• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

These are the Top 20 Rated Games of 2017, as per Metacritic

Deleted member 249

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,828
With every major release of the year now out of the way, and the Game of the Year season squarely under way, I figured we could definitively look at the highest rated games of the year- it's been a fantastic year for games, after all, and we got so many varied games, across all genres, systems, styles, and even development paradigms.

So, here are the top 20 games of 2017, at least as far as Metacritic ratings go. Please note that I did have two considerations while I was going through this list:

  • For any game with multiple versions, only one version is selected and on this list
  • Any game with less than 10 reviews was not considered
The second rule didn't actually come into play in the first list (it does in the second list), but in the interests of transparency, I figured I'd lay it out anyway. So, without further ado, these are the games:
  1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 97
  2. Super Mario Odyssey: 96
  3. Divinity: Original Sin 2: 93
  4. Persona 5: 93
  5. What Remains of Edith Finch: 92
  6. Undertale: 92
  7. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 92
  8. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove: 91
  9. Bayonetta: 90
  10. Lone Echo: 89
  11. F1 2017: 89
  12. Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood: 89
  13. Rez Infinite: 89
  14. Horizon: Zero Dawn: 89
  15. Injustice 2: 89
  16. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen: 88
  17. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus: 88
  18. NieR Automata: 88
  19. SteamWorld Dig 2: 88
  20. Cuphead: 88
EDIT: By popular demand, if re-releases are removed, this is what the list looks like:

I don't count re-releases, this is what it becomes:

  1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 97
  2. Super Mario Odyssey: 96
  3. Divinity: Original Sin 2: 93
  4. Persona 5: 93
  5. What Remains of Edith Finch: 92
  6. Lone Echo: 89
  7. F1 2017: 89
  8. Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood: 89
  9. Horizon: Zero Dawn: 89
  10. Injustice 2: 89
  11. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen: 88
  12. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus: 88
  13. NieR Automata: 88
  14. SteamWorld Dig 2: 88
  15. Cuphead: 88
  16. Nex Machina: Death Machine: 88
  17. Night in the Woods: 88
  18. Nioh: 88
  19. Destiny 2: 87
  20. Total War: Warhammer 2: 86


SOURCE

First off- when in the world did Mario Odyssey fall to 96? I thought it was supposed to be a 97 game as well?

Secondly, it's a remarkably varied showing- what strikes me about this list is few traditional western AAA game actually made it on here. This list is full of either smaller scale games, indie games, Japanese games, or AA games. We do get some AAA showings on there, but on the whole, what we get is a far less AAA heavy showing, far more varied, than anything we have had in previous years.

All said and done, this list serves to demonstrate, in my opinion, what a wonderful year this has been for games. I can only hope 2018 is as great, too.

Also, the OpenCritic list, for those interested:

http:///deBc.jpg
 
Last edited:
WestEgg

WestEgg

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,047
Yeah, surprised a little by that Mario drop too. 2017 has been a great year to the point where I don't even know if I want 2018 to be as good. I need time to work on my backlog.
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,431
kamineko said:
Some good titles there. How does ResetEra feel about Edith Finch? Slow adventure type thing, right? I dig those
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Lots of great individual stories, but disappointing overall narrative (Edith herself isn't particularly interesting imo). Still worth playing for the factory story by itself.

EDIT: Also, the opencritic list is slightly different / better imo (mostly because it doesn't include most re-releases). It's also where Mario is at 97, while Zelda is 96.
 

Deleted member 1067

User Requested Account Closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,860
I find it sad prey is gonna be relegated to the exact same status to the game it's a spiritual successor to: a forgotten classic a decade from now everyone who skipped it wondering why no one makes games like that anymore

Also I have no idea how you get more AAA than a nigh 30 year old shooter ip put out by one of the biggest publishers in the industry and a fighting game by the guys who make Mortal Kombat. Not to mention Not Another Ubisoft style Open World Game in Horizon.
 
_zoipi

_zoipi

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 23, 2017
2,377
Madrid
NieR is still GotY on my kokoro. Also, on that list i see some games that were re-released. Wonder how the list would change if re-releases dodnt count on that list.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 249

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,828
SG-17 said:
Aren't a good number of them re-releases? What does the top 20 look without them?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well, if I don't count re-releases, this is what it becomes:

  1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 97
  2. Super Mario Odyssey: 96
  3. Divinity: Original Sin 2: 93
  4. Persona 5: 93
  5. What Remains of Edith Finch: 92
  6. Lone Echo: 89
  7. F1 2017: 89
  8. Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood: 89
  9. Rez Infinite: 89
  10. Horizon: Zero Dawn: 89
  11. Injustice 2: 89
  12. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen: 88
  13. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus: 88
  14. NieR Automata: 88
  15. SteamWorld Dig 2: 88
  16. Cuphead: 88
  17. Nex Machina: Death Machine: 88
  18. Night in the Woods: 88
  19. Nioh: 88
  20. Destiny 2: 87
 
Kalor

Kalor

Resettlement Advisor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,631
I'm surprised F1 2017 is so high up. Although this year's game was pretty good.
 

