It's hard to pick a favourite as I've played quite a few this year, many delivering above my expectations. I think I'd probably have to choose from the following shortlist:
Destiny 2
Yes, this surprised me a little, too. I missed out on the first Destiny due to loads of technical problems (despite buying it on the day of release). Hence I went into this quite fresh to the franchise. As a result I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Ok - I'm not so keen on the fact that certain areas and game modes are off-limits unless I purchase additional DLC, but I've had my money's worth. Superb visuals and audio, nicely balanced gameplay (unless attempting solo raids with an underpowered character) and decent single and multiplayer options. My game of the year? I don't think so, but certainly worthy of a mention.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
I'd been following this for a while based on it's USP - a more story-driven type of game with a narrative and content based around mental health and the troubled mind. It's worth the relatively small outlay in my mind as it is quite different to your regular game. Played with [the recommended] headphones on the audio is superb and generates a somewhat eerie and sinister ambience. The directional sound works incredibly well and, well, it's worth experiencing. Likewise, the visuals are rather impressive as well. The developers extensively used body and facial performance capture and the results are great - really capturing the emotions and torment of the game's main protagonist. I wasn't so keen on the gameplay elements as I found them somewhat laborious and uninspiring, but not enough to stop me from enjoying, and recommending, this game.
Nex Machina
Simple, pure arcade thrills wrapped up in a slick, cablepunk-themed package. There's not really much to say about this other than it's great fun and consists of relentless action in the Robotron and Smash TV stylee. Take your twin sticks and control your character and direction of fire independently. Using signed distance fields and voxels the landscape can be blown apart and there are nice physics effects and fluid simulations acting upon those elements. The result is an enjoyable action-filled blast filled with great effects, great visuals and great audio.
Prey
Another game I'd been following for quite some time and that seemed to take a while to hit the shelves. I was drawn to this as it was all about the single-player experience. As a result, I was expecting an above average single-player game with a good and solid storyline to drive it. I wasn't disappointed. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. I did find it tough going in places due to the difficulty setting I set (and that I didn't want to drop below) but it never impacted on my enjoyment. The game mechanics were good, novel and well implemented and these were realised through decent visuals and animations throughout. I think I put around 70 hours into this in the end - which is a fair chunk when I think how busy I've been over the last year!
Resident Evil 7
I've been a fan of Resident Evil since the early days but, sadly, lost interest with the last couple in the series. However, I had been following this version with interest and bought it back in Jan 2017 when it was released on PC. I was looking forward to the somewhat different slant on the franchise; i.e. the fact that I wasn't playing as some highly-trained 'Redfield' soldier. In a nutshell I thoroughly enjoyed it. The visuals were good and the sound and audio equally good in conveying a constant sense of foreboding. I also enjoyed the storyline and 'meeting' the various characters of the family along the way. I won't lie... there were quite a few occasions where I did actually jump! It's definitely worth playing alone in a dark room for the full effect! I'm looking forward to seeing where the franchise goes next given the ending.
Sky Force Reloaded
A straightforward shoot-em up. Quick and easy to pick up and play, but not so easy to master the higher difficulty levels! A fair few options and upgrades are available to keep you coming back for more. It was the immediacy and 'quick-play for 10 minutes' nature of the game that I liked. The fact it has superb visuals and audio were a bonus. For the sake of a few quid it's worth a punt in my opinion (as is Sky Force Anniversary for more of the same, albeit an older title).
Project Cars 2
Well... not much to say on this one really as it's been covered in various threads and posts.
Cuphead
I bought this through the Microsoft store so I could play on both PC and Xbox One X. It's basically another run and gun type affair, wrapped-up in a fantastic 1930's cartoon style presentation. The visuals and audio are spot-on and worthy of mention. It was those things that originally attracted me to the title when it was announced. Underneath is a devilishly hard game though. It has put many a person off. I was undecided as to whether or not to include this in my shortlist due to the fact that I'm borderline rage-quit at the moment! I haven't progressed all that far through the game simply because it is so difficult and, being honest here, I probably don't have the reactions I used to have some 20 years ago!
Sniper Elite 4
Really, really enjoyed this but won't choose it due to professional reasons!
There have been many others (I'm currently enjoying Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and about to embark on What Remains of Edith Finch, both of which might have made this list had I had time to play them more) but those I list have been my standouts. If I had to narrow it down to a single title then I think it would have to be...
I didn't expect that either. :smile: And I may have missed some. :tongueout:
