21. Middle Earth: Shadow of War
- Developer: Monolith Production
- Publisher: Warner Bros
- Platform: PC, PS4, XB1
- Release Date: 10th October 2017
Thousands of fans collectively yet unanimously decided that Shadow of Mordor was perhaps the better fun version of Assassins Creed. And with AC taking an entirely different route and Batman (or Batman type combat) is nowhere to be seen, Shadow of War is coming at just the right time.
The expanded Nemesis system is one of the most innovative mechanics in the last decade of gaming easily. Shadow of War simply builds upon an already stellar game and logically have no option but to supersede its prequel in every way.
22. Destiny
- Developer: Bungie
- Publisher: Activision
- Platform: PC, PS4, XB1
- Release Date: 6th September 2017 (WW), 24th October 2017 (PC)
This is big. Love it or hate it, Destiny has become one of the pillars in the Gaming Community. When a developer nails the core aspect of what you do – The Shooting – then it’s not hard to understand why even the barebones lackluster hollow vanilla Destiny 1 before expansions even had us in the grips for a very long time.
Their business side may be a little sketchy, but what Bungie excels is in progress and improving on feedback. Destiny 2 coming to PC is more of an event. And we are eager to see what Bungie can do to this Destiny universe once they add an actual story to all this loot grabbing.
Honorable Mentions :
Cuphead: A game whose art style speaks for itself had finally got a release date of 29th Sept on PC and XB1.
Age of Empires Remastered / Starcraft Remastered: More like back-from-NeverReallyDead land, these two remasters ensure these legends will remain with us for decades and decades.
There are tons of top Games which you can play on PC and Xbox One, PS4. Here is a brief list of highest-rated and awarded games that have been great in 2016 and can be played even now.
Some more Top Games to explore for playing on Consoles and PC from 2017 and 2018.
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt: Blood and Wine
We know we are technically cheating by putting an expansion to contend with another entire full-fleshed games, but that is just because how exceptionally good this game and this expansion was – which put many full-priced games to shame. No wonder Witcher 3 went on to become the highest GOTY award-winning a game of all time even beating The last of Us.
Even its expansion won 7 GOTY awards in 2016, that’s just how crazy good this whole affair was. CDPR has raised the bar for Western RPGs, and seems like Publisher-kings of the older world will be chasing this games mantra for years to come…we can only hope if they can learn a thing or two about free DLCs from CDPR.
Meta Critic Score: 92
GOTY Awards Won: 7
FINAL FANTASY XV
Nothing seems more satisfying than a hard-worked project bearing fruits. In UK, it became the second fastest-selling game in the series’ history. And in US during December, it showed the best console launch month sales in the series’ history and was the second most sold game, beaten only by mammoth Call of Duty Infinite Warfare. Total shipments and digital sales for Final Fantasy XV have till now far exceeded 6 Million Units.
Square Enix has successfully brought new life into the Final Fantasy franchise, managing to attract old veterans as well as new players. With comics/manga, anime series to full feature animated movies with eye-bleeding visuals it seems like all that hype was worth it. We will be glad to see how Square Enix will manage to evolve this semi-open world RPG-action formula going forward.
- Meta Critic Score: 82
- GOTY Awards Won: 7
DISHONORED 2
The sequel surpassed the original in terms of ideas, setting, and a new playable character that seems fitting with the story. However for a action-stealth game, it was released right in between juggernauts of games amid the most rushed time of the year in November – we should all assume with so many games coming out some clashes are bound to happen. Had this hurt Dishonored sales in a tragic way, we simply do not know.
Also the poor PC performance of this game doesn’t help it in the least, but on the system that it did work the game was almost praised by all gamers and critics. With much more flexible gameplay and re-playability, the game packed much for worth its price and quality.
Meta Critic Score: 88
GOTY Awards Won: 8
DARK SOULS 3
Top 10 Highest Rated Games To Play on Consoles and PC 2017 – Prepare to be amazed. After great – but no so great Dark souls 2, From Software gave us PS4 exclusive Bloodborne which revitalized the formula. And Dark Souls 3 successfully integrated everything that was great about Bloodborne into Dark Souls 3. Gone were the glitchy mess of the previous game and the slow-paced action, (which weren’t bad by any account) – and was transformed into a fast-paced thinkers game where every swing was much more calculated and intense, all brought on by a good storyline going all the way back to Dark Souls 1.
A fan favorite by all accounts the expectations were off the roof and DK3 touched them fairly well. It was a perfect send-off to this great franchise with Hidetaka Miyazaki stepping down from the franchise director. Let’s see who will helm this franchise in the future if From Software decided to revisit it. In your humble writer’s opinion, one should not poke a classic with a half-assed attempt just to grab cash. I think all of us would be glad if From Software rest this franchise and moved on making Armored Core or some new IP perhaps.
Meta Critic Score : 89
GOTY Awards Won : 11
INSIDE
Limbo was released in 2010. After cementing itself in the best games ever made in history of gaming, we can assume Developer PlayDead was busy making Mobile and handhelds ports for this brilliant game. Even after that, INSIDE was in works for more than 5 years with a gametime of only 4 hours. That is not a stroke against this game, with only 20$ (Rs.500/) price – it is a testament of how polished and cherished its development would had been.
