Ding, dong the year is dead
Take a deep breath. If you’re reading this, congratulations. The holidays have come and gone, and we’re one step closer to leaving 2017 in the dust. It hasn’t been an easy year, but here we are: alive, tougher, and desperate for some rest.
The last twelve months were rough. But instead of lamenting all the terrible shit that happened, it’s time to talk about video games. I played a ton of great games in 2017, but the digital diversions and pixelated poems below instilled me with feelings of rebellion and exploration in an oddly prescient and much-needed manner.
Video games are good. Here are my top ten Good Games from 2017.
10.The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Breath of the Wilddidn’t click for me until early December. For a while, I felt like one of the only people in the world who didn’t ‘get’ Link’s open-world adventure.
And then it finally happened. Four months after dusting off my Wii U and purchasingBreath of the Wild, the focus on system-driven exploration started to make sense.Breath of the Wildisn’t likeLink’s Awakening(the onlyZeldagame I truly love), but it is an excellent example how games can let players define their experience. I’ve spent hours climbing mountains just to paraglide off them as soon as something interesting catches my eye. I’ve hoarded weapons and armor just to play dress up with Link. Hell, I even started caring about the game’s story once I met the champions who haunt the massive Divine Beasts.
I don’t thinkThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildis the best open-world game ever made, but I love its small towns and tucked-away stables. There’s a vibrancy that buzzes around those outposts that makes the long periods of travel well worth it.Breath of the Wildis comfort food shared around a campfire; relatively simple but easy to appreciate once you dive into it.
9.The Signal FromTölva
TheSignal From Tölvais nothing short of amazing. It’s a lean, hyper-focused sci-fi game that draws open-world inspiration fromFar Cryand slow-burning exploration ofThe Vanishing of Ethan Carterand similar titles. It’s a shining example of methodical, deliberate storytelling and subtle worldbuilding that asks players to traverse a mysterious — and downright beautiful — alien planet by hacking and controlling different robots. Tölva, the planet you explore, is home to competing factions, breathtaking ruins, and bizarre broadcasts that patiently push you forward, one clunky footstep after another.The Signal From Tölvaisn’t the biggest, breathiest open-world game ever made, but it is one of 2017’s best-kept secrets.
8.Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Resident Evil‘s first foray into horror from a first-person perspective is spectacular. It hits all the right beats, blending grindhouse terror with old-school scares. There’s reverence for the series’ origins that drivesResi 7forward. It begins in a backwater mansion complete with ornate, locked doors and labyrinthian corridors before changing gears and moving in a more modern direction.
The Baker family and their ramshackle house of horrors were a much-needed jolt toResident Evil‘s shuffling corpse, but Ethan and hisimpeccable sleevesare what elevate the game to greatness.
7.What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finchis a ghost story about ill-fated families, and the way bloodlines mythologize those who are no longer with us. It’s a short game that examines a family that’s no stranger to tragedy, intersecting dreamy sequences with introspective narration and impossible architecture to create one of the most memorable stories I’ve ever experienced.
6.Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
It’s astounding thatWolfenstein: The New Orderand this year’sWolfenstein II: The New Colossushave transformed BJ Blazkowicz from a grimacing face to one of gaming’s most intriguing, human characters.The New Colossusis a difficult game in more ways than one. Its subject matter is both prescient and tough to stomach — violent and relevant — as it tasks players with disrupting the Nazi regime and sparking a revolution on American soil.
I don’t think thatThe New Colossusis a great shooter. It’s passable, sure, but the game cemented itself as one of my favorites this year on the sheer strength of its writing, cast of characters, and pure, unbridled rage directed towards objectively terrible people.
5.Persona 5
The fact thatPersona 5, a game I’ve waited years to play, is in the middle of this list speaks to the quality of 2017’s releases.
Persona 5is about rebellion. It’s a flamboyant and punkish picaresque story about saying “fuck you” to the powers that be. The best thing I can say aboutPersona 5is that after completing the game in 90-some hours, I wanted to dive right back in and experience it again.
It’s aPersonagame. You fuse demons and make friends. What more could you want?
4.Divinity: Original Sin 2
Larian’s latest is quite possibly the best role-playing game ever made. It’s steeped in the bookish tradition of classic CRPGs, balancing strong writing with open-ended, player-driven gameplay.
Original Sin 2is the rare kind of game that makes you ponder every decision. The lasting effects of completed quests ripple outward, setting chains in motion that have the potential to change how the game’s character view your motley crew.Original Sin 2is impressive from minute one to hour forty and a must-play for anyone who has even a passing interest in the genre.
3.NieR: Automata
NieR: Automatashould not exist. It’s the sort-of sequel to one of the weirdest, most underappreciated titles in recent memory. It refuses to conform to genre conventions and has to be beaten a few different times to share its story fully.NieR: Automatais a weird game, but a powerful one.
Every piece ofNieRis like a puzzle. Slowly at first what begins as an action-RPG about goth lolita androids shifts into a melodramatic, haunting story about emotion and existence as you discover what’s really going on. There are twenty-six different endings; five of which weave the game’s narrative together across different routes, building upon the relentless nihilism at the game’s core. ButNieRis a hopeful game, despite what it spends hour after hour showing you. Deep down, somewhere between the game’s customizable CPU chips that affect everything from 2B’s combat skills to the actual in-game HUD and the rambling lore proppingAutomataup is a tale of determinism and perseverance that’s inspiring.
2.Night in the Woods
Night in the Woodsis the single most relatable game I’ve ever played. It’s about being twenty, weird, and confused about what the future holds. It’s about rebellion and economic anxiety and playing in a shitty band.
There are plenty of moments inNight in the Woodsthat felt lifted from my own experiences. Mae, Gregg, and the residents of Possum Springs are easy stand-ins for people I know and love. Sleepy towns and listless twentysomethings might not make for the most action-packed game ever, butNight in the Wood‘s honest portrayal of growing up hit me like a ton of bricks.
1.PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
It’s fitting that the best game of the year has the worst name of all time.PlayerUnknown’s Battlegroundsis, simply put, the best shit ever.
PUBG‘s premise is pure. One hundred players parachute out of a plane, land on a big island, and fight until one person is left standing. But for as simple as it is on paper, the battle royale shooter is a complex and full of emergent gameplay that keeps pulling me back in for more. After nearly 150 hours and ten-plus victories (or, chicken dinners), I can’t stop playingPUBG. I don’t think I ever will.
Battlegroundsis the platonic ideal of a shooter. It’s dynamic and unpredictable, satisfying and immensely difficult. There’s no way to guarantee a victory, no sure-fire method of ensuring kills, just a map, some guns, and a playground of destruction. The sheer tactical variety thatPUBGaffords players isn’t immediately apparent. It takes dozens of matches even to start to feel comfortable looting and moving towards the randomly designated play zones. That a game can seem so straightforward —shoot, don’t die, win— but still be so intricate and fun to play is the hallmark of excellence. Much like my favorite game of 2016,Stardew Valley,PUBGis one of my forever games.
