Mario channelled dinosaurs, Ethan Winters killed some hillbilly zombies, China banned the Hunger Games-style PUGB, but it was Zelda that took the best video game of 2017—with the help of Epona, Link and a gaggle of Gorons.
Check out Newsweek's picks for the top games of 2017:
10. South Park: Fractured But Whole (PS4/Xbox One/Microsoft Windows)
Rating: 7.5/10
Dubbed "the funniest roleplaying game since South Park: The Stick of Truth," Fractured But Whole successfully blends the franchise's trademark constant absurdist hilarity with a strong combat system. The game is a delightfully fart–tinged journey into the subject of superheroes, parodying the oversaturated comic book–to–film trend in current-day America. Like your average South Park episode, Fractured But Whole begins with Eric Cartman cooking up a dirty scheme—searching for a missing cat so he can use the reward money to fund a superhero movie franchise. It's all uphill from there.
9. Cuphead (Xbox One/Microsoft Windows)
Rating: 8/10
StudioMDHR's indie run and gun is exceptional for two reasons. First, its aesthetic is a love letter to Disney's early "rubber hose" animations, in which every character grinned on wobbly, surreal-looking boneless limbs. Second, it approaches the difficulty level of more serious games like Dark Souls, giving the million gamers who bought it that strange and unique experience of struggling and cursing their way through a cartoon wonderland. The game's crown jewel character is King Dice, a mustachioed purple die in a suit who convinces the Devil himself to kill Cuphead and Mugman.
8. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Microsoft Windows/Xbox One/PS4 with PlayStation VR support)
Rating: 8.8/10
The gaming year begun with this masterful new chapter to the notorious horror-survival franchise, filled with blood, guts, cannibalism and creepy thrills. You are playing from the perspective of Ethan as he battles the hillbilly Bakers to save his girlfriend Mia from being horredously killed, slasher-movie style. Resident Evil 7's atmosphere is the strongest the series has ever seen. The game expertly conveys claustrophobia and the fragility of life to build genuine fear through a sense of powerlessness. Seemingly innocuous noises build to become utterly terrifying the deeper into the game you get.
7. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus (Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows)
Rating: 9/10
The October release of the second installment of this Nazi-slaying shooter series was met with rousing praise over its accurate portrayal of the fascist 20th century villains. The game excels in using hyper-exaggerated portrayals to examine how the evils of the Nazi ideology can fester in everyday life. Wolfenstein 2 also is brutal about making the player live through those cruelties in a bizarrely cinematic way, a luxury that can only really be afforded with single-player gaming experiences like this. Plus there's just no denying that gruesomely massacring Nazis is extremely satisfying.
6. Night in the Woods (PS4/Microsoft Windows/Linux/Android/iOS)
Rating: 9/10
Night in the Woods feels like Undertale without the faux-Gameboy nostalgia. It's a testament to how far a simply constructed game can go if its gameplay is hinged on believable, multi-faceted characters and a slowly unwinding plot. Perhaps its greatest achievement is pulling off a complex depiction of mental illness (specifically dissociative disorders), which many games have attempted and failed to do.
5. Persona 5 (PS3/PS4)
Rating: 9/10
Persona 5 is a millennial game about shitty adults robbing the younger generation of a future in countless awful ways. This Atlus role-play is crammed with virtuous ferocity and built on a beautiful real-life-inspired fantasy. Players are thrust into the life of a Japanese teenage boy, who must balance a captivating mix of bonding with the teenage characters during the day while saving the world at night. Like previous games in the series, Persona 5 takes an anime approach to storytelling with a heavy focus on character development. Friendship, growth, change, rebellion and politics are themes embedded into every corner of this coming-of-age phenomenon—and best of all, Persona 5 isn't afraid to be stylishly harsh and opinionated while addressing these ideas.
4. Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch)
Rating: 9/10
The latest adventure for Nintendo's eternal hero will have you grinning until end credits. Odyssey trumps its predecessors Mario 64 and the Sunshine line of sandbox 3D with it's inspired integration of 2D play that comes complete with Super Mario Bros bit art. Prepare to spend endless hours basking in the sheer joy of exploring a platforming universe packed with imagination and inventions. Mario traverses imaginative new lands with his sidekick Cappy on another rendition of his ancient journey to rescue Peach from the claws of Bowser. This time, with a twist. Mario uses Cappy as a standard throw attack but it doubles to inanimate enemies or objects to possess their bodies—including dinosaurs.
3. Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)
Rating: 9/10
A sense of urgency is established from the get-go in this action role-play by Guerilla Games. Horizon Zero Dawn is The Witcher meets Tomb Raider meets Enslaved with the cinematics of Jurassic Park and crafting of Monster Hunter. When you're down gawking at the scenery, you'll be moving through Aloy's hunt, not only for her identity but ultimately for the past of human civilization. The effect is a gorgeous, engaging and incredibly emotional world that will leave you feeling empty when you're not inside it.
2. PlayerUnknown's Battleground (Xbox One/Microsoft Windows)
Rating: 9.3/10
If you liked the 2000 film Battle Royale, this 'be the last player standing' game is for you. Each game starts with players parachuting onto an island. From there, you gather equipment and weapons to massacre others while avoiding death yourself. PUBG is not a game that holds your hand, it begins by simply dropping all players into its vast bleak terrain. From there the aim of the game is to survive, any way you can. The sheer anxiety this game causes is unrivaled. Players could go in all-guns blazing, risking it all to take out as many you can, but for many, this is a sit-and-wait simulator: dodge detection and be victorious against 99 other players with just one showdown kill.
1. Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch)
Widely referred as "the perfect game" by critics, Breath of the Wild lives up to the hype. This game is truly a masterpiece. The action role-playing adventure follows our hero Link as he sets out to kill Ganon before he breaks free from an enchanted castle and destroys Hyrule. You battle monsters, cook food, collect weapons, and slowly gain the strength needed for the final showdown. But you don't have to follow this sequential ordering. Perhaps the most impressive element of Breath of the Wild is that it allows the player freedom to explore the exquisite, expansive world in their own time. The sheer freedom and sense of adventure is a remarkable achievement. Everything is laid out like the components of a mechanical watch, waiting for you to assemble. There's a million different ways to do something. And you can do it any way you like.
Rating: 10/10
Emily Gaudette also contributed to this article.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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