HONK
I couldn't vote in good conscience, UGG was the only eligible game I actually played, I think. It deserves the win, it was the game of the year even if that's not the same as the best game of the year
― a slobbering sombrero moment (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 18:57 (four years ago) link
can everyone do my a favour and read the next one while putting your mouse to automatically slowly scroll through it? thanks
― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 18:58 (four years ago) link
THIRTEENTH ANNUAL COINT + PLICK
CREDITS
Compiling
Will M.
Pictures
Posting
Psych-out
Voters
abananaLeeeKarl MaloneufoWill M. karl...arlk...rlka...lkar...FizzlesThe Yellow KidPolyphonicciderpressmordyemil.ySilbyOrifexmethanietannernhexEulerulysses
Production kitties adoptedYuri M.Kornelius M.
An ILX Production
1 - Untitled Goose Game - 109 points / 1.33 First-place votes / 9 Votes2 - Baba Is You - 109 points / 1 First-place vote / 7 Votes3 - The Outer Wilds - 93 points / 1.33 First-place votes / 6 votes4 - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 86 points / 2 First-place votes / 4 Votes5 - Control - 85 points / 2 First-place votes / 4 Votes6 - Fire Emblem: Three Houses - 82 points / 1.5 First-place votes / 6 Votes7 - Death Stranding - 81 points / 1 First-place vote / 6 Votes8 - Dragon Quest 11 Definitive Edition - 70 points / 0.83 First-place votes / 3 Votes9 - Super Mario Maker 2 - 46 points / 5 Votes10 - Slay the Spire - 39 points / 5 Votes11 - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - 39 points / 3 Votes12 - Hypnospace Outlaw - 35 points / 1.33 First-place votes / 2 Votes13 - A Short Hike - 35 points / 3 Votes14 - Wingspan - 35 points / 2 Votes14 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - 35 points / 2 Votes16 - Return of the Obra Dinn - 32 points / 2 Votes17 - Dicey Dungeons - 30 points / 1 First-place vote / 3 Votes18 - Super Mega Baseball 2 - 30 points / 1 First-place vote / 1 Vote18 - Mutazione - 30 points / 1 First-place vote / 1 Vote20 - Cook Serve Delicious 2 - 30 points / 0.33 First-place votes / 1 Vote21 - Tetris 99 - 30 points / 4 Votes22 - Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom - 30 points / 2 Votes23 - Sayonara Wild Hearts - 29 points / 2 Votes24 - Wargroove - 28 points / 2 Votes25 - Void Bastards - 25 points / 1 First-place vote / 1 Vote25 - Antimatter Dimensions - 25 points / 1 First-place vote / 1 Vote27 - Mortal Kombat 11 - 25 points / 1 Vote28 - Grindstone - 24 points / 3 Votes29 - Ring Fit Adventure - 24 points / 2 Votes30 - The Outer Worlds - 22 points / 2 Votes31 - What the Golf? - 21 points / 3 Votes32 - Marvel Puzzle Quest - 21 points / 2 Votes33 - The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa - 20 points / 2 Votes33 - Islanders - 20 points / 2 Votes35 - Supraland - 16 points / 2 Votes36 - Anodyne 2: Return to Dust - 15 points / 0.33 First-place votes / 1 Vote37 - Zozzled - 15 points / 1 Vote37 - Pikuniku - 15 points / 1 Vote39 - Resident Evil 2 - 14 points / 2 Votes40 - Disco Elysium - 12 points / 2 Votes41 - Zanki Zero - 12 points / 1 Vote42 - Tom Clancy's The Division 2 - 11 points / 1 Vote43 - Blasphemous - 10 points / 1 Vote43 - Inmost - 10 points / 1 Vote43 - Apex Legends - 10 points / 1 Vote43 - Eastshade - 10 points / 1 Vote43 - Luigi's Mansion 3 - 10 points / 1 Vote43 - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 - 10 points / 1 Vote43 - The Fog Knows Your Name - 10 points / 1 Vote43 - Unheard - 10 points / 1 Vote43 - Ape Out - 10 points / 1 Vote43 - Golf Blitz - 10 points / 1 Vote43 - Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove - 10 points / 1 Vote54 - Gris - 9 points / 1 Vote55 - Judgment - 8 points / 2 Votes56 - New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - 7 points / 2 Votes57 - A Plague Tale: Innocence - 6 points / 1 Vote57 - Life is Strange 2 - 6 points / 1 Vote59 - Trials Rising - 5 points / 1 Vote59 - Pilgrims - 5 points / 1 Vote59 - SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions - 5 points / 1 Vote59 - Samurai Shodown - 5 points / 1 Vote59 - Wattam - 5 points / 1 Vote59 - Sugarlawn - 5 points / 1 Vote59 - Feather - 5 points / 1 Vote59 - Horace - 5 points / 1 Vote59 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - 5 points / 1 Vote59 - The Stillness of the Wind - 5 points / 1 Vote69 - Card of Darkness - 4 points / 1 Vote69 - Cat Quest 2 - 4 points / 1 Vote71 - Katana Zero - 3 points / 1 Vote71 - Wilmot's Warehouse - 3 points / 1 Vote
Physics by PhysX
Third-party audio middleware supplied by Wwise
Copyright 2019-2020
Further support from ILX's I Love Games department
Thank you for playing.
