The Top Video Games Of 2017

There are tons of great-looking video games coming out in 2017. Many of these are western releases, but a huge number of fantastic titles are coming out of Japan also. In fact, many of my most hotly-anticipated games are Japanese this year.

In any case, here's a list of all the best (or at least most important) video games currently announced for a 2017 release. I'm putting them in alphabetical order and including trailers whenever possible. I'll keep this list updated with other important releases as well.

Take a look and let me know which of these video games you're excited about.

Arms - One of the Nintendo Switch's first releases, Arms is a boxing game that uses both button and motion controls. Fighters have boxing gloves and long, spring arms and duke it out in a ring. It looks novel, as far as fighting games go, and exactly the sort of quirky little game that Nintendo would come up with.

Berserk and the Band of the Hawk - The game based off the popular, and uber-violent, manga is a spin-off of the also popular Dynasty Warriors franchise. I admit, I kind of wish it were a rip-off of Dark Souls rather than the hack-and-slash chaos of Dynasty Warriors, but that's probably just a personal bias. Maybe I'm just not that much of a Dynasty Warriors fan.

Call of Cthulhu - A Gothic, Lovecraftian mystery and psychological horror game from Cyanide Studios. Could be great, could be "meh." But I like the trailer.

Dark Souls III: The Ringed City - The final DLC for the Dark Souls franchise takes the player to the Ringed City, at the end of the Age of Fire, at the edge of the world.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 - The follow-up to the original Divinity: Original Sin which was one of the most charming, clever role-playing games to come out in years. Divinity: Original Sin 2 looks to expand on everything that made the original so great with better graphics, a bigger world, and more choices. If you can't control your hype for this one, nobody will blame you.

Dragon Quest Heroes II - Fresh off the heals of the amazing Dragon Quest Builders, Dragon Quest Heroes 2 is described as a "hack-and-slash, field-roaming action RPG that sends players on a new adventure to restore order in a once peaceful world filled with hordes of monsters and battles of epic proportions." Sounds good to me. I like the more cartoony, less-serious style here. It's a nice contrast to something like Final Fantasy.

Dynasty Warriors 9 - Finally a fully open-world Dynasty Warriors game. Dynasty Warriors 9 promises to be the biggest, best-looking in the long-running epic action franchise.

Fire Emblem Echoes - A "re-imagining" of the second Fire Emblem game (Fire Emblem Gaiden) Echoes comes to the 3DS surprisingly soon after the launch of Fire Emblem Fates last year. But we're not complaining. The more Fire Emblem the better. The game looks to diverge from the modern entries in the series, with some dungeon-crawling and no marriage mechanic.

Fire Emblem Heroes - The first Fire Emblem mobile game, and the second major mobile release from Nintendo (not counting Pokemon GO) this one is sure to be controversial. I think it looks like a pretty good take on the turn-based fantasy RPG. The free-to-play game is coming to both Android and iOS, and is basically a scaled-down version of a regular, core Fire Emblem title.

Fire Emblem Warriors - This Dynasty Warriors spinoff follows in the footsteps of Hyrule Warriors on the Wii U by taking the Fire Emblem universe and cast of characters and inserting it into the massive-scale action combat of the Warriors series. It should be good, mindless fun, if not the tactical goodness of a core Fire Emblem game.

The Flame in the Flood - A girl and her dog survive in a roguelike wilderness by raft and over land, scrounging for resources, setting up camp, and evading predators like huge bears. Cool art-style and a great trailer for its PS4 release.

For Honor - Knights, Vikings and Samurai do glorious battle in this quirky multiplayer title from Ubisoft. If you like action fighting games with a touch of MOBA, this might be the game for you. I've played the alpha, but am waiting for the upcoming beta and full release to offer up any sort of valuable judgment. It's a great concept, but so much hinges on how satisfying the combat ends up being.

Friday the 13th - Play as Jason Voorhees or one of a handful of camp counselors in a multiplayer, asymmetrical PvP horror survival game.

Ghost Recon Wildlands - A vast open-world, anti-cartel special forces game, Ghost Recon Wildlands will either restore our faith in open-world gaming or turn out to be just another in Ubisoft's long line of overly similar, repetitive titles. I'll be honest, it's just really hard to know what to expect from this one. There's definitely hints of The Division in here, but there's not much of what I would consider Ghost Recon. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised.

Gravity Rush 2 - The follow-up to the PS Vita's original gravity-bending action game, Gravity Rush 2 is already getting pretty good, if not totally amazing, reviews. (It's 79/100 on Open Critic.) I've played the demo, and while I love the art-style, I'm still not sold on the gameplay itself---either because I need more time to master the controls, or because floating around while manipulating gravity is actually kind of clunky. Either way, this is a big game with lots of content and a fascinating twist on action combat.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Telltale Series - Say what you will about the Telltale games---at best they're compelling narratives with interesting choices; at worst they're clunky attempts to blend gameplay and cinema---but I'm still excited for a Telltale version of Guardians of the Galaxy, my very favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.

