COINT + PLICK 2021-2024: THE LOST YEARS results

Main poll rollout planned for April 6 (watch this space!), have some early-access side poll results until then. (I didn't realize that Will retired these but oh well!)

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
1. Alan Wake 2, 2 sadbois
2. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, 1 sadboi
2. Nintendo losing a bit off their fastball, 1 sadboi
2. Cult of the Lamb, 1 sadboi
2. Return to Monkey Island, 1 sadboi

FAVORITE CONSOLE
1. Switch, 4 console warriors
2. PS5, 2 console warriors
3. PC, 1 console warrior
3. Your favorite emulation handheld, 1 console warrior
3. Xbox Series S, 1 console warrior
3. PS4, 1 console warrior
3. Xbox 360, 1 console warrior
3. iPad, 1 console warrior
3. Steam Deck, 1 console warrior

I didn't vote for anything in these categories, just didn't feel strongly enough. Would like to ask the Cult of the Lamb sadboi what was disappointing about it - I keep thinking I might try it out as it looks cool, but am on the fence about how much I'll actually love it. I really liked Return to Monkey Island but it def wasn't amaaaaaazing, so I can get why a series fan would find it disappointing.

How many ballots did you get Leee?

I started Cult of the Lamb but the combat half of the game didn't grab me. I was interested in the cult/basebuilding part but not enough to keep going. It may just be that I didn't give it enough time.

I got 17 ballots!

Cult of the Lamb doesn't have the deepest combat, but I really liked it! Sinister kawaii farming sim was the main draw for me, though.

I started Cult of the Lamb but the combat half of the game didn't grab me. I was interested in the cult/basebuilding part but not enough to keep going.

Yeah, this is what I foresee happening to me.

17 ballots is more than I was expecting, that's v cool!

Who are the heretics giving Alan Wake 2 the “biggest disappointment” award? Blasphemy!

I'll own up to it. I hated AW1 (not fun in any way), but I was hoping Remedy would make AW2 more like Control, which I really liked. But it still plays like AW1, and some of the puzzles just were too opaque and were what drove me away.

*reluctantly raises hand* I liked AW1 well enough (though I disliked the combat, and toward the end, made myself invincible with a cheat so I could finish the story). I loved Control. But while I dug AW2 at points, I bailed on it. I didn't like having to stop and put clues up on the pinboard to progress. It also felt more derivative, like the nods to Twin Peaks etc. were so obvious and numerous that there was hardly anything original left.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, 1 sadboi

don't think i played anything that disappointed me so i didn't do this category

always been mildly peeved with how ugly Return to Monkey Island looks

apologies on not getting a ballot in, looking forward to the roll out

I am the one who nominated Monkey Island as the disappointment. I had been looking forward to this game for a couple years now since it was announced, and as a massive 80's/90's Sierra/LucasArts adventure game fanboi, to have this drop and be disinterested in it within 2 hours felt like a massive let down.

Maybe it's nostalgia, but revisiting the older games and some of the Sierra classics like Kings Quest 5 & 6, Gabriel Knight, and modern adventure/puzzle games like Blue Prince reinforced that disappointment.

i had a list of games to figure out point values for a few days before deadline and then got busy with work and forgot about it, whoops

this is the problem with this sort of ballot, it's too much work

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Can bump this up to two since it was probably my biggest disappointment too. I guess I'd scrubbed it from memory during polling time.

I'm the wrong person who voted EoW as biggest disappointment. To be clear, I don't think it's a bad game at all, and I enjoyed my time with it well enough. I just felt like they could have done a lot more interesting stuff with the echoes mechanic, and towards the back end of the game it started to feel monotonous to me, to the point that I never finished it. I found a few echoes that suited my purposes, and just spammed those over and over. I would 100% be down for a follow-up game that deepens and refines the core idea.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1I9VhxrtSvkc6rmLo_kOkjSG3DU-_QEks

50. Unpacking — 20 points — 3 votes

(Hopefully the image shows!)

Image showing up for me - looks good!

Does Unpacking have much of a storyline to it? From what I've read it definitely seems to be more about vibes than gameplay, but I don't know if there's also a narrative element or not.

Not having played it, I've heard that it relies more on environmental storytelling than explicit narrative.

I keep hearing about that game, seems like something fun and quick

Leee, are you rolling out the entire top 50 today or splitting it up?

there's a narrative; it's slight but told effectively, 100% environmentally

octo: 50-41 today, we'll finish on Friday.

i tapped out fairly early from Unpacking because it was too fiddly for the mood i was in, but it does a great job of telling its story, and the game is fun - if fiddly sometimes

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/12BOU1AQa1FCX_SdNvHFckEU8IybJsC-9

50. Rollerdrome — 20 points — 1 votes

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1aorgETLj9Qq3u3KW2fd9dYJuIldh5I9y

50. Little Nightmares II — 20 points — 1 votes

BOY.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1r7NeHz-PdOvO6uJRPcTQvn4XDjBKEvyU

50. God of War: Ragnarok — 20 points — 1 votes

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/19DpMmsJgLu733HaGas8tr5eJ7PSQeBpR

50. Persona 3 Reload — 20 points — 1 votes

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1ZEnGqn8oVpN87jZ0aAKn0_aEEXBcKbto

50. Hi-Fi Rush — 20 points — 2 votes

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/17lf2xAyQQdpRy8jx7TpipF5n94H85zli

50. Kirby and the Forgotten Land — 20 points — 2 votes

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1EG5zngmDoXdFZLEWkz0qK9MznNZN9ex-

50. Blasphemous 2 — 20 points — 1 votes

That takes care of the ties in this batch! Out of those, I've only played:

- Ragnarok: pretty good, but I tapped out before finishing the challenge arena as well as most of the later optional bosses. The story dragged from being overlong, IIRC.
- Hi-Fi Rush: I'm pretty miserable at rhythm games so this one will sadly continue to gather dust in my library.

I am also shit at rhythm games but I found Hi-Fi Rush relatively forgiving for the genre, for the most part you are rewarded for being on rhythm but not punished for being off (except for a few annoying mandatory parrying bits).

Day 1 gonna be a 10 way tie for 50th

Kinda surprised at Ragnarok being so low. I haven't played it yet fwiw

I voted for P3 Reload. Yeah it's a remake, but the amount of polish and the (admittedly minor) extra content make for the best possible introduction to P3 and Persona in general, if anybody who isn't already on board is interested in finding out

also a rare example of developers filling in backstory without diminishing the original story

oh dang, did i forget to post a disappointment? cos it definitely would have been 1,000,000,000,000 layoffs

oh dang, did i forget to post a disappointment? cos it definitely would have been 1,000,000,000,000 layoffs

Don't worry, you'll be able to submit this for future polls.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1vuBXJ8WyNxY3sBvCfHIbm5gPZ7_9zoVv

48. Chained Echoes — 21 points — 1 votes

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1cg-p4pPoYgo5CsfvyCPjlHfVfOsa_wKU

48. Death's Door — 21 points — 2 votes

xps I found the little narrative in unpacking v cute

think that's the only game I've played so far on this list!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1SYMMTEJPUxcHCmMNEeww5W0Ndw6_kydO

47. Norco — 23 points — 3 votes

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1ZPZBd-sJrZPaLxL2xtqyQKioRR-idBFX

43. Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo — 25 points — 1 votes

Surprised Norco didn't make it higher, though looking back at my own ballot it did end up getting shoved down to the lower end. Wonderful writing and world-building, maybe not that exciting on the gameplay front.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/16hNHMdooRGnoRtJmgDmCECpkTqWTLvyI

43. Metaphor: ReFantazio — 25 points — 2 votes

Octo, close your eyes.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1KVK9wgeDeu-RcHp2AI7eHsVH926W00i1

43. Return to Monkey Island — 25 points — 3 votes

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1ax8fQUnoiOYB8EBWAzYHm9aobYZ8CFN6

43. Videoverse — 25 points — 1 votes

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1nMwNXXCCMS4Iu4SlamcI2dfLwbmTHxe9

42. The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie — 26 points — 1 votes

read that as “legend of horses” for some reason, was very excited

Last one for today!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1OajsalUvOzJKbUBMXvEZis6SgzWA1AvT

41. Chicory: A Colorful Tale — 27 points — 2 votes

always been mildly peeved with how ugly Return to Monkey Island looks

― anserine machine (Noodle Vague), Friday, 3 April 2026 20:27 (three days ago)

Didn't address this at the time, but seeing as it has now placed - I don't think the art is amazing, but I much much MUCH prefer this paper cut-out styling to the 3D shit they were doing in the '00s.

