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The following text was dictated to me by the lovely Rarity, all words are her and faithfully transcribed as is. Even the swears.
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The Hall of Fame     Which game will join this elite group?
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Dec 11, 2022 09:18
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This is my favourite thread every year and I am excited to read each list! Also tremendous massive thanks to Rarity who spends so much time and writes such great posts for it! It would not even exist if she had not brought it over here in 2018. 
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Dec 11, 2022 10:48
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VideoGames posted:The following text was dictated to me by the lovely Rarity, all words are her and faithfully transcribed as is. Even the swears.
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Dec 11, 2022 12:00
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Feels Villeneuve posted:OP would it be possible this year, to get a list of games that only one voter put on their list, or does that not work well with your tabulation method I think we could probably do this. 
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Dec 12, 2022 15:35
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A Sometimes Food posted:Link to the 2020 one? Each of the four previous winners graphics in the second post are links to the old threads.
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Dec 12, 2022 17:11
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This is a positive thread. This post is not: Real hurthling! posted:We get to vote on worst games this year? Do not post like this.
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Dec 13, 2022 14:38
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Stux posted:surely ethans post was very serious and not for joking about Ethan's post was a joke. But Hurth has been negative about Horizon and Ragnarok for ages in the PS5 thread and I did not want that here as well.
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Dec 13, 2022 15:46
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Stux posted:did u miss the previous page lol No.
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Dec 13, 2022 15:56
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VideoGames posted:This is a positive thread.
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Dec 13, 2022 16:00
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Real hurthling! posted:Only did it to ethan cause we are buds and he was sarcastic Yeah that makes sense. I am sorry. Been seeing a lot of miserable posting around Games lately and it bums me out. This thread is the one 'positive only' kind of thread we have and I did not want it to devolve as well.
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Dec 14, 2022 08:39
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ethanol posted:Please immediate ban anybody who disagreed with my posts whether or not they are my secret friends As your secret friend, I am afraid I will not. I need to read all the goty lists from everyone.
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Dec 14, 2022 12:58
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Endorph posted:light jokes about games being bad is to me a much more positive and uplifting experience than enforced positivity all the time, which sounds actually miserable. i get not wanting it to be in this thread specifically but i would not describe calling god of war bad as 'devolving' Again, there is not enforced positivity in games anywhere except I want this thread to be one. People are miserable all over this sub forum in every thread. If there was enforced positivity all over it would be a different situation and yes equally as miserable. Just having one thread where we are positive (this one) is a pretty small deal compared with everywhere else. This is not a lazy thread either, it is for people to post big lists of things they like. You do not get to dunk on games in this thread so if someone was moaning about jRPGs I would have made the same request to the thread. This is not about god of war, this is about posting.
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Dec 14, 2022 14:51
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Well. This has taken me a considerable amount of thought and time hence why I am posting so close to the end date! I spent ages pondering over the placement, like a wizard with an orb, and at the very end of this all I am 90% happy with how things lay. I think this is as much as I am going to get to, to be really honest. I played more stone cold genre classics this year than ever before. I played some games that are the building block foundations of a ton of games that are made today, the kinds of games that this generation's developers look on fondly. When you are having to arrange them in a subjective list then at the end of it all you have to follow your heart and not your head. This is how my heart felt when I placed all of these against each other. My head might have other things to say, but if you know me and my taste, the heart always wins out. Honourable Mention:  Echoes of The Eye This will surprise people so please let me explain while you  Outer Wilds + Echoes of the Eye is my third favourite game of all time ever after Portal 2 and FFVIIremake. It stands up there alongside them proudly. Last year I put Outer Wilds in the fifth spot and I was wrong. I was so wrong. It should have been in the number two spot. Echoes of the Eye solidifies this thought even greater and if this year I had played both for the first time it would be the top of my list so easily I would have posted sooner. However, my love of Echoes of the Eye rests so greatly on the base game that I feel weird putting it in my list. I needs that game part I rated last year to be at the top and I would feel very strange not being true to how I feel putting it somewhere in the top 10. As such, I made the decision to put it outside of my list, thus still granting it the special status it deserves. This game is so important to me emotionally and so smart about how it does everything that it is one of the few games I wish I could experience again after having my memory wiped. The DLC kept up all of the stuff I loved about the base game but had some genuinely unnerving things much like Dark Bramble. Even learning that something I thought had glitched earlier on in my first run was actually a game mechanic I learned about after some exploration made me appreciate the team behind it even more. Outer Wilds.  GAMES 22-11 22.  The Surge 2 Surge 2 is good fun. I wish I had more to say about it, but I did not get on with it the way I did the first game. It is much more colourful and is more Bloodborne speed than the deliberate Souls slow that Surge 1 mimics. It has some excellent DLC aboard what is essentially an Americana throwback suburbia situated within a disused battlecruiser. The main story was fine and the combat was a lot similar to the first but faster (again, think Souls to Bloodborne changes). One neat thing were the end credits that tallied up your deaths and time taken to do each level and then showed how you stack up against the average. It was very affirming of my new found Soulslike prowess to see how much lower I was at almost every single thing I would definitely like to see a Surge 3 as well!21.  Stray Wonderfully designed, short fun diversion of a game. It has tense moments, a pretty fantastic aesthetic and a whole host of questions which you the player bring up and never find out the answer to because you are a cat and cats do not care at all other than curling up on cushiony surfaces and going to sleep. You can also do this in game and the dualsense haptics purr alongside your feline avatar. 20.  