Also to consider: 2017 is a much stronger gaming year than 2014 was. Shadow of Mordor didn't deserve to win even in 2014, but the strength of the competition in 2017 - in both quality and quantity - is insane comparatively.
So many awesome games this year and there is still some heavy hitters to come for me. I mean some of the games I've loved this year are: Gravity Rush 2, yakuza 0, Resident Evil 7, Nioh, Horizon Zero Dawn, Breath of the Wild, NieR Automata, Persona 5, Tekken 7, Splatoon 2, Hellblade, Mario + Rabbids, Everybody's Golf, Yakuza Kiwami, Destiny 2, Metroid Samus returns, Cuphead