Deleted member 1067

User Requested Account Closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,860
Also the list is rather dumb because it doesn't account for ties. Do a full list balanced by repeating scores and you'll have a much more varried opinion set reflected.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 249

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,828
pa22word said:
Also the list is rather dumb because it doesn't account for ties. Do a full list balanced by repeating scores and you'll have a much more varried opinion set reflected.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Metacritic does rank games by tiebreakers- normalized Metascores are calculated to the third decimal place, and variances in that are what are used to order games that may have the same front facing Metascore. Therefore, while Divinity and Persona have the same Metascore, you can be sure than Divinity is some tenths or hundredths of a point higher scored.
 

Deleted member 1067

User Requested Account Closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,860
Phantom Thief said:
Metacritic does rank games by tiebreakers- normalized Metascores are calculated to the third decimal place, and variances in that are what are used to order games that may have the same front facing Metascore. Therefore, while Divinity and Persona have the same Metascore, you can be sure than Divinity is some tenths or hundredths of a point higher scored.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Somehow I don't really think that hundredths really matters as to anything. Much like the scores themselves, but that's another topic.
 
Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,235
Phantom Thief said:
  1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 97
  2. Super Mario Odyssey: 96
  3. Divinity: Original Sin 2: 93
  4. Persona 5: 93
  5. What Remains of Edith Finch: 92
  6. Lone Echo: 89
  7. F1 2017: 89
  8. Final Fantasy 14: Stormblood: 89
  9. Rez Infinite: 89
  10. Horizon: Zero Dawn: 89
  11. Injustice 2: 89
  12. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen: 88
  13. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus: 88
  14. NieR Automata: 88
  15. SteamWorld Dig 2: 88
  16. Cuphead: 88
  17. Nex Machina: Death Machine: 88
  18. Night in the Woods: 88
  19. Nioh: 88
  20. Destiny 2: 87

Secondly, it's a remarkably varied showing- what strikes me about this list is how no traditional western AAA game actually made it on here. This list is full of either smaller scale games, indie games, Japanese games, or AA games. The closest things we have to 'AAA' games are Wolfenstein 2 - which subverts AAA industry trends anyway - XCOM 2, which, being a turn based strategy game, is again far from most AAA games; and Horizon, which while a bit more traditionally western AAA, still bucks trend with a non sexualized female protagonist, a lack of GaaS elements, and a focus squarely on quality single player content.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So is Lara in the two recent Tomb Raider games considered sexualized? Horizon is pretty much the standard western AAA game in just about every way other than the fact that it has Zoids.

Regardless, it was a very good year.
 
Wozman23

Wozman23

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,031
Pico Rivera, CA
kamineko said:
Some good titles there. How does ResetEra feel about Edith Finch? Slow adventure type thing, right? I dig those
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

If you dig exploration games, you should definitely play it. It's a treat, especially if you go in with little knowledge about it.

But I'd take it a step farther and say that people who aren't fans of exploration games should play it as well. I've never really liked the genre, but I wanted to try it because I loved Giant Sparrow's past game, The Unfinished Swan. Edith Finch really impressed! Without giving away too much, its strength is in its pacing. Where most exploration games are narrative driven but lack in other areas, Edith Finch not only give you a narrative driven force, but changes up many of the other elements of the game in some very interesting ways.
 
KazuchikaOkada

KazuchikaOkada

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
317
pa22word said:
Also the list is rather dumb because it doesn't account for ties. Do a full list balanced by repeating scores and you'll have a much more varried opinion set reflected.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's exactly the same.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild:
2. Super Mario Odyssey
3. Divinity: Original Sin 2
3. Persona 5
5. What Remains of Edith FInch
6. Lone Echo
6. F1 2017
6. FFXIV: Stormblood
6. Rez Infinite
6. Injustice 2
11. XCOM 2
11. Wolfenstein 2
11. Nier Automata
11. SteamWorld Dig 2
11. Cuphead
11. Nex Machina
11. Night in the Wood.
11. Nioh
20. Destiny 2
 

Deleted member 2145

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
29,223
mario actually dropped to 96? that's amazing actually, was hoping that would happen. 1996 -> 96. it's like poetry.

