Is 2017 officially THE best year in gaming history?

This is going to sound incredibly corny but I think each year is the best year in gaming. Every year I get excited for new games or sequels and you know what I've never once thought man I wish we could go back to 2011 and experience that all over again. Until there is a year that I purchase 0 games I will never look back and think about years past in terms of releases.

'twas a great year to be sure... QQ

2017 there's a few games I'm interested but it feels stale for me so far. 2017 looks to be more amazing for TV series that I'm interested in like Twin Peaks coming back and Prison Break ect.. But as far as gaming goes to this day 2005 is my favorite year in gaming because of F.E.A.R., Battlefield 2 and RE4 I know it's just 3 games but the innovation and gameplay in all of these games stand the test of time.

2017 looks okay.

• Horizon: Zero Dawn - I said a few months ago that this looks good, but will probably be another generic AAA open world action game. From what reviewers and players are saying, it looks like I was right. It even has the standard X-ray vision and tower progression (tallnecks).
• Mass Effect: Andromeda - I never liked Mass Effect. I could never get deeply into the first and second game. It's a mediocre shooter with a dull story.
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - While I don't like the open world direction Nintendo has taken Zelda, I still have enough respect for the series that i want to play this. But I'm probably never getting another Nintendo, so I can't play any new Zeldas.
• Resident Evil VII - I think they should have just ended this series. The last good Resident Evil was 4. The games have too much baggage from the previous stories now. Removing third-person view ensures I'll never play this.
• Ghost Recon: Wildlands - It's a Ubisoft game. Ubisoft doesn't know what makes games fun anymore.
• For Honor - Looks crummy and simplistic.
• Prey - Haven't paid attention to it. Or the series, for that matter. Maybe if I continue to ignore it, this new game will surprise me.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 - Rockstar's open world games are never that good. Give me another linear shoot 'em up, like Max Payne 3 or Hard Boiled, please. Rockstar also failed with the title of the game.
• Nier: Automata - This looks neat. I actually want to play it. The art is pretty and the combat breathtaking. This is coming from someone who typically doesn't like JRPGs or Platinum Games.
• Yooka-Laylee - Looks good. Banjo Kazooie is one of the best N64 games, so I'm glad this team is making another 3D platformer like that.
• South Park: The Fractured but Whole - I never thought this would happen, but I've stopped watching South Park. I just don't care anymore. Although, now that I'm saying this, I'm slightly tempted to catch up on the last two or three seasons. I didn't even finish The Stick of Truth. It became tedious after ten hours. The gameplay and story weren't interesting enough.
• Injustice 2 - The only superhero universe I like is Batman. I'm also not into fighting games.
• Vampyr - I'm hoping this will be solid. The Victorian setting and vampire powers interest me. I liked the team's previous games, including the shallow Remember Me.
• Hellblade - I liked Senua's old face better. She looked more battle-hardened and pretty. The new face is so average.
• Persona 5 - Too overtly JRPG. I don't like the character designs. Modern anime sucks.

Others I'm interested in: Little Nightmares, Cuphead, Nioh, Rime, Absolver

Jeez. I don't think I've ever seen a post with so much stuff that I disagree with in it. The biggest probably being the RE7 stuff. Just such a strange reason to avoid a game to me, but opinions and all that.

Personally, I have no idea how I'll end up feeling about 2017. All I know is it's been pretty good so far, and I'll soon have a new Mass Effect and Persona released just a couple weeks apart. Two of my favorite franchises(probably top 2), so yeah...I never expected that to happen.

Yep, never though the Ocarina year would be topped, but 2017 is well on its way.

Well, I also found the demo pretty lame, as I said previously.

There's no thought involved in any of the exploration. Find key, bring it to door, find fuse, put it in box, etc. Why do developers keep putting me in generic old houses, as if I haven't seen that countless times before? Why do I have to perform these mundane tasks?

I was annoyed when the game trapped me in the tiny basement room with the creature, without a weapon, making me search for a solution while it gradually killed me. Other times, the horror is artificial and predictable. I knew that nothing would hurt me because it's one of those scripted games that wants to present an interactive movie, so I ran around even when I saw the enemy walking by doorways, intentionally hurrying after them. Of course, they disappeared around the corner.

I hated having to literally play the videotape from the perspective of this other character to figure out where to go. Why even do first person if you're gonna break the immersion by making me act out a videotape from another persective? It should be a non-interactive video that you can fast-forward. It's also frustratingly tedious that the tape doesn't continue from where you stop it, making the devs look like they've never used a VCR.