Would you like to start a new game? You can keep your progress from your first playthough, and vote for the games all over again. And then wait another two months for the results to slowly leak out on an unpredictable schedule.
YES ( ) NO ( X )
Fourteenth Coint + Plick coming in April-ish 2021!
*fade to black*
dammit that code sure didn't work
― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 18:59 (four years ago) link
TTTTTTTT HH HH EEEEEEEE EEEEEEEE NNNNN NN DDDDDD TT HH HH EE EE NN NN NN DD DD TT HHHHHHHH EEEEEEEE EEEEEEEE NN NN NN DD DD TT HH HH EE EE NN NN NN DD DD TT HH HH EEEEEEEE EEEEEEEE NN NNNN DDDDDD
*a voice beckons from the inky darkness*
if not sooner... it seems some generations still need to be polled...
TTTTTTTT HH HH EEEEEEEE EEEEEEEE NNNNN NN DDDDDD ???? TT HH HH EE EE NN NN NN DD DD ?? ?? TT HHHHHHHH EEEEEEEE EEEEEEEE NN NN NN DD DD ?? TT HH HH EE EE NN NN NN DD DD ?? TT HH HH EEEEEEEE EEEEEEEE NN NNNN DDDDDD ?? ??
― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:00 (four years ago) link
*applause*
― emil.y, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:01 (four years ago) link
Patch v1.1:
- Fixed an issue where credits did not display correctly
― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:01 (four years ago) link
Great work Will thanks
― a slobbering sombrero moment (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:02 (four years ago) link
Patch v1.2:
Included the list of disappointments. Each has only one vote.
A Plague Tale: InnocenceCrackdown 3Death StrandingFire Emblem: Three HousesThe Legend of Zelda: Link's AwakeningLuigi's Mansion 3Marvel Puzzle QuestRed Dead Redemption 2 Online isn't fun!Star Wars Jedi: Fallen OrderUntitled Goose GameVoid Bastards
You will need this update if you want to play online.
― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:03 (four years ago) link
lol thank you Will.
― Nhex, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:08 (four years ago) link
lol thanks Will!
My ballot mostly ranked very high, which is unusual for ILX polls!
― Triceratops Vowell (Leee), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:17 (four years ago) link
my ballot -
Death Stranding 21Fire Emblem: Three Houses 21The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa 15The Outer Wilds 15Zanki Zero 12Slay the Spire 10Disco Elysium 3Judgment 3
if anyone didn't save theirs and wanted to post it i can do that for you
― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:28 (four years ago) link
I thought I voted for Wilmot's Warehouse but I didn't! I should've slipped it a few points.
30 /// Baba Is You17 /// Return of the Obra Dinn13 /// Tetris 9913 /// Fire Emblem: Three Houses9 /// Sayonara Wild Hearts9 /// Untitled Goose Game9 /// The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)
― silby, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:29 (four years ago) link
my ballot was uhh
15: hypnospace outlaw, outer wilds, anodyne 210: a short hike, luigi's mansion 3, trails of cold steel 3, eastshade5: judgment, saga scarlet grace, samurai shodown
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:48 (four years ago) link
i don't remember my ballot. i don't think it was very good :(
― let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:50 (four years ago) link
i havent played anything in 2020 yet except animal crossing which ive played like 3 hours of but i'll try to unearth some good ones for next year
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:52 (four years ago) link
want me to post it km?
― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:53 (four years ago) link
No games are going to come out this year.
I’m excited for Clubhouse Games on Switch actually,might end up being my GOTY
― silby, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 19:53 (four years ago) link
i don't know if the xenoblade 1 remake counts towards goty but if so its the odds on favorite
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:00 (four years ago) link
Can you post mine, Will? I'm fairly sure I can remember it but didn't save it and don't want to make a mistake.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:02 (four years ago) link
sure!
emil.y's ballot:
30 untitled Goose game20 Sayonara Wild Hearts15 Zozzled10 The Fog Knows Your Name10 Unheard5 Wattam5 Sugarlawn5 Death Stranding
― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:03 (four years ago) link
that's be great, thanks!
