It’s that time of year again; the time we say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. We grow ever closer to the release dates we’ve been seeing for over a year now. But while we eagerly await new releases, there were a large assortment of releases this year worth your time. Quite honestly, way more than anyone is capable of consuming by themselves unless they dedicate their lives to doing so. But as with most of society, we don’t have the time to enjoy everything we want, and we end up picking and choosing. We have jobs to bring in income to support not only our families, but the site to bring you content. And on that end, there are many things we got to spend time with but didn’t cover, so not all of the nominees have links to our thoughts. Like every other “Best of” list you’ll see or have already perused through, this is based on what we were able to spend time with. You may certainly think something is better or more deserving of the winner in each category, and you are absolutely right. These are subjective, and your feelings are just as valid as ours. Make sure to tell us what you thought was best and why – we’d love to experience something we missed out on! Especially if we didn’t list it as a contender, as it’s entirely possible it flew under our radar.

You will notice that some categories have more potential entries than others. This is on purpose, as we feel that all of these games, movies, and albums are certainly worth mentioning, and are at least worth a try if you enjoy the genre. Who knows, maybe one of these will be a great jumping off point for something you’ve never been interested in before. It’s also important to note that these are not listed in any particular ranking beyond who is the winner – all the runner ups are things we think you should checkout. It just so happens that the winner in each category was a cut above the rest. While our individual lists would no doubt be different, this is what we came up with as a whole.

VIDEO GAMES

RPG

• Persona 5
• Nier Automata
• Ys VIII
• Cosmic Star Heroine
• Monster Hunter Stories
• Divinity: Original Sin 2
• Battle Chasers Nightwar
• South Park: The Fractured but Whole

Shooter

• Killing Floor 2
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
• Ghost Recon Wildlands
• Player Unknown Battle Ground

Sports

• Golf Story
• Everybody’s Golf
• Gran Turismo Sport
• Forza 7

Strategy

• The Escapists 2
• Aven Colony
• Tooth & Tail
• Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Arcade

• Jydge
• Nex Machina
• Matterfall
• Time Recoil

Action

• Nier: Automata
• Nioh
• Horizon Zero Dawn
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Hob
• Assassin’s Creed: Origins
• Hand of Fate 2

Fighting

• Injustice 2
• Tekken 7
• Arms
• Nidhogg 2

Platformer

• SteamWorld Dig 2
• Rain World
• Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap
• Sonic Mania
• A Hat in Time
• Super Mario Odyssey
• The Mummy Demastered
• Flinthook
• Cuphead
• N++

Horror

• Narcosis
• Little Nightmares
• Observer
• The Evil Within 2
• Bulb Boy
• Resident Evil 7

Puzzle

• The Sexy Brutale
• Puyo Puyo Tetris
• Gorogoa
• Aer: Memories of Old
• GNOG

Misc

• Old Man’s Journey
• Everything

PS4 Title

• Persona 5
• Nier: Automata
• Horizon Zero Dawn

Xbox Title

• Cuphead
• Forza 7
• Narcosis

Switch Title

• Super Mario Odyssey
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Console

• Switch
• PS4
• X1

Game of the Year

• Nier: Automata
• Persona 5
• Injustice 2
• Killing Floor 2
• Golf Story
• Jydge
• The Escapists 2
• Super Mario Odyssey
• The Sexy Brutale
• Old Man’s Journey
• Cuphead

 

MOVIES

Horror

• Creep 2
• Get Out
• Alien: Covenant
• Mother!

Action

• Baby Driver
• Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi
• John Wick 2
• Dunkirk
• Blade Runner 2049

Super Hero

• Guardians of the Galaxy 2
• Thor Ragnarok
• Wonder Woman
• Spider-Man: Homecoming
• Logan

Drama

• The Shape of Water
• Lady Bird
• Wonder

Comedy

• The Lego Batman Movie
• The Disaster Artist

 

MUSIC

Metal/Rock

• 36 Crazyfists – Lanterns
• All That Remains – Madness
• Nothing More – The Stories We Tell Ourselves
• Foo Fighters – Concrete and Gold

Alternative Rock

• Stereophonics – Scream Above the Sounds
• Jonathan Coulton – Solid State
• Foster the People – Sacred Hearts Club
• Primus – The Desaturating Seven

Retrowave

• Scandroid – Monochrome
• Sunset Neon – Starlight

Cover Album

• Vitamin String Quartet – The World of Studio Ghibli

R&B

• Gorillaz – Humanz

And so ends the 2017 list from us. We want to know what we missed, so make sure to let us know. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. You can also comment below or have a conversation on our forums.

Check out OpenCritic for a better idea of how our review stacks against others.