I haven't played all the top 5 games but given what I've seen on here and elsewhere that top 5 looks pretty indicative of the top 5 games this year, minus pubg of course
 
Fat4all

Fat4all

Woke up, got a money tag, swears a lot
Member
Oct 25, 2017
92,976
here
don't sleep on the year just yet

Gorogoa comes out next week
 

NinjaCoachZ

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,777
Only thing that should change is that Rez Infinite is a rerelease. The PC version came out this year, but PS4 version came out last year. Otherwise yeah, looking good.

I feel like this year was kinda frontloaded. Since September I only bought Odyssey, Xenoblade 2, and then I'm going to go back for Samus Returns and .hack//GU. Not that I mind since it meant more catchup time but that's one of my big takeaways.
 

Deleted member 1067

User Requested Account Closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,860
KazuchikaOkada said:
It's exactly the same.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild:
2. Super Mario Odyssey
3. Divinity: Original Sin 2
3. Persona 5
5. What Remains of Edith FInch
6. Lone Echo
6. F1 2017
6. FFXIV: Stormblood
6. Rez Infinite
6. Injustice 2
11. XCOM 2
11. Wolfenstein 2
11. Nier Automata
11. SteamWorld Dig 2
11. Cuphead
11. Nex Machina
11. Night in the Wood.
11. Nioh
20. Destiny 2
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's not what I meant. List all the games with the same score then go down and list all the rest.

The list is utterly meaningless when half the games on there have the same score.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 249

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,828
NinjaCoachZ said:
Only thing that should change is that Rez Infinite is a rerelease. The PC version came out this year, but PS4 version came out last year. Otherwise yeah, looking good.

I feel like this year was kinda frontloaded. Since September I only bought Odyssey, Xenoblade 2, and then I'm going to go back for Samus Returns and .hack//GU. Not that I mind since it meant more catchup time but that's one of my big takeaways.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Didn't realize that. Removed Rez on the second list. Finally had the second rule come into play haha

pa22word said:
That's not what I meant. List all the games with the same score then go down and list all the rest.

The list is utterly meaningless when half the games on there have the same score.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
But they don't actually have the same score is the thing.
 
DigitalOp

DigitalOp

Member
Nov 16, 2017
9,291
I love Horizon but its standard AAA, same with Wolfenstein? AAA is the budget and Destiny 2 ruins the plot anyway.

Both lists are extremely valid as the first one shows games actually can do well by being relaunched on new platforms. The second list shows us what types of new games are being picked up. This list is super diverse. 2018 is gonna be amazing.
 
IIFloodyII

IIFloodyII

Member
Oct 26, 2017
23,992
There's so much I've yet to play :(
What a fantastic year.

I'm surprised Destiny 2 got a 87 though, I really like the game, but it has soo many flaws that I thought it'd be very love or hate it.
 
Bhonar

Bhonar

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
6,066
Phantom Thief said:
Secondly, it's a remarkably varied showing- what strikes me about this list is how no traditional western AAA game actually made it on here. This list is full of either smaller scale games, indie games, Japanese games, or AA games. The closest things we have to 'AAA' games are Wolfenstein 2 - which subverts AAA industry trends anyway - XCOM 2, which, being a turn based strategy game, is again far from most AAA games; and Horizon, which while a bit more traditionally western AAA, still bucks trend with a non sexualized female protagonist, a lack of GaaS elements, and a focus squarely on quality single player content. On the list without re-releases, Destiny 2 does eke in right at the bottom- but that's then the one, sole exception.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Sorry OP, I'm calling you out on the above. You are completely making up your own super restrictive definition of Western AAA, which is totally ridiculous.

Horizon is the absolute very definition of Western AAA. It makes no difference what the main character design is, that's irrelevant. Also there are plenty of AAA games without GAAS and SP. Skyrim, Fallout 4, Diablo 3, etc

Wolfenstein 2 -- "subverts AAA industry trends" , wtf does that even mean or refer to?? You better not say because they advertised killing Nazis. Because there's been tons of AAA games in the past that did that, you never played any WW2 shooters like COD1 or COD2 before? Just to quickly name two of many.

XCOM 2 -- Yes the genre isn't super popular nowdays, but it's still a AAA game from a high-budget big studio. You don't think Civ 5 or Civ 6 would be considered AAA games? Genre doesn't matter, AAA refers to budget.

And then Destiny 2 of course, but at least you were forced to acknowledge that.

Some others in this thread already called you out on your weird definition, so it's not just me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.