The Impact Factor’s Top
10 Games of 2017
Perspectives
Oh
2017. 2017 giveth. 2017 take away. 2017 won’t be forgotten. Needless to say.
(Like my little poem?)
2017
has been one of the best years in gaming in a decade. I’m staking my claim now
that 2017 will remain in the top-ever gaming years for decades to come. And
thank everything that’s good in the world that 2017 was such a brilliant and
beautiful year for digital interactive entertainment. Pretty much any other way
you cut it, 2017 was a garbage truck on fire. And that’s putting it lightly.
There’s
so much to say about 2017’s games. Too much to include in one list of the top
10. 2017 delivered quality across all genres and platforms. 2017 introduced
several games that can hold strong against contenders in ‘best-ever’ lists. Us
enthusiasts were inundated with quality these past 12 months, and I expect
(hope) everyone’s “best of” lists represent this. As true as it has been the
past few years, “there is just too much to play” never rang truer.
I
wanted to start this top ten with a rapid-fire list of games I wish I had found time to play this year.
Any, or all, of these could have been Game of the Year contenders: Resident Evil 7, Hollow Knight, Gorogoa,
Wolfenstein 2, The Evil Within 2, Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Life is
Strange-Before the Storm, Night in the Woods, Danganronpa V3, Golf Story,
Battle Chef Brigade, Dead Cells.
But
now to the Top 10! I hope this list finds you well this holiday season. May you
& yours be merry, and thanks for thinking of the now fully dead TIF. Gone,
but hopefully not forgotten.
10. Destiny 2
As a long-lapsed Destiny player (I played for 110 hours at launch but never came back for any DLC/expansions), I wasn’t expecting to get excited for Destiny 2. But I got excited. Very excited. And then I played it for 110 hours. Destiny 2 is an improvement on Destiny (again, speaking as a player who only engaged with release content). I joked back in 2014 that Destiny was the most fun I’d ever had with a 6/10 game. Destiny 2 is no 6/10. Much like 2014, my life became consumed by this sci-fi shooter sequel and honestly, I’m happy it was. Don’t call it a comeback – no seriously, don’t. The game has made a lot of mistakes since launch. It won’t take away the joy I experienced during those 110 hours, though. Here’s to 2020, and another 110 hours in Destiny 3.
9. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe
Yeah.
I can hear you now. “But Alex, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe isn’t a new game! It came
out forever ago on the Wii U!” Yeah, well. First, shut up. Second, I never
played it before. Third, why are you coming here just to poo-poo my list? It
had been years since I played a Mario
Kart, setting lofty expectations for this Switch port, but boy were those
expectations met and more. Unless you’re a slave to nostalgia, it’s pretty
clear that Mario Kart 8: Deluxe is
the best Mario Kart ever made. It
handles like a dream. The courses are fun and colorful. Local multiplayer is a
blast. So, I’m sorry, but Mario Kart makes
the Top 10 cut folks. It’s fantastic.
8. NieR: Automata
NieR: Automata’s flashy combat, heavy themes, clever writing and ability to play with long-standing video game tropes earns it its spot at #8. NieR: Automata made it into my playlist on the back of glowing praise from some of my favorite critics, and boy am I glad I listened to their recommendations. NieR: Automata is better played (or seen) than explained, but I had to let you know not to sleep on this very good robot game. Plus, the soundtrack is hauntingly beautiful.
7. Pyre
Despite
my longstanding affection for Supergiant Games (Bastion is wonderful; Transistor
was my #3
GOTY in 2014), Pyre had me
worried. Rather, Pyre had me confused. The way the game was talked
about confused me – it was a visual novel, RPG sports game? The way the game
demoed confused me – the multiplayer at PSX handled strangely. But none of that
mattered because the final product is excellent. Supergiant is 3 for 3 with
stunningly beautiful games, fantastic soundtracks, and innovative gameplay. I
was immediately drawn into the purgatorial world of Pyre. Just as soon as the narrative hooks got to me so too did the
surprisingly complex (and endlessly fun) gameplay of the soccer-like Rites. You
can see me crush the game here.
