Despite narrowing the selection to the 10 greatest games of 2022, there were many more that deserved recognition. What a year 2017 was for gamers, even if it may feel like a distant memory now. Interactive entertainment had one of its best years ever in 2017, delivering everything from mind-blowing AAA epics like The Legend Of Zelda: The Breath Of The Wild to heartbreaking indie classics like What Remains Of Edith Finch. Nevertheless, even though we were able to narrow that lengthy list down to the top 10 games of 2017, there were many more excellent titles that didn’t quite get the attention they deserved. Searching for an inexpensive games to play? Here are some of the top gaming secrets for 2017.
10. XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 2
OK, we acknowledge that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 isn’t exactly a hidden treasure in the grand scheme of things. However, since it was out at the end of the year, most players are likely to have missed this masterfully made RPG.
This stand-alone adventure lets Switch owners scratch that post-Zelda open world itch by acting as a numbered sequel to the highly acclaimed Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii. Although everyone save the largest JRPG aficionados may find its excessively exuberant characters annoying, the game’s rich and enormous environment is one that is absolutely worth exploring. This very ambitious adventure, which boasts over a hundred hours of gameplay and some of the greatest (docked) aesthetics on Nintendo’s latest platform, mainly lives up to its beautiful promise. Monolith Soft’s most recent games is an excellent choice if you’re looking for a protracted and immersive getaway to a stunning setting.
Make no mistake: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for the Switch is the games that is well worth your time and money, even if it may not receiving the same attention as some of Nintendo’s other first-party titles.
9. ODE
Recently, the rhythm game genre hasn’t exactly had the greatest of times. It has once again gone to independent developers to keep the heart-pounding, rhythmic action alive after 2016’s Guitar Hero and Rock Band 4 failed to attract a large audience. Or, in the case of Ode, indie-ish. The most recent game from Ubisoft Reflections, the company that gave players the fantastically odd platformer Grow Home, has once again turned a tried-and-true genre on its head.
Ode returns the musical platformer to its origins by doing away with flashing symbols, rhythm meters, and any other user interface you may reasonably anticipate from video games. Ode has you joyfully bouncing into everything around as a cute marshmallow-like creature locked in a ball. There starts to a pleasant little rhythm section as you blast your surrounds. Yet the true enjoyment begins when you start collecting things. The gaming environment changes into your very own interactive symphony when you roll into brilliant orange orbs or destroyed stars.
With players in control of gathering additional orbs and orchestrating their very own masterpiece, it’s a game that can’t help but make you smile. This small treasure is definitely worthwhile to download if you have a PC. Ubisoft Reflections has once again shown that little is more when it comes to enjoyment.
8. RUINER
For Devolver Digital, an indie darling, 2017 has a successful year. The witty and irreverent firm, which first gained notoriety with smash successes like Hotline Miami, just released the original 3D fighter Absolver as well as a mind-bending VR version of The Talos Principle. However, Ruiner, perhaps its greatest game this year, was unfairly disregarded.
Hotline Miami’s 2D side-scrolling is abandoned in favor of this neon-drenched nightmare, which pushes the top-down shooter into 3D against its will. This brutal action games borrows its visual style from timeless films like Akira and Blade Runner. It set in the inevitably evil post-apocalyptic metropolis of Regnkok.
Ruiner takes an established genre and mutilates it into a playable game that feels wholly its own thanks to some inventive teleport mechanisms and a beautiful filthy sense of ambiance. If you don’t mind challenged, Devolver’s most recent title seamlessly combines furious gameplay with an engaging dystopian backdrop. This is the coolest kind of mindless violence there is.
7. GOLF STORY
Some tried-and-true pairings have stood the test of time. The combination of golf and old school RPG looks to join the list of foods that pair well together, joining chocolate and peanut butter and whiskey and soda. If you’re curious, Golf Story is a Switch-only independent games that recreates the heyday of the 1990s with Camelot’s Mario Golf series.
Players competed to advance through the ranks and become the best golfer in the mushroom kingdom in these popular portable golf games. However, newer editions have unhappily losing the RPG components that helped make the series so beloved, therefore creator Sidebar Games has taken the decision to pick up the putter and steer the genre back in the right direction.
Golf Story is a fantastically nostalgic game with some excellent narrative, appropriately endearing vintage aesthetics, and more angst-filled golfing than you can throw a wedge iron at. You could do much worse than this incredibly lovable athletic adventure if you’re seeking for an independent game to play in bed while you watch bad TV.
6. ECHO
Imagine playing a game where the AI not only keeps an eye on you but also picks up on your every move. ECHO, a dramatic sci-fi stealth-em-up from Danish independent company Ultra Ultra, based on such idea. This developer’s first game, which was developed by former Hitman devs who left IO interactive, takes the stealth genre in a fresh and unexpected direction.
Players must investigate a strange, AI-controlled castle that keeps track of their every step in this sci-fi adventure. You soon find an almost unlimited number of AI apparitions waiting for you as the games leads you further into its hauntingly deserted tunnels and magnificently furnished rooms.
The turn? These unsettling robots have the same appearance as the player’s avatar. As if that weren’t horrible enough, under the palace’s constant surveillance, these copies gradually start to imitate your behavior and pick up on your every move.