― let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:24 (four years ago) link
i am too dumb for baba is you but it's definitely a cool game
― na (NA), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:25 (four years ago) link
The ballot of one Karl Malone:
15 Dicey Dungeons10 Death Stranding10 Blasphemous10 Fire Emblem: Three Houses10 Tetris 9910 The Outer Wilds10 untitled Goose game5 New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe4 Super Mario Maker 24 Ring Fit Adventure4 Cat Quest 24 Card of Darkness4 Grindstone
― Hackers (1995) (Will M.), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:27 (four years ago) link
Why did I give blasphemous 10 points, wtf
― let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:36 (four years ago) link
25 Antimatter Dimensions20 Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom15 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night10 Supraland10 Super Mario Maker 25 untitled Goose game5 Dicey Dungeons5 Baba Is You5 Resident Evil 2
disappointment: Crackdown 3Non-2019: Donut County
― wasdnuos (abanana), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 20:54 (four years ago) link
Control /// 30Wargroove /// 23The Outer Wilds /// 15Baba Is You /// 22untitled Goose game /// 1Gris /// 9
― Triceratops Vowell (Leee), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 21:13 (four years ago) link
Thanks, Will. I got Dicey Dungeons because of this poll and it rules. I threw all my points at Mutazione so I’ll try to sell it: as soothing as AC but character-driven and melancholy (and funny), music is good and plays a big role (there’s an exTREMEly subtle shout out to Boards of Canada), nice paper cutout art, not too long not too short, just hanging out in a chill village community with some friendly weirdos and their various dramas. OK back to Persona 5 Royal.
― orifex, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 21:32 (four years ago) link
Just catching up, but I think I voted for:
-Sekiro, because I'm a From stan, recommended if you're interested in incredibly tight combat mechanics and boss fights.
-Super Mario Maker 2, my game of 2019 & 2020 that I haven't played, but watching daily Ryukahr videos is an important part of my self-care regimen
-Goose Game, the first game I've been able to play with my wife since Inside, although we still need to do the last section
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 21:55 (four years ago) link
I've maybe watched 50 hours of people playing Sekiro. I can't get enough of it, but it's too hard for me to play.
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 22:34 (four years ago) link
It's not that bad, but you do need to meet the game on its terms and get some muscle memory going. I loved it but have no desire to play it again (although I can say the same for the single player modes of the other From games, it's the multiplayer that keeps me playing for years on end).
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 9 April 2020 19:25 (four years ago) link
Haha this was great as ever, thanks Will. And while in many ways I regret not voting this year (and will be back next year i promise), in one key way I'm glad I didn't, because I would've broken the tie for the top and I prefer it as it is.
― JimD, Friday, 10 April 2020 09:16 (four years ago) link
i didn't save my ballot but i think this was the order:
Fire Emblem: Three HousesBaba is YouSekiro: Shadows Die TwiceDisco ElysiumSupralandDeath StrandingKatana Zero
i really wanted to like The Outer Wilds more but found it to be a bit too frustrating and gave up eventually having done approx 2/3 of the game. the spaceship & jetpack are both pretty difficult to control and when screwing up a jump, for example, can completely ruin an entire loop it's pretty frustrating how punishing it is. also the ghost matter puzzles were a terrible mechanic, especially on the comet. there was certainly a lot to love about it though, so maybe i'll come back to it eventually and hope it doesn't frustrate me as much.
