Backloggd Canon 2022 (Sight & Sound)
At the end of 2022, the users on Backloggd got together to vote on a canon for the site, inspired by the Sight & Sound top films list released concurrently. 129 separate site members submitted ballots containing 10 games each, with 527 unique games nominated, 113 of which were voted on by three or more people. These are the results, presented here with added commentary from many of the site's most fervent users. Thank you to everyone who participated, as well as those who were gracious enough to write blurbs for each!
You can find the ballots listed here.
You can find the ballots listed here.
113 Games
RANK 14 (13 votes)
Melee is integral to me not only because it’s a game that showed me the appeal of frantically fast-paced, execution-heavy fighting games with defined sets of rules among a cast of characters to allow for player expression and creativity in a competitive space, but it also introduced me to the values of the fighting game community. Even years after I first got into the scene in my sophomore year of high school, this is a game that’s still being played and beloved by many, and fighting games such as Melee have allowed me to meet and connect with some of my dearest friends that I’m still with to this very day. There’s something genuinely beautiful about walking into a built from the ground up tournament event filled with people from around the country or even the world just to play and watch a few games everyone is passionate about. While Melee might not be my personal favorite fighting game, it undoubtably deserves its legendary status and competitive longevity, and it’s a game I will forever be grateful for. I doubt I would’ve met the people I have if YouTube didn’t put some GRsmash videos on my timeline.
(DrDelicious)
Melee is integral to me not only because it’s a game that showed me the appeal of frantically fast-paced, execution-heavy fighting games with defined sets of rules among a cast of characters to allow for player expression and creativity in a competitive space, but it also introduced me to the values of the fighting game community. Even years after I first got into the scene in my sophomore year of high school, this is a game that’s still being played and beloved by many, and fighting games such as Melee have allowed me to meet and connect with some of my dearest friends that I’m still with to this very day. There’s something genuinely beautiful about walking into a built from the ground up tournament event filled with people from around the country or even the world just to play and watch a few games everyone is passionate about. While Melee might not be my personal favorite fighting game, it undoubtably deserves its legendary status and competitive longevity, and it’s a game I will forever be grateful for. I doubt I would’ve met the people I have if YouTube didn’t put some GRsmash videos on my timeline.
(DrDelicious)
RANK 81 (3 votes)
RANK 81 (3 votes)
RANK 39 (6 votes)
"Hopefully it would have been worth the wait. Thanks, and have fun."
It is no exaggeration to say Team Fortress 2 has forever altered the gaming landscape in innumerable ways. Its strong visual identity has put its competitors and progeny to shame for over fifteen years. The first non-MMO live service commercial game, Valve's iteration and innovation is responsible for that which we have come to love and loathe in contemporary titles. Over time, TF2 gave us random weapon and cosmetic drops, promotional tie-ins, community contributions (and later, their monetisation), a real-money shop, evolving items, obtuse crafting systems, time-value propositions, digital economies, loot boxes, a community market, in-game content sharing, tie-in comics, a free-to-play revival, countless imitators and knock-offs. With no TF2, there would be no Dota 2 battle pass and thus, no Fortnite battle pass. No TF2, no Jerma985. Without TF2's brand of humour, we'd be spared the likes of Rick and Morty.
What Team Fortress 2 has given us is greater than all that combined. It has given us identity.
You might be Pyro or Scout, RED or BLU, F2P or veteran, cracked or bad, disabled or abled, queer or straight, cis or trans, furry or weeaboo, Christian or Atheist, /v/irgin or ledditor; TF2 has a place for you. It has changed so much over the years, but so have we.
(Detchibe)
"Hopefully it would have been worth the wait. Thanks, and have fun."
It is no exaggeration to say Team Fortress 2 has forever altered the gaming landscape in innumerable ways. Its strong visual identity has put its competitors and progeny to shame for over fifteen years. The first non-MMO live service commercial game, Valve's iteration and innovation is responsible for that which we have come to love and loathe in contemporary titles. Over time, TF2 gave us random weapon and cosmetic drops, promotional tie-ins, community contributions (and later, their monetisation), a real-money shop, evolving items, obtuse crafting systems, time-value propositions, digital economies, loot boxes, a community market, in-game content sharing, tie-in comics, a free-to-play revival, countless imitators and knock-offs. With no TF2, there would be no Dota 2 battle pass and thus, no Fortnite battle pass. No TF2, no Jerma985. Without TF2's brand of humour, we'd be spared the likes of Rick and Morty.
