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Rasputin27

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Game of the Year 2017

In one of the best years for gaming, it was quite the task forming a list that accurately reflected my feelings on the year's releases. As a starting point, I decided to stick with games that were fully released this year (not in Early Access). The list below shifted around many times, especially spots 3-10, as I played more games and finished others. Also, I don't have a PS4, so Yakuza, Horizon, and Persona never even got a chance to be on the list. Maybe make your games more accessible? I hope you enjoy the list and I hope you argue with me on why I was wrong.

Honorable mentions:

  • Cogmind - Kept from the list due to being in Early Access. A more traditional turn-based roguelike that is setting fire to the genre. In much the same way that NetHack has tons of little secrets that make the game finishable, Cogmind is packed full of secrets that add to the depth of the game. Unlike NetHack, you don't NEED to learn these secrets to win, but knowing them opens up a whole new set of skills that can be used to take down the dungeon. If you have any interest in traditional roguelikes, this is a must play game.
  • Dead Cells - Also kept from the list due to being in Early Access. This is the must play Metroidvania roguelite for me. It controls like a dream. There is a very satisfying dodge roll that can be used to get behind opponents or dodge certain attacks. There are a variety of weapons that reward different play-styles (like doing damage over time, getting up close and personal with your opponents, parrying their attacks, keeping them at range, etc.). The development has been rapid fire and there are meaningful changes to the game every few months.

List items

  • For me, there was never any other option for the number one spot. The second I started playing it, I was absolutely blown away. I was thrilled to be runnin' around in one of the tightest controlling platformers of all time. Every jump, every bounce, every cap throw, and every dive responded to my inputs in a way that only Mario games have ever done. The worlds were larger than I expected and the freedom to roam around and find moons in (almost) any order made me feel a sense of agency that all of the previous Mario titles lacked. I wasn't diving into paintings to race Koopa the Quick to the top of Bob-omb Battlefield. I wasn't jumping from planetoid to planetoid to get to fight Dino Piranha in the Good Egg Galaxy. Instead, I was combing through a frosty desert and finding a moon held by a shadowy Cheep Cheep by inhabiting a fishing Lakitu, or possessing a hot stack of Goombas to impress a lady Goomba, or navigating a maze as a Bullet Bill, making it to that last platform with less than a second to spare. I felt totally in control of my environment the entire time I was playing Odyssey. If I wanted to, I could get the base amount of moons in a world and just keep moving, but more often than not, I found that I needed to pull myself away from each world to see credits before the end of the year. More than anything, I admired how bold Odyssey is. Mario is a franchise that Nintendo seems to clutch tightly to its chest and rarely takes any true risks on. In Odyssey, it felt like they handed the playbook to a new generation, a generation that grew up on the games they were so protective with, and told them that they believed in their choices. As a result, we got not only the best 3D Mario game, but maybe the best Mario game ever. Odyssey's designers took the franchise everyone knew and loved and flipped it on its head, while still paying respects to former entries in the series (such as the INCREDIBLE New Donk City Festival, the theater where you play World 1-1, and the Mushroom Kingdom). The game takes a lot of influence from other platformers (especially Banjo Kazooie) in its structure, while retaining that essential Mario-ness that keeps people coming back to Nintendo. It's a fantastic game that can impress long time fans without being a strictly nostalgic play.

  • If Super Mario Odyssey never felt like a strictly nostalgic play, Breath of the Wild barely even uses nostalgia to grip its audience. Aside from the name on the package, the characters of link and Zelda, the Master Sword, and a few of the locations on the map, Breath of the Wild takes the whole history of Zelda and throws it behind them. We don't have dungeons or the characteristic items that are very useful in that specific dungeon and sort of useful elsewhere (if at all... looking at you Twilight Princess Spinner), we don't have a fairly strict progression path, we don't have to trade some random arbitrary item for another and another and another to get something lame like a bottle, HELL, we don't even have bottles! Breath in the Wild shakes up the Zelda formula in every way, sometimes to its benefit, and sometimes to its fault. To provide some context, I don't particularly love any of the 3D Zelda games. Maybe it's that lack of fondness for the franchise that made Breath of the Wild feel like a welcome change. The game gives you everything you need in the first thirty minutes (which took me two hours) and turns you loose on a world that is teeming with surprises and challenges. Most of the shrines provide the quick hit of well thought out puzzles that long time fans of the franchise were looking for. The game is also surprisingly difficult for one of Nintendo's flagship franchises, which is a nice change of pace from the relatively breezy difficulty of many Nintendo games. That being said, the game has some serious flaws. The "dungeons" of the game, however, are a bit lacking, with only simple puzzles and an easy boss fight standing in the way of success. There are a few systems (like weapon durability, the fatigue meter, and weather) which can hinder some players' enjoyment of the game. Despite its flaws, Breath of the Wild delivers on one of the most well-designed series of interlocking systems I have ever seen in a game. When you first get struck by lightning because you are carrying a metal sword, you gain the information that electricity will attract to and conduct through metal objects. Great, lesson learned. Then you throw a metal sword at an enemy and watch in amusement as the lightning that would have caused you serious injury fries your foe. And that is just scratch the surface. Every little aspect of Breath of the Wild, from the world design to the various systems' mechanics, encourages discovery; and it is rare to entice such a feeling out of a generation so embedded in gaming.

