The Guys' Top 10 Most Anticipated PS4 Games of 2017
Shaun Cordingley
Well here we are again, looking ahead to what is hopefully a really good year for video games (and in my case, specifically for PlayStation, thought don't worry, there will be mulit-platform games on here as well).
This year has a stacked lineup, that will hopefully not all get delayed around like last year, and here are some games, in chronological order (as of writing this...as we all know these will change), that I am really looking forward to playing:
Honorable Mentions:
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard -- There's a part of me that is looking forward to seeing this, and the demo was creepy and fun, but I've just been burned by Resident Evil games before to truly be excited about this...
Valkyria Revolution -- I'm intrigued about getting another game in the Valkyria universe, as I did enjoy Chronicles...
February 7 - Nioh
A Bloodborne/Dark Souls style action-rpg set in a dark fantasy samurai universe based on an unfinished Akira Kurosawa script (originally...when Nioh was first started in development in 2004)? I'm in
I've played the alpha and it was intriguing and entertaining...and just as hard as I occasionally like my games. This is a game world that I am really looking forward to exploring a fantastical 1600s Japan, and swearing profusely when I die in a silly way that I shouldn't have. I am not the biggest fan of Dark Souls as I find them a little too slow (and heavy) and the fact that Nioh feels more like Bloodborne has my attention.
February 28 - Horizon Zero Dawn
I love science fiction. I love post apocalyptic stories. I like hunter/gatherer stories. I love RPGs (and action RPGS).
Horizon Zero Dawn is literally ALL OF THESE THINGS...I am officially at the point that I am avoiding finding anything else out about this game that way I can go into it with the least amount revealed to me as possible. The influencers I trust are telling me it's great...I would be very surprised if this game is not exactly what I want from it.
March 14 - Danganronpa 1-2 Reload
I have heard so much about Danganronpa, a strange, mystery/visual novel hybrid game series that has essentially been stranded on VITA, but is finally coming to PS4 and I am very much looking forward to trying them out, as I feel like these weird mystery games are going to be right up my alley.
Plus I'd like to try them out before V3 Killing Harmony, the sequel comes out later in the year (...?)
March 21 -- Mass Effect Andromeda
Mass Effect Andromeda is the game in 2017 I am looking forward to the most, and I cannot quite believe that it is going to be here in March.
As of writing this....
Mass Effect 2 is in my Top 10 Games of All Time, with Mass Effect 3 also appearing in my Top 100, so it really should not be surprising to anyone that I am stupidly excited for Andromeda and the start of a new, third-person action-rpg space game with a whole new galaxy for me to explore...and probably spend hours just bombing around in.
April 5 -- Persona 5
I'm a JRPG guy who has always just missed out on the Persona series, usually because it is on a system I either don't have, or no longer have access to, and then they release a game, but I have had so many people tell me that I am going to love the series, that I was super excited to see that Persona 5 was coming to PS4 in the middle of it's lifespan, and that I would be able to play it. It has an aesthetic that I find super intriguing, great music (at least in the trailers), and there's still A CAT WITH A BANDANNA.
This has a good chance of being my birthday present to myself.
May 16 -- Injustice 2
I am typically not a big fighting game guy, but Injustice: Gods Among Us became the exception. I played the hell out of that game, and it was the only fighting game to make my Top 100 Games of All-Time, so I have to say I am super excited for the sequel. I really like the way it feels, I'm a DC Comics fan (and with the movies being so "meh", give me what I can get), the story for a fighting game was fantastic, and honestly, it has DEX-STARR in it....
DEX-STARR.
(for those unfamiliar, Dex-Starr is a Red Lantern cat; Red Lanterns are from the Green Lantern comics, and instead of Willpower (what Green Lantern uses to do stuff), the Red's use rage. And maybe vomit napalm....
At the end of the day, I'll still probably be an Aquaman specialist, with Black Adam and Green Lantern as backups, but I don't care. I will play this (as long as it's as good as the first one) a lot.
"Early" 2017 - South Park: The Fractured but Whole
The Fractured but Whole was supposed to be out at the end of 2016, and will be the second installment in the ridiculous RPG setup made by South Park Studios and Ubisoft. I actually have this game pre-ordered (because I was able to get The Stick of Truth, their first RPG is a bonus, and I had not played it yet....and it was awesome), so I will definitely be playing it whenever it actually releases. I look forward to more strange South Park RPG awesomeness, as I have to say The Stick of Truth was one of the best games I played last year, and I expect more of the same, but this time, taking aim at the glut of Super Hero everything....
Q2 2017 -- What Remains of Edith Finch
I mentioned What Remains of Edith Finch back in my Top 5 Moments from PSX 2016, so I won't dwell on this game too much, other than to reiterate my excitement about a game from Giant Sparrow (makers of the quite spectacular Unfinished Swan) which is a series of short stories about a cursed family in Washington state. I've done my best to avoid knowing too much (again, as I'm already sold), but I love the fact that it's going to have massive shifts in tone, and style of story, that it's going to be in first person, and that every story ends in the family member's death.
"Fall 2017" -- Red Dead Redemption 2
Honestly, I covered a lot of my feelings of excitement about Red Dead Redemption 2 in this reaction, but I still stand by the fact that I am super excited for this. Really, whenever Rockstar Games is releasing something, I am more than excited for it to show up, because I know that the game is going to be fantastic. I'm ready to head back to the West, I'm ready to get my Rockstar on again, and I'm ready for it to be Fall...
Well not really, I'd rather they just bumped the game up to next week...
"2017" -- Prey
This one sort of falls into the Hellblade category for me (another game I'm looking forward to that "is" coming out this year...) as I think it's probably going to come out, but I also would not be at all surprised if it does not appear on my console until 2018.
It's a creepy, first person shooter set on a space station where things go horribly wrong.
Sounds like it's right up my alley.
Plus, it looks gorgeous, and I like the space/horror feel in anything (considering my love of all things Alien), so this one makes my anticipated list for sure.
Last year I wrote a preview as well, and I thought I would take this brief opportunity to talk about how those anticipated games worked out:
- Firewatch -- worked out well. While I understand some of the problems people had with the game, I enjoyed it a fair amount....to the point of having it in my GOTY article.
- Far Cry Primal -- my honorable mention for GOTY, and a game I have written about...a lot...because it's awesome.
- Hitman -- I am enjoying the episodic Hitman, though it has had fewer "ZOMG" moments for me than previous games...I have yet to play the last couple missions, though when I do I may chat about it with you on here then.
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End -- Have yet to sit down and play it all, but what I have played is amazing
- No Man's Sky -- One of the biggest disappointments of 2016 (which is heartbreaking, considering how excited I was about it), although I have to say I did enjoy my time with it (for what it was), it was not what I was sold, and that is not OK. I hope that the patches improve things, and I may revisit it, but what I got was interesting (to a point), shallow, and needs a lot of improvement.
- Dishonored 2 -- I have yet to get to this yet, but I am very much looking forward to getting to it
- Mass Effect Andromeda -- ....didn't happen last year
- Persona 5 -- ditto
- Horizon: Zero Dawn -- again...2017
- Hellblade -- Have heard very little about this Ninja Theory game...so perhaps this year?
Basically the takeaway is, almost half of the list ended up not coming out, or being delayed into this year, the game I was anticipating the most was a massive disappointment, and I really liked Far Cry Primal....you could also take away the fact that there are going to be a pile of indies that I do not know about, or know that I will love coming as well (as evidenced by the GOTY discussion....), but Edith Finch is a clear frontrunner for me.
I am hopeful that that does not happen again this year (and I have been admittedly a bit more careful about picking things that should be out this year...but that's something of a crapshoot.
Anyway, let me know if there are any games that you feel I have missed, or what you are looking forward to!
Happy Gaming!
-S (@Shauncord)