I spent 250€ on games in 2017. A whole quarter of that sum comes from the pre-order of Mass Effect: Andromeda. Even with how that game didn't turn out to be as good as it could have been, I don't feel I got burned for buying it at full price as I don't do that often. It's the first game I've bought at release since Torchlight II in 2012 and I don't see another game in the foreseeable future I would want to have immediately. And I still play MEA's multiplayer casually. The singleplayer, though . . . I haven't even considered replaying it.
Most of the time I still wait for that sweet 75% off or a similar sale before buying a game. Just recently I learned that with Square Enix's titles I should be even more patient. They seem to be willing to offer really good deals if you wait long enough. For instance, Thief (2014) is currently 85% off at 4.5€ on Steam. That's a real steal.
Bethesda on the other hand is almost an opposite case among the big publishers. At some point last year they decided 50% off is the best they can do anymore. As they publish Arkane Studios' titles among others, Bethesda games are really starting to pile up on my wishlist. I did purchase The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt GOTY Edition at "only" 50% off but a universally acclaimed, very lengthy RPG that finishes off a trilogy is kind of an easy sell even to me.
Great
Rise of the Tomb Raider [post]
Third person shooter. Very similar to the previous title with more stuff and some improvements.
SOMA [post]
Scifi horror themed walking simulator with traces of stealth and puzzle solving. Has non-existent replay value but its subject matters and how they're handled makes the game a must-to-experience.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [post]
Third person action RPG. Immersive and visually stunning open world with great music.
Fine
Batman: Arkham City [post]
Third person action adventure. Refined Arkham Asylum's combat and offers a larger map to glide around. Bonus points for playable Catwoman.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided [post]
First/third person shooter stealth game. Visually and gameplay-wise improves upon Human Revolution but has poorer pacing and writing.
Life Is Strange [post]
Third person young adult choices-matter adventure with time manipulation. Worth experiencing.
Magrunner: Dark Pulse [post]
First person puzzle platformer. Portal without portals. Somewhat held back by its indie budget but in the end is not a bad addition to the genre.
Mirror's Edge Catalyst [post]
First person open-world parkour game. Liked it a lot more than the first title. Smoother controls. Very pretty. A lot to do for a runner game.
Sid Meier's Civilization V [post]
Turn-based 4X strategy game. Extremely engaging even if not my genre of choice. Lots of depth.
The Turing Test [post]
First person puzzle game. Another Portal without portals. Has issues with story's plausibility (like all games of the genre) but otherwise enjoyable.
Tyranny [post]
Isometric RPG. An all right game. Heavy with build variation and combat options. Maybe even too heavy for realtime combat.
Wolfenstein: The New Order [post]
FPS in an alternative WW2 timeline. Had a surprising amount of effort put into its story.
Mediocre
Aliens vs. Predator [post]
FPS in the Alien/Predator universe. Not much to write home about the 7 hours it takes to finish all 3 campaigns.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent [post]
First person survival horror. Didn't find it worth the hype it had some years back. Wasn't even scary.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate [post]
Third person stealth action in Victorian era London. Great setting but gameplay very repetitive open-world stuff. Bonus points for Evie's vampire outfit DLC.
Batman: Arkham Asylum [post]
Third person action adventure. The first of the Arkham style combat games and it shows.
Dragon Age: Inquisition [post]
Third person RPG. Dreadful combat. A lot of repetitive open world content.
Grim Dawn [post]
Isometric action RPG. Too much like Titan Quest. Would've needed procedural map generation.
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut [post]
Isometric action RPG. Also lacking procedural map generation.
Mass Effect: Andromeda [post]
Third person scifi shooter. A lot of repetitive open world content. Entertaining combat.
Shadowrun: Hong Kong [post]
Isometric turn-based RPG. Not as good as Dragonfall that came before it.
Shadwen [post]
Third person stealth game. A bit arcadey with its time pausing/rewinding mechanics.
Tales from the Borderlands [post]
Interactive graphic adventure. Highly entertaining but is lessened by its annoying quick time event gameplay.
Bad
Ember [post]
Isometric RPG. Shallow mechanics and a touch-device port to boot.
Layers of Fear [post]
Horror walking simulator. Dull and predictable story.
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse [post]
2D platformer. Charming but mechanically and gameplay-wise not entertaining.
TimeShift [post]
FPS with time manipulation. Generic and linear.
The Void [post]
First person survival with colors. Better designed gameplay would've helped it a lot. I feel something got lost in translation too.
--
I saw a bunch of people praising 2017 for being a great year for gaming. But if you started removing console exclusives and Japanese games from the top 10 lists, there wouldn't be many names left. I don't personally see the year having been particularly exceptional, but there definitely still were games released I'd like to play.
Quite many actually now that took a look at my wishlist. To name a few: Prey, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Divinity: Original Sin 2, and Everspace.
This year seems to have some titles to look forward to too: Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Vampyr, Darksiders III, and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire to be exact. And there are bound to be surprises from smaller studios as well.
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