I probably wouldn't mind the switch to first person so much if it were an original IP. Dropping it implies first person is better, which I disagree with.

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/general-discussion-30/dropping-third-person-view-from-survival-horror-an-1806780/

2001 was pretty amazing for me.

• Halo: CE
• GTA III
• THPS 3
• Silent Hill 2
• MGS 2
• ICO
• Devil May Cry

2007 was fantastic as well.

• Bioshock
• The Darkness
• Rock Band
• Guitar Hero III
• COD 4
• The Orange Box
• God of War II
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Portal
• SKATE

2017 may well be the next. BotW is absolutely proof of that, and Person 5 looks delicious.

It couldn't be worse than 2016 because that's when Street Fighter 5 came out.

What a piece of garbage.

I didn't forget. I just only mentioned good games.

lol but seriously, Andromeda seems like it's shaping up to be aweomse. I wasn't really on board with either the first trailer they put out or that PSX demo (or was it the PS4Pro reveal?), but everything they've shown this past month or so looks stellar.

Either way, my post was moreso about the 2017 Fall season specifically. Obviously, Spring 2017 looks packed with potential bangers as well with Mass Effect definitely being one of those.

I don't even know how it's possible to be this negative about so many games you haven't played. jesus christ

There's so much good media to consume, dude. Everyone judges games they haven't played and movies they haven't seen, because it's better to be picky and save your time and money for the good stuff. Do you not judge anything you see and just play everything? Think of the most generic, mediocre looking shooter of last year and ask yourself why you haven't played it.

I would play those three open world games you quoted me on, if they were on my platform. RDR2 might come to Steam, but I'll wait until it's cheap. I found GTA V mediocre, worse than San Andreas and GTA IV. RDR was somewhat more enjoyable. But I think the formula needs to change and the controls need to be improved. I would also hire better writers. The writing isn't nearly as good as the organized crime movies and westerns the creators are inspired by. The humor is embarrassing at times.

Beat the game 3 times, and I have no idea what you are talking about with the "knowing nothing will hurt you bit." Everything can and will kill you, especially on the hardest difficulty.

I thought the video tapes were kinda cool, and there aren't that many. I get where you're coming from with them not continuing from where you stopped them, but there's also no real reason to stop them once you start one.

Also, I don't think switching it to first person implies that first person is better, it's just something a little different. I enjoyed it a lot. I've kinda been having a hard time deciding if I actually like it better than RE4 or not. I think you're missing out, but you know what you like better than I do(obviously). Seems like you and I just have really different taste in regard to games.

Just wanted to give a thumbs up to your name/avatar.

He never saw it coming!

@wynnduffy: I want to watch that show again, but it's not on Netflix/Hulu. I think it's on Amazon video...maybe I'll get that at some point.

The finale is amazing, it might be the best ending to a TV show ever for me.

I'm not really sure what was lacking about the trailer, they showed off quite a bit. Plot, cutscenes, general gameplay in a variety of worlds, etc. Mario also doesn't have a history of constant delays like Zelda does. I'm actually having trouble thinking of a single time a proper Mario game was publicly delayed.

Provided Odyssey is what the Tokyo team has been working on since finishing Super Mario 3D World in 2013, another game that was announced and released in the same year, I don't really know why it would slip.

I would wait til all of the 2017 games are out to make that judgement

It's only March. Please.

@zippedbinders: Right, it's just my guess purely based on what they've shown, which looks quite unfinished to me. The cutscenes look good, they showed off some new moves, a ridable lion and they revealed a ton of different worlds but most of them look pretty barren and kinda aimless. I just don't get the sense that there is really more than they've shown. I really do like what I've seen and I just don't want another Sunshine which I thought was terribly unpolished. A part of me would prefer them to really take their time and get it out the door when it's ready and not be pressured by the thin slate of the Switch. We'll see what they have to show at E3, I guess I'm gleaming a lot from a reveal trailer but I don't think it's a bold predication that it could definitely miss this year.

Sorry 1998 is an unbeatable year, even with Zelda which is honestly one of the best games I have ever played.

WHAT A SEASON, WHAT A SEASON. THIS IS TRULY THE BEST TIME TO BE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES

@fezrock: FFVI came out in 1994 for the SNES. Did you mean FFV?

