2017, Game of the Year

[The_Liquid_Laser]

The 2017 Game of the Year is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The runner up is Hollow Knight.
The master thread for all of these contests can be found here.

Rejoice, for the winter of gaming ended in 2017.  In fact, 2017 had so many great games that there is not nearly enough room in the poll for all of them.  Not only did the Switch launch this year, but a new mega-popular genre started in 2017 and, of course, the PS4 was still going strong.  Without further ado, here is the list of games for 2017.

 

Divinity: Original Sin II (PC)
Larian Studios really impressed classic RPG fans with this final entry in the Divinity series.  Divinity: Original Sin II has sold over 7.5 million copies and the Definitive Edition scored a 95 on Metacritic.

 

Hollow Knight (PC/Mac/Linux)
It’s the Dark Souls of Metroidvania games.  Hollow Knight has sold over 2.8 million copies.

 

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PC)
This new type of game was based on the movie Battle Royale.  Even in early access PUBG was so popular that it was clear it would be a real winner, winner chicken dinner when it came to sales.  PUBG has sold over 75 million copies, and the mobile version has had over 1 billion downloads.  Overall PUBG has earned revenue exceeding $13 billion.

 

Dragon Quest XI (PS4/3DS)
Dragon Quest returns to the home console for the first time since DQ8.  Ironically, it also returns to a handheld system like DQ9.  This game eventually got a classic mode so you could play it like SNES games DQ5/6.  It was the Dragon Quest game for every type of fan of the series.  DQ11 has sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide, and the definitive edition scored a 91 on Metacritic.

 

Fortnite Battle Royale (PS4/XB1/PC/Mac)
Somehow two major battle royale games released in 2017, with Fortnite taking the free to play approach.  Fortnite has over 500 million registered players and has generated over $26 billion in revenue.

 

Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)
If Skynet from the Terminator series could have a love child with the northern barbarians from Game of Thrones, then the result would probably be Horizon: Zero Dawn.  Horizon: Zero Dawn has sold over 24.3 million copies across all platforms.

 

Nier Automata (PS4/PC)
This second entry in the Nier series is another 2017 game where robots have taken over.  However, this story is told from the perspective of the robots.  (Take that, Horizon: Zero Dawn!)  This hit from PlatinumGames has sold over 7.5 million copies total.

 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch/Wii U)
In 2016, the Wii U was so pathetic that just about everyone had counted out Nintendo from every being a relevant home console maker again.  And at E3 2016, they put almost all of their focus on just one Wii U game.  However, when E3 attenders actually played that game, most agreed that Nintendo had stolen the show.  Not only was Breath of the Wild the ultimate swansong for the Wii U, but more importantly, this Switch launch title set the tone for the whole lifespan of Nintendo’s most profitable console of all time.  Breath of the Wild scored a 96-97 on Metacritic and has sold over 32.8 million copies.  It is also commonly voted as the greatest video game of all time.

 

Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
Mario’s new hat makes him controlling and possessive.  This 3D platformer scored a 97 on Metacritic and has sold over 26.9 million copies.

 

Other (please specify)
If you think another game deserves to be "Game of the Year" other than one of the 9 listed above, then please vote “Other” and say your game in the comments.  If the "Other" category takes at least 2nd place and no other game gets at least 40% of the vote, then  there will be a runoff vote including the most mentioned game(s) from the comments.

 

Voting for 2017 Game of the Year will end on Tuesday, Dec 19 at 11:59 PM, EST.

Last edited by The_Liquid_Laser - on 20 December 2023