The Top 5 Best Video Games of 2017

Is there such a thing as having too many great games?


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In all of my years of being a gamer, the last time that I thought we had a truly excellent year in gaming was 2010. That, 1994, 1998, and 2007 are some of the standout best years in gaming just because of how many stellar titles were launched and sometimes for its outstanding hardware releases. 2017 is going to be known for being a phenomenal mix of the two. Not only did we get an ungodly amount of great games from Resident Evil 7 to Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but we also had the monumental launch of the Nintendo Switch. While it's yet to be seen how much life the Switch has in it, it has a huge amount of support from developers and has sold almost as much as the Wii U's entire lifespan in 10 months. That's insane. And I love it.

2017 was such a banner year for gaming that even the terrible games had some redeeming qualities in them. Star Wars Battlefront 2 was awful, but if you were to remove the insidious microtransactions and loot box system, you would have at the very least a competent multiplayer shooter. While one can argue that it could be worse to have functional games that try to suck money out of you like a vampire than the broken games of previous years, at least one can say that they're playable. And gamer outrage was able to change terrible business practices for the better, so at least there's hope.

2017 just left me feeling so positive that I was actually going to make this list into a Top 10. I had so many games that I enjoyed that I could have easily expanded this into a full list, but doing four lists at once is a pretty draining process so I decided to nix that plan. However, I wanted to make special mentions to Snipperclips, Yooka Laylee, Sonic Mania, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Horizon Zero Dawn for just being great games, but not great enough to truly make my list. In an expanded list, yes indeed, but this isn't that kind of list. These are the Top 5 Best Video Games of 2017.

HM: Persona 5

My feelings on Persona 5 are conflicting to say the least. I can acknowledge that the gameplay is truly spectacular and the sense of style that is unrivaled by any other game this year. It was one of only a handful of games that took me over 100 hours to complete. I barreled through this game after work every day for a month and had a great time with it. All of that being said, saying that Persona 5 is an uneven game is a huge understatement.

While the beginning is really damned good and the ending is solid, the middle of the game drags like no other. The focus on villains is appreciated, but it leaves our heroes feeling a bit more underdeveloped than previous games. With the exception of Futaba and Makoto, I really didn't grow to love these characters in the same way that I loved the cast of Persona 3 and 4. Maybe that's just me, but it was an issue none the less. When I have to spend 100 hours with a cast that I don't completely love, it can be tiresome.

But the gameplay in this massive JRPG is what pushed me through the low points. Combat was actually enjoyable and the monster recruiting mechanics, if random, were still fun to experiment with. So it's not as good as Persona 4, but it's still easily one of the best games of 2017.

#5: Cuphead

I SO wished I could have talked about Cuphead this year! I planned on it, but then my schedule got swamped in October, and sacrifices had to be made. It was sad, but let me rectify that by saying that Cuphead was an insane trip to Hell and back.

I think it's already been said that Cuphead is a gorgeous game. Like, really damned beautiful. It's also been said that Cuphead is one of the hardest games of the year with punishing bosses and stages that were designed to kill you over and over again. I kept on coming back to it with my co-op partner (I was the Mugman to his Cuphead), and we persevered. So instead, I wanted to just tell a quick little story about the best moment in the entire game for us.

We were in the fight against King Dice and the entire fight is a huge gauntlet. You have to fight at least three bosses before getting to King Dice, but you can fight a maximum of nine bosses leading up to him. We spent an entire night getting to King Dice, thinking that if we were able to get to him, the level would be over and we wouldn't have to fight him. Once we got to him, we cheered and celebrated, but then realized in horror that we had to fight him. We died while we were celebrating and we had to start all over again.

After a few days of us recuperating from our loss, we challenged him again. We nearly got to him beating five bosses in the process but right before we got to him, we were forced back to the start of the board to trek through it all over again. We thought it was the end for us, but we weren't going down that easily. We worked our way back up to him without having to fight a single extra boss. Once we reached him, we fired everything we had at him, ready to take him out once and for all. And then the game glitched. King Dice got stuck in an animation where he send cards out to attack us, but the cards never came. He just kept on summoning enemies that would never come for eternity. So we did the only natural thing we could think of. We killed him like wusses and claimed our victory. Yeah it was cheap, but his whole fight was cheap. And that's why Cuphead is number 5 on my list.

#4: Doki Doki Literature Club

I still have no intention on saying anything about this game to anyone. If you've played it, you know exactly why it's one of the best games of 2017. If you haven't, then I still won't tell you why. All you need to know is that the plot of Doki Doki stays with you far after the game ends. The ideas and themes that it plays with is enough to follow you into any other game you play immediately afterwards.

