The Telegraph Game of the Year | The 15 best video games of 2017
It has been another extraordinary year for video games. From triumphant blockbusters to offbeat adventures and heartfelt indie darlings, 2017 has been a year long procession of exceptional quality.
Honestly, it has been hard to keep up. But keep up we must. And the Telegraph’s Gaming team has voted on their top titles of 2017 to bring you the best, nay, definitive game of the year selection. It was difficult to pare it back to the 15 we settled on, but the result is a rich, varied list with some expected victors and a few surprises too. Here is to a year just as strong in 2018.
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
DeveloperArkane Studios Platforms PS4, Xbox One, PC
Dishonored 2 was a game for the ages. A smart and original stealth sandbox that invited player experimentation and rewarded intuitive creativity. Its standalone expansion is an extension of that, and by and large it succeeds in all the same ways the base game did. But it also does something more – explore some of the game's most interesting characters, who played parts in its main tale but ended up sidelined for Corvo and Emily's story. Billie and Daud are unlikely heroes caught up in a world where morality is as grey as it comes. That's a brilliant multi-dimensional canvas for developer Arkane to use and the result is a brilliant expansion adventure.
Sam White
Persona 5
Developer Atlus Games Platform PS4
Persona 5 came out this year, and with expectations rising after the cult-hit status of Persona 4, Atlus hit it out of the park with this sequel. Streamlining the Japanese RPG is no easy feat, and through clever in the speed of the battle system and collectable Personas, the game went from strength to strength. A highlight of Persona 5 is its mature characterisation and plot, which has dealt with issues ranging from high-school bullying all the way to a doctor accidentally incapacitating one of their patients. Persona 5 is bound to be remembered as one of the greatest modern Japanese RPGs, just because of how well it harmonises trawling through dungeons with managing high-school life and diving deep into its world and characters.
Sayem Ahmed
Resident Evil 7
Developer Capcom Platforms PS4, Xbox One, PC
Capcom’s return to Resident Evil’s roots was a scintillatingly scary start to the year, dragging its players through the decrepit halls of a Louisiana mansion. But despite that January release, its effects lingered. The shift to first-person suited its grisly tableau; claustrophobia and panic creeping up your spine as you are pursued by the twisted Baker family. Resident Evil 7 wasn’t afraid of paying homage to the more recent horror games that have followed in the famous series’ wake, but also found plenty of room for its own trademark puzzling and occasional daft excess. It was arguably the most effective virtual reality experience of the year too, with the entire game playable on PSVR. And it is to Capcom’s credit that Resi 7 was kept alive throughout the year, with regular expansions culminating in this month’s Not A Hero.
Tom Hoggins
Splatoon 2
Developer Nintendo Platform Switch
Splatoon 2 improves on Nintendo's original spin on the multiplayer shooter in a lot of ways. It has more maps, a better single-player campaign and excellent new modes in the form of Salmon Run and League Battle. It hasn’t lost any of the charm and humour of its predecessor either. It’s still as weird and wonderful as before, with the slosh of paint as weaponry and the slick movement of swimming squids. It is the perfect alternative to the grim military shooters and a superb family title. Even better yet, it’s portable.
Jack Yarwood
Prey
Developer Arkane Studios Platforms PS4, Xbox One, PC
Every decision in this year’s reimagining of 2006’s Prey can have significant repercussions, many of them unrevealed until much later. Morgan Yu’s story aboard the bleak technological splendour of Talos One is one of survival, unsteady alliances, and constant doubting of what is even real.
It’s an Arkane (of Dishonored fame) game, with its focus on stealth and the many special abilities granted to you, but it’s a much more fraught journey than anything it’s ever given us before. Taking those risks, though, is what makes Prey really shine.
Joe Parlock
Game of the Year | Honourable mentions
Horizon Zero Dawn
DeveloperGuerilla Games Platform PS4
Link might have ended 2017 wearing the open world action RPG crown but my goodness Horizon heroine Aloy ran him closer than arguably anyone would have expected. You would have got irresistibly long odds on Guerrilla Games, the Amsterdam-based studio previously responsible for the relentlessly uninspired Killzone shooter series, developing one of the PS4’s most innovative and intense combat experiences, and yet hunting their thrillingly visceral mechanical animals proved impossibly exciting, each encounter offering an exacting test of tactics and twitch reflexes as woman raged against machine in truly stunning 4k pyrotechnovision. Almost inevitably the dystopian fantasy fiction providing the padding between battles never reached such heights - but at least that leaves plenty of room for improvement in the inevitable sequels to come.
Dan Silver
Divinity: Original Sin 2
DeveloperLarian Studios Platform PC
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a near-perfect fantasy CRPG. Its epic story as you and your ragtag bunch of warriors fight to defeat a malevolent force known as the Void is packed with detail, humour and memorable characters The rich world and narrative is backed up by one of the most flexible combat systems in memory. Best of all, you can play the entire thing in co-op, which gives it a completely different flavour. If you own a gaming PC then you owe it to yourself to play this.
Samuel Horti
Destiny 2
DeveloperBungie Platforms PS4, Xbox One, PC
While Bungie has had issues towards the latter part of the year with Destiny 2’s end-game, updates and a muddled XP furore, it can’t take away the shine of an exceptional sci-fi shooter. Destiny 2’s greatly improved campaign was a thrilling and extravagant journey between gorgeous worlds, battling a cornucopia of alien baddies with an ever-increasing range of devastating weaponry. It is that combat that underpins it all, a glorious combination of variety, power and audio-visual feedback. In terms of pure feel when it comes to gunplay, Bungie is arguably peerless. If the backlash to some of the late-game decisions seems incongruous, it is only because Destiny’s players want to keep playing and playing... and playing. It is too good a game to put down, so if Bungie can iron out any reasons to do so, Destiny 2 will only get stronger.
