My Top 10 Video Games of 2017
2017 has been an insane year for video games and gaming in general.
January kicked off the year with Resident Evil 7 and Kingdom Hearts 2.8, which showed us a glimpse of what to expect when Kingdom Hearts 3 eventually drops.
Following this, the months went from strength to strength, with Nintendo releasing the Nintendo Switch in March as well as a phenomenal Zelda experience. The year ending with Microsoft releasing the most powerful console ever made in November.
I completed almost 30 video games in 2017, totting up almost 40 days worth of play time. There are so many games I'd love to include in my list that I really should have made it a top 15 or 20, but I’ve stayed strong and cut it down to an exact 10. Before we get into the meat of my list I’ll go through a couple of special mentions.
- Final Fantasy 12: Zodiac Age - This is an HD remake of the original PlayStation 2 game, with HD textures and additional content like an updated job system. Unfortunately I didn't finish it when it originally came out because it was released at roughly the same time as the first Gears of War and I was too deep into blowing people to pieces. This year however I dived straight in and spent a staggering 80 hours playing it. If you’ve never played it and like Final Fantasy games I would highly recommend you check this out.
- Thimbleweed Park - It’s a throw back to the old style point and click adventure games such as money island. It’s hilarious and brilliant, and I really want it on my top 10 but I just can’t fit it on!
- Ark Survival Evolved - I spent a huge amount of time this year with this game. I laughed, I cried and I actually had a dream about it last night. Ark isn’t just a game, it’s a life, and unfortunately I just don’t have the time to dedicate to playing it.
- Destiny 2 - In September when I started playing Destiny 2 I would have told you it would be high on my top ten list. When I finished the raid a few weeks later I was left feeling accomplished but with nothing to do. I loved every second of Destiny 2, but I have no reason to go back. If this game was a pay monthly MMO I'd never see the light of day.
- Fortnite Battle Royale - I’ve had a lot of fun with this game, it really adds something new to the genre!
Okay time to get into the meat!
10. South Park: The fractured But Whole
Matt stone and Trey Parker are two of the funniest people on the planet. Unfortunately I let the Stick of Truth pass me by when it was released a couple of years ago. However this year thanks to a birthday present, I played the Stick of Truth and the Fractured But Whole back to back.
I loved every second of the Fractured But Whole and I laughed the whole way through the game. It really goes to some unexpected places and throws back to old South Park characters.
The new battle system is a turn based strategy style combat, and gets super technical with you having to figure out the placement of your characters on the board. Once you get the gist of each character and how to use them to your advantage you have an absolute blast!
9. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
The Lost Legacy is an excellent weekend game. It’s about 6 hours long and perfect for anyone looking to complete a game in one sitting. It’s astonishing that Naughty Dog have been able to cram a whole Uncharted game into just 6 hours!
There’s moments of action, puzzles, exploring, fantastic story telling, edge of your seat tension and emotions. Naughty Dog continue to push the boundaries graphically and Lost Legacy is no exception.
8. Super Mario Odyssey
Super Mario Odyssey is an incredible game. In my opinion it’s a follow up to Mario 64. The controls feel tight like they did back in Mario 64. Every world is a blast to explore, and every moon, whether you find it easy or hard, feels rewarding.
I haven’t spent as much time with Odyssey as I would have liked to, but it’s a game that I often go back to for 15 minutes here and there.
7. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
BOTW is an incredible show piece for a new console. When I picked it up in March I had insane amounts of fun exploring shrines, checking out different places on the map, exploring and seeing what I could see. What really added to this experience was chatting to friends and hearing about what they had found and where they found it.
The 4 dungeons were super fun but a little too short, they left me longing for more. I’d have also liked a little more of a story to get my teeth stuck into. This aside it’s a must purchase for a switch.
6. The Evil Within 2
The Evil Within 2 takes what was great from the first game, and makes what was bad from the first game good. It throws you into small open world scenarios and gives you opportunities to engage in stealth combat. The game is still largely made up of linear sections, but there’s usually multiple ways to get to the end goal.
Resource management is super important - every shot I fired I was worried it would cost me later in the game. This is what made the game scary for me as I was constantly anxious that I wouldn’t have enough ammo to kill the next boss or group of enemies.
If you’ve played the first game you’ll notice straight off the bat that two of the main characters are voiced by different people. Although once you’re a couple of chapters in, and the story has you hooked you soon forget about it. I actually really liked the change by the end of the game.
5. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
Wolfenstein 2 is the best shooter I’ve played this year. It’s completely batshit crazy. I had a ridiculously insane time blowing the shit out of Nazis.
Although the game goes to some crazy places, it’s constantly routed in this horrendous world where the Nazis won the Second World War. Each character in the game is super believable and builds on this gritty hideous world. Brian Bloom voices BJ the main character and he absolutely steals the show.