Bloodstained I really loved this. I played an super enjoyed Metroid Dread and decided to try another lauded modern Metroidvania. This was a grand choice. Nothing ever felt too tough and with a bit of exploring I eventually grew to be supremely powerful. I also immediately played NG+ and was even more powerful than before. The amount of extra stuff the game gave me as well (because I was playing it so late after release) made me majorly impressed. There are other characters you can play as and while the map might be mostly the same, the gameplay sure is not. If you like 2D platformers then I give this a hearty recommend! 19.  Control The X-Files is one of my most favourite TV shows. I have always dug the mystery vibe that permeated the first five seasons and Control was that wrapped up in a video game. I played the Ultimate Edition with all the DLC on my PS5 so got the fancy raytracing activated as well. The best part about the game was the journey (it had a very ID Software 'end' kind of end) and the fun of travelling with Jesse and her powers was always at the forefront of my mind. Highlights include accidentally meeting a tough boss and flailing around so much that my luck carried me through to beating them first time. Also a couple of the side quests were incredible. I would play as much DLC as they could shove out because the framework is superb. 18.  Metroid Dread What an incredibly fluid and responsive 2D platformer. I played this near the very start of the year as I found the cartridge for only £20 in Tesco and had been meaning to play Metroid game for ages. This turned out to be an excellent plan! I was hooked from beginning to end and I think the reason I managed to get past the end boss as quickly as I did was all the training that Sekiro put me through. Seriously, ISS and the way he moves is what caused me to go into my slowdown mode and just become one to defeat the boss. 17.  God of War: Ragnarok I think a number of people would think this would be higher. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Ragnarok and was completely taken in with the story. Kratos evolution from an over protective and angry dad to a caring parent that accepts the truth about letting your child be who they are supposed to was told extremely well. There were a great deal of moments where he grew to be a better person right in front of me and they felt genuine. I have not played the original games, only this and 2018, but the character development shown in the duology came across as completely earned - especially in the moment where Kratos tells Atreus he was wrong. Some things were not developed enough because they fit so much into the one game. Some things were left unanswered (which worked for me here) and also, the epilogue was a real gut punch. I am intrigued to see what they do with the series now that the Norse mythology stories are done with. 16.  Metal Gear Solid My first Kojima game, probably the same for a lot of people, and it was the original PS1 version. I had no idea what to expect from it and it instantly grabbed me. I had not played a game like this before and even though I was gaming twenty five years later it held up. I like to approach old games in there mindset of the year they came out and kind of block later additions to gameplay. This was easier than most because it is still so slick. Snake is great to control, the story is wild, the performances are hammy to the max and now thanks to this I enjoy occasionally saying aloud to myself "A METAL GEAR?!". Dynamite game and they only get better! 15.  Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty Cannot believe after the incredible fun that was MGS 1 that Kojima kicked it up twenty notches. This game is prescient to a shocking degree. I heard of the Kojima predicting the future meme but actually seeing the results in the MGS series was seriously wild. That he could write about governments spreading misinformation to the people via the internet way back when made me do a double take. The gameplay in this was a huge step up from 1, though I do miss the cool drawn portraits in the codec screens. Raiden, Snake and the villains are giving even more extreme performances. Also it turns out I am incapable of walking across a pipe. 14.  Kentucky Route Zero This occupies the same space in my mind as Night in the Woods. An equally powerful story based game that relies on the melancholy of ennui present in the rust belt to tell a very poignant story about making connections with your fellow man. I was engrossed in the lives of all those who I met when travelling down that off kilter road with Conway and Blue. Debt, capitalism, the destruction and rebuilding of tight knit communities are all the main focus and the odyssey like quality of the narrative spins and twists around you until the very end. It was a very touching game and because I streamed it I did every single voice for all characters which felt more fulfilling than usual. Performing the whole play in the interlude, The Entertainment, at the end of act 2 was the highest point of the game for me and a really captivating piece of writing. 13.  The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time My first Zelda game and what a doozy! I finally got the experience what a ton of people did back in 1996. I had not really owned Nintendo consoles after the NES until I got a WiiU, so getting to play an N64 was not in there cards. I forget who suggested I play it, but it was not originally on my list at all. I think it just cropped up one day when I was playing Elden Ring and we spoke about my depth perception issues. Whatever got me to give it a go, I am glad it happened because I discovered this year that I am a huge Zelda fan. I have played breath of the wild's great plateau a couple of times but always got overwhelmed once I dropped into the main world and stopped playing. Thanks to Ocarina being so engaging and interesting I will absolutely be going back to BotW in 2o23. Ocarina's gameplay holds up and the four main areas are varied and fun. I think I liked the water temple most of all because of the boots mechanic. I love the boots! 12.  Inscryption I had no clue what to expect and that was apparently the way to approach this. I do my best to avoid spoilers for all games so that I can be surprised. For this game, this was 100% the best possible way to experience it. I do not want to reveal too much about this game because a ton of the impact comes from the not knowing. I also learned that I like deck building card games and because of this gave both Slay the Spire and Monster Train a go. (However, as I have been unable to complete a successful run of either this is why they do not appear.). For those who have played this I managed to beat Act 1 with a lucky ant army card setup that just made me too powerful and allowed me at one point to buy 9 golden fleeces. You can then imagine my surprise as Act 2 started where I thought I had actually beaten the game. 11.  Shovel Knight This came SO close to the top ten. Honestly it was only a small sliver of feeling that caused this and my feelings on the next game to swap positions. I am late to Shovel Knight (but not nearly as late as a ton of the other games on this list) but it feels like later because this genuinely feels like how I remember NES games to be. All of this was truly wonderful and as I had the treasure trove version, I got to play all four campaigns. I think spectre knight was my most favourite with king knight being an incredibly close second. As I discovered this year, I like card games in video games and card game video games! Joustus was a great diversion and my favourite side to it were the One Move to Win puzzows. Also! This has one of the best chip tune sound tracks of all time. Strike the Earth is an incredible main theme. THE TOP TEN 10.  