Prolepro

Ghostwire: BooShock
Banned
Nov 6, 2017
7,310
I've just watched a couple of trailers and yeah, I'm sold, it looks excellent. It's currently in the January sale in the PlayStation Store for £14.99, down from £24.99. I'm assuming this is a good price for it?
Took me about 8 hours to beat so Id say that's a fair bang for your buck, though I played it on PC and cant comment on the performance for PS4. It ran mostly well with a few hiccups and one bug that caused me to have to restart the game (camera was locked on zooming in).
 
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Draccus

Draccus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
185
England
Took me about 8 hours to beat so Id say that's a fair bang for your buck, though I played it on PC and cant comment on the performance for PS4. It ran mostly well with a few hiccups and one bug that caused me to have to restart the game (camera was locked on zooming in).

It was released in August, so I'm hoping if there were any issues on the PS4, bug or performance related, they've been patched by now.

8 hours is a decent play time considering you can buy some AAA games and finish them in half that time.
 

Prolepro

Ghostwire: BooShock
Banned
Nov 6, 2017
7,310
It was released in August, so I'm hoping if there were any issues on the PS4, bug or performance related, they've been patched by now.

8 hours is a decent play time considering you can buy some AAA games and finish them in half that time.
I hope you enjoy it, I really did. Dont expect it to blow you away with the gameplay, and there is some classic PC indy game eurojank, but a lot of the themes and plots reminded me of SOMA in terms of hard hitting sci fi questions that really test your morality in more interesting ways than just being a "good guy vs. bad guy". It's heavily inspired by 1984 (taking place in 2084 for a reason) which should give you an idea of what it's going for.
 

Papaya

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,476
California
Lol, I was thinking of Prey when I clicked this thread. Fantastic game all the way through.

For indie, I'll go with Cat's Quest. It was a surprisingly good, little RPG game. The story was decent and the gameplay was fun. Great kids game that adults can definitly have a great time with!
 

Snormy

I'll think about it
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
5,215
Morizora's Forest
Battle Chef Brigade
Charming, fun, clever and a lovable cast of characters.

Rakuen
An amazing tear jerker adventure game. The music, characters and stories really hit it out of the park. I rate it higher than To The Moon which is often considered one of the best in the genre/style of game. it is also inspired from To The Moon somewhat and even references it in game. I find the stories a lot more relateable and the soundtrack is overall better.
 

bluehat9

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,410
Night In The Woods. Loved the characters, the graphic style, the dialogue, and story. If it weren't for Mario, probably my top game of the year.
 

DaiJyoubs

Member
Oct 25, 2017
496
ARMS did well but I think is criminally overlooked by anyone who buys the system these days. Fun fighting game with a great art style and character designs that was constantly getting new stuff. Hope Nintendo comes back to it sometime.

Superhot VR came out on PSVR over the summer and was brilliant and is the best VR game I played (though I think it released on Vive super late last year, I still count it).

Danganronpa V3 for having a fantastic story with the best ending I've experienced in a video game.
 

ara

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,117
giphy-downsized-large.gif

Well, whatever it is, it's definitely not underrated lol.

I would agree with Prey. I'm planning on checking out What Remains of Edith Finch soon, maybe even tonight, hopefully it's gonna be one I can agree with.
 
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Draccus

Draccus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
185
England
ARMS did well but I think is criminally overlooked by anyone who buys the system these days. Fun fighting game with a great art style and character designs that was constantly getting new stuff. Hope Nintendo comes back to it sometime.

I did play ARMS around a friend's house and it was actually very good. It's good to see Nintendo supported it with free content, and I do intend to pick it up at some point.
 

tiebreaker

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,425
Gravity Rush 2 - Quest design is debateable, but being overlooked in graphic and music department for TGA is a crime
 

stn

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,751
Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami. The series has a gotten a lot more exposure finally but I feel its still underrated. As for Indie games? Assuming its Indie, I'll go with Battle Chasers: Nightwar. Fantastic RPG.
 

