Each year, there are a ton of game releases, but only a few appeal to the masses. Popularity is an aspect that can be misleading, for a game can be highly flawed, yet been discussed so much (in memes) that it gets famous. But you’re not looking to play a buggy game, now, are you? If you’re a gamer, you’d surely be aware of the huge costs of games for either of the platforms, and you’d obviously want to spend your money wisely. While there may be people that tend to take the road not taken, in the end, you do want to play games that everyone else is playing. Why? Well quite simply because you do want a greater community support, and how else can you share with your friends your achievements if they don’t even know about the game. And lastly, how can we even forget the joys of having a great multiplayer experience. Multiplayer gaming is the sole reason why Battlefield is running great. So, if you have been wondering about the most hyped yet amazing games this year, we bring you 15 most popular games of 2017 you should be playing:
1. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
Ubisoft Tom Clancy series is one of the most widely acclaimed tactical shooter games. Wildlands comes as the tenth installment in the Ghost Recon series, but it’s the first one to feature an open world environment. The game moves away from the futuristic setting introduced in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and instead feature a setting similar to the original Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon. If you were one of those 6.8 million people that played the beta, you were restricted to only one province; whereas the final game includes more than 20 provinces, some smaller, some larger, all packed with things to do.
Each province has a boss, and to learn that boss’ identity and draw him/her/them out from hiding you need to complete four to six missions. While the number of characters in the game may be limited, the open world structure of the game allows you to fire up your imagination, go outside, and make your own ridiculous fun. Wildlands’ standard enemies may not be special, but it does a fine job of turning cartel bosses into more than just targets. If you want a game that’ll keep you busy for a while, Wildlands absolutely has your back.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($49.99), XBOX One ($49.05), Windows ($59.99)
2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Second, on our list, we have Nintendo’s most ambitious and impressive game to date, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a monumental achievement in game design. It’s big, bold, beautiful, and nearly flawless in its design. Plus, it’s fun, and better than any game that has come out in the past decade of gaming. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild manages to revolutionize the Zelda saga and puts it on another level with the latest addition.
Gorgeous graphics, miles of open world to explore, a charming soundtrack, beautiful cut-scenes, and a thousand little brilliant touches that make the game feel new every time you pick it up. The world of Hyrule is teaming with life and mystery, all of which are constantly tugging at your curiosity as you roam this magical place. While most games of the current generation are fixed on trying to force a story despite creating an open world environment, Breath of the Wild unleashes you on a huge world and dares you to explore. As a matter of fact, the game has sold even more than the entire sale of the Nintendo Switch console. For me, Breath of the Wild has everything I want from a game and it has given me one of the most rewarding experiences ever.
Buy: Wii U ($58.89), Nintendo Switch ($54.99)
3. Horizon: Zero Dawn
Probably one of the most gorgeous games to ever grace the PlayStation 4, Guerilla Games’ Horizon: Zero Dawn is a refutation of the developer’s nearly 20-year history with the Killzone series. From what was presumed to be the only work that could come from the developer’s end, came this brilliant game that set new records for the entire team. As a matter of fact, Horizon: Zero Dawn is the second-best-selling PlayStation 4 video game with 3.4 million copies sold worldwide.
Horizon: Zero Dawn can be thought of a Far Cry game set in a post-apocalyptic environment, where the massive skyscrapers and technology of our modern civilization have been abandoned. What humans remain form tribes, hunting with bows and spears and living a life shaped around an earth-based, shamanistic religion. In the game, you take control of Aloy, a talented young huntress cast out from her tribe and desperately seeking answers about where she came from. While the open world environment allows you to drive the story your way, it is the combat that deserves the highest praises. The world’s intricately crafted environments teem with electric beasts and warfaring cultists, and the pronounced excitement of controlling Aloy in the midst of rampaging enemies is a near-constant thrill.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($39.78)
4. Mass Effect: Andromeda
Mass Effect – the series that easily is one of the best offerings from Electronic Arts, has defined the level of intergalactic wars in a video game for a long time. Andromeda is the fourth major entry in the Mass Effect series and the first since 2012’s Mass Effect 3.
The game begins within the Milky Way Galaxy during the 22nd century, where humanity is planning to populate new home worlds in the Andromeda Galaxy as part of a strategy called the Andromeda Initiative. The player assumes the role of either Scott or Sara Ryder, an inexperienced military recruit who joins the Initiative and wakes up in Andromeda following a 634-year journey.