What Team Fortress 2 has given us is greater than all that combined. It has given us identity.
You might be Pyro or Scout, RED or BLU, F2P or veteran, cracked or bad, disabled or abled, queer or straight, cis or trans, furry or weeaboo, Christian or Atheist, /v/irgin or ledditor; TF2 has a place for you. It has changed so much over the years, but so have we.
(Detchibe)
RANK 2 (25 votes)
Since its inception by Alexey Pajitnov on June 6, 1984 Tetris has occupied an enormity of humanity's collective brainspace. The Nintendo developed releases on NES/Famicom and Game Boy come to mind first and foremost for many, themselves oft-considered effectively the first versions to get the formula 'right'. However, that initial version crafted in the halls of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union for the Electronika 60 microcomputer represents a pure, cohesive experience, remaining highly enjoyable nearly fourty years later.
It's rather telling that this ur- Tetris operates with the same mechanical elegance as its progeny. The consideration of Tetris - and indeed, any game - as a 'perfect game' to be trite, but from the outset Alexey Pajitnov demonstrated with aplomb that Tetris is a perfect idea. The reiteration of gameplay systems necessarily precludes Tetris from an actualised perfection -- who can judge which of its 322+ official releases is 'definitive'?
Yet, with hundreds of versions each expanding on that which came before, one would expect the very first title to be lacking most of what allowed Tetris to be a success. The Electronika 60 release is a monochrome textscape without even the barest flourishes of the Game Boy version. The shrill piezoelectric beeper's pathetic tones are an auditory agony; the ubiquitous whine of the cathode ray tube a tinnital torment. There is no bag randomiser. There is no hold. Rotation is clockwise-only. No T-spins, no back-to-backs, no combos, no garbage, no ghost. One next piece is shown. Surprisingly the hard drop is present, despite its omission from subsequent versions until 2001's Tetris Worlds.
It all matters not. In a cacophany of noise befitting a Ryoji Ikeda installation, I am dealt five Z-pieces in a row. The inconsistent speed increments befuddle me, catching me off-guard. How characters are rendered makes it difficult to consider my board's layout. I am in love. This scant realisation feels pure. I am entranced by it. It is all I have ever needed and wanted.
(Detchibe)
Since its inception by Alexey Pajitnov on June 6, 1984 Tetris has occupied an enormity of humanity's collective brainspace. The Nintendo developed releases on NES/Famicom and Game Boy come to mind first and foremost for many, themselves oft-considered effectively the first versions to get the formula 'right'. However, that initial version crafted in the halls of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union for the Electronika 60 microcomputer represents a pure, cohesive experience, remaining highly enjoyable nearly fourty years later.
It's rather telling that this ur- Tetris operates with the same mechanical elegance as its progeny. The consideration of Tetris - and indeed, any game - as a 'perfect game' to be trite, but from the outset Alexey Pajitnov demonstrated with aplomb that Tetris is a perfect idea. The reiteration of gameplay systems necessarily precludes Tetris from an actualised perfection -- who can judge which of its 322+ official releases is 'definitive'?
Yet, with hundreds of versions each expanding on that which came before, one would expect the very first title to be lacking most of what allowed Tetris to be a success. The Electronika 60 release is a monochrome textscape without even the barest flourishes of the Game Boy version. The shrill piezoelectric beeper's pathetic tones are an auditory agony; the ubiquitous whine of the cathode ray tube a tinnital torment. There is no bag randomiser. There is no hold. Rotation is clockwise-only. No T-spins, no back-to-backs, no combos, no garbage, no ghost. One next piece is shown. Surprisingly the hard drop is present, despite its omission from subsequent versions until 2001's Tetris Worlds.
It all matters not. In a cacophany of noise befitting a Ryoji Ikeda installation, I am dealt five Z-pieces in a row. The inconsistent speed increments befuddle me, catching me off-guard. How characters are rendered makes it difficult to consider my board's layout. I am in love. This scant realisation feels pure. I am entranced by it. It is all I have ever needed and wanted.
(Detchibe)
RANK 81 (3 votes)
RANK 64 (4 votes)
RANK 81 (3 votes)
RANK 47 (5 votes)
Hell is for those who committed to a great sin in their mortal lifetime. What happens when something not alive nor mortal enters the fiery jaws of Hell?
