I really want to see The Evil Within 2’s take on these things. I love horror games because they tend to have excellent and specific atmosphere, and create emotional experiences that are about something more than just the player’s sense of fun. I heard terrific things about this horror-themed shooter sequel and I regret not having played it for myself yet. I’m awed not only by the raw talent showcased in its presentation, but in the developers’ courage to make it a straight-up classic-style side-scroller, a genre I felt deep down would never go out of style if the right game came along. However, once in a while, an extraordinarily well-crafted one comes around, and that’s Cuphead.
#Best games of 2017 list full#
These days there’s not as much novelty inherent to the tale of the scrappy indie dev cobbling together an original little game full of heart about a dozen of those are released on Steam every single day. It’s Mario meets XCOM, and they say it’s really good! That this improbable combination made it all the way from concept to a real honest-to-goodness video game is a marvel in itself, and I’ve heard rave reviews from many trusted sources including a couple of my colleagues. I love that this installment really amps up the drama around close matches-there’s a brilliant new detail that puts the last hit of a match in slow motion when both players are down to a sliver of life, amplifying those nail-biter finishes. This year, Tekken 7 was the game that really stood out, but I just haven’t gotten to it yet. Last year, fighting games really kept me going, and King of Fighters XIV topped my Game of the Year list. I think it’ll make me wistful for the kinds of friends and relationships I never had, and mood-wise I haven’t been in a place where I feel like I can subject myself to that kind of experience without ending up in a bad spot. I loved everything I saw of this game, but kept holding off playing it, and suddenly here I am.
So I end up putting them off and then regret not having played them at all. This sci-fi shooter in the tradition of games like System Shock and Deus Ex looked right up my alley though, I’ve come to realize that, since I’ve always wanted to work on a game like this but never got a chance to, it’s become a little painful for me to play them at this point. Knowing what I know about these games and my tastes, I feel like the odds are very good I’ll really enjoy these, and I want to acknowledge having hardly played them at all so their omission from my actual Top 10 is less nonsensical to you or my future self re-reading this. Looking back, I think if I just hunkered down and played them, it probably would have helped my mood and energy recover more quickly. Here are some personal highlights, sliced up into a couple of different lists: My Top 10 Games I Didn’t Get Around to As of This WritingĪfter Pyre’s release in late July, I had all these games I wanted to play, but just kept putting off playing them I was drained, and kept waiting for my mood and energy to improve so that I could enjoy these. The experience of finishing work on the game was taxing and disorienting enough that it’s taken me time to get back into being able to play and enjoy other games, but I’m just about there, thanks to the many amazing games on my gigantic list. With Pyre, a game in which misfits and outcasts find kinship where none should exist, I felt a connection to its cast of characters that I could only hope comes through to some of those who play it. Despite all the great games released this year, no game is anywhere near as important to me as that one. I was busy putting everything I could into Pyre, the game I’ve been working on since 2014. The thing is, I spent more than half of this year just listing those games, not playing them. I won’t be surprised if this goes down as a historic year for games. Seeing this number now reinforces my non-empirical hunch that it felt like one noteworthy game or another dropped practically every single week in 2017, sometimes several in one day.
This year, the number of games on the list I keep of stuff I feel like I need to play climbed well into the 40s, excluding all the stuff I just didn’t get around to last year or longer ago. Prior to joining Supergiant, Greg worked at 2K Games, Electronic Arts, and GameSpot. Greg Kasavin is a writer and designer at Supergiant Games, the small independent studio behind Bastion, Transistor, and this year’s Pyre.