PlayLab’s Best of 2017

Now that the year 2017 has passed into history, its time to welcome the new year and the wonderful games it will bring. Some of our authors at PlayLab! Magazine have put together a list of their individual best games of 2017. The list is quite short, but boy does it have some interesting picks! Looks like the best games do not need to be triple A blockbusters with massive production values, but instead they need to contain that little something that makes the players hearts sing. Be it interesting setting, story, or just a dash of good old nostalgia.

As the Editor-in-Chief  of the PlayLab! Magazine, I wish all our readers to have a great year 2018!

Oh, and here’s the list:

 

Sonic Mania

Hey, ’member running across the Green Hill Zone? ’Member beating Dr. Robotnik’s giant robot? ‘Member the jamming tunes of the Hydrocity Zone? Oh, I ‘member! Sonic Mania offered just the right amount of member berries but still managed to keep it fresh. It featured familiar elements and brought a lot of new content for gamers to enjoy. Sonic Mania was the Sonic game the fans deserved and the one they needed.

-Oskari

 

Megaman Legacy Collection 2

Megaman Legacy Collection 2 made it finally possible for a PC owner to check out the missed Megaman 9 and Megaman 10 sequels to the classic series while the other bundled games: Megaman 7 and Megaman 8 served as positive surprises as well for those they were unknown to. While the ninth and tenth iterations aren’t as good as the games media led to believe they still do tap into that ancient and primitive Megaman instinct and the simple and pure satisfaction that follows while still adding fresh elements and surprises. PC owners waited for their versions for years and now they’re here! Megaman 9 and 10 force you to rethink your attitudes towards the pompous and often overly complicated game design of modern videogames and ask yourself the question what are you really looking for in an  entertaining game?

– Ville

 

Tales from the Loop

Picture © Simon Stålenhag

Tales from the Loop, subtitled “roleplaying in the 80’s that never was”, is a refreshingly original game from the Swedish Fria Ligan. Funded on Kickstarter and actually delivered on time, it presents a lightweight, elegant system for playing out the adventures of kids in the spirit of E.T., The Goonies, or Stranger Things. The game truly shines in its presentation of the default setting on the islands of Mälaren, a very different world from the Americana we’re usually sold. The game is based on the art of Simon Stålenhag, whose evocative images set incongruous science fictional elements in everyday scenes of 1980’s rural Sweden, complete with Saab police cars and Esso service stations. It’s simple, original, and has one of the most beautiful rulebooks I’ve ever seen.

– Jukka

 

Doki-doki Literature Club

Definitely Doki-doki Literature Club (or DDLC to those who have already gone deep into its lore). DDLC is one of those indie games that breaks apart from a mold/format – visual novels in this case, and gives the player something more than expected. It is not a game that you would expect to have the widest appeal across the gameosphere (read: visual novel tropes), but for the things it set out to do (disclosing too much would be spoiling the game 😔 BUT WHY NOT EXPERIENCE IT YOURSELF) – the effort that Team Salvato put in definitely yielded positive results, and the game has already established a solid fan base. One of the plus point for me is how it gives you a glimpse of how mind and reality bending games can be nowadays; and how the team designed something that so elegantly makes its’ players look forward to 2018. Now if they can just sustain the interest…

-Nyx.

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