Instead of creating a giant list of the best games of the year, resulting in fighting and tears, SideQuesting opts instead to let our esteemed Editors share their favorite 5 or so of the year. These are generally new games, but remakes (and heck, even old games if they get updates) are viable to be included.
Today we take a look at Zach’s favorites!
YAKUZA 0
Yakuza 0 is an amazing game from an amazing series. In fact, 2017 has been a great year for the Yakuza franchise in the States. We’ve gotten two solid entries in the series, and many people have finally been able to experience what these games are about. To describe what makes Yakuza 0 so fun is… actually kind of hard. From screen shots you would think it’s a silly game about Japanese gangsters, but really it’s a dark and dramatic epic about gangsters and family. The way Yakuza 0 juggles tone shifts from serious to dead pan humor is majestic and very skillful. The writing and characters are impeccable. Being able to see the beginnings of Kiryu and Majima’s rivalry is a wild and unique ride I won’t soon forget. Running through the streets of Dotonbori and beating up thugs is fun, the fighting is like Streets of Rage but in a 3D space. Every hit feels important, every grab feels critical and the finishing moves are sight to behold. Yakuza 0 really has all I look for in a game. And… I played a lot of majhong, crane games, pool and darts. I have about 150 hours in the game and probably a quarter or more of that is from playing mini-games.
BATTLE CHEF BRIGADE
Games that are very unique aesthetically and mechanically are usually ones that catch my eye, and to say that Battle Chef Brigade won my love with its scrumptious aesthetic and gameplay would be an understatement. I devoured the game over one weekend and played for a total of 28 hours. Day and night for two days I was a glutton for its frenetic puzzle and cooking mechanics. I pondered the story as I was away from my Nintendo Switch. Battle Chef Brigade is one of the first games I’ve reviewed where I just wanted to talk about it with everyone around me but I couldn’t because I was under embargo. Everything about it is happy, upbeat and generally fun. You can tell that so much work and care went into the hand-drawn backgrounds and characters. It really feels like you’re playing a unique piece of art.
WHAT REMAINS OF EDITH FINCH
There’s a lot to say about What Remains of Edith Finch, but even speaking an inkling of the mystery would spoil it. Basically the main character, Edith Finch, goes back to her old home in Washington and retells stories about her families past. That’s it. It’s such a simple premise but the way the game makes you experience these short stories is so unique and personal. I beat What Remains of Edith Finch in one sitting this summer and ever since then I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the dark eeriness this game exudes. The game explores many adult themes and doesn’t hold any punches in telling the story. It’s somber and depressing but it’s worth a play through if you generally love storytelling and gorgeous first person story games.
DOKI DOKI LITERATURE CLUB
Doki Doki Literature Club at first glance comes off as a run of the mill visual novel. You’re a student at a high school with a girl next door who is really cute and likes you. You join a writing club at school and eventually things start to get strange. And I mean that; it’s strange in such a unique way. The game asserts its dominance over the main character (you). It’s disturbing almost to a point of it being flat-out wrong. It is so adeptly written and conceptualized that it’s able to walk the fine line between being depravity and narcissism without it coming across as full of itself. It’s not an indie horror film, it’s a David Lynch film covered in the guise of cute anime girls. There are so many moments within Doki Doki Literature Club that I will never forget because they are truly unique and something I have never experienced in a game before.
NIER: AUTOMATA
Wow. Typing about NieR: Automata is making me emotional. This game honestly means a lot to me and it’s really one of my favorite games of all time. Yoko Taro, the writer/director of NieR, has single handedly proven why he’s one of the best game developers alive now. NieR: Automata is a story about androids wanting to find out their purpose for life. That alone is a very walked upon trope within sci-fi but the setting of Automata is what drives it beyond anything that is typically seen in the genre. Androids were designed to have no emotions and feelings, but, being alone on a desolate earth for hundreds of years, they begin to develop feelings and what they perceive as human emotions. Their enemies, robots, have also done this as well. The way the strands of the story unfold and tie together makes a unique, worthwhile and emotionally traumatizing experience. Give a man some booze, a stack of Kierkegaard, some depression and you might eventually end up with something that looks like NieR: Automata.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
BREATH OF THE WILD
TACOMA
TEKKEN 7
HOLLOW KNIGHT
DANDY DUNGEON
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