Videoverse looks like the kind of shit I play, lol, does the 25 points voter want to rep for it to me? Actually, I'd be quite interested in a hype speech from the Paranormasight enthusiast as well, as I get that recommended to me on Steam a fair bit.

read that as “legend of horses” for some reason, was very excited

― z_tbd

Found the Umamusume fan over here, hehehe.

I had a whole Legend of Heroes spiel planned out in my head but my head has gone elsewhere this weekend. Anyway if you know, you know. Reverie is stupidly, ridiculously maximalist. Too much by any reasonable standard, and as I near the end of Daybreak it looks like this is just how the series has gone. Always bigger, always more new plot threads than resolutions. I love it. I'd say Reverie is not a good place to join the series but it kind of is, a great big node in the middle of an out of control rhizome

Chicory: super-earnest, super-twee, but I love it all the same, it's about burnout and self-care.
Death's Door: quite a fun little Zelda-like (which I say as a Zelda skeptic), very cute character design.

I was a Norco voter. Really cool mix of themes. New Orleans is always a good setting for a postindustrial collapse story.

I hit the wall a bit on Chicory as I didn't really enjoy the first boss battle I encountered. I just wanted to around talking to people and painting stuff. I will say that this game has one of the best hint systems ever.

The bosses in Chicory are pretty forgiving, if you die, you actually start basically where you left off with no real penalty, and then you can go around painting things again. There *is* one platforming section that does require a fair bit of dexterity (but which might've been optional, but I don't remember too clearly).

Octo, close your eyes.

Lol hey I fell off early. Any of the voters for Monkey Island want to try and convince me to try to pick it up again?

i would have voted for blasphemous 2 & death's door, both are fantastic at what they do

i didn't like chicory that much. i don't really get much from twee earnest stories about depression and gameplay-wise the puzzles were ok but not really anything special, and the perspective was awkward and regularly made things more difficult than it needed to be

oh paranormasight was decent too. probably wouldn't have made final cut of my ballot but it's a nice little mystery with a few really neat tricks, nothing amazing but solid enough

Good morning!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1jngXdfkA3Qe8PKGxsDeWqv53pva-AUvP

39. Dave the Diver — 29 points — 4 votes

love scuba games, don't love resource anxiety games, this was pleasant enough but the resource anxiety stopped me getting deep into it. in principle if this belongs to a micro-genre alongside things like Dredge then i'm pro that genre but it's all about the implementation for me, casual shd mean Casual. anyway i think i gave it a few points it probably improves with patience

Ah yeah, your description fits with why I've still never tried this one. I feel like I might love parts of it but ultimately never get along with the whole thing (similar to what I was thinking with Cult of the Lamb upthread). I was expecting this to be much higher, though!

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1fazKKnspC2FUiVYy1jgDn0FEjfGHXHDS

39. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth — 29 points — 1 votes

I enjoyed the vibe of Dave, but yeah resource anxiety also stopped me from going deeper. Did not make my list

Only voter for Infinite Wealth is a bit of a surprise. It's magnificent, obviously, even if the writers' ongoing cruelty to Ichiban makes me sad sometimes. Like all the great Yakuza games it's entirely worth it for the sub-games alone. Still playing Koi Koi most days thanks to gyac encouraging my addiction gene

Nice Sujimon pic btw

Half of the Dave the Diver points were mine. I put a lot of hours in. Played til the end and then some.

what's resource anxiety?

In the case of Dave the Diver iirc it's trying to meet those restaurant orders whizzing by with one eye on the orders and one eye on your fish stocks

Oh yeah, I can see how that part would cause that. It definitely gets easier as the game progresses because you can hire staff to do all the serving and cleaning and all you need to do is set the menu top up the wasabi.

Set menu AND top up wasabi

yeah it's usually a case of lacking the patience to get thru the tough bit with me

xps I've never even heard of Videoverse, that looks cool

48. Death's Door — 21 points — 2 votes

20 of these were mine and I'm surprised and a bit disappointed that this didn't rank higher.

I felt super proud for finishing this game! It's pretty challenging (by my standards - real Soulsheads, don't @ me). My gaming coordination isn't great and I'm not very good at remembering complex and myriad button combinations. The fact I managed to finish the game -- without a full set of hearts due to accidentally crossing a 'point of no return' before I'd collected all containers -- means that when I come up against tough bosses in other games I can try to persevere a little more before dialling down the game's difficulty setting or forcing Sgt Biscuits to take the controller away and do it for me.

I hit a pretty gruelling boss fight in Ghost of Yotei yesterday. It took a loooong time and many, many deaths and checkpoint restarts, but I got there in the end. Thanks Death's Door!

(I have my limits though: I recently noped out of Souls-like Another Crab's Treasure because even on the 'easy' setting the gameplay was so janky that dealing with the numerous punishing bosses and endless respawns just wasn't fun. I suggested Echoes of Wisdom as my biggest disappointment but at least I finished that; the real answer is probably Another Crab's Treasure.)

Re: diver David, I kind of like survival and resource management games, but the game is forgiving enough that you don't have to max out and optimize your gameplay. It's kind of interesting that it and Like A Dragon tied because DTD is half mini games, whole the other half is resource collecting.

Infinite Wealth is that classic case of a fun looking game coming out but unfortunately I haven't finished the previous one yet

I do wonder if the series is maybe getting a little too silly though

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1KorXwrJVecyfaVBAgV_zb2oRjkR2IvNB

31. It Takes Two — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1wLqAMNUa3DY0YAfFN_iJuc91RfrsvGy7

31. Caves of Qud — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1TgVh64d2l_-Qe2y1VywSxK8ok8DEEP8z

31. Earth Defence Force 6 — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place

I know it literally "takes two" players, but It Takes Two is easily one of the best video games I've ever played. Totally deserved its GotY win. Actually beaten it twice now playing each character once. Surprised I was the only voter, which means a lot of you probably have never even tried this, hopefully you can at some point, especially via couch co-op. Split Fiction, while visually and sonically more epic, still isn't quite the perfect, complete package this game is. While I was the one who nominated it, and last minute, it's still surprising I was the only voter.

I played a bunch of Split Fiction. It's very good. Would like to try It Takes Two someday.

Caves of Qud is a real gem. Endless depths to explore, intricate interactions between game pieces, and plenty of eldritch sci-fi weirdness. Feels very different from other modern games, in a good way. Recommend checking it out if you like old-school roguelikes in the vein of Nethack or ADOM.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1VaEHmjzWsPEjEHKv6abf6_YWdbFvhK0n

31. Deathloop — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1VaEHmjzWsPEjEHKv6abf6_YWdbFvhK0n

31. Deathloop — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place

So good I posted it twice.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1SYUheny3W_ebpO3Z5fKM8f02y4UbPnK7

31. Dead Space — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1bPke3ybu7OIuc7rYTqHu8S6fWPYV4hZ_

31. A Space for the Unbound — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1mJ4wEuxh9dndVLi7Ih3OrvewUDOEDEnC

31. 1000xResist — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/d/1bXmAiZC0fljjCRhmr36HCYk07NRseHxe

31. Resident Evil 4 — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place

I wanted to check out A Space for the Unbound before voting but didn't have time - sorry to the sole voter.

I remember being pleasantly surprised how many updates/changes were made to the RE4 remaster, while still feeling like RE4.

Tomorrow: I slaved over this fish and vegetable dinner all day and all I get for thanks is fear and big robots trying to kill me.

I'd be quite interested in a hype speech from the Paranormasight enthusiast as well, as I get that recommended to me on Steam a fair bit.

― emil.y

I'm the voter but as an adventure game neophyte (i'd played one phoenix wright game a long time ago, then 13 sentinels in 2021, then THL:LDA last year, which kickstarted my ADV game arc) i'm afraid won't do much more than damn it with faint praise as i've few points of comparison.

i picked it up due to positive word of mouth, it lands closer to the VN side of the spectrum than something like danganronpa, there are multiple bad endings and only one true ending, so it's no scarlet hollow either in terms of branching narrative possibilities (nor does it try to be)

it's very light on "actual" gameplay, despite what the first 10 minutes would lead one to believe, but the presentation won me over immediately, so much i nominated it without knowing at the time if i'd even finish before submitting the ballot

the sequel which came out a few weeks ago is also good, i had to look up how to reach the ending, i'd never figure that shit out on my own.

