Each game is seeded based on its performance in the two opening rounds of pools. Every game in the Upper Bracket has defeated multiple other games in 1-on-1 polls to get to this point. These are still the best of the best.
Polls are updated weekly, typically on Monday. Check back throughout the week to make sure you don't miss a vote!
HOW TO VOTE
This is easy. You only get one vote per poll. The game with the most votes wins. In the event of a tie, the higher seed advances, so don't get complacent!
Fusion does something no previous Metroid had attempted (except maybe the underrated Metroid 2 on GB) by giving you a more linear gameplay experience that allowed them to script better tense moments and encounters. It's a great game, but it has its own problems. For one, not everyone is a fan of that more limited approach to gameplay and exploration. For two, the story is kind of weak and overbearing.
Speaking of story, Planescape: Torment is one of the best examples of narrative (both in conception/writing and execution) that the entire medium has to offer. This is the kind of game that makes video games having stories worth having stories. (Oh PS the gameplay itself is also excellent and fun. Larian/BG3 fans take note, if you haven't played this one yet.)
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It seems a crime that Torment could possibly lose to Metroid Fusion. No insult to Fusion - it's a very good game - but it's not really one of the 32 best games of all time. Torment, otoh, is to narrative CRPGs what FF VI (which I just wrote about) is to JRPGs. It's utterly non-conventional - from the setting, which brings the weirdness and danger of the Planescape setting to life in all its gloomy and wonderful glory, to the characters (Floating talking skull? Check. Inexplicably servile githzerai? Check. Succubus who never has sex? Check.), to the ideas which seem almost unlimited in their creativity, this game brings everything it's got and more.
And that's not even getting into the story and writing, both of which are genuinely literary in quality, or the fact that charisma, wisdom and intelligence are critically important attributes, and not the mere "how many spells can you learn/level" stats they are in most AD&D games. And while combat is usually the last thing people mention when talking about this game, the reality is there is still a good chunk of fighting to be had, and the gameplay is well-done. Hopefully my vote is the tiebreaker that sends this one onward.
