Ron's Top 5 Games of 2017

2017 was a year I struggled to get through. Here is a list of some of my favorite gaming experiences that largely helped me cope with some of the difficult times.

Quick shoutout to some of the games that didn't make it.

Cuphead is great but it was just too much for me in a year where I was dealing with a lot of stress. I like games that help me relax or at least relieve tension. I just couldn't get Cuphead to work that way for me. I still loved my time with it and think the game looks and feels absolutely incredible. I really hope 2018 is a less stressful year for me so I can come back to this game and give it the time it deserves.

Middle Earth: Shadow of War has maybe one of my favorite "twists" of the year but it is immediately proceeded by one of the shittiest grinds I've ever seen. The gameplay is so excellent in those games... I wish they had not fucked that up so bad or it might have been on my list.

And of course all the games that I never even got around to playing... I still wish I had made time for Night in the Woods this year. What Remains of Edith Finch is also on my list. And, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is still high on my list of games to play because I absolutely love that world and want to see everything it has to offer.

And with that, here are my favorite games of 2017 in order.

List items

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  1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

  I can't even begin to describe the magic that this game seems to bottle up and pour all over you. I enjoyed almost every part of the game so thoroughly and deeply that I think that this might not just be my favorite game of 2017, but maybe one of my favorite games of all time. I am a big fan of open-world games and I've never played a game that was able to so expertly capture everything that makes those games so satisfying in such a beautiful way.

  The part that makes this so absolutely mindblowing is that I had very low expectations for Nintendo's ability to realize the genre. Nintendo is largely a company that ignores or foregoes the status quo and when games like the Witcher III exist and have solved so many problems that open world games pose... I was afraid that Nintendo would fail where so many other games have failed.

  I was wrong to doubt them.

  I'll also add that the music in this game is absolutely incredible. This is the first game with an orchestral soundtrack that I have ever really stopped and listened to. It's amazing.

  Nintendo managed to find a new way to make open world games and in the same action they completely reset my expectations for future open-world titles. Good luck, everybody else

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  2. PUBG: Battlegrounds

  Battlegrounds was able to capture a feeling that I haven't had since I played Eve: Online almost a decade ago. The feeling of real consequence and reward inside of a multiplayer game.

  Battlegrounds manages to execute on building tension and payoff through multiple moments in every game. Every time you engage an enemy it is significant. There are no two moments that ever feel the same.

  Battlegrounds was the first time I ever felt compelled to record myself playing a videogame. It was the first time I ever sought out videos of other people playing the game on YouTube and Twitch. I could see myself taking PUBG eSports very seriously, which is absolutely unthinkable. What an incredible game.

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  3. World of Warcraft: Legion

  Legion was on my list last year and I strongly feel that this may be the best WoW expansion that Blizzard has released. They have made so many smart changes to the way that content is delivered and who it is aimed at with this expension.

  Legion is the first WoW expansion that I have ever resubscribed to in-between expansion releases.

  Things like the Mythic+ system give people like me who have a small group of friends playing the game some high-level content to do without needing 10+ people to do it.

  I am honestly very excited to see what Battle For Azeroth brings. In the meantime I am still enjoying Legion immensely and I will be playing it into 2018.

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  4. Warhammer 40,000

  This is not a video game...

  I started playing the Warhammer 40k tabletop game in 2016 and by the end of the year I had fallen off of it very hard. In 2017 Games Workshop released the 8th edition of the ruleset and it got me back in in a big way.

  The rules are much more streamlined and much more enjoyable than 7th edition. And, the "new" Games Workshop seems to be trying to be more inclusive and open to shaking loose some of the aspects of the 40k community that many people feel are toxic.

  Still, at the end of the year I did fall off of it again. The game part of 40k is fun, but where that falls short building and painting models picks it right up. The act of assembling, priming, painting, and basing a model has been so cathartic for me. It allows me to flex a creative muscle that my job and my other hobbies simply don't allow for. I truly love the feeling of completing a model and I had to include that on my list because it has been such a therapeutic exercise for me this year.

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  5. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

  I heard a lot of wild stories about Wolfenstein II and based on trailers and marketing I figured this game would be good, but wow... I was still shocked by some of the incredible moments this game produced.

  Those moments are why it is on this list. I think Wolfenstein II does an excellent job at telling a story punctuated by twists and turns that are truly suprising, but so many parts of the game don't work for me I almost bumped it off.

  First, the gameplay can be very frustrating. It feels like enemies have too much health or that the guns are too weak. I'm not really sure which. The stealth just doesn't work that well, which is unfortunate because I love stealth. And, I was a little disappointed that the game often went out of its way to present Nazis as bumbling idiots.

  That last part is especially frustrating. In a game that seems to want to portray white America as complicit in the fascism and racism of their society... they fall back on the falsehood that those people just do it because they are stupid. With various exceptions, a majority of the American collaborators are shown to be robe-wearing KKK members who speak with thick southern accents. It simply doesn't work that way in real life and I wish they had leaned into that more heavily.

  Still, for all it's shortcoming I think that the game has stuck with me in a way that I find very satisfying. it wasn't everything I wanted but I hope to see something even better out of the next one of these.