- Hi-Fi Rush: I'm pretty miserable at rhythm games so this one will sadly continue to gather dust in my library.

― Major Kirascuro (Leee)

it's not a proper rhythm game at all, rather it's a devil may cry/bayonetta-style 3d action game, with a rhythm gimmick stacked on top. if you don't care about S ranks you can mostly ignore the timing aspect, basic and lenient as it is

31. Earth Defence Force 6 — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place

i voted this first place tied with Alan Wake 2, as i should've done for EDF5 in 2017 when i opted to vote nier 1st instead. hindsight and all that

why did my ballot have only 4 total entries? well, perhaps if i hadn't spent like 300 fucking hours playing this (and somehow another almost 100 with 5 last year alone) i would've found time to play a few other recent games.

while mechanically and enemy design-wise EDF6 is imo the best these games have ever been, it's let down a tad by the level design, sandlot kind of dropped the ball on this one. i blame covid

if i wanted to be a hyperbolic contrarian hater i'd call it the worst real EDF since EDF1, but that still makes it better than pretty much any other 1st or 3rd-person shooter i've played.

I wanted to check out A Space for the Unbound before voting but didn't have time - sorry to the sole voter.

if it wasn't already obvious i was that sole voter. it ticks a bunch of my boxes - creates a real sense of place, and a place I know very little about at that (90s Indonesia), tells an intimate and emotional story, has the sweetest attention to details. there's one irksome gameplay element that kinda comes out of the blue but isn't insurmountable, and it's not gonna consume 500 hours of your life (probably), but it's a sweet, unique, polished gem that stayed in my head once it was done.

Yes, I thought it was you but couldn't quite remember for sure so left it (noodle) vague.

i need to play 1000xResist, i can't remember what i read that put me off it a little

like all the isolated misanthropes of ilx an opportunity to play It Takes Two hasn't presented itself so far :D

Appreciate the take on Paranormasight! I'm playing through it rn, and I'm enjoying it, but maybe not quite at your level of enthusiasm. VNs are generally not my thing, but this does have plenty of charm and intrigue

I started 1000xResist and I think I fell off it a bit early. Should revisit as it was surreal and unique enough to keep me interested but I am fairly sure it was around the time I found Balatro and everything else disappeared

- Hi-Fi Rush: I'm pretty miserable at rhythm games so this one will sadly continue to gather dust in my library.

― Major Kirascuro (Leee)

it's not a proper rhythm game at all, rather it's a devil may cry/bayonetta-style 3d action game, with a rhythm gimmick stacked on top. if you don't care about S ranks you can mostly ignore the timing aspect, basic and lenient as it is

lol unfortunately I also discovered that I don't like Bayonetta-likes (I think they're called character action games or somesuch), and I'm too old now to try to learn different attacks beyond light/heavy. But maybe I'll give it another shot and just ignore the rhythm stuff, because I've heard it's got fun characters.

I beat 1000xResist and a few things didn't land with me. Unlikeable main character to start with (which, admittedly, is part of the story), but dense SF technobabble obscured the game's thesis, as well as some horrible level-designs/maps -- I have a bad sense of direction, and got lost quite a few times, and so, even though it's in 3rd person, I actually got motion sickness because I was trying to find the right room. All that being said, I've listened/watched to a few things that made me appreciate its take on resistance movements (a lot of the devs were on the ground during the HK protests), which, given the current state of the world, might help overcome some of my misgivings if I were to play it again.

[MOD NOTE - REMOVED SEVERAL POSTS HERE, IMAGES DID NOT LOAD]

today's images aren't loading, not sure if it's a me problem :(

I see them, but when I checked in Incognito, they were just links that, if I clicked on them, prompted me to log into Google. So maybe you got logged out? If people would prefer, I can upload to an actual image host instead.

yeah all the other images show fine, these last 3 just show as broken links

I'm logged into google, but if I right click on the image and choose to open in new tab, I get a 403 forbidden error

Ok I'll work on uploading them to imgur after breakfast.

already said elsewhere, Venba is nice but very slight and i say this as a VN fan

Unicorn Overlord has been on my wishlist and free on PS Plus for ages but never enough time

Last three images don't work for me either - but imgur won't help as I'm in the UK ;_;

We used imgbb for the EoY music polls and that seemed to work well for pretty much everybody, I think - just in case you want another option.

Yeah Venba looks cute, but what is it a 90 min game? I suppose Gris and Sword of the Sea were super quick too and quite enjoyable. Should check it out.

I'll stand up for Venba, which was a #1 for me (and if I were doing a traditional GOTY, would've beaten BG3, a game I have 600+ hours in). It's an incredible narrative experience and is a beautiful example of how the best games are empathy engines. It's also the first game that moved me to tears, and actually affected how I get on with my own immigrant parents. Great music, too, and players who are better foodies than me have drooled at the dishes you prepare.

And yeah, very short, 1.5-2 hours for most people, but it's stayed with me ever since I played it.

https://i.ibb.co/TMzgGKYZ/Valheim.png

27. Valheim — 35 points — 2 votes — 1 first place

https://i.ibb.co/F4YNvMtc/Unicorn-Overlord.png

27. Unicorn Overlord — 35 points — 2 votes — 1 first place

https://i.ibb.co/wrQyK6MG/Venba.png

27. Venba — 35 points — 2 votes — 1 first place

I can see them in your last post! Hurrah!

Though the images do say 1 vote whereas your text says 2 (and must be the correct version as 30 was the maximum allowed).

Do you want me to use my spooky mod powers to delete the previous attempts?

xpost yes to spooky mod powers!

Ah yeah, looks like the banners are wrong -- the text is indeed correct. Same thing with this one:

https://i.ibb.co/ycRJT2YL/Armored-Core-VI-Fires-of-Rubicon.png

27. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon — 35 points — 2 votes

Deleted most of them except one that I edited to show where redactions were made. Now we're back in business.

I do kind of wish I'd voted for fewer games and thus had more points to give to my true loves. At the time I thought it was better to give the nod to pretty much anything that had given me enjoyment, but now I'm worried about a few things I could have boosted much more if I'd ignored my lower ranks.

Awesome, thanks!

https://i.ibb.co/7JwFVv4w/Dredge.png

26. Dredge — 36 points — 4 votes

Interesting that Dredge (I got to just before the endgame but just lost interest and never picked it up again) beat Daver Diver. I do think the dredging minigame is better than Dave's button-mashing, and I guess ILG loves its spooky vibes!

https://i.ibb.co/DHRHRrQr/Immortality.png

25. Immortality — 43 points — 4 votes

huh never heard of Immortality.. I enjoyed Dispatch quite a bit - is this similar?

I played Immortality a bit when it was free on Netflix(!), but didn't enjoy it. It's more like Her Story (same developer), where the gameplay involves piecing together the story by uncovering FMV clips.

I very much enjoyed my time with Dredge, but it never quite made the leap from 'good' to 'great' for me.

Am I right in thinking Immortality is the one from the Her Story creator? I always forget its name, but if it is then I would like to play this at some point.

xp question answered, yes it is that one.

https://i.ibb.co/QjXfL6TY/Astro-Bot.png

24. Astro Bot — 44 points — 3 votes

My bf is playing this at the moment and I keep calling it Ass Robot to annoy him. That is the extent of my knowledge of this game.

it’s called A-strong Butt

I played Immortality with some buds and there was a thing that happens in it that really made an impression on me.

It is pretty crazy that they basically made three full movie productions for it as fodder for the clips. Very effortful production.

Going back to Valheim, that was a major quarantine game for me. I played it with some old friends. One guy had an instance of it running on a server 24-7. I really would like to go back to the game now that it is "done"

Does anyone remember Astrobotnia? Missed opportunity if you ask me.

https://i.ibb.co/pryJ7JDG/Prince-of-Persia-The-Lost-Crown.png

22. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown — 45 points — 3 votes — 1 first place
https://i.ibb.co/dJtm7Ncp/Void-Stranger.png

22. Void Stranger — 45 points — 3 votes

Void Stranger isn't on my ballot but it is fascinating to me. I spent hours with it but I couldn't muster the obsessiveness required to dig deep past the "surface" sokoban game. It made me feel so dumb. Should I go back to it?

https://i.ibb.co/d0w6DjmN/Metroid-Dread.png

21. Metroid Dread — 51 points — 5 votes

Prince of Persia TLC rules, that and Blasphemous 2 really rekindled my interest in Metroidvanias. Great platforming, pretty unique abilities/mechanics for both of them, good maps, and they actually made me want to get 100%. I'm sure I'd like Metroid Dread but don't do Switch.