4. Nier Automata
Nier Automata is a weird game. It’s an action JRPG and has a lot of what you’d expect from a JRPG. But where the game really shines is it’s story and where it goes with it, and boy does it go places.
About four hours into the game I found my self in a desert fighting robots and then the robots all merged together to form some kind of robotic vagina, and it gave birth to an android dude who started to beat the shit out of me.
There’s another 40-ish hours of gameplay of this game. Go and play it, and see where it goes!
3. PLAYERUNKNOWNS BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG)
PUBG shot right into my top ten list. I've followed this game since it’s release early in 2017. I was a big fan of games like DayZ, H1Z1 and their King of the Kill mode. So a more realistic version of that really appealed to me.
I decided to wait for the Xbox version, as a lot of my friend play console games and I didn’t really fancy buying it twice. Yeah the Xbox version has its problems, although I’m playing the Xbox One X version so I’m slightly better off, but even so I’ve had insane amounts of fun with this game. A few times I almost passed out laughing.
PUBG, if you’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 months, is a PvP Battle Royale style game. 100 dudes jump out of a plane onto an island and scramble for weapons. The last man or squad surviving wins. It’s simple and fun. Grab the right bunch of friends and you’ll have an insane time with it.
2. Persona 5
I’d love to put Persona 5 as number one on this list. In some ways 2 and 1 are joint first really.
Persona 5 is a JRPG about high school kids getting back at adults. But it’s so much more than that. The first guy you take down is a high school gym teacher who’s having sexual relations with the kids at the school. He’s a bully and beats up kids. Persona 5 isn’t just about taking down a bad guy, it’s about how the bad guy effects everyone’s lives and the knock on effect his shitty disgusting behaviour has on high school kids. There’s 7 dungeons, or palaces as they're known, as to explore in the game. But these are the minority of the game.
The game is mostly made up of social interactions between the main character and his friends. It’s about spending time with them, helping them study for tests, exercise or grow flowers. All these tasks always end up being about something far more important.
I spent roughly 130 hours with Persona 5 and by the end I genuinely felt lost. I missed going to school everyday, helping out at the coffee shop, hanging out with my friends and being a kick ass phantom thief. If you’re looking for a game that tells a super interesting story, that’ll make you laugh and cry, I genuinely recommend you check out Persona 5.
Also it has the best sound track, though I think my wife might disagree.
1. Resident Evil 7 (VR)
Resident Evil 7 blew my mind back in January. I’d had my Playstation VR for about a month and I was ready (or so I thought) to explore this game. I have never felt fear like I have playing Resident Evil 7 in VR. It genuinely gave me anxiety. Every time I put the headset on I’d have to take deep breaths and prepare myself. I’d then play for an hour and have to turn it off because I was too scared!
After about a week of doing this I managed to stick it out and played through the last 4 hours of the game in one sitting. When I took the headset off my wife had turned all the lights off and gone to bed. It was early hours of the morning and I was petrified that I had to make my way upstairs in the dark.
Resident evil 7 takes you through an old abandoned house in search of your missing wife. Although it turns out the house isn’t abandoned as a family of crazed lunatics are inhabiting it. They’re chasing you around, smashing through walls and finding any way possible to scare the shit out of you.
It’s first person and may turn some people off, making them think it isn’t a proper Resident Evil game, but let me tell you it 100% is! There’s cranks for bridges, keys for rooms, puzzles, insane boss fights, and a lack of ammo. I’d recommend everyone plays this game and if you get the opportunity to, definitely play it through in VR.
- Final Fantasy 12: Zodiac Age - This is an HD remake of the original PlayStation 2 game, with HD textures and additional content like an updated job system. Unfortunately I didn't finish it when it originally came out because it was released at roughly the same time as the first Gears of War and I was too deep into blowing people to pieces. This year however I dived straight in and spent a staggering 80 hours playing it. If you’ve never played it and like Final Fantasy games I would highly recommend you check this out.
- Thimbleweed Park - It’s a throw back to the old style point and click adventure games such as money island. It’s hilarious and brilliant, and I really want it on my top 10 but I just can’t fit it on!
- Ark Survival Evolved - I spent a huge amount of time this year with this game. I laughed, I cried and I actually had a dream about it last night. Ark isn’t just a game, it’s a life, and unfortunately I just don’t have the time to dedicate to playing it.
- Destiny 2 - In September when I started playing Destiny 2 I would have told you it would be high on my top ten list. When I finished the raid a few weeks later I was left feeling accomplished but with nothing to do. I loved every second of Destiny 2, but I have no reason to go back. If this game was a pay monthly MMO I'd never see the light of day.
- Fortnite Battle Royale - I’ve had a lot of fun with this game, it really adds something new to the genre!
I loved every second of the Fractured But Whole and I laughed the whole way through the game. It really goes to some unexpected places and throws back to old South Park characters.
The new battle system is a turn based strategy style combat, and gets super technical with you having to figure out the placement of your characters on the board. Once you get the gist of each character and how to use them to your advantage you have an absolute blast!
