2017 on Fire - 8 Good Games in 8 Weeks

I'm looking at my ever growing backlog, and realized that I have 7 new releases that I really want to play that have just come out or about to come out. Look at this lineup we got from February 7th to April 4th (8 weeks total):

• Feb 7th - Nioh
• Feb 14th - For Honor
• Feb 28th - Horizon Zero Dawn
• Feb 28th - Torment: Tides of Numenera
• March 7th - Nier: Automata
• March 21st - Mass Effect: Andromeda
• April 4th - Persona 5

Add to that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on March 3rd and that makes 8 potentially good games in 8 weeks. (I'm personally not going to pick up a Switch for one game.) I have no idea how Torment or Mass Effect will turn out, but the reception for the other 6 games is fairly positive so far. On one hand I hope the rest of the year continues to pump out great games like this, but on the other hand I kinda hope it doesn't so I can actually get through these games before the year ends.

Oh, and I'm kind of looking forward to seeing how River City Ransom: Underground is, but I think that's not going to be everyone's cup of tea and the potential for mediocrity is high.

More very good games (85+ metacritic):

• Jan 24th - Resident Evil VII
• Jan 24th - Yazuka 0

More good games (~80 metacritic):

• Jan 20th - Gravity Rush 2
• Feb 14th - Sniper Elite 4

Don't forget Prey only a month after Persona 5, May 5th. It's unfortunate that the title and the history it carries will likely drag down a lot of conversation about it, because a lot of the gameplay released so far, including a big first hour blowout, really makes it look like a great System Shock for the modern age.

If you don't mind dipping into slightly smaller titles:

• 28th/29th March - Snake Pass
• 11th April - Yooka Laylee

Man I really wanna play horizon but that so close to persona isn't great for the wallet. I'm gunna get persona 5 and hopefully pick up horizon when it's on a decent sale.

Me: Oh man a list of amazing games already out in 2017, surely Yakuza 0 will be among them

OP: No mention of Yakuza 0

Me:

This year has been nuts in terms of retail titles.

It feels like only yesterday when people were bitching about consoles not having a ton of great games, then MGSV and W3 came out and everyone stfu and it's been pretty good ever since.

Yakuza G0TY

Most of them don't interest me, majorly sceptical of Mass Effect. Horizon looks very average right down to the horrible colour filter it is using, of course, IMO. I want Mass Effect to be great but so far they're shoving too much action down my throat.

Nioh, Nier, Persona 5 (for the west) and Yakuza 0 are great though. Japan is on fire.

Edit: I just said most don't interest me then said that half of them were great, hmm...

It looks like Breath of the Wild is a knockout too but I'm hesitant to re-order a Switch, even though I will definitely want one in April for Mario Kart. I...I should just order one. I might wait until the GB coverage and then buy one next week just to see what the crew think of it and the controller sync issues.

2017 needs to chill.

This has been a NUTS year so far. It has been a first couple months that are of the quality of many holiday seasons (though not quite the quantity.)

It has been especially nuts for Playstation. Xbox got Halo Wars 2 (which MAYBE deserves to be on the list? Metacritic 79) and it has Mass Effect, RE, Torment, and For Honor, so it's not like it has been a TERRIBLE period for Xbox, but Playstation has been absolutely killing it.

Also Night in the Woods should really be on this list. It may not be for everyone but it is a great game and reviews have been positive.

All the good games released at the start of the year i wonder what the end will look like? Still wondering about mass effect though, Inquisition wasnt great, performance in the previews seems worrisome, and not sure how good the writing will be. Also the dlc and f2p stuff for the multiplayer have me worried( they did it right in 3 though).

2017 has been killing it so far. It's crazy because I remember the days when this time of year would be pretty dead.

Destiny 2 is coming out this year, so it would have been a great year no matter what.

But Nioh and Andromeda on top of that is cool as shit.

Yeah, this really has to be one of, if not the, single greatest opening to a year I can remember.

Yeah seriously, I think my number is closer to 12 or so

Add in Yakuza 0, Gravity Rush 2, RE Vii, the new 3ds Fire Emblem and I'm sure there are others..

Nioh, Gravity Rush, Yakuza, Nier, Horizon, Persona...

Man the PS4 went from the console with a lack of any real exclusives to just killing it. Has any console ever had this strong an exclusive lineup in such a short amount of time? At the beginning of the year!

8 games in 8 weeks nothing. This week has 3 potential GotYs released during it. (Horizon, Zelda, Torment)

but open world games are garbage, we already know mass effect sucks, and nintendo is in its death throes.

This has been probably the greatest year for gaming for me personally. Only two months in and there's already so many titles that I've enjoyed or am very much looking forward to. Honorable mention to Tales of Berseria which probably doesn't measure up to the games already mentioned but I really enjoyed playing it.

@ripelivejam: You are sarcastically relaying the negativity on these forums and don't actually believe that right?

@luchalma: Its been enough to make me strongly consider getting a PS4. I've been happy being PC-only ever since this generation started, but the number of good-to-great games that seem to be legit PS4 exclusives is getting a bit too long for my liking.

Granted, I just upgraded to a GTX 1070, so I'm not going to make any big hardware purchases for a while. But this holiday season, if there's a sale I may need to get a PRO.

I may not care about some of those games (Nioh, Torment, or Nier) but damn there is certainly a game for every type of person so far this year. And I have no idea how I can possibly play Horizon, Zelda, and Mass Effect before Persona 5 arrives or how I can balance playing them at the same time. 2017 is shaping up to be a 2010 or 1998 type of year.

Yo, fuck 2017 for rampaging my wallet. Started the year expecting to get nothing but Gravity Rush, Zelda, and Persona for the first half. So far, I got:

• Gravity Rush 2
• Nioh
• Horizon
• Torment

Have preordered:

• Zelda
• Nier
• Persona
• Prey
• Tekken 7
• Stardew Collector's Edition
• Stormblood

Considering buying:

• Night in the Woods
• Ghost Blade HD

...and that's just the shit I remember. You'd be surprised how much money you can save when you decide to live off potatoes and ramen for a few months.

I also hear Tales of Berseria is a great turning point in the franchise with some calling it the best Tales game since Symphonia.

Some might say there was never a better time...

Yep, this is the first time in a long time where there's been game releases that suit my tastes overlapping each other. It's going to be hard to choose between Nier and ME:Andromeda, even though Nier is more my speed I feel like a good ol' chill RPG experience. I may just end up juggling both.

Especially the ones that haven't come out yet! So good.

Is RE7 actually any good without VR? Seems like all coverage of that game was for the PSVR version.

Shit really did turn on its head this year. So many great games coming out in Q1; it's crazy. I love it.

@themanwithnoplan: Not one every week like we hoped, but still an insane amount of stuff. Horizon is the only one I've had the time to play so far. Saving up to get a Switch and Zelda--should be able to end of this next month!

Yooka Laylee's that close, huh? Frig.

2017 needs to chill. This isn't fun anymore. It's too much.

S T O P