KiNolin

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,302
Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami. The series has a gotten a lot more exposure finally but I feel its still underrated. As for Indie games? Assuming its Indie, I'll go with Battle Chasers: Nightwar. Fantastic RPG.

Yakuza 0 being robbed at most GOTY lists definitely makes it underrated.

as for overlooked: My favorite Metroidvania this year was the free spinoff for Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey aka Synchronicity. Tight level design, great music, great art for familar SMT enemies, fresh concepts (i.e. mixing a little bit of Ikagaruga into the Metroidvania mix). I bought the previous game by the same dev afterwards, Pharao Rebirth+, and found it to be not nearly as good.
 

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,868
South Park The Fractured But Whole was great. Comes with the even better Stick of Truth too (until 30th of January 2018 I think).
An absolute must for fans of the show.

Yakuza 0.
It might just be my GOTY, I'm still undecided. An absolutly wonderful surprise though. And so much bang for your buck.
 

Loganclaws

Banned
Nov 14, 2017
384
ELEX is one of the best RPGs of the year

As a huge fan of PB, no it's really not. The game doesn't even have a statistics screen to show vital stats like hp, mana, armor, attack strength, etc... An rpg without a statistics screen... Many of the stats and skills don't even do what they're supposed to. If they actually add these missing components and fix up the progression system, then maybe it will be good. The combat system is still worse than Risen 1 also.
 

Misterproof

Sabotage Co-founder
Verified
Dec 28, 2017
30
Quebec City
For AAA I would go with:

Wolfenstein2: The New Colossus
Sure it got some coverage but in my opinion it should be all over the place as it's magnificently executed on all fronts and has some of the coolest characters I've seen in games in a long time.

For indies I would say:

West of Loathing
On top of being a very enjoyable western RPG with great mechanics and a unique art style it's by far the game that made me laugh out loud the most this year.
 

AerialAir

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,106
Portugal
Came here for Town of Light, and unfortunately I was disappointed. Can't state it enough how underrated this game is, despite all it's flaws. The ending was the first time I ever felt goose bumps playing a video game. A very powerful experience that deals with themes that videogames usually try to stay away from.
 

BLLYjoe25

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,969
South Park: The Fractured But Whole. I haven't finished it yet, but holy shit, this fixed so many of the previous game's flaws while introducing few new ones. The Stick of Truth had awkward commands, awkward world interaction, too many jokes and story beats lifted from the show, only having one party member per battle with no incentive to switch, and boss battles that just were not very fun. Fractured But Whole introduced a new battle system that is so much better to play, allows for a lot more humor, and allows for really fun boss battles. Almost every joke I've encountered so far is either original or re-contextualized in such a way that it doesn't feel like just fan service. There are regularly moments that are so original and funny that you're surprised they're not from the show.

South Park: The Stick of Truth was a good tv show-game, but Fractured But Whole is a good game.
fractured but whole easily has the better gameplay but stick of truth was much funnier. i was hooked on FBW but all i kept thinking about was replaying SoT.

the story in FBW was really bad. If we get another South Park game then I hope it has the game play of FBW and the story/humour of SoT.
 

TheHolyTurnip

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
672
Tulsa, OK
I feel like The Evil Within 2 was overlooked this year, it was a vast improvement over the first and is a genuinely fun action horror title.

Cosmic Star Heroine has been a very welcome blast from the past jrpg homage that should have done far better than it has so far. A fun, light hearted story with plenty of likeable characters, a well balanced battle system and some pretty good looking design. Here's to hoping Nintendo gives it a chance on the Switch.
 

Mondy

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,456
Prey bombing is a travesty, and gives fuel to the fire that dedicated single player games are a dying breed regardless of how good they are.

