breath of the wild |

This is always the hardest category for me to pick and I always spend weeks thinking about it. What makes a game better than all the others? Does it have to be revolutionary? One of a kind? Bigger than any other game? Not necessarily. GotY is usually for a game that exceeds expectations and feels solid, structured, fun, and memorable, and just stands out as a whole over any other game. This was a hard year to pick from as there were so many fantastic games that fell under these criteria.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I’m just as shocked as you are about this. I was on the bandwagon that BotW was overrated, hyped-up nonsense, but after getting a Switch during the holidays and really playing it I started to see just how wrong I was, and how blind all the naysayers are. Nintendo always gets a bad rap for their hardware and using the same franchises for 3 decades, and I get that. However, BotW is something different, something unique and revolutionary for Nintendo themselves. They stepped out of their comfort zone and looked at other popular games that helped influence BotW. BotW has so much going for it, gorgeous visuals, unique puzzle-solving, a vast open world, and so many secrets and things to discover and explore. 30 years of Zelda has all accumulated and is playable in one game. I can’t think of another game that was this ambitious and this well done this year.

Runner-Ups

Horizon: Zero Dawn

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Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

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Call of Duty: WWII

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Resident Evil 7 Biohazard

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Persona 5

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Forza Motorsport 7

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Nier: Automata

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Super Mario Odyssey

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2017 Game of the Year Awards — Achievement Awards — Best Graphics, Artistic

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/24/2017

Posted in: 2017, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: artistic, automata, breath of the wild, cuphead, game of the year awards, goty, graphics, nier, observer, odyssey, super mario, the legend of zelda. Leave a comment

Artistic graphics don’t necessarily mean the most impressive technically. They probably won’t push your system to its limits, but instead, provide a fantastic visual experience that you won’t forget.

Cuphead

Cuphead is one of the most visually pleasing games I have ever seen, using early 1900 Disney style visuals with inspiration from cartoons like Steam Boat Willy, Cuphead just looks and sounds like a piece of moving art. This isn’t just the most artistically impressive game this year but in gaming history. No other game out there looks and sounds like Cuphead.

Runner-Ups

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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Super Mario Odyssey

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Nier: Automata

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Observer

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This was one of the strongest console launches I can ever remember. For a first-year, Nintendo pumped out some fantastic games, as well as the strongest third-party support they have had in a decade. The system still has room to grow, but so far it’s impressive.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild isn’t just a superb open-world game set in the Zelda universe, but it changes the Zelda formula forever. One of the most popular and well-known franchises in entertainment history has just changed everything on the Switch, which is the biggest deal since Ocarina of Time nearly 2 decades ago. It pushes the Switch to its limits, looks gorgeous, plays amazingly smooth, and is so immersive and deep.