2017 Video Game Retrospective

By: Cam Wohlfeil
Published: 2018-02-05 0000 EST
Modified: 2018-02-05 0000 EST
Category: General

Music to read this to: Cuphead Soundtrack or Life is Strange: Before the Storm Soundtrack.

This list is weeks late but better late than never right? 2017 was easily one of the best years in gaming, right next to amazing years like 1996-1999, 2004, 2011, and 2007. Next gen has finally hit it's stride and despite all odds Nintendo is a success again, though I still hope their hardware flops enough they just go third party it seems this won't be the generation. For me personally this has been one of my best years ever, I'm burning through my backlog faster than ever and finding some great games instead of just buying the latest craze in hopes of having fun. If you didn't read my list from last year then you should know this list isn't just games that came out this year, it's all the games I played this year. One difference this year is my evolving idea about what constitutes completing a game. Somewhere in the middle of this year I started considering a game completed if it meets any of the following criteria:

100% all content
100% the main quest line
Get my fill of the game, and look up the rest.
Not enjoying the gameplay or having technical issues, so I look up the rest.

Basically, I consider a game completed when I don't want to play it anymore. The first two are what I used to consider completing a game, I added the last two. These are odd because I'm basically not enjoying the games anymore and watching someone else finish, and being okay with that. To be fully transparent I'll mark those games with a Maltese cross(✠).

Games I Loved

Dishonored 2: I didn't love it as much as Dishonored but that's a hard ask for any game since it's one of my favorites. I don't feel like it did anything new and exciting but all I really wanted was more Dishonored, and this delivered.
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice✠: Just waiting for a price drop to actually play it myself, but I enjoyed the story quite a bit and I'm not sure how much playing it myself would improve the experience. The audio design really carried the experience, but the story itself was no slouch. The gameplay seemed to be the weak part.
Pillars of Eternity: I knew I was going to love this game because of my preexisting love for all things Obsidian, but this game doesn't put it's best foot forward. Once I was finally able
Fallout 1: A lot of old game cruft especially in the interface, controls, and balance but overall a great game. Exploring the wasteland and finding the things referenced in the modern Fallouts games was lots of fun.
Metro: Last Light Redux: I loved Metro 2033, and while the story is a pretty big step down the combat, level design, and atmosphere are all just as good if not better, and that's what really matters.
Rise of the Tomb Raider: Fixed a lot of my complaints with the previous entry, creating a very smooth experience. It wasn't perfect but it was pretty close. The Baba Yaga DLC in particular was fantastic.
Witcher 3: I can barely stand open world games anymore but Witcher 3 was still able to grab me as hard as any other fantastic RPG.
Fallout: New Vegas: I replayed Fallout: New Vegas for what must be the 5th time or more and I still love it just as much as ever. This time I played everything start to finish and made a point to find as much content as possible without skipping anything. Old World Blues is probably the funniest piece of content I've played in a game.
Deadly Premonition✠: I tried to play Deadly Premonition but I could only put up with so much jank. I was much happier watching the rest of it and the bonkers story was a delight to see unfold, especially having just watched Twin Peaks season 3.
Bioshock 2 Remastered: Bioshock 2 is somewhat the inverse of Bioshock 1. The writing isn't as good but the combat is much better. Minerva's Den is one of the best pieces of a game I've ever played, it has both great gameplay and writing.