Super Mario 64 This was one of the biggest surprises and one of my proudest achievements. As mentioned above, I struggle with depth perception in 3D games. So many moments in FromSoft games where I whiff a hit or Ocarina of time where I miss a ledge and fall to my doom. It is this reason that I had sort of avoided the 3D versions of my favourite 2D platformers. (No depth perception needed on a 2D plane!) And I love Sonic Mania and Super Mario Brothers 3 the most out of those respective series. The 3D entries, however, I allowed to pass me. It was me mentioning this during the Ocarina stream that caused people to suggest me play Super Mario Brothers 64 - often regarded as THE 3D platformer defining entry from which all others derive. They also said it should be the 120 star challenge. So I would have to get every single star the game offered. It was daunting but I thought with people cheering me on I would probably be able to get about halfway through it. It was as chaotic as I thought it would be, Throughout the entire play through I fell off ledges, missed jumps, bumped into enemies and made some heartbreaking mistakes (falling off a pole in Rainbow Joyride with 89 coins) but all the time I was having fun. When you are bad at a game but have friends laughing with you, then not only does any mistake feel like just as goofy joke but you are empowered to just keep going. And I sure did. I managed to make my way through every level and get all 120 stars! At one point I thought I would not be able to do it. It was the wing cap level in the castle where I would keep missing the red coins thanks to my depth perception being so atrocious. The number of times I accidentally hit the ground pound button and went plummeting into the sky or even when I tried to do a regular triple jump to go flying (I still cannot triple jump reliably) and just walked off the edge. It was two long hours of me feeling like maybe this one star was beyond my abilities but I eventually got those last coins and I grabbed that elusive star. It felt as good as beating a FromSoft boss. Something I have learned this year is that all of these games, these older games that I have played, is that they deserve their place in the pantheon of great games. This was a 26 year old game and it held up completely. I was easily able to slip into what the game wanted of me and while mastering it took a long time it was not insurmountable. It was a game that I wonder if I had played it around release how it would have affected my tastes growing up. There are a couple of games on this list that make me wonder the same thing. Was experiencing these now so long after the fact a better way to get into them now that I can appreciate them? Or would have have evolved as a completely different game player if I played them at release time? I like to ponder. Also the sound track is another classic and those tunes are baked into my daily roulette wheel. It continues to support my theory that every Mario 1-1 theme is an iconic jam. BEST MOMENT: Sorting out the 100 coins in Rainbow Joyride so that number 100 would appear somewhere that would be very easy to grab (after spending about an hour trying to do the wall jump wildness to beef up my numbers with the blue coins) and nearly shaking so much that I fell off the block the coin was on. Probably the best star of my whole run. 09.  Castlevania: Symphony of the Night This game is the reason the term Metroidvania exists (though you could also use BP's term Castleroid if you were so inclined) because it really does feel like a pillar of what makes a great 2D platformer. I played a ton of these this year and indeed every year because 2D platformers are my all time favourite genre. I grew up with them as they were the easiest kind of game to make for the NES and Megadrive. Seeing this game treat a 2D platformer like a Final Fantasy, with the equipment screen and 'familiars' and such was amazing. I did not know you could do that! I wanted to explore every inch of the castle and grab every cool upgrade to what I was wearing and wielding. I spent all the time I could going around and beefing up and loving the way it felt to control. It was also the original PS1 version, so I got the true sound effects and voice acting. Nothing in it felt too tough but also not a cakewalk. Of all enemies the medusas are my biggest nemesis. Something about the way they constantly pop on and off screen and turn you into stone means I start to get into a panic. They always seem to put them in just the right place to cause me to drop down tons of screens too. Very cheeky. I am sure most people know of this but mirror castle! was a pretty cool trick. It also had some absolute jams on the sound track as well which certainly helped in some of the areas giving me trouble! This game has inspired me to play more of the Castlevanias and I have Aria of Sorrow, Rondo of Blood and Harmony of Dissonance on my schedule. BEST MOMENT: Was about to hit up the final boss and BP told me about the shield power. I walked into the boss and obliterated it with said shield power after a few seconds. However, I was not content with this, so loaded the save game back up again and then beat the final boss properly with the other gear I had been using. I really felt like I had properly gotten to grips with the game. 08.  The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker Everything I found joy within from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask is present here and boy did this adventure turn out to be nothing but silly fun on the high seas. Wind Waker looks amazing and I had to keep reminding myself that it was a 20 year old game. Released on a couple of years after Majora's Mask it again blew my mind that the team behind the Zeldas are able to keep up such a level of quality in such a short space of time. Technically an open world game, it never truly feels like one and instead it comes across as a huge expansive map with a few points on that you can go have a look at if you feel so inclined. Part of the strength is never inundating you with information the way most open world games do and if you want to beeline for the main dungeons you can. If you want to explore and sail around and do tasks you absolutely can as well and while it could be classed as filler it never really feels like it. Instead you are a high seas captain with a talking boat looking for the ways to make this land safe and hitching at various land masses to help that goal. Aside from the lack of Song of Storms, the music is gorgeous and light and totally suited to the setting. It is even better to control than the N64 games and I finally felt at home with all of the mechanics that the previous two had been trying to teach me. There were still mistakes and slip ups with my depth perception but we all come to expect that nowadays! I love the hidden treasure maps and I wanted to find absolutely everything that was available. The Wind Waker as an instrument was a lot easier to remember the tunes for (and sounded more pleasant) than the Ocarina but I do appreciate the Ocarina for bringing the play your own songs aspect into it. This was such a joy that I am thoroughly looking forward to Twilight Princess in 2023! BEST MOMENT: Going into the tower of power and seeing Hyrule from Ocarina of Time still there and submerged in water. One of the all time reveals! 07.  