TH
Yakuza 0
DeveloperSega Platform PS4
Yakuza 0 is pure, unabashed joy from start to finish. A story to care about, combat that’s as satisfying as it is cringe-inducing and a couple of cities you truly want to explore. It’s also one of the most idiosyncratic titles we’re ever likely to see released outside of Japan, with a side attraction in managing a hostess cafe the absolute least weird thing about it. See, this is a game where you win a chicken for getting a turkey and make it the manager of your property empire. All of that sentence makes sense, and that’s why Yakuza 0 is one of the absolute best games of 2017.
Ian Dransfield
Assassin's Creed: Origins
DeveloperUbisoft Platforms PS4, Xbox One, PC
Assassin’s Creed Origins is not only the best game in the series it’s also one of the best open-world games available right now. Exploring Ptolemaic Egypt is a delight, both in its lovingly-recreated geography and its tense politics between the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. New lead Bayek of Siwa, meanwhile, is one of the most compelling characters in the series history. And the relationship between him and his belove wife Aya is one of the surprise driving forces behind the game.
Add to that the reworked combat system that values careful manoeuvring and a greater focus on role-playing elements, and this installment is a wholly different beast from those that came before. It’s still Assassin’s Creed in all its historical detail, but it’s a much larger, challenging and satisfying one as well.
JP
What Remains of Edith Finch
DeveloperGiant Sparrow Platforms PS4, PC
Like a great movie or an exceptional novel, What Remains of Edith Finch can be finished in an evening but will linger long in your subconscious for days, months and possibly even years to come. This singularly ambitious piece of first person fiction charts the lives and deaths - but mainly deaths - of the fantastically cursed Finch clan through a dozen or so increasingly inventive interactive vignettes. Unfinished Swan developers Giant Sparrow are clearly keen students of the school of magical realism and yet here they imbue their mesmerising storytelling sleights of hand with so much emotional heft you’ll be left at once delighted, drained and deeply convinced of gaming’s ability to immerse audiences in a narrative like no other medium before it.
DS
Wolfenstein 2
The New Colossus is a violent, ridiculous, absurd, beautifully sensitive roller-coaster. So while its fundamental game mechanics aren't nearly as good as the overall product would have you believe – its shooting and movement still often leave a lot to be desired – the script writing, acting and the finesse of its narrative direction mean Wolfenstein II stands tall. It's best bits aren't its gamey bits. And while those explosive, exhilarating set-piece combat sequences are devilishly fun from start to finish, it's the quieter, more sombre moments where Wolfenstein II finds its heart. It anchors onto believable human characters that act in ways that sense for their individual personalities. The result is a game of truly absurd proportions, but one that adheres to its own world's dark and twisted rules.
SW
Nier Automata
DeveloperPlatinum Games Platform PS4, PC
Despite being the absurd sequel to an absurd game (that is, in itself, a spin-off to yet another absurd game), NieR: Automata told one of the best stories in games this year. Following the tale of android 2B in the midst of a post-apocalyptic war between man and machine, writer Yoko Taro’s own kind of twisted genius branded this fascinating exploration of humanity. While its narrative caught many of the plaudits, it was expertly underpinned by action game maestro Platinum's near perfect combat.
Hannah Dwan
Super Mario Odyssey
DeveloperNintendo Platform Switch
Odyssey does what Mario does best; a near-constant parade of almost chaotic invention. In fact, this is Nintendo and the portly plumber at their most laissez-faire, allowing Mario to possess various critters and objects scattered throughout the game's selection of Kingdoms. Mario as a frog. Mario as a tank. Mario as a thundering T-Rex. It is gleefully, wilfully bizarre, enough to have kids and grown-ups alike laughing at the sheer audacity of the thing. But at its heart, it retains a purity; that immensely satisfying connection the the nimble plumber that makes him such a joy to control. The playgrounds, with their scattered moons to find and challenges to conquer call you back over and over to find all of its secrets. Odyssey is a game only beaten by its stablemate, but if this was an award for the game that brought the most smiles to players faces, it would win at a canter.
TH
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
DeveloperNintendo EAD Platforms Switch, Wii U
Of the many things that make Breath of the Wild so extraordinary, it is probably its most abstract that shines brightest. Its sense of adventure, the irresistible pull to explore off the beaten track, to forget about your quest and indulge your inquisitiveness. A distant mountain, an abandoned tower, a thicket of trees surely harbouring some treasure. Many open world games have provided rich, sprawling worlds stuffed with distraction but few, if any, have awoken the adventurer in the same way as Breath of the Wild.
That Nintendo magic? Perhaps. But in a way, labelling it as such does a disservice to the wonderful craft of the thing. Breath of the Wild is almost ruthless in its design, Eiji Aonuma and his team deconstructing everything we know about open-world games, discarding the excess and rebuilding in the Zelda image. The brilliantly free-form physics allowed a natural connection to the world of Hyrule, experimenting with the shove of a rock or wisp of the wind. Its puzzle shrines were ingeniously designed, but allowed you to toy with their rules of engagement. Combat, with its degradable weapon system, encouraged similar experimentation.
It is a game of almost perfect craft, with a quest to follow and a malevolent force to conquer, but players will find that curiosity is the trait most rewarded. Brilliance and surprise found in every corner of its sprawling map. Its influence will be felt for some time to come. That it why The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is our game of 2017 and, perhaps, of any other year too.
TH