If you enjoy great single player FPS and didn't buy Prey, shame on you.
 

semiconscious

Banned
Nov 10, 2017
2,140
hob

Hob-02-HD-textless.png


criminally ignored little masterpiece. gorgeous, loaded with clever exploration/puzzles, perfectly paced & constantly rewarding. for me, blew past edith finch, little nightmares, rime, & any other indie i played this year. check this game out! - you'll thank me! :) ...
 

Pirate Bae

Edelgard Feet Appreciator
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,900
??
AAA Title: Danganronpa V3

Easily the best one in the series by far. It has a phenomenal (for the most part, fuck you, Angie) and unique cast. There are ton of memorable moments, the cases and trials are very well done, and they pretty much improved on every other aspect of the series from the first two mainline games. The art direction is your typical visual novel style, but there's a ton of detail put into the environments and character sprites that really do a lot to flesh out the world. The ending twist is fucking insane and I loved every second of it. The only part of it that I really didn't like were the mini-games, aside from scrum debate.

Plus the soundtrack is dope as hell. Like this makes me hype af every time I hear it:



Indie Title: Tokyo Dark

I'm usually not a fan of horror, considering I get scared pretty easily, but I really enjoyed this one. It's a point and click side-scrolling mystery game done by Cherrymochi and published by Square Enix. You play as Tokyo detective Ayami Ito, who must find her missing partner while also dealing with a bunch of supernatural stuff. It's not too long; my first playthrough took me about 4 and a half hours, but the atmosphere is insanely creepy, and its all choice-based regarding how you want to handle specific situations. There are a fuckton of endings, too. I was super surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

 
Oct 27, 2017
2,987
Battle Chef Brigade.

An excellent hybrid of cooking brawling and match 3 puzzling married to some of the best voice acting this year. I was sad to finish it. Relentlessly charming.
 

Elodes

Looks to the Moon
Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,241
The Netherlands
Indie? Absolutely Rain World. It's probably the most memorable game I've ever played, but was understandably misunderstood by a lot of people.

As for AAA...Probably The Evil Within 2? I thought it was merely OK compared to the excellent first game, but it really didn't deserve to be so forgotten within mere months.
 

Deleted member 14002

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,121
I'm going with The Surge.

I think a lot of people wrote it off as a futuristic Souls ripoff brought to you by the people that made the underwhelming Lords of the Fallen. Add a little Souls fatigue to the equation, and The Surge kind of flew under the radar. A shame really as The Surge is a very competent, beautiful and challenging Souls-inspired game with some great game mechanics.

I'd give it a hearty recommendation to anyone looking for decent spin on the Souls formula.

The Surge.

If you claim to be a Souls fan, you should play The Surge.

The game has only sold 110k copies on Steam so far it's so disheartening.
This wasn't released in 2017, was it?

I can honestly say that although it is above the devs previous efforts that I did not enjoy my time with this game at all. The game is thoroughly mediocre imo in almost every aspect; level design, weapon selection, armour, and boss encounters all sucked. The setting I felt was under delivered on, the plot was poorly explained/elaborated on, the save room music was dreadful and annoying.

The only thing they didn't botch was standard enemy encounter design. Unfortunately these largely feel the same because there's only a handful of enemy types. Heavy and Slow, Light and Fast, Mechanical and Erratic. The progression and upgrades are based around targeting a limb of the opponent until HP threshold is under 20% and then doing a cinematic finisher to obtain parts to use for weapon crafting and upgrades.

That being said I did pay full price, $90 CDN. I can't recommend buying this game to anyone.

TLDR: Devs made a Soulslike but missed all the things that made Souls good.

Yeah.. I need to play The Surge.

I love Dark Souls, and I'll admit I totally overlooked this game.
I'd personally grab Nioh instead. Maybe even that Code Vein game if you're feeling frisky.
 
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LinLeigh

Member
Oct 25, 2017
193
Blackwood crossing has quickly become my favourite walking sim. And the puzzles are enjoyable enough. The emotions are what really make it special though.