― ufo, Friday, 10 April 2020 12:29 (four years ago) link
i guess i played less than i thought this year but was more tuned into 'games media' given that the list of things i didn't play here is longer than the ones I did:
WOULD LIKE TO HAVE PLAYED SO I COULD VOTE FOR
71 - Katana Zero - 3 points / 1 Vote33 - The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa - 20 points / 2 Votes25 - Void Bastards - 25 points / 1 First-place vote / 1 Vote23 - Sayonara Wild Hearts - 29 points / 2 Votes16 - Return of the Obra Dinn - 32 points / 2 Votes 14 - Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - 35 points / 2 Votes13 - A Short Hike - 35 points / 3 Votes12 - Hypnospace Outlaw - 35 points / 1.33 First-place votes / 2 Votes7 - Death Stranding - 81 points / 1 First-place vote / 6 Votes6 - Fire Emblem: Three Houses - 82 points / 1.5 First-place votes / 6 Votes5 - Control - 85 points / 2 First-place votes / 4 Votes2 - Baba Is You - 109 points / 1 First-place vote / 7 Votesand Astral Chain, I guess, I just bought that, on sale on the Europe Switch shop rn fyi --
WOULD HAVE VOTED FOR43 - Ape Out - 10 points / 1 Votesuch a good game: seems to apply an older-generational ethos to modern control standards, which I liked a lot; it depends on dual analogue and shoulder triggers, but it has a narrower list of verbs than some 8-bit games. if you prefer the NES version of ‘Vampire Killer’ to any done on a computer with a better sound chip then you should play this
40 - Disco Elysium - 12 points / 2 Votesthis slaps but it’s just barely a videogame. probably the most fun I had reading an RPG setting book this year, though
21 - Tetris 99 - 30 points / 4 VotesI played this for an hour at a friend’s apartment the day it came out and then I went home and cancelled my Nintendo Switch Online membership and put my Switch in a box underneath a lot of other things
17 - Dicey Dungeons - 30 points / 1 First-place vote / 3 Votesmasterclass in how to do kitchen-sink design—rock solid core mechanic and then every breakable version of it implemented on top.
WOULD NOT HAVE VOTED FOR
10 - Slay the Spire - 39 points / 5 Voteskind of the opposite of what i just said about Dicey Dungeons
1 - Untitled Goose Game - 109 points / 1.33 First-place votes / 9 Votesnever before has the experience of playing a game been so close to the experience of watching its trailer
39 - Resident Evil 2 - 14 points / 2 Votesa layer of ugly modern triple-A gloss on the skeleton of a bad game, all its period charm destroyed. also the environments have foot high barriers you have to walk around which is surely unforgivable in 2020
11 - The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - 39 points / 3 Votesa layer of ugly modern double-A gloss on what was previously the best Nintendo game
69 - Cat Quest 2 - 4 points / 1 Voteget out
― the ghost of tom, choad (thomp), Saturday, 11 April 2020 01:14 (four years ago) link
always enjoy your writeups, thomp!
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Saturday, 11 April 2020 01:59 (four years ago) link
oh i voted for slay the spire too i think quite high up. some of the best turn-based rpg combat there is, combined with roguelike mechanics and deckbuilding.
link's awakening remake was unfortunately not much of an improvement on the original game which i didn't rate very highly either but it'd been ages since i'd played it so i figured i'd give it another try. it had a lot of quality of life changes for the better but the combat in 2D zeldas is still very awkward and the puzzles were rarely very interesting.
bloodstained was ok but underwhelming, kinda castlevania-by-numbers rather than castlevania at its best and certainly didn't live up to symphony of the night. it was much more linear, played even more awkwardly, ugly graphical style etc.
― ufo, Saturday, 11 April 2020 03:15 (four years ago) link
particularly enjoyed thomp's tetris 99 review. Ape Out looks great as well.
My votes, in no particular order:Sekiro: I loved this. i mean really it is *just* a very well done combat mechanic. i think there's always been part of me, ever since i was little, that while i enjoyed computer games, felt the gap between the necessary formal abstraction between game combat, say, and the principles that you know would have to govern any real world activities: that is to say, a sense of equivalence between your reflexes and ability to respond immediately contextually to an equally matched, or more powerful opponent. maybe 'real world' here is wrong, maybe i mean 'in films' and the 'play associated with films' (particularly action films). Necessarily in a game of course these are always matters of managing a formal set of responses. I now think games that are aware of and play on the formal abstraction of the world's constraints in different and obvious ways are better and ultimately more enjoyable (Michael Brough <3) , but there's still an arcade bit of me that loves when these mechanics are subsumed into 'film' type scenarios.
A lot of has been made of the way fromsoftware projects' combat has progressed: dark souls: shield up, hit box, roll, retreat, shield up. bloodborne trying to get round that, by allowing you to recoup health by attacking within a short time frame of being hit, to sekiro's conversion of stamina into a defensive capacity visibly shared and depleted both by you and your opponents. this leads to incredibly intense and reflexive combat, a combination of attack and defence, considerably favoured to defence. The precision with which this is all accomplished is exceptional, which was really brought home to me when I tried to play Fallen Order
i mean, really it's pretty much the same, in its closest analogy, with getting into the zone in games like Defender, or Gridzone (Geoff Minter's finest). The fact that it's associated with exciting sword clashing sounds, a wider feudal japan setting, and some very good boss fights (yes the Guardian Ape fight is hilarious and justifiably well known, but the first Genichiro Ashina fight - well I guess the second - at the top of the fortress was just fantastic). I mean, in some senses, it's fairly limited like all fromsoftware games, and lacks the more cryptic mythology, that does so much for Bloodborne (a better game imo). But the sense of achievement from advancement, and the fact that the balance between just getting better at it, and griding/collecting things to get you OP, is a lot more geared to the first than the second, produces a sense of overcoming the game as much through skill as through repetition.
