10 Best Video Games Of 2017 You Haven't Played

10. NieR: Automata

In another time, Nier's genius plot thread maestro Yoko Taro would be up there with the Hideo Kojimas of this world.

On its surface, Automata is another Platinum hack n' slash adventure - albeit with sexy ladies, whopping great swords and a three-in-one genre blend - though speaking of the latter, even before its narrative clobbers you over the head with a question on what it means to be human, Platinum have outdone themselves gameplay-wise.

Dynamically rolling together top-down shooters, side-on blasting and standard third-person action, all it takes is camera movements to hop back and forth between genres. It's the kind of thing that makes you wonder how many other frameworks could be combined in such a way, and overtop, Nier Automata's narrative themes are some of the most thought-provoking in gaming history.

Sans spoilers, being you're playing as an android combat force ridding an apocalyptic Earth of lesser machines, Taro has written a script that ties perfectly into the game's open world, positing many questions as to human nature, belief, conflict and ultimately across a massive landscape. This wider thematic power is why Nier managed to become the second game of 2017 to receive scores of 10/10 across the board back in February, and once you've seen become immersed in its fourth wall-breaks and questions of humanity's purpose, there's nothing that hits in quite the same way.