The Surge OK. Bear with me here because I know some of you are looking at this curiously. How I feel about The Surge is how other people feel about the first Dark Souls. This is probably my weirdest entry on this year's list, but I am going to do my best to explain. Come back to 2020 December with me. Bloodborne was done and I wanted more Soulslikes. Turned out that due to PSPlus I owned the Surge, Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III. There was no way I was going to play the Dark Souls sequels before the first, so I decided to give The Surge a spin. I was awful and I did not get it. Getting past Pax (the first boss) was a slog and then my game just completely stalled in the next area. It was Bloodborne all over again - so I stopped and bought Dark Souls 1. Now rocket back to 2022 March. I had finished Elden Ring and I took a day off work. I had beaten all the FromSoft games and again I hungered for more. Thanks to PSPlus I now owned both Surges. I was feeling in the zone thanks to Elden Ring and decided that I could give the first another try but if it did not work, then I could always move on to the second that everyone said was better. So I booted it up and got to work. I fell into it immediately and blitzed my way all the back to Pax and the continued on. I got sucked into the story, which is way more overtly told than any similar game, and somehow seemed to absorb the controls and style of the game. I was hooked. It is not just a souls clone it is a Fromlike with its own flourishes and choices. The combat being based around choosing limbs to destroy in order to get the equipment you want or the materials needed to upgraded existing stuff makes it fun to approach each enemy encounter and figure out if you want to just take them down or risk it a little more and go for an arm, leg or head component. The map of the entire facility is also just as interconnected as Dark Souls and with each boss opening up shortcuts and making ways to get around the factory quicker and sleeker it makes me understand why Lordran is so beloved. Speaking of bosses, while there are not as many as the Souls games, they do have some very inventive ones and facing off against an actual conveyor belt construction section of a factory was an outstanding moment. I became obsessed with the game and blitzed through it so fast that I immediately went forward into NG+ and got through the majority of a second run before remembering that I still had The Surge 2 to play. I utterly adore this game and all that it is, and I suppose here is where I drop my hot take and explain that in my list of personal rankings I would place it above Dark Souls I and III on my list of best Fromlikes. (Then again, I also think Lost Izalith/Demon Ruins is the best area and Bed of Chaos is one of the best bosses in Dark Soul I so probably best to move on to the number 6 spot.) BEST MOMENT: Dumping all my good gear and putting on a pretty low powered mouse mascot suit so that I could go up against the final boss of the DLC and get the achievement for doing so. I rarely ever try for achievements deliberately but got so into this game that I went all out. It took a good twenty minutes but I succeeded! 06.  The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask The thing that surprised me most of all about Majora's Mask is just how dark and haunting it was. I suppose through cultural osmosis I had always known the Zelda games as being light hearted adventures for the family. This is not Majora's Mask and really, the eery and unnerving face on the front of the box should have clued me in. The art direction in this game, via what is essentially an asset reuse from Ocarina of Time, is godlike. I truly mean that. Learning that they made this in just over a year by smart use of an existing engine and artwork constrained them in such a way that a masterwork was born. I am in awe of the technical scope and breadth of this game. I am not sure if it is the first time loop game, but it certainly feels like the one that all subsequent time loop games follow or base their structures upon. It has defined characters that you can follow each day and affect. This then cascades on how they interact with the rest of the world and seeing all the potential differences caused by your actions continually each day is amazing to me. I genuinely cannot believe how they managed to pull everything off on an N64 game, but they did. I filled in my notebook and got every single mask because I was so enamoured with the game setting and what it wanted from me. I loved that it was not Ocarina of Time 2, but this wild adventure that was defiant in what it was. I never owned an N64 but the quality of the three games I played from it this year are undeniable - Majora's Mask being the pinnacle so far. Each dungeon area was bustling with exploration and puzzows, the masks you could get that would assist in doing other things - I never really felt rail roaded while playing and that I have been given free reign to go anywhere even if not fully able to get through. I think the cows quest is the most memorable one for me, because I got to piece together what had been happening after meeting the ranch citizens on day 3 first of all where everyone was despondent and cold. Originally my theory was that the cows had been turned into the paper versions you see everywhere round the town and other areas. I was incredibly incorrect and the truth even wilder! There was not a single moment of boredom throughout the whole thing and I am still in awe that this sequel managed to surpass the game that is often called one of the greatest games of all time. BEST MOMENT: In a game that is just moments, the all time favourite would be me bumping into the guy with the music box and hearing him playing Song of Storms; my all time favourite Zelda song. I cannot get enough of that track. 05.  Elden Ring Undoubtedly the best game released in 2022 and second best of the 20s altogether. The fact that I know its going to feature as number 1 on so many lists is why I have allowed my heart to place it here rather than higher, because organising my top ten this year was a true struggle. I and a ton of my friends though Sekiro was going to be my number 1 of 2021. So did I for the majority of the year. The exact same thing happened here. I thought Elden Ring would steal my heart much like Malekith stole destined death. Elden Ring is the sequel to the best Dark Souls game and because of this it actually whips so hard that it makes me appreciate Dark Souls II even more than I do. Elden Ring feels to me to be the kind of game that Fromsoft was trying to make all the way back in the DS2 years but without a clearly defined goal or hardware to and the pair of them act as a majestic duo of tough, fair, powerful gaming. Elden Ring feels like it contains almost everything from all of the other souls games within its level structure and art design. To call it a best of album works but think of it as a best of album made up of new tracks that sound like the ones you love. This is not a mere imitation of the other games and the sheer amount of quality of life upgrades added to the formula on display here make this one of the definitive ways to play the Souls games. For one example; durability is gone. Nothing really more than a nuisance in the previous games it is gone entirely. The way bonfires and stakes work means that you have more opportunities to fight again without frustrating runbacks, but you also do not have the sanctuary provided by bonfires. It is an open world that truly feels like an open and lived in world, with areas hiding places and people and bosses that Fromsoft do not care if you miss. Some might be tempted to do everything and fight every boss. Indeed, I did. However it is not necessary and not expected. This is a game designed for the same level of replayability as the others but with the added design of experiencing new things. Other posters will say more about this wondrous experience with far smarter words than I but being able to play a Fromsoft game on release day and learn how things worked alongside everyone else was a one of a kind gaming event. BEST MOMENT: The final stream. I said I was going to do a special 24 hour stream of Elden Ring and see how far I could get and whether or not I would start to crumble with the lack of sleep. Turns out I completely underestimated myself and 22 hours and 51 minutes in I was watching the end credits. I played non stop for nearly a full day and it was an exhausting and exhilarating session. I never pushed myself so hard before and to do all the big final bosses within that stretch and some first time made me feel like the Elden Gods themselves. 04.  Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater I got to play a Bond film. Metal Gear Solid 3 being set in 1964 after the previous game was in 2007/2009 surprised me greatly. The epilogue to MGS2 seemed like it was setting up something huge and mind-blowing. The two previous games were off the wall bonkers and I am always going to fall in love with stories that go out of their way to be unlike others. So for them to take the game series back in time made me wonder what was going to happen. I know that one of the biggest difficulties in setting a story sequel before the original is that 'How did these characters get to where they are in the first' is one of the toughest narratives to pull off. Especially if there is danger. We know certain characters will live because they appear in the previous game. The stakes have to be approached very carefully if you are to be successful. MGS3 pulls all of this off magnificently and introduces the best characters in any of the three games. The villains of the first were great, of the second were extremely memorable and cool, but the third? Oh my word. The third has the best collection of super powered bad guys I have seen this side of a comic book. And leading them all is one of the greatest characters I have ever been wowed by: the Boss. She is dynamite! So many games and movies talk up the big bad guy by saying how strong and powerful they are and have long monologues and do things and we just kind of accept it. The Boss is one of the few times I have believed in everything being said about them and why they are so respected and feared. She commands such a presence that you feel how important she is even when she is just stood in the room. Her voice acting is top notch and I really do wish I would get another game with her in. I would play a game where she is the main character in a heartbeat. Her rag tag quintet of badges have the silliest names but the best encounters in the series. The pain, the fury, the end, the sorrow and the fear are all so starkly etched into my mind that I can remember exactly what happened to me with each encounter. I often struggle to remember what I was doing in a video game two days later. My time with The End being the most memorable of all and being slightly quicker than him off a tiny glint in the corner of my eye let me feel suitably secret agent like. This story, how you fit into it, how it opens up and how it resolves are sublime. The Boss is one of the greatest heroes in all of video games. This is the highest of the highs when it comes to taking me on an thrill ride and I was kept wondering about stuff all the way to the very last moments. This is not only the best follow up to MGS2 but the only possible follow up there could have been. When you write a pair of games like MGS and MGS2, the anticipation for the next is SO high and the bar is SO raised that only a few people could succeed in it. This is more than succeeding, this is doing the unthinkable - a threequel that is better than both before it. BEST MOMENT: The Boss scaring Volgin by just turning to talk to him. That small moment made me grin because she did not even raise her voice, she simply asked a question and this huge, angry and scary soldier believably flinched. That is how you show and not tell. -- Before I reveal the next three I just want to say this is not quite the order my head would have picked because my head could not decide. Arranging these was the most difficult of all. Thankfully my heart saved the day. And with that, onto my three favourites of 2022. -- 03.  Final Fantasy IX Discovering I like a whole video game genre I had written off as a youngster was one of 2021's revelations. Cementing that, 'Yes, you do actually love jRPGs and to make you understand you are going to play 3 incredible examples' was the biggest blessing of all. It turns out I LOVE the final fantasy games I have played and each one had some serious strengths and very, very little weaknesses to them. It is wild to me that four sequels in a row (including FFVII) can be so consistently engaging and different and fun and emotional but here I stand, writing a GOTY post where I get to blab about them. So FFIX. FFIX has probably one of the best ensemble of characters in a game like this. I am a story man and I will always be a story man. Yes, platformers are my favourite genre and are mostly about going from left to right across a series of well placed jumps, but stories in games? This is where you ensnare me every single time. If you tell a great story that makes me truly feel and keeps me caring about the characters I am willing to overlook just about everything else. The best characters in FFIX are the reason this is a game that has stayed with people for as long as it has, why it still gets played and why it is so beloved. Dagger, Zidane, Vivi, Steiner, Quina and Freya are the best of the best with each one being so incredibly detailed and real. They grow via their interactions with each other and they each learn to be more than the one notes that each might appear to be on first viewing. There is a layer of depth and humanity that gets revealed ever so slowly across the game that I was not prepared for. There is a great deal to be said about what we do in our lives and how we choose to accept the gift of life that we are blessed with. We get to see those choices and indeed those consequences all the way through the game. Not every consequence leads to happiness, but every consequence leads to understanding and acceptance. I initially thought this was a much smaller in scale tale after the places FFVII and FFVIII had taken me to. I was exceptionally happy to see how incredibly wrong I was and I could not predict a single direction about where I would be lead. Something that FFIX did better than the previous two was splitting the party up at random moments. It meant that everyone got time and experience and you could grow to learn about everyone, rather than siloing some characters who never get touched. The combat is still great and again different to the previous two. I love the way of using Vivi to boost Steiner's attacks - I had not been expecting to have party members able to back each other up like that. It made the dynamics of the story even more interesting to me and helped solidify the blossoming relationships. The Chocobo Hot and Cold mini game might just be one of the best mini games ever made, even if I struggle more often than not. Finding the chocographs within the time limit always lead to fist pumps of joy but I would still continue because the music they play is oh so sweet. The sound track overall is SO strong and this is something I have come to expect from the final fantasies. The music in each game has a couple of tracks so powerful that they will stay with me forever and occasionally burst to the front of my mind only to be hummed for the rest of the day. It is now obvious to me from finishing these games that of all my time gaming, the Final Fantasy franchise is my favourite franchise of all time. Just shocking that it took so long to find out. If I could make it so, FFIX would be joint GOTY with the two I have put above it and when I look at my personal list of favourite games of all time ever, it makes me smile to see so many games suddenly make new appearances. FFIX is one of them. BEST MOMENT: Bring me my dagger! I often cry out in joy at moments in games but I do not recall many where I have shouted in quite so much joy and surprise. The whole game works up to that one incredible line and utterly nails it. 02.  