One such figure must acquire a thirst for blood, for it is something they cannot possess or shed, thus creating the want or need for it. This thing must also be designed in a particular manner, one that is mechanically dense, yet needs the capability to flow like water as it braves the depths of hell. Its prey will be forced adapt and change as it is cornered. Yet, as its prey changes, so too does the figure. The figure will clear out the layers of Hell one by one, and with that the figure changes little by little. It becomes more unpredictable. It becomes more violent. It becomes smarter.
What such thing can possess these qualities? The will of God would not dare to even think of creating such a thing so ravenous. It would have to be the will of man, as their existence reaches their climax and time of peril will create the perfect killing machine, born from their past failures.
Mankind is dead. Blood is fuel. Hell is full.
(Nightblade)
Hell is for those who committed to a great sin in their mortal lifetime. What happens when something not alive nor mortal enters the fiery jaws of Hell?
One such figure must acquire a thirst for blood, for it is something they cannot possess or shed, thus creating the want or need for it. This thing must also be designed in a particular manner, one that is mechanically dense, yet needs the capability to flow like water as it braves the depths of hell. Its prey will be forced adapt and change as it is cornered. Yet, as its prey changes, so too does the figure. The figure will clear out the layers of Hell one by one, and with that the figure changes little by little. It becomes more unpredictable. It becomes more violent. It becomes smarter.
What such thing can possess these qualities? The will of God would not dare to even think of creating such a thing so ravenous. It would have to be the will of man, as their existence reaches their climax and time of peril will create the perfect killing machine, born from their past failures.
Mankind is dead. Blood is fuel. Hell is full.
(Nightblade)
RANK 16 (12 votes)
Undertale took game culture by storm in 2015, becoming the source of song parodies and fanfiction for the next three years. This should come as no surprise, because the creator Toby Fox was involved in the similarly gargantuan touchstone of Homestuck prior working primarily on the music.
Undertale itself stands tall to the hype and acclaim garnered towards it, showing nary a crack in its pristine presentation. Undertale is a story to game devs everywhere about budgeting out the assets on your title as far as possible. Its short length is made up for by telling a story through the act of restarting, so you can meet the world in a whole different way. There is something similar in the music design with leitmotifs and borderline remixes of tunes for other spaces in the game. Far from being a detriment though, this reuse is seamless in form and presentation. That's not to say there isn't a wide cast of characters, everything from boisterous skeletons to dog knights lay ahead in your journey through the caves and ruins of Undertale. Every character, even the enemies, is excited to tell you their story.
Undertale is also a tour de force in keeping the player involved. For one, it's a RPG game for people don't like RPGs. The most novel mechanical inclusion is various SHMUP styled dodging minigames to avoid taking extra damage meaning that you always feel involved in the stakes of a fight rather than mechanically hitting the same buttons without worry. Of course it need not be said how such minigames add even further to the lush character portraits of the enemies you fight. Also, Undertale is constantly out to switch things up to keep players that much more engaged, using punchy humor and reasonable puzzles to keep the player immersed that much more. Even if you removed the metacommentary and stellar 3rd act finale boss fight from the picture, you would still be left with one of the best computer games of its year, if not of its decade.
(Erato_Heti)
Undertale took game culture by storm in 2015, becoming the source of song parodies and fanfiction for the next three years. This should come as no surprise, because the creator Toby Fox was involved in the similarly gargantuan touchstone of Homestuck prior working primarily on the music.
Undertale itself stands tall to the hype and acclaim garnered towards it, showing nary a crack in its pristine presentation. Undertale is a story to game devs everywhere about budgeting out the assets on your title as far as possible. Its short length is made up for by telling a story through the act of restarting, so you can meet the world in a whole different way. There is something similar in the music design with leitmotifs and borderline remixes of tunes for other spaces in the game. Far from being a detriment though, this reuse is seamless in form and presentation. That's not to say there isn't a wide cast of characters, everything from boisterous skeletons to dog knights lay ahead in your journey through the caves and ruins of Undertale. Every character, even the enemies, is excited to tell you their story.
