My Top 10 BEST Games of 2017!

My Top 10 BEST Games of 2017!

          It’s amazing to think another year has come and gone. 2017 truly was an incredible year for games, giving us fantastic new installments to some tried and true franchise, stellar new IPs from favourite developers, and splendid indie titles we didn’t even know we wanted. I’ve picked out 10 of my absolute favourite games I played this year, and believe me, it wasn’t easy choosing just 10 this time around.

Remember that this is just my opinion, and if there’s a game that you feel should be on this list that isn’t, that’s either because I didn’t get to play it or I did play it and didn’t enjoy it as much as you did. Remakes, remasters and ports are also ineligible for the list, but I’d like to give honourable mention to both Crash Bandicoot: The N-Sane Trilogy and Okami HD. They’re both at their best on the current-gen consoles, and you should definitely check them out.

          With that being said…

10. RiME

          Many wrote this game off as yet another attempt by an indie game to make you feel emotions with minimal gameplay involvement. While the big twist at the end definitely felt to me like a bit of a far reach in trying to tug at the heartstrings, there’s no denying that RiME is one of the most consistently beautiful games that I played all year.

          A short but sweet puzzle adventure game, RiME sees you playing as a silent, nameless boy as he explores a mysterious island with a giant central tower that seems to transport him to different worlds. Along the way he runs into several characters who help or hinder him on his quest, including an adorable fox, a group of friendly golems, and a terrifying vulture.

          This game deserves a spot on this list if only for the gorgeous graphical style. While I definitely had to deal with plenty of framerate issues on PS4 (and I’ve heard plenty of grief about the Switch version), the beautiful Disney-esque art of the game was simply breathtaking, especially in the early beach stages. To put it in the developer’s language, RiME is muy bueno.

9. Destiny 2

          Okay, just hear me out on this one.

          Yes, I know Destiny 2 hasn’t had a great last few months. The first expansion was met with such a resounding “meh” that I didn’t even bother buying it, and Activision has busied itself by inserting more and more microtransaction and loot box bullcrap into Bungie’s golden goose. It was initially going to be much higher on this list, but I felt the need to bump it down several spots in consideration of what the game has become recently.

          But here’s the thing: Activision wouldn’t be capitalizing on adding more paid elements into the game months after it released if it wasn’t a great game to begin with. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Destiny 2 during launch enough that I decided not giving it at least some presence on this list would be unfair.

          Consider this as more of a nod to Bungie’s vision for the game we saw back in September instead of rewarding the monster Activision has turned it into over the past few weeks. The campaign storyline is still excellently written with several laugh-out-loud moments, the soundtrack remains one of the best in a year filled to the brim with amazing game music, and the gameplay built extraordinarily well off of the shallow experience of its predecessor. The public events where you teamed up with other players from around the world to defeat a boss in hopes of finding some rare loot were especially a ton of fun.

          While the game might be dying a slow death now, it’s worth remembering that at one point Destiny 2 felt truly alive.

8. ARMS

          This seems to be one of the year’s biggest “love it or hate it” games. Now that a lot of time has passed since release I’ve seen both people come out and say that this was an underrated gem that was unfairly brushed aside for Splatoon 2 a month later as well as people who say they weren’t fans of the game to begin with.

          As for me, while essentially all of my online multiplayer time on my Switch has been devoted to Splatoon 2 since that came out, I loved ARMS a lot.

          As Nintendo’s first true attempt to break into the fighting game genre outside of Smash Bros (and let’s be honest, Smash is only a traditional fighter in that it’s a game where people fight), ARMS is surprisingly engaging and fun. I loved that the punches themselves were more like projectiles than weapons used for close combat. Not unlike Nintendo’s own Punch-Out series, fights ended up being more about timing than memorization of button combos. You needed to wait and stalk your opponent, choosing the precise time to throw out a punch, grab or block. Make a mistake, and you’d pay the price. It was incredibly entertaining to chase your foes around the large stages, waiting for them to mess up and deliver a flaming fist to the chest in retaliation.

          But as much as I loved ARMS, it wasn’t my favourite fighting game released this year. That honour goes to…

7. Tekken 7

          Now that Capcom seems to be using their classic fighting franchises as little more than DLC mills used to get some easy money out of the pro players, I can’t tell you how refreshing it felt to finally be playing a classic-style fighting game that actually had enough content out of the box to make it worth the $60+ you paid for it again.

          Tekken 7 has everything you could possibly want from a fighting game and more. A full-length campaign in addition to a true arcade mode? Check. A lengthy roster of characters with unique playstyles? Check. Nearly endless customization for said characters? Hold onto your hat, because there are more costumes in this game than there are in your local Party City.

