In joint 2nd place:
 
Control (18)



Control, a game that gives you the power to control things. Which all games do, but not usually quite as much. It’s more like Control+ or Control Extra. Basically you can move objects with the power of your mind and then do really interesting things with them, like throw them at people’s heads. Mostly just that, actually. But everything’s also really weird – floating people speaking gibberish, twisty corridors, an evil narcissistic fridge, a single-digit frame rate. That sort of thing. Spooky.

What you said:

trippy: “I've dragged myself through a fair few big name games in the last year or so (hello Days Gone) and this is like a breath of fresh air in comparison. It's atmospherically unique with some great touches and also a really satisfying shooter. 

There are some difficulty spikes but the art design is brilliant and the way it plays with scale, symmetry and shape is something too few games experiment with. It's pleasantly surreal and genuinely funny at points, and the pacing is great, with stretches of calm between battles. And it's beautiful, too.

Like Noita, the physics are a generation ahead of most games and mesmerising. You can grab and throw the world at any point, and it's incredibly freeing. I'm not a massive fan of shooters but once Control clicks you have the freedom to pull off some impressive moves, instinctively taking to the sky to hurl a filling cabinet at a goon. It's all very empowering, and surveying the wreckage afterwards is extremely satisfying.  I suspect I'll be firing it up for months to come, just to break some chairs.”

MattyJ: “Really great game all round. The overall unsettling weirdness of what's going on in the building, coupled with it just looking like a standard office space (for the most part) is excellent. The writing, in particular the documents, videos etc you find around the place, is well done and manages to mix the mundane with the weird.

The controls, graphics and sound are all top notch. The drip of powers you get mean you genuinely powerful as time goes on, wreaking havoc, destroying the place as you go.

My only criticism is the ending, which kind of fizzled out for me rather than being particularly satisfying, but it didn't detract from the rest.”

stormyskiesahead: “Was debating putting this on here tbh, but I'm sure the issues I was having throughout my broken-up playthrough were my issues, not the game's. When I was feeling it, damn, it felt (and looked) good.”

Tempy: “House of Leaves comes to life as a Sam Lake shooter with a heavy dose of SCP and a light smattering of Twin Peaks. Physics flexing combat and inspired minimalist environments come together to make something that feels as familiar as it is unique. Only issue is it doesn't last quite as long as it could.”

Untitled Goose Game (18)



The name’s a bit misleading, in that it actually does have a title (it's ironic, see?). Also, it’s not much of a game. It does have a goose in it though, unless that’s just a large duck, but we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. Whatever. It’s that thing that taught us what we already knew – that being a complete dickhead is fun, if you can get away with it, and if no one gets hurt except some stupid rural English stereotypes. They probably all voted for Brexit anyway. The pricks.

What you said:

Djornson: “The first time the kids watched me play a game, understood exactly what was happening AND were happy to watch and encourage and laugh along without whining for a go themselves. I loved how my motive wasn't clear but i embraced being a pain in the ass goose. Perhaps geese are that much of a pain in the ass it does sometimes seem like they have some higher calling.”

trippy: “It's a wee bit shonky but it deserves to be here purely for the way it makes my children laugh. And the amazing ending. HONK.”

Fucking boring game wins again. Dodge dodge hit.

regmcfly wrote:

Fucking boring game wins again. Dodge dodge hit.

*parry hit hit 

FFS this isn't Dark Souls.

softly wooting

regmcfly wrote:

Forum can't be spelt without From I guess. God I can't wait for the next gen of games.

Looking forward to the next few From games eh?

As I say, there weren't a lot of votes. Only 4 people actually had Sekiro in first place. But that's more than any other game had, so there it is.

I am incapable of forming my own opinion which is why I try my hand at freelance, they always need more bodies for the Journocube

regmcfly wrote:

regmcfly wrote:

Looking forward to them getting found out.

And if anyone starts going down the Platinum work, I'd argue Nier, Bayonetta, Astral Chain and Transformers are wildly different. For me, From only have one joke.

I would be concerned with From doing the ‘same’ game repeatedly, if it weren’t for the hundreds of other games to choose to play from hundreds of other devs.

I've put the entire list in order in the OP now.

regmcfly wrote:

regmcfly wrote:

Looking forward to them getting found out.

And if anyone starts going down the Platinum work, I'd argue Nier, Bayonetta, Astral Chain and Transformers are wildly different.

For me, From only have one joke.

But also all have the same witch time dodge and giant baddies.

I’d say however that I find myself liking platinum games less than I’d like and less than everyone else seemingly ever since bayonetta.

Do better, Elf.

Have we time enough to write blurbs for our GotD stuff?

Good work Jon. 

Goose getting second - bad work forum.

What was the breakdown of Goose Game? Was it high in peoples lists or was it just on a lot of lists?