Sure, Dark Souls can probably claim to be the most influential new IP of the last decade, but few games actually “get it” in the way Dark Souls does. The words “it’s like Dark Souls” are becoming largely overused these days. Now with that out of the way, my top 10 favorite video games of 2017!

The only things set in stone here are the top two.Īlso of note is that, despite being one of the best games of this (or any other) year, I have exempted Mario Kart 8 Deluxe from this top 10 for the obvious reason that it’s a re-release. Also, as I always state when making such a list, these are my feelings for the moment, so if I later appear to change preferences to what I list here, that’s not necessarily a contradiction. I haven’t reviewed all of the games I’m about to list just yet, but I hope to get around to it. A number of notable titles barely missed making it on here (PlayerUnknown’s Battleground, for example, snagged my “Best Online Multiplayer” award for its intensity, but it lacks the polish of the ten games I’m listing here). The following are the ten games that I feel stood out the most among the many greats of 2017.

But for a year as exceptional to the medium as 2017, I had to up the ante to a full-blown top 10! Traditionally, I have acknowledged my top 5 games of the year. With such a high watermark of a year now in the history books, the year’s best game must be named. Seriously, 2017 was a hell of a year for video games! It was like BOOM! Awesome game! BOOM! Awesome game! BOOM! Awesome game! It was murder on the wallet, but worth every penny.

Despite some questionable directions the video game industry went into during the year (I’m looking your way, Battlefront II), when was the last time a year had so many stellar releases beginning right out the gate all the way to the tail end of the year? This difficulty is doubled, maybe tripled for a year like 2017. Naming the best video game to be released in almost any given year is a pretty challenging endeavor – I say ‘almost’ because some years, like 2012, kinda suck in the video game department (I’m sorry, how else can you explain Journey winning so many GotY awards for 2012?).

Best games of 2017 list comparisons