Forgotten Games of 2017

2017 has been an amazing year for games. As the year winds down, and we look back, I believe there will be many quality games that will miss the end of year limelight.

What games you you want people to know about, before they are lost in time, like .. well .. you know.

To start us off:

Nioh - a wonderful blend of Dark Souls and Diablo. The setting is beautiful, and the game had the right amount of challenge.

The Sexy Brutale - the best adventure game I played this year. Imagine a Groundhog Day scenario where you are tasked with preventing the murders taking place in an atmospheric house / casino. The way the game opens up the map and your abilities is masterful.

Steamword Dig 2 - the best Metroidvania I played this year. The game begins with a loop of dig, sell treasure, upgrade, repeat; however, it soon begins to take all your limitations in movement and removes them one by one. It's the most exiting power curve in a Metroidvania game I've played in a long while.

I feel like Prey didn't get a fair shake. It sounded interesting, people compared it favorably to System Shock, but sales were tepid. I'd like to dig into it this fall when it goes on sale again.

Aristophan wrote:

To start us off:

Nioh - a wonderful blend of Dark Souls and Diablo. The setting is beautiful, and the game had the right amount of challenge.

The Sexy Brutale - the best adventure game I played this year. Imagine a Groundhog Day scenario where you are tasked with preventing the murders taking place in an atmospheric house / casino. The way the game opens up the map and your abilities is masterful.

Steamword Dig 2 - the best Metroidvania I played this year. The game begins with a loop of dig, sell treasure, upgrade, repeat; however, it soon begins to take all your limitations in movement and removes them one by one. It's the most exiting power curve in a Metroidvania game I've played in a long while.

I have The Sexy Brutale but haven't played it yet. The other two are on my wishlist!

Has to be Lawbreakers at number 1, but was it even thought about in the first place?

Nioh was fun fun fun. But with Horizon and Zelda I stopped playing it. Have to go back to it.

Halo Wars 2 wasn't amazing but it was a fun little RTS.

I took a look at my wish list and also realized that I had completely forgotten about Torment: Tides of Numeria.

Running Man wrote:

I feel like Prey didn't get a fair shake. It sounded interesting, people compared it favorably to System Shock, but sales were tepid. I'd like to dig into it this fall when it goes on sale again.

It will be very high on my personal list this year. Easily the most fun I've had with a single-player FPS or immersive sim campaign in years.

I have enjoyed previous walking sim style games like Gone Home and Firewatch, but none grabbed me like What Remains of Edith Finch. It manages to effectively tell its story by regularly and drastically switching up gameplay mechanics, settings, and art styles, yet it somehow remains cohesive throughout. Several of my favorite gaming memories from this year are from this game.

I really need to pick up Edith Finch this holiday.

Hellblade is the one this year that left a huge impression on me, but barely registered a blip on most people's radar. It's likely to be #2 on my personal GOTY list.

Chaz wrote:

I really need to pick up Edith Finch this holiday.

Hellblade is the one this year that left a huge impression on me, but barely registered a blip on most people's radar. It's likely to be #2 on my personal GOTY list.

Hellblade is fantastic. More people should definitely play it.

The video game awards actually have Hellblade nominated for a couple categories, so it'll at least get a bit of time in the sunlight.

I guess for me Gravity Rush 2 is the first that comes to mind. I still haven't finished it and while I'd like to go back, the pull of other games is all too strong. In a lot of ways an improvement on its predecessor, but in some ways I think they simply expanded too much of the concept in a way that just doesn't work so well. Or maybe that's just my own weird preferences.

I feel like ARMS is the Switch title this year to get the least attention. A shame, as they seemed to hope it would be the next Splatoon, but they just couldn't make fetch happen.

Ever Oasis is bound to be forgotten. I enjoyed the demo but still haven't picked it up.

'Membah Conan Exiles? 'Membah how it got a bunch of attention before it came out because it had dongs and slavery? And then 'membah how it was completely irrelevant one month after release?

Not really what the thread is looking for since it's supposed to be actually good games you wish hadn't been overlooked, but it's the first thing I thought of when I saw the title and it made me laugh.

Nioh for sure. One of my favorite games of the year. Got a little Dark Souls in it, but it is quite its own.

Prey. Heard a lot of talk about it at release, but supposedly it hasn't sold very well. Really nice game with a fun setting to explore. Not much of a shooter person, but trying to figure out how to get into different places carried the game.

Torment: Tides of Numeria. It is not a really great game, and is bound to struggle in a crazy good gaming year. But a fairly unique game these days and deserved a better fate than it got.

Running Man wrote:

I feel like Prey didn't get a fair shake. It sounded interesting, people compared it favorably to System Shock, but sales were tepid. I'd like to dig into it this fall when it goes on sale again.

I loved Prey. I didn't finish it, because I am fickle (and got a Nintendo Switch), but it's a fantastic game that splits the difference between System Shock and Dishonored. I wish more people had played it.

Speaking of which, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider seems to have released without a blip, even here on the forums. I got a copy the other day, so I'm looking forward to playing that soon.

ccesarano wrote:

I feel like ARMS is the Switch title this year to get the least attention.

That was the first game I thought of when I saw the thread title, and it's a crying shame. ARMS is the best, most innovative, and most accessible fighting game I've seen in years. It's a blast to play, but it seems to have been passed over by most players for a small number of reasons.

The Long Dark left Early Access this summer and launched with the first two Story Mode chapters. I think it's the best straight up Survival game on the market, by a country mile. But it feels like it's already been forgotten.