Final Fantasy VIII This was it. This was the game that made me realise that it was jRPGs and not just FFVII that did it. FFVII and FFVIIremake are special stories that mean a great deal, but they are easy to love. FFVIII is not loved by many so if I could play and enjoy this game, then I would know. I would be certain that I actually did now love a specific genre of game. I love FFVIII. It was almost my favourite Final Fantasy. This game is the Dark Souls II of final fantasies. FFVII and DS1 are juggernauts. Literal game changers that cement the rules for developers going forward, that everyone wants to be like. They are lauded and loved and used as the inspiration for so many games that have come after. FFVIII has not been, but oh how I wish it was. This has, hands down, my favourite method of combat/power increasing/minigames/crafting that I have ever seen in a game. It makes sense as to why it has not been copied, because it is so integral to everything as is. You could not lift it without basically remaking FFVIII. "You Wanna Play Some Triple Triad?" is the cry of VG as I wander around the world, bumping into random people. Triple Triad being more than just a mini game, but another way to play the game itself to grantt you the items and powers needed to take on everything that might be thrown your way is inspired. That it is just a fun card game in its own right is the cherry on top. Learning to break the game was one of those a-ha moments that seem to happen so rarely to me. I always feel like most games you will come up against a super tough boss and beat them but always be the plucky underdog. Take Malenia from Elden Ring, as an example. Beating her is a tough achievement and you do get one of her moves from the weapon she gives you. However, you never really match her power level and play like she does. FFVIII allows you to be the unstoppable being that you so often take down in other games thanks to drawing magic, junctioning Guardian Friends and choosing the right weapons. The story is bonkers as well, (technically a time loop) but not quite as strong as FFIX. However I cannot get over Triple Triad and the junctioning mechanics of the game. This is the only reason it slightly edges out FFIX. Triple Triad is one of my most favourite of all games and if Tetra Master was the same as Triple Triad then FFIX would be sitting here right now. Triple Triad is a game that I know will take up all of my time once I get around to FFXIV. Quistis is easily my favourite character of this game and her blue magic is the first time I had seen that type of character before - I do not recall a blue mage in FFVII. Quina being just as good if not better than Quistis and sharing that same Qui starter also makes me wonder if Kimhari had been named Quihari then perhaps I would have used him more? Squall and Rinoa come a very close second however and the way they grow together, culminating in the awkward but lovely scene aboard the Ragnarok makes me beam. I did not connect to these guys as much as I did in the later entries, but like I mentioned above, this was a game that decided right off the bat it was going to do everything differently to the games that came before it. That they were going to eschew FFVII and go for their own thing. It was a risk and for me paid off handsomely. I hope one day that it is as universally beloved as I wish it was. BEST MOMENT: Doomtrain. 01.  Final Fantasy X My heart loves Tidus. Without Tidus and his cheery himbo nature, his desire to help regardless of what happens to himself, his good natured confusion and willingness to go along with the flow this game would not hit me nearly as hard. In fact, while Tidus is the main character you control you are merely a side character to the story of the most important protagonist in Yuna, who is without a doubt one of the most capable and confident heroines I have seen in a game. Tidus needs Yuna for certain, but Yuna has power within her that rivals every single big boss you come up against. She is on the logo for good reason. You play as Tidus, but this is the story of Yuna becoming the powerful mage who can save the world she always dreamt of being. Yuna is the best and she makes the game sing. I am so here for every last part of it. (Aside from the Wakka racism.) This is a world I loved taking in at every single step - it is probably my favourite world in a final fantasy and only slightly edges out the world of FFVIIremake. I love Spira in how it looks, how it interacts with itself, all the different cultures and even the international sport. Much like Wind Waker, Spira feels like our world many thousands of years from now once everything has flooded. Blitzball as a water based sort of polo is superb and probably my joint favourite mini game alongside Chocobo Hot and Cold. Basing the whole culture of Spira around it was an idea I like to think they took from the card system of FFVIII - it is not quite the depths that Triple Triad influences the whole of combat though. Speaking of which: Our fights now being a slot based queued attack approach is something I think absolutely works best for me and my brain. I still got confused now and then and queued up the wrong characters, but being able to bring people in and out on the fly to take care of specific enemies like they are hard counters is a very welcome addition and saved my bacon a lot. It made me think way more carefully about who was taking on who and when and whether or not I could perform a whole battle without taking a hit. Basically, a puzzow based system. There were more involved side quests than before - especially as to get some of the ultimate weapons it was required to perform different feats. Two in particular stand out to me as amazing moments in my game. The first was Lightning Dodges. In one area of the game, lightning randomly strike the ground and you can either get hit and knocked to the floor or dodge and avoid it. There is no damage penalty, just a bit of a delay as you get up. One part of an ultimate weapon requires you to dodge 200 of these lightning bolts in a row, no saving or leaving the area. There is a small spot lower in the area where if you walk in a circle you can force a lightning strike, but you still need to time this and dodge perfectly 200 times. So I began to do it. I was counting the strikes when I was asked a question around dodge number 40 and promptly forgot what the number was. LVG sat next to me talking to me and the stream while I just dodged lightning for about 10-15 minutes. Eventually someone asked "What number are you up to?" I said I lost count about 15 minutes previously and had tried to count but kept losing focus. Suddenly I missed a dodge and was struck to the ground. We all groaned and I said I might as well see how many dodges I had so we will know for next time how long it should take. I get to the counting book and it turns out I had done 201 dodges. The funniest, success number it could have possibly been. The other 'mini game' that nearly made me lose my mind was the Chocobo Bird avoiding Balloon grabbing race. I beat the trainer the first time with a score of 11 seconds and felt pretty good. Until chat explained that to get the ultimate weapon I had to get so many balloons that I technically go into negative figures with a score of 0 seconds. Also that the course and birds are always random and you cannot do anything to force a specific layout. It then started a gruelling couple of hours while I struggled to avoid birds and get balloons. Birds. The Birds! Birds No! I cried about the birds so much that the words lost all meaning. Beating that was utterly worth it and one of the best moments of all time. However, the Birds were the true winners because my real life time is fleeting and Birds are not Ultimately I got suckered into another Final Fantasy the way that FFVIIremake grabbed me. The real connection that forms between Tidus and Yuna got me good. I think the voice acting helped a ton (FFVIII and FFIX I had to rely on my own voices to show emotions) in cementing how the events of Spira are unfolding on them and was part of the reason I feel that this crew rivals the FFVIIremake crew for my favourite FF ensemble. Also, I just started FFX-2 this evening and already it has pummeled my senses so much of why this particular game is in the number one for the year (even though everything is so different and I am trying to wrap my head around it). I am just sorry I forgot to use you so much Kimhari! BEST MOMENT: Has to be wandering into the jungle for the first time after waking up at the beach and the orchestral version of Besaid Island playing for me. Those violins were so emotionally stirring that I just had to pause and listen. One of the greatest pieces of video game music ever created and the standout from this whole year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an-JUAAkm-E There are so many more things about each of the top ten I could talk about, and indeed a ton from 11-20 but this post is already long enough and there is another thread where I can ramble more - pretty much at the end of the day, my top three are seperated by percentages of a single percent. FF 8, 9 and 10 are just godlike games and I am happy for each to be given a ton of points.
