2017 was a wonderful year to be a gamer. In these last 365 days we were lucky enough to get two new consoles - the Xbox One X and the Nintendo Switch - both a Mario game and a new The Legend of Zelda title, plus an exceptional piece of hardware for PC gamers: the Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti.
It was a bit overwhelming honestly, and it might take all of next year for our wallets to recover from the vast number of amazing games that came out.
In a year as good as this one was, it’s hard coming up with a single Game of the Year - a title that stood above all the rest. And yet, that’s just what we’re going to do: TechRadar would like to announce its Game of the Year Awards 2017.
To that end, internal voting is already underway and our editors have narrowed down each category of games to five or six contenders. Like last year, categories will be both platform-based (like best PS4 game) and genre-based (like best action-adventure game) and can be found listed in their entirety below.
So far, we’ve picked out 12 categories for games to fall into, and that’s not including our overall Game of the Year pick, our readers’ choice and our Most Excited About award for a game that’s coming next year. With only 15 awards to hand out, it’s going to be a nightmare trying to recognize every game worthy of a moment in the spotlight. Alas, it has to be done.
Don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the page and vote for the game you think deserves the ultimate accolade this year.
And the nominees are...
Here are the nominees for each category!
Best Xbox One Exclusive:
- Forza Motorsport 7
- Cuphead
- Halo Wars 2
- Super Lucky's Tale
- Halo 5 (Xbox One X patch)
Best PS4 Exclusive
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Uncharted: Lost Legacy
- Nier: Automata
- Gravity Rush 2
- Persona 5
- Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
Best Nintendo Exclusive
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Splatoon 2
- Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Best Virtual Reality Game
- Wilson's Heart
- Lone Echo
- Superhot
- Star Trek: Bridge Crew
- LA Noire VR
- Skyrim VR
- Doom VFR
- Arizona Sunshine
Best PC Game
- Total War: Warhammer II
- PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
- XCOM 2: War of the Chosen
- Lawbreakers
- Divinity: Original Sin 2
Best Mobile/Handheld Game
- Metroid: Samus Returns
- Monument Valley 2
- Pokemon Go
- Fire Emblem Heroes
- Animal Crossing Pocket Camp
- Pokemon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
Best Gaming Hardware
- Xbox One X
- Nintendo Switch
- SNES Classic Mini
- NVIDIA Shield
- New Nintendo 2DS XL
- Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
Best Action/Shooter
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Prey
- Star Wars Battlefront 2
- Destiny 2
- Wolfenstein II The New Colossus
Best Role-Playing Game (RPG)
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Assassin's Creed Origins
- Persona 5
- Destiny 2
- Pokemon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon
Best Online Multiplayer
- Call of Duty WWII
- Destiny 2
- Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood
- Elder Scrolls Online
- PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
- FIFA 18
Best Racing/Sports Game
- GT Sport
- FIFA 18
- Need for Speed Payback
- Forza 7
- MLB The Show 18
Best Narrative
- Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Persona 5
- Uncharted: Lost Legacy
- What Remains of Edith Finch
- Yakuza Zero
Most Excited About in 2018
- Sea of Thieves
- Spider-Man
- God of War
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- The Last of Us Part 2
- Far Cry 5
Game of the Year 2017
- Assassin's Creed Origins
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
- Wolfenstein II The New Colossus
- Destiny 2
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Horizon Zero Dawn
Readers' Choice Award 2017
While our editors bicker and squabble over the game they think should be crowned the Game of the Year 2017, we want to know what YOU think the best game was. Check out the poll below and come back to the site around Friday, December 22 to see which games our editors finally decided on and which game you, our readers, have crowned the best of the best.
