Return to COINT + PLICK Island: 2021-2024 - NOMINATIONS

Let's do this thing? Nominate some games released between 2021-2024! I'll also use this thread to sort of gauge the actual commitment and interest of posters (to see if getting stuff setup is worth the time/effort), so even if you don't have any games to nominate ATM, just pop in and say hi!

I will vote and write up lil blurbs for my top 10 / weird faves etc

Blurbs encourages imo! Makes the rollout more interesting

Ooh, no 2025? I will have to have a look through what I've played. For now, off the top of my head:

Slay the Princess
Balatro
Strange Horticulture
Mask of the Rose
The Excavation of Hob's Barrow
Inscryption

Debating whether to nominate Scarlet Hollow as it's been released episodically and isn't finished yet, but the episodes that are out are fantastic...

i’ve been waiting YEARS to read emil.y’s coint and plick list <3

apex legends

Like a Draon: Infinite Wealth
The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie (2020 but Western localizations were 2023)
Persona 3 Reload
Dredge
Lake

i'll get back to ya

Unpacking
Soul Hackers 2
A Space for the Unbound
RPG Golf Legends

Hitman 3
Vampire Survivors
The Case of the Golden Idol
Arctic Eggs
Neyasnoe
Balan Wonderworld

Baldur's Gate 3
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
Cyberpunk 2077
Elden Ring
Luck be Landlord
Metroid Dread
Super Mario Bros: Wonder

Stray
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Balatro
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth

I feel like most games I play are old or remasters anyway. Just outside this time period: Hades (September 2020) & Blue Prince (Apr 2025).

Yeah I had a couple from last year I had to leave out. Already nommed Infinite Wealth of course 😄

Thinking about my list made me realise I am the kind of special interest gamer who is blissfully ignorant about nine tenths of what people are playing.

Also I can't work out an exact release window for Paradise Killer. I'm nommimg that if it's eligible

2020 on Switch and Windows makes it ineligible sadly

XPs I actually played Case of the Golden Idol but didn’t realise it was that recent…”feels” 2015ish to me!

it's an eye-opener when you realise games that are new to you have been around for a decade or games that look like they've been around for ages are relatively new

i guess a lot of people are like me where my gaming schedule is heavily influenced by price reductions, what's on PS Plus etc? even when i can afford to it's super rare that i'll buy something full price when it's just been released

Yeah that’s definitely the case for me, or sometimes an interesting looking thread on here or one of ye mentioning something

yeah when somebody mentions a game that looks intersting to me i usually just pop it in the wishlist tho. it's only the last couple of months that i played Stardew Valley and Obra Dinn. enjoyed the hell out of both but obv Obra Dinn is a two weeks and never again deal.

Otm, very fun though when you’re in it. Stardew valley I can leave for literal years and pick back up whenever

i guess a lot of people are like me where my gaming schedule is heavily influenced by price reductions, what's on PS Plus etc? even when i can afford to it's super rare that i'll buy something full price when it's just been released

This is exactly why I left out 2025!

You know, I was ready to allow Paradise Killer for this poll but then saw that it placed #7 with 3 votes in 2020, so I'm thinking about amending one of Will's rules: if you played something on a platform and the game debuted on that platform in the year(s) we're polling for, then you can nominate it, provided it received fewer than 5 votes in a previous poll. How does that sound? I may have a vested interest in this since I picked the game up for free in the last EGS Winter Sale.

Also, does anyone want to help me out with doing images? I can fumble my way through GIMP but I don't have the vision or skills to make them snazzy.

2021
Chicory
Death's Door
Wildermyth

2022
Pentiment
Cult of the Lamb
Citizen Sleeper
Marvel's Midnight Suns
Signalis
Two Point Campus

2023
Chants of Sennaar
Dave the Diver
Venba

2024
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Rise of the Golden Idol
Tactical Breach Wizards

D'oh: Horizon Forbidden West (2022)

Alan Wake 2
Returnal
Sifu
Gran Turismo 7
Streets of Rage 4
Nioh 2
Blasphemous 2
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
Void Stranger
Dusk
Resident Evil Village
Resident Evil 4 Remake
Unicorn Overlord
Animal Well
Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn
Astro Bot
UFO 50
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024

Also, does anyone want to help me out with doing images?

I'd help out with images.