          That’s not to detract anything from the fantastic game mechanics. Tekken 7 is easy enough for new players to understand and learn some simple combos, while still boasting enough depth that fighting game professionals will have a lot to sink their teeth into. For someone like me who just doesn’t have the time or patience to master the game, this “easy to play, hard to master” style was right up my alley. While this was my first entry in the Tekken series, this game has made me a fan for life.

6. Cuphead

          I can’t have been the only one who was legitimately worried this would turn out to be a bad game, was I? While the art style was impressive from the start, there was always a nagging feeling in the back of my head that Cuphead would be another indie disaster trying to scrape by on looks alone with nothing to show gameplay-wise.

          I’ve never been happier to be proven wrong. Cuphead is easily my indie champ of the year, a tough-as-nails shooter with some of the best game art I’ve ever seen.

          First, let’s address the elephant in the room: the art itself. This game doesn’t just look like a classic 1930’s era cartoon. This game IS a classic 1930’s era cartoon. Just looking at footage of the game brings you back to the classic Mickey Mouse and Looney Toons cartoons of yesteryear, and playing it feels even better. I even think that it adds a certain amount of challenge to the game, as you have to not be distracted by how incredible the hand-drawn animation on every single detail is and actually focus on the gameplay.

          Speaking of the gameplay, while this game definitely delivers on the promise of a high difficulty level, it somehow never stops being fun. Even when you die, you feel like you’ve gotten a better understanding of how each boss works, and are ready to try again. It’s really hard for a game to pull that off, especially in a game where you die again…and again…and again…

          For my Worst Games list I have a silly bonus award I give out called the Sean Murray Award for Most Anti-Consumer Game of the Year, and I wanted the Best Games list to have something similar along those lines. So I’ve decided Cuphead earns the first-ever Moldenhauer Brothers Award for Best Indie Game of the Year, named for the Canadian duo that developed the game. Congrats, guys!

5. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

          This game feels like it’s sorta slipped through the cracks with all the other amazing stuff released this year, but I refuse to let such an awesome game go unmentioned here! The first full-fledged spin-off to Naughty Dog’s famous Uncharted series as well as the first ever franchise installment not to feature main protagonist Nathan Drake, Lost Legacy is a wild ride through the jungles of India that any fans of the series would hate to miss out on.

          Starring Chloe Frazer of Uncharted 2 and 3 fame, Lost Legacy is a treasure-hunting adventure that ranks up with the best of ‘em, taking some of the best parts of previous franchise games and improving on them. The chapter where you explore the open jungle with a near endless amount of hidden treasures and sidequests feels like the Madagascar level from Uncharted 4 on steroids, and that’s saying a lot.

          The storyline was also excellent, even with an incredibly hard act to follow with Uncharted 4. Chloe and her partner Nadine have an excellent rapport with each other throughout the game, and when their friendship inevitably hits rough patches you sincerely want to see them break through and join up with each other again. While it isn’t exactly on the level of Nate’s final adventure, it’s delightful for a one-off special starring the two.

          Although Naughty Dog’s attention is on The Last of Us Part II for the time being, I sincerely hope this isn’t the last time we’re visiting the world of Uncharted. Whether we rejoin Nathan Drake for a fifth trip into the jungle or follow one of his friends instead, there’s still a lot of long lost temples out there that remain unclimbed.

4. Splatoon 2

          Maybe I’m putting this one too high on the list considering how similar it is to its predecessor, but for me Splatoon 2 was a shining beacon of hope in a year that saw the online multiplayer shooter genre dragged through the mud over and over again with a near endless supply of disappointing releases and publisher backdoor scheming.

          The concept from the first game remains as strong as ever: use a wide array of weapons to paint as much of the floor as possible, and whichever team has their colour represented on the map the most when the match ends wins. Nintendo didn’t meddle at all in the core concept that made the first game shine so brightly, perhaps because the IP is still fresh and new, and considering the Wii U wasn’t met with resounding success this sequel would be the franchise entry point for many. Add in an upgraded campaign mode with a fun story giving the beloved Squid Sisters from the original game a spotlight role as well as a surprisingly tough but fun horde mode, and you’ve got an excellent sequel that is sure to get new fans hungry for more.

          But what really makes me love Splatoon 2 is how unabashedly old-fashioned it is. In a year full of online multiplayer shooters more than happy to mess with players by filling the games with microtransactions, loot boxes, or just plain scummy practices, Nintendo stands tall simply by doing things the way the genre has been done dating back to the days of Goldeneye on the N64. If you want a new weapon or outfit, you need to buy it through cash that you earn by just plain playing the game. No real world money involved whatsoever.