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Dec 31, 2022 01:17
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Thank you for the kind, kind words everyone! It really was a list from the heart and it did change twice while writing it yesterday. As I was noting things down I realised how much I cared about them more and how much happier I felt when talking about them. These classic games holding up so well is the best part about it. I also am really proud of pushing myself further into genres and games I would not have normally tried and not giving up. The 120 star challenge might be a better accomplishment for me than just about anything else this year BECAUSE my depth perception in 3D platformers is so incredibly awful and I had less confidence in myself than when I played Sekiro (no summoning!) Great year and next year can only bring more classics and hopefully more games I am able to complete by myself Thank you for all of your amazing lists, I have been glued to reading them and added a number of games to my schedule. (Citizen Sleeper being one!)
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Dec 31, 2022 11:21
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Good morning GOTY thread Looking forward to the reactions to the results! I have a 23 inch monitor in portrait mode and can see the whole top 75 on one screen.
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Jan 7, 2023 10:39
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BeanpolePeckerwood posted:Nasty! (Well I also have a 27inch g-sync monitor in horizontal next to it and that is the main monitor used for PC/PS5)
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Jan 7, 2023 11:12
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ColdPie posted:Ouch, man. I was the only one who played it, but it was my number 10 in my top ten of the year 
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Jan 7, 2023 15:23
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(VG: I am posting the evens, but thank you Rarity for all this superb text!) At this point it is only fair to remind you how draws are settled in the world of GOTY. Around here we use the countback rule meaning that the game with most 1st place rankings wins the tiebreaker followed by the game with the most 2nd place rankings and so on. Not coincidentally that rule comes into effect right now at #74… Looper posted:A real Girls Rock game, y'know. Super Inactive posted:Being a magical girl is awesome. morallyobjected posted:Someone last year listed one of the pros of this game as the fact that it's super gay. Kay Kessler posted:This is one of the gayest games I've seen.  74. BLUE REFLECTION: SECOND LIGHT (Gust, 2021, Down 19) 29 points, listed 5 times The verdict is in: gay is good!
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Jan 7, 2023 15:35
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I always say that in many ways this early stage of the countdown is my favourite part. There’s no need for tension, there’s no need for stress, we can all just kick back and enjoy the hidden gems and the fond memories of years past. This year I think that’s more true than ever before because this year we have some truly magical sights to show you. Which brings us on to #72…Simulation883 posted:Amazing tale. lunar detritus posted:The narrative was what got me through. Fifteen of Many posted:I'm a big idiot and am easily drawn in by strong narrative beats. Fix posted:Brought me to tears.  72. GOD OF WAR (Santa Monica, 2018, Re-Entry) 29 points, listed 5 times We’ll be expecting to hear from Kratos much later in the day but his new adventure had you yearning for his former glories as God of War returns to our chart for the first time in three years! (VG: I would love to grow a beard as nice as Kratos'!)
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Jan 7, 2023 15:45
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If there’s anything to say about the goon gaming community it’s that we are known for our alternative tastes. Every year these countdowns produce a collection of games that you will never see anywhere else. Some may call us hipsters, some may call us connoisseurs, we just say we know what games we like. So with that said which special and unique game did you vote in at #70?Tirade posted:A game for dumb babies. FlowerRhythmREMIX posted:A perfect way to turn off my brain. Updog Scully posted:Worth playing just to marvel at the sheer spectacle of it all. MikeRabsitch posted:Killing people and doing a saxophone solo over their corpse as Darth Vader.  70. FORTNITE (Epic, 2017, New Entry) 30 points, listed 8 times Welp. You did it, folks. You gosh damned did it. (VG: I have not played this for two weeks!  )
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Jan 7, 2023 15:55
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redreader posted:My notes for this just say: "fun, short". coiol posted:Evokes memories and feelings from a formative time in my life. broken pixel posted:I love how it compares and contrasts with my perception of the original game. Nail Rat posted:I think it's good that they figured out a way to say "the original game is still canon”.  68. FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE: INTERGRADE (SquareEnix, 2020, Down 48) 31 points, listed 5 times, #1 1 time Sequel’s comin’, Cloud (VG: Rarity gave me the evens so I could post some of the greatest games of all time. Hello my own personal #2 game ever!!! If the sequel this year is as good as this...well...WELL...well....)
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Jan 7, 2023 16:05
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Anno posted:The scope and scale is unlike anything else. Nephthys posted:I've played 300 hours of it this year so it must be doing something right. Kazzah posted:The three-game hypercampaign with like 90 playable factions. Feldegast42 posted:Sending out a gigantic magical two headed doom chicken to rain fire upon my enemies.  66. TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER III (The Creative Assembly, 2022, New Entry) 32 points, listed 8 times Come back to me when they add a Stampen faction. (VG: I kept messing up the graphic when I was making this and calling it Total Warhammer War III)
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Jan 7, 2023 16:15
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oh good grief. I got gotted off stream AGAIN.
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Jan 7, 2023 16:17
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Incredible scenes.
