Best Game of the Last Five Years - Round One

[This Old Neon]

Round One of the “Best Game of the Last Five Years” side-event includes 5 polls of 9-10 games each.

• You can vote for UP TO FOUR (4) games per poll, or skip a poll entirely.
• The top 4 games in each poll will advance to Round Two.
• You can’t change your votes once they’ve been submitted, so click carefully. Voting closes on Saturday at 11:59 P.M. ADT.

VOTE HERE

Poll 1 of 5
Cuphead (2017, Multiplatform)
Dead Cells (2018, Multiplatform)
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (2017, Multiplatform)
Flinthook (2017, Multiplatform)
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (2018, Multiplatform)
Octopath Traveler (2018, NS)
Return of the Obra Dinn (2018, PC)
Spider-Man (2018, PS4)
Tetris 99 (2019, NS)

Poll 2 of 5
Horizon Zero Dawn (2017, PS4)
Metroid: Samus Returns (2017, 3DS)
Monster Hunter: World (2017, Multiplatform)
Nex Machina (2017, PC/PS4)
Nier: Automata (2017, Multiplatform)
Night in the Woods (2017, Multiplatform)
Nioh (2017, PC/PS4)
Splatoon 2 (2017, NS)
SteamWorld Dig 2 (2017, Multiplatform)

Poll 3 of 5
Batman: The Telltale Series (2016, Multiplatform)
Dark Souls III (2016, Multiplatform)
Far Cry Primal (2016, Multiplatform)
Hacknet (2015, PC)
Overwatch (2016, Multiplatform)
Tales of Berseria (2016, Multiplatform)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (2017, PS4)
What Remains of Edith Finch (2017, Multiplatform)
Wuppo (2016, Multiplatform)

Poll 4 of 5
Helldivers (2015, Multiplatform)
Kerbal Space Program (2015, Multiplatform)
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (2015, 3DS)
N++ (2015, Multiplatform)
Plague Inc: Evolved (2015, Multiplatform)
Rocket League (2015, Multiplatform)
Steamworld Heist (2015, Multiplatform)
Super Mario Maker (2015, WU)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015, Multiplatform)

Poll 5 of 5
1001 Spikes (2014, Multiplatform)
Bayonetta 2 (2014, WU)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (2014, WU)
Destiny (2014, Multiplatform)
Fable Anniversary (2014, Multiplatform)
Legend of Grimrock II (2014, PC)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014, Multiplatform)
Shovel Knight (2014, Multiplatform)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (2014, Multiplatform)
The Talos Principle (2014, Multiplatform)

[Kong Wen]

OK, fresh blood. This is an interesting one because all the recency bias can duke it out in one place.

Poll 1 of 5
Cuphead (2017, Multiplatform)
Dead Cells (2018, Multiplatform)
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (2017, Multiplatform)
Flinthook (2017, Multiplatform)
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (2018, Multiplatform)
Octopath Traveler (2018, NS)
Return of the Obra Dinn (2018, PC)
Spider-Man (2018, PS4)
Tetris 99 (2019, NS)

Obra Dinn gets the original indie concept kudos. Spider-Man gets the refined open-world beating them up kudos.

Poll 2 of 5
Horizon Zero Dawn (2017, PS4)
Metroid: Samus Returns (2017, 3DS)
Monster Hunter: World (2017, Multiplatform)
Nex Machina (2017, PC/PS4)
Nier: Automata (2017, Multiplatform)
Night in the Woods (2017, Multiplatform)
Nioh (2017, PC/PS4)
Splatoon 2 (2017, NS)
SteamWorld Dig 2 (2017, Multiplatform)

MoHu Wo gets the social grind kudos.

Poll 3 of 5
Batman: The Telltale Series (2016, Multiplatform)
Dark Souls III (2016, Multiplatform)
Far Cry Primal (2016, Multiplatform)
Hacknet (2015, PC)
Overwatch (2016, Multiplatform)
Tales of Berseria (2016, Multiplatform)
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (2017, PS4)
What Remains of Edith Finch (2017, Multiplatform)
Wuppo (2016, Multiplatform)

Dark Souls III gets the it's part of the Dark Souls series kudos.

Poll 4 of 5
Helldivers (2015, Multiplatform)
Kerbal Space Program (2015, Multiplatform)
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (2015, 3DS)
N++ (2015, Multiplatform)
Plague Inc: Evolved (2015, Multiplatform)
Rocket League (2015, Multiplatform)
Steamworld Heist (2015, Multiplatform)
Super Mario Maker (2015, WU)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015, Multiplatform)

N++ gets the perfect platformer kudos. This would get a vote even if we extended the category to 10 years, or 15. Great game.

