The Best Games of 2017 (That I've yet to Play)

Thanks to a Metal Gear marathon I embarked upon in 2015, I missed many of 2016's games as they came out. Even now, as 2017's just ended, I'm still playing catch-up. The fact of the matter is, there's just too many games to play, and not nearly enough time to play them (at least, not if I want to not fail Uni, and cling on to what little of a social life I have left).

I've made good progress in the last few months. In my endeavour to play through everything I've missed, I've been buying and playing those I'm interested in, in release order. I just finished Titanfall 2 yesterday (great campaign, albeit short), and now I'm playing Dishonored 2, so I'm firmly in November of 2016. Massive shout-out to Wikipedia's 'in video gaming' lists, by the way; big help.

While I've made exceptions to my release order strategy for certain games I've been very excited for (e.g. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Zelda, and Mario Odyssey), most of 2017's releases (that I'm interested in) I've still yet to play. Here are a few of those that I'm most looking forward to, and by many accounts, are pretty great.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Man, oh man. To be quite honest I'm not sure if I'm more excited or anxious to get to this one. I'd wager excited since I just blasted through Resi 4 and 5, both for the first time, in about 3 days last week. Gotta catch up on that lore, after all. This included two 10 hour long sessions for each game (Resi 5 was co-op with a mate, which makes it slightly less depressing).

If like me, you haven't played it, Biohazard seems to largely take place on a plantation, belonging to a family of semi-immortal cannibals who aren't very happy you're there, and so try to kill you. It looks terrifying. Supposedly, even with the new first-person view (and VR compatibility, both of which add to the horror), it still feels quintessentially Resident Evil, and it looks like a great return to form for the franchise. 

I just happened to get a PSVR headset this past Christmas (Thanks, Mum!), which has doubled both my excitement and anxiety. See you on the other side?

Release Date: January 24th, 2017
When I'll Get Around to It: I've still got Resi 6, Revelations, and Revelations 2 to get through (as well as some animated films). Regardless, this could be fairly soon, maybe within a couple of months. Yes, I know previous games aren't necessary to comprehend 7. Yes, I focus too much on being caught up with things.

Horizon: Zero Dawn

A big, beautiful open world, a wide variety of things to do in it, and an emphasis on climbing. Sounds like a lot of games recently, actually. But Horizon's premise is certainly unique. A post-apocalyptic world brought to its knees due to reasons unknown, now filled with mechanical dinosaurs; and a lone hunter who stands against them with a bow and arrow. Sounds pretty sweet to me.

Killzone developer Guerilla's latest title has been met with much acclaim, and Horizon looks set to be another killer franchise for PlayStation. Good timing too, seeing that Uncharted's likely to bow out for a while (though I'm holding out hope for a Sam/Sully game akin to Lost Legacy. Come on, ND). 

Release Date: March 1st, 2017 (in PAL regions)
When I'll Get Around to It: Whereas with Resident Evil 7 I'm ready to jump on that as soon as I've caught up with the franchise, for this one I'll likely wait on it until I get to it in my release order list. While there aren't too many games between where I am now and Horizon, there are some big ones (e.g. Final Fantasy XV). So, likely at least a couple of months. 

Nier: Automata

I honestly didn't know a whole lot about this one before I wrote this, but I've been excited to play Automata for a while. Androids fighting robots in a post-apocalyptic world (a lot of these nowadays, huh?), and a love story to boot. 

Praised for its combat, music, characters, story, and more, Automata looks like one of 2017's standout games. [Minor Spoiler Warning] A feature I have known about for a while, if just that it exists, is that the game has multiple endings that follow one another. How this works I'm not entirely sure. Once you've finished it, you can do a new game of sorts and keep going to get further endings? I have no idea if you have to start all over again or not, but it sounds pretty unique, and I'm particularly excited to see how that plays out. 

Release Date: March 10th, 2017 (in PAL regions)

When I'll Get Around to It: Whether I'll coerce myself into playing the original Nier first remains to be seen. If not, straight after Horizon, as Automata is the next game in my release order list after that. 

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

There aren't many games that have mental health at the focus, but Ninja Theory's latest does, and Hellblade supposedly handles it fantastically at that.

Hellblade's come at a time when people have never been more open about their mental health, and how they're really feeling. For those who struggle in silence, media portraying those with mental health issues, emphasising how natural it is to not always be okay can help tremendously, and it's great to see games taking strides in that direction as of late. I'm intrigued to see just how Senua's psychosis is depicted.

I've also heard this is one to play with headphones, as the depiction of psychosis present here (incorporated into both story and gameplay) extends to how Ninja Theory has handled the audio. I tend to play games with headphones most of the time anyway, but rarely do I look forward to doing so as much as I am with Hellblade. 

Release Date: August 8th, 2017
When I'll Get Around to It: While this one is quite far off in terms of my release order list, I might honestly make an exception out of this one in the near future, since its mental health premise really has me intrigued. Plus, everything I hear about it just makes me really excited to play it. 

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

I loved The New Order (and liked The Old Blood), so I probably should've played this by now. In fact, I almost did buy it, but it came out on a day with three massive releases (Wolfenstein, Assassin's Creed Origins, and Super Mario Odyssey), and I decided to limit myself to two. Sorry, BJ. 

[The New Order Major Spoiler Warning] I've yet to see how the hell Blazkowicz managed to get out of that whole nuke-dropping-on-him situation from the last game, but from what I have seen, The New Colossus looks to be more of everything that made The New Order great. And now there's Hitler, which is nice. 

Release Date: October 29th, 2017
When I'll Get Around to It: This could be another any-day-now purchase since I am very hyped for this one. Then again, I might just concentrate on older stuff. I am indecisive. 

If you haven't figured it out by this point, I play t̶o̶o̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶y̶  a lot of games. These are but a few of the games that released last year that I'm excited to get around to.

Do you have a massive backlog? What already released games are you looking forward to getting round to? Distract in the comments below.

If you're curious, here's my full release order list as it stands (which includes the release dates of each game, going all the way up to, and beyond, the day of posting):

2016 -

Dishonored 2 (Currently Playing) - 11th November

Watch Dogs 2 - 15th November
Final Fantasy XV - 29th November
The Last Guardian - 7th December 

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - 20th December  

2017 - 

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard - 24th January
For Honor - 14th February
Horizon: Zero Dawn - 1st March
Nier: Automata - 10th March
Persona 5 - April 5th

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - 18th April
What Remains of Edith Finch - 25th April
Little Nightmares - 28th April
Prey - 5th May
Oxenfree - 31st May
Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Two [I am unashamed] - 11th July
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - 8th August
Batman: The Enemy Within - 8th August
Sonic Mania - 15th August
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - 29th August
Life is Strange: Before the Storm - 31st August
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider - 15th September
Cuphead - 29th September
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War - 10th October
The Evil Within 2 - 13th October
South Park: The Fractured but Whole - 17th October
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus -  29th October
L.A. Noire (Remaster) - 14th November
Star Wars Battlefront II - 17th November
Hidden Agenda - 22nd November

2018 -

The Inpatient - 24th January
Shadow of the Colossus (Remake) - 6th February
Bayonetta/Bayonetta 2 (Switch) - 16th February
Metal Gear Survive - 22nd February
Devil May Cry HD Collection (PS4) - 13th March
A Way Out - 23rd March
Far Cry 5 - 27th March

Yea...I got some work to do...