Ranking Summer 2017's Video Games From Worst To Best

5. Pyre

From one end of the gaming spectrum to another, and from corporately mandated microtransactions and expansion passes to a creation built from the ground up to be one of the most artistic in years.

Pyre is the third game from SuperGiant, the team that brought you Bastion and Transistor. Repurposing their almost iconic isometric combat model into a competitive sport, Pyre is the story of a team of wasteland-wandering outcasts with you as the only one who knows how to read. As such, you guide the team to compete in 'Rites': small three-on-three basketball-esque matches where a single winner can go free.

Outside of this is one of the most meaningful and best-told stories in gaming, almost channeling age-old American westerns or Red Dead Redemption as characters use the barren wasteland as a canvas to project their innermost thoughts on freedom, purpose and authority.

This narrative backbone gives every fight real meaning as both the characters you're up against or whoever you're fighting to free really matters. By the time the credits roll you'll have experienced a story that could've only been done in gaming - a true bastion of the industry, and a reason to be proud of the medium overall.