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Jan 7, 2023 16:18
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Tempura Wizard posted:A worthy send-off. Extortionist posted:A good one to go out on. CharlieFoxtrot posted:You get to paint gundams! Venuz Patrol posted:The customers all being annoyed by the coffee and cigarettes chain because the cigarettes aren't pleasant to eat.  64. LAST CALL BBS (Zachtronics, 2022, New Entry) 32 points, listed 6 times Legendary puzzle game designer Zach Barth may be leaving the industry after this one (it’s unclear) but if he is then he’s going out in style as he’s earned his first ever appearance in our chart. (VG: Regarding the previous entry, please do not put in the papers that I got gotted.)
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Jan 7, 2023 16:25
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Ah, it feels like we’re truly in the swing of it now. There’s nothing quite like that countdown feeling. Let’s keep things rolling along with your #62…Khanstant posted:A perspective you don't get often in games. A Sometimes Food posted:Legally distinct Honey I Shrunk the Kids. ErrEff posted:The best unofficial "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" game that exists, which is admittedly a small subgenre. Zinkraptor posted:I'm sure a lot of people read "craft" and "survive", said "ah, one of those games".  62. GROUNDED (Obsidian, 2022, New Entry) 33 points, listed 5 times Wait, one of what games?  (VG: Honey I shrunk the gamedev!)
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Jan 7, 2023 16:35
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Wouldn’t you know it? We’ve already broken into the top 60. Time sure flies when you’re having fun! I suppose all we can do is take a look at which game is up next at #60…Manoueverable posted:Fluid movement. Sir_Phobos posted:It just was so fluid. tuo posted:Memorable boss encounters. morallyobjected posted:The final boss was one of the best bosses I've ever fought in any game.  60. METROID DREAD (MercurySteam, 2021, Down 58) 34 points, listed 5 times Oh no! It’s a result to dread for Metroid Dread as last year’s #2 tumbles all the way to the 60th spot!
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Jan 7, 2023 16:45
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It was SO good and controls incredibly. But those other games....wow.
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Jan 7, 2023 16:48
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The 7th Guest posted:Deceptively big. BabyRyoga posted:Tons of platforming and exploration. Xalidur posted:Everyone who likes FF5 and exploring should play this. Microcline posted:A solo developer using a couple of $50 royalty-free sprite packs.  58. CRYSTAL PROJECT (Andrew Willman, 2022, New Entry) 34 points, listed 5 times, #1 2 times From now on whenever I fear that I haven’t achieved anything in life I will remember that Andrew Willman produced this entire game all by himself and know that my fears are absolutely right.
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Jan 7, 2023 16:55
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I really want to play Sonic Frontiers too. If I can play Super Mario 64, then I can play Sonic Frontiers.
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Jan 7, 2023 17:02
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wuggles posted:The worst offender in the “Just One More Run” category. Wittgen posted:Delivers on all the promise of the first game’s premise. Feldegast42 posted:Hell, I even love the number 2. MikeRabsitch posted:An archer who can't stop farting.  56. ROGUE LEGACY 2 (Cellar Door, 2022, New Entry) 35 points, listed 6 times, #1 1 time Please don’t doxx me, Mike.
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Jan 7, 2023 17:05
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I know that many of us here are waiting with baited breath to see where FromSoft’s latest offering is going to chart but fans will be delighted to know that they have representation all over our countdown. We’ve reached their first entry here at #54 but which of their amazing games will it be?CAR CRASH CRACKERS posted:Everything feels so lonely and desolate. Lisztless posted:Its level design is the best in the entire series to this day. Tosk posted:Incredible use of interconnected level design. Epic High Five posted:"Good lord, they solved this 10 years ago, why aren't more devs doing this?"  54. DARK SOULS (FromSoftware, 2012, Re-Entry) 37 points, listed 5 times It fell out of the chart last year but the original Dark Souls is back over a full decade after release to be the first of four FromSoft entries in this year’s countdown. (VG: Oh how I adore the soulses!)
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Jan 7, 2023 17:15
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Not even my favourite souls game! There is no conspiracy here 
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Jan 7, 2023 17:19
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lunar detritus posted:My most played game this year, and the previous year, and probably the year before that. Jay Rust posted:My Chewbacca is in love with an enslaved space vampire. ethanol posted:I am now making vat born demigod babies. Ms Adequate posted:You want orks? Astartes? Catgirls?  52. RIMWORLD (Ludeon, 2013, Up 18) 38 points, listed 5 times Rarity posted:Did someone say something about catgirls?
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Jan 7, 2023 17:25
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Is this a reverse got?
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Jan 7, 2023 17:27
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All right my friends it is time to kick things up a gear! So many games to get through, so little time to get through them. I think the best thing we can do now is see which game you voted in at #50!nitsuga posted:The sole reason I bought a Playstation 4 as the world began falling apart. The REAL Goobusters posted:A very chill and almost zen experience. Palmtree Panic posted:The simple act of driving is tranquility. fridge corn posted:A celebration of the automobile and of CAR LIFE. KidDynamite posted:Just let me drive all the cars. biceps crimes posted:If you're similarly a sufferer of being into cars, you've probably already played this.  50. GRAN TURISMO 7 (Polyphony Digital, 2022, New Entry) 40 points, listed 10 times  CAR LIFE.
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Jan 7, 2023 17:35
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Ineffiable posted:Spelled wrong in both graphics even. At least I am consistent.
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Jan 7, 2023 17:39
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Tae posted:Crossplay is finally here. Ibblebibble posted:I had an absolute blast learning the ropes. Manoueverable posted:Gave me the tools to finally learn and succeed beyond my wildest dreams at something I thought I'd never be good at. Mysticblade posted:Big sword, big buttons and gently caress huge damage. KidDynamite posted:Lets me body people and get bodied in return. Foul Fowl posted:Some kid had his worst day online when he met me. Nothin personnel of course  48. GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- (Arc System Works, 2021, Down 37) 41 points, listed 6 times, #1 1 time  That wasn’t a kid, Foul Fowl. That was me! 
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Jan 7, 2023 17:45
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That is just the joined up font and not a mistype.
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Jan 7, 2023 17:47
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OK I just checked the graphics and it was a mistype. I fixed it now though!!
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Jan 7, 2023 17:49
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