I was sobbing like a baby.

I haven't played enough of prey and wolfenstein to decide between.

This year I have been more entertained by the many indies.
 

Parenegade

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,589
Ghost Recon Wildlands. My team turned the difficulty up to max, took it seriously, and had a fucking blast. Incredible how that game doesn't get stale. Most Ubisoft open world games get stale by the half way point but they kept throwing enough new at me for me to be satisfied.
 

Xliskin

Member
Oct 28, 2017
206
hob

Hob-02-HD-textless.png


criminally ignored little masterpiece. gorgeous, loaded with clever exploration/puzzles, perfectly paced & constantly rewarding. for me, blew past edith finch, little nightmares, rime, & any other indie i played this year. check this game out! - you'll thank me! :) ...

This and Prey brutally killed this year
 

-PXG-

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,186
NJ
DceObEYfTOS-tnkkyrMHVV4qbJH774Uh.png


Currently playing The End is Nigh. Surprised there isn't more buzz, especially since it's an Edmund McMillen game. I'm loving it.
 
Oct 25, 2017
2,165
Maybe I'm part of a pretty small population on here, but I played the original Utawarerumono many, many years ago on PC.

The fact that a duology of sequels to that original game came out this year seems to have flown under the radar for many people, some of which might have enjoyed the original.

I'm playing Mask of Deception right now (2) and this game is one of the comfiest games this year. Even the SRPG combat is drastically improved versus the original.

Game's a real treat.

W7ZIL7h.jpg
 

Gunkankun

Member
Oct 29, 2017
344
The Sexy Brutale for me. Such great gameplay and story payoff in the end. I dont think it was that underrated, but it should be more front and centre imo.
 

danowat

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,783
Battle Chasers is a damn good RPG. It has flaws, of course: the difficulty spike is huge, you have to grind a lot and the party management make you lose time because if it's design but you guys should try it.
+1

Next to Persona 5 its one of the best rpgs I've ever played.

I don't necessarily agree about the grinding or difficulty spikes though....
 

Deleted member 2618

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,176
Yakuza 0 is definitely my GOTY. I can see it being missed by many with all the amazing games that came out this year. In the same vein, Yakuza Kiwami is also great. Not as good as 0 but it's up there.

Pokken is also still underrated even on Switch.
 

P A Z

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,951
Barnsley, UK
Indie

Seeing as though others have already pointed out the likes of Edith Finch, Gorogoa, Nex Machina and Sexy Brutale....

I'm going to have to go with Ruiner.

Ruiner is a cyberpunk isometric shooter from a studio called Reikon games (that include former Witcher 3 and Dying Light devs.)

It's gorgeous, both technically and on an art level and just has a great style running through it from the menus to the UI to the mostly black/red colour scheme to the comic like panels and the cutscenes. It all blends together, nothing feels

It's not all about the presentation either, the game is fun to play with skills that you can swap out at any time, it offers a great challenge, an intriguing story and the soundtrack is also one of the best of the year.


AAA

Injustice 2

If you're a massive casual fighting game guy like me then this is a good place to start.

Combat is fun and most moves and chains are relatively easy to pull off.

There's a great (for a fighting game) story mode that puts others to shame with branching paths to add a little replay value.

And there's the Multiverse, the end game for people like me who are too scared to take on other players online. Multiverse offers timed challenges of varying difficulty, sometimes with gameplay modifiers like low gravity, that give out different types of gear for your characters. It's really fun and keeps me coming back to the game.
 

Bosh

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,229
Yakuza 0 being robbed at most GOTY lists definitely makes it underrated.

as for overlooked: My favorite Metroidvania this year was the free spinoff for Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey aka Synchronicity. Tight level design, great music, great art for familar SMT enemies, fresh concepts (i.e. mixing a little bit of Ikagaruga into the Metroidvania mix). I bought the previous game by the same dev afterwards, Pharao Rebirth+, and found it to be not nearly as good.

