Top games of 2018: Twelfth Coint & Plick RESULTS

video games

trying to zero out my bookmarks while i do this makes me keep losing this tab

i was also the 4 points for far cry 5, i liked it! i may have terrible taste, as evidenced by everyone i know hating far cry 5. i thought it was vibey as hell, music was real good, story was enjoyably bleak. did it for me more than 3 for sure, maybe even 4?

anyway here's another 4 pointer from me, because apparently the beginning of this rollout is all ME, ME, ME

#64. Hole.io — 4 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/z5c1jS9.png

did you ever play donut county and think "boy i wanna play this, but without any of the narrative wrapper, and one level, and over and over, and tyry to eat the whole map in two minutes while other players online try to eat you?"

have i got the game for you

#64. Valkyria Chronicles 4 — 4 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/tnyav4S.png

my 4 pointers cannot be stopped

this is very much a valkyria chronicles game, and is very enjoyable. i got maybe 3/4 of the way into it before i was like "this mission is tough, i am gonna take a break" and inevitably never booted it up again. too much story, as expected, but that great, unique gameplay you don't get in any other strategy game. (or maybe you do, if so, let me know)

i will play this someday i'm not the biggest SRPG fan but i loved the first one

good news is you can skip 2 & 3! because... they were on psp or came out in japan only or both

let's get into the games that i DIDN'T vote for aka the 5-pointers! as always, it's a very-many-game-tie

#51. Bad North — 5 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/H8QsMiK.png

i don't know anything about that game or this one coming up, do you? let us know in the thread! don't forget to bookmark! i gotta go get food so it might be a minute before my next post

#51. CrossCode — 5 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/JStqZmH.png

hmm i should award 6s and 11s next year to push my picks up the rankings

alteratively give them 4s and 3s so there are more and everyone has to listen to you and only you talk for a long stretch!

crosscode is a very impressive indie take on the action jrpg (e.g. ys, secret of mana, etc) that unfortunately has a bit of early-access-itis where its been way overstuffed with content and kinda exhausting to play because of it, everything takes 50% longer than it should

i went from thinking it was the best indie rpg ever made to not finishing it

Bad North was my vote! It's a controller-friendly RTS game where you don't have more than four units at a time and you're defending waves of invaders on randomly-generated island after randomly-generated island. It's a weird combo of cute and bloody style. Support your local stripped-down RTS.

hole.io is fun and i was very good at it. it could use some more maps (last i played it there were only 3 - the pirate one was most fun)

far cry 5 had its moments but it quickly wore out its welcome w/ the same repetitive mechanics (made even more repetitive by them being the same mechanics as the other far cry games) and a pretty stupid storyline. what really annoyed me tho was when all the forest animals started transforming. you'd see a bear and shoot at it and it would turn into a wolverine or something. this happened like a million times it was apparently a part of the theme tho i could never clearly work out what was doing it. (it only happened in the weirdo psychoactive drug zone so i guess the idea is that you keep hallucinating that they're something different than they are but that's not how hallucinations work and it's just absurd.) actually this was maybe an okay game but i cannot get over the stupid animal transformation shit.

that's not how hallucinations work and it's just absurd

― Mordy

pvmic?

ok if one time ever you saw a beaver and it turned into a cougar or whatever but over and over again the same transformation hallucination? but maybe i missed somewhere where the game explained what was going on. it was just so bizarre

i ahve food, and it is time to roll a re-run

#51. Cuphead — 5 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/fjdbA05.png

#7 in 2017

Will probably get votes next year too courtesy the switch version

now for one of my fave images in the rollout

#51. Detroit: Become Human — 5 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/EstCXlP.png

(i actually wanna play this game, but also, i extremely want to clown it)

just gave bad north a spin it's v cool, might've tossed it some points if i had played it in time (also available on the Mac btw)

haven't played detroit: become human but it looks hilariously bad

What, no "Press [ ] to emancipate"?

