Sound design, graphics, control mechanics, and the illusive catch-all category of ‘gameplay,’ are all important in crafting a good game, but a well crafted and, let’s face it, weird storyline and environment will hook me quicker than almost anything.

Prey has that in spades. Not my favorite game in 2017, but it has personality. The bizarre, retro-futuristic, space-based economy, the fact that every coffee cup and pile of garbage was potentially a Typhon face-hugger all added to how much I liked tracking down bits of the story of the fall of the Talos I station (while laboriously dragging auto-turrets from room to room). 2017 wasn’t just a heck of a year for games, it was a heck of a year for stories in games. Thanks for sharing what it really means, when you get down to it, to be a hopping coffee cup, Prey.

Games of 2017

Throughout January, the Games of 2017 will lead the way towards The 2017 Grimmys - Horrible Night's Games of the Year Awards.

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