Deep, systemic and old school, Prey is a beautiful and haunting world to explore and overcome. A reminder of long forgotten design philosophies applied to modern game design.

Dragon Quest Heroes II is a great improvement compared with the original game. It offers a very enjoyable hack-and-slash experience, one that rewards experimentation with the characters and its abilities. Even with some pacing issues, this love letter to the fans keeps the essence of the series and gives it a new purpose with the help of impressive visuals.

Action oriented and a lot of fun, Dawn of War III is an excellent combination of the best elements in the franchise: epic scale combat with an intense micromanagement of unit.

Even with its flaws, Cities: Xbox Skyline One Edition is a worthy representative of the genre and while it does not have the reaches that the PC version, it does maintain the depth. You can easily spend hours in front of the TV correcting small details or building major improvements in your city.

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is a compendium of poorly executed good intentions, and although it could teach a few things to AAA developers in terms of design and variety of levels, lack of quality in key aspects of development plays against it.

Even after 13 hours of gameplay Outlast 2 continues to be a frightening experience. The game has some design problems, of course, but the flaws are forgiven when you get a true survival horror atmosphere all the way to the end.

Unless you’re the ultimate fan of Mario Kart, there’s no reason to get the Switch version if you have the original for Wii U. That’s because even if Battle Mode was the missing piece in this puzzle, you’re paying full price for an extra mode and the access to play additional characters. You never had a Wii U and Switch is you’re first Nintendo console since a long time? Don’t hesitate to get Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - together with Breath of the Wild it's the best that the console has to offer and it will give you tons of entertainment.

Persona 5 tries to captivate the player in every possible way. Its masterful mix of genres, crisp art style, and music, as well as the glorious game mechanics won't let you drop the controller until the very end. This iteration of the franchise sets a new standard for the JRPG genre and it is, naturally, an excellent addition to the Best of 2017 games list.

The Sexy Brutale is a moody experience of exploration, secrecy and melancholy, fueled by smooth jazz. Distinguished by its own mechanical design and great visual presentation, the game is a great surprise recommended for the puzzle-loving enthusiasts.

The Disney Afternoon Collection is an object lesson in how game compilations should be developed, providing rock-solid adaptation to a new platform, respecting the material’s historic context, and exercising restraint. It’s one hell of a collection with great visuals, rich extras and challenging time attack modes.

LEGO Worlds is a game full of wonderful but poorly implemented ideas. Its first hours are marvelous, but as soon as you get to the creative mode things get messy and the creation tools become a chore to use. It’s a game that wants you to love it, the problem is the potential is so wasted that even some LEGO fans may get disappointed. Other than that, the experience overall is entertaining and for its very cheap price, the quality of the content is very good.

PaRappa the Rapper is a legend, but even legendary status doesn’t prevents its latest remaster from being a let down. The charm is still there in the music and its visuals, the problem comes with the archaic mechanics and some technical issues. If only Sony would have went beyond the graphic remaster, maybe the game could have fulfilled our nostalgic expectations.

Mario Sports Superstars is a mediocre game by itself and even more in Nintendo’s standard. The real problem is not that the developers sacrificed depth in favor of greater variety, but that the execution lacked charisma in each and every sport. There’s no emotion nor intensity, only a very generic and technical experience. If Camelot and Nintendo would have chosen to leave behind the seriousness, to embrace the chaos and spontaneity that worked so well in the past, maybe then Mario Sports Superstars could had become a great sports game.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is a game that forgot how to be a Mass Effect game. While it fails to deliver a compelling narrative and has little to offer, it’s the combat and planetary exploration elements that hold together this contrasting experience. The result is a game drifting away in the open and cold space.

Cleverly designed and extremely fun: Snipperclips is a unique puzzle game and a complete surprise for the Nintendo Switch. Best played with friends.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands gives you all the tools needed to have a lot of fun with friends, despite some design flaws, minor bugs, an inconsistent narrative and a somewhat repetitive structure. As a solo experience, it is solid but too big to keep you interested, and with random people it can be too chaotic to enjoy. It all comes down to how are you going to play and who are you going to play it with.

Super Bomberman R is a cute and enjoyable puzzle-action game that pays homage to the origins of the franchise. It’s mechanics are simple but fun, specially when you’re playing with friends or even with strangers in online mode. Sadly the price tag is very high for what little the game offers, since the gameplay experience is more aligned with an arcade title than a full AAA production.

NieR: Automata is a great game that captures you from the very first moment. The well-rounded combat mechanics, the mystery in its story and an addictive customization system won't let you release the controller, despite some minor imperfections that don't affect the experience in any meaningful way.

A proof of concept more than a game itself.

Breath of the Wild is without a doubt one of the best and most complex game in Nintendo’s history. With an open world full of wonders, its addictive ambience seduces you constantly to explore the depths of Hyrule while it defies the best of your skills with perfect mechanics in combat. It's easily among the most enjoyable sandbox games.

For Honor has the best, most innovative and rewarding combat system we have seen in years. However, the whole experience is crippled by poorly-designed game modes and progression schemes; a broken matchmaking system and online instability. It's best to avoid it for now and wait a few months until the developer can fix its problems.

Sniper Elite's argument is irrelevant and forgettable, its characters are poorly developed and the general appearance of the game is deficient; however, an outstanding level design and well-implemented mechanics create a favorable and enjoyable game experience.

The most accessible yet demanding real time strategy game for consoles, Halo Wars 2 lives up to expectations while celebrating 20 years of RTS tradition at the same time. Fans of the franchise will love it, but veterans and newcomers to the RTS genre will be satisfied as well.

Horizon: Zero Dawn represents the birth of a new and promising IP, thanks to a clever concept, solid combat mechanics and an outstanding presentation. Having said that, it can be repetitive at times and the lack of spontaneity stops Horizon: Zero Dawn from being a true classic.

Demand for Wooly World in any of its versions (Wii U or 3DS) to match the greatness of Yoshi’s Island or Yoshi’s World might seem to be asking too much, but the thing is that it has the potential to do so. What the game offers right now is enough to please Yoshi’s fans at its most, even if the rest of the players won’t get their expectations fulfilled. Still Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World is a fun, adorable and enjoyable game, and one of the best in the platform genre that you can find on the 3DS.

At first glance Nioh could be perceived as a Dark Souls Clone because they share basic concepts like repetition, muscle memory, perseverance and a high tolerance to frustration. But after some time playing, the differences between the two are obvious and it becomes clear that Nioh has enough strength to stand alone with pride and could even be the responsible for sparking a new wave of games with similar mechanics. Nioh is an intelligent, inspired, polished and exciting game that will keep you elated for hours on end. It takes a proven formula and improves on it in every aspect. It is that good. We might be looking at a game of the year here and it will surely be a beloved game for a niche of people who like difficult, demanding games.

A terrifying survival horror experience. It offers the best spooky atmosphere in the franchise with many of the classic mechanics that built the original formula. Yet it has enough new elements to stand its ground amidst similar games. Without doubt, a must play horror experience.

Gravity Rush 2 is an excellent game with a well-told story and interesting characters. There are a ton of things to do with 27 main missions and more than 40 side quests that are imaginative and well thought. This game surpasses its predecessor by far with a very large world made up of floating islands that is way bigger and more beautiful than you might think. Gameplay is satisfying but not without its flaws. There is no lock-on system so sometimes you end up disorientated mid fight and you’ll mainly use one attack for most of the battles. In spite of this flaws the game is engaging and a lot of fun. You can almost feel the care and attention the developers put into it.