By: Quentin H.
Feature Image by: Brodie Dayton-Mills
2017 promises to be a big year for video games, with something for everyone from Final Fantasy XIV‘s second expansion Stormblood to new PlayStation VR experiences such as the upcoming Resident Evil VII: Biohazard.
So, once again, I compiled a most Anticipated Games List 2017 of five games that I cannot wait to see. There are two returning from last year’s list, but they both now come with street dates. And as for the last game on my list…well…I always have a tendency to dream of electronic sheep.
So that all being said, first up…
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Release Date: March 21, 2017
Mass Effect: Andromeda made my list for last year, and it is reappearing here again this year. Only this time, we have a (hopefully) final release date of March 21, 2017!
Set six hundred years after your color-choice ending of Mass Effect 3 in the Andromeda galaxy, you get to pick between two siblings to play and build your own class tree in an open world aboard a new starship called Tempest.
The part that has me most excited, however, is that it does not look like any content from the original games will be carried over. It is a new start for a new adventure, and it means that Shepard’s story is truly over (along with whatever color choice you made). This is a good thing, since it means that new players to the series that began ten years ago will be able to start on the same footing as everyone else.
So, a whole new galaxy to explore without being bound by previous repercussions? Sign me up.
[Read Further: New Details about Mass Effect: Andromeda announced at E3 2016]
Yooka-Laylee
Platform(s): Linux, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, OS X, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
Release Date: April 11, 2017
Yooka-Laylee is another returning game from last year’s list for me. Since last year’s list, they have unfortunately killed off the Wii U version but are planning to bring it to the upcoming Nintendo Switch.
You play as a chameleon named Yooka and a bat named Laylee. It is a modern version of the collectible platforming games such as Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64 that were quite popular from Rare back in the day. Which is a good thing, considering quite a few members of Playtonic Games originally were a part of Rare that is now developing this game.
In the past year, a Toybox demo was released for the game that allowed players to try out the collecting and platforming mechanics that would be coming to the final game. And to meet Shovel Knight, who made a surprise appearance in the demo.
After being delayed from last year in order to polish the game, it finally has a street date of April 11, 2017, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it and relive the days of my youth collecting…well…everything.
[Read Further: Watch the E3 2016 Trailer from Playtonic Games for Yooka-Laylee]
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Platform(s): Nintendo Wii U and Switch
Release Date: March 3, 2017
A recently confirmed launch title for the Nintendo Switch, one of my absolute favorite games from E3 2016 was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
A gorgeous, open world that is just so…desolate and empty after something terrible happened a long time ago. The combat flowed well, and everything felt like I could reach there if I would just run long enough towards it. You can read my above-linked hands on impression for the game from E3, and I talk more in depth there about the game there. I sincerely still wonder though if it is a sequel to Spirit Tracks…
[Read Further: See the latest trailer from December 2016 for Breath of the Wild, complete with a new mysterious character who appears in the game]
Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds
Platform(s): PlayStation Vita
Release Date: Spring 2017
Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is the latest iteration of the now-classic visual novel that tells the story of Chizuru arriving in Bakumatsu-period Kyoto in order to find her missing father and how she winds up romancing various members of the Shinsengumi along the way.
Currently dated for Spring 2017, Idea Factory International has promised new characters, over thirty different endings, and new episodes to explore. If you’ve never played this game somehow and you’re a fan of visual novels, this looks like to be the definitive version to pick up. I myself, despite already owning it, am looking forward to buying it once again to explore the world first shown to us in 2008.
Detroit: Become Human
Platform(s): PlayStation 4
Release Date: TBA
This game has not been street dated yet, but I want to go ahead and say that just like how I have high dreams for Winds of Winter and Pokémon Stars, I am hoping for a 2017 release announcement.
Detroit: Become Human is based on the now-famous 2012 Kara tech demo by Quantic Dreams. It is a neo-noir thriller set in a world where androids function to serve humanity yet are complex enough to carry real emotions. You play as multiple androids and the storyline will adapt around the choices that you make as you play throughout the game.
The storyline was finally completed in October 2016 by Quantic Dream founder and CEO David Cage, and from everything that has been shown so far, it looks like it will be building upon the foundations first created by Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls into something quite fantastic in futuristic Detroit.
[Read further: David Cage, CEO of Quantic Dreams, describes the difference between Heavy Rain and the then-upcoming title Beyond: Two Souls]
So, what do you think of my Anticipated Games List 2017? Are you looking forward to any of those titles too?
What do you want to see in 2017?
Let me know in the comments below!
