Welcome to 2017! This week there are a grand total of fifteen games scheduled, so rather than torture everyone with picking a handful of indie games nobody heard of yet, we’re going to sell out and look to the year ahead.
I’ve got one or two things that have caught my eye for the coming year. For Honor looks like it might scratch some very specific itches, and Horizon: Zero Dawn has the potential to be a tremendous disappointment. However, the big noise in the Doubtingthomas396 household, especially among my kids (Doubtingthomas397 and Doubtingthomas398, respectively) is De-Formers.
It’s a multiplayer arena-battle game that looks like what would happen if everyone played as the ball in Rocket League, if the ball was a squishy, water-balloon version of an animal and could grow by eating other players.
Ok, so not very much like Rocket League, but still: frenetic and wacky and hopefully comes with a single-player mode for people like my daughter who just want the characters to bounce around on things and make funny faces. I look forward to the action on the Curse channel, even if I’m the only one in it.
Chris "C" Cesarano
For me, there's so little known about 2017 that it's hard to look forward to anything beyond March. This is partially because Nier: Automata releases that month, and the odds are sufficiently low that anything beyond that will tickle my fancies in such a generous fashion.
This is also partially because Nintendo isn't revealing any details about the Nintendo Switch's games library until the 12th, after which I'm sure they'll have a whole slew of titles announced at least until the summer. By then, Nintendo and all other studios will be announcing their fall and winter release schedules, half of which will inevitably get pushed to the ever-more-crowded first quarter of the following year.
So while I'm certainly excited to play Gravity Rush 2 in a couple of weeks, Horizon: Zero Dawn in a month, and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice presumably sometime in 2017, I can only sit and wait to see what the different studios announce in the next six months to truly know what to hype myself up for. Until then, Nier: Automata remains my most anticipated title of 2017, and if the demo is anything to go by, it will be a tough game to topple.
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I'm sure a lot of people here at GWJ, myself included, are cautiously looking forward to Mass Effect Andromeda.
I also bet plenty of the CRPG fans are planning to play Torment: Tides of Numenera.
Night in the Woods is also looking interesting.
As for myself, the game I'm currently anticipating the most is Cuphead.
[edit]
Forgot about Dawn of War III, which I'm hoping is good.
Steam: [GWJ]MeatMan | "Now I know where to go if I have a hankering for testicles." –Higgledy
So far it seems pretty quiet year. Nier and Yakuza games are a lock.
‘You seek a world filled with endless war and destruction. On that we can agree’
Here's my hit-list for this year:
Steam/Nintendo/Etc.: Danopian; 3DS: 3110-8616-9304
drdoak: "GIT GUD AT PETTING NOOB"
ClockworkHouse: "I think what you're really seeing is that coital monotony applies to gaming, too. ;)"
Already bought (Early Access/Kickstarter)
- Torment: Tides of Numenera
- Battletech
- Endless Space 2
- Divinity: Original Sin 2
- The Bards Tale IV
- Strafe
Instant purchase:
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Nier: Automata
- Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
- Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite
Interested:
- Resident Evil VII
- Nioh
- Yooka-Laylee
- Scalebound
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance
- Dawn of War III
- Switch Games
WCG USA 2005
2017 Game of the Year Cuphead is supposed to come out this year.
You may want to get on my Steam friend list, if ya know what I mean.
I can't wait for it either. Did you kickstart it like I did too?
Battle.net RolandGilead#11706 (Overwatch and Destiny 2)
Friend code: 0447-8302-5512
Day 1 Perches:
Backed Kickstarters I think are coming out this year:
Waiting on reviews/impressions (aka The Wishlist):
Gonna be a good year
My wife and I talk about the coming year on this week's episode of the Asynchronous Multiplayer podcast.
I look forward to a continuation of the gaming awesomeness into 2017. 2016 was a seriously good year for games (Doom and Farming Simulator 2017 and a new IP from the makers of Duke Nukem? 2016 was MY YEAR BABY!), and 2017 is shaping up to be pretty good too.