Baldur's Gate was also a 1998 release, the current best year in gaming, though 2004 comes close.

I can see 2017 making top 3 years, if this continues.

I don't know if I can make that call right now, but I can't think of another time when so many great looking games came out in such a short amount of time. And it being the begining of the year makes it even crazier. I don't even know what games are coming out this year after Persona 5 but it sort of doesn't matter. I'll be set for a long time.

The best 2 months ever probably.

Still far too early to know.

Don't want to be a party pooper, but there are a lot of games that could come out broken, bad or delayed to 2018...

If it keeps this up, perhaps. And it WOULD line up with the weirdly consistent pattern of "years ending in 1 or 7" (1997, 2001, 2007, 2011 were all BANGERS).

1998 was preeeeeeetty damn good, too, though.

It's slowly climbing up there to be.

@viking_funeral: I typed too fast, I meant Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast came out in 1999. That expansion is the weak link of the series, but it was still more BG to play.

And 1999 was the year of the PS1 port of Final Fantasy VI; not much was changed, although it was when the name was changed from III to VI. Maybe counting a port isn't in the spirit of talking about the year of best releases; but outside of Japan, the PS1 version outsold the original SNES version.

Nope. I have seen some good games but nothing really outstanding.

I can play all the games that came out prior to 2017 in addition to brand new games exclusive to the calendar year 2017. For example, someone in the year 1994 could not play a game from 2017 but I can play a game from 1994 from the safety of 2017 where I currently exist. For that reason I say that yes, 2017 is the best year in gaming history. I suspect 2018 will be better than 2017 though since in 2018 I can play new 2018 games but still play 2017 video games.

the best year is in the future, cause that year ALL the games will be available. *mind blown*

@paulmako: Hey, I'm totally excited for Destiny 2, so there's that. I've never in my life played a game for as long and as consistently as I've played Destiny. Like the hour count on any other game isn't even close.

I've been told that it's the best time to be playing video games, but I think it will be worth waiting and seeing how the rest of the year pans out before making this "the best year for games ever". It's not like last year wasn't also a bounteous harvest of quality video games, nor was 2015 exactly lacking in that department either. Really, the only kinda weak years I can think of in recent memory are 2012 and 2014, and there was still plenty to talk about in both.

Still, as far as Q1's go, holy shiiiiiit has this been a great one. It's been a long time since so many games that I've wanted to play have all come out around the same time.

I'm hoping that Absolver can deliver. It looks like it could be amazing but it looks very ambitious to say the least.

So far this year we've had around 5-6 critically acclaimed games but I'm super excited for a lot of smaller games too like the previously mentioned Absolver, Eitr looks great, as does Strafe and I think Ghost of a Tale looks like it could be something really special if it comes out this year.

Not enough Prey love.

I think it looks pretty promising and am intrigued by Chris Avellone's involvement. I want to see their spin on the deserted space station trope.

It'll be hard pressed to beat 2010 for me on a personal level (Red Dead, New Vegas, Mass Effect 2, AC Brotherhood, Just Cause 2 and Civilization V). Zelda and Red Dead 2 are the only games in 2017 I've got any strong interest in. From my 30-odd hours with it so far, Zelda is certifiably amazing but one outstanding game does not a "Greatest Year Ever" make.

when i have to skip games I want to play to play other games(for now skipping horizon and nier, for zelda and mass effect) i want to play this year, then yeah it's been a pretty strong start. If only I had alot of time and money to burn.

Nowhere close to 1998 yet, in my opinion!

Such things can only be judged many years after the fact.

Until further notice 1998 shall remain the greatest year in video game release history.

I think the only game I've played so far this year is Nioh. I'm waiting for Zelda to arrive and hope to complete that by the time mass effect is out. I'll get to Horizon later this year. Honestly, the year looks pretty blank to me after that.

It won't be; however some guys behind a good Duke3D source port (Eduke32) are making a build engine game. The team is experienced in making real good old school content, something Strafe wishes it did instead of a generic roguelike.

The years not even a quarter over. I believe you may be ejaculating prematurely.

I think 2016 beats out 2017 right now. I mean that's a whole year vs just the first two months of this year, but I think it's way too early to say.

It's funny because ejaculate means to exclaim something.

2004, 2007 and 2011 are still top tier.

It's too early to say, but it's certainly off to a good start. Hopefully it's not just the first third of the year that's good and the rest of the year is great too. :)