Although this may just seem like a novelty, the main gameplay loop of ECHO is both seductive and horrifying. Your scary doppelgängers are first rather innocuous whenever you enter a new space while you explore the region. They lack any form of ranged weapons and are unable to open doors, yet they can grasp you if you come too near and can only move extremely slowly. If the stupid robots weren’t watching you closely, hoping you’d make a mistake, you’d almost feel sorry for them.
One of the most inventive and captivating releases we had the pleasure of listening to this year is this 2017 treasure. Avoid this ambitious jewel at your own risk at a time when visuals are at their finest but AI hasn’t taken that next-gen leap.
5. ARMS
It’s easy to overlook the fact that Nintendo launched its first new serious gaming IP in two years in 2017. Despite the fact that major Nintendo properties undoubtedly dominated the year. This time, the Japanese company has chosen to dissect the combat genre and reassemble it into something as novel. Much like it did with its squid-based shooter, Splatoon.
It should come as no surprise that ARMS, which was created by the same team as Mario Kart 8. It is another another game with an overwhelming quantity of color.Fortunately, all games is more than just a pretty face. Nintendo shows that the Switch’s Joycons are a long cry from the incorrect waggling that afflicted the Wiimote by bringing back motion controls with a fury.
At first, you may think that motion controls would just reduce this unusually entertaining brawler to a flail fest. However, the ARMS control system pleasantly surprises players by giving them access to a range of tactical options. Playing locally or online turns each encounter into a deliciously stressful reading of player tells. Thanks to the Switch’s joy-ability con’s to correctly detect exactly how you choose to bend your fighter’s elastic limbs.
Unfortunately, this fighting treasure doesn’t have the robust single-player mode of a game like Splatoon. Which along with its iffy-looking motion controls caused many Switch users to trash it.
Fortunately, there is an arm’s worth of multiplayer fun to be had here. Since Nintendo is generating more free DLC than you can shake a floppy arm at. In summary, ARMS lives and dies on local and online multiplayer.
4. GEOMETRY DASH
Geometry Dash is a simple game with one touch and many levels that will keep players entertained. This game was launched on August 12, 2013 and updated on November 15, 2017 by RobTop Games.
Then, it can played by touching, using the mouse, keyboard, or controller. There are features provided in this game, such as rhythm-based action platforming and building and sharing levels. There are rockets that fly around and a unique soundtrack. You can also turn on new icons and colors to make your character look the way you want.
Then, in this game, players are required to control the movement of symbols by holding or pushing the screen.
3. LITTLE NIGHTMARES
Little Nightmares seems at first impression to a pleasant side-scrolling adventure from the creators of Little Big Planet Vita. In this horrific realm of Tim Burton-style horror, things aren’t nearly as sickeningly sweet as they first seem.
Players assume the role of an anonymous protagonist who wakes up imprisoned in a strange, enormous environment. It doesn’t take long to comprehend how perilous and bizarre these desolate new surroundings really are.
Little Nightmares is a beautifully atmospheric and distinctive experience, with magnificent images. Spine-tingling sound effects, and masterfully integrated puzzles that evoke the video game Coraline. Along with an exciting new DLC for the game that was released a few months ago. The original game is now on sale on STEAM. So now is the ideal moment to endure this masterfully terrifying experience.
2. HELLBLADE
Rarely does a video game creator succeed in fusing atmospheric action with a moving examination of mental health. But somehow, DMC’s designers Ninja Theory have succeeded in doing just that.
Hellblade, which draws its inspiration from Norse mythology, places players in the role of Senua. A warrior desperate to save the soul of her deceased 必利勁
lover from the goddess of Hela. But even while facing these perilous adversaries alone would make her voyage to Helheim challenging. She also has to contend with another equally deadly foe: madness.
Hellblade, a video game developed in collaboration with the British mental health organization The Welcome Trust. Confronts mental illness in a harrowingly respectful manner. Players of Hellblade are always under stress in the game is scrutinized by a cacophony of arguing voices. And their brains are often responsible for distorting their surroundings. Are Senua’s enemies genuine demons? Any of the voices leading her can you believe in?
The video game Hellblade is daring, gorgeous, and totally memorable. If you’re looking for a game that’s entertaining to play while simultaneously shedding light on a difficult issue. Hellblade is one of the best examples you can find.
1. NIGHT IN THE WOODS
Night In The Woods is another wonderfully crafted story that substitutes real-world challenges for arcade thrills. Following in the footsteps of our favorite college-dorm adventure, Life Is Strange. Players assume the role of Mae, a struggling 20-year-old. Who abruptly returns to her sleepy hometown after a mystery tragedy causes her to drop out of college.
What first seems to a humorous escapade gradually transforms into a very emotional story. It tackles nihilism and grief while letting you play bass and eat pizza with pals.
You’ll quickly get attached to Possum Springs’ endearing ensemble of animal characters thanks to its lovely hand-drawn imagery. And its (at times uncomfortably familiar) language. We’re not really sure why there are so many animals. In this tale of human tribulations, but hey, it looks amazing, so who cares?
This well-written and endearing small indie game is one of the most fascinating games. You may play this year if you’re looking for a simple-to-play and emotional trip.