#51. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze — 5 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/KpB0Jzn.png

remake but the original was never nominated (or placed, obv)

fantastic game - great music, humor, the gameplay is fun, challenging (but not impossible) lots of secrets, etc. stood out even in a year with a lot of exceptional platformers.

possibly the best 2d platformer ever but i don't like to vote for rereleases alas

OOOH, BANANA.

Snark aside, excited to be a part of C+P this year!

maybe i should rank my all time 2d platformers bc i'm pretty sure it's not the best ever but it's still excellent

another game that will be on this list is up there too

i don't think i'm as high on smb3/smw for GOATs as most people. yoshi's island though..

#51. The Guides Axiom — 5 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/EheWeul.png

sorry for the bad screen, there wasn't much out there and i didn't have time to get/play/screen the game for this poll. to the voter, tell us what it is??

looks like a puzzle game from the pic

looks like a scantron test from hell

it's free so i just installed it. will report when i have some time

#51. Heartbeat — 5 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/4UT76q5.png

that's my vote. this is a cute and well made rpgmaker game kind of in the vein of a undertale or early pokemon or earthbound. nothing super novel about it, it's just a lot better than what you come to expect out of rpgmaker stuff.

The Guides Axiom -- I'm the voter. It's a "guess the passcode" style riddle game. The main reasons I like it are that there are hidden puzzles, and that some puzzles require information from previous puzzles. It's a step above other games of its type. Con: it isn't finished -- it stops at around puzzle 70 out of 100.

#51. Iconoclasts — 5 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/8eEC36L.png

#51. Monster Hunter World — 5 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/BpyWxiu.png

The internet loves this game but this is only one of a handful of times that I've seen it mentioned on ILX.

monster hunter world is just a MMO in disguise you can't fool me i've been done with that shit for a decade and not going back

#51. Overcooked 2 — 5 Points — 1 Vote
https://i.imgur.com/QrY2WIR.png

Into The Breach is a very good game, but it's no FTL.

re: the console of the year vote, it was separate from the main thing, ppl picked their fave consoles overall for theyear. could include games they didn't even nom/vote. guess people spent more time on the ps4 this year!

Sure sure, and I get that - what I was clumsily trying to get at was, is it just that its exclusives of Spider-man and God of War (and Tetris Effect, which I forgot) were so good, or was it anything else that caused people to think of it fondly in its fifth year?

lol just read Mordy's xp post on Into The Breach, but honestly feel the same.

whoops i was at the grocery store

good list

and the yakuza games! and mlb the show! and detroit become human, lol. ni no kuni. those + your list = a wild exclusives list for 2018!

Additional disappointment of 2018 votes, all one point each:
- Destiny 2
- Marvel Puzzle Quest
- Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom
- Secret of Mana remake
- "not enough hours in the day"

re: PS4 i think it's just that it's a lot of people here's main platform for gaming and nintendo had a lower key year

xp (in addition to one vote each for God of War, Donut County, Far Cry 5, NES Switch Online, and five votes for Red Dead Redemption 2)

So I should play Celeste (and FTL), huh?

I tried to talk myself out of voting for Celeste #1 but it's definitely the one I enjoyed the most.

yeah celeste was just one of those self-evidently great and memorable games, couldn't really not vote it #1 though i gave it the tie with ys 8 which was a more emblematic favorite of what i was playing in 2018

celeste is undeniable

hollow knight was robbed!*

*I've not played celeste because it didn't go on sale yet

it's been on sale occasionally

No need for a separate ballot thread, yeah?

30 /// Celeste
12 /// Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
12 /// Lumines Remastered
12 /// Octopath Traveler
12 /// Into the Breach
12 /// Yoku's Island Express
 5 /// Bad North
 5 /// Holedown

nah post em here!

