The year never starts with a bang for gamers. Usually, things don’t start heating up until later in the year, and while 2018 looks amazing, its biggest titles aren’t here yet. So, if you’ve finished with 2017’s bigger games and are looking for more, here are five games 2017 gave us worth getting caught up on.
Life Is Strange: Before The Storm
Picking up before the original, a superb, episodic adventure game where you control time, Before The Storm lays out just why our heroines were in that weird emotional place before they wound up, well, in that storm. It expands the story without dampening the original, and boldly, it takes out the time-control mechanic the first game hinged on. As Chloe, all you have are your social manipulation skills and a sharp eye. It plays as more of a classic adventure game, although the BackTalk mechanic is a clever twist on dialogue-driven decision trees, and if you missed it, pick it up.
Agents of Mayhem
This Saint’s Row spin-off feels a bit like you get to play in a slightly less overtly parodic version of the Venture Bros. OSI. It keeps all the absurdity of the original game while substantially upping the challenge, forcing you to juggle your squad as you shoot, punch, freeze and stab your way through goons, steal adorable weapons, and ruin the life of a Justin Bieber knock-off. While it’s technically open-world, it’s a much more straightforward third-person shooter than the main game, although poking around a futuristic Seoul is still a hoot.
Lego Marvel Superheroes 2
The Lego games have refined their platforming action to a fine edge at this point, so for this game, it’s really all about the story and the in-jokes. And this is one of the nerdiest games in a franchise that’s notable for digging deep.
Gravity Rush 2
This cheery open-world brawler uses its gravity mechanic, wherein you can shut gravity off temporarily for your character at any time, brilliantly. More to the point, it’s a beautiful, fun, engaging game that got a bit buried in the rush of 2017 and deserves a second chance.
Hob
A mix of Zelda‘s action-adventure and Ico-esque puzzle solving, Hob follows a cloaked little guy as he silently saves the world by flipping switches and turning things off and on. Some technical glitches slow the game down a bit, but it’s too fun to be overlooked.
What was your favorite game of 2017 most people missed out on? Let us know in the comments!