The Games of 2017. (Off-Topic)

by cheapLEY , Thursday, December 28, 2017, 19:58 (2309 days ago)

I hope folks don't mind, but I like doing these end of the year wrap ups, and I like hearing what other folks enjoyed throughout the year. I'll try to keep it at least somewhat brief (edit: I so totally didn't), so I'll just jump in.

In no particular order, the games I appreciated this year:

Horizon: Zero Dawn

This game doesn't hold up quite as well for me in hindsight, but it's still an incredible game. It's gorgeous, competing with Uncharted 4 for the best game to ever be on the PS4. The story is the real draw of the game for me, with a mystery that actually has a worthwhile payoff, which seems rare anymore. The combat is engaging and fun in a really satisfying way, especially with the difficulty cranked up, something I'm not usually fond of doing. I wish the open world was a bit more interesting and "real" feeling, but it's still very good as it is. I also think the game benefits from being a very tight, compact experience (for an open world game). It's a game that focused on the important things without a lot of extraneous bullshit and clutter, and I can appreciate that.

Assassin's Creed Origins

Almost the polar opposite of Horizon. It's a game that's huge and expansive, with tons of extraneous bullshit to do, and you start to see the repetition in the side activities fairly quickly. But the world is so interesting, so well designed, and feels like such a real place that I don't mind. Much like I felt with The Witcher 3, I just love being in that game world. I walk everywhere, just talking in the sights and the people, just being there. The rest of the game is fun, too. I like the new combat system (very Dark Souls-lite), I dislike the Destinyified loot system, but its easy enough to find the weapons you like using and just keep upgrading them, so it's easy to ignore. The main story hasn't really grabbed me, but I like Bayek as a main character, and I like a lot of the side quests and stories. It's a great step for the Assassin's Creed franchise in my opinion.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I still haven't finished this game. It's a game that I like very, very much when I'm playing it, but a game I can't help but wish was much better than it is when I'm not. The world feels empty and hollow, with very few NPCs, and very few interesting quests, the weapon durability system sucks, the Shrines all feel the same and aren't very challenging, the four actual dungeons are tiny and easy. But when I'm actually in that game, none of that matters. It's game that feels singularly focused on exploration, and it nails that in a way that no other game I've ever played has. Climbing a hill is its own reward, just to see what's on the other side. The size and scale of that world feels like some sort of black magic. Everything is simultaneously much closer and much farther away than it seems. Crest a hill and see something in the distance, it looks really far away, but totally reachable. Then you descend the hill and get lost in an expansive forest for an hour, only to come up out of it and arrive at the thing you were aiming for, with the world seemingly expanding and shrinking on a whim. It's hard to describe, but it really is magical.

Super Mario Odyssey

Not much to say here, other than the game is a complete joy. It's a perfect blend of new ideas and throwbacks to classic Mario. In terms of just being a video game, it's as close to perfect as I've ever experienced. It just feels great.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

It's more Uncharted. Chloe and Nadine are a great duo with a great dynamic. It's gorgeous, the story was worth telling.

Pyre

I fell off of this one because something else came out, but I'll get back to it. A cool mix of visual novel and sports game, it's an interesting story with amazing art, great music, cool characters, and incredible style.

What Remains of Edith Finch

The latest entry in the "explore your family's empty house" genre, this one feels unique. I liked exploring all the family members' stories and the neat little gameplay and presentation twists they provided.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm

The entire last episode blows, but its still worth playing, I think.

Steamworld Dig 2

Just a fun casual digging game. Dig for materials, upgrade your tools, explore the ancient ruins of humanity while you search for the protagonist of the previous game. Just a neat game to relax with.

Gorogoa

I just played this one last week. It's a short (took me about two hours, maybe a little less) puzzle game that's very unique. It's 2D drawn art, presented in four panels. The gameplay involves moving your character around to get him to his goal, but you don't control him directly. Instead you must click and drag the panels around, peeling away layers, shifting perspectives, combining frames. It's not very difficult, but it's novel enough to be well worth playing.

Little Nightmares

Inisde, but actually good.

The Sexy Brutale

A neat puzzle game. You're stuck in a mansion and must prevent a series of murders. Time is on a loop, and you have to sneak around and piece together the murders and figure out what you can change to prevent them from happening. Cool style, great music, and a neat gameplay loop.

Destiny 2

Obviously. No need to discuss it in this thread, but I still really enjoy it, and CoO + The Dawning was enough to get me pretty deep into it again.

Nier: Automata

I was off work today and picked this up, and it's enthralling. The combat is a decent sort of hack'n'slash, the game is sort of ugly looking (with some occasional stand out moments of beauty), but the story is enthralling and affecting and very cool. It takes a while to really get going, and the gameplay is sort of middling (but enjoyable, in a sort of mindless way), but it feels like a very directed experience that is serving a very pointed purpose. It's a game that feels like it has a real vision, in a way that not many games do.

The Witcher 3

Still a great game. I played through it for the fourth time this year, and I'm still anticipating going through the expansions again. Man I love that game.

Skyrim

Yeah, it's six years old now, but I've put probably 40 hours into it again, due to it being on the Nintendo Switch. Which, actually brings me to . . .

The Nintendo Switch

Damn, I love this thing. I want to play everything on it. I use it almost exclusively in handheld mode, and I love doing so. It feels like a refined piece of tech, unlike the Fischer Price styled WiiU. It's still Nintendo levels of dumb and shitty (no cloud saves or real account management stuff, no real online features, still using friend codes, etc.), but just using the device is fun and cool. Hopefully they keep supporting it as much as they have this year, and hopefully they finally drop the 3DS and focus all of their development resources on just the Switch.

And, lastly, a few games I didn't get around to but still want to play:

-Divinity: Original Sin II
-Prey
-Night in the Woods
-Cuphead
-Bloodborne (yeah, it's old, but I still haven't played it for more than few hours)
-Heat Signature
-Hollow Knight (I'm waiting on the Switch version)
-Xenoblade Chronicles II

So, I didn't keep it short after all, and I'm sure I missed some things.

What did you all spend time with this year?