'Sokoban' is a new term to me. The Adventures of Lolo is one of my favorite games, but I don't think I have the brain power to concentrate on these games anymore.

I very much enjoyed my time with Dredge, but it never quite made the leap from 'good' to 'great' for me.

yeah i gave it points and i enjoyed it at first but i tapped out maybe a third of the way in. will go back at some point

pretty sure i was the other Venba vote too

I checked the Void Stranger trailer and while the aesthetics are nice, and I have been getting into puzzle games, I'm not good at Sokobans because I have 0 spatial intelligence.

I get the sense that Void Stranger has another meta layer to it, like Undertale.

24. Astro Bot — 44 points — 3 votes

TOO LOW!

Seriously this is the best 3d platformer by any dev, including Nintendo, since Mario Odyssey, maybe Galaxy! Master class in everything.

I would love Astro Bot but I don't have a PlayStation ;_;

22. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown — 45 points — 3 votes — 1 first place

Also too low, this was such a wonderful Metroidvania. The 2.5D art was on point and wonderfully customizable difficulty settings made the game really tweakable so you could dial in the perfect amount of challenge for your style of play. Story was okayish (these games generally don't really need to shine here). If Silksong incorporated these features it'd be the GOATMV

xp it really is a compelling reason to get one, for sure. So much pure, unbridled joy and love went into every minute detail of that game. French devs have won the last two GotY awards (AstroBot/E33), something must be in the water/wine/cheese over there

Regarding Void Stranger, one of my votes, there's a lot after the block moving game: first there's powerups that change the game, then there's new places you can go by using them.

French devs have won the last two GotY awards (AstroBot/E33)

Correction: Astro Bot was made by a Japanese studio, but I think the confusion stems from its director being a French expat.

void stranger is a masterpiece

prince of persia: the lost crown is very good, it doesn't really do anything outstanding but it's certainly one of the better games of its sort around

metroid dread was decent enough, but a bit too short for my liking. i liked how they finally made samus control well in a 2d metroid

I get the sense that Void Stranger has another meta layer to it, like Undertale.

there's nothing else quite like it but i would say it's much closer to tunic or blue prince than undertale

Void Stranger isn't on my ballot but it is fascinating to me. I spent hours with it but I couldn't muster the obsessiveness required to dig deep past the "surface" sokoban game. It made me feel so dumb. Should I go back to it?

how far did you get exactly? it may be possible to give you a nudge in the right direction

I "beat" the game once, then on my second run I started noticing what all the glyphs were for and made it to some areas that I didn't before. Then I got stuck and gave up LOL (I couldn't figure out the golden path in Tunic, either)

https://i.ibb.co/chzQKj7f/Animal-Well.png

20. Animal Well — 52 points — 4 votes

Animal Well, otoh I had little trouble plumbing the depths, though much of the post game remains un-played for me

We need more combat-less Metroidvanias, IMO. Where are all the Knytt-likes??

https://i.ibb.co/dwdKt0zm/Citizen-Sleeper.png

19. Citizen Sleeper — 58 points — 5 votes — 1 first place

Void Stranger was my #1 by the way

I told polyphonic (who's doing the banners) that I love the shot he chose for CS, which is one of my favorites. Incredible storytelling (although I have to add the caveat that when I played, it had some annoying grammar mistakes and occasionally awkward phrasing), so much so that a plot told only through text could hit me so hard in the stomach when I failed a die roll that I lost my breath.

Back to back games with excellent writing:

https://i.ibb.co/5X0mJ5db/Pentiment.png

18. Pentiment — 59 points — 6 votes

I ended up not giving Citizen Sleeper very many points - actually possibly fewer points than I should've, it is definitely a good game. Worth it for any player who quite fancies a digital TTRPG light-cyberpunk mystery/adventure.

Pentiment, on the other hand, made a much bigger impression. It's not perfect but damn, I loved it. Incredible art, great writing, very enjoyable Name of the Rose mediaeval murder mysterying.

pentiment was fun
shame it was so short

scratch that
I'm getting my medieval games confused lol

I've been told to play this one. Maybe this is the spur I need to grab hold. I say this as someone who demands literary qualities from games

Rollerdrome, Caves of Qud, Pentiment: spent a little time with these (less than a couple of hours probably) and they seemed cool, but didn't hook me (or something else caught my attention at the time), all are for very different reasons up my alley and this is a good excuse to go back!

Norco, Paranormasight: didn't play these at all or really learn anything about them, but definitely interested. is the latter anything like the danganronpas/nonary games/etc. of it all? it's giving me that feeling looking at pictures.

Unpacking: finished this w/ my partner, it was a fun time but didn't make my list.

P3 Reload: didn't make my list, not for lack of love, but because with the number of things I wanted to include, a remake didn't quite fit into the mix. Regardless, I think P3 is my favourite of the three games, and it was great to play it with such a rich remake. In retrospect I probably could have bumped something for it.

Deathloop: also didn't make my list, it's tough with this many great games! so much was right with it, but something held me from ranking it -- the presentation just felt a little... dated? empty? not sure how to describe the feeling.

Metaphor: in my "second tier" of games for this rollout, not even sure I liked it more than P3 Reload but I wanted to reward the new game. It is great that they are still able to make big luxurious JRPGs like this, can't see myself ever playing it again (even if they do a Royal, or a remake in 15 years) but I look forward to anything they continue to do as far as sequels and stuff.

Valheim: one of my three "first place" games. Maybe it was the tie in lockdown where it came out, but it was a perfect confluence where (for maybe the last time ever?) i got all of my old gamer pals on a game at the same time, building towns and castles together, going on raids into the swamp together, sailing together... imo the perfect tension between dangerous and safe for a "fight/build" type game. i haven't been back for any of the new content since launch, basically, as i'll never get that crew back on it and i don't know who else i'd play with lol, but i pretty much self-built our second thru fourth bases in the dark forest/mountain/plains biomes, as everyone was kinda falling off by then anyway. Scratches a minecraft-like itch in a way that I much prefer to the spelunking of minecraft.

Unicorn Overlord: Surprised I didn't rank this higher than I did (in my 5-point "fourth tier"), I found the combat appealing at first but it got a little shallow/samey as these guys' games often do. The story didn't blow my mind like the smorgasbord of tropes found in Aegis Rim, but it didn't really need to, as it was a satisfying epic in its own right (and tbh it'd be weird if they did that in this genre). as always, astoundingly gorgeous in art and animation, like a porterhouse for the eyes

Immortality: second of three "second tier" games for me. sam barlow game players will be shocked to hear i found this haunting (lol). the first time i did that thing was maybe on the most impressive clip to do it on, and i gasped at the screen, and continued to be chilled and delighted by it until i unlocked 100% of the stories. this one still sticks in my mind years later, such a unique game, better than her story even. (i should play that telling lies one sometime)

Citizen Sleeper: Second of three "first place" games. Let a million of these types of games bloom, please. Sort of space horror in the way that Alien is a space horror before the Alien shows up, it encapsulates the misery of a captured life, the isolation of space, the hope that comes with the opportunity to build. The sequel is maybe even better, although that falls outside of the range of this poll.

I have one tier-1 left that has to make it, one tier-2 (which might not make it i am now thinking), and eight other games left, of which I am thinking 7 will make it, so I guess I am very much of the ILX hivemind this year!

oops, forgot to copy-paste my intro sentence, lol:

"I haven't been able to keep up this week so I am gonna try to do a catch-up here with some of my thoughts! and hopefully keep up the rest of the way"

I've been told to play this one. Maybe this is the spur I need to grab hold. I say this as someone who demands literary qualities from games

― imago

The writing is very good, but maybe not "should be a book" level good. The thing that really grabbed hold of me was how it focuses on the ways that myths are created and rewritten, what is lost and what traces remain - using the pentiment metaphor, of course. Very much pertinent to my interests, and I would imagine yours also.

