It’s the holiday season again!
In the past, I’ve given many video game gift recommendations and have suggested certain games (Ace Attorney, Tales of Symphonia, Bayonetta, etc.) over and over again.
This year, all of my recommendations from 2014, 2015, and 2016 still apply, but now let’s switch things up again and look at games that came out this year!
Recommended 2017 Video Games
First up, Persona 5, which is providing our holiday image this year. This is a fantastic game for anyone who loves turn-based JRPGs, heavily story-driven games, and building bonds with characters. I enjoyed every minute of it, as you can see in my Persona 5 review.
Tales of Berseria is another good JRPG choice, as is Kingdom Hearts 2.8 (but only if you’ve played the others, if you’re buying it for the story). You can find my Berseria review here, while my Kingdom Hearts 2.8 review is split into three parts: a Dream Drop Distance review, a Fragmentary Passage review, and a Back Cover review.
Meanwhile, if you haven’t played the previous Kingdom Hearts games, you can get the first six games (four full games, two cutscene compilations) in a single collection thanks to Kingdom Hearts 1.5 & 2.5.
I’d also recommend .hack//G.U. Last Recode, which I reviewed for MonsterVine. The PS4 version is currently on sale at Amazon for $29.99.
Looking for something more focused on gameplay than story? What about Super Mario Odyssey, a Switch game that did everything a 3D Mario platformer should do. If you love games in the style of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, Odyssey should be on your list. Check out my review for more details.
Want a 3D platformer for someone who doesn’t have a Switch? Try A Hat in Time, which is available now on Steam, as well as for the PS4 and Xbox One. Admittedly, I haven’t played A Hat in Time myself since the alpha/beta builds, but the full release has been quite well-received.
And for a strange combination of action combat and puzzle-based cooking, Battle Chef Brigade is a great game available on the Switch and Steam. I reviewed it for Nintendo Chit Chat, so feel free to take a look at my review.
Finally, Doki Doki Literature Club is a free visual novel well worth a look for anyone who likes weird and sometimes creepy things, as I explain in my review.
And for a bit of self-promotion, I do want to point out that you can find two games I had a significant role in on Steam: Anime Studio Simulator, a visual novel I edited, and Chaos Souls (which came out this year!), a simple action game I wrote the story for.
What other recent games would you recommend for this year’s holiday shopping?
