Here's my Top 10 games released in 2017 that I played through:
10) Fire Emblem: Heroes [iOS]
Surprised to see a mobile game on here? I played a decent amount of mobile games in 2017 that were actually fun, engaging, and had longevity. There was Fate Grand/Order, The Alchemist Code, King's Knight, Terra Battle 2, Sword Art Online: Memory Defrag, and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (I didn't play this one; no memory space). The one that really stood out for me was Fire Emblem: Heroes, which condenses the Tactical-RPG into short bursts of skirmishes and allows you to recruit many characters across the Fire Emblem series to help you on your fight. Bringing a lot of the characters, music, and mechanics of the games into a free mobile game made for a mildly entertaining experience until you get far into it and realize you can't progress unless you do some hardcore min-max stat and skill inherit management which makes it tedious. It's also discouraging when you see a character you like and not get them after spending all your in-game currency to try to get them. What was a fun Tactical-RPG in the beginning has now become a character collector for me. But it seems it was a Waifu/Husbando collector for many right from the start.
9) Metroid Samus Returns [3DS]
It didn't live up to my expectations and I still like the fan-made remake more, but I still managed to play through the game three times before I shelved it away. It's nice to have another Metroid game again after so many years, but I wish it was better.
8) Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash [PS4]
I was a bit worried about this spin-off, but it turned out to be pretty fun. It's the first game in the series I played on a console instead of a handheld and it looked really nice.
7) Destiny 2 [PC]
This was actually on the top of my list until I hit the end of the game and realized there's practically nothing to do anymore. Destiny 2 is a huge improvement over the first game in terms of the base game's campaign, but it still suffers from the lack of content at end-game. It's still a really fun game and I just recently bought the expansion hoping it adds a bit more to it for me to continue playing it.
6) Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online [PS4]
Honestly, this wasn't a very good game. The graphics were janky, the camera would easily get obscured by the environment, and much of its gameplay was replaying levels over and over again with different objectives. And somehow I enjoyed this game a lot. I've been wanting a true Action-RPG Hyperdimention Neptunia game since the beginning and this was the closest to having that. I love the new outfits and look each character has and the new music made for this game specifically (the series is known to recycle their assets to no ends) so it was really refreshing to see new content in the game. I think what really got me into the game was how familiar it felt to playing Phantasy Star Online Ep. 1&2 on Gamecube and how I would run the same levels over and over again. There were a lot of funny references to online games, the 2D art is incredible, and the music is a lot of fun to listen to. So the overall quality wasn't the best, but I had a ton of fun playing through the game.
5) Tekken 7 [PC]
I was relieved to see how well the game ran on PC, but there were some disappointments. I didn't particularly like the story and how they explained how everything came to be, and it was a bit sad to see all the side characters get a really small, one-battle scenario. The game would (rarely) crash and restart my whole computer (probably because of how graphic intensive the game is). And compared to previous installments, the game was lacking in content and modes. Still, the core game is incredibly fun, the graphics is the most beautiful looking fighting game in the past few years, the soundtrack is possibly the best in the series right next to Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and everything is working as intended (an Arcade mode, controller compatibility, working Online mode, Treasure battle mode to earn Fight Money, and incentive to earn/spend Fight Money on different outfits and customization without having to pay real money for them. If this all sounds like I'm pointing out all the flaws of Street Fighter V, it is. Street Fighter V fixed a lot of problems this year, and yet I still don't continue to play it because the netcode is still poor and causes a lot of frustration for my friends and I. I bought and played a lot of fighting games this year, but Tekken 7 was the one I played the most and really enjoyed.
4) Sonic Forces [PC]
There was a lot of expectation built from the reputation of Sonic Generations and there as a lot of expectation built from the beginning of the game, but it didn't quite live up to it. Sonic Forces is another game with a lot of disappointments that I still ended up having a lot of fun playing. The graphics are aesthetically beautiful, but flawed design wise. The music is some of the best I've ever heard from a Sonic game with the exception of Classic Sonic stages having mostly bland, boring, or annoying tunes. And the stages are so short that a lot of them can be finished in under 1-2 minutes. Still, the core gameplay was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed making and customizing my own original characters. I don't think I got my $40 worth, but I did get 20 hours of gameplay from a 3 hour game. I was most disappointed with the boss fights as it seemed like you were going to get to fight every villain from the series when it's not the case. Also, 4 of the boss fights are very similar and unimaginative. I have mixed feelings about the game and don't think it was quite the best, but it stood out to me and I enjoyed it so much that I think it's worth listing on my top 10.
