Eighth Coint and Plick - The 80 best games of 2014, as chosen by ILX

this is definitely the weirdest early crop of games yet

#72 - Nidhogg
http://i.imgur.com/irVwn8H.png
Points: 7
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

A bit like if Éric Chahi made a jousting sim. Great fun, although it didn't have a lasting appeal for me.
- Polyphonic

that's a PS4 game?

Flappy Golf and Retry were mine. I liked them both for similar reasons. Just the right about of difficult to keep you playing over and over and over and over without making you think that it is impossible. You get just the slimmest glimmer of hope.

nidhogg looks the same on all systems and is very intentionally intellivision retro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODmqS5C7jIQ

whoa, soundtrack by Daedelus!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidhogg_(video_game)#Development

nice work so far, will!

#71 - Metal Slug Defense
http://i.imgur.com/hO8rrxY.png
Points: 8
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap boom tap tap boom.
- Sterling Clover

oh man, i hate that game

btw, next year for revenge i'm gonna give all my low picks numbers like 8, 11, 13, 6 pts

metal slug tower defense ugh whyyyyyy

at least all these dumb freemium apps are splitting votes so they can't win (oh wait lol last year)

#60 - 80 Days
http://i.imgur.com/V4iLIv5.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

I liked the idea better than the execution tbh.
- forksclovetofu

^glowing praise itt

my wife's game of the year ^

what the - i never even got to a matching game in that... are you sure that's an accurate screengrab?

lol i was wondering about that

i am completely non-confident that it's accurate

lol i guessi need to redo that one

heh, i see what you did there. That's a different thing entirely. You're looking fro this
http://www.inklestudios.com/80days/

#60 - 80 Days

http://i.imgur.com/h0DHTa8.png

Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

I liked the idea better than the execution tbh.
- forksclovetofu

SERVICE

thank god for gimp templates

that other game is called "around the world in 80 days" and it is on some bonzo buddy looking website

I liked the idea better than the execution tbh.

same here. it was on my ballot but i dropped it off at the last moment. i played through once, was tempted to play again just to go to a different region and/or try to get a better score, but i haven't opened it again since. but then again, i'm not really a fan of interactive fiction games so the fact that it held my attention for an hour or whatever is probably a good sign?

I liked the demo/free chapter of Dream Machine back when it was first released. The Last Door also worth a play through if you don't mind pixel art and like horror-adventure. Found most of the gameplay of With Those We Love Alive tedious clicking with no change, but did really like the arm drawing thing - and yes, you have to do it.

#60 - Anno: Build An Empire
http://i.imgur.com/l8xIYFk.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

I'm cool with f2p city builders I guess? plus it sounds like Anus
- Euler

more or less covers my opinion
but you know what you just reminded me was that i DID play a good interactive fiction game and didn't list it in my ballot: Heavy Metal Thunder
it's great though, try it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXRCZmMrNAg

#60 - Campus Life: Fashion Girl
http://i.imgur.com/j3xamRi.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

I just wanna party
- Euler

I got 8 more today, will try to do them a bit more quickly

#60 - Gridland
http://i.imgur.com/q3B1Yi9.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

it's no Marvel Puzzle Quest but then what is
- euler

#60 - Hohokum
http://i.imgur.com/AHp3Upl.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

#60 - Infinity Wars
http://i.imgur.com/KHTPsj2.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

post-apocolyptic collectible card game that i spent way too much time playing last year. like a grittier and more mechanically crunchy hearthstone (which was too cartoony for me to rep for in a poll).
- mordy

#60 - Might & Magic X
http://i.imgur.com/HgoAEvn.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

not sure how i fucked that up -- that game came out on win/osx

ooh i like hohokum's art style! this poll always makes me sad that i can't afford a newer console.

i never did manage to kill the last monster in gridland, i got soft by constantly using that "skip from night to day" mechanic

#60 - OlliOlli
http://i.imgur.com/2pzaXxM.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