Undertale is also a tour de force in keeping the player involved. For one, it's a RPG game for people don't like RPGs. The most novel mechanical inclusion is various SHMUP styled dodging minigames to avoid taking extra damage meaning that you always feel involved in the stakes of a fight rather than mechanically hitting the same buttons without worry. Of course it need not be said how such minigames add even further to the lush character portraits of the enemies you fight. Also, Undertale is constantly out to switch things up to keep players that much more engaged, using punchy humor and reasonable puzzles to keep the player immersed that much more. Even if you removed the metacommentary and stellar 3rd act finale boss fight from the picture, you would still be left with one of the best computer games of its year, if not of its decade.
(Erato_Heti)
RANK 81 (3 votes)
RANK 28 (8 votes)
Very few games manage to fully ingrain their narratives, themes, and characterization into their mechanics as well as The World Ends With You, let alone into the identity of the system itself. Even beyond the inherent uniqueness of playing it that its two screens provides, TWEWY manages to bring out so much artistic mileage with this layout. Every battle sees the two playable characters fighting in completely separately planes, the aptly named DS's dual screens, with them only being able to rely on their individual abilities and their trust in each other to fight as a team. Your own growth with adapting to this unruly and unconventional system reflects how Neku and his partners grow closer and deepen their trust in each other, reaching a point of synchronization that they can practically battle as one. It's a specific gratifying sensation that only TWEWY on its original hardware can supply.
(Midrulean)
Very few games manage to fully ingrain their narratives, themes, and characterization into their mechanics as well as The World Ends With You, let alone into the identity of the system itself. Even beyond the inherent uniqueness of playing it that its two screens provides, TWEWY manages to bring out so much artistic mileage with this layout. Every battle sees the two playable characters fighting in completely separately planes, the aptly named DS's dual screens, with them only being able to rely on their individual abilities and their trust in each other to fight as a team. Your own growth with adapting to this unruly and unconventional system reflects how Neku and his partners grow closer and deepen their trust in each other, reaching a point of synchronization that they can practically battle as one. It's a specific gratifying sensation that only TWEWY on its original hardware can supply.
(Midrulean)
RANK 47 (5 votes)
Abstract art as a whole is all about getting out what you put in: By its very nature, it’s incredibly unintuitive, and if you are not willing to put in the legwork to meet it halfway, you’re never going to truly understand what it’s trying to say. Yume Nikki is gaming as abstract art, an entry in the medium that defies the very mold of a traditional “game” with its free-form structure and minimalist design, and while that can be off-putting to the average gamer, if you’re willing to meet Yume Nikki on its own terms, you’re rewarded with one of the most beautiful experiences to ever grace RPG Maker 2003. Kikiyama’s magnum opus as a one-game wonder has created a ripple so massive with Yume Nikki’s release in 2004 that traces of its influence can be seen in indie games to this day, and it has single-handedly secured Kikiyama’s place in the upper echelon of indie developers.
(ConeCvltist)
Abstract art as a whole is all about getting out what you put in: By its very nature, it’s incredibly unintuitive, and if you are not willing to put in the legwork to meet it halfway, you’re never going to truly understand what it’s trying to say. Yume Nikki is gaming as abstract art, an entry in the medium that defies the very mold of a traditional “game” with its free-form structure and minimalist design, and while that can be off-putting to the average gamer, if you’re willing to meet Yume Nikki on its own terms, you’re rewarded with one of the most beautiful experiences to ever grace RPG Maker 2003. Kikiyama’s magnum opus as a one-game wonder has created a ripple so massive with Yume Nikki’s release in 2004 that traces of its influence can be seen in indie games to this day, and it has single-handedly secured Kikiyama’s place in the upper echelon of indie developers.
(ConeCvltist)
48 Comments
This is awesome! Thank you Pangburn for letting me contribute in it and for making this happen :)
Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of this!
Thank you, everyone! Btw, there sure are a lot of trans girls on backloggd
Incredible work Pangburn in putting this altogether, and I'm very happy to have been included. Cannot express how much I love every blurb written in this list, such a wonderful showcase of the talent and genius on this site, everyone did a great job. Also, damn this is a good list of games!
based
Oh shit, I didn't know this was happening! Would have loved to join. Is it Discord only?
It looks like a fairly fun list. Any chance this'll be yearly?
It looks like a fairly fun list. Any chance this'll be yearly?
@FrozenRoy Decade-ly
This comment was deleted
Proper good stuff man, and thanks to everyone involved!
