2017 was a huge year for gamers of all genres. There are plenty of best-selling games for any type of player, whether it be the competitive side of the community or just the casual gamer.

As 2017 comes to an end, taking the time to reflect on the great games that came out is a tradition in the gaming community.  There are too many games to even count that have come out this year, with the popular titles of Resident Evil 7, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Destiny 2, and plenty more for gamers to sink their teeth into. They will be enjoying great storylines, graphics, and level design.  

Two games that really sparked my interest this year are Bungie’s Destiny 2 and Guerilla Game’s Horizon Zero Dawn, I’ll try not to spoil these games for you.  I’ve personally played both of the games and got countless hours of enjoyment between the two.  I’m the kind of person who’s willing to give any style game a try, and I’m glad that I got my hands on these when they came out because I love the open-world style adventure games.  I even went as far as borrowing my friend’s PS4 to play Horizon Zero Dawn, since I didn’t own one.  I’m seriously considering buying a PS4 just to play the games that come out exclusively from Sony, so I don’t miss out on any more exclusive games.     

Many people are not interested in the same genre of video game.  Since not all games are for everyone, there are multiple different titles having to do with a variety of genres in each game that comes out in a given year.  Not all video game companies come out with the same style of game, each is unique in their own way.  For example, Guerilla Games came out with Horizon Zero Dawn, an action role-playing style game that came out exclusively on PS4, published by Sony.  This particular game would be interesting for the player who likes games that are set in the future.  In Horizon Zero Dawn, the players get to venture through a post-apocalyptic world that is ruled by “robotic” creatures.  The developers basically reimagined early life on earth, with dinosaurs, pterodactyls, etc and put a completely different spin on it.  The game is also an open-world style game, and that means that players get to explore an immense world that the developers created for them.  Overall the game has everything going for it.  It has great mechanics, top-of-the-line graphics, and a storyline that players can invest countless hours into.  It’s a shame that this game is only available on PS4, leaving players with other consoles to suffer.

On the other hand, there is Bungie’s Destiny 2.  At first, the game may just seem like another first-person shooter, but this game is so much more than that.  Destiny 2 has a main storyline that players have the choice to play through as one of three characters.  These characters consist of a hunter, warlock and a titan, each with different powers and abilities.  This game doesn’t end with just the storyline though, upon completing the game’s campaign, the player unlocks a multitude of different challenges and milestones to complete.  These activities are renewed every Tuesday.  On top of these milestones, there is a lot of downloadable content (DLC) that you can pay extra for when purchasing the game.  As you may be able to tell, this game is a “grind” style game.  This means that players are on a constant grind to unlock new exotic and legendary gear for each of their characters.  That’s the main incentive for completing these adventures and milestones, it’s the gear that you unlock and the potential exotic piece of gear (extremely rare gear with special intrinsic perks) that you may get to drop for you.  This game is definitely going to be one of my top-played games for a while.

Being someone who spends a lot of time playing video games, I know what makes a game great, but it’s all about personal opinion.  Horizon Zero Dawn and Destiny 2 are definitely a few games among countless others that you need to check out in the near future if you’re looking for an adventurous experience through your monitors or televisions.