          We all laugh about how behind the times Nintendo can be, with how long it took for them to realize high-definition was the future, how it took them until 2015 to create a major competitor in the shooter market, and how to this day they’re still waging a pointless war with YouTube creators. But when you look at how Splatoon 2 is an incredibly stellar shooter without falling prey to many of the traps that most similar games got stuck in this year, you definitely have to respect the fact that gaming’s oldest developer still knows how to get things done.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

          This was easily the most anticipated game of the year at the dawn of 2017. We’d gone 6 years without a major 3D Zelda title, and 11 years without a good major 3D Zelda title (sorry, Skyward Sword fans! I couldn’t resist!). With the promise of an enormous open world filled with secrets to uncover and mountains to scale, hype was at maximum for Breath of the Wild. Despite the impossibly high expectations going in, this soft-reboot for the franchise quickly proved itself to be worthy of buying a Switch for, even though the game also released on the Wii U.

          Breath of the Wild is all about two things: exploration and discovery. There are a nearly endless amount of secrets in this game, from hidden mini-dungeons called Shrines to secret weapons scattered across the map. There are also awesome landmarks everywhere, such as a giant sword statue hidden in the Gerudo Highlands and a beautiful cherry tree garden where a mythical beast is said to appear. You can spend hours in this game just picking a direction and going that way. Trust me when I say you'll never get bored.

          This game definitely felt like a breath of fresh air for Zelda. Despite still keeping plenty of the traditions that made games like Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess so great, Breath of the Wild doesn’t bother itself with trying to create an experience typical to the franchise. This is a game where you can truly do whatever you want whenever you want, and it’s very exciting to hear the promise that this type of game will be the Zelda standard going forth.

2. Super Mario Odyssey

          And finishing off Nintendo’s hat trick, we have Super Mario Odyssey. This game was simply astonishing in all the best ways. A globe-trotting adventure starring Mr. Video Game himself, this was easily Mario’s best game ever in the over 30+ years he’s been the face of the medium.

          In an age where games advertise themselves on being “immersive”, “in-depth”, “deep”, and other meaningless adjectives, Odyssey is happy being just plain fun. This game is impossible to play without a huge smile on your face the whole time, as around the corner there’s always a new surprise waiting to be uncovered. Collectible moons are rewarded for doing nearly anything and everything you can imagine, and Mario’s new capture ability can be used to control dozens of characters, enemies and objects throughout the many creative worlds the game throws at you. The development team truly didn’t leave a single stone unturned while designing this game, clearly taking player thought process into consideration while building the worlds.

          Just like Breath of the Wild, the exploration factor is what makes the game. You can spend hours in one of the larger kingdoms just finding moons, and you’ll never get bored. While some may think that the hefty amount of moons made it a little too easy to blast through to the final boss quickly, the game was clearly designed with the Nintendo Switch’s portability in mind. You can boot the game up, find a few moons, and then turn it off, leaving feeling completely fulfilled. While you can definitely sink a lot of time into the game if you want to find everything, it’s equally great to play in short stretches of time.

          This is the absolute must-own game for every Switch owner right now. Everything about this game is done perfectly or just shy of perfectly, and you’ll be having the best time ever from beginning to end.

          In fact, I can only think of one game I enjoyed more this year…

1. Horizon Zero Dawn

          This year truly was an incredible year for great video games. Any of the other 9 games I just listed off could’ve been named Game of the Year on their own in a slower year. While the world might’ve been terrible overall, in the world of Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and PC things are looking great.

          But in a year full of amazing titles, for me Horizon Zero Dawn stands heads and tails above the rest.

          This game is simply breathtaking in all aspects. The story is awesome, with several great twists and turns along the way that took me by surprise. The world is fully realized, creating an incredibly believable blend of Stone Age architecture with a sci-fi robotic edge. The enemy design is brilliant, with giant robots inspired by real-life animals and dinosaurs walking the landscape and threatening your safety. The combat is one of the best I’ve ever seen, giving you tons of weapons and options to take down the mechanical beasts, creating very engaging and fun battles.

          But I think what impresses me the most about Horizon is how it has managed to break expectations left and right. Aloy, the game’s female protagonist, is incredibly likable and relatable regardless of what gender or race you are, and she manages to avoid many of the traps that gaming’s leading ladies often fall into. What could’ve so easily been yet another massive open world filled with a whole lot of nothing is instead brimming with life, with hundreds of things to do outside of the main story. And despite being released in the same week as Breath of the Wild, the game managed to stand out by being a more traditional take on the open-world genre, as well as one of the best examples of it ever released.

          Horizon is an adventure that every gamer should experience. It’s such a beautiful, engaging, and above all consistently fun game. I have no hesitation in naming it the best game released in 2017.

          This year truly was an amazing year for gaming, but I definitely played my fair share of garbage too. If you wanna see me revisit my least favourite parts of the year, check out my Top 8 Worst Games of 2017!