Here we are for our second post celebrating the best games of 2017! If you missed Monday’s post for our best PlayStation 4 games of the year, you can review it by clicking right here.
Today we’re bringing the spotlight over the the best PlayStation Vita games we played this year. Please keep in mind that we didn’t play all of this year’s releases.
And once you’re done reading today’s article, we want to hear from you: which were your best games played this year? It doesn’t matter what console you played them on, we want to know about them!
PlayStation Vita
The Vita pretty much declared dead by Sony for more than a year now, and this year we saw a dramatic decrease in the releases for this console, which is a shame since we love our PlayStation Vita portable consoles! The Vita’s library is still amazing and features a ton of excellent games for fans of all genres. Let’s take a look at the best Vita games we played this year!
Severed
Oh, my dear Vita.Apart from some remote play sessions here and there, I didn’t put many hours into playing with my portable this year. The one game that I got to play this year and really enjoy was Severed, by DrinkBox Studios. The makers of Guacamelee delivered an amazing first-person experience that made use of the touchscreen in a not-too-gimmicky way with some of the best visuals I’ve seen on the Vita that only those developers can give us. Hopefully, 2018 will manage to give me more reasons to come back to this console.
Trails of Cold Steel II
The “Trails of” series holds a special place in my heart since I’m very much a fan of this turn-based JRPG franchise! Trails of Cold Steel II continues things a month after Trails of Cold Steel I ended and introduces a slew of new mechanics. It is an awesome release that is also a veeeeeery long game (which is always great value for our hard earned money)!
I gave it an honorable mention last year, but as I set out to finish it this year, this game ended up taking my best game on PS Vita vote! Take note that this game is a direct sequel to Trails of Cold Steel, so you can’t really jump into this adventure without having played Trails of Cold Steel, or else you’ll feel a bit lost.
Honorable Mention: Burly Men At Sea
Burly Men at Sea surprised me with its minimalist design and gameplay. In this release, you follow three bearded men through a series of folktale adventures. Your first run through the game will last roughly 30 minutes and leave you a bit confused, but as you replay the game a second (and third, and fourth) time by making different choices, you’ll end up with a different story and realize how great the release actually is!
Steamworld Dig 2
I really liked SteamWorld Dig. Like, really really liked it. It had some fun resource management mixed with Metroidvania elements. SteamWorld Heist came out later, and while I liked it, but since I’m not huge of strategy games, it didn’t properly scratch that SteamWorld multiverse. Steamworld Dig 2 was announced earlier this year, and I couldn’t have been more ecstatic about the news!. It was such an evolution over the first title… new character, new powers, a bigger, more horizontal world to explore with way more Metroidvania elements in it. It was pure joy to play it for nine hours total, all on my beloved PS Vita! This is a must-play Vita release so get to it!!
Yomawari: Midnight Shadows
PS Vita games releases seem to be slowing down, but there are some decent games that have come out this year and my GOTY on Vita goes to Yomawari: Midnight Shadows, the direct sequel to Yomawari: Night Alone – which released back in 2016.
This time around the game is much more fleshed out with more locations and new characters and is as spooky as the last game. Best played at night with the lights off, and volume turned right up for maximum effect. The Yomawari Games never fail to disappoint. The graphics and the music are awesome. A definite must buy and my GOTY for the Vita in 2017!
Weirdness of the Year Mention: It’s Spring Again
It’s Spring Again is clearly aimed at a younger audience, but has been made popular by Trophy Hunters as all trophies in this game can be achieved in less than 4 minutes. Yep. Four Minutes! Who cares about the gameplay when you can get new trophies? And as you can see from the screenshot below, not only did I manage to complete it in 4 minutes, more than 99% of players have achieved all the trophies!
Stay tuned for our best PlayStation VR (yeep!) games post which goes live this Friday!
And now, what were YOUR best PlayStation Vita releases this year? Tell us in the comments below!