6. What Remains of
Edith Finch
Stop
what you’re doing. Go play What Remains
of Edith Finch. 2 hours well spent, right? Edith Finch is an emotional, imaginative experience from start to finish
– letting creativity shape narrative and gameplay alike. The emotional moments
worked just as effectively as the perspective shifts and gameplay experiments. No
other game in 2017 so fundamentally transported me to another world. Edith Finch is a time, a place, a mood.
I was blown away with Giant Sparrow’s sophomore outing. I couldn’t be more
excited for what comes next.
5. Splatoon 2
I
could tell you about how Splatoon 2 expands
upon the colorful and creative legacy of its predecessor. I could tell you
about the addictive game modes, the finely-tuned and deeply-satisfying gunplay,
or the absolute sensorial delight that is Splatfest. But I won’t. I want to
tell you about my, really, our first
weekend with the game. Splatoon 2
released on a Friday. My wife was home that day. She booted up the game, a fan
of what she had seen from the first, to see what the sequel would offer.
Justine played for nearly 8 hours straight. I got home and played for a few
more. Saturday and Sunday were spent trading off the controller in nearly dozen
hour long play sessions. Splatoon 2
was a moment. One that I got to
share with my wife. Of course we didn’t stop there, and the two of us played
for nearly 3 months after the game first launched. But I’ll never forget that
first weekend. That delightful, lazy weekend in which my wife and I shared
something special. Thank you for that, Splatoon
2.
4. Super Mario Odyssey
Hey.
Psst. In case it wasn’t clear above, this is one of those “strong contender for
best-ever” games that was alluded to in the introduction. Super Mario Odyssey is journey. A symphony of sights and sounds and
immaculate gameplay. Odyssey is a
game that rewards the player for being curious; a game so masterfully designed
it’s hard to believe that it was made by real people. Odyssey locks you into its expressive world and doesn’t let up
until you’re 500+ moons deep. What has stuck with me the longest, though, isn’t
Mario or Peach or the Broodals (ugh). It isn’t the throwbacks or the
platforming. It’s the joy. Super Mario Odyssey
is an unabashed delight from start to finish. It’s fun and funny. It exudes
happiness and wants you to be happy too. In a year like 2017, I don’t know if
you can ask for much more.
3. Horizon Zero Dawn
Never
before has such an enticing premise on paper, an open-world game about hunting
robot dinosaurs, overdelivered in
the final product. Horizon Zero Dawn
is an absolutely phenomenal experience. The world is rich with quests and
collectibles but each feels important, never tedious. Combat beautifully meshes
high-octane action gameplay with strategic situational and environmental awareness.
The narrative is layered, told well and filled with characters that will stand
the test of time (hi Aloy!). Horizon
is jaw-droppingly beautiful to boot. Horizon
is the culmination of what developers have learned from years of making
open-world games, and years of fan demands of the genre. Horizon Zero Dawn is really, really good.
2. The Legend of Zelda:
Breath of the Wild
I
hate to pit two games I adore against each other, but I feel it necessary when
introducing my #2 game of the year. Whereas Horizon
is a refinement on everything
open-world games have been working towards, Breath
of the Wild is a reinvention. This
is the game all future open-world developers will look to for inspiration.
Breath of the Wild is an uncanny
assembly of ideas: a game so overflowing with innovation and introspection
about something we collectively thought we understood that it’s hard to fathom.
Every single surface in the game is open to player exploration. Breath of the Wild is one of the only
games (perhaps ever) in which the
game logic 1:1 matches with real world logic. That cannot be overstated. Set a
field on fire to create an updraft to glide above enemies; drop your metal
sword to complete an electrical circuit puzzle; and so on. Breath of the Wild is also perfectly designed for its platform, the
Switch. You can play for 10 minutes or 10 hours and find satisfaction in equal
measure. Like all innovators, Breath of
the Wild doesn’t get everything right (moment-to-moment gameplay gets
dragged down by tedious weapon fragility and cooking mechanics), but this genre-redefining
title deserves all the praise that has been heaped upon it. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the most impactful game of the
year. But, as you can tell by its placement, not my #1. (P.S. this is another
one of those ‘best-evers'.)
1. Persona 5