Jonman Wrote:
Yes, you can cancel Darksiders, but only by using your Sony Golds. Which, while pretty good, aren't a patch on Zelda.
I'm A Steam Curator!
Honestly I was surprised to see that only I and Greg wrote something out for this week. I mean, I know part of the point is that we're all a bit personal but had I known I'd have tried to be more representative of everyone.
But, seeing as you guys are picking up the slack by posting everything you yourselves are looking forward to, that gives me the warm fuzzies.
...oh wait, that's just my freshly done laundry.
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I'm glad that the comments at least mentioned Persona 5.
Professionally offended. Does not understand jokes. Needs a man to explain them to me.
Pretty much definite:
Possible:
Kickstarted (interesting that we need a category for this now):
"We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." - Cheshire Cat
Battle.net: Taharka#1475
Off the top of my head NieR Automata and Persona 5 are my only must buys of 2017 and both have been preordered.
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be a must buy, but I'm not excited about it since it has taken so long with many delays and I'm very unsure of the Switch vs Wii U situation. At any rate, I'm a little soured they had to dump that for the Wii U since it was the reason I bought the system in the first place. Hell, for all I know they're going to delay it out of 2017 for whatever reason.
Looking through a list of upcoming titles for 2017 the other potential buys that I think will actually come out are:
Mass Effect Andromeda
Horizon Zero Dawn (maybe)
The rest is completely up in the air for me which is great! I'm looking for any excuse not to buy more games these days.
Tuffalo buffalo Tuffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Tuffalo buffalo.
SW-0326-3336-1619
Breath of the Wild is the game I'm most excited to buy at launch. Nier Automata and Persona 5 are likely purchases at full price, but since I'm limited in the number of games I'll buy, I may take a wait and see approach with both.
Horizon Zero Dawn looks interesting, as do Gravity Rush 2 and Resident Evil 7, but I doubt I'll get any of them until later in the year. I'm happy to see Dragon Quest 8 finally release for the 3DS, as well.
Professionally offended. Does not understand jokes. Needs a man to explain them to me.
I'm most interested in Horizon Zero Dawn, but I'm a bit worried about personal open world fatigue. Nier Automata wasn't really on my radar until the very interesting demo, and I'm interested in hearing impressions about Persona 5 from non-Persona fans.
I backed the new Bard's Tale, but I could see that slipping to next year. I'm really looking forward to Full Throttle Remastered - the Lucasarts remasters have been my jam that last few years.
Most places: Aristophan | Switch: SW-7774-7919-6764
The ones I'm most interested in are:
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
Persona 5
NieR: Automata
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Nioh
Gravity Rush 2
And we'll see if Red Dead 2 actually comes out this year.
"Mario likes everything."
-LeapingGnome
I'll be honest, I did completely forget about Mass Effect Andromeda and Persona 5. Which is a shame as I looked over the 2017 Wikipedia page for Gaming before writing my post up. I suppose that indicates where they are in terms of my priorities for gaming purchases.
And like Clock, I'm trying to limit myself, so not so severely. I think forgetting about games is a good personal indicator for what is a must buy. Still, I do fail like I've poorly served the community somewhat. Hopefully I'll get more opportunities to reach out to you in the Community so you can take part in The Week Ahead more often throughout the year.
I think that's one of the reasons I haven't started Mafia III yet, though I recently bought it. I've been chipping away some at World of Final Fantasy while Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies takes up the majority of my time. However, if FFXV is any indication, not all open worlds feel the same. FFXV felt very different to me from other open world games I've played in the past, as did Dragon's Dogma. It doesn't happen often, but some games built around the concept feel different because they don't turn it into a genre in-and-of itself. If Horizon Zero Dawn can avoid feeling like "Open World: The Genre", as Shadow of Mordor, Arkham Knight, and Ubisoft Game do, then I think it'll have a better chance of avoiding that fatigue.
