Here It Is: My Big Damn Game Of The Year List For Twenty Seventeen

2017 was an experience for me. In addition to entering a new stage of my life, I played more games than I can remember playing in any other year. I also got more involved with the Giant Bomb community. I explained the trials and tribulations of becoming a Hong Kong Legend. I wrote a pair of blog posts saying Kingdom Hearts was bad, which unexpectedly blew up when an unpopular new series cropped up that proved Kingdom Hearts was indeed bad. By the end of the year, I eventually began to write stuff that was worthwhile, even being featured on the community spotlight. Of course I had to join in on the game of the year party.

That being said, despite the large number of games I played, there were a comparatively small number of 2017 games. I could have just included older games on this list, but I really wanted to present the year’s new releases and be fair to the developers who put out titles this year. I also decided to subvert my typical writing style with this list, so I cut back on the snarky “comedy” and gratuitous swearing. Just imagine I’m presenting these in a tuxedo on some stage somewhere.

10. Yooka-Laylee

All right, it’s fair to say that there are a lot of issues with Yooka-Laylee. For a game of its budget, and more importantly lineage, there are some questionable design, layout, and control elements that pop up around the game. But for whatever reason, I still had a moderate amount of fun with it. Even as a backer of the game, I didn’t leave with a bitter taste of disappointment like a lot of people did. To me, there’s just enough of that old charm left over where I can squint my eyes and look past the game’s shortcomings.

Even at its worst, I would say Yooka-Laylee is “average.” It certainly doesn’t occupy the same spot as the original Banjo-Kazooie, but it isn’t terrible on its own merit. With A Hat and Time and Super Mario Odyssey both coming out and apparently doing a better job with what this game promised, maybe I did back the wrong horse. However, I still enjoyed my time with Yooka-Laylee.

9. Star Fox 2

To sum up Star Fox 2 in three words, I would say, “huh, that’s neat!” Sure, the game missed its intended release date by a decade or two, but it’s been picked and pulled at by more recent Star Fox games, the greedy vultures they are. There’s the introduction of all-range mode, charge shots, and Star Wolf which were staples of Star Fox 64 (the GOAT). There’s the real-time map screen which was used for Star Fox Command on the DS. And yes, there’s transforming into the walker, which was recycled for - shudder - Star Fox Zero.

As is traditional, Star Fox 2 is really short. While it doesn’t have the inherent replay value of 64, it’s sort of incredible to see the Super Nintendo come remotely close to pulling off something this ambitious. In a way, getting cancelled was the best thing that could have happened to Star Fox 2. While it would have looked outdated at the time compared to burgeoning 3D consoles with even more bits, today we can finally appreciate it for its historical value.

I also want to point out that if you have this game, you also have access to Earthbound, so what are you doing go play Earthbound right now it’s like the #3 game of all time.

8. Horizon Zero Dawn

I have to admit I don’t fully understand the enamourment so many people have towards Horizon Zero Dawn. It’s technically sound, it looks absolutely breathtaking, and the world-building is not bad. Well, half of it, anyway. Uncovering the secrets of the past throughout the story is really interesting, and pretty well-executed. However, anything involving tribe relations or some idiot’s problems, the other half of the game’s story, I found absolutely dull. While Aloy could be finding out who she is and how this world came to be, she instead spends a lot of time snarkily talking at some idiot about a lost sheep, or something. I skipped past a lot of that dialogue, which is pretty rare for me.

Anyways, the combat is pretty interesting - again, half the time. Fighting giant robots can be fun when you’re exploring your range of options and going for weak points. Fighting human enemies removes a lot of the nuance from the game. Instead of having to execute precise shots on different parts of a huge monster, you just fool around with an average stealth system and go for headshots. Some people absolutely love this game, and I can see good parts to it. But often, those parts are obscured by some uninspired elements. They take away Horizon’s biggest strength - its uniqueness.

7. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment

I feel like I have the levels for the original Shovel Knight committed to memory at this point, which means any further attempt to play them is quite boring to me. So when the third campaign, Specter of Torment, was nearing release, I was worried it would just be a retread of the same levels like Plague of Shadows. However, Specter Knight’s campaign almost feels like an entirely new game, one that I may enjoy even more than the original.

Everything in the game is reimagined, from all-new level design and mechanics, to remixed music to suit the changes in those levels, to creative new boss patterns that keep you on your toes. Specter Knight’s abilities and power ups create exciting new possibilities for movement which are used to their full potential. The excellence of this campaign made me remember how cool the original game was.

