Video game releases 2017: Top 10 - Legend of Zelda, Mass Effect Andromeda, Persona 5 and more

As 2017 kicks off, IBTimes UK has been running through its most anticipated games of the year ahead, and after four parts and forty games (links below) it's time to reveal our top 10. Starting with the game we're most excited to play.

First, some notes on our selection process. We've kept our entire list of 50 games to those that have been officially revealed or announced through investor calls (as is the case with number 9 on our list below). We've also left out games we think are unlikely to launch this year.

This is why God of War 4, Death Stranding, the planned return of Assassin's Creed and the Mario platformer coming to Nintendo Switch have not made our list.

Anyway, on with the show...

1. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)

This is a fairly loose list, and not one we fussed over nearly as much as our Game of the Year top 10, so it's a close-run thing between most of these games. Ultimately we chose Horizon: Zero Dawn as our most anticipated game of 2017 because we wanted to champion a new IP – and boy does this look like a fine new IP.

Killzone's Guerrilla Games has finally been freed of the perennially-middling shooter series to try its hands at an open world adventure game. Horizon takes place as the human race starts to rebuild following an apocalyptic event that ruined cities, but left behind an ecosystem full of mechanical animals.

Players will take on the role of Aloy, a young hunter looking for the answers to her world's many mysteries.

Release date: 1 March

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, Wii U)

Will The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild be delayed and miss the Nintendo Switch launch in March? It won't matter when the game itself is in our hands nearly four years on from its announcement and seven since the last non-handheld Zelda adventure. Taking the series back to its roots and radically changing how it plays with an enormous open world, a host of survival elements and degradable weapons – we're expecting something special.

Release date: TBA

3. Mass Effect: Andromeda (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Sometimes sequels are pumped out with such regularity it's hard to get excited about them, but after five years it's clear to us that the gaming world is more than ready for another trip to BioWare's fantastic sci-fi universe. With a bigger focus on exploration than we've seen since the original game, Mass Effect: Andromeda sees a new cast of characters exploring the titular galaxy, clashing with the understandably-perturbed locals.

Release date: 21 March

4. Persona 5 (PS4)

The next entry in Atlus' offbeat RPG series has a lot to live up to. Its predecessor, Persona 4 Golden, earned rave reviews and cult success – a feat made more impressive considering it launched exclusively on Sony's all-but-dead PS Vita handheld. With Persona 5 transitioning back to home consoles in 2017, its dazzling palette of dungeon-crawling and teen drama could finally see the series break into the gaming mainstream.

Release date: 4 April

5. Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4, Xbox One)

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the first new game Rockstar will have produced since Grand Theft Auto 5 in 2013. If you need any more reason to be excited, it's the follow-up to a game widely regarded as one of the greatest ever made – one that still stands up as some of Rockstar's best work. All we have to go on right now is the announcement trailer, which showed off some of the game's gorgeous environments.

Release date: TBA

6. Sea of Thieves (Xbox One, PC)

After years of fan demand, Microsoft has finally decide to let Rare off its tight leash and create something worthy of its 90s heyday. Does the British studio still have the talent to see through on its ambition? We certainly hope so, and believe so too. Set in a shared online world, players create crews to travel the open seas uncovering mysteries and hunting for untold treasures.

Release date: TBA

7. Resident Evil 7 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

There's not long to wait until Capcom's soft reboot of the beloved survival horror series takes the franchise back to its terrifying roots. From a new first-person perspective, players will explore and survive a plantation mansion in rural Louisiana that is home to a twisted, psychopathic family and their horrifying housemates. This is shaping up to be the Resident Evil game fans have been craving for years.

Release date: 24 January

8. Yooka-Laylee (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)

Not everyone at Rare grinned and beared those barren years at Microsoft, a handful broke away to form their own studio – Playtonic – and attempted to rekindle some of that Rare magic. Yooka-Laylee is the spiritual successor to Banjo Kazooie and sees many familiar faces from Rare's 90s heyday return to bring the 3D platformer back to life. Two years after an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign, the game is nearing completion – and it looks like a welcome dose of nostalgia.

Release date: 11 April (Switch at a later date)

9. Destiny 2 (PS4, Xbox One)

Reportedly, the original plan for Destiny's fully-fledged sequel was a release in 2016, but since the online shooter first launched plans for the series have remained in constant flux thanks to a slew of issues both with the original Vanilla release and internally at Bungie. Last year Activision confirmed a follow-up is planned for 2017, and we're hopeful it'll be the game Destiny promised to be, and to date has only hinted at in follow-up expansions.

Release date: TBA

10. Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom (PS4)

Ni No Kuni is one of the most gorgeous JRPGs ever made, with an art style far worthier of Studio Ghibli comparisons than the majority of games haphazardly compared to the Japanese animation studio's classic works. As with Wrath of the White Witch, Revenant Kingdom is an open-world RPG full of towns and dungeons to explore.

Release date: TBA

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