3) Warriors All-Stars [PS4]
I wasn't sure if we were even going to get this game localized, so I pre-ordered it when I heard it was going to arrive on Western markets in the fall. There isn't anything I was particularly disappointed with this game, but I did find it annoying to having to replay a lot of levels a lot to either get different endings, get more money or exp, or just to fulfill a request. Those minor annoyances aside, I had a lot of fun playing the game and watching the characters interact with each other. I think I would have played the game a whole lot more if it weren't for the fact that I was still trying to get through new games that I bought.
2) Nioh [PS4]
I've played a few Souls-like games and they all had a similar concept without a good execution. Nioh does a good job of capturing what makes difficult games fun and satisfying while managing to distinguish itself from the Souls series. I particularly liked how fast-paced and action-filled the fights were in the game. There are many different builds you can work with and different playstyles all work in their own way. It's a well polished Action-RPG that has a lot of depth and challenge. What prevents it from being my #1 for 2017 is how much this game made me rage.
1) NieR: Automata [PS4]
I honestly wasn't expecting to place NieR: Automata as my #1 game for 2017. It's strange and kind of drags on at times, but there was something special about this game. The first hour really defied my expectations for the game as it changed from a vertical shoot-em-up, to a twin-stick shooter, to a hack-n-slash, to a 2D platformer, to a 3rd-person shooter. It's crazy! At its core, it's an Action-RPG with a smooth and satisfying Hack-n-Slash based combat. The graphics is beautiful, the environment is haunting, the music is pleasant and addicting, and the story is quite bonkers until you get to the end and realize how philosophical it becomes. It was a well-designed and worthwhile experience getting through the game.
Honorable mentions: Rivals of Aether [PC] (yay, it's fully released!), Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 [3DS], Sword Art Online: Memory Defrag [iOS]
Here are my top 10 games that I played in 2017 but was released in previous years:
10) Just Cause 3 [PC]
I played through the series in 2017 and was really frustrated with both the first and 2nd game. The third game was a ton of fun and was what I wanted out of the game: causing mass destruction in a relaxing manner. The freedom and flexibility of movement is what made it entertaining because traversing to your destination in the first two games always felt like a drag and a waste of time. I would've liked to play more if it didn't take up so much hard drive space and I didn't have such a huge backlog.
9) Trigger Happy Havoc Danganronpa [PSV]
I liked this game, but it was also really long and exhausting. With the scenario of a bunch of teens being stuck inside a school and getting away with murder the only means of escaping, it was a depressing game. It had interesting characters, nice music, good writing, and a unique presentation that made it really stand out from many other games like it. As much as I liked it, I felt like I needed a break before I played the 2nd one and I never did throughout the year because of how long I felt like it was going to take to get through it. I'm definitely going to try to get through it in 2018 though.
8) Project X Zone [3DS]
After 4.5 years of off and on playing (I didn't play it 2015 and 2016 apparently) with 82 hours and 44 minutes clocked into the game, I finally finished Project X Zone in 2017. I really liked the game. It's a celebration of many different videogames, its characters, music, and lore all mixed into one crazy Tactical, Action-RPG. The game was inappropriately long though. How many times do you have to get ambushed before the chapters ends? I'm really looking forward to finally playing the 2nd game and hope that it's not as long.
7) Grim Dawn [PC]
I was hesitant about playing this game since it was being developed on the same engine as Titan Quest and I got bored of that game near the end. Grim Dawn was pretty engaging and challenging throughout my whole playthrough. It's a game I plan to continue playing for quite a while despite my time constraints and thankfully it doesn't take up much hard drive space.
6) The Evil Within [PC]
This was one of the games I couldn't play on my previous laptop because of how graphic intensive it was. I was really impressed by the presentation of the game. It was a trippy ride with fun gameplay mechanics that wasn't too focused on Action and still had that uneasy tension of a classic horror-survival game. I was getting through my 2nd playthrough when I decided to stop and move onto new games. I'm really interested in the 2nd game since it's an open-world experience. That should be interesting.