Even though the game does improve on its combat and visuals, the game’s story writing does tag some mixed reviews. While the developers have tried to set this game apart from the series with clever gameplay, Andromeda just can’t stop itself from retreading some major plot ideas from the original trilogy, including another long-dead civilization that’s left advanced technology lying around. Even though it’s a game that never lived up to the standards of the previous Mass Effect trilogy, Andromeda is still, nonetheless, a game worthy of its praises.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($38.34), XBOX One ($30.00), Windows ($35.72)
5. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Capcom took a rather well-decided turn on its long running and highly acclaimed Resident Evil series, by taking the game to the first-person mode. Inspired by the likes of Outlast, Resident Evil 7 is a first-person survival horror video game, which follows the same trend as its predecessors.
You play as Ethan Winters, a milquetoast protagonist whose search for his missing wife leads him to the bayou of Louisiana. Once there, Ethan finds himself kidnapped and tortured by a family of murderous cannibals known as the Bakers. With one of the creepiest single settings since the Spencer Mansion and an enticingly bizarre mystery to unravel, this is the most fun you’ll have with a Resident Evil game in years.
While the game quickly became one of the scariest games ever to be played, the developers decided to take things to the next level and even brought out a VR version for the PlayStation VR. Biohazard, in my opinion, is the ultimate love letter to horror fans. Whether it’s horror movies or games, it’s an experience you can’t miss.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($34.99), XBOX One ($34.99), Windows ($34.99)
6. Hitman: The Complete First Season
I don’t think the name “Hitman” needs any introduction, for it is the world’s most famous and loved third-person stealth shooter game series. Probably the best game of the series was Blood Money. Don’t get me wrong here, Hitman: Absolution was great too. But the franchise has been known for the freedom it gives the user to go on with their missions in assassinating the target. It has never been much about the storylines. Absolution, on the other end, was much more of a story driven game, which was great but swayed away from the entire point of the Hitman series.
That all changed back in 2016 when IO Interactive’s new take on the Hitman series was released to the stores. Much like everyone else, what struck me quite peculiar was the fact with how each mission was released as an individual episode. Now, come 2017, Hitman: The Complete First Season was released with all prior content included.
In Hitman, players take control of Agent 47, a genetically enhanced assassin, traveling to international locations and eliminating contracted targets. Everything fans loved about Blood Money has been replicated, but on a larger scale and with more options. Finally, Hitman is back to being a standalone series of sandbox murder playgrounds. Hitman does have a story, but it’s a tale told in post-mission cutscenes, overheard dialogue, and, later on, specific mission objectives that nonetheless follow the regular template of Blood Money, that the fans have always admired. Throughout its six episodes, Hitman is a well made and entertaining successor to Blood Money and a return to form for the series.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($49.99), XBOX One ($40.99), Windows ($59.99)
7. Tekken 7
The current generation may be fans of the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat series, but the Tekken series is by far the best fighting video game franchise ever made. I remember spending my entire afternoons, playing Tekken 4 on those arcade gaming machines. As a kid, what appealed to me the most was the pure joy that I got from mashing those buttons and beating the crap out of my opponents. Tekken 7, in my opinion, is a love letter to the long-running franchise and its staggering complexity.
Tekken 7 proves that family grudges are just as hard to kill as the franchise’s resilient characters, who reappear Lazarus-like as soon as they’re needed. The struggles between Heihachi, Kazuya, Jin and everyone else still caught in their webs may start to feel a little tired, but the fighting bits are the best yet. Each fighter has their own unique Rage Arts and Rage Drives, attacks that are accessible when players drop to 25 percent of their health bar and can knock off a third of an opponent’s life. Following along for more than 20 decades, the Tekken franchise has been in the heart of every gamer that has been fond of arcade fighting games, and Tekken 7 takes that emotion to new heights with an improved gameplay, superb graphics and tremendous action that keeps making you say “Just One More Fight”.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($49.99), XBOX One ($49.80), Windows ($42.49)
8. Sniper Elite 4
The Sniper Elite franchise is one of the best sniper games to be ever made. Few shooters pack so much consequence into each copper casing, as the Sniper Elite series does. With the release of Sniper Elite 4, the franchise has clearly taken a few steps forward in the right direction.
