Game of the Year 2017: Alex's Personal Picks

As is becoming an annual tradition here at Push Square Towers, we’ve corralled our core group of staff writers and prodded them until they’ve told us what their favourite five games of the year are. With such a strong assortment to select from, added force was required in some instances. We gave Alex the side-eye as he submitted this list extremely late.

Fifth Choice: What Remains of Edith Finch

I rarely get emotional when playing video games, but What Remains of Edith Finch got me. It got me good. The story of Edith’s pilgrimage to her childhood home where she learns the history of her ancestors – and a supposed family curse – is utterly absorbing. Expertly told through your exploration of the sprawling house, and some delightfully unique vignettes, I challenge anyone not to be deeply moved by the tale of the Edith and the rest of the Finch family. It certainly made me cry. A lot.

Fourth Choice: SUPERHOT

This first-person shooter mashed up with a puzzle game is stupidly addictive, and just like your in-game character I couldn’t stop myself from playing. The "time only moves when you do" mechanic is simple but effective, and I never stopped feeling like a badass every time I danced my way through a hail of gunfire, before cutting down my faceless enemies. SUPERHOT! SUPERHOT! SUPERHOT! SUPERHOT! SUPERHOT! SUPERHOT! SUPERHOT! SUPERHOT! SUPERHOT! SUPERHOT!

Third Choice: Assassin's Creed Origins

A break from the annual release schedule was the best thing to happen to the Assassins Creed games, and Origins has been successful in giving the series a much needed shot in the arm. The star of the show is without a doubt the extremely detailed open world, and I could happily spend hours roaming the varied landscape of Ptolemaic Egypt without picking up a single mission. It also doesn’t hurt that is Bayek a brilliant protagonist, and the sense of character progression it delivers, not just in the story, but through its the loot drops and skill tree, kept me coming back for more.

Second Choice: Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

With so many demands on my time, concise gaming experiences are immediately attractive to me. So, when I heard Uncharted: The Lost Legacy was going to be the shortest entry in the series – and considering how poorly paced I think a lot of the Uncharted games are – I was hoping for good things. Little did I know that The Lost Legacy would go down in my books as the best Uncharted game to date. The brilliant pairing of Chloe and Nadine, a beautiful setting, and satisfying action, everything about it had me on the hook all the way through to its jaw dropping finale.

First Choice: Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

There’s something about Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus that just clicked with me. Could it have been the absolutely crazy campaign, that swings frequently from the gloriously absurd to the darkly tragic? Or maybe it was the fascinating world that just had me itching to find every last little detail about how the Nazis took over? Thinking about it, though, it might also have been the over-the-top, bloody combat, that had me chuckling with glee as I took on waves of enemies, guns akimbo. When I reflect on everything I liked about The New Colossus I can only come to one conclusion: in 2017 I just really, really enjoyed punching some Nazis.

An action-packed list from the adrenaline-fuelled Alex, but which of his favourites made your list? Punch some Nazis in the comments section below.