Game of the Year Awards – The Sickest of 2017

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Game of the Year

2017 Nominees

2017 has been a year to remember for Video Game releases, with hit titles spanning multiple genres and platforms. With the end of the year drawing close, the staff at Sick Critic has nominated our best candidates for the coveted title of Game of the Year. Below you will find our top 5 finalists and the official winner, which has been selected by our staff committee.

Player Unknown’s Battleground (PUBG) 

Total Vote Points (8)

 

Comments from Sick Critic Staff: David Fraley

Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds is a Battle Royale game that drops you from a plane onto a huge island, forcing you to find clothing, weapons and anything you can use to survive. PUBG hits our Top 5 for gameplay that’s highly addicting and always leaves you wanting more. The lack of a real progression system seems to be highly appealing to the 14+ million people that have bought the game on PC and Xbox. Whether you want to brave it on your own or bring a friend or three, this game is awesome, fun and appealing, no matter what age you are. The game is still in preview mode, so there comes with it a certain amount of issues (lagging and crashes), but for it being in preview and still attracting so many players says a lot about this game. This is a must play for any fan of shooters that own PC or Xbox One.

Persona 5

Total Vote Points (21)

 

Comments from Sick Critic Staff: Donogh Moore

I had always been a fan of JRPGs (Japanese Role-Playing Games). My own coming-of-age was accompanied by the likes of Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts, and the ever-present Pokemon franchise. Having fostered such a love for these games throughout my life, it would inevitably mean that Persona 5 would, at least, pique my interest.

Not many games can proclaim to be one of the most stylish installments in such a wide and diverse medium, but Persona 5 can wear that proclamation proudly on its chest. It’s stylish in every sense: the visuals of the game are stunning, with a black-and-red motif that is incredibly sleek but never overbearing, character designs that are funny and quirky while remaining true-to-life, and a cool and infectious soundtrack to boot.

Persona 5 offers so much in terms of gameplay – by day, you attend school, partake in class, and fulfill the duties of a normal teenager. At night, however, you are tasked with exploring labyrinthine ‘Mind Palaces’, all the while fighting enemies using your Personas in a turn-based format, à la Pokemon. Not only that, but there are also puzzles to solve, and relationships to maintain in what is the Persona series’ strongest narrative yet.

If such high praise hasn’t convinced you already of Persona 5’s GOTY status, then the old proverb should ring true; money talks. Persona 5 shipped over 335,000 units in its first week, as well as topping sales charts worldwide. Not only that, but the game received a whopping 4 nominations at 2017’s ‘The Game Awards’. While it only managed to take home the still-massive ‘Best Role-Playing Game’ at the event, I firmly believe that it’s 2017’s Game of the Year.

Super Mario Odyssey

Total Vote Points (35)

Comments from Sick Critic Staff: Stephan Phelps

This is the kind of game Nintendo and platformer fans have been waiting years for. What makes Super Mario Odyssey so great is it’s amazing evolution and modernization of the 3D Platforming Collectathon games saw in the N64 era. You’ll be running around and collecting tons of Moons, whether to continue the story or just because you saw something peculiar and wanted to check it out. Gamers nowadays love to explore and discover at their own pace and Odyssey absolutely satisfies that explorative itch. It’s a game that can be both structured and also extremely open at the same time; it all depends on how you want to play. Add onto that some great controls, fun and sometimes challenging platforming, some brilliant new ideas with the Capturing ability, and you’ve got yourself a system seller. Yeah, Odyssey is one of those Mario games.

Horizon Zero Dawn

Total Vote Points (37)

 

Comments from Sick Critic Staff: Devin Pratt

After putting 80+ Hours into Horizon Zero Dawn, exploring the entire landscape that is offered, and killing more robotic monsters than I can keep track of, I can say that Horizon is one of the best PlayStation exclusives to hit the market in years.  Guerilla has finally found their niche as a studio and developed a game that they can truly be proud of. Horizon has decent customization, a beautiful landscape, satisfying mechanics and a phenomenal story that will draw you in and make you hungry for more. Horizon makes our Top 5 for bringing a fresh concept to a genre that has grown mundane and stale over the past few years.

Horizon just missed the cut for being our choice for Game of the Year, with some flaws that hold it back, but this RPG is well worth every Playstation owners time and money. Congrats Guerilla Games.

Game of the Year Winner

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Total Vote Points (40)

 

Comments from Sick Critic Staff: Maxwell Broggi-Sumner 

Until March, Wind Waker was my favorite game in the Legend of Zelda series and one of my top five games of all time. Come to the Breath of the Wild launch, and I wasn’t sure of either of those anymore. While the main Zelda series hasn’t been struggling per se, it’s had a rough few years. Skyward Sword came out in 2011, and while I personally loved it, there was a very mixed reception. A Link Between Worlds was fine, although it didn’t really do anything new and was, at its core, a revisit to A Link to the Past. With the exception of spin-off games and remakes, that was it for the past seven years until Breath of the Wild came to breathe new life into the series.

Although the two years of delays frustrated many a gamer, I’m glad it didn’t come out until it did, because a rushed product would’ve been shelved with Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D World instead of becoming the masterpiece that it is. This is the Zelda series’ first foray into the open world genre, and the creators have fortunately confirmed that it wouldn’t be the last. The open world allows us to explore Hyrule like never before, giving longtime fans a sense of adventure that we haven’t felt since Ocarina of Time. It gives us the freedom to explore every region, complete every temple, do every side quest, or just sprint straight for Ganon’s castle.

I loved seeing the world surround me. Right at the center of the map was my objective, constantly reminding me what I was fighting for; and as each of the Divine Beasts locked on to the castle, shining a red beam across the land, that feeling only grew. Of course, Breath of the Wild brings tons of little details with it, from the memories of Link’s past life to the survivors of the calamity scattered throughout the world that just make the game a joy to play.

Breath of the Wild is the best game I’ve played this year, and just writing about it is making me itch to pick it back up. It was my clear choice for the number one vote, and I wouldn’t want anything else to top our list.

Honorable Mention

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