Silent Hill 2: This game truly lives up to the hype. It's much more a well written piece of literature in game form than it is a game. I wouldn't be surprised if this spawned the walking simulator genre.
Syberia 1✠ and 2✠: Technical issues prevented me from playing these comfortably, but I really enjoyed watching them on YouTube. These games are very well written and the old adventure game cruft seemed to be minimal.
Cuphead✠: I wanted to finish Cuphead and I'm sure I will eventually, but as of now I don't have the time and patience. Still this game is incredible, so much effort went in to the art, animation, and music, it just oozes style.
Shadowrun Returns: Shadowrun Returns was a well written and fun strategy RPG. Coming in around 8 hours, I never felt like I was doing busywork or getting in too many filler fights like CRPGs often feel.
Oneshot: Oneshot was so cute, I want a plush of the main character. It's in two niches I'm really in to right now, bite size games that focus on quality and games with meta elements.
Night in the Woods: It's not perfect, but I really enjoyed Night in the Woods. Hanging out with the characters and trying to find all the content was a delight. I went back and replayed with the new Weird Autumn content, and I wish I had waited. Not because it was additive but because I didn't have the desire to burn through the story for a third and forth time to see it all.
American Truck Simulator: Much like my old favorite Euro Truck Simulator 2, just in the American Southwest. I was hankering for to spend more time in a digital American Southwest after playing Fallout.
Alien: Isolation✠: I did finish, but I made the aliens non-hostile towards the end. The game overstays it's welcome and gets a bit ridiculous by the end, but the dedication to aesthetic is incredible. I loved just absorbing the atmosphere in this game.
Jazzpunk: Directors Cut: Jazzpunk was hilarious, and never overstayed it's welcome or felt frustrating.
Little Nightmares: Surprisingly, I enjoyed it more than INSIDE, and the toy/muppet aesthetic was lovely. Hard to say much more really, it was a nice bite-size experience.
Mass Effect 2✠ and 3✠: Really didn't care for the combat after a while, I just wanted the story and character quests so I burned through them on YouTube. I can understand why people were mad at the original ending to 3, but even considering that I found the whole story to be great.
NieR: Automata: I got all the core endings a most of the joke endings and watched the rest. The in-game effects of features and meta elements were delightful, and I'm always a sucker for good trans-humanist and cyberpunk stories.
Prey 2017: Prey 2017 is the System Shock 3 I've always wanted. I love immersive sims but the old ones have so much cruft and jank. Bioshock "fixed" this by just making shooters, whereas Arkane has fixed this by just making good games. While it has a few warts that make me like it less than Dishonored 1, Prey easily beats out the new Dishonored entries and makes it to the list of my favorite games.
West of Loathing: A nice light RPGs with lots of great comedy, even including jokes in the interface and controls.
What Remains of Edith Finch: This game takes the award of "What a Walking Sim Should Be", previously held by The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. It doesn't just drop you in an environment and ask you to plow through a story, it makes use of the medium to tell it's story in a way that wouldn't translate any other way.
Tyranny: Tyranny is similar to Bioshock 2 in that it's somewhat the inverse of what came before it. Tyranny is a much more focused experience, but ends up feeling much smoother than Pillars of Eternity. While the lore may not be as interesting or deep (it doesn't need to be anyways), I liked the new gameplay systems and hope they integrate them in to future RPGs. Also the hover text is a genius idea.

