Game of the Year Awards

Tyler's Honorable Mentions are a love letter to Nintendo's newest console—and to its newest handheld. Come see which titles helped switch his opinion in 2017.

Sometimes life gets in the way of checking out new games. Fortunately, there was plenty of fun to be found in some of Spencer's old favorites.

Wow. Nick played way too many games.

Japanese games, sports games, and Japanese sports games? That can only mean Doug's list of Honorable Mentions for 2017 has arrived. Sports, cars, and a plea for an old favorite to return.

What do games about genetic memories, Nazi-killing, mental illness, dating, and spittoon spelunking have in common? Nothing. But those are the games Aaron played and found worth mentioning in an honorable way. Enjoy!

The best game of 2017 redefined both a tired genre and a stagnant franchise in one, seemingly effortless breath.

The second-best game of 2017 takes the mundane, real-world struggles we face and imbues them with such inspiration—and such unflinching honesty—that it resonates like nothing else we've played.

The third-best game of 2017 blended bizarro-fantasy trappings with killer NBA Jam-inspired mechanics to deliver one of the strongest experiences we've seen all year. It stayed true to the end.

Our fourth-best game of 2017 made us confront the complexity of family, and the pain of loss, but it didn't leave us in despair. Death and life intertwined in a moving story presented as a larger-than-life fable.

The #5 game on our Top Ten list is the latest and greatest in a long-running franchise. Except this time, the developers added an unexpected depth of customization that seriously amps up the fun.

One of the most left-field games to come out in 2017, our #6 selection kept players guessing through twists, turns, and musings about the nature of humanity. 

The #7 game on our Top Ten list transports the classic computer RPG into the modern era with impeccable systems design, unrivaled flexibility, and some of the sharpest writing and design we've ever seen in a roleplaying game.

Coming in at #8 on our Top Ten list is a game that took us into a beautiful, ruined world and taught us how to live off the land. And to hunt robot dinosaurs. Look, it's not the most far-fetched idea out there.

Our #9 pick from our Top Ten of 2017 delivers an intricate, ambitious, and utterly bonkers conclusion to a long-running series. Let's give it everything we've got...it's article time!

Hey, it's Top Ten Time! We're kicking things off at the #10 spot with Spencer's take on a game that meticulously combines the tried-and-true tricks of its spiritual predecessors with a deeply ambitious set of themes to tackle.

As more games allow you to strike a pose or snap a quick photo, and as the results become further impressive, we've created a new award—Best Photo Mode. But which entry had the complete package? 

There are many ways to tell a compelling story in games. Our 2017 winner succeeds using apt level design to pull players into its tragic, but ultimately optimistic, family drama.

This year's Most Improved award goes to a studio that surprised us all with an ambitious new game that looked unlike anything we'd seen from them before.

Best moments transcend even the greatest games and present the games industry at its best. This year, we award an ending that asks us to forcibly examine ourselves, and our capacity of altruism, sacrifice, and reciprocity.

From beginning to end, one journey in 2017 managed to control its tone the best—on the sacred court and off. But why does the flame burn so bright? Come, enter the wagon and see.

We believe that weirdness is a virtue. We're just very concerned about what Hideo Kojima is doing to a digitized Norman Reedus.

By the end of 2017, we were destined to all become total trash mammals. Only one character could show us the way.

In a world full of nerds, one jock stands tall—and he's here to share the good news about the world of racing in 2017.

The winner of our Best Art Direction award eschews the safe trappings of consistency in favor of the most outlandish environments in the franchise's history.

2017 was a year full of fantastic soundtracks, but there's only one that we could reasonably call "essential."

Nathan Harrison was kind enough to return for another Game of the Year feature. This time around, he's focused on the 10 best experiences he had with games in this otherwise tumultuous year.

We're so happy to share a list of game recommendations from Charlene Putney, a writer at Larian Studios who worked most recently on Divinity: Original Sin II. Every type, format, and genre of game you could imagine is represented here, so you're bound to walk away with some fresh games to check out—and maybe even some last-minute gift ideas.

Find out what video games expatriated Florida Man Chris Price has held close to his bosom in order to survive the cold, dark landscape that was 2017. 

Tabletop RPG designer Dan Phipps takes some time out of his busy GMing schedule to tell us all about the very good games that came out in 2017.

Guest contributor Ben Morgan kicks things off for us with a list of the ten best games to play after making it through the unrelentingly challenging year that was 2017.