The finale of E3 2021
Read MoreLegend of Zelda Breath of the Wild
Game of the Year 2017 - Eric Bailey
Disclaimer: I, uh, only really played one video game in 2017.
Fortunately, that game was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Switch.
It's a popular game. You may have heard of it. I could feel a bit daunted by the task of trying to add any sort of original insight to the vast collective commentary that already surrounds it, but I can only be honest and let you know a couple reasons I like it especially.
If I had to summarize Breath of the Wild's appeal in one sentence: I've never before played a game that encouraged and rewarded simple exploration so richly. Between the vastness of the world and the incredible openness of it all (if you see it, you can get there! you can climb any vertical face! there are very few boundaries! ... at all!), it's just a remarkable sensation, to constantly see something in the distance you want to investigate, only to get distracted by something you see halfway there, oh but then you see this other little thing, and is that a shrine, and oh what's that, and oh I think there's a treasure chest over there...
It's an addicting mechanism that turns upon itself near-endlessly. And it's beautiful. It's all so very pretty. I can't remember another game where I've just stopped and looked around at the landscape.
As a big fan of the Zelda franchise, and as someone who enjoys themes like isolation and post-apocalyptic settings, I just really love this game -- and I'm pretty sure it would have still been my favorite this year, even if I had bothered to play anything else.
The Top 5 Marvelous Games of 2017
Most people see games as mindless entertainment, something to relax your brain after a stressful day of work. However it's been proven that games can tell thought provoking stories and every now and then a game will come along and tell one of those stories. Nier: Automata shook me to my very core, I haven't thought about game's story this much since Metal Gear Solid 3. Nier explores the notions of identity, questions our reality and turns our very expectations upside down and out the window. This isn't a game you only play once, this is a game that you need to play multiple times to understand the scope of the story. Yes the combat is pretty simplistic but it is serviceable and for a game like this that's all I really need. Nier: Automata will make you think, Nier Automata will make you weep. That is why Nier Automata is my Game of The Year for 2017.
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