You see, when you refer to the term “sniper”, the word “stealth” isn’t far behind. And neither is “tactical”. Set in the backdrop of World War II, Sniper Elite 4 gives you the means to stalk your enemies, scare them, and utterly dismantle them if you have the patience. Furthermore, in Sniper Elite 4, you don’t have to just take out enemies with a Rambo-style aggression. You have the tools to go full Batman on these guys. That being said, while Sniper Elite delivers options galore, the gameplay doesn’t force you to consider all of them all the time. For everything sniping related—spotting, positioning, mind games, sound suppression—Sniper Elite 4 is an all-in-one package.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($59.99), XBOX One ($59.99), Windows ($59.99)
9. For Honor
Announced at E3 2015, For Honor is a hack and slash fighting game developed and published by Ubisoft. The game allows players to play the roles of historical forms of soldiers and warriors, including knights, samurai, and vikings within a medieval setting, in a third-person perspective. For Honor’s combat is the kind of brutal melee which players have always wanted, but never actually got to play.
At the start of the game, you’ll think it’s one of those action-adventure games likes Ryse. And that’s your first and probably the biggest mistake in the game. Its third-person action-game exterior hides a strategically complex fighting game, mixing team-based action with less interesting solo modes, all built on the most flexible and technically complete melee fighting system ever. The players get to choose from multiple classes, and then fight against one another, “for honor”. For me, it feels like a third-person action game with the “The Art of Battle” (as Ubisoft likes to call it), similar to that of Street Fighter. The game does require you to put in time to better plan your attacks and understand the entire gameplay, but thankfully, the game itself encourages you to play it.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($59.99), XBOX One ($59.99), Windows ($59.99)
10. Nier: Automata
Square Enix is known for pushing the boundaries to traditional concepts of game designing, with purely out-of-the-box thinking, and Nier: Automata is a clear example of that. Designed to be a post-apocalyptic action RPG, Nier: Automata with its intense combat sequences and fluidic gameplay, is much more than just that. It’s safe to say that there are very few games – if any – quite like Nier: Automata.
The game is set on a ruined Earth, in which the last fragments of humanity are locked in an endless war with a robot army. Controlled by a mysterious alien intelligence, these machines have conquered the planet and driven the survivors to flee to a base on the Moon. From here, in a facility known as the Bunker, mankind wages war on the invaders using machines of their own. Androids are sent to the surface to work with local resistance fighters and battle the machines. The user controls one of these androids, a powerful combat model designated YoRHa No.2 Type B, or 2B for short. Automata’s striking art style and an enormous sense of scale are mesmerizing to look at, and it is one of the most unique and compelling action games to ever grace the gaming universe.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($59.99), Windows ($59.99)
11. Injustice 2
I’d be wrong if I were to say that you ‘finally’ get to decide who would win in a fight of Batman vs. Superman, for there have been games that have allowed you to simulate that for a very long time. But the fact that Injustice 2 allows you not just that, much more than any other DC based fighting game is what sets it apart from the herd. The detailed graphics and an improved fighting gameplay make it a serious contender for one of the most fascinating action-fighter games ever to be made.
Building on its predecessor, Injustice 2 is a fighting game inspired by the likes of Mortal Kombat (which is also developed by NetherRealm Studios). A much faster, deeper action and a wealth of content make this fighting game feel superb in all ways. Having one of the biggest rosters of the DC Universe, and more to be coming along in the form of DLCs, the cast of heroes of Injustice 2 is exceptional.