Can probably cross off Dusk and Streets of Rage, just got ports in that span.

xp 2 me

Nioh 2 I guess too, shit

Was surprised how many games felt like they were definitely in this window but turned out to be, like, 2018... Anyway some highlights of those few years for me:

Jupiter Hell
Isles of Sea and Sky
Return to Monkey Island
Dredge
Judero
Tactical Breach Wizards
Psychonauts 2
Lost in Play
Thank Goodness You're Here!
Signalis
Steamworld Heist II
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Animal Well
Star Wars Outlaws
Astrobot
Returnal

I was about to give up and accept that there just weren't any truly outstanding works of interactive fiction in this time period, but then I remembered:

Type Help
Roadwarden
Repeat the Ending
The Salt Keep
Of Their Shadows Deep

(depending on how many votes we get, I'm not sure how many of these would make my final ballot, but all are worth noting)

I'd help out with images.

Awesome! I'll ping you when we're further along the process, thanks!

Probably too lazy to do the poll this time, but I'll be happy to read the results. (Probably would be just Marvels Puzzle Quest, Snap, and Rivals heavy on the ballot)

Cocoon
Indika

2021:
Little Nightmares II

2022:
God of War: Ragnarok
Rollerdrome

2023:
Dead Space (remake)
Viewfinder

** I just watched the Kino 4K of "Nostalghia," and I'm glad I sprang for the 4K instead of the Blu-ray - it looks AMAZING. The detail and film grain! (FWIW, out of the 20-ish 4Ks I have, I probably would've been just as happy with the Blu-ray versions with half of them.) My previous viewing was standard def on a CRT, years ago, so this upgrade really blew me away.

** This was new to me - Stan Brakhage's account of meeting Tarkovsky, including a private screening of Brakhage's works in a tiny hotel room (Zbigniew Rybczynski was there, too!): http://www.nostalghia.com/TheTopics/Brakhage_and_Tarkovsky.html
Tarkovsky HATED Brakhage's films! But apparently he couldn't stop thinking about them and talking about them, afterwards. It's a great article, and I can just picture them all crammed into that hotel room.

oops wrong thread sorry

Well now I know I have something in common with Tarkovsky.

i look forward to this! i managed to get my silly personal picks in the previous lists because there weren't many voters. hopefully we get a few more this go-around.

Patrick's Parabox, 2022
Bonfire Peaks, 2021
Norco, 2022
Astalon: Tears of the Earth, 2021
The Forgotten City, 2021
Lil Gator Game, 2022
Taiji, 2022
NYT Connections, 2023
Xenoblade Chronicles 3, 2022
Storyteller, 2023
Arzette, 2024

re nostalghia: The Witness was 2016, too early. but i'll add:
The Looker, 2022

Earth Defence Force 6 (2022)
Virtua Fighter eSports / VF5 US (2021)
Hi-Fi Rush (2023)
Cotton Rock'n'Roll (2022)
Kikikaikai / Pocky & Rocky (2022)
Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection (2021)

Was surprised how many games felt like they were definitely in this window but turned out to be, like, 2018...

SAME! I was like, "Oh what about the Death Stranding games..." but no, they technically span six years(!)

it’s mad that persona 5 is now ten years old. I remember waiting years for it to even be announced after P4 (2008)

Tbf I've played it and then Golden i don't know how many times. The sad thing is when we finally get 6 I'll go straight in, knowing fine well there'll be a whole new storyline added in the 12 months after

Not Golden, Royal. I mean I have also put hundreds of hours into Golden too tbf

Real Bird Fake Bird, 2024

Dungeon Encounters, 2021
Deeeer Simulator, 2021
Aeterna Noctis, 2021
Tinykin, 2022
Immortality, 2022
Elephantasy: Flipside, 2023
The Holy Gosh Darn, 2024
Paper Trail, 2024

I'm compiling the noms list here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hqGyMtindkjjXhUtAZ3a_7usil-9YOy0pStHuL6eG3s/edit?usp=sharing

Please take a peek to make sure I didn't omit or misspell anything! Nb I'm still filling in the years/platforms, so don't worry if it's currently blank.

Virtua Fighter eSports / VF5 US (2021)
Kikikaikai / Pocky & Rocky (2022)

@chihuahua question on these noms.

- The Pocky & Rocky game is this one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocky_%26_Rocky_Reshrined
- The VF5 Wikipedia entry looks really confusing -- is this a full game released in 2021? Would the title be Ultimate Showdown?

Current list stands at 110 titles, I think I'll leave this up for another week (which gives me time to fill in the blanks), and then we'll move onto the lobbying phase ($3000 donations max).

Do you only want us to nominate games we've played / will vote for? Could dig up some possibly worthy contenders.