5) DOOM [PC]
I don't think I've ever liked DOOM more than I do now with this latest iteration. It's fast-paced, challenging, has a lot of freedom in movement, has a fun multiplayer mode online, and it has custom games available for people to create and play. I had to delete it after a while since it took up something like 80 GB and I needed to move onto new games. However, if I get enough hard drive space again, I'm reinstalling it because it's seriously a lot of fun.
4) Killing Floor 2 [PC]
I wasn't sure what to expect other than maybe a nicer looking Killing Floor 1 game, but I'm happy that it was much more than that. The new classes bring new playstyles and actually having friends to play with this time around made the game a lot more fun. Combat is frantic and satisfying with more options in strategies, equipment, and playstyles. It was the best co-op game I played this year aside from Destiny 2.
3) Rabi-Ribi [PC]
Rabi-Ribi is so darn cute, and yet it's one of the hardest games I played in 2017 other than Nioh. A 2D Action-Platformer mixed with Danmaku (bullet-hell) isn't really new to me, but its presentation is so well polished that I can't help but praise it. Bosses have anywhere between 10-50 attack patterns and it keep surprising me. It can definitely be stressful at time, but the cuteness somehow makes me forgive its brutal difficulty. I thought of quitting so many times, but I'm pretty stubborn and wanted to see it through. I'm not sure if I want to get the DLC and endure more bullet hell yet, but I do miss hearing the music and seeing the cute characters.
2) Ys Origin [PC]
Over a decade later, I finally got to play through the game. I was afraid I waited too long before playing it and it might have aged poorly, but it's still as beautiful and magical as I expected it to be from 2006. Combat is frantic and satisfying as I climbed through the tower and got more powers to face new challenges. I finished near the end of the year, so I've actually only beaten the game with one of the characters and plan on playing through it two more times with the remaining characters for the full experience. I'm so happy we got the game localized, it's so much fun.
1) VA-11 HALL-A [PC]
Normally, the games that we talk about and have high regards on are the most recent games we play as their experiences are the freshest in our memories. I got VA-11 HALL-A for Christmas in 2016 and played it throughout January in 2017. But the game left such an impression on me that I still think and talk about it now. It has such a strong sense of atmosphere (with the music being a huge factor) and the writing is so engaging that it's kind of hard to forget about it after playing through it. The developers are working on their next game and I'm really looking forward to it.
Honorable mentions: Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight [PC], Deathsmiles [PC], Shadow Warrior 2 [PC]
And finally, here are games that released in 2017 that I found interesting and started playing but didn't finish and/or didn't buy yet:
Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
School Girl/Zombie Hunter
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Tales of Berseria
Yakuza 0
Fairy Fencer F Advent Dark Force
Sniper Elite 4
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk
Hollow Knight
Horizon Zero Dawn
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey
Accel World VS Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Toukiden 2
Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy
Blue Reflection
Persona 5
Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition
A Rose in the Twilight
Dragon Quest Heroes II
Puyo Puyo Tetris
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd
Prey
Strafe
Akiba's Beat
Injustice 2
Operation Babel: New Tokyo Legacy
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Guilty Gear Xrd Rev.2
Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada
Tokyo 42
Dark Rose Valkyrie
God Wars: Future Past
Nex Machina
Valkyria Revolution
Splatoon 2
Pyre
Super CloudBuilt
StarCraft: Remastered
Agents of Mayhem
Nidhogg 2
Sonic Mania
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Absolver
Yakuza Kiwami
Ys Seven
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
Senko no Ronde 2
Monster Hunter Stories
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
Divinity: Original Sin II
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
Mary Skelter: Nightmares
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire
Hob
Ruiner
Cuphead
Battle Chasers: Nightwar
A Hat in Time
Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle
Chaos;Child
The Evil Within 2
ELEX
Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth
South Park: The Fractured but Whole
Fire Emblem Warriors
Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon
Yomawari: Midnight Shadows
Assassin's Creed: Origins
Super Mario Odyssey
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection
Call of Duty: WWII
.hack//G.U. Last Recode
Demon Gaze II
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon
Star Wars Battlefront II
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp
Seven: The Days Long Gone
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Dead Rising 4: Frank’s Big Package
Tokyo Xanadu eX+
Arcana Heart 3: Love Max Six Stars
What a fun year in videogames. I'm looking forward to the gaming I'm going to do in 2018.
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