Ranking What Was REALLY The Best Video Game Every Year 1990-2021

2017 - The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

When going through years of gaming like this, it doesn't seem that long since Rockstar pioneered GTA's open-world template, but across the years that followed, we'd collectively get sick to death of every last publisher trying to ape their success.

Enter then, Nintendo, and a whole other way to do an open-world - and a 3D environment at this scale - nobody saw coming.

Amongst Super Mario Odyssey, Pyre, Metroid: Samus Returns, Resident Evil 7, Injustice 2, NieR Automata and Horizon Zero Dawn, was a fresh, checklist-eliminating open-world title that put gameplay first, forgot about money-grubby loot systems and just let you enjoy a series of experimental gameplay systems however you like.

Breath of the Wild remains arguably the best game of the eighth generation, and it's only bolstered by everything it was not at the time.