Every year I do my best to at least try as many games as absolutely possible so I can make my end of the year article as well informed as possible. As this is a labor of love that is self financed with whatever money I can scrape together after paying my bills and taking care of various responsibilities inevitably a large number of excellent games slip through my fingers and go unplayed.
Sometimes this is because I don’t own the platform the game is on, such as the Switch or PC, other times its just because the game was never at a price that fit in my budget or I never came across it at a Redbox Kiosk. And other times I played the game but only had very little with the game and didn’t get a full taste of what it has to offer.
These are the games that came out this year that I either missed out on completely or barely played despite my desire to do so. Some of these I actually own while most are still out there waiting to be purchased. I am also leaving off the Switch games that I am dying to play but haven’t simply because I don’t yet own the console and don’t want to list things I missed but have no realistic time frame to get my hands on them. That of course means no Mario or Zelda but rest easy, there are plenty of other games I need to get my nerdy hands on.
Pyre
Pyre is a bit of a curiosity to me. From the minds of the folks who created Bastion and Transistor, it combines fantasy and sport in an interesting way. While I love fantasy I have been hesitant to pick it up due to the 3 on 3 magic basketball/hockey the game plays out in. Having heard a ton of praise for the game the last week I finally decided it would be worth a look as soon as it was on sale and as luck would have it as of this writing the game is on sale for $9.99 on PSN right now.
Observer
Observer is a cyberpunk horror game with a visual aesthetic akin to Blade Runner and stars Rutger Hauer as the detective tasked with hacking the memories and fears of individuals in order to solve crimes. The game was made by the same studio that made Layers of Fear, the laughably bad horror/walking sim which gives me pause when considering picking it up but after hearing a lot of praise for it during various GOTY conversations I will likely pick it up as soon as a good sale comes up.
Everybody’s Golf
It’s a well kept secret that despite having no love for the sport of golf in real life I have always quite liked golf video games or even golfing mini-games in other games. I secretly spent a lot of time on the fairways of GTA5 and have rented and enjoyed a number of golf games over the years. Everybody’s Golf is the latest in the Hot Shots Golf series and by all accounts is quite good. As of this writing it is also onside for $19.99 on PSN if you’re into such things.
The Mummy: Demastered
Rarely do licensed games based on movies even look remotely interesting and rarer still are the licensed movie based game that are worth playing. The Mummy: Demastered is apparently that rare unicorn of a game that is allegedly a lot of fun to play. Taking the form of a “Metroid-vania” style exploration/action game that serves as a prequel of sorts to the allegedly awful Tom Cruise film from last Summer, the game appears to be way more enjoyable than it has any right to be.
Persona 5
I’ve gone back and forth all year on this one. I keep hearing so much praise for the fifth Persona game and want to check it out since the same sort of praise was heaped upon NieR: Automata and it ended up being my 2nd favorite game of 2017 in spite of looking like something I’d never enjoy. But every time I look at the game or come close to picking it up I end up chickening out and hesitating to pull the trigger. The game looks weird and has a number of mechanics I am worried I wouldn’t enjoy but I still keep coming back to consider trying it out.
Tekken 7 and Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite
I put these two together because I don’t have much love for the fighting game genre but am very interested in these two games in spite of the fact that I haven’t played a Tekken game since the 2nd one and hear a lot of bad stuff about the MvC story (but I sort of enjoyed the demo and want to see it myself).
Uncharted: Lost Legacy
I’ve had a bit of a love hate thing with the Uncharted franchise (and Naughty Dog games in general) but the 4th entry was one of the best games I’ve ever played and as such the standalone expansion/sequel is one I really need to get my hands on.
Divinity: Original Sin 2
I’ve always loved a good RPG with a rich world and deep systems and by all accounts the Divinity series is just that sort of thing. The one thing that has kept me from checking this one out though is that I hear it is a crazy deep and long game that will suck away literal days worth of my life and well frankly I’m not interested in that kind of commitment when I already have other big games I need to finish such as…
Yakuza 0
I picked up Yakuza 0 back in the summer and have just been waiting for the right time to dive into it. I took a look at it way back then and loved its quirky take on 1980s Japan and organized crime but I haven’t been in the mood to play a game that has a story centered on real estate wheeling and dealing and gang violence. Someday soon I’ll dive back in though but first…
Assassin’s Creed: Origins
I need to get back into Assassin’s Creed: Origins. I played something like 16 hours of it a few months back which was enough to land it high on my GOTY list. I picked it up on the cheap during a Black Friday sale and have decided it will be one of the first things I play after the turn of the year. I’m anxious to get back into Bayek’s world, only wondering if I should start over fresh and live stream the game on twitch.tv/polynerdic or continue playing it off stream from where I already am.
-Shad (@PolyNerdic)
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