6. HITMAN: Patient Zero

This may feel a bit like I’m padding the list (well…), but I got even further into 2016’s HITMAN this year. It’s not like the flow of content completely dried out either. There was a good stream of elusive targets, escalations, and contracts that kept the game installed until the release of the Patient Zero campaign. While Patient Zero still pulls from the original maps, IO Interactive fulfilled its promise of mixing these locations up.

While the lack of unlockables in the new missions is a bit disappointing, the twists the game throws in there put new spins on the formula. For example, they managed to turn my most hated level from the original game into a cool sniping challenge, and the twist they put on Hokkaido makes for a chaotic type of Hitman we’ve never seen before. The expansion is worth 20 bucks, in my opinion - and hey, you’re helping out a newly independent developer that makes incredibly tight experiences.

Okay, it’s go time. The top five. This is where the rubber meets the road. Where the boys separate from the men. No more padding with nonsense, these games are the cream of the crop this year. They may not be the biggest surprises, but they are all excellent experiences. Some points of commonality - style, music, and purposeful design. Instead of thinking of these games as better or worse than each other qualitatively, think of them in terms of the experience and impression they gave me.

5. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild isn’t my favorite Zelda game (that honor will always go to The Wind Waker), but you have to respect the uncharacteristic leap of faith Nintendo took in utterly transforming one of its core pillars into something that’s never quite existed before. There’s an interesting duality here between the gigantic open world and the bite-sized challenges of shrines and Korok seeds. Farting around and exploring has always been the heart of Zelda, and this system takes a whole new angle on that idea - one that distills it into shots of discovery around every turn. By the way, linking the Master Sword to the number of hearts the player has is absolutely brilliant.

That’s not to say that all the parts of Zelda are perfect in Breath of the Wild. The weapon degradation (because “durability” is an ill-fitting word) isn’t fun, the stamina system is limiting, the story is dull, the voice acting is disgusting, core dungeons are lacking, you can’t climb in the rain - but Breath of the Wild’s successes are just as important. They’ve been talking about “changing the Zelda formula” for years and years, and by god, this time they actually did it. The best part? While this game can last you 120 hours if you let it, 119 of those are completely optional. That may be the boldest step I’ve ever seen the franchise take.

4. Persona 5

I’ll refrain from tired puns at this point and just say that Persona 5 was a shock to me. I kind of hate anime, and RPGs, and thinking. But the style. The music. The characters. Mike Pence. It was something I couldn’t just ignore. So, 75.5 hours and two blog posts later, I can say that Persona 5 stuck in my head like few other experiences this year. I’ve already written thousands of words on the game, so if you want to know my extended thoughts, I recommend checking those out - especially part 2.

Part 1

Part 2

3. NieR: Automata

A lot of naysayers, and even fans, have said NieR: Automata’s victories, if there are any, are at odds with its gameplay. To a certain extent, I can’t disagree. Proportional to the amount of game there is, Automata exhausts its combat depth fairly quickly. Once you get some good healing chips, the challenge is pretty much over, even though there are dozens of hours and multiple playthroughs still to go.

Automata has great music, fascinating world, butt, etc. But the story is the end-all be-all star of the game. There are so many times that the player’s perspective on what the story and the world means. These happen with such frequency that by the end the story everything feels as if it’s about to collapse in on itself. And the way the characters handle these revelations is just as shocking and bizarre.

On the first playthrough, there are countless narrative threads the player will notice. An odd bit of dialogue, a minor character that feels a little out of place. But the game never dwells on them, so the player shoves them into the ever-growing pile at the back of their mind. But on subsequent routes, especially if the player goes out of their way to dig up secrets, all of these questions are answered. With each revelation, the player understands a bit more of the disturbing state the world is in, and how no one truly understands what’s happening.

Automata’s side quests suck. They’re almost all boring fetch quests that see you retreading the same areas for the nth time and warping back to turn in your items. Your rewards, however, are more than just items and gold. Each quest gives small clues and details about the disturbing way of life in this world, a number of which dramatically change the perception of the really big reveals towards the end of the game. I went out of my way to complete 98% of the sidequests, and I feel like my experience was genuinely enhanced because of it.

The closing of Route B leaves the player unsettled and confused, and from the second Route C starts up, Yoko Taro reveals that he actually had the training wheels on the entire time, and pulls back the curtain on just how Messed. Up. the entire setting is. The game commands the player to finish the game and somehow, by some miracle, salvage a happy ending for these poor characters. Talking about this without specific spoilers is killing me.

