Top 10 Games of the Year
I’ve played far too many games this, and bought far more than I’ll likely ever play. And after some heavy soul searching and reflection (read: about 30 minutes while drinking coffee), I’ve come up with what are my top ten games of 2017. These are presented in no particular order.
Resident Evil VII
I’m a horror junkie, of all genres. Movies, books, TV… and of course games. Resident Evil remains my favorite PS1 game of all time. I’ve played all the Resident Evil games(even 5 and 6, but let’s not talk about those), I’ve seen all the movies (let’s also never talk about those), and have lots of physical merchandise.
When Resident Evil 7 was announced, I was super excited. It’s actually a survival horror game again! It’s not what the three previous main titles were. It’s Resident Evil!
And I was not disappointed. I enjoyed RE7 and all aspects of it. I played it again for a Madhouse completion, and again for a speedrun completion. It’s one of the few games I finished 100% — before the DLC came out and added more — and it still stands as one of my favorite horror games of all time. The entire Baker family is well written, well acted, and seriously fucked up, and for that, I am extremely happy.
If I had any interest in PSVR, I’d have bought the game a second time to play it in VR.
Hours spent according to Steam: 20
PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS
The title is stupid, and I don’t know why it’s capitalized, but no multiplayer game this year, or even in recent memory, has held me the way PUBG has. Starting as a solo player, failing miserably, gradually getting better, won a few dinners, only to move onto squads and restarted the process at the failing miserably bit.
It’s been a slow and rocky ride, but it’s a great game, made all the better by playing in squads with people you play with regularly.
Hours spent according to Steam: 79
Assassin’s Creed: Origins
I haven’t played many of the more recent Assassin’s Creed games (skipped Unity, a few that came before Unity, started playing again from Syndicate), but man, am I really enjoying Origins.
I’m currently level 37, working toward finding The Hyena, and I’m completing sidequests and all the question marks as I go and make my way through the varied and unique districts. I haven’t as of yet completed the game, but it’s already one of my favorite single player games of the year. It’s expansive, with lots to do, and keeps me coming back.
Hours spent according to Steam: 36
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Wolfenstein: The New Order was one of my favorite single player games when it came out, and Wolfenstein II takes everything the first and adds more onto it. 1960s Roswell, going to Venus, and your U-Boat which you wind up calling home. It’s well designed, well acted, well written and is just a fantastic game.
As of this writing, I’ve finished the campaign, have a few more assassinations to do, and I’m waiting for the remainder of the DLC to be released before I head back into it.
Hours spent according to Steam: 12
Friday the 13th: The Game
I was torn on Friday the 13th’s inclusion in my list, mainly for one reason: when the game launched, I was one of the unlucky people who got stuck in that “database login” error, that took almost two weeks Gun Media to fix. I swore off the game based on that, but then reinstalled at some point because I really wanted to play it.
And I’m glad I did.
It’s extraordinarily janky, it’s buggy, and has many problems, but the actual game is still damn fun. I quite enjoy playing as the councilors moreso than Jason, but I do love a good splitting of the body down the middle with a rusty axe.
Hours spent according to Steam: 13 (appropriate)
The Evil Within 2
The Evil Within had a lot of issues, but ultimately told an interesting story, with some truly disgusting monster designs, and some neat trap mechanics. I’ll never forget running away from the chainsaw guy, only to cross a beam and get blown up.
The Evil Within 2 fixed most of what was bad about the first game, added a fairly large semi-open world (you can wander around, but it’s still linear), and has one of the best villains I’ve seen all year in Stefano.
Hours spent according to Steam: 16
Cuphead
Oh man, what can you say about Cuphead? I lost $50 betting someone that it wouldn’t actually come out this year, even though it had a solid date. But hey, it did! And what a game it is.
The bosses are challenging but not impossible, and the aesthetic is out of this world. I love the hand-drawn, old, old-school style animation and feel. It’s a fairly short game, but it’s priced appropriately, and I really hope they release some DLC in the future.
This is also one of the few games I finished 100%, and that required a lot of my hair to be pulled from my head.
Hours spent according to Steam: 6 (although I feel this is wrong, I swear I spent far more time in the game)
Super Mario Odyssey
It hasn’t been out that long, and it’s odd that the Switch launched without a Mario game, but the wait was more than worth it, as Super Mario Odyssey is not only my favorite platforming game of the year, but it’s my favorite console game of the year.
I’ve only put about 10 hours into Odyssey so far, but it instantly drew me in, and I feel like I still have 40 hours to go before I see even half of the game.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
I bought Breath of the Wild when I bought my Switch, like pretty much every other launch day buyer on the planet, and put a lot of time into the game. The world is breathtaking, the combat is smooth and fluid, and I just enjoy getting lost in the world, finding all the shrines, and saving the land from the evils of Ganon.
But not those Korok seeds. To hell with them, 900 of them, what do you think I am Nintendo, a 12 year old still with limitless time?! (…continues collecting seeds)
Horizon: Zero Dawn
I’m sad to say I’m not too far into Horizon, but the story, characters and world had instantly drawn me in. The combat is fantastic, the climbing and platforming are excellent, and Horizon is definitely one of the best PlayStation 4 games that has come out this year. I’ve yet to venture into the DLC, but I imagine I’ll lose even more time when I finally do.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, nor was it written to provide you with minute details of each and every aspect of these games. These are simply, in my own opinion, my top ten games of the year.
Are any of these in your top ten as well? Hit me up over on Twitter and let me know what’s on your list!
James was born and raised in Toronto, and still loves the city, for all its problems. Tech geek, gaming geek, horror geek, and if you get between me and coffee, then may something have mercy on your soul. If you want to keep up to date or stay in touch, follow me on Twitter, check me out over on Twitch, and chat with me on Discord.