  • It's rather rare for any media to portray young adults accurately. In most examples, young adult characters feel like caricatures of "a society focused on instant gratification and a very 'me first' attitude." However, every so often, something gets it right, and when it does, I get this feeling of "finally... someone understands." It's the reason that a movie like Clerks (my all time favorite movie) received such acclaim at Sundance despite having lazy directing and mediocre acting. It's the reason that HBO's Girls was as popular as it was. Night in the Woods delivers on the same concept, while also presenting some insight into mental health issues and absolutely nailing the atmosphere of a small town that is in the process of decaying and/or changing. I've never played a game with characters as believable as those in Night in the Woods. I spent my time in the game hanging out with Bea, an alligator (or crocodile?) that works in the hardware store owned by her family and seems rather annoyed at not only the main character (Mae), but at the world in general. As you unfold Bea's story, you understand why she acts the way she acts, why she is friends with Mae at all, and why she drives two hours to attend a party. I won't go into the more spoilery details of Bea's story, but I will say that the game made me feel like Bea was a real person despite being an anthropomorphic alligator. Night in the Woods doubles down on this by making EVERY character as believable as Mae or Bea. From the pastor at the church to the two sports fans that hang out in front of the bar, every single inhabitant of Possum Springs feels real, and seeing the way they react to the changes in their town is heart breaking and uplifting and bittersweet. It's not a game for everyone. There is very little "gameplay" and some of the sections might be too slow for some people. Mae is a rather unlikable protagonist for a majority of the game and some of her confrontations with other characters feels unjustified and for lack of a better word, just shitty. Sometimes people are shitty and Night in the Woods doesn't shy away from it. In my opinion, that's part of what makes the game as special as it is.

  • I don't even know what there is to say about PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS (hereafter referred to as PUBG) that would make this game sound like a top 5 game. It's a janky mess of a game. The vehicle physics are totally insane to the point where a tiny little adjustment can send you skidding off the road, the guns don't really behave the way guns work in other shooters, if you lay a certain way your feet might clip through the wall, you can very easily die from fall damage by sliding down a mountain that a 3 year old could climb, and sometimes the textures don't load in and you can see through all the walls. On top of that, there are aspects of the gameplay that don't seem quite right. You can shoot someone three times in the head and not kill them and yet a single hit with a jump punch will kill them, you sometimes spend 30 minutes looting only to die to the circle, and sometimes you drop and the person that dropped next to you is just slightly faster than you so you die without even picking up a gun. Yet there is something about PUBG that keeps you coming back. Maybe it is the tension of it all. You don't respawn, so if you die, your game is over. That makes each kill that much more meaningful. They didn't just die, they got sent back to the menu. Every decision could help you win or cause your death. Should I take a shot on an unsuspecting opponent or should I stay hidden? Should I throw a grenade to flush them out or run in guns blazing? PUBG gets your pulse pounding in a way that no other game has for me. I am more tense when playing PUBG than I am when playing Rocket League. I don't play a ton of shooters, and yet I play PUBG.

  • I'm gonna keep this one short. It's a Mega Man X roguelite. You fight bosses that give you weapons (if you choose to take them), which are super effective against other bosses. Each weapon also interacts with the traps in the environment (like the Force Nova disabling the lasers... you're welcome). It's just a very good roguelite game and one that I find myself coming back to again and again.

  • Kingsway was my pick for Best Styyyyyyyle. It's a roguelite that is designed to look like a Windows 95 interface. If I had to pick a word of Kingsway, it would be "clever." It's a game that is very dedicated to its style. The music is played through a Windows Media Player-esque program on the little desktop. Using the media player means having an extra window open, which can be a problem at times. The inventory is just a folder with icons in it. When your character moves from one point to the next (sort of similar to FTL), the movement appears as a progress bar you would see when installing a new software. The thing that takes this game from cute gimmick to clever and engaging game for me is the way the various enemies utilize the interface. When fighting, you need to click on buttons to perform actions like attacking or blocking or casting spells. To give a great example of the games cleverness, the assassin enemy continually minimizes his own window, which makes it hard to hit him or block his attacks. Kingsway is a game that uses its style to its advantage.