Halo Wars 2 - The second real-time strategy game in the Halo franchise, Halo Wars 2 has already been getting a bunch of hype as a return to the classics of the genre. Anyone who enjoyed playing Command & Conquer and wishes there were a similar game for Xbox One will probably find lots to love here. It's also one of the only major exclusives coming to Microsoft's console.

Hitman: The Complete First Season - The new Hitman game was released throughout 2016 as a series of self-contained episodes. Now you can get all of those in one package. I was really impressed by this Hitman and anyone who loves stealth games should really check it out. Just watching this trailer makes me want to dive back in and play the episodes I missed.

Horizon Zero Dawn - I've been a skeptic about Horizon Zero Dawn for awhile now, probably just to keep my expectations in check to avoid disappointment. But the latest story trailer for the game won me over and now I can't wait for the PS4 exclusive from Killzone developer Guerrilla Games. I mean, it has robot dinosaurs and a female protagonist with some of the best hair in video games. What's not to love?

Injustice 2 - The premiere DC Comics fighting game returns to modern consoles with bigger and better graphics and a whole bunch of superheroes and villains to choose from. Should be fun.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance - A realistic, first-person Medieval RPG. No magic, no dragons, no fantasy. The game is designed to immerse players in a gritty European world that eschews the fantastical for the historical. Echoes of Mount & Blade with much better-looking graphics. Hopefully this one will come out in 2017.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Easily one of the most hotly-anticipated titles of the year, this one's coming to both the Wii U and the brand new Nintendo Switch. The game borrows some of the art-style of Wind Waker, and is the first truly open-world Zelda game. It makes other changes as well, including stat-based weapons. It looks awesome.

Lego Worlds - Following in the footsteps of games like Minecraft and Dragon Quest Builders, this is a LEGO sandbox game. Gone are the story-driven elements of most LEGO video games. Instead, players can just build to their heart's content.

Lords of the Fallen 2 - I was fairly mixed on the original Lords of the Fallen. It was a Souls-style action-RPG that borrowed some of that game's mechanics but none of its cold, dark heart. There's very little about the sequel in the news, and with big changes in direction and the loss of the lead producer, this one's very much up in the air. It's slated for a 2017 release, but who knows if that will happen.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - New characters and a new battle mode, plus 1080p resolution, make this a "deluxe" version of the game that came out for Wii U in 2015. Easily my favorite Mario Kart game, I'm excited to play the new battle mode with Splatoon characters. I do wish that there were new tracks, or a Mario Kart 9 was in the offing, though.

Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite - Marvel superheroes vs. Capcom video game characters. It's another fighting game in the vein of Street Fighter and Marvel's answer to Injustice 2.

Mass Effect Andromeda - A new Mass Effect that leaves the original trilogy behind (millions of light-years behind, actually). This time around you play as a new non-Shepard character exploring the vast and dangerous Andromeda system. The game uses the Frostbite 4 engine and looks gorgeous. The question is whether it will have great characters like the original trilogy---and whether its story will be satisfying.

Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom - Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch was a terrific video game realization of a Studio Ghibli world, but it had tedious combat. I'm hoping the sequel will have all the charm of the original but with better balance between story and gameplay. It sure looks amazing!

Nier Automata - Platinum Games' weird cyborg action game is amazing---or at least, the demo of the game is amazing. The game itself certainly seems to be shaping up into something truly special. Fast, frenetic combat in a weird, dystopian sci-fi world; crazy use of shifting perspective; huge boss fights---what's not to love?

Nintendo Switch - I'm including hardware since there's some big hardware releases in 2017, and the first of those is the Nintendo Switch. It's a hybrid portable and home console that can be played at home hooked up to a TV or on the go. And it looks pretty great, honestly. I have some concerns, of course, but I'm rooting for this to succeed.

Nioh - This is one of my most highly-anticipated games of the year. It's a Samurai game that takes a bunch of lessons from Dark Souls and then does a lot of new things with them like introducing different fighting stances, black-powder guns, and much more. I've played three demos of the game, and each one has been incredible---though it's not for the faint-hearted.

Persona 5 - If you've ever played a Persona game you'll already know how excited you should be about the release of Persona 5. I'm a latecomer to the franchise, starting with Persona 4 Golden on the PS Vita. It took me a while to get into the game, but once I did I was hooked. Between the almost mundane management of day-to-day stuff and the demon-slaying and dungeon-crawling this is just a wholly unique JRPG.

Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World - The 3DS version of Yoshi's Woolly World has all that game's levels but introduces more Poochy gameplay. A fun little platformer.

Prey - A cross between Half-Life 2 and Alien, Prey looks absolutely fantastic. It's a sci-fi thriller shooter set in a creepy space station that looks like it has as much puzzling as it does shooting. Very excited about this one.

