This has been a pretty difficult year to play games. Being a parent for the first time is amazing, but it certainly doesn't leave time for video games. In my spare time, there are so many nights where it's so much easier to binge on Netflix rather than doing something more involved.
In addition to the list, here are games I plan on playing soon but I haven't been able to start yet.
Games of the Year 2017 (tentative)
Expect this to change in the next few weeks as I work through my backlog. I'm no longer including repeats in this list and will move it to honorable mentions, but older unplayed games are still eligible!
Honourable Mentions
Showing 1-10 of 16 items
Yes, Mass Effect 1. With all the excitement about a new Mass Effect coming this year (with Andromeda), I got it in my head that I should play Mass Effect 1 through again on PC and see how it holds up in 4k. This game is amazing... even though I tried to skip over some of the more tedious parts (the Mako specifically), I think I clocked over 35 hours during my playthrough.
The first actual "game" I've finished in VR. It was frickin' amazing, I felt like Neo in the Matrix. Also, I loved the Amiga-ish computers in "real" life... excellent touch. SUPER HOT.
A few years ago, I did ALOT of climbing at the indoor gyms in my hometown. Due to some health issues, it's been hard to return to it, and I miss it alot. The Climb scratches the itch. I've played through all the maps on all the difficult levels, and I'd honestly just love more. Even a couple of months later, I'm still jumping in to play. It just scratches that itch that much.
Yes of course Elite is on this list. :D
Breath of the Wild is the return-to-form that Zelda games have needed for awhile. Who cares about hours of dialog and setup when we just want to get to work saving the world? And get to work Breath of the Wild does. Thrown in the world, it's up to you how to progress, making it a very challenging game, especially for a recent LoZ title. I do have complaints. I would have really liked to see (slightly) more story and cutscenes, particularly the ending which seemed over in a flash. Also, the forced stealth missions through the ninja camp feel completely out of place, especially since the focus on open-ended gameplay was very much the right choice. Fantastic game.
This game is still amazing... the PC version is pretty decent! One of the best games of all time. It was my pleasure to replay it.
[MENTION] So, this is a weird game for this list. I didn't play through ME3, but I tried. This particular version is a mess; UI scaling is NOT supported, so playing it on a 4K display at native res is a futile effort. That's really weird since ME1 and ME2 run so well. I really wish EA would revisit these games at some point and give them a HD makeover, but I highly doubt that will ever happen.
I think I came into Andromeda in a different mindset than most reviews, most likely because of timing. I waited some time (until patch 1.07), when most of the major bugs were gone. I enjoyed my time. The combat was enjoyable. The story was generally ok. The last mission was awesome. But you can tell it was a rushed game. The most egregious thing I can say about this game is that it doesn't respect the time of the player. I played for 70 hours, but looking back, I think only 50 hours were actually fun. The rest was waiting in animations, now mostly skippable, weren't previously. I can't imagine having played this game before the patch. This game needed an editing pass.
I feel like I've played some amazing games this year. Edith Finch is one of them. The tale of her world and family is engrossing, and even months after -- I had forgotten to put this on my list -- I still remember the monster arm going after sailors and the video game/fish beheading section. A very well executed story with gameplay that fits.
Pffft... Lone Echo wasn't even on my radar until I saw that the Echo Arena beta was on. I didn't even realize they were related! Lone Echo -- the single player -- is fantastic. Movement is always a problem in VR games, yet here is a VR game that does it better than any other. It sidesteps the issue by moving everything to zero-g, and it's better off for it. It's just so damn satisfying moving around the environment. My only major complaint is that isn't always clear what you need to do, and there was at least one time when I wasn't sure what/where to look for something. A (limited) help mechanic would be welcome. Another damn fine VR game.