Poll 5 of 5
1001 Spikes (2014, Multiplatform)
Bayonetta 2 (2014, WU)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (2014, WU)
Destiny (2014, Multiplatform)
Fable Anniversary (2014, Multiplatform)
Legend of Grimrock II (2014, PC)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014, Multiplatform)
Shovel Knight (2014, Multiplatform)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (2014, Multiplatform)
The Talos Principle (2014, Multiplatform)

Destiny gets the shooting and looting social grind kudos. Talos gets the mind-busting first-person puzzle kudos. Great game! Thanks to whoever nominated that one! Seems to have oddly fallen off people's radars since its release.

[SkyPikachu]

Was there an official cut off date for this just curious I know it was a little wishy washy if it was 5 years to date or 5 years being 2015/6/7/8/9.

[The Shoemaker]

Was there an official cut off date for this just curious I know it was a little wishy washy if it was 5 years to date or 5 years being 2015/6/7/8/9.

Considering we started this in January of 2019, I figured the full years of 2014-2018 were fine, and January of 2019 could slip in.

[SkyPikachu]

Was there an official cut off date for this just curious I know it was a little wishy washy if it was 5 years to date or 5 years being 2015/6/7/8/9.

Considering we started this in January of 2019, I figured the full years of 2014-2018 were fine, and January of 2019 could slip in.

Yeah there were probably only 3 games in Jan 2019 that would have been worth nominating anyway.

[Kong Wen]

Was there an official cut off date for this just curious I know it was a little wishy washy if it was 5 years to date or 5 years being 2015/6/7/8/9.

Considering we started this in January of 2019, I figured the full years of 2014-2018 were fine, and January of 2019 could slip in.

This is correct. I trimmed 2-3 nominations from 2013.

[SkyPikachu]

Was there an official cut off date for this just curious I know it was a little wishy washy if it was 5 years to date or 5 years being 2015/6/7/8/9.

Considering we started this in January of 2019, I figured the full years of 2014-2018 were fine, and January of 2019 could slip in.

This is correct. I trimmed 2-3 nominations from 2013.

I remember being furious Animal Crossing New Leaf was 2013.

Do you happen to have the most popular year nominated handy. Feel like 2018 and 2019 was too recent however 2018 had some amazing games but so did 2017. 2014/15/16 have a bonus due to games being cheaper now and more readily availible to more people and more time for people to vote for said game. But I don't think those 3 years stacked up against 2017 and 2018.

[Kong Wen]

Do you happen to have the most popular year nominated handy. Feel like 2018 and 2019 was too recent however 2018 had some amazing games but so did 2017. 2014/15/16 have a bonus due to games being cheaper now and more readily availible to more people and more time for people to vote for said game. But I don't think those 3 years stacked up against 2017 and 2018.

Not for the event overall; for this category specifically, the most popular year was 2017 by a long shot.

[SkyPikachu]

Do you happen to have the most popular year nominated handy. Feel like 2018 and 2019 was too recent however 2018 had some amazing games but so did 2017. 2014/15/16 have a bonus due to games being cheaper now and more readily availible to more people and more time for people to vote for said game. But I don't think those 3 years stacked up against 2017 and 2018.

Not for the event overall; for this category specifically, the most popular year was 2017 by a long shot.

Makes sense. Big nintendo year SMO, BOTW, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and some great other games too on XBO/PS4/PC and even 3ds with Metroid Samus Returns.

[This Old Neon]

Poll 1 of 5
Cuphead (2017, Multiplatform)
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (2017, Multiplatform)
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (2018, Multiplatform)
Spider-Man (2018, PS4)
Tetris 99 (2019, NS)

Poll 2 of 5
Horizon Zero Dawn (2017, PS4)
Monster Hunter: World (2017, Multiplatform)
Splatoon 2 (2017, NS)
SteamWorld Dig 2 (2017, Multiplatform)

Poll 3 of 5
Batman: The Telltale Series (2016, Multiplatform)
Dark Souls III (2016, Multiplatform)
Overwatch (2016, Multiplatform)
Tales of Berseria (2016, Multiplatform)
What Remains of Edith Finch (2017, Multiplatform)

Poll 4 of 5
Kerbal Space Program (2015, Multiplatform)
Rocket League (2015, Multiplatform)
Super Mario Maker (2015, WU)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015, Multiplatform)

Poll 5 of 5
Bayonetta 2 (2014, WU)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014, Multiplatform)
Shovel Knight (2014, Multiplatform)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (2014, Multiplatform)

Winners. Time to introduce some vicious predators into this field of does.