It's undisputed that there has been a flood of fantastic games this year. A few of them are my favorite games of all time, full-stop. Shout-out to NieR, Edith Finch, BotW, Resident Evil VII, Prey, Gravity Rush 2...wow, what a year!
As a year with a legacy moving forward, though, I think there were actually a bunch of important trends that started in 2017:
- The Switch released, bringing Nintendo back into the spotlight after the Wii U's disappointing performance
- NieR almost single-handedly proved that Japanese AA games still have an audience in the West, and can be bankable
- PUBG didn't invent the Battle Royale genre, but it definitely gave it mainstream presence, and you can bet BR will be a mainstay in FPS games for years to come
- Uncharted and Dishonored have seen AAA publishers experimenting with delivering AAA experiences at half the length and half the price, which I'm loving so far
- Hellblade is low-key probably the most important success story of the year, as it's the first real manifesto for indie games with AAA presentation
- Resident Evil 7 has given VR its first killer app, and also ushered in a new direction for one of gaming's most important franchises
- Ditto with BotW, which has brushed away the OoT formula and will probably become the new template for Zelda for years to come
- Metroid was taken off ice and had a well-received, classic-style comeback
- Divinity: Original Sin 2 will probably set the standard for WRPGs for years to come. This is more speculative on my part, but I think it'll definitely be the case
There are definitely more that I'm missing, as well. Great year all around.