cRPG.ru, a source for many of our RPG screens and news on the Russian front, has done a Best of 2007 award list, and Gamebanshee  has posted the English translation by editor-in-chief Alexander Kulyaev, which I'll quote in full. It's especially interesting from a NA perspective since it gives a verdict on some games we've yet to see:

    Game of the Year (RPG)
    1. The Witcher
    2. Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of Betrayer
    3. Jade Empire: Special Edition

    Best visuals
    1. BioShock
    2. The Witcher
    3. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

    Best original score
    1. The Witcher
    2. BioShock
    3. Hellgate: London

    Best scenario
    1. The Witcher
    2. Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of Betrayer
    3. Hard to be a God (highly due to the Strugatskyi setting and the fact they continued the book plot + the dialogues where oddly solid in russian)

    Most atmospheric
    1. BioShock / S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
    2. The Witcher
    3. Jade Empire: Special Edition

    Best expansion
    1. Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of Betrayer
    2. City of Abandoned Ships (which was really nice despite the old game engine and quite poor (comparing to nowadays standarts) visuals) And it's in fact an expansion for the Comeback of the Legend which was not released in English. Anyway, City of Abandoned Ships includes all the original content.
    3. The Elder Scrolls IV: Shiverings Isles

    Most underestimated game
    Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of Betrayer

    Biggest dissapointment
    1. Not the Time for the Dragons (Not really due to it's quality - it's not a bad game really, a bit above mediocre - just the expectations for it to be a deep party RPG were to high) Worth at least a look anyway
    2. Hellgate: London
    3. Two Worlds

    Best Indie-RPG
    1. Eschalon: Book I
    2. Geneforge 4
    3. Depths of Peril

    Best hack'n'slash
    1. Hellgate: London (Nevertheless)
    2. Silverfall
    3. Titan Quest: Immortal Throne

    Best RPG/RTS/Tactics
    1. Fantasy Wars (former Mythic Wars) Very neat fantasy wargame btw
    2. SpellForce 2: Dragon Storm
    3, Ascension to the Throne (Awful production values, but oddly addictive gameplay

    TOP-10 Most expected games 2008
    1. Dragon Age (Yeah, we know there's like 1% chance it'll be released this year. but, hey, we're optimists and besides, it has become a tradition already)
    2. King's Bounty. The Legend
    3. Mass Effect
    4. Drakensang: The Dark Eye
    5. Fallout 3
    6. Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
    7. Dungeon Cleaners 2 (Don't think this could ever make to the western markets but the original, released in 2006 was quite an RPG, one of the best in 2006, really)
    8. Disciples 3: Renaissance
    9. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
    10. Mount & Blade

    ~ Age of Decadence (it's out of the regular top - could be on any place, from 10th to 1st)

We haven't covered S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to date, having decided some time ago it didn't quite fit.  Still, we occasionally get sent links for articles and since our friends at CRPG.ru have kicked up a solid interview, we'll put up this newsbit and see what the response is like.  Let's take a clip on the RPG qualities:

CRPG.RU: About two years ago, Andrey Prokhorov, project lead and lead artist, described the game's genre correlation the following way: 30% RPG, 70% Action. Has the ration changed since then? How profound is the roleplaying aspect and how is it represented exactly? Does our protagonist have any skills, perks, and the like?

Anton Bolshakov: Regrettably, I cannot evaluate the current ratio. What I can say is that the action element still prevails over story and roleplaying ones. Protagonist has neither level progression nor skills or perks. It's a sort of statless roleplaying game. The player improves his own skill. Aside from that, it's pretty much your typical RPG, which, however, is more geared towards actual roleplaying than stat-pumping. You can play it in a multitude of ways and styles: you can slaughter everything in your way, or you can be a benevolent soul helping those in need. Stalkers travel everywhere, collect artifacts, weapons, discover anomaly zones, interact with each other. The player grows economically throughout the game. Just like in Elite, you earn money, purchase new equipment, weapons. In doing so you open up new areas of the Zone.