Without spoiling anything, INSIDE is a game you just have to experience on your own. We are eagerly waiting for Playdeads next game, lets hope it could be released before the end of 2018.
Meta Critic Score: 91
GOTY Awards Won: 12
BATTLEFIELD 1
Was it able to dethrone Call of Duty? Yes and No. It certainly outdid COD in terms of sheer gameplay value, but the giant still has ways to go before upsetting COD in sales. However, everybody seems to realize well now how COD has fallen and BF1 has got to be the go-to shoot ‘em up multiplayer to take its place. We will have to wait and see if COD explores more settings and more colors other than Modern and brown.
It comfortably grabbed the most sold title in its launch month. And if Battlefield 4 sales and age were any indication, this thing will continue selling until the next installment. Campaign wise, it was not all glorious as compared to actually fine COD campaigns, but we could see they tried something new with the campaign. Battlefield 1 still has 261k active players.
Meta Critic Score: 89
GOTY Awards Won: 14
THE LAST GUARDIAN
The Last Guardian was perhaps just some years away from ending up on milk cartons as missing for years. But Sony pulled a miracle in 2015 and revealed all but completed game. Team ICO with games developed like Shadow of the Colossus had great technical feats for their day and age, but we fully understand why some of the graphics would be a little to outdated. We still still love to see what a new Team ICO can accomplish with modern engines to its full potential.
Anyway, The Lats guardian gave what it promised to form the very start, which was a heartwarming story of a boy and an owl-cat creature who had surprisingly cat-like behavior. This game is a controversial entry into the Top 10 of 2016 because it wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea. But gamers and critics all over the world cherished this game and the legacy attached to this huge game almost warrants you to give at least one try before dismissing it.
Meta Critic Score: 82
GOTY Awards Won: 14
DOOM
It may not have won all the GOTY awards there exists, but is sure was capable of so. DOOM was the best game of 2016, its fluent gameplay capturing the fast thrill of the original doom. Bethesda knocked it out of the park with this one but made one grave mistake of not sending review copies beforehand – certainly because of the backlash DOOM faced on its multiplayer. It was the best PC port we have seen in years, thanks to Vulkan.
All the games in this list may not stand the test of time, but DOOM will undoubtedly be remembered for years to come. It all bends into psychology, too that the game we expected to be mediocre turns into a gem (Shadow of Mordor, Watch Dogs 2), and the one with huge expectations falls flat *cough*No Mans Sky*cough*.
Doom went on with a slow start and became a raging demon in the sales charts after word of mouth went out. We will never know what records it could have broken if Bethesda/id had shown confidence in their game or tried a different marketing strategy.
Meta Critic Score: 85
GOTY Awards Won: 25
OVERWATCH
Who could have thought that Blizzard could make an FPS game? Not only make it but excelled at it with flying colors. They took any help from FPS veterans like Treyarch, and the results show. Overwatch is insanely balanced, incredibly polished, astoundingly charming and what perhaps is most important – it is well supported by its creators and players alike. With a rich story in a multiplayer game just for the heck of it, Blizzard just simply knows how to make good games period.
They may take their time to get things straight, but with a fallen TITAN-MMO project, a Team Fortress successor has risen, which will print money for as long as Blizzard could want.
Overwatch is easy to learn, harder to master, and just so god damn fun to play. TF2 fans would say all there is lacking from this game is Hats…more hats.
Meta Critic Score: 90
GOTY Awards Won: 91
Honorable Mentions :
THE WITNESS
It’s good to see when a passion project comes to life and bodes well to both – the gamers who were pleasantly surprised by it, and the creator who enjoyed his work’s labor with appreciation and great sales.
TITANFALL 2
Blame EA, for what could have been a great game was released into a massacre between Battlefield1, Gears of War 4, and Call of Duty IW. What your humble writer and a plethora of fans beforehand, predicted, Titanfall regardless of having a great campaign and okay-ish multiplayer (compared to last Titanfall which was outstanding) – The Titanfall 2’s demise rest solely on the hands of EA’s release window decision.
UNCHARTED 4
Everybody expected this. Naughty Dog has yet to make a make which didn’t make our jaw drop. Visually and with a heartwarming tale coming to its end, the fans couldn’t have asked for a better send of story-wise than what Naughty Dog delivered. The game however could have gotten away with some less climbing and had poor pacing if you were new to the franchise, but to the fans, every slow second was understandable and cherished. The new expansion of The Lost Legacy will cure some hardcore fans’ itch, and anything extra from ND-gods is a delight to have.
We know for a fact that the Uncharted franchise has been put to rest. Naughty Dog has moved on to new IPs, new sequels, and challenges, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.
Meta Critic Score: 93
GOTY Awards Won: 141
So there you have it, folks, the Top games to play from 2016-2017.
We will be sure to address this in further articles. Till then, happy gaming in 2019.
So which new game coming to PC didn’t make that list that you are crazy about. Sound off in the comments.