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Yeah, between being sick and travelling the last two days, and a helpful hotel staffer reminding me of US politics, the idea of looking past January sort of blue-screened my mind.
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.
I'm the opposite: I kinda hope that Horizon Zero Dawn is a solid Open World: The Genre game. I only play one or two of those a year, and what I'm drawn to are the comfortable rhythms of that kind of game in a new and novel setting. Ygritte vs the Dinobots looks like is has a great setting; if the mechanics aren't too fussy, and the gameplay isn't too out there, then I'm all aboard.
Professionally offended. Does not understand jokes. Needs a man to explain them to me.
Oh, forgot one: Vampyr
"We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." - Cheshire Cat
Battle.net: Taharka#1475
That game is a total wild card for me. I love Life is Strange but a game about vampires doesn't sound interesting even though they are trying to do something very different. We'll see.
Tuffalo buffalo Tuffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Tuffalo buffalo.
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Oh yeah. Dontnod's got a very different sort of game coming out that demo'ed horrifically at the E3 PC Press Conference.
I'll put that on the "maybe" pile.
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Watch Vampyr being a buggy mess that people love anyway. It'll be a part of the trend, anyway.
How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?
MilkmanDanimal wrote:You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.
I'm looking forward to the Switch, and all it brings. Which will include my 3-year old learning about Zelda
You've never known true joy until you've shaken a lich stick at someone.
2017 games I forgot about that I'm interested in:
And Torment is coming to consoles, so I'm cautiously interested in that.
Professionally offended. Does not understand jokes. Needs a man to explain them to me.
Certain purchases (including games already bought through KS etc.):
Persona 5
Kingdom Hearts II.8
Zelda: Breath of the Wild (if it comes out this year -- yes, I'm casting doubt on this)
Mario for Switch
Smash Bros. for Switch in the likely event that it exists
Night in the Woods
Final Fantasy XII (not that I've gotten around to playing FFX remake or anything)
Hiveswap
Ni no Kuni 2 (not counting on this one to come out this year either)
Likely:
Yooka Laylee
Crash Bandicoot Remastered
Guardians of the Galaxy by Telltale
Sonic Mania
Tacoma
Interested in:
Nier: Automata
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Birthdays
Ever Oasis
Now Playing: Super Mario Odyssey
I forgot about the FF XII remake. I'll get that too, likely.
"We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." - Cheshire Cat
Battle.net: Taharka#1475
You made me realize that I backed a lot of games for this year.
‘You seek a world filled with endless war and destruction. On that we can agree’
Don't worry, we've got your back on this
(I'm very amused that most of the replies to this article so far are from regulars in the Nintendo and JRPG threads!)
This is actually my main worry right now: a great (and marketable) setting masking average gameplay. I'm really hoping it's one of the year's highlights, but I'd really like a playable demo to be absolutely sure.
I forgot to list this one. This might actually be the first episodic game I pick up at launch (if initial impressions are solid).
I didn't, Roland, but would have if it hadn't cleared its goal already. My approach to Kickstarter campaigns has become minimal, only going in if it looks like they need my help to reach the main goal. Otherwise I figure they'd probably prefer my day 1 purchase to drive sales, and I'm not tempted to fiddle with early access versions.
Steam/Nintendo/Etc.: Danopian; 3DS: 3110-8616-9304
drdoak: "GIT GUD AT PETTING NOOB"
ClockworkHouse: "I think what you're really seeing is that coital monotony applies to gaming, too. ;)"
I agree - FF XV was a breath of fresh air. It was just so positive and upbeat, at least though Chapter 8 which is where I parked my boys.
Guerrilla Games has not made an open world game, which can be a little concerning. I'm cautiously optimistic.
Most places: Aristophan | Switch: SW-7774-7919-6764
I know, right?
How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?
MilkmanDanimal wrote:You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.
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