Anyway! I maintain that 2017 was a less painful year than 2016, even while being objectively worse in many ways. 2016 started full of promise that slowly turned to ash and vinegar in our mouths as reality kicked us in the nards harder and harder every day. The nard-kicking continued in 2017, but we knew it was coming this time. Our nards were callused and hard. We were more prepared.
Still, an anticipated nard-kicking is still a nard-kicking, which is to say, it fucking sucks. The lone exception to the non-stop assault of garbage was pop culture, which was actually far better than usual in many ways. While movies and TV were fantastic in 2017, I don't think anyone would dispute that the medium with the best year was...
Video Games
Holy shit were there some good video games in 2017. For the sake of not going completely insane, I limit myself to my 10 favorites for these types of lists, but with video games in particular I could probably list 20 or 30 games that I really really loved this year. This quality is bittersweet, as it increasingly looks like right-wing shitheads will get video games in the upcoming American divorce, while sensible people are left with (shudder) sports. That aside, here are my top 10 games of 2017!
10. Nioh
Nioh is partially on here as a tactical move. I played, and enjoyed, a lot more Destiny 2 than Nioh, but I'm loath to bestow a spot on this prestigious, highly-trafficked list to something with such contempt for its playerbase. Fortunately, Nioh is fucking awesome, telling the story of the world's first weeb and his journey to meet and make out with all of Sengoku Japan's greatest heroes. In between cutscenes taken straight out of the fanfic I wish I'd written at 13, Nioh does an amazing job of remixing Dark Souls-style combat with new systems and gorgeous, atmospheric environments.
9. Doki Doki Literature Club
I'm not usually much of a visual novel guy. I like my games interactive, my characters actually moving, and my protagonists with faces and corporeal bodies. But Doki Doki Literature Club overcame my dislike of the genre with the classic Sam-approved strategy of being completely fucked up. I'm not going to say anymore about the game because you should go in blind, but if you can handle everything the pre-game disclaimer warns you about, you owe it to yourself to write some weird virtual poetry.
8. ARMS!
This is one of four Nintendo Switch games on my list, which is pretty impressive considering the system isn't even a year old yet. Usually, a game console's first year is a lot like a human's first year: cute and charming, but kind of repetitive as you wait for it to get old enough to be able to drink. But there was no need to wait for the Switch to turn nine - with games like ARMS, whose wacked-out premise got me to briefly give a shit about competitive fighters, it was great from go!
7. Splatoon 2
The first Splatoon is one of the most important games of the past five years. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a huge mark for stuff that loves Rocket Power as much as Splatoon clearly does - I'm saying that because Splatoon made one of the biggest leaps in shooter design in ages. Tying your movement to your shooting, and vice versa, makes for a gameplay loop unlike anything else out there, and works with the incredible visuals and music to make the game really special. Splatoon 2 doesn't do a whole lot different, which is fine since the first game nailed everything so hard, but its Salmon Run horde mode deserves a shoutout for being one of the funnest dumbest ways I wiled the summer away.
6. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
I hate that this game has become political. Back when the original Wolfenstein reboot launched in 2014, there were fewer Nazis, and the Nazis that were around had the good sense to keep their mouths shut. But the political situation has...gotten worse. So this time there was actual pushback to a game about killing Nazis. I had to love Wolfenstein 2 just to spite these fucks, so it's a good thing that it's a fun murder-filled time. Weirdly enough, the game's biggest strength isn't its Nazi shooting, but its story. It's an intersection of a personal narrative, stories dissecting how every group suffers under fascism, and zany pulp sci-fi that's far more effective than it has any right to be.
5. Nier: Automata
Just as a heads-up: from this point onward, this list is neck-and-neck. Any one of these games would have easily been my favorite game of the year if they didn't have each other to compete with. Take Nier: Automata, for example. Somehow beating Doki Doki Literature Club for most existentially haunting game of 2017, Nier: Automata combines all the dread of learning life is a purposeless void with all the fun of being a robot that can kill anything. I love me some Platinum games - Bayonetta 2 and Wonderful 101 are two of my all-time favorite games, period - but they just don't know how to pair their buttery-smooth murder-engine with a good story. This game finally fixes that, and I couldn't be happier, or more aware that I'll die someday and there's nothing I can do about it.
4. Persona 5
This game is so good that it makes me want to get a Playstation Vita to play Persona 4. I would debase myself for this series. Persona 5 is weeb catnip, asking players to balance being a transfer student making friends in Tokyo with a double life as a Tuxedo Mask-esque psychic criminal that collects theological creatures like pokémon. The battle system is rock-solid, the story and characters are compelling, and it's all presented with the single most aesthetically pleasing style I've ever seen in a video game. Persona 5 looks and feels so good that I'd rather navigate its start menu than play most other games.
3. Metroid: Samus Returns
I can't fucking believe I'm writing about this game. Samus Returns is like if one of your dead loved ones just came back to life, and somehow wasn't a disgusting, rotting zombie. It's...it's a Metroid game! It's a new Metroid game! And it's really good! New good Metroid! Buy it twice!
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wlid
I'm going to be honest here: this is the best game on this list. Nintendo somehow made the best open-world game I've ever played on their first try, and also made a better Studio Ghibli game than the actual Studio Ghibli game on the PS3. It's kind of amazing how much better an open-world game is once you can climb on everything, but the fact of the matter is that I tried to go back to other, pre-BOTW games after playing this one and I couldn't do it. This game is so good that it ruined an entire genre for me, and I love it so much for doing that.
Game of the Year: Super Mario Odyssey
Breath of the Wild is a revolutionary game, and it's a phenomenal game, but it's not my favorite game of 2017. That honor goes to the best 3D Mario I've ever played, Super Mario Odyssey. I 100%'d this game twice in a month and I have to actually fight the urge to do it again for fear of getting burned out. Between my soft spot for Mario, my soft spot for 3D platforming and exploration, and my soft spot for just weird shit, this game is like a powerful sci-fi drug. It's just happiness in digital form. And in a year where I really, really needed some happiness, Super Mario Odyssey came through every single time.
Those are my 10 favorite games from 2017. A very bold, edgy list. Lots of surprises. My favorite game was a Mario game. Next week: movies!
No comments:
Post a Comment