emotionally great final boss battles in recent memory. If you enjoyed Resident evil 4 at all, give this game a shot. You won’t be disappointed.
Destiny 2 is far from perfect, and for some ways is a step back from how Destiny 1 ended its last year. Other than that, Destiny 2 is still very fun to play. Bungie know how to make a satisfying shooter and they didn't disappoint here. A big improvement of Destiny 1 was the addition of a story (Author note: As someone who put in over 700 hours into Destiny 1, I completely stopped caring about story in this series) that has a clear villain. To me though, Destiny 2 is the perfect multiplayer game. Just load up and talk to friends as you go around and shoot aliens, that may or may not actually be all that bad. Hell, the game is good enough to me that I bought it twice.
PUBG is another surprise of the year. A buggy, tense battle of luck that took the game world by storm. Before Destiny 2 came out, this was the game I played with friends. With a incredibly fast load time to get into game after game, you never really took losses all that hard. Just try again.
From the moment that the demo was played on UPF, NieR had my attention. When Alex started praising the game on the Beastcast I knew I had to see what it was all about. Nier's biggest strength is the story. In a world of androids and "enemy" robots the game challenges you to really think about what humanity means. There thoughts are more prevalent in the side quests, some of the most depressing and impressive stories the game offers. At the time of this list, I haven't beaten ending C yet. Though everything I've seen up to this point has been amazing.
I have been a fan of Souls games since Dark Souls came out on Xbox 360, I've played every release since so I figured I was well prepared for a cycle of learn enemy patterns, die, fight boss, die, win, repeat. Cuphead broke me. Cuphead is a perfect boss rush game. Invoking the style of old 50's cartoons, the game sets itself apart from everything else this year. With snappy combat, very good boss designs and excellent soundtrack, Cuphead is a game that should not be missed.
A surprise hit from the makers of Killzone, Horizon: Zero Dawn tells the story of a exiled young women named Alloy, living in a world with machine creatures. Ranging from machine like deer to a giant machine T-rex. The world that Guerrilla has created is one that begs to be explored and learned about. What happened to get here, where did the machines come from, all things that Alloy sets out to find out herself. the story even wraps up nicely, answering most of the questions that I had while playing. Even if the inclusion of a "post credit" scene doesn't do it any favors. Gameplay wise, Horizon is generally a blast to play. Your main weapon is a bow, allowing you to make quite a bit of precision shots to take down the mechanical beasts that roam the land. I did find that combat to get frustrating near the end. That aside the game is visually beautiful, with interesting enemy designs and some of the best vistas to marvel at. This game is certainly one of the best of the year and I can't wait to see where Guerrilla will take this series in the future.
Resident Evil 7 brought life into a series many thought was on the way out. Who knew that copying the first-person perspective that recent horror games have started doing would make an excellent addition to the 11-year-old franchise. I like many didn't like Resident Evil 6 at all, too focused on action. This one though, kept me completely hooked with a feeling of dread, especially near the end. the beginning plays like a nice homage to classic resident evil, with puzzle solving throughout a house your trapped in. it's a shame that the end does start going towards more action.
Heat Signature is a unique strategy game made from the maker of Gunpoint. Tasked with completed missions of your choice. You fly out on your spaceship to either take some loot, take a ship, kill a specific person, etc. What makes this fun, is how complex this could be. You could have to get into a ship full of guards that can’t be hurt by bullets, or guards that detect you if you stand to close, or maybe you must steal an item without killing anyone, in a ship of 30 guards. There are many different variables and options to each encounter and at any point you can pause the game to think about your next move. Even when your knocked out, which happens with only one hit, they eject you from the ship and you must try and save your body by remotely flying you ship. This game has a massive map to take over and I'm loving every second.
The ultimate feel good game of the year. Super Mario Odyssey is the epitome of platformers. Basically, a collect-othon, Mario excels in the idea of if you think you can get there, you probably can and there will be a reward. This isn't a game that I'll 100% but it's a perfect game to pick-up every now and then to collect some more moons.