The Lost Legacy is an excellent weekend game. It’s about 6 hours long and perfect for anyone looking to complete a game in one sitting. It’s astonishing that Naughty Dog have been able to cram a whole Uncharted game into just 6 hours! There’s moments of action, puzzles, exploring, fantastic story telling, edge of your seat tension and emotions. Naughty Dog continue to push the boundaries graphically and Lost Legacy is no exception.
Super Mario Odyssey is an incredible game. In my opinion it’s a follow up to Mario 64. The controls feel tight like they did back in Mario 64. Every world is a blast to explore, and every moon, whether you find it easy or hard, feels rewarding. I haven’t spent as much time with Odyssey as I would have liked to, but it’s a game that I often go back to for 15 minutes here and there.
BOTW is an incredible show piece for a new console. When I picked it up in March I had insane amounts of fun exploring shrines, checking out different places on the map, exploring and seeing what I could see. What really added to this experience was chatting to friends and hearing about what they had found and where they found it. The 4 dungeons were super fun but a little too short, they left me longing for more. I’d have also liked a little more of a story to get my teeth stuck into. This aside it’s a must purchase for a switch.
Resource management is super important - every shot I fired I was worried it would cost me later in the game. This is what made the game scary for me as I was constantly anxious that I wouldn’t have enough ammo to kill the next boss or group of enemies.
If you’ve played the first game you’ll notice straight off the bat that two of the main characters are voiced by different people. Although once you’re a couple of chapters in, and the story has you hooked you soon forget about it. I actually really liked the change by the end of the game.
Wolfenstein 2 is the best shooter I’ve played this year. It’s completely batshit crazy. I had a ridiculously insane time blowing the shit out of Nazis. Although the game goes to some crazy places, it’s constantly routed in this horrendous world where the Nazis won the Second World War. Each character in the game is super believable and builds on this gritty hideous world. Brian Bloom voices BJ the main character and he absolutely steals the show.
About four hours into the game I found my self in a desert fighting robots and then the robots all merged together to form some kind of robotic vagina, and it gave birth to an android dude who started to beat the shit out of me.
There’s another 40-ish hours of gameplay of this game. Go and play it, and see where it goes!
3. PLAYERUNKNOWNS BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG)
PUBG shot right into my top ten list. I've followed this game since it’s release early in 2017. I was a big fan of games like DayZ, H1Z1 and their King of the Kill mode. So a more realistic version of that really appealed to me. I decided to wait for the Xbox version, as a lot of my friend play console games and I didn’t really fancy buying it twice. Yeah the Xbox version has its problems, although I’m playing the Xbox One X version so I’m slightly better off, but even so I’ve had insane amounts of fun with this game. A few times I almost passed out laughing.
PUBG, if you’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 months, is a PvP Battle Royale style game. 100 dudes jump out of a plane onto an island and scramble for weapons. The last man or squad surviving wins. It’s simple and fun. Grab the right bunch of friends and you’ll have an insane time with it.
I’d love to put Persona 5 as number one on this list. In some ways 2 and 1 are joint first really. Persona 5 is a JRPG about high school kids getting back at adults. But it’s so much more than that. The first guy you take down is a high school gym teacher who’s having sexual relations with the kids at the school. He’s a bully and beats up kids. Persona 5 isn’t just about taking down a bad guy, it’s about how the bad guy effects everyone’s lives and the knock on effect his shitty disgusting behaviour has on high school kids. There’s 7 dungeons, or palaces as they're known, as to explore in the game. But these are the minority of the game.
The game is mostly made up of social interactions between the main character and his friends. It’s about spending time with them, helping them study for tests, exercise or grow flowers. All these tasks always end up being about something far more important.
I spent roughly 130 hours with Persona 5 and by the end I genuinely felt lost. I missed going to school everyday, helping out at the coffee shop, hanging out with my friends and being a kick ass phantom thief. If you’re looking for a game that tells a super interesting story, that’ll make you laugh and cry, I genuinely recommend you check out Persona 5.
Also it has the best sound track, though I think my wife might disagree.
After about a week of doing this I managed to stick it out and played through the last 4 hours of the game in one sitting. When I took the headset off my wife had turned all the lights off and gone to bed. It was early hours of the morning and I was petrified that I had to make my way upstairs in the dark.
Resident evil 7 takes you through an old abandoned house in search of your missing wife. Although it turns out the house isn’t abandoned as a family of crazed lunatics are inhabiting it. They’re chasing you around, smashing through walls and finding any way possible to scare the shit out of you.
It’s first person and may turn some people off, making them think it isn’t a proper Resident Evil game, but let me tell you it 100% is! There’s cranks for bridges, keys for rooms, puzzles, insane boss fights, and a lack of ammo. I’d recommend everyone plays this game and if you get the opportunity to, definitely play it through in VR.