Sure, the gameplay is dated and there's not much engagement outside of a few poetry section and a puzzle section towards the end of the game, but that's just the nature of the visual novel beast. Don't let your trepidations of the genre frighten you away. If you stay with Doki Doki and work to see its story, I can safely say that you'll be immensely pleased. Or emotionally devastated. It's really all up to you.

Look, it's free. Any computer can run it. Just give it a try and see what all of the fuss is about.

#3: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Please don't be made, please don't be mad, please don't be ma, please don't be mad, please don't be mad.

While I can completely understand why so many people adore this game and I do think it justly deserves the numerous GOTY awards it's been getting from certain outlets, and I can say that it is one of my favorite Zelda games, it does have a few issues that stop me from completely falling in love with it. I know that I gushed over it back in March and absorbed as much as I could of the game, but now that the shine has worn off, I feel like I can safely look at this game with unfiltered eyes.

Breath of the Wild gets a lot right. The world is breathtaking, the combat is the best in the entire series, the sense of exploration is unbelievable, the scale in mind boggling, and I actually really enjoyed the quiet and subtle soundtrack. As an advancement of the LoZ series, there's nothing else quite like it. We haven't seen a massive overhaul of this caliber since Ocarina of Time back in '98.

As for what I didn't like, I feel that after a certain point you kind of adjust to the game and it loses a bit of its luster. There'll come a time where you don't really want to explore Hyrule anymore and see the sights. Maybe you got worn out of Shrines or you don't want to get anymore Korok Seeds, but you'll hit a point where you just want to get back to the main game. Unfortunately, the main game is the weakest part of the game. I can safely say that while I completely understand why the Divine Beasts are structurally the same and are open to the player at the very beginning in any order, the dungeons themselves are some of the worst dungeons in the series. No personality, no dynamic design, just short, bland temples that feel like they belonged to the 80's.

The game truly shines in its opening hours. When you have the complete sense of freedom, Breath of the Wild is unlike any other game this year. I loved played it and had a great time just doing whatever I wanted. After a certain point, the game lost its magic, but what was left was still an outstanding game that I can easily see why so many people call it one of the greatest games of all time. It's just not MY favorite game of all time.

#2: Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

If you've wanted to see a game that completely flipped the table with one of the most insane stories I have ever seen in a game, look no further than Danganronpa V3.

I've been with the series since the beginning of its exposure in North America and I do call myself a Danganronpa fan, but there was something special about V3 that distinguished itself from other games this year. Maybe it was the cast of characters that ranged from being unbearable to featuring some of the best personalities in the series? Maybe it was the class trials that subverted the very idea of what a class trial could be? Or maybe it was the ludicrous finale that destroyed everything that the series built up just for a shock reaction? Whatever the case, one thing is certain; Danganronpa V3 has balls.

When you're not participating in class trials, you can spend some quality time with your classmates and get to know them just a little bit better. Even if some of the personalities seem familiar, you're bound to attach yourself to a few characters that you'll love almost as much as the previous students, if not more. No joke, when I got this game, I told myself that I was going to take my time with it and really savor the experience. Yeah, I binged this game in a week. I just couldn't stop myself from diving into the world and seeing just how nuts the plot got.

Danganronpa V3 is the undisputed champion of the visual novel genre and its only competition is other entries in the series. I can easily say that is has the best story of any game in 2017 and that is not a statement that I make lightly. But why isn't my favorite game of the year? Well...

#1: Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is my favorite Mario game. It's probably also one of my favorite platformers  and easily the best Nintendo Switch game available to this date.

I'm of the mindset that Mario games are a great introductory platforming series. They can entertain, but nothing really compels me to complete them or do everything in the game. Super Mario Odyssey is such a polished game with perfect worlds, physics, gameplay, and atmosphere that I thought it deserved to be finished. It deserved all of my attention and was just THAT good. It really was.

Whether I was hopping around New Donk City or marveling at the sights in the Cascade Kingdom, I was looking in every nook and cranny for what the game offered. If I had an idea to get one of the 883 Power Moons, chances are the game would reward my curiosity with one of them. Odyssey actively rewards you for trying new and inventive things and the satisfaction that you get from solving a puzzle or getting a Moon is unrivaled. I still remember finishing the main missions of New Donk City and going through the festival level with one of the best video game theme songs of all time playing in the background.

Even when you beat the game, there are still tons of things you can do. There are dozens of costumes to collect, some of which will put a giant smile on your face for being surprising throwbacks, bosses to fight against, new worlds to explore, new Moons to collect in previous worlds, the game just never ends!

It's kind of a curse to talk about a game that you love so much because it's so hard to put into words the magic of just playing it for the first time. I can try to vocalize it until the cows come home, but none of it really matters. You just need to play it for yourself. 2017 was the year of the Nintendo Switch, and it got one hell of a killer app in it's first year of life. I can' think of any other game that deserves the honor of being my 2017 Game of the Year. Here's to a long and healthy life for the Switch.