This shit is straight up Legendary. Should be promoted anywhere on the site.
such a great way to be introduced to more of the wonderful writers on this site. bravo!
I'm glad to have been able to put this together for everyone on the site! thank you again to every single person who was generous enough to submit commentary for each game, as well as everyone who considered writing one, helped edit or prepare one, or pointed me in the direction of someone who would be perfect for the role!
to those wondering: I left the bottom half of the list without blurbs to make the coordination process easier, as those who were writing two blurbs already were under enough pressure as is to put theirs together, and handing out 60-odd blurbs was already very time-consuming. the five-vote cutoff was arbitrary... the bottom tiers of this list were so coarse that it was difficult to cut it cleanly in half LOL. I'm sure this will happen again in the future though! I don't know if I'll be the person running it, but I'm sure one of these could happen biyearly or so as the site continues to evolve -- the original s&s poll occurs once each decade but that seems a little long for a random internet community lol. regardless, if you didn't submit a ballot or write a blurb this go-round, perhaps you'll get a chance the next time this happens!
@letshugbro I didn't even think to tell people placements for games when I assigned blurbs LOL but I think the ambiguity definitely added some fun surprises even for those who had a sense of what was on the list and what wasn't
@FrozenRoy I definitely advertised it in the discord but the actual submissions were located at the list linked in the description above. I'm sorry to you and other "prominent" users for not getting a notif about it! I initially considered tracking down people just to ask them to submit ballots but didn't for a couple reasons... I knew some people already weren't interested and I didn't want to harass them about it, and I also didn't want to implicitly exclude people who may be well-known but not known to me... easy for me to overlook people on accident, esp since I spend less time on the site now than I used to. but hopefully now that this has been done once we'll get even more ballots for a potential redo a couple years down the line.
thanks again to everyone who participated! this is probably a good time for me to start tucking into some of the games listed here that I've never gotten around to playing...
to those wondering: I left the bottom half of the list without blurbs to make the coordination process easier, as those who were writing two blurbs already were under enough pressure as is to put theirs together, and handing out 60-odd blurbs was already very time-consuming. the five-vote cutoff was arbitrary... the bottom tiers of this list were so coarse that it was difficult to cut it cleanly in half LOL. I'm sure this will happen again in the future though! I don't know if I'll be the person running it, but I'm sure one of these could happen biyearly or so as the site continues to evolve -- the original s&s poll occurs once each decade but that seems a little long for a random internet community lol. regardless, if you didn't submit a ballot or write a blurb this go-round, perhaps you'll get a chance the next time this happens!
@letshugbro I didn't even think to tell people placements for games when I assigned blurbs LOL but I think the ambiguity definitely added some fun surprises even for those who had a sense of what was on the list and what wasn't
@FrozenRoy I definitely advertised it in the discord but the actual submissions were located at the list linked in the description above. I'm sorry to you and other "prominent" users for not getting a notif about it! I initially considered tracking down people just to ask them to submit ballots but didn't for a couple reasons... I knew some people already weren't interested and I didn't want to harass them about it, and I also didn't want to implicitly exclude people who may be well-known but not known to me... easy for me to overlook people on accident, esp since I spend less time on the site now than I used to. but hopefully now that this has been done once we'll get even more ballots for a potential redo a couple years down the line.
thanks again to everyone who participated! this is probably a good time for me to start tucking into some of the games listed here that I've never gotten around to playing...
I will be putting this on my CV. Wonderful job!
Im just astonished DOOM is the Top 1, seriously, im impressed
I'm sad I wasn't able to participate in this event. Goddamn, that's cool as hell. And such great games!
@Pangburn Hey, yo, no problem man! It's my own fault for not being on top of things, especially given I am Following you anyway. Really, I'm glad you even seem to consider me prominent at all, heh. I will say I would definitely recommend not doing a full decade like S&S, it'll be way too long for an internet community like this and Backloggd itself could be gone by then. IDK if people would want yearly but if not, something like 2-3 years seems good? 2025 would be an even number. 5 years instead is possible but I honestly think it might be too long, especially since unlike S&S there isn't a critic's base to rely on so who knows how much interest there will be.
Thanks again for organizing this to begin with!
Thanks again for organizing this to begin with!
When will the next edition be?
Cab
1 year ago