Red Dead Redemption 2 - The long-awaited sequel to Red Dead Redemption is finally coming to PS4 and Xbox One. We don't know much about it yet, but we do know it's going to be amazing. Another big open-world Western from the makers of Grand Theft Auto, I just hope that this time around there's less cattle-herding.

Resident Evil 7 Biohazard - A major change of pace for the Resident Evil franchise, Biohazard is a first-person horror game with little in the way of shooting guns, and lots of running away and hiding. It looks actually scary, too, and has a VR game mode.

Rime - Once a PS4 exclusive, Rime is now a multi-platform adventure and puzzle game. Hooray! The indie game looks (and sounds) gorgeous. I don't even care what it's about, I just want to visit this world. (Of course, I included this on my top games list of 2015, so it's been a long time coming thanks to delays and other issues. Hopefully the final product is as amazing as it looks.)

South Park: The Fractured But Whole - I loved the buggy, hilarious South Park: The Stick of Truth RPG. It was everything great about South Park in a ludicrous, and hugely entertaining, video game. This one looks like more of the same, and I mean that in a good way.

Splatoon 2 - Speaking of "more of the same" that's pretty much what Splatoon 2 looks like, though it won't utilize a second screen in the same way the Wii U version did. Splatoon is Nintendo's latest shooter franchise, and pits teams of players against one another in paint shootouts. It's a very Nintendo sort of shooter, and the sequel looks like fun.

Star Citizen - The king of crowdfunding probably won't come out in 2017---it's already been delayed plenty---but we can always dream can't we? This space sim has captured the imagination of thousands of gamers and raised tens of millions in crowdfunding. Let's hope the final release lives up to the big promises.

Styx: Shards of Darkness - The sequel to Styx: Master of Shadows, this one looks like a pretty big improvement in just about every way. If you like fantasy stealth games, of which there are too few, Shards of Darkness may be the game for you.

Super Mario Odyssey - This weird-looking open-world Mario game is the first Mario title coming to the Nintendo Switch. All I have to say is that New Donk City looks like an excellent and super strange new location for our favorite plumber to explore.

Tales of Berseria - The 16th game in the Tales series, Tales of Berseria is a JRPG that features action combat and a dark story of revenge in a demon-infested world. I've played some of the game already and like it quite a bit. Not the best-looking JRPG coming out in 2017 but really intriguing story.

Tekken 7 - The return of the classic fighting game for its seventh main entry. It looks very pretty.

The Bard's Tale IV - Torment: Tides of Numenera developer is picking up this long-dormant RPG and...well, there's not much to go on just yet, so take the 2017 release with a grain of salt. Still, this is a pretty trailer with nice Gaelic music.

Torment: Tides of Numenera - Hey, speak of the devil! inXile's massive crowd-funded game based on Monte Cook's pen-and-paper RPG is finally upon us. The heavily story-driven game (prepare to read a bunch!) is the spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment. Very exciting indeed.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - The first Uncharted game not starring Nathan Drake, The Lost Legacy is both DLC and a stand-alone game, so you don't need Uncharted 4 to play it. It takes a different approach to the franchise than Drake's escapades, and I for one am really intrigued by what exactly that entails.

Valkyria Revolution - A spin-off from the Valkyria Chronicles games, this one takes place in an alternative universe and ditches turn-based combat in favor of action. I'm not sure how to feel about that, given how great Valkyria Chronicles is, but it could be cool still.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War III - There are too many Warhammer games out there, but another in the Dawn of War series is very welcome. Real-time strategy games are fun, and Dawn of War has always done this kind of large-scale battle really well.

Xbox Scorpio - Code-named the "Scorpio," this is Microsoft's version of the PS4 Pro---a beefier, faster, more amazing take on the Xbox One. At this point, I honestly think Microsoft should just release a brand new Xbox that blows the PS4 out of the water, but I guess we live in iterative times.

Yakuza 0 - The prequel to the long-running Japanese crime game franchise, Yakuza 0 is already generating a ton of buzz. I've played it and love the combat, but haven't gotten far enough into the game to say much else. Either way, by all accounts this is one you won't want to miss.

Yooka-Laylee - A cute platformer that hearkens back to the best platformer games of Ye Olden Times, Yooka-Laylee looks pretty adorable and fun, and is being made by developers who worked on Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country.

1-2-Switch - The first-party game for the Nintendo Switch. Alas, it isn't a pack-in and you have to pay $50 for it separately. That's a mistake, but hopefully this will have lots of fun mini-games that make use of the new console.

I'll add more games to this list as they're announced. Obviously some big ones---Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Skylanders, etc.---are coming out this year but haven't been announced. Stay tuned, and please let me know if something is missing and I'll add it straight away. There are likely other games that I'm simply not familiar with that didn't make the list, and I'm more than happy to take a look at new titles and edit them in.

Thanks! And Have a good day!