Norco, Paranormasight: didn't play these at all or really learn anything about them, but definitely interested. is the latter anything like the danganronpas/nonary games/etc. of it all? it's giving me that feeling looking at pictures.

i haven't played any Uchikoshi games yet but i have the impression that the nonary games are way more gameplay intensive than the danganronpas (only played DR1 and 2 so far), which in turn are more intensive than paranormasight

apart from the misleading starting 10 minutes, paranormasight is more laid back and visual novel-like, with little puzzle-solving. there's a few playable characters and some degree of freedom in which storyline to pursue but eventually you get railroaded onto the true ending path with little effort, and the game gives very direct hints on how to progress when you get one of the bad endings

xp yeah that sounds sick

to give a sense of the games i play, my entire steam library is, in order of greatest things ever down to still really good, disco elysium = undertale > return of the obra dinn > the stanley parable (ultra deluxe) > slay the princess (which i need to explore more routes of tbf). all of which were recommended by friends who know me very well. have been scanning these results for anything comparable that might reach this high bar...

IMO Pentiment would slot in nicely above Obra Dinn in your list, imago. It was one of the "S-tier" games on my ballot. It's one of the only games I've ever played that struck me as really literary (along with Citizen Sleeper, appropriately)

okay ty, will be on that and maybe cs too

to give a sense of the games i play, my entire steam library is, in order of greatest things ever down to still really good, disco elysium = undertale > return of the obra dinn > the stanley parable (ultra deluxe) > slay the princess (which i need to explore more routes of tbf). all of which were recommended by friends who know me very well. have been scanning these results for anything comparable that might reach this high bar...

― imago

We have very similar tastes in games, ha - I would say yes, you will enjoy Pentiment. Also, get Scarlet Hollow even though it's not finished yet - same studio as Slay the Princess, it's more of a visual novel but the branching is genuinely impressive and the horror is delicious.

oooh okay tyty!

unfinished tho...this is what has kept me deliberately knowing nothing about deltarune...similar situation or worth diving in?

Tbf it really depends on your patience... they will definitely finish it but it might be like a year and a half to wait for the last two chapters? The story so far is excellent but oof, it is frustrating. Maybe just keep it in mind for the future? It is quite replayable with the different traits, though, even if you can't get to the ending yet.

I would also suggest that you'd like Lorelei and the Laser Eyes quite a lot - it has yet to show up on this list but definitely will. Don't let the maths put you off!

okay yes, will definitely bookmark ty! and maths does not put me off anything :D

Now for something(s) completely different.

https://i.ibb.co/XxfmZmzZ/Thank-Goodness-You-re-Here.png

15. Thank Goodness You're Here! — 60 points — 3 votes

https://i.ibb.co/CfBkrBr/Hitman-3.png

15. Hitman 3 — 60 points — 3 votes — 1 first place

https://i.ibb.co/XP92Shv/Alan-Wake-2.png

15. Alan Wake 2 — 60 points — 2 votes — 2 first place

Come on down to Rog's veg hole!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WA4ht3bI7Q

One note of caution re: Pentiment is that the climax to the first act might feel stressful and bad -- this was my experience and I almost dropped the game there -- but that's a deliberate move by the game. You have two more acts to go through that tie things up pretty well, and it's one of my favorite games on this list.

re: Hitman, I tried 2 but never warmed to it. I didn't get too far, I think I finished the race track level and that was it for me. I do enjoy watching others play it though, and http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_WcVABbXAhCCavvVIhwu5Fl2PKiXPWwP has some good hijinks.

https://i.ibb.co/1G49xZdg/Vampire-Survivors.png

14. Vampire Survivors — 61 points — 7 votes

All the UK comedy talent in TGYH is enticing, but what is it actually like as a game?

I tried a few Hitman missions when I was ill a couple years ago, I love the idea of it, but ending up bailing too.

TGYH gameplay is mainly going through a map and slapping things, VERY light metroidvania style.

https://i.ibb.co/Fb5FmbGg/Super-Mario-Bros-Wonder.png

13. Super Mario Bros. Wonder — 62 points — 6 votes

Is SMB Wonder really that good? I'm surprised to see it this high

Where my puzzleheads at?

https://i.ibb.co/1JLhg6V3/Chants-of-Sennaar.png

12. Chants of Sennaar — 65 points — 5 votes

TGYH gameplay is mainly going through a map and slapping things

This is true, but I feel like it undersells the joy of slapping.

Ooh yeah, Chants of Sennaar. Not my favourite language-deciphering game (that would go Heaven's Vault) but yesss very much my thing.

Also I've just noticed that Super Mario Bros Wonder image is really going for some inflation kink fanservice, huh?

Wonder is pretty fun! It's got a huge variety of enemies, and the controls feel great, which is really the most important thing for Mario. It could stand to have some more challenging levels, though, and it doesn't hit the heights of the classic 2D games.

Vampire Survivors, OTOH: that's the real good stuff. Should be ranked higher IMO

Chants of Sennaar is one I've been meaning to play but haven't got around to yet.

I should play Heaven's Vault, it seems! Loved Chants, I think it's what set me on my puzzle kick.

Vampire Survivors was my pre-Balatro obsession, but I haven't kept up with it in a couple years (tried the multiplayer mode but it's pretty dodgy if you're playing remotely). I love the banner because it represents the game's unadulterated noize.

https://i.ibb.co/9HxKgGNN/Tunic.png

11. Tunic — 67 points — 6 votes

Also I've just noticed that Super Mario Bros Wonder image is really going for some inflation kink fanservice, huh?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULOyNH75h0Q

haha hell yeah, hitman. what a joy that infinite mode was for a while. and the puzzle boxes of the main game weren't too shabby neither!

also love that it has some extremely complicated narrative stuff going on that just slides off my brain because cmon man it's a series about exploding glass hot tubs

vampire survivors was also on mine, i don't much to say about it though because it was just reptile brain enjoyment

Is SMB Wonder really that good? I'm surprised to see it this high

actually just realized i also beat this and i didn't even remember til you asked. so uh

Anybody think Tunic is tulow? I haven't played it even though it's high-concept enough that it appeals to me, because I've heard that the combat is unpleasant. Thoughts?

Tunic has some accessibility options you can flip if the combat is too hard. I hit a wall there, possibly before the options existed or at least before I realized they we there, but really liked the puzzle elements. It actually has a few things in common with the language learning in Chants.

Tunic combat: if you are using the correct weapon, it's forgiving. Bosses take a few tries. Plowing through with just the sword is a mistake.

sm wonder: I think I'm too experienced for this type of Mario game. I breezed through it. The game's gimmick is that every stage has a rule-breaking item in it, similar to "Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy" from Yoshi's Island.

I...uh, forgot to vote for Tunic 😔 sorry guys

I beat SMBW and enjoyed it quite a bit but it was a touch forgettable for sure. I think the art style has more flavor than most recent Mario games, which have lost some of the magic of the classic games imo. The online multiplayer offered some interesting ways to interact with other players... you might call it a strand game?

Strand game Mario has me intrigued. Here's the thing: I've never liked 2D Marios that much. Because I'm bad at them. Like embarrassingly bad. I can't keep control of that slippery little bastard.

there's nothing else quite like it but i would say it's much closer to tunic or blue prince than undertale

uhhh looks like I'm going to need to play Void Stranger

i liked chants of senaar but didn't love it, it wouldn't quite have made my ballot. decent language learning puzzles but it never quite went as far as i would have liked with any of it, and the stealth sections near the end of the game added nothing

i hated vampire survivors! the basic gameplay loop is ok, but it's walking the line of being the absolute bare minimum to be engaging. the big problem i have is that it has such contempt for the player. the dev's background was in slot machines and talked about how he brought that to vampire survivors with all the elaborate flashing graphics and i really really hate that stuff, i just want to see what upgrade i actually got and get back to the gameplay, i don't want to see the lengthy slot machine-style animations every time i open a treasure chest.

tunic would have been my #3, it has some of the most incredible 'aha' moments in a game. i kinda dislike the post-post-game descent into searching for hidden codes but eh the rest is so incredible that doesn't matter

I haven't played it even though it's high-concept enough that it appeals to me, because I've heard that the combat is unpleasant.

the combat in tunic is quite good, just fairly challenging on the base difficulty. there are options to make that more manageable though. if it sounds interesting i completely recommend it.

I say this as someone who demands literary qualities from games

i have bad news for you about video games

I "beat" the game once, then on my second run I started noticing what all the glyphs were for and made it to some areas that I didn't before. Then I got stuck and gave up LOL (I couldn't figure out the golden path in Tunic, either)

you probably don't need a nudge then! it goes pretty deep though

oh pentiment is excellent too

Tunic was wonderful. Some of the end game puzzles and secrets were definitely a bit esoteric for my liking (just like Blue Prince) but the vibe was peak and the music is incredible. Combat was challenging but just right

Probably should have given it more points

26. Dredge — 36 points — 4 votes

I love fish, collecting stuff, and horror, so this was an easy sell for me. I couldn't get enough of it. Like, if there’s a criticism, it’s that there isn’t more: more NPCs to fill out the few villages and provide prompts for a few more quests; more scale to the biomes; more varied and menacing manifestations of madness; or more horrible fish to find to more frequently trigger the dopamine thrill of the dissonant ‘aberrant fish’ jingle.

