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The Best Achievements And Trophies Of 2017
Whether you love them, hate them, or forget they exist until they pop on your screen and interrupt your game, achievements and trophies are (literally) a required feature of all PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Steam games. I fall into the love camp, and these are some of my favorites from 2017.
The achievements and trophies I find most interesting aren't the ones that mark your progress in a storyline or reward you for attaining a certain number of headshots. I like the ones that force you to think outside of the normal functions of the game or reward you for doing something weird.
Follow the links to see 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 , and 2016's best achievements and trophies.
A Hat in Time
I like these two because the first one actively calls out the player for being bad at video games (which is rude, but funny), and the second one because it's very silly and I am glad developer Gears for Breakfast rewarded the effort it took for me to land on the Roomba.
False Detective - Make it through Murder on the Owl Express without finding any clues (you suck)!
Vacuum Vandal - Ride the vacuum!
Assassin's Creed Origins
I like how complicated and dangerous this achievement is. And of course, you have to have the follow-up where you throw all your hard work into the mouth of a crocodile.
Roooaaarrrrr! - Tame a lion.
Set-up Date - Bring a tamed lion to a crocodile.
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
These two trophies were highlights because they call out feelings I thought only belonged to me when I played the game originally. I always kicked myself for ejecting an extra life into the stratosphere, and I always felt bad about jumping on the little polar bear cub.
I Meant To Do That! - Spin away an Extra Life. [Crash Bandicoot]
A Helping Paw - Don't feel guilty about jumping on him. [Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back]
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
This is just good game design.
Mightier than the Sword - Shoot a guard in the head with a fountain pen
Full Throttle
This trophy was the perfect way to say, "Oh yeah! That was a thing!" You get it by leaving the game motionless long enough for its screen-saver to kick in.
Burn-In Rubber - Save your screen from burn-in with 3D animated vehicles
For more of our favorite achievements and trophies of 2017, head to page two.
Ghost Recon Wildlands
I'm a sucker for games that call out stupid in-game actions, and this is the definition of a stupid action.
Tactical genius - Fallen Ghosts: Blind yourself using the Flash Drone [Fallen Ghosts DLC]
Heat Signature
I may have included an achievement just like this from Dishonored 2 in last year's list. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing.
Strange Justice - Cause a guard to shoot themselves by Swapping with them
Injustice 2
It was nice to see specific comic book and classic video game references among Injustice 2's achievements list. OUTTA NOWHERE!!!!!! may not show Bane breaking Batman's back over his knee, but it's pretty close.
Going Ape - Throw 3 kegs during a match with Gorilla Grodd at the Ace o' Clubs
OUTTA NOWHERE!!!!!! - Bane must defeat Batman with the final hit coming from a Meter Burn Bane Bomb
Middle-earth: Shadow of War
It's like passive revenge, in a weird way.
If You Can't Beat Them - Dominate an Orc after he's killed you three or more times.
Prey
Prey had a number of good achievements and trophies. I always like the ones that take oddball deaths or early exits and make them canonical endings in weird ways. Prey had more than one of these. Press Sneak is just a fun shoutout to some video game industry drama, which you can find the context for here.
Escape Velocity - You blasted yourself as an object for at least 20 meters in normal gravity.
Intrinsic Value - You recycled yourself.
No Show - You died to helicopter blades on your first day on the job.
Abandon Ship - You fled Talos I aboard Alex's escape pod before completing your mission.
Press Sneak - You read all the emails on Talos I.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
This one makes the list purely on its rhyming scheme.
Bull Rush - Ramshackles tackle a charging Supersoldat
Yakuza 0
Yakuza is a game that embraces the screwy, and that comes through in its trophies.
...I Did It for the Trophy - Watch a sexy video.
Rich Taste - Treat a homeless man to a ¥20,000 bottle of booze.
Best Served Cold? - Take more than 15 minutes bringing the takoyaki.
Big Hair in the Crosshairs - Defeat the yakuza with an afro on the highway.
Generosity of Strangers - After you become undisputed king of an area, get someone to light a cigarette for you on the street.
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