The 10 best video games you should have played in 2017

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Two or three years ago at a video game conference, Nintendo revealed some concept bits from the upcoming Zelda, still unnamed, still TBD. We saw Link jumping off a cliff and shooting an arrow, aiming and firing in slow motion the moment the bow came out. And I hated it.

Breath of the Wild came out when the Nintendo Switch debuted in March 2017 amidst incredible, fantastic reviews, claiming it the “best Zelda ever.” Despite my hatred of that one glimpse years before, I was excited. I was at the midnight launch at my local GameStop, sixth in line.

In concept, BOTW isn’t much different than any other open-world game. What makes it such a breath of fresh air (pun intended) is that it’s a Zelda game doing it. Think back on the history of this series: you always go from dungeon to dungeon in a set order with most of the side quests taking place in a particular timeframe. No way around it. Defeat Ganon, the game is done.

Now? You can go take on Ganon the moment the game starts. Search for all 900 of the Korok seeds. You can avoid the four main dungeons altogether and focus on shrine hunting to gain more hearts/stamina. Build a brand-new city from scratch. Buy a house! Tame a horse! Climb that mountain just to see if there’s something at the top! Climb something because you can climb it in this game.

There is so much to do in this game, even after you defeat Ganon. I discovered six months after the game came out that if you’re hunting for a particular fish, you can drop a food item that has a similar effect and it will attract them to you (hearty truffles attract hearty bass). I bought the guide and didn’t know this!

And all of this is before we even get into the DLC that came out, one batch adding a Master Quest and a hard mode, the other adding a new dungeon and even more items (I’m currently still in the thick of the Champions’ Ballad and I still say Thunderblight Ganon is the worst in any form).

I can’t say it’s the “best Zelda ever” (Ocarina of Time holds a serious place in my heart even despite the Water Temple), but that hatred from several years ago never came to fruition. It’s so different and freeing and so absolutely beautiful that it definitely deserves the high praise it received, including Game of the Year at the 2017 Game Awards. Get ready to lose dozens of hours of your life to just exploring the expansive map.