Reader's Choice Best Of 2017 Awards

Every year, the Game Informer staff is locked into a conference room that seems to grow smaller with every passing hour. The task? Coming up with the best games of the preceding year, including the recipient of the coveted game of the year nod. Harsh words are unleashed, feelings are bruised, and only our corporeal forms shuffle from the process intact. But enough about us. In addition to our awards, we open up the process to our readers, letting them answer an online poll to determine what games were the standouts. Today, we’ve got all the results – and some of them may surprise you.

In keeping with tradition, we’re rolling through each category while providing a little context for each of the results. And per usual, don’t blame us if you find something that seems a little hinky. You voted for these things, after all. If you didn’t, perhaps you’ll join us again next year and make your voice heard. 

Best Sony Game – Horizon Zero Dawn
Guerrilla Games’ post-apocalyptic, open-world title had quite an effect on our readers. A whopping 36 percent of respondents (more than 6,400 of you) called it out as the best game on PlayStation in 2017. The next-closest game, the RPG Persona 5, received close to 16 percent of the votes, with third place Nier: Automata garnering about 11 percent. On the other end of the spectrum, Matterfall brought up the rear with .12 percent; at least 21 of you thought it was the best Sony game from last year. Be honest: which of you guys works at Housemarque?

Best Microsoft Game – Cuphead
We’ll be diplomatic here and say that the field for the best Microsoft game of 2017 was…carefully curated. OK, fine. There were only 10 titles to choose from, in contrast to the larger pools that Sony and Nintendo players had to choose from (at 22 and 25, respectively). Cuphead was the clear winner, gathering nearly half of the votes. At 49 percent, you can’t get much closer. The next game was PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, at 16 percent, showing that the power of brand recognition may resonate with players more than a stable frame rate. Third place was a near tie, with only 49 votes separating Forza Motorsport 7 and Slime Rancher.

Best Nintendo Game – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Get used to reading the words “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” on this list. Nintendo’s sprawling adventure pulled nearly half of the votes, like how Link…pulls the Master Sword…from its stand. Or something. Almost 8,500 of you thought it was the best game from Nintendo in 2017. Next up was Super Mario Odyssey, which received about 27 percent of the vote. Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon round out the top three, with 5.66 percent of readers putting the strength of their votes behind the 3DS game.

Best PC Exclusive – Divinity: Original Sin II
On the PC front, things were a little more closely divided. It was still pretty much a blowout for first place, though. Divinity: Original Sin II took the top spot, with about a quarter of voters (that’s 25 percent, for fans of numerals) giving Larian Studios’ RPG their endorsement. VR fans were enthusiastic, too, with Fallout 4 VR and Rick and Morty Simulator: Virtual Rick-ality coming in at second and third place (and 14 and 12 percent of votes). Hollow Knight was a close fourth, at 11 percent.

Best Mobile/Handheld Game – Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon
Two (or three, depending on how you want to look at it) Nintendo games took the first few spots in the best mobile/handheld category. Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon was the top reader pick at nearly 26 percent, and MercurySteam’s Metroid: Samus Returns followed closely with about 23 percent of the votes. South Park: Phone Destroyer was next, at 11 percent. Believe it or not, 114 of you put Bye-Bye Boxboy as your favorite. Don’t worry – this is a judgment-free zone.

Best Action Game – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Ah yes, the “action” genre. No, it’s definitely not a catch-all category for things that don’t fall into more specific buckets, and how dare you even insinuate such a thing. While the definition may (or may not) be a bit nebulous, our readers knew what they wanted: Zelda. Breath of the Wild captured our hearts and also about 27 percent of reader votes. The top three was basically a repeat of the best Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft categories, with Horizon Zero Dawn (17 percent) and Cuphead (10 percent) lining up behind Zelda. Once again, team Matterfall came out, though in significantly smaller numbers. Three of them called it their favorite action game. Perhaps they considered Zelda and Horizon RPGs and Cuphead a platformer, and then did what felt right to them?

Best Adventure Game – Life is Strange: Before the Storm
What a hella surprise! The adventure-game category was dominated with coming-of-age tales, starting with Life is Strange: Before the Storm’s top-slot position. Night in the Woods was a close second (13 percent, compared to Before the Storm’s 14 percent), followed up by The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (11 percent), and What Remains of Edith Finch at 10 percent. 

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