Really liked this, it's very close to old Tony Hawk style gameplay but successfully transplanted into a 2d scrolling indie game. Took a couple of hours to click but great fun once it did.
- JimD

^my favourite screenshot so far btw.

huh i literally forgot all about infinity wars, that was a fun game

#60 - Sunless Sea
http://i.imgur.com/ON4YB9c.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

wasn't a finished product in 2014 but was still good enough to earn a vote. from the guys who did fallen london. great writing, melancholic + slow moving ludic elements, dark noirish aesthetic, riding yr zubmarine thru the dark underearth waters.
- mordy

#60 - This War of Mine
http://i.imgur.com/Sot0zTj.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

Nothing else made me so immediately (a) become a shitty person and also (b) immediately feel shitty about it.
- Will M

^ i will have to expand on that later

tbh I'm most excited (or "hype") for jjj's disappointments of the year

trying to figure out when i will sprinkle those in... probably start tomorrow

#60 - Tomb Raider
http://i.imgur.com/emiPs18.png
Points: 10
Votes: 1
1st Place Votes: 0

I played this because it was free on PS+. For an explorer, she sure kills a metric ton of evil fuckers. I wish it was more exploration and less shooting. Can someone make that please? A puzzle/exploration game would be cool.
- EZ Snappin

https://www.popehat.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/drudge-siren.gif

WARNING: GAME PLAYED ON A CONSOLE UPON WHICH IT DID NOT COME OUT IN 2014
TOMB RAIDER 2014 FALSE FLAG
TEAR THIS WHOLE THING DOWN

i was kinda enjoying Tomb Raider until my girlfriend told me she couldn't handle the constant orgasmic screams and moans from Lara everytime she moved around and she didn't want me to play if she was around. Go figure.

(that's it for today... up to 40ish tomorrow, up to 20ish Thursday, up to numero uno on Friday!)

xp lol i didn't notice that too much when i played, but i am single

Oh no. The world is ending. Since I couldn't vote for only two games my ballot is totally padded out with random crap that came out on PS+

nobody cares unless it's marvel puzzle quest tbph

Really want to play This War of Mine.

There's never enough time to play all of the games of the year, but considering people didn't have enough time to play all of the NES games for that poll we can't exactly just say adding a couple years' lead time will "solve" anything. Maybe I'll set up something like a bonus question where you can put the best 1-3 games not from 2015 that you played in 2015 and they can get shouted out after the poll or something?

plz don't include pre-current year games, i don't participate in these but i like the general sort of desperation that makes up everyone's ballots and results in bizarre lists of games i've never heard of

not kidding at all C+P is great every year

Maybe I'll set up something like a bonus question where you can put the best 1-3 games not from 2015 that you played in 2015 and they can get shouted out after the poll or something?

that seems like a good compromise. Can't wait!

I will probably start setting up the nominations list next week, which can run into feb, then voting into start of march, and the rollout early march... i know it's late but games take a long time to play! i still have 5ish in steam that may place but i need to play

also it's early but everyone play life is strange, i want that game to place well

Oh, I looked at getting that. Might see how much that and Her Story are on Steam in a bit.

My top pick is probably going to be Sunless Sea, a slow-paced exploration game from the same universe as Fallen London/Echo Bazaar. A little of the old steampunk tendency (in case you're against that sort of thing) but great narrative work and tbh I really needed something of that relaxing pace.

Other things will probably be bits of IF... and Neko Atsume.

otm about sunless sea I kept thinking about how it's "slow play" in the best way (I love the brooding meditative silence). I got the merchant cruiser recently after three captain deaths and I feel like I still have 90% of the storylines to see

Oh, Life is Strange is PC only, no mac version. Bah.

Life Is Strange is getting a PS4 disc relase in January - I will probably pick it up then, bar some crazy PSN flash sale.

I definitely support using the inevitable nomination thread to needle each other into playing titles for the first three months of 2016 btw

Ninth Coint & Plick: Best Games of 2015 NOMINATION THREAD