Yakuza 0 is definitely my 3rd favorite game of the year. Idk if it's underated though, it's getting mentions on a decent amount of goty critic list (farther back) but it's progress for the series which wasn't super popular in NA before. I like yourself think it should be even more known!

Mine would be Steamworld Dig 2. Rated well, sold pretty good on Switch, doesn't seem to be as popular on other consoles/PC. The 15 hours, 100%+ was a joy to play and one of the few games I don't mind going back to replay
 

Master Chuuster

GamingBolt.com
Verified
Dec 14, 2017
2,659
Probably Fire Emblem Echoes.

Also, Mass Effect Andromeda- I know it was not nearly as good as it should have been, but it was still a good game. Much, much better than people make it out to be.
 
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Draccus

Draccus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
185
England
Currently playing The End is Nigh. Surprised there isn't more buzz, especially since it's an Edmund McMillen game. I'm loving it.

I'm going to have to go with Ruiner.

Ruiner is a cyberpunk isometric shooter from a studio called Reikon games (that include former Witcher 3 and Dying Light devs.)

I personally love The End is Nigh. The savage difficulty keeps me coming back as I refuse to be beaten. The bleak setting of the game is also something I personally love too.

As for Ruiner, I'm still working my way through that but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I'm still awaiting the release of the Savage update on PS4 which looks excellent. The ultra-violence isn't a put off either as I really enjoy gory, mature games.
 

ngower

Member
Nov 20, 2017
4,169
Golf Story's been getting some love in these end-of-year lists, but seems like many folks have yet to really sink their teeth into it.
 

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
62,849
Easy one. The Surge. They did a great job after the poor Lords of the Fallen. And one of the games with the best X and Pro support.
Overall it did nice. But it has Dark Souls over its head all the time. Wich is a shame.
 
Oct 25, 2017
2,275
Canada
Prey and Pyre


Prey is an amazing immersive sim by Arkane Studios set atop a space station overrun by the Typhon organisms. Game's full of mindbending plottwists and the exploration and open ended approach to objectives feels really liberating.

Pyre is a magical little combat sports game by Supermassive of Bastion and Transistor fame. The art and music is so good it hurts. The combat is a fun little twist and the storytelling is extremely compelling.
 
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Draccus

Draccus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
185
England
Golf Story's been getting some love in these end-of-year lists, but seems like many folks have yet to really sink their teeth into it.

This is the game released for Switch, right? If it is the game I'm thinking of, it does look very good and for some reason, I'm getting some Stardew Valley vibes from it.
 
Oct 25, 2017
11,868
Indie

Seeing as though others have already pointed out the likes of Edith Finch, Gorogoa, Nex Machina and Sexy Brutale....

I'm going to have to go with Ruiner.

Ruiner is a cyberpunk isometric shooter from a studio called Reikon games (that include former Witcher 3 and Dying Light devs.)

It's gorgeous, both technically and on an art level and just has a great style running through it from the menus to the UI to the mostly black/red colour scheme to the comic like panels and the cutscenes. It all blends together, nothing feels

It's not all about the presentation either, the game is fun to play with skills that you can swap out at any time, it offers a great challenge, an intriguing story and the soundtrack is also one of the best of the year.


AAA

Injustice 2

If you're a massive casual fighting game guy like me then this is a good place to start.

Combat is fun and most moves and chains are relatively easy to pull off.

There's a great (for a fighting game) story mode that puts others to shame with branching paths to add a little replay value.

And there's the Multiverse, the end game for people like me who are too scared to take on other players online. Multiverse offers timed challenges of varying difficulty, sometimes with gameplay modifiers like low gravity, that give out different types of gear for your characters. It's really fun and keeps me coming back to the game.

Isn't Injustice 2 one of the biggest hits of the year?

Have to agree with Prey and Nex Machina. Both superb games.