Not sure what games I've played I'd say are definitely better than Celeste

hollow knight was robbed!*

*I've not played celeste because it didn't go on sale yet

Cosign

30 /// Hollow Knight
25 /// Gravity Rush 2
2 /// Return of the Obra Dinn
3 /// Dead Cells
1 /// God of War

Definitely would've voted Yakuza 0 if nor for RULEZ.

here's mine

15 /// Subnautica
14 /// Celeste
13 /// Red Dead Redemption 2
12 /// Northgard
11 /// Slay the Spire
9 /// Two Point Hospital
8 /// Dead Cells
7 /// Into the Breach
6 /// Hollow Knight
5 /// Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

I never play enough games to vote in these polls (1-2 a year) but Hollow Knight was such a wonderful experience, glad to see it do so well

Best
Spider-Man (PS4)
Dragon Quest 11 (PS4)
Celeste (PS4)
Hollow Knight (Switch)
NES Switch Online (Switch)
Captain Toad Treasure Tracker (Switch)
Florence (iOS)
Donut Country (iOS)
Yoku’s Island Express (PS4)
Dead Cells (PS4)

30 Celeste
20 Hollow Knight
20 Dead Cells
10 Return of the Obra Dinn
5 Red Dead Redemption 2
5 Into the Breach
5 God of War
5 Cuphead

top 3 are all-timers for me, the rest of the year felt a little boring but i didn't really play that many different games. more like a handful of games a LOT

solid results! Thanks Will for running this. Here's my ballot

5 /// Monster Hunter World
5 /// Dead Cells
30 /// God of War
30 /// Hollow Knight
30 /// Into the Breach

Can't remember which order they were in but I basically voted for the top 4 + iconoclasts

Can't remember which order they were in but I basically voted for the top 4 + iconoclasts

27 /// Yakuza 0
22 /// Celeste
13 /// Minit
10 /// Genital Jousting
10 /// Swarmlake
10 /// Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle
4 /// Subnautica
4 /// Donut County

I'm PC only these days so my Yakuza 0 vote was legitimate. Thanks for running the poll, Will.

25 /// Hollow Knight
15 /// Minit
10 /// System Syzygy
10 /// Yoku's Island Express
10 /// Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle
10 /// Celeste
5 /// NGU Idle
5 /// Pro Office Calculator
5 /// The Guides Axiom
5 /// The Room: Old Sins

I haven't played Dead Cells, Obra Dinn or Into the Breath yet, but I look forward to playing them.

30 /// Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team
22 /// Katamari Damacy Reroll
18 /// Tetris Effect
15 /// Fortnite Battle Royale
10 /// Yoku's Island Express
5 /// Super Smash Bros Ultimate

If I'd played more games last year I might've added to the Obra Dinn votes - I had a few minor reservations but overall loved that game.

Yeah, my enthusiasm for Obra Dinn was only slightly dampened by some interface/navigation annoyances, but it’s one that I’ll be recommending for a long time.

And as good as Dead Cells is, there’s probably going to be another 20 games like it over the next few years. Obra Dinn, unless something very unexpected happens, is unlikely to be replicated anytime soon.

Is this for the first C+P where indies swept the top 5?

we're all getting old.

they're the only realm where everyone's on the same page

fuck, hollow knight finished... 6th last year? how did i let that one slide? i hope the voters were all new voters. if not i tsk at you. TSK TSK TSK
2 years ago was a near-sweep of the top for indies. inside, dark souls 3, witness, stardew, salt & sanctuary. indies always do very well here, if not for borderlands, marvel puzzle quest, dark souls, and a couple of other cult classics over here it'd almost always be all indies!

also i forgot to post my own ballot.

YAKUZA 6: The Song of Life - 26
YAKUZA KIWAMI 2 - 25
Tetris Effect - 15
Spider-Man - 10
Hole.io - 4
Far Cry 5 - 4
Valkyria Chronicles 4 - 4
Red Dead Redemption 2 - 4
Into the Breach - 4
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee - 2
Octopath Traveler - 2

ty 4 playing everyone! see you next year! (or sooner if i run a summer/fall generations poll!)

i did think something was off about Hollow Knight, it makes sense since it didn't come to consoles until 2018

yeah it had a bigger hype cycle when it came out on switch than when the original pc version came out the previous year

also PCs are for powerpoint

dark souls 3 is indie?

Last year, I played the intro section of Hollow Knight on PC and I may have given it some points. I played the rest of the game on PS4 this year.

2 years ago was a near-sweep of the top for indies. inside, dark souls 3, witness, stardew, salt & sanctuary.

got it