icon Author: Rhyfel
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Best Video Game Experiences in 2017
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No. No. No I refuse.
I stood by for far too long watching some of the most ludicrous awards give nominations to the weirdest games while other games went unnoticed, I stood by as Hollywood descended into bat shit insanity levels of Oscar Nomination and watched Dice and Golden Joystick award some at-best-questionable and at-worst-hilarious titles.
No more.

Here are my 2017 Best Video Game Experiences.

Best Storytelling.

  • Prey
  • Divinity Original Sin II
  • Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
Runner Up: Prey
Prey was surprisingly awesome, the atmosphere alone presents an insanely thick universe for the player to live in, while the story is simple, the game provides a lot of life.
Winner: Divinity Original Sin II
An easy choice (Somehow not even nominated in other award articles) Div 2 has over 60 hours of well written story content, not to mention the different perspectives you can get on the story, not to mention the side quests and other story arcs. The game is at worst a cool and lengthy story, and at best a 60+ hour long pick your own adventure book with 5 different perspectives over everything.

Best Visual Design.

  • Cuphead
  • Yooka Laylee
  • Sonic Mania
  • Prey
  • Hellblade
  • Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
  • Hat In Time
Runner Up: Sonic Mania
Sonic Mania managed to be the best 2D visual sonic has ever been while also creating a new and updated look to the franchise, it has as many original concepts as it has homages to original pieces.
Winner: Cuphead
Another easy choice somehow not considered by some, Cuphead has perfect 1930's artstyle with an animation truly unique and actually innovative.

Best Audio.

  • Hellblde
  • Prey
  • Killer Instinct
  • Nier: Automata
  • Sonic Mania
Runner up: Prey
Prey's atmosphere and soundctrack are beyond impeccable. Mick Gordon kills the space+alien+familiar+dread theme of the game.
Winner: Hellblade
As much as I love Prey's soundtrack, what Hellblade did with by binaural sound is not only incredible but also something actually unique for once, in a way that also adds and enhances the story and the characters.

Best Performance.

  • Melina Juergens (Senua, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice)
  • Chris Finney (Ifan Ben-Mezd, Divinity Original Sin 2)
Runner Up: Chris Finney
The entire cast of Div 2 had amazing voice actors, they had so much fun creating unique voices for each type of animal in the game that somehow matched their species, Chris Finney's Ifan is the perfect rough-ranger for the story.
Winner: Melina Juergens
Once again, while I love some of the other possible contenders, what Hellblade does is a unique form of sound design, creating a very good interpretation of Psychosis in a way that doesn't put any labels on it, it both assists and hinders the player, it's both something you have to live with and not.

Best Indie Game.

  • Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
  • Yooka Laylee
  • Sonic Mania
  • Cuphead
  • Hat In Time
Runner Up: Cuphead
And you thought this was going to be a typical award article. Cuphead is already one of the most lovable games in the world, and it deserves to be, but it just shines slightly less brighter than a group of indie developers pulling off what Sega couldn't in 23 years.
Winner: Sonic Mania
Shovel Knight's new campaign was excellent, Cuphead is a timeless classic already, and Yooka Laylee was pretty solid game with it's issues that were not present in Hat In Time. But Sonic Mania is the perfect new-rendition of a decades old classic, managing both to reinvent but also maintain it's core elements.

Best Game Not Yet Released in 2017.
(I don't even know why people put these in their award lists, it only proves how dumb this whole thing is, even if they played a press copy).

  • Wolfenstein 2
  • Battlefront 2
  • Death's Gambit
  • Assassin's Creed: Origins
Runner Up: Wolfenstein 2
You know for how silly Wolfenstein is and will always be, it's a damn fine shooter, and the way it develops the story has always been interesting so far (Unlike certain other title's stories Cough Doom Cough). The other games seem pretty kick ass too, but I kind of feel like I want to to kill some Nazis.
Winner:Death's Gambit
Obviously a personal pick, but DG seems like it may in fact do the "Dark Souls" like without overdoing itself or turning into a lame roguelike.

Game of The Year.

  • Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
  • Yooka Laylee
  • Prey
  • Cuphead
  • Hellblade 
  • Lawbreakers
  • Sonic Mania 
  • Divinity Original Sin 2
  • Hat In Time
Runner Up: Prey
Winner: Divinity Original Sin 2
Div 2 might be the biggest game of the year indeed, from the amount of content it has to the different types of gameplay you can have between classes and spells and Co Op and DM Mode and custom campaign from the Workshop and Mods, the game would keep any gamer highly entertained for an insanely long amount of time, and given the quality of it's content it damn well deserves GOTY.

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Comments
  • CJDance1
    February 24, 2018

    I agree with a lot of these... Especially Prey which I loved playing!