Games I Liked

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider: More Dishonored is never a bad thing, but it did feel at certain points that the game was succumbing to cheap difficulty to extend the length.
Until Dawn: Played it through once then watched other endings. Despite the framerate issues the face tech really added a lot, and being in the middle of a cheesy slasher flick was fun.
Hitman 2016: Hitman was a pleasant surprise. Though I had heard a lot about it, I still enjoyed it quite a bit. It scratched a bit of the same itch as Dishonored does, with it's clockwork-like world, rules, and possibilities. It didn't stick with me as long as some people but I certainly played every level enough to get plenty of the objectives.
Metal Gear Rising Revengeance✠: Metal Gear Rising just barely outstayed it's welcome gameplay-wise so I ended up watching the last bits on YouTube but I felt like I got my moneys worth, and the story was delightfully bonkers like Metal Gear should be. Senator Armstrong for president!
Westerado: Double Barreled: Adult Swim delivers yet again on a solid, focused, silly fun experience. Lots of content in a little package.
Transistor: I enjoyed Transistor a lot, even more than Bastion. It's a tight experience and very smooth beginning to end, and almost everything is of high quality.
Sanitarium✠: Technical and interface issues kept me from playing this myself, but I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Decently written with a lot of interesting concepts.
I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream✠: Once again, the ancient interface kept me from playing this game. I really enjoyed it though, minus a few rough areas. The writing was really good.
Resident Evil 1 HD Remastered, 2, 3✠, Code Veronica✠, 7✠: Resident Evil 7 was giving me nausea unfortunately, but I really enjoyed what I did play and of course the whole thing after watching it. It didn't blow me away or anything as it was clearly going back to it's roots while jumping on the first person horror bandwagon, still it was very well made. The DLC ranged from decent to meh. The others I played before and just wanted a refresher, so as I played and watched them at my leisure.
Silent Hill 1: It's easy to see how Silent Hill 1 was a major breakthrough in it's time and the quality shines through, it's only downside is that it was followed up by such an amazing game it was blown out of the water. Though the controls are still rough it's a thoroughly modern style game, and the art direction makes it look relatively good for it's age.
Condemned: Criminal Origins: A bit rough in spots from age, but clearly a pioneering game, and still relatively modern in design. Well constructed and with good art direction. Lots of suspense and good writing kept me going until the end.
Grand Theft Auto 5✠: I really liked the story but after 20 hours the gameplay got old and I couldn't deal with the slow mission pace anymore. I finished it up by watching on YouTube. I liked the idea of using different characters for the different play styles and expect it to happen more in open world games going forward. I think my favorite part of the game was playing the stock market though, especially with the missions that affect it.
Bioshock Infinite DLC: I liked returning to Rapture and the story overall, but it felt like they ramped up the difficulty to pad out the lack of content, which personally I'd rather they just accept it's a short experience. Eventually I got through and mostly enjoyed it.
HELLDIVERS: Silly top-down shooter fun with 4 friends. Getting squished by friendly air drops is half the fun!
Psychonauts: First person platforming is bad in general, and this is no exception, but the art and writing was good enough to drag me through the bad gameplay sections.
Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth✠: I gave Call of Cthulu multiple chances but technical issues kept me from playing it time and again, which is unfortunate since many sources tell me it's the only good Lovecraft game before Bloodborne. While it was cheesy in parts and some gameplay sections were clearly a poor choice, it captures the spirit of Lovecraft without becoming a cheap jump-scare horror game.
The Longest Journey: This game had a ton of style and enjoyable writing, which mostly made up for some of the bad puzzles and quests. Almost. Hopefully the sequels are a better game experience and keep the writing, art, and first class world building.
Observer: Visually stunning, narratively confused and trite. Very different from Layers of Fear.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole: I was concerned this wouldn't be able to follow up since it's almost impossible for anyone to follow up Obsidian RPGs, but the combat was more interesting and the writing was in the same class. While I didn't like it as much as Stick of Truth, it's a good sequel. Nicely done Ubisoft.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm: Before the Storm was certainly a mixed bag. I like to think of it as the "Fire Walk With Me" compared to Life Is Strange's "Twin Peaks", especially with the focus on Rachel Amber. I think being $15 and 3 episodes was the right choice for building on what's already there with a decent prequel story and some fanservice, but it's no Life is Strange 2.
Doki Doki Literature Club: There was a bit of an act 1 slump and I would probably never replay it but I enjoyed my time with DDLC quite a bit. Also it's another game that has some meta elements which have yet to grow old for me.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger: Finally finished after starting a few years ago. I had a lot of fun playing it, and the storytelling method was fantastic. I hope it gets ripped off more.
Dead Space 1 and 2: I loved both of these for different reasons. Dead Space 1 was a very spooky game that was okay to play, whereas Dead Space 2 was a smooth shooter experience with some spooks. Both had great environmental storytelling, audio, and environments.

