Red Pages Podcast
Red Pages Podcast Games of the Year 2017
Justin's Picks
People have spoken about 2017 as one of the strongest years for game releases in recent memory. I had two games that stood out above the rest for me - though there were several to which I have given an honorable mention
Persona 5
Persona 5 is not a perfect game. It’s not even my favourite Persona title, despite having the strongest mechanics, best design cohesion and highest level of polish the franchise has seen to date. There are issues with pacing, problems with genuinely poor minority representation, a localization that is at times more than awkward, and more. The core experience, however, somehow transcends all of this such that, while I am playing, I stop caring about the faults that are visible when one takes a step back. Even recognizing the blemishes, I have almost no complaints about Persona 5 – a game where the strengths so overpower the weaknesses that, at the end of my 90-something hour campaign, I felt sadness that there were not an additional 90 hours yet to go. While this does not excuse the stumbles, it speaks to the totalizing power of top-shelf style, aesthetic and design. It stole my heart.
Doki Doki Literature Club
It is very hard to talk at length about Doki Doki Literature Club without spoiling the game's premise. The content warnings that accompany the game are not to be disregarded - this game is not for everybody. What I loved about it, despite the aesthetic and dating-sim-like flow of gameplay, was the way that it challenges the player's expecation of where the boundaries of the Magic Circle are, an experience that most players will have never have had. While nothing that this title does is particularly original, the execution was so strong and, perhaps most importantly, accessible to the wide audience that would most benefit from playing it that the premise's lack of complete novelty was irrelevant. Strong writing served the game well, as the content of the game would be entirely compromised by poor narrative execution given the game's subject matter. In a year of strong releases, this game was one that I never saw coming. MANGA IS LITERATURE!
Runners-Up
- Incredible visuals, strong music and solid Contra-style shooting allowed one of my most-anticipated titles to not disappoint despite my hype.- The follow-up to the 2015 type-em-up AIM simulator about disintigrating friendships in a post high-school life expanded everything that was great about the first game while adding some great touches of humor to help cut through the heart-wrenching emotional punches the game continually throws.
Getting Over It With Bennet Foddy
- A game where a naked man in a pot climbs a mountain by swinging a hammer is a description that alone would sell me on playing a game, but when that is combined with the insightful philosophy and design sense of Bennet Foddy, who cheerfully narrates the player's struggles to climb Mount Trashheap, you have a winner.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- I don't think it's legal to have a Best of 2017 list without this game on it, the Nintendo cops will hunt you down.