The Outer Wilds: someone mentioned upthread that the control mechanism was pretty disorientating, which was my first response, but i think led this being my favourite game. it feels very *manual*, getting up to space, and finding where you need to go. a continual and quite charming sense of discovery, where death is both frustrating and doesn't matter. omg the planet with the f'ing tornados on it though give me a break. Through Sekiro, this game and to Death Stranding, it's interesting how much representations of *tactility* and 'realistic' control in environments, have mattered to me in these games.
The Outer Worlds: so i also really liked this? for reasons that don't seem entirely obvious to me now, it was the closest I'd felt to playing in an episode of, say, the first season of Altered Carbon (that is *not* to say this is a traditional noir cyberpunk environment - OW is quite lurid and bright - but because of a sense of detection and continually new encounters you're not sure how to manage). I think the game's strength is in its distinctive characters and ambiguous/ambivalent decision trees. after initially feeling that, say, compared to the open world of Fallout 3, it was too constrained, that structure ended up providing a good framework for the actions and fighting that takes place within the game.
Death Stranding: Amazingly tactile walking, batshit Hideo Kojima OTT storylines and acting, and never got bored of the moments where you work out where you've got to go, look up at the distant horizon, and see the long black strands and grey clouds of time fall in the distance, before you hitch your backpack up on your back again, check you've got the equipment you think you'll need, and start clambering and slipping over the landscape towards it. Didn't expect to enjoy it at *all*, was expecting it to suck. It was ace.
Sorry, I've been really laboured here. i'm not really used to writing about computer games, but i have enjoyed some this year. Outside of this Obra Dinn, and always Cinco Paus, were probably my most played. Oh also i spent a load of time playing sonic racing on my iPhone, which totally sucked.
― Fizzles, Saturday, 11 April 2020 11:38 (four years ago) link
Fizzles, since you will appreciate it, I want to brag for my partner: she has the 12th highest score in cinco paus (2239 em 50 jogos) and plays it all of the time. I voted for it as non-2019 game of the year just because of the degree it dominates our lives
― let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Saturday, 11 April 2020 14:58 (four years ago) link
holy mother of god. that’s a score.
― Fizzles, Saturday, 11 April 2020 15:04 (four years ago) link
yeah, it's insane. it's strange to say, but when i think back about this time of my life, cinco paus is going to be there. it's going to be hilarious if i end up on a deathbed trying to explain cinco paus to my confused family and friends of whatever year it is. "...and....there was a brough-like...cinco paus...those treasure-stealing frogs...they were the bane of her existence...auuuugh...but that's a roguelike for you....uuuugggh....that's a broughlike...aaghh" death
i really need to give outer wilds some more time. i explored only a planet or two before death stranding came along and interrupted my progress.
― let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Saturday, 11 April 2020 17:11 (four years ago) link
gratified to note im still in the top 50 on Cinco Paus. I was top ten in 868 hack back in the day and I have achieved nothing since.
― the ghost of tom, choad (thomp), Sunday, 12 April 2020 00:13 (four years ago) link
i need to get a job again so i can buy a ps4 and play death stranding and sekiro but once i have a job again i won't have free time to play death stranding and sekiro
― the ghost of tom, choad (thomp), Monday, 13 April 2020 00:49 (four years ago) link
the eternal adult gaming struggle
― Nhex, Monday, 13 April 2020 01:26 (four years ago) link
that's why i just cracked open my copy of Asura's Wrath from 2012, no joke
same here thomp except all I want is P5 The Royal
― où sont les threads d'antan? (Noodle Vague), Monday, 13 April 2020 06:09 (four years ago) link
oh, that one too, shit
― the ghost of tom, choad (thomp), Monday, 13 April 2020 08:35 (four years ago) link
i just played through a short hike and yes, i would have absolutely voted for it
― the ghost of tom, choad (thomp), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 13:55 (four years ago) link
Another one
Coint & Plick 2020 - ILX's best games of the year - NOMINATIONS (Deadline: February 26, noon Eastern)
― Kompakt Total Landscaping (Will M.), Wednesday, 20 January 2021 16:30 (three years ago) link
VOTE NOW
Coint & Plick VOTING thread - best games of 2020 (also campaign here) DEADLINE: MARCH 13
― Kompakt Total Landscaping (Will M.), Saturday, 20 February 2021 22:55 (three years ago) link