Games That Were Okay

D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die✠: From a gameplay standpoint, it felt like D4 didn't want me to play it, like an actively painful interpretation of the Telltale format. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the silliness of the story.
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father 20th Anniversary Edition✠: Even with the anniversary edition, the interface left a lot to be desired. Still, the goofy story and dialog was enjoyable enough.
Wolfenstein II: I loved The New Order and The Old Blood but something about Wolfenstein II really left me disappointed. There were some great moments but overall it just left me with a "meh" feeling. Hopefully the release an expansion that's as good as The Old Blood.
Murdered: Soul Suspect✠: Visually it was neat but the story was just decent pulp, and it was really just a high budget walking simulator. I don't regret watching it but I wouldn't recommend it.
The Evil Within✠: Something about the graphics kept giving me nausea no matter what I tweaked. There were a few gameplay sequences that rubbed me the wrong way as well, but they weren't bad enough to make me quit. I was okay with how wacky the story was, but in the end I do regret purchasing this game. Watching it was fine though.
Quantum Break✠: At best Quantum Break was neat. The gameplay was certainly much better than Alan Wake and graphically it was impressive after lot's of tweaking. The story had some good ideas and the acting was decent but overall execution was just okay.
Outlast✠: I got sick of the jump scares after a while. The story was nothing to write home about.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: The story was pretty trashy, but playing it was fun enough. Still plays well despite it's age with some light tweaks.
Beyond Two Souls✠: Wasn't much point in playing it myself. I greatly preferred Heavy Rain.
Assassin's Creed 1✠, 2✠, Revelations✠, and Brotherhood✠: I can appreciate AC1 or how much it changed the industry but it hasn't aged well. The others were fine to play but I'm far too burnt out on the format to play them myself. The stories were entertaining with AC2 being the best and progressively getting worse in the others.
Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition✠: Sleeping Dogs was decent. I was able to get past the open world cruft for a long time because exploring Hong Kong was fun and the story was a decent cop drama. I had my fill after a while though and just wanted to finish the story.
American McGee's Alice✠ and Madness Returns✠: Aesthetically these games were great but I don't enjoy playing these old 3D platformers. I did like watching a playthrough though.
Beyond Good & Evil: I honestly don't get why people loved this game so much but it was fun enough. It just came off as another kiddie 3D character game like Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, or Sly Cooper. Sure the story was a bit more grim and serious and there was some charm, but not that much more than the others like it.
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City✠: Much like GTA5 I could only handle these games until I start getting bad side quests and busy work. I liked the stories quite a bit though.
ICEY: Decent game but needed some polish. Also, the English narrator was bad.
Shadow Warrior: Fun enough and decently funny but runs out of steam about halfway through.
Max Payne 1✠, 2✠ and 3: I had technical issues with Max Payne 1 and 2 but watching the pulp fiction story and all of the TV scenes was still enjoyable. Max Payne 3 I did play through, and was frustrating quite often. Cutscenes were far too frequent and fights felt poorly designed just like the older games.
A Bird Story: Cute, but not a lot of substance. More of a visual poem than a game.
Day of the Tentacle✠, Grim Fandango✠, and Full Throttle✠ (all Remastered): I can appreciate these games in their context and like the new releases that clean things up a bit, but my god did old adventure games have a lot of shitty puzzles. I did enjoy the jokes and stories well enough though.
Braid: I guess I missed the zeitgeist on this because I didn't get the appeal.
Monkey's Island Special Edition 1✠ and 2✠: I can see how these would have been good in their time but all I really got out of them was some decent jokes and some really bad puzzles and quests.

Games I Kept Playing

Europa Universalis 4: 2017 was a good year for Europa Universalis 4 but I'm not sure how much longer they can keep tacking things on without a major rework (or maybe Europa Universalis 5, nudge nudge). Also, I think I'm just getting my fill of it.
Stellaris: Still one of the best space 4X games I've ever played, and I still barely understand how to play it. The content continues to improve, but the patches seem to make it harder. Hopefully the former trend continues in to 2018 and the latter stops.
Euro Truck Simulator 2: Despite mostly taking a back seat to American Truck Simulator I still enjoying going to Europe once in a while. They're basically the same game with different environments.
Don't Starve/Together: I thought I was done with Don't Starve but adding co-op brought me back in. Still fun, though a bit too direction-less for my taste
Killing Floor 2: While I'd consider it a solidly C- game it is fun to play with friends, thought personally I'm over the game. I don't think I'll play it much longer.
Diablo 3: Just a little. I liked playing the new content with friends but I hope to wrap it up soon.
Hearts of Iron 4: 2017 was also a good year for Hearts of Iron 4 as well though it still needs more work and the DLC has been lackluster. Between it and Stellaris my Victoria 3 itch is being mostly scratched, though I still want it...