The game strikes a fine balance between retaining the strengths of Gods Among Us and making smart changes to improve mechanics. On top of new versions of memorable environmental attacks in which you slam enemies with everything from cars to giant stuffed alligators on the detailed stages, flashy transitions between different areas of the battle locations, and a full arsenal of over-the-top Super Moves. Thanks to NetherRealm, this is the best, most polished, and the most impressively produced story mode to ever feature in a fighting game.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($59.99), XBOX One ($59.99)
12. Prey
One of Bethesda and Arkane Studios best works till date, Prey is a first-person shooter with a variety of play styles. Set in an open-world environment, Prey is a first-person shooter with role-playing and stealth elements with strong narratives. Following along the same lines of gameplay as the Dishonored series, what sets Prey distinct is the backdrop of the game that completely makes you forget about any other setting
Set in the year 2032, Prey casts the player as Morgan Yu, a scientist that finds himself trapped on Talos I, a space station overrun by a race of highly intelligent aliens called the Typhon. Build upon the building blocks of System Shock, the game provides the player with several potential means of progressing within the game. The twists and turns that this game offers within the storyline, make you question everything that’s told to you in the game and pushes you to go out explore the enormous and fascinatingly anachronistic space station, Talos I. This creepy space station is fantastically explorable, and its shape-shifting enemies maintain tension when combat doesn’t.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($38.99), XBOX One ($39.90), Windows ($39.99)
13. Outlast 2
Continuing from the highly acclaimed first-person horror-survival series of Outlast, comes Outlast 2, the latest offering from the developer. Not for the faint of heart, Outlast 2’s relentless scares, unforgiving monsters, and provocative meditations on faith are an anxiety-inducing but cathartic horror experience. Just like the previous iterations, Outlast 2 casts you as a hapless everyman with zero fighting skills and no tools beyond a camcorder. Your only option, when confronted with grotesque, bloodthirsty murderers, is to run and hide.
In Outlast 2, you are Blake Langermann, a cameraman working with your wife, Lynn. The two of you are investigative journalists willing to take risks and dig deep to uncover the stories no one else will dare touch. Unlike the cliche concept of a mental asylum, the game is set in the less-trodden road of the Sonoran Desert, where you’re armed only with your camcorder’s battery-reliant night vision mode to make your way through the omnipresent darkness. Overall, the game is a panic inducing experience for the hardcore horror fans, which lives up to the fame of the original game, as well as to the fans’ expectations.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($29.99), XBOX One ($29.99), Windows ($29.99)
14. The Surge
Previously covered in our article of some of the best games available on Origin, The Surge is a fantastically drawn game that takes the best of most of the action-fighter simulators out there and brings out a whole new experience for its users. Build on the foundation of the developer Deck13’s own largely successful game – “Lords of the Fallen”, comes The Surge, that provides the player with almost everything that one can imagine when I use the words “human”, “machine” and “combat” together.
Unlike Titanfall where you drive the machines, here, the players combat the machines, though equipped with a highly powerful exoskeleton like the aforementioned Titanfall, or probably even Crysis for crying out loud (pun intended). Set in a dystopian future where mankind has exhausted the world’s resources, The Surge is easily one of the best action RPGs of the year. The Surge assimilates the difficult and labyrinthine style of games like Bloodborne and Dark Souls and adds its own unique flavor to deliver a challenging and fun sci-fi survival adventure. While drawing comparisons it quite easy, the overall gameplay does have its own stature, and the well-scripted storyline is sure to keep you engrossed for countless hours.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($49.99), XBOX One ($49.99), Windows ($49.99)
15. Little Nightmares
In the most basic of descriptions, Little Nightmares is a 2D stealth puzzle platformer. You guide a tiny, raincoated character called Six from left to right through the sea-swaying innards of The Maw, an ocean facility avoiding instant-death hazards. The game focuses on a gentle puzzle about how to proceed – but it rarely feels as plainly mechanical as that.
While most horror games are built on the concept of hide-and-seek, Little Nightmares breaks down that concept and focuses on one of the aspects only – the fear of getting caught. The background details of the game are never explicitly explained, but it’s clear from the beginning that you must escape. If you thought Limbo or Inside was great, wait till you’ve gotten a taste of this. The game cleverly braids together puzzle design and storytelling, mixed with the salt of horror. The environment Maw, in itself, feels like the world’s worst doll house. It alludes as much as it repulses, adding up to make for one of the best gaming locations you’ll see in years, startlingly new and painstakingly tooled to encourage cautious exploration.
On the whole, Little Nightmares confidently captures the exhilarating fear of waiting to be found by something that’s hunting you, and probably the reason why it is one of the most popular games right now, in such a short span of time.
Buy: PlayStation 4 ($19.99), XBOX One ($19.99), Windows ($19.99)
SEE ALSO: 18 Best Open World Games for PC You Can Play
Play The Most Popular Games of 2017
It is always beneficial to stay a part of the curve in the field of games, as you get a huge multiplayer base and both official as well as community-based support. If you were looking for the most trending and popular games right now, this list should cut it. So, what are the most popular games of 2017 you are planning to play? Let us know your favorite games of 2017 in the comments section below.