  • Battle Chef Brigade combines match three puzzles with side scrolling action platforming and Iron Chef theming. It's a strange mash-up that doesn't seem like it should work, but they nail it on all accounts. Battle Chef Brigade takes place in a magical world where chefs hunt monsters, which they then turn into delicious dishes. The main city in the game holds a competition every year to induct new recruits into the prestigious Brigade. The game is almost fully voice acted, which adds to the environment. Each match faces your character against another chef in very Iron Chef inspired contests. The commissioner introduces one to three judges which will be grading your meals based on their balance, inclusion of the theme ingredient, and the meal's ability to highlight an elemental flavor profile. I find the gameplay to be very addictive, but I think it is the theming that really sells the game.

  • Slime Rancher is another game that is definitely not for everyone. It's a game about starting a new life as a rancher on a far away planet. Your task is build up a ranch full of little slimes, each of which favors a certain type of food. After being fed, your slimes will poop out these little diamonds called plorts, which you can trade in for cash. You spend your time alternating between exploring the wilds of the Far Far Range and managing your slimes back at the ranch. You can combine certain slimes to make Largos, which give out both types of plorts when fed, but tend to be more moody and a little harder to handle than a regular slime. The thing that Slime Rancher apart from other Harvest Moon-esque games was, surprisingly, its story. The story is delivered via emails the player receives from various NPCs and through hologram messages scattered throughout the world by your predecessor, Hobson. The game manages to deliver a story about growing up, moving on, taking risks, and drifting apart from your loved ones in a way that I wasn't really expecting and I found myself getting a little choked up as I read the final emails between the main character and their friend back home, Casey.

  • If you've seen any footage of Cuphead, you know that the game just oozes with style. The characters were all lovingly hand drawn and the game was made almost entirely with traditional cartoon animation techniques. Show any clip from Cuphead to anyone, and they instantly want to see more. What was truly surprising was that Cuphead plays almost as well as the game looks. The jumps are responsive, the shooting (while constant) feels right, and the game seems to punish you for your mistakes, rather than randomly hitting you with unavoidable attacks. That being said, Cuphead is REALLY difficult. I've never beaten a boss on the second island, so I haven't even seen seventy percent of the game. It's a bit of a bummer because I am sure the rest of the game would impress me as much as the first bit has. Maybe if I saw more of it, it would move up my list.

  • A lot of people think I'm crazy for a lot of reasons. I have a weird fondness for Japanese punk from the 90's. I put chips on all of my sandwiches to give them a satisfying crunch. I sort of like the smell of gasoline. But the thing people tend to find the strangest about me is my adoration for Bennett Foddy's games. I think QWOP is one of the most well designed browser games available, and GIRP presents an interesting challenge that forces you to think about your inputs a different way. I find it fascinating that his games don't really ask all that much of the player. Foddy is a game design professor and it shows. The challenge isn't getting to the goal, it's learning how to control the character, and once you do, it usually isn't that hard to beat the game. QWOP, for instance, asks you run 100 meters and jump over a hurdle, but learning to control the character is pretty tough. However, once you get the hang of it, it only takes about a minute (maybe even less) to beat the game. The same holds true for Getting Over It. You are a man in a cauldron with a hammer and you need to climb a series of obstacles by swinging your mouse around to control the hammer. At first, it seems impossible to control and getting over the first few obstacles seems like luck. The more you play, the more you understand the rules and when you are presented with your next challenge, you either need to apply the rules to the situation or learn a new rule you haven't thought of before. It's a game that is similar to traditional roguelikes in a lot of ways. Every inch you make it further is because you improved your skill. In Getting Over It, you don't have to deal with procedural generation (thank God), but you do have to learn how to read a situation and how to apply the things you learned from your failures to overcome the challenge. It's a really great game and I am worried that people will sell it short because streamers like to rage at a "bad game." It's not a bad game, they are just bad players.

  • Caveblazers is an action platformer roguelite. It takes a lot of lessons from its predecessors, especially Spelunky, and incorporates some classic roguelike elements (random potions that do different things each game). It has great feeling controls and the levels all feel fair in much the same way that levels in Spelunky do. Caveblazers is a game that rewards exploring each level of the dungeon fully, as there are hidden paths, extra items, and plenty of money to be found.

