Game of the Year 2017

2017 was an incredible year for video games — so much so that it took me an extra few months to get through everything. But hey, at least I’m not as late as I was in 2014, 2015, or 2016. Progress is progress.

Because there were so many games that did so many things well, I wanted to highlight different categories — leading up to my top 10 games of 2017. The categories are:

Best Looking Game
Best Setting
Best Music
Best Characters
Best Story
Most Disappointing Game
Game of the Year

I know, I know, calling out the most disappointing games isn’t exactly in line with celebrating the best of the best, but this is Shea Hates Everything and in a year with so many amazing games, there were also a disappointing amount of disappointments.

Whereas Game of the Year will be an ordered list of 10 (with a few honorable mentions), the other categories will have a top five and however many honorable mentions I think deserve to be mentioned.

Before kicking it off on the next page, here’s every game I played in 2017. Note: Hyperlinks are for a particular game’s written review.

Assassin’s Creed Origins
Black: The Fall
Burly Men at Sea
Call of Duty: WWII
Destiny 2
Drawn to Death
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Forma.8
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Life is Strange: Before the Storm
Magikarp Jump
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Mass Effect Andromeda
Nier: Automata
Night in the Woods
Prey
Pyre
Rime
Snipperclips
South Park: Phone Destroyer
South Park: The Fractured But Whole
Star Wars Battlefront 2
Super Mario Odyssey
Superhot VR
Tacoma
Telltale’s Guardians of the Galaxy
That’s You
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
What Remains of Edith Finch
Yooka-Laylee

A note on HD remasters: Every game that released in 2017 is eligible for all awards — even HD remasters. The way I see it, this is a completely subjective list, so if re-playing an old game in a new way was one of my favorite gaming experiences of the year, that deserves to be called out. In the same vein, playing through a remastered game I’ve never played before also deserves consideration. However, the quality of the remaster and/or how long it’s been since I played the original game impacts its ranking. The goal is to give new games the advantage in a direct comparison. Like I said, it’s subjective.

Enjoy the list, and let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Continue to the next page for Best Looking Game!

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