Games I Dropped

Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 4: Battlefield 4 is one of my most played games of all time and has been a comfort game since a few months after release, but I'm not enjoying them anymore, to the point where I'm frequently getting angry at them. It's time to move on.
Overwatch and PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS: I feel like I was somehow tricked. These games were fun for maybe 10 hours, but after that it went quickly downhill. Not even playing with friends could keep me wanting to come back.
Day of Infamy: Not much to say really I've just had my fill.
Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen: I may give this another chance in a while but it really wasn't doing anything for me. The climbing mechanic was odd, the pawn mechanic was interesting, but nothing could really make up for it being a lackluster RPG to me.
Oddworld New 'n Tasty: It was okay I guess, the art direction was really good and writing was decent, but there wasn't enough of a game here to keep me going.
Homefront: The Revolution: More interesting visually than it was to play. Extremely tedious. Neat gun modification mechanics.
Downwell: Fun for a few tries but never really hooked me.
Dying Light: I can see what people like in it but it didn't appeal to me, felt very tedious and boring.
Lords of the Fallen: Exactly as everyone said, poor man's Dark Souls. Nice try but no thanks.
Titan Souls: Interesting premise and some decent boss design but overall poor execution. Frequently felt cheap.
Batman Arkham Asylum: If I had come to it at the time I'm sure it would have blown me away but now it feels clunky and couldn't keep me going.
Watch Dogs 2: Open world fatigue kept me from this game even though this one seems to be fun.
Tacoma: Gone Home in a space station sounded fun and it had some interesting design choices but it was a total snooze.
Walking Dead Season 2: Just like season 1 except not as well written.
Black Desert Online: I thought I would really like the systems in this game, but technical issues kept me from getting logged in.
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs: Some good writing and level design but after a certain point it just got bad.
Farcry 4: The best part of this game was the opening after that it was just Farcry 3 in India-Nepal.
Banished: Had to give it up despite being one of my favorite games ever since it's a time sink and I've really done everything that can be done.
Brutal Legend: I don't really know what to make of it
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified: Mediocre third person shooter with some decent tactical elements.
Crypt of the Necrodancer: I thought I liked it but just couldn't get in to it. Maybe roguelikes aren't really my thing?
Crysis 1 and 2: I give up, I will never finish these games. At least Crysis 1 was interesting.
Dead by Daylight: What a horribly balanced, un-fun, and buggy game. I feel like my friends duped me in to getting it.
Dragon Age 1 and 2: Couldn't keep my attention, so generic and boring. Especially compared to Witcher.
Fallout 4: Just feels soulless and boring, like Skyrim but worse. At least the shooting is better. Clearly these games are not made for me.
Farming Simulator 15: My eyes were bigger than my stomach on this one.
Hitman: Codename 47: Too hard and clunky, not enough desire to play.
Penumbra 1, 2, and 3: Too clunky, not interesting enough to plow through. It's interesting seeing what came before Amnesia, but that's about all the value they have.
Postal 2: Paradise Lost: I'm no longer an edgy teen, so Postal 2 is no longer for me I guess.
Rising Storm 2: Vietnam: I had fun for a little while but I think I'm done with "realistic" shooter.
Thief 2014: A total snooze. An okay stealth action game but not the immersive sim I wanted.
Trine: I actually have the whole series from bundles or something and was planning to play them all but there was nothing in them that grabbed me.
Victoria 2: I love Victoria 2 so much, but it's time to move on. Maybe I'll experiment with more mods if Victoria 3 is nowhere to be seen.
Waking Mars: Maybe this has some kind of old mobile game cruft but it just felt like an okay platformer, which I'm not interested in.
World in Conflict: Soviet Assault: Got my fill when I played the original ages ago I guess. Nothing against it.
Titanfall 2: Enjoyed my time, had my fill. The community was beyond dead on PC by the end.
Starcraft 2: I finished the Wings of Liberty campaign ages ago before giving up on multiplayer and finally wanted to get around to Heart of the Swarm. I gave it a shot but I just wasn't in to it anymore. I watched the other campaigns, there is some exceptional bad writing in there. Kerrigan literally flies off in to the sunset in one and becomes a god in the other.
Furi: Loved the aesthetic and audio but bullet hell and boss rush games aren't my cup of tea. Seems like a great game it's just not for me.
Duck Game: Enjoyed my time with it but I've had my fill.
Endless Legend: I've had my fill for the most part and not enough of my friends play it regularly to keep me interested. Still love it though.
Splinter Cell: Technical issues kept me from playing and the story was generic pulp, no point in watching.