  • Another action platformer roguelite that stands out in some interesting ways. Nongünz delivers all of its information using numbers and symbols. The only text in the game is the names of the little worshipper dudes you rescue and the names of the skeletal minions you raise to crawl the dungeon for you. That brings us to the other unique thing about Nongünz, the incorporation of incremental (clicker) game elements. Each of the aforementioned worshippers provides you with points (the games currency) over time. The more worshippers you have, the more points you earn per second, and the higher their level, the more points they provide at a time. The game provides an interesting twist on the roguelite formula because you do not keep any points or upgrades you earn in the dungeon when you die. Instead you have to make the call to either press forward in the dungeon or leave with what you have and invest your points in guns to bring into your next run. It's a really satisfying loop that is further complicated by the fact that hopping out of the dungeon sends you all the way back to the beginning, even if you have cleared a boss and moved on to the next world. The idea is that investing in a new gun will make the next run through the first world easier. It's a weird take on the genre and it has a lot of depth when it comes to when you decide to move forward.

  • If you would've told me that someone was going to make a golf game with a level up system, an overworld, quests, and Earthbound style writing and then told me it was going to be GOOD, I would've probably scoffed. Then I played Golf Story, and that is exactly the case. I don't think I need to elaborate much further other than to say that the golfing feels pretty good, but boy is there a lot of golfing. A big surprise for me this year and one of the non-Nintendo stand-outs on the Switch.

  • Hand of Fate 2 is like Hand of Fate 1, but better in pretty much every conceivable way. The encounters are more interesting, the runs are more varied, you can have companions, the weapons feel different and they have little challenges to unlock better versions, and the little card shuffle mechanic from the first one is expanded upon with a roulette wheel, a pendulum, and some dice. It's a really great game for fans of the series and definitely not a mixed bag.

  • It's probably a crime for me to put Divinity: Original Sin II so low on my list, but much like Vinny, I simply didn't have the time to sink my teeth in. I'm sure it will be my 2018 2017's Game of the Year.

  • Another interesting spin on the roguelite genre (sensing a theme?). Has Been Heroes requires you to divide your attention between 3 lanes of enemies as they walk ever forward towards you party. Each party member hits a certain number of times for varying amounts of damage (like the warrior hitting once for big damage, but the mage hitting twice for low damage). Each enemy has a "shell" before damage can be applied, so the game turns into this bizarre juggle of hitting an enemy the correct number of times to deplete the "shell" and then swapping in a character that can hit for a decent amount. Of course this is further complicated by the characters having a cool-down before they can attack again. On top of THAT, there are spells and items and monsters that can change lanes. It's a bit overwhelming at first, but once you lock into a rhythm, it becomes a really fun game.

  • I've been a fan of the browser-based Kingdom of Loathing for a long time, so when they announced they would be making a full game, I was stoked. Sure enough, they delivered on their premise and released a super charming jaunt through the West of Loathing. If you haven't played Kingdom of Loathing, I highly suggest it (it's free, so why not?). It's a browser based RPG that is packed full of bizarre jokes and pop culture references (like Zobmies/Zmobies dropping cranberries, a reference to the song "Zombie" by the band The Cranberries). West of Loathing took that wacky world and made a full-fledged RPG out of it. The real joy in the game is the writing, so if you don't like Kingdom of Loathing's writing, stay away. However, if you like that style of humor, this will make you smile the whole way through.

  • Yet another roguelite! Flinthook is an action platformer roguelite that consists of your character infiltrating a fleet of space pirate ships, each with a certain number of rooms. The game's shining point is the traversal using your grappling hook. The gameplay is sharp and snappy, but aside from that, it doesn't quite change up the formula much. I could see Flinthook getting a lot more people into the roguelite genre, which is always a welcome thing in my book.

  • Nintendo was full of surprises this year and they surprised us again by partnering with Ubisoft and delivering Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. When they first announced it, I honestly rolled my eyes a bit because it felt like Nintendo was trying to capture some of that Minion magic by incorporating the similarly bungling and gibberish talking Rabbids into their universe. What I wasn't expecting was a game that is better described as "baby's first X-COM" with a Grant Kirkhope (of Banjo Kazooie fame) soundtrack. It's a pretty fun game, with clever mechanics (such as slide tackling and launching off of teammates) that provide more depth than I was initially willing to give it credit for. If the game has a drawback, it's that it drags on a bit, especially in world 3. If it was about half as long, I think this could've been a contender for top 10.

  • I'm not the most die-hard Super Smash Bros fan out there, but boy if Rivals of Aether doesn't provide that solid hit of Smash that I was needing this year. The game provides you with eight characters (not including DLC) that each play like a weird mash-up of Smash characters with a twist. For instance, the fiery lion Zetterburn plays like a mix of Fox, Ness, and Ganondorf. If you like Smash, you might like this game.
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