Still want more even after all the DLC packs.

19. Citizen Sleeper — 58 points — 5 votes — 1 first place

I played this but didn't vote for it. I liked it okay, but I got a really good ending on the first run, so didn't feel inspired to go back and get probably a worse ending on another run (also I rarely ever re-run these sorts of games).

18. Pentiment — 59 points — 6 votes

I once wrote on ILG that “the decision-making process for 2/3 of the game is more 'what is the least awful choice I can make' than 'what is the best choice I can make”. It can feel pretty weighty! I really liked the use of typography to denote different classes of people or ways of speaking.

Meowdy!

https://i.ibb.co/F4Gpb0Sm/Stray.png

10. Stray — 70 points — 4 votes

This was not really the cat simulator I wanted so I lost interest fast

loved stray, the city visuals especially are wonderful

https://i.ibb.co/DDfvV9TV/The-Case-of-the-Golden-Idol.png

9. The Case of the Golden Idol — 73 points — 9 votes

I had hoped to get around to Golden Idol before voting, but SMT devoured my gaming life over the last several weeks. I know I'm going to like it

Stray too low! Spent a lot of hours with that kitty. A pure gem of a game.

I gave both Golden Idol games a couple of points as they genuinely are good solid games, but as I said elsewhere, I didn't care for the art of the original one and I haaaaaaaated the "better" art of the second one.

Honestly I was hoping for a surprise Stray win. I knew it wasn't likely, but who doesn't love a cat?

Dog people! Equal time for pups!

Booo, dogs smell and bark.

We need to get users 'cat' and 'a puppy' on this thread.

dog latin unironically should have voted in this poll

Gave Golden Idol some points but I don't think it's controversial to say that its placing so high is only down to the number of voters who've played it.

The evolved state of Hitman 3, 'Hitman: World of Assassination' (naming of this enterprise is confusing af), is an all-time Great Game that seems like that the type of thing ILX would likely ignore so I had to give it a #1 spot. World class level design and near infinite replayability. Massive sandbox that allows ingenuity and creativity in ways few games do. Truly a special one imo.

Just call me Loreleee.

https://i.ibb.co/7cSJpz1/Lorelei-and-the-Laser-Eyes.png

8. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes — 80 points — 4 votes

This is MY Blue Prince, my ne plus ultra of puzzle games. It has just the exact level of difficulty that makes me feel like a genius for solving. (I don't like spatial puzzles so I didn't last long with Talos Principle and The Witness, among others. I played Strange Jigsaws and like the structure -- a melange of puzzles -- but again, the spatial puzzles stymied me.) I'll admit to not caring much about the story, though, and some of the in-game events scared the hell out of me (I am of course a big scaredy cat).

The evolved state of Hitman 3, 'Hitman: World of Assassination' (naming of this enterprise is confusing af), is an all-time Great Game that seems like that the type of thing ILX would likely ignore so I had to give it a #1 spot. World class level design and near infinite replayability. Massive sandbox that allows ingenuity and creativity in ways few games do. Truly a special one imo.

― circa1916, Friday, 10 April 2026 16:37 (forty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

WoA is the only game I've, rather than played, watched loads of Youtube playthroughs of

Lorelei was the only game I played between nominations and voting, and I maybe docked it a couple of points because I was wary of recency bias (it was still my third place vote) - I adored it. I did love the story aspect of it, but maybe not so much the minutiae of the plot, more the VIBES of the story. Absolutely incredible vibes.

I think you're right about the difficulty level, too, Leee - it's (almost*) never so difficult you can't get through it but it does give you immense self-satisfaction when you crack a puzzle you were stuck on.

*I did resort to hints a few times, but not so often I felt like I was cheating myself of the experience.

I maybe docked it a couple of points because I was wary of recency bias

Hah I get this, I gave it 29 points because I did want to differentiate it from my S-tier games (especially those that were released in the same year), which may or may not have been unfair to it.

https://i.ibb.co/1tsDzvdp/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Tears-of-the-Kingdom.png

7. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — 101 points — 7 votes — 1 first place

surprised to see this so low! such a fun game.

TotK was great but kinda fell off of it, I just felt a bit overwhelmed and the minutae of exploration, especially in the underworld, started to feel tedious. BotW is still one of my GOATs, and TotK is a decent followup but not quite the Godfather II to Godfather I comparison

I liked seeing how other people used the building mechanics to make crazy shit, but when I used them I found the process was taking away from my fun more than it was adding to it.

https://i.ibb.co/bj3LpCmg/Cocoon.png

5. Cocoon — 105 points — 6 votes — 2 first place

https://i.ibb.co/zTcmLZ0f/UFO-50.png

5. UFO 50 — 105 points — 7 votes

I've not played either of these but an nice incidental thing I noticed while the ballots were coming in, Cocoon was briefly in first place! I guess that would make two of you happy, but it definitely surprised me.

Cocoon!!! YES. Was worried it wouldn't place. One of the best indie games that came out in this time frame.

I looooved futzing around with TOTKs building and physics. It didn't feel like "Zelda" but I'm not a purist and I'm cool with that. I never got tired of soaring the Hylian skies in a bizarre contraption. I want to see Nintendo take these mechanics and build a new game around them that isn't based in existing IP

or maybe they could reboot Pilotwings using them...hmm

UFO 50 is such a beautiful thing to exist

10. Stray — 70 points — 4 votes

Too low! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a game that packs more into ~6 hours than Stray. The detail and density of everything here - buildings, streets, interiors, characters, colours - made it feel as huge and lived-in as an 80-hour open-world adventure. Some of the set piece reveals were incredible.

And despite a seemingly cold post-apocalyptic setting it's full of heart and warmth. In what other game can you hop on a sleeping robot, startle him awake, then curl up and share a nap? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KCs8Xzl4e8

Great formatting doofus

15. Hitman 3 — 60 points — 3 votes — 1 first place

Joint top of my list! Honestly this easily could’ve been more of the same from the previous two games and I would still rank it highly. But then there's Dartmoor's murder mystery and Berlin's club crawl, which are really next level, easily stages in my top 5. Plus having this land during Covid-19 was a real gift of some much-needed escapism.

I still have no idea what the actual story was about.

oh wow, far fewer of mine are placing than i expected! i guess there was a bunch of real good stuff i just never got around to. i don't even know anything about cocoon! and this iwll push me to finally play lorelai i swear. maybe even ufo50.

from the rest of my list, i've got... 2 that won't make it for sure, 3 that WILL make it for sure, and 2 others that i am surprised either fell off the list or made top 5, haha.

Where are my RP degenerates.

https://i.ibb.co/Vc6n5jQM/Baldur-s-Gate-3.png

4. Baldur's Gate 3 — 116 points — 8 votes — 1 first place

Almost every BG3 image is appalling to me because it has some other player's dumb ass character in it

I didn't even finish BG3 and I still put it joint first with Stray (I don't think those votes officially count as "first place" because I gave them 25pts not 30... I definitely voted for too many things and spread my points out too much, damnit). I don't usually play big games like this but I did get obsessed for a while.

I also spread my points too thin...starting to think Tactical Breach Wizards isn't gonna make it ;_;

600+ hours in BG3, finished 4 campaigns, including beating the game on Honour Mode, and another time in multiplayer, it's not surprising that it was a #1 vote for me, but I am surprised that I was the only one who gave it 30 points. Although TBF I was in the middle of a new campaign before the fatigue set in, I still think that one of these days I'll dive back into it.

cocoon was dreadful!!! i was thinking this list had been alright but having it this high is disgraceful

it's extremely shallow, utterly style over substance. the recursion puzzles are cool in theory (see say, patrick's paraboxes for what can be done with that sort of mechanic) but it's completely uninterested in actually being a puzzle game, as it fairly aggressively holds your hand the whole way through. solving the puzzles generally required little real thought or understanding, with most being completely trivial as they never made the solution space big enough to require much thought at all.

Creepy vibes, rogue-like deckbuilder edition:

https://i.ibb.co/sJRG2ZDS/Inscryption.png

3. Inscryption — 117 points — 8 votes — 2 first place

Oh wow, I had given up on this one making it! I genuinely thought it might have been me + 1 other person giving it not enough points to enter the chart, but it beat Baldur's Gate?!?!?!

inscryption is fantastic, i think i would have had it at #4 or so. i kinda just assumed it had a good chance of being #1 given the general vibe of the results so far.

case of the golden idol and ufo 50 are both great, would have voted

lorelei and the laser eyes is pretty good and i'd have voted for it, though i found the ending very disappointing in how uninspired it is and how unambiguously it wraps everything up - if you're going to make a game this blatantly inspired by lynch you could at least understand that ambiguity is compelling! especially disappointing given how good it'd been up until the end. i also found the sort of pen & paper brainteaser nature of the puzzles a bit uninteresting but they're not bad puzzles at all. the lack of any sort of back button was a fairly exhausting design decision too.

bg3 & totk would have been at the bottom of my ballot. they're both solid enough games that are waaaaaaaaaay too big for their own good and i never finished, burning out after something like 100 hours each, at about 3/4 through each game. some day i might go back but idk when i'll ever feel like it

i guess top 2 is elden ring and something else that will seem completely obvious but has slipped my mind

Balatro.

Tbf I'd forgotten about Elden Ring - up until you said it I was scouring my brain trying to think about what massive games had come out in this period, and I knew there was something I kept forgetting.

It's definitely gonna be Balatro and Tactical Breach Wizards

i would have voted for elden ring and tactical breach wizards but absolutely not balatro which i have very strong thoughts on

https://i.ibb.co/C53pxVHS/Elden-Ring.png

2. Elden Ring — 148 points — 7 votes — 3 first place

The jokers are kings!

ufo did you vote for UFO 50? hah

Wild the differing opinions on Cocoon, but that's taste for you.

oh yeah Balatro is winning this. Probably rightfully so.

Between Balatro and Elden Ring, those games have taken at least 500+ hours of my life.

i would have voted for elden ring and tactical breach wizards but absolutely not balatro which i have very strong thoughts on

I've got good news and bad news.

https://i.ibb.co/9k8d8CHC/Marvel-Puzzle-Quest.png

1. Marvel Puzzle Quest — 167 points — 8 votes — 6 first place

Ahahahahaaaaaa

ELDEN RING O ELDEN RING *gestures*

OK sitting on this long enough, actually playing a run as I type.

https://i.ibb.co/bqrFs1w/Balatro.png

1. Balatro — 179 points — 9 votes — 3 first place

I can hear the music now

well deserved!

I did a chart that roughly tracked ballots as I saw them, and for the first several weeks, Elden Ring had a sizable lead over everything, and Balatro was nowhere to be found. Then the Cocoon surge happened, and *finally* my Jimbo bot army came online in the last week like an Idol build to just nose out ER in the end.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSyBCPw-tCnsAfQbkBVnGJTuZ4yNeX6JV5rF39CmEMs2ZnVpn8K65HRnjgaKIdcpf6Zf5nqMmEdRLe2/pubchart?oid=1665161858&format=interactive

Full list. (Sorry that I didn't include platform/year, that was dumb of me, I can provide if needed.)

1. Balatro — 179 points — 9 votes — 3 first place
2. Elden Ring — 148 points — 7 votes — 3 first place
3. Inscryption — 117 points — 8 votes — 2 first place
4. Baldur's Gate 3 — 116 points — 8 votes — 1 first place
5. Cocoon — 105 points — 6 votes — 2 first place
5. UFO 50 — 105 points — 7 votes
7. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — 101 points — 7 votes — 1 first place
8. Lorelei and the Laser Eyes — 80 points — 4 votes
9. The Case of the Golden Idol — 73 points — 9 votes
10. Stray — 70 points — 4 votes
11. Tunic — 67 points — 6 votes
12. Chants of Sennaar — 65 points — 5 votes
13. Super Mario Bros. Wonder — 62 points — 6 votes
14. Vampire Survivors — 61 points — 7 votes
15. Hitman 3 — 60 points — 3 votes — 1 first place
15. Alan Wake 2 — 60 points — 2 votes — 2 first place
15. Thank Goodness You're Here! — 60 points — 3 votes
18. Pentiment — 59 points — 6 votes
19. Citizen Sleeper — 58 points — 5 votes — 1 first place
20. Animal Well — 52 points — 4 votes
21. Metroid Dread — 51 points — 5 votes
22. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown — 45 points — 3 votes — 1 first place
22. Void Stranger — 45 points — 3 votes
24. Astro Bot — 44 points — 3 votes
25. Immortality — 43 points — 4 votes
26. Dredge — 36 points — 4 votes
27. Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon — 35 points — 2 votes
27. Valheim — 35 points — 2 votes — 1 first place
27. Unicorn Overlord — 35 points — 2 votes — 1 first place
27. Venba — 35 points — 2 votes — 1 first place
31. Resident Evil 4 — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place
31. 1000xResist — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place
31. A Space for the Unbound — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place
31. Dead Space — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place
31. Deathloop — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place
31. Earth Defence Force 6 — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place
31. Caves of Qud — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place
31. It Takes Two — 30 points — 1 votes — 1 first place
39. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth — 29 points — 1 votes
39. Dave the Diver — 29 points — 4 votes
41. Chicory: A Colorful Tale — 27 points — 2 votes
42. The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie — 26 points — 1 votes
43. Videoverse — 25 points — 1 votes
43. Return to Monkey Island — 25 points — 3 votes
43. Metaphor: ReFantazio — 25 points — 2 votes
43. Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo — 25 points — 1 votes
47. Norco — 23 points — 3 votes
48. Death's Door — 21 points — 2 votes
48. Chained Echoes — 21 points — 1 votes
50. Blasphemous 2 — 20 points — 1 votes
50. Kirby and the Forgotten Land — 20 points — 2 votes
50. Unpacking — 20 points — 3 votes
50. Hi-Fi Rush — 20 points — 2 votes
50. Persona 3 Reload — 20 points — 1 votes
50. God of War: Ragnarok — 20 points — 1 votes
50. Little Nightmares II — 20 points — 1 votes
50. Rollerdrome — 20 points — 1 votes
58. Returnal — 19 points — 2 votes
58. The Forgotten City — 19 points — 2 votes
60. Slay the Princess — 18 points — 2 votes
61. Lake — 17 points — 1 votes
61. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom — 17 points — 2 votes
63. Signalis — 16 points — 3 votes
63. Strange Horticulture — 16 points — 3 votes
63. Cult of the Lamb — 16 points — 3 votes
66. Tactical Breach Wizards — 15 points — 2 votes
66. Fall Guys — 15 points — 2 votes
66. NYT Connections — 15 points — 3 votes
66. Cassette Beasts — 15 points — 1 votes
66. F-Zero 99 — 15 points — 1 votes
66. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader — 15 points — 1 votes
72. Rise of the Golden Idol — 14 points — 4 votes
73. Tinykin — 11 points — 2 votes
74. Resident Evil Village — 10 points — 1 votes
74. Sifu — 10 points — 1 votes
74. Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn — 10 points — 1 votes
74. In Stars and Time — 10 points — 1 votes
74. Octopath Traveler II — 10 points — 1 votes
74. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 — 10 points — 2 votes
74. Crypt Custodian — 10 points — 1 votes
74. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle — 10 points — 1 votes
74. Viewfinder — 10 points — 1 votes
74. Neva — 10 points — 1 votes
74. Marvel's Midnight Suns — 10 points — 2 votes
85. Psychonauts 2 — 9 points — 1 votes
86. Dungeon Encounters — 8 points — 1 votes
86. Roadwarden — 8 points — 1 votes
86. Repeat the Ending — 8 points — 1 votes
89. Lil Gator Game — 6 points — 1 votes
89. Isles of Sea and Sky — 6 points — 1 votes
89. Elephantasy: Flipside — 6 points — 1 votes
89. Jupiter Hell — 6 points — 1 votes
93. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Metroid Prime Remastered — 5 points — 1 votes
93. PowerWash Simulator — 5 points — 1 votes
93. RPG Golf Legends — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Soul Hackers 2 — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Taiji — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Astalon: Tears of the Earth — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Patrick's Parabox — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Paper Trail — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Storyteller — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Bonfire Peaks — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Aeterna Noctis — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 — 5 points — 1 votes
93. I Was a Teenage Exocolonist — 5 points — 1 votes
93. The Excavation of Hob's Barrow — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury — 5 points — 1 votes
93. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes — 5 points — 1 votes
115. Mask of the Rose — 2 points — 1 votes
115. The Salt Keep — 2 points — 1 votes
115. Of Their Shadows Deep — 2 points — 1 votes
118. Occult Crime Police — 1 points — 1 votes
118. The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark — 1 points — 1 votes
118. If On a Winter's Night, Four Travelers — 1 points — 1 votes
118. Overboard! — 1 points — 1 votes
118. Wildermyth — 1 points — 1 votes
118. Horizon Forbidden West — 1 points — 1 votes

elden ring is good but not fromsoft's best. some very high points but the open world structure does far more harm than good in the end, there's way too much bloat in the end with too many barely distinguishable catacombs and caves. would have voted for it still but not near the top.