It's a shame too 'cause it's rare to see an authentic "man vs. nature" setting in the medium. Feels like conflict in games are typically so outlandish, but TLD features a setup (alone in the wilderness) that could actually happen.

Cat Quest - I bought this for my daughter, almost as a joke. Then I played it and completed 99.9% of the game (the last bit coming down to an outfit that was a random loot drop and that's just not gonna happen). It was a joy from start to finish. The writing and humor is great (assuming you can appreciate cat puns), the controls are good, the art is good. The side quests I cared more about than most RPGs. It also just released on Switch. It's on my top games of the year.

... And sold.

Shadout wrote:

Torment: Tides of Numeria. It is not a really great game, and is bound to struggle in a crazy good gaming year. But a fairly unique game these days and deserved a better fate than it got.

I've not beat it, but have played probably 20 hours. Really love the unique story and gameplay. However, on XBox it's marred by crashing and huge load times (not sure if it's the same on PC), and eventually I think I just got frustrated playing it. But the story got me to buy the Numenera RPG book so it won from that standpoint.

RG Ninja wrote:

Cat Quest - I bought this for my daughter, almost as a joke. Then I played it and completed 99.9% of the game (the last bit coming down to an outfit that was a random loot drop and that's just not gonna happen). It was a joy from start to finish. The writing and humor is great (assuming you can appreciate cat puns), the controls are good, the art is good. The side quests I cared more about than most RPGs. It also just released on Switch. It's on my top games of the year.

Oh...I had been eyeing that on Steam, but I'm much more likely to buy on Switch. It looks great for bite-sized gaming sessions.

Dyni wrote:
RG Ninja wrote:

Cat Quest - I bought this for my daughter, almost as a joke. Then I played it and completed 99.9% of the game (the last bit coming down to an outfit that was a random loot drop and that's just not gonna happen). It was a joy from start to finish. The writing and humor is great (assuming you can appreciate cat puns), the controls are good, the art is good. The side quests I cared more about than most RPGs. It also just released on Switch. It's on my top games of the year.

Oh...I had been eyeing that on Steam, but I'm much more likely to buy on Switch. It looks great for bite-sized gaming sessions.

I second this statement. Cat quest is my sleeper hit, and something the entire family can play (yay for steam family sharing!)

Should mention as well that I've recently been playing the sensibly titled Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, which released at the start of the year, I've never played a KH game, but I'm fairly enjoying it.

Mario_Alba wrote:
Chaz wrote:

I really need to pick up Edith Finch this holiday.

Hellblade is the one this year that left a huge impression on me, but barely registered a blip on most people's radar. It's likely to be #2 on my personal GOTY list.

Hellblade is fantastic. More people should definitely play it.

Thanks for the reminder. I was really excited to play Hellblade, but I had a lot of travelling this summer, and it slipped though the cracks.

I'm glad ccesarano mentioned Gravity Rush 2. I finished the original in January, after bouncing off the Vita version years ago. I picked up the sequel and enjoyed my short time with it. There were some definite improvements to the controls and the setting. It was a bright ray of sunshine in the dead of winter. Perhaps I'll pick it up again.

Cat Quest was also released on iOS, where my son and daughter played it on their iPad. The Switch seems like a perfect fit.

Still early shakes, but I like Death of the Outsider.

It's sitting on my end-table beside my PS4. I need to pop it in and play it. Hoping to do so by year's end.

I was just reminded of Thimbleweed Park, an adventure game inspired by Lucasarts and Twin Peaks. I heard it was difficult, but they patched in a hint system. It’s also on every platform. Why haven’t I played it yet?

Oh man. Oh man. I haven't felt this way about a game in a while.

The Sexy Brutale is an amazing, clever, wonderfully written game.

You are Lafcadio Boone, a guest in The Sexy Brutale casino/mansion. The staff are murdering all the guests. They're relying on you, because you’re stuck in a 12 hour time loop a la Bill Murray from Groundhog’s Day. You must save the guests!

I don't read or watch TV, and I rarely watch movies anymore. So I gravitate towards games with strong narratives. This one delivered that in spades. Also, the time I have for gaming is next to nil, so if I beat a game, it speaks more about it than I can put in words.

The game is broken up into levels. In each level you only have to divert one guest (or pair of guests) from their gruesome fate. After saving a guest, you move on, and you aren’t asked to continually go back and re-rescue them.

All the puzzles are straightforward and follow the same general principles, which is key to keeping up that narrative pace.

I marveled at the level design, the art in the setting, and the scripting work in bringing this complex yet cohesive beast to life.

Getting 100% on the game was its own fun little puzzle with a satisfying reward. Helpful hint: If you're thinking about going for the 100%, jot down the name of each card (from the 52 card deck) as you pick it up. It would be really nice if the devs just gave you that list, but they don't.

There is a small complaint I have with the narrative.

Spoiler:

The ending was unfortunately not as mind blowing as I would have liked. There were no loose ends or questions leftover, which is good, but much of the mystery was pretty close-looped so that a lot of questions had the same answer. It made sense, but I wished for more.

Despite that, I loved the game, and I'm very much looking forward to whatever Cavalier puts out next.

Hellblade is great. I say this as a gamer and as a clinical psychologist who primarily works with schizophrenic clients.

Infernarl wrote:

Hellblade is great. I say this as a gamer and as a clinical psychologist who primarily works with schizophrenic clients.

I want to like it a lot more than I actually do. It looks gorgeous, it’s narratively interesting, but there’s something tedious about it. Well, several things.

It alternates between walking simulator, mediocre third person combat and puzzles that vacillate between tedious and annoying (I just got to the fire demon maze – put the controller down in disgust after double-digit back-to-back deaths).