The Pocky & Rocky game is this one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocky_%26_Rocky_Reshrined

yes, that's the one

the vf5 console releases are a convoluted mess, think of sf2 and all its revisions: world warrior, hyper fighting, champion edition, etc

the nominated 2021 vf5 ultimate showdown (called vf esports in japan) originally was a ps4 version of vf5 final showdown (2012 arcade and 360/ps3 exclusive), it was a gameplay perfect port of that game but with different (worse) graphics, and it is a full game with online play.

i say "was" because it eventually received an update with the gameplay changes introduced in vf5 revo, but revo itself can't be nominated because it's a 2025 release. so right now, vf5 ultimate showdown is technically the ps4 port of vf5 revo, except without rollback netcode.

think of sf2 and all its revisions

lol thank you for putting this in terms that an old will understand, I'll put it in the list as Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, but don't necessarily feel great about it (at least the PS4 page for it lists it as a 2021 release).

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Elden Ring Nightreign

I've added POP but not Nightreign because we're only polling up to 2024.

Unsighted (2021, PC/Switch/PS4/Xbox One)
Tunic (2021, PC/Mac/Switch/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series S/X)
Nine Sols (2022, PC/Mac/Switch/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series S/X)
Lies of P (2023, PC/Mac/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series S/X)
Afterimage (2023, PC/Switch/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series S/X)
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (2023, PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series S/X)
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023, PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series S/X)
Axiom Verge 2 (2023, PC/Linux/Switch/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series S/X)
Haak (2022, PC/Switch/Android/iOS)
Dwarf Fortress (2022, PC/Linux)

You know, I was ready to allow Paradise Killer for this poll but then saw that it placed #7 with 3 votes in 2020, so I'm thinking about amending one of Will's rules: if you played something on a platform and the game debuted on that platform in the year(s) we're polling for, then you can nominate it, provided it received fewer than 5 votes in a previous poll. How does that sound? I may have a vested interest in this since I picked the game up for free in the last EGS Winter Sale.

what are the eligibility rules exactly? i remember things were relatively loose in the past mostly for timed exclusivity reasons (thankfully much less of a thing than they used to be) but i don't remember exactly how it worked.

three borderline ones:
Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition (2021, PC/PS5) (this was a ps4 exclusive in 2020 but got an enhanced pc + ps5 port with all the dlc in 2021)
Hades II (2024, PC/Mac) (this got a very substantial early access release in 2024 and i played it a ton that year, but full release wasn't until 2025)
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (2024, PC/Switch/PS5/Xbox Series S/X) (this is a port of a 2009 ds game that was ported to other platforms in 2024 as part of the castlevania dominus collection. the other games in the collection are nowhere near as good)

i guess dwarf fortress is potentially borderline too, since it was just a shift to a paid release in 2022 with a gigantic ui overhaul

FOUNTAINS (2024, PC/Mac/Linux)
Lingo (2021, PC)
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (2021, Nintendo Switch) (enhanced port of a 2013 wii u game with a whole new expansion added, so i guess borderline idk)

let's throw Subnautica: Below Zero on the pile, I might actually play it a bit before voting happens

Emily, Repeat the Ending seems to be from 2025, so I struck it off the list.

what are the eligibility rules exactly? i remember things were relatively loose in the past mostly for timed exclusivity reasons (thankfully much less of a thing than they used to be) but i don't remember exactly how it worked.

I remember the old rule about platform-specific release years being that if you're going to vote for it, you have to have played it on the platform and in the year that it was released on. This obviously can't be enforced, and I recall Will maybe regretting this rule (which may have been revised in later polls), because Hollow Knight made the top 10 in both 2017 and 2018 or something. So, if you played Nioh 2 on PC/PS5 and that Castlevania on PC/Switch/PS5/Xbox Series S/X, go for it.

I'm going to say that early access games aren't eligible, since that'd open e.g. Hades 2 to double-dipping.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury seems fine since the latter is -- from what I've gathered -- its own game. However, Santa will know if you're mainly voting for SM3DW, so be prepared to live with that.

Dwarf Fortress looks fine to me, WP lists the original as being an alpha release, and the Steam page lists 2022 as the release year.

And in the spirit of ILG tradition, I'm thinking of allowing live service games so that MPQ has a chance at appearing again -- how does that sound?

fine by me, i'm not really fussed about what people want to vote for unless it's ludicrously outside of the spirit of the rules

Chihuahua, looks like Cotton Rock'n'Roll is AKA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Fantasy:_Superlative_Night_Dreams, so I'm going to list it under the latter name. LMK if I'm mistaken!

Repeat the Ending was definitely 2023, it won the Spring Thing IF festival that year. IFDB entry confirms it. Although I'm looking at the itch.io page and I can see most of the date stamps suggest '25, but I think those are updates not date of original upload.

I can find IFDB etc entries for the others from that post if you need me to, just been busy with the ILM poll lately so didn't do it myself initially.