i hated balatro because it actively doesn't want to be a strategy game and prefers to be a slot machine bullshit game instead. it deliberately makes trying to play it strategically as tedious as possible because there is way too much maths involved.

https://gmtk.substack.com/p/balatros-cursed-design-problem

LocalThunk says…

“My personal belief is that the game is more fun when you set up your Rube Goldberg machine and watch it go before knowing whether or not the hand will win the round.”

And Balatro totally plays into this! There’s so much hype and pageantry after playing your hand. The numbers tick up, with escalating sound effects. Each card and joker steps forward in turn to add their points to the total. If you’re lucky, the score multiplier will set on fire and start to burn hotter and hotter with each multiplication.

i hate this! that isn't fun at all to me. it's the same slot machine bullshit as vampire survivors, except even worse in some ways because it's getting more directly in the way of what at least had the potential to be an interesting strategy game.

i didn't vote because i forgot and then ran out of time but my ballot would have been something like the following, in descending order. no idea about points allocation, i didn't get to that before the deadline so maybe not all of these would have made it on there.

Void Stranger
Unsighted
Tunic
Inscryption
Lies of P
Nine Sols
Death's Door
UFO 50
Afterimage
Pentiment
The Case of the Golden Idol
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Blasphemous 2
Tactical Breach Wizards
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Astalon: Tears of the Earth
Axiom Verge 2
Elden Ring
Dwarf Fortress
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
Isles of Sea and Sky
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Metroid Dread
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Baldur's Gate 3

Starting to feel an almost spiritual connection to the ILX hivemind. My top of ballot

18pts Elden Ring
17pts Balatro
16pts The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
15pts Baldur's Gate 3
14pts Astro Bot
13pts UFO 50
12pts Pentiment
11pts The Case of the Golden Idol
10pts Vampire Survivors

broadly you can mostly separate my ballot into three categories, with some overlap. puzzle/mystery/strategy games, action-adventure (all falling somewhere between 'zelda-like' and 'souls-like'), and metroidvania (which is still a sort of action-adventure but a slightly different one)

Balatro is the only game I think of other than Marvel Puzzle Quest that I have deleted multiple times due to it ruining my life

ufo otm, though i'd rather have more catacombs/caves than wasting another hour horsing around an empty field searching for a game to play.

bloat indeed, it's why ER didn't make my ballot at all despite being the single game i put the most hours in during the polled period (perhaps ever?)

what good is there is really really good, stormveil and haligtree may be my favourite areas in all of souls games, shame about the sprawl

I think Cocoon is fantastic, but it's definitely not a hardcore puzzle game. For me it did the thing where it continually introduces new mechanics and lets you feel like you're really figuring it out, even though it's giving you enough guidance to go on (without ever being didactic, because there's no text or words).

I think Baldur's Gate would have been my fantasy game as a kid, a full-on way to play D&D by yourself, but it's just not what I want out of a game now (I need more twitchy gameplay that fully absorbs my brain).

Playing Inscryption with my wife was amazing, the ideal game for the two of us. Cocoon was up there too.

And I guess Elden Ring isn't in my top 3 From games, but it's still a modern classic.

For me it did the thing where it continually introduces new mechanics and lets you feel like you're really figuring it out, even though it's giving you enough guidance to go on

see it never let me feel like i was figuring things out at all and never really explored its mechanics in any depth. it was a very short game that entirely consisted of introductory puzzles to gently familiarise the player with mechanics, where there were never very many possible actions to take so you can just stumble through most of it. i was really shocked when it ended just because it was so short and hadn't really gotten to the point of actually doing anything. it's gorgeously presented and could have been the first half or third of an actually interesting game, but it never got to that point at all. it really felt like a puzzle game designed to impress people who do not care about puzzle games.

I seem to be on a similar wavelength as other voters. No interest in shooters or online multiplayer.

I sort most of my votes into 4 categories:

'cryptic' games - games with unclear rules that you have to learn
Inscryption
Cocoon
Lorelei
Tunic
Void Stranger
Dungeon Encounters
Taiji
Isles of sea and sky

more straightforward puzzle/deduction games
patrick's parabox
chants of sennaar
paper trail
storyteller
bonfire peaks
golden idol 1 & 2

games like zelda or metroid - twisty games with barriers to get past
Tunic again
Animal Well
Metroid Dread
The Lost Crown
Astalon
Elephantasy Flipside
Aeterna Noctis

story games
Norco
The Forgotten City
Immortality

and here's my votes that didn't fall into those categories:
Vampire Survivors: invented a new genre. slightly cryptic with the powerups and secrets. although, i ended up playing Brotato for longer.
Tinykin - 3d collectathon platformer with an emphasis on getting high up
Lil Gator Game - cozy game similar to a short hike
UFO 50 - retro/multi-genre; around 10 of them are fantastic
Arzette - 2d platformer that is an excuse for the funny cutscenes
Xenoblade 3 - i like slow rpgs sometimes. just going around collecting sparkles.

Cocoon is a great game to play after a blunt. Which is how I play most of my games

Leee thanks for putting this on. I have a number of games I need to pick up because of this!

My only major objections are Cocoon and Stray being as high as they are, but otherwise… pretty solid list! Good job ilx and mega thx Leee.

Don't forget to thank poly for making the banners and putting up with some capricious requests!

Cocoon is really pretty. there was a game called Recursed that came out before it that had the same puzzle mechanic, but it was an ugly looking game.

patrick's paraboxes is a much better exploration of the same sort of recursion mechanics. it's very pure puzzle game though

Enjoyed this thread lots and good to read people's game thoughts. Thanks very much Leee and poly and everybody who played

Of the things I voted for that didn't make the final list, the one I wish more people noticed was Cassette Beasts. Maybe we aren't really into Pokemon-type games, but this one has enough of a spin on the concept to make something unique and it ups the difficulty for an adult audience. The soundtrack is also very, very good.

It’s by a UK studio and one of its charms is that it embeds national folklore and culture without being jingoistic or overly twee (it is still sometimes a little twee). There are place names riffing on real-world locations and bosses themed around Alice in Wonderland (who is unsettling) and Robin Goodfellow (who is very annoying and difficult), monsters that nod to Springheel Jack, Robin Hood, and Herne the Hunter.

many thanks to Leee and poly for putting this together!

Thank you Leee and thanks everyone for voting! I appreciate all the recommendations and have added a bunch to my wishlist.

I gotta make a plug for "Deathloop" especially for those who enjoyed the "Dishonored" games. I feel like it's just so well-designed and offers so many possibilities (both stealth and non-stealth) and rewards creativity and curiosity, all making it really fun. And I never got tired of using the "Karnesis" ability to throw people off the side of cliffs...very satisfying, ha.

Took a weed gummy and have been playing Microsoft Flight Simulator ‘24 all morning. I should’ve given this more points.

xp I played Deathloop for a minute but got distracted by other things. Appreciate the reminder, been meaning to give it a full go. The Dishonored games are pretty choice.

I completely missed this poll but tbh I'd only played a few games in the list anyway, which were Elden Ring, TOTK and Thank Goodness Yr Here (which was brill), honestly I just spent all my time (re) playing Oblivion (even before the redo came out), Civ 6 and BOTW. I'm a simple lass.

thanks for running this Leee! I think I need to give Inscryption another go, it never clicked but perhaps that was because I didn't get to the late game stuff...

inscryption very much has its twists and turns and it's worth seeing those through, but if you didn't like it early on i wouldn't expect anything later to really change your mind that much

the beginning of the game is ultimately the strongest part, and while the twists and turns really are quite cool they are just twists and turns?