Every year, Digital Trends editors hand pick the most exciting products we’ve had the privilege of handling this year. Make sure to check out award winners in categories from cars to computers, plus the overall best product of 2017! Read on for the games that floored us this year. 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gives new meaning to the idea of “going on an adventure” in a video game. Nintendo has been telling Zelda tales for 30 years, but this one not only feels fresh relative to its predecessors, it feels unique among all games — a truly rare phenomenon in 2017.

This game takes its hands off the reins and allows you to explore the world your own way. You can go anywhere at any time. Some areas may be too difficult for you without the right equipment, but there’s nothing stopping you from finding what you need and coming back. Restricted only by your skill and imagination, you can always look out into the distance, pick a point on the horizon and just go.

Many open-world games built for exploring feel like a series of key locations strung together with visually interesting, but ultimately flat scenery, but Breath of the Wild’s land of Hyrule feels alive. There are creatures, friendly and dangerous, travelling on every road, sleeping in every clearing, and hovering over every mountain summit. No spot in the world feels out of place, or like a technical seam meant to hide loading enemies: You are meant to see every square inch of it.

Breath of the Wild is one of the rare few that gives you the tools and inspires you to try new things.

And you’ll want to go out and find it. It feels like every new interaction — every quest, puzzle, and activity — introduces some new gameplay element or weird quirk. It’s always exciting to see what’s over the next hill. That desire is so strong, in fact, that we’ve heard of many players who have spent dozens of hours wandering without conquering any of the core “Divine Beast” temples.

That, more than anything, is what makes Breath of the Wild feel special. Plenty of games offer you a sandbox and give you toys to play with. (Nintendo’s other major release this year, Super Mario Odyssey, does it extremely well). Breath of the Wild is one of the rare few that gives you the tools and inspires you to try new things.

Read our full The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild review