For Honor - I really liked what I played of this and am excited to play more of it next year. The addition of dedicated servers next year for online play will have me back. Pair that with a story mode that gets comparisons to Glen Cook's The Black Company, you have my attention.
Nioh - I wanna play samurai souls.
20XX - I spent some time with this run-based megaman clone, and enjoyed it.
Dream Daddy - Your character used to be in a ska band called Skamunist Manifesto. HELL YEAH I'M THERE. There is a minigame where you find your date at a show for the band PUP. It is literally like they made this directly for me.
Wolfenstein II - Do more than punch Nazis. I finished the first game this year and thought it was pretty good.
Steamworld Dig 2 - I honestly didn't play too many games like steamworld dig or the Mummy this year. I am hopeful to rectify some of that in 2018.
Pinball - This year I have played more pinball than I have played most games this year combined. While I'm not at a point yet that I would consider myself very good (see my matchplay and IFPA ranking, yikes) but I am getting better in little tiny improvements. I have finished fourth in my division in league play twice this year. Just this month, I finished second to last but played pretty good in most games including the best and most intense game of Doctor Who in my life. Pinball is cool and I am happy that there is a group where I live that I can run up against some of the best.
Pillars of Eternity - Finally finished PoE. I love it. Very much.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - I'm not always crazy about Mario Kart but having this on the switch is an excellent way to play this game. Good, way to figure that out Nintendo, I'm proud of you.
DOOM - Shit, Doom is good. I played some while streaming for Extra Life. That arcade mode is gooooooooooood.
Arkham Horror LCG - This is a very good card game that I wish I had more time for. The campaign structure and choices between games make this a card game unlike much else out there.
Microscope - Man, Microscope is great. My group is using it as prep for a traditional RPG and the shared world building is something else. Kaiju defense in Attack on Titan with magic is kinda where we ended up, oh and horses are magical? The game truly delivers something else.
With there being so many great games this year, I decided to cheat and list some other games as well that just didn't make the top 10. Mobile Fire Emblem, a mobile version of a card game I love, some golf, good-looking contra bosses, and Final Fight but weird. This isn't even the top 10 and cutting games from the cheat list was still tough (splatoon...).
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Okay, so the idea is that you play as a group of high-school kids that need to prevent adults from ruining everything all the time forever by fighting demons. If that is not a great metaphor for 2017 then I am out of ideas. Motorcycle persona, best soundtrack in games, and more style than I can shake a stick at makes Persona 5 my game of the year with over 100 hours played. When they milk the soundtrack again for the dancing game, consider me there.
2017 needed a warm hug kind of game and Mario is that one hundred percent. The hat mechanic is great, the puzzles are great, the worlds are great. Nintendo finally made a 3d Mario game that I actually like.
They put the game about strapping the game to your face and STRAPPED IT TO YOUR FACE! I can't wait to show my dedication even more.
Breath of the Wild didn't finish in the way that I had come to expect from a Zelda game, which is okay. I liked all of it except for the part that it was supposed to be a Zelda game. It is close to being one of those but needed deep, dark, and dangerous dungeons. It isn't that game, which is fine because it is a very good game at what it ends up being.
I needed a game to just sit and do nothing with and MAN did Golf deliver this year. Everybody's Golf is the right price for what it is and is exactly what it appears to be, a weird classic style golf game.
So continues my love/hate relationship with destiny. God I hate destiny, but the shooting feels sooooo good. The content in destiny 2 is MUCH better than the first one but, still not all that great.
This is a mobile idle and clicker game. I finished all of it. I mean, I literally ran out of things to do as all of the drivers were at max level and there was nothing else for the game to offer me. When you get a multiplier, The Offspring plays.
These punk rock dogs rule. Check it out. They are freakin' rad. The story kept me hooked and Magic religious basketball for hope speaks to me. https://youtu.be/5LMZYnOml54
Run-based Hotline Miami in space with slow-mo. This is exactly what 2017 needed. The adrenaline rush isn't quite as high but it is still there and adds some more prep before each mission. I respect the changes to the formula as they truly needed to deliver something different to make the run pieces work successfully.
Nier was fine. I just wished it played better.