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Brutal Gamer Awards: Nintendo Switch Game of the Year 2017

The Switch had a monster first year, selling millions of consoles and bringing more than a few memorable games to market. These are the best of the best, and our pick for the platform’s Game of the Year.

As we tumble towards our Game of the Year finals here at BG, we’ve been taking a look at our individual top fives and the best games on the big three platforms. Xbox is in the bag as we speak, and now it’s the Switch’s turn. As you might imagine, this wasn’t a tough list to populate. Well, maybe it was in some ways.

The Nintendo Switch has had a pile of terrific exclusives in its short life thus far. And that includes games with some of the biggest characters around. It’s hard to beat Mario and Link after all.

That did however, make choosing a “best” a big difficult. Sure there’s the easy choice, but there were a few others that seem equally deserving of the honor. So what’d we go with? Scroll down and see for yourself.

Here are the tops for the Nintendo Switch for 2017, and our choice for Game of the Year:

5.) Battle Chef Brigade

Stylish, unique, fun… did we say unique? Battle Chef Brigade is all of that and then some. The game finds players competing to join a fantasy army as its chef, and gain fame and adventure in the process. Part side-scrolling hack and slash, part puzzle/cooking game, a game like BCB is rare indeed.

4.)Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

This one kind of came out of nowhere, and seemed like it’d be a little… not… good. I don’t know why, but I assumed it’d be just short of a throwaway. And oh my could I not have been more wrong. A turn-based strategy adventure, Mario + Rabbids is a fun, lighthearted romp through a Mushroom Kingdom that’s been altered by Rayman’s Rabbid “friends”.

3.) Xenoblade Chronicles II

A beast of an RPG, Xenoblade Chronicles II follows on the success of the Wii (and 3DS) original. It’s a long-awaited sequel that delivered a rich and deep world, loaded with things to do and a main quest that kept fans occupied.

2.) Super Mario Odyssey

What’s to say about the game that brought Super Mario to the Switch? Well, plenty actually. This isn’t your typical Mario adventure in that there are no power-ups (to speak of) and the whole title revolves around a single hook – Cappy. This new character is a sentient ghost/hat that allows Mario to possess enemies. It definitely takes some getting used to, and I don’t know if I’d want another Mario game like this one any time soon, but there’s no denying that Odyssey is loads of fun.

1.) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Yes, we went with the easy choice. Here’s the thing though, even with all the other titles on this list, and the assortment of great third-party games to hit this past year, Breath of the Wild was kind of the only choice.

Winning with ease in our voting, Breath of the Wild redefined the Legend of Zelda series. That’s not lip-service either, the game seriously upped the ante for Hyrule with a truly gorgeous open-world that you could get lost inquire easily. It also packed in an insane amount of things to do, and some excellent play control. It’s epic, memorable, and all-around fantastic.

If you have a Switch (and lots of free time) then The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is as close to a must play as you can get.

About Jason Micciche

Jason's been knee deep in videogames since he was but a lad. Cutting his teeth on the pixely glory that was the Atari 2600, he's been hack'n'slashing and shoot'em'uping ever since. Mainly an FPS and action guy, Jason enjoys the occasional well crafted title from every genre.

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