Most Innovative Mechanics (Finals)

[SkyPikachu]

Welcome to This Old Neon’s fourth official “BEST GAME EVER!!!” Project.

The “Most Innovative Mechanics” side-event finals include all the games that have survived the previous elimination rounds. There is 1 poll of 9 games.

• You can vote for 1 game.
• The top game will be deemed to have the “MOST INNOVATIVE MECHANICS EVER!!!”
• You can’t change your votes once they’ve been submitted, so click carefully. Voting closes on Saturday at midnight ADT.

Don’t forget to vote in the main event and find your way to the other user-submitted categories at https://thisoldneon.com/bge!

Vote here

[VictorViper]

I'm going to take a moment to argue for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, because this contest came down to some absolutely monstrous choices and it's gonna struggle from reflex votes.

I want to start by explicitly removing Portal from this argument, as I think it's the other main contender for the crown, at least in terms of my original intent with the poll.

Keeping it simple and universal (and critically, spoiler-free), Brothers managed to gut me emotionally using techniques unavailable to traditional media. The crux of this was the control scheme which, after three hours (preferably in one sitting) of gentle repetition and conditioning, became the lynchpin to the entire thing. I need to be vague here, but the story paired with the control scheme culminated in a finale that broke my heart so significantly, I can't think of a match outside of the personal losses inherent to 40 years of real life.

To this day, Brothers is a scar on my heart, and it's almost entirely due to some really smart considerations about how we physically interact with our stories. I'm thrilled it came this far, let's give it its due and our votes.

Editing to add: My brief argument against the other (excellent, worthy) games—Portal aside, is that they were largely inventions. The ones that weren't inventions should have never made it here.

[SkyPikachu]

I'm going to take a moment to argue for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, because this contender came down to some absolutely monstrous choices and it's gonna struggle from reflex votes.

I want to start by explicitly removing Portal from this argument, as I think it's the other main contender for the crown, at least in terms of my original intent with the poll.

Keeping it simple and universal (and critically, spoiler-free), Brothers managed to gut me emotionally using techniques unavailable to traditional media. The crux of this was the control scheme which, after three hours (preferably in one sitting) of gentle repetition and conditioning, became the lynchpin to the entire thing. I need to be vague here, but the story paired with the control scheme culminated in a finale that broke my heart so significantly, I can't think of a match outside of the personal losses inherent to 40 years of real life.

To this day, Brothers is a scar on my heart, and it's almost entirely due to some really smart considerations about how we physically interact with our stories. I'm thrilled it came this far, let's give it its due and our votes.

Editing to add: My brief argument against the other (excellent, worthy) games—Portal aside, is that they were largely inventions. The ones that weren't inventions should have never made it here.

Adding to this.

Basically you control one character with each stick so you can move both characters at once. It's a puzzle games and amazingly made.

[The Shoemaker]

That's a good case for Brothers, I think I'll need to keep an eye out for that one!

I think I'll be abstaining from this round. It has become it's own version of "Best Game You've Never Played" for me. I know there's some heavy hitters here, so I don't feel comfortable voting without having experience with the majority of the titles. I'll trust the decision of the majority!

[Kong Wen]

Yep, Brothers it is.

Shoe, I'm surprised you haven't played it already! It frequently goes on sale, so keep an eye out. Definitely try to set aside a few hours and puzzle through it in one sitting.

[SkyPikachu]

Brothers is free on Xbox game pass if anyone has an xbox I think it's $1 for the first month.

[The Shoemaker]

Brothers is free on Xbox game pass if anyone has an xbox I think it's $1 for the first month.

Didn't know this!

[Skullomancer]

Yeah, tough choice between Brothers and Portal here, in my opinion. Brothers had one moment of absolute brilliance, but Portal was pretty brilliant throughout. Was it enough to outweigh the punch-in-the-gut factor of Brothers' big moment? Tough to say. I need to mull this over.

[SkyPikachu]

Yeah, tough choice between Brothers and Portal here, in my opinion. Brothers had one moment of absolute brilliance, but Portal was pretty brilliant throughout. Was it enough to outweigh the punch-in-the-gut factor of Brothers' big moment? Tough to say. I need to mull this over.

We're talking about the mechanic not the story.

[VictorViper]

Yeah, tough choice between Brothers and Portal here, in my opinion. Brothers had one moment of absolute brilliance, but Portal was pretty brilliant throughout. Was it enough to outweigh the punch-in-the-gut factor of Brothers' big moment? Tough to say. I need to mull this over.

We're talking about the mechanic not the story.

Those of us who experienced the "big moment" know exactly what we're talking about here fella. Can't be described, not least of all because it's a massive spoiler.