The final ending of the game is downright moving. The final choice the player gets to make asks them to look inside themselves, and I believe that selling Playstation trophies in-game was done to facilitate that decision - it certainly did for me. There was only one answer I could have chosen. While Automata may play lower than Platinum’s finest, the story could not be achieved in any other medium. Please, if you are one of the Dans or Abbys of the world, I beg you to experience this once in your life - preferably without knowing many details. A story this good deserves to be witnessed.

2. Sonic Mania

So, we’ve got the serious junk out of the way, it’s time for some good old-fashioned platforming. Unlike the other horrendous attempt at a Sonic game this year, Sonic Mania has a perfect understanding of what Sonic is, why it was good, and how to bring those qualities back today. Yes, fans have an infinitely better understanding of SEGA’s flagship franchise than SEGA itself. The controls are perfect. Everything I would expect to be able to do in a classic Sonic game, I can do here. The level design is inspired and fresh, even if it takes a lot of inspiration from past games.

There are so many easter eggs and nods to longtime fans that it’s obvious the developers knew who their primary audience would be. But even if you don’t have that nostalgic attachment, the game is an excellent platformer. I might say that it’s the best Sonic game to ever be released. It does steal a lot of level themes from the classic games, which is a bit of a shame. The original zones in Sonic Mania are easily the highlight creatively. Hopefully, Sonic Mania 2 puts more of an emphasis on fresh ideas - and the way the response to Forces is going, that seems to be SEGA’s only option to keep the series in good health.

For a fuller review, read mine. If you want.

This year, the definition of “masterpiece” came up in debate within the community. To me, a masterpiece can’t just be a game that you like. Super Mario Sunshine certainly isn’t one. A masterpiece needs an identity and a goal, and it has to execute every part of its design and aesthetics to reach them. So while a lot of the games on this list are fantastic, unforgettable experiences, they also have caveats attached. Persona 5 has questionable dungeon design. NieR: Automata has limited gameplay. Sonic Mania takes a little too much of its identity from the past. Zelda has some clunky systems. There is one game in 2017 that I can say, without any regrets on my soul, is 100% a masterpiece.

It's Cuphead.

1. Cuphead

Studio MDHR had a concrete vision of what they wanted to achieve with Cuphead, and every single detail in the game works toward reaching that vision without compromise. Of course, the presentation of the game is second to none that I’ve ever seen. Every single frame has passion and inspiration dripping from it, every picture drawn, inked, and colored with love. The character designs are flawless, and they animate with incredible energy. The music perfectly fits with the action and time period, and I can’t put into words how much the live performance adds to the experience.

Even with such a chaotic appearance, I rarely ever lost track of Cuphead or was caught by an unseen attack. While the bosses stretch and contort, you always know how Cuphead will move and act with your inputs. He responds immediately. The game doesn’t work with momentum like Sonic; Cuphead has ultimate precision in his movement. When the game demands so much from your performance, this is an absolute must.

Fighting bosses for the first time is a great and rewarding experience. You might die a few times, but you build up the muscle memory and can avoid attacks pretty regularly. Then, the boss moves to its next insane form. You barely have a moment to appreciate how awesome it looks before it starts throwing more attacks at you. Chipping away at the boss’s patterns, hearing the music start up again and energize you for another round, going cross-eyed from focusing on so many things… it all builds to such a satisfying payoff when you hear, “A KNOCKOUT!” followed probably by an audible noise of relief from the player.

People were whining about the difficulty in Cuphead, but to me, without the difficulty Studio MDHR could have just made cartoons. Every decision I made in Cuphead revolved around my confidence in my own ability. Should I trade damage for an extra heart? If I just get better and don’t get hit, I won’t need it. When I hit a seemingly impossible wall, fighting the dragon or the robot, the only barrier I truly needed to pass was my own focus. By dialing in and, yes, “getting good,” I triumphed through to the end, one of the most satisfying experiences I had with a game this year. That’s why the idea of letting players skip past difficult parts is so distasteful to me. Cuphead is a masterpiece because of its difficulty, not in spite of it.

Though they are in some ways total opposites, Cuphead is similar to NieR: Automata in that the choices the developers made could only work in this crazy medium. The creativity I’ve seen in games this year astounds me. On this list, there’s a mix of games trying to ape the style of the classics and games charging into completely new territory. In both cases, they push what can be done with video games. Someday, will the mainstream put gaming on the same pedestal as fine literature? Perhaps not, but I would be happy either way.

I’ll see you next year.

And Kingdom Hearts still suuuuuuuuuuuuuucks!!