No, you're right! I meant Type Help.

Oh shit, boo, you're absolutely right. That is a real shame as that would be my number one of the text adventures I listed - an absolute treat to play. On the other hand, it is getting a remake from the same people who remade Roottrees (under a different name I can't remember), so maybe it's all the better having to keep it for a future poll, when it might have reached a wider audience.

Oh, I'll definitely try to get in on that then! Loved Roottrees.

And if anyone's wondering, I'm fully willing to run a 2025 poll, which I envision happening the end of this year.

some noms:
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Street Fighter 6
Total Warhammer 3
Octopath Traveler 2
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

xp to Leeee

that's right, fantasy is the western title and rock n roll is the japanese one, exact same game. same deal with pocky & rocky, all versions include the english localisation.

nominating something else although it's unlikely i'll have completed it before voting:

Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (2023)

Not mentioned yet:

Crypt Custodian
Strange Antiquities
Dungeons of Hinterburg
Cassette Beasts
Spider-Man Miles Morales, Spider-Man 2
Yakuza Lost Judgment
Pokemon Scarlet/Violet
Guardians of the Galaxy

Her Story
Crow Country
Inkulinati
Oxenfree II

oh wait I only played Her Story in this period but it's old by video game standards, nm

Strange Antiquities was '25, but I did nominate Strange Horticulture, which does fall into the 21-24 time period!

My feeling is that recency bias would help the '25 games enough to counteract the "fewer people have played them" issue, so it would've been fine to go all the way up to last year. Plus I feel like last year was genuinely great for games and some very exciting things were released, so it'd be nice to vote for them. However, Leee is running the show so I'm happy with whatever rules are in place, just good to have Coint'n'Plick back tbh.

Yeah ive got at least 3 solid faves from 25 which is rare for me but I'm cool with the boundaries we've established here

Pinball FX
Moss: Book II
Necromunda: Hired Gun
Pinball M
Xenotilt
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Trombone Champ
Destiny 2
Night Cascades
Forza Horizon 5
Diablo IV
GoldenEye 007
Fall Guys
Infinity Nikki
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
PowerWash Simulator
Helldivers 2
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Humanity
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2

(I don't know how people are going to feel about including Goldeneye!)

Oh and some Switch stuff (most of which I haven't played):

Pokémon Unite
New Pokémon Snap
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Miitopia
Bayonetta 3
Pikmin 4
Metroid Prime Remastered
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe
F-Zero 99

it's probably best it doesn't include 2025... there's already too much to vote for from 2021-24

(I don't know how people are going to feel about including Goldeneye!)

This looks like a port? In which case it's not really eligible.

wait wait, ports are *not* allowed?

then definitely chop off my vf5us nomination, that one's a port and not even a good one, i only brought it up because in the 2021-2024 stretch it was the only "legal" way to play vf online in a system still being manufactured and easily available

i left off the Tomb Raider ports because they're not notably new games afaict

This looks like a port?

It's complicated. It's a remaster, but there's not much in there which has changed - and they also released two versions, one for xbox, one for switch, and they have different features. Xbox version supports resolutions up to 4k, has improved framerates, and they've modernised the control scheme. Switch version doesn't have any of those but does include online multiplayer (the xbox version is local multiplayer only).

But yeah, at most a remaster rather than a remake, even on xbox.

I'm just going to arbitrarily say that DEADLINE FOR NOMS WILL BE 24 HOURS FROM NOW!

And given that we're voting on 4 years' worth of games, how big should the ballot be? I'm thinking 40 at a minimum, but if we just scale 20 x 4, 80 seems kind of OTT. I'm open to thoughts.

Ooh, a few more that came to mind:

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (2022)
Norco (2022)
Occult Crime Police (2021)
If On a Winter's Night, Four Travelers (2021)
The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark (2021)
Overboard! (2021)

I don't think I'd be able to list more than 40, tbh, even that amount might be stretching it. Will we be allowed write-ins if we remember something that we totally forgot about during nominations?

I'm sure there won't be 40 i can vote for in good faith, so I don't mind how big the ballot is. Let's see if anybody thinks 40 is too restrictive

I think other voting things are often 100 points per person and max 30 points for any one thing, right? and I'm sure in past years there weren't min/max requirements for number of games voted for, main thing was don't go over 100 points. Seems workable for this?

I probably have played at least 40 games from this period but don't necessarily want to vote for them all! Would aim for a list of 10-20 depending on final rules

In Stars and Time, 2023

Thanks folks, forgot about the point allocation for voting, and I think I'll keep that aspect, but increase the total points you get to, IDK, 160?