I started playing on Friday. I was pretty busy the first week of this month, but I made sure to start on the 7th, since that was Travis's birthday.

I played through the first two days and am enjoying it so far. I think the decision to make the main character so unlikable, at least so far, is a bold one. I'm enjoying that the plot already hasn't been entirely straightforward, so I have hope for it. I wasn't expecting the betrayal at the end of day 2, although it's also sort of awkward that the player character keeps making decisions that I disagree with.
I wasn't expecting the soundtrack to be entirely rap (at least so far), although it is fitting. It's a little annoying to have lyrics playing when the game is so dialog-heavy, though.

For anyone who wants to play TWEWY, but isn't sure how, there are 3 versions:
* Nintendo DS (original)
* iOS (Solo Remix)
* Nintendo Switch (Final Remix)
You could also try the DS version on an emulator, but Reddit posts mention an anti-piracy measure on English versions that you would have to work around. (This is not an endorsement of pirating games.)

Some notes:
* NEO: The World Ends With You is the sequel, not another version of the same game.
* I've heard that the DS version and the Switch version in handheld mode offer the best experiences.
* The iOS version of the game may have compatibility issues with newer versions of iOS.

Thank you, everyone who voted for TWEWY. ❤️
I'm sure Travis would be excited to know that it won GotM. And probably a little abashed to know that it's in honor of him.

Some of you may remember a HLTB forum member by the name of orngcav067. He participated in some of the Game of the Month discussions in 2016. He also posted an AMA where he talked about his cancer diagnosis and his favorite game, among other things. Unfortunately, both of those tie into the reason I'm telling you this.

His real name was Travis, and he was my best friend. After we met at work in 2011, we bonded over video games, music, software development, fencing, the fact that we were both app developers with "dumb phones", and so much more. He introduced me to Humble Bundle, and I convinced him to buy a 3DS. We traveled across the country to attend the Ouya launch party together, I was a groomsman in his wedding, and he would have been a groomsman in mine. As you've probably figured out from reading this far, after battling brain cancer for almost 5 years, Travis passed away in 2018.

June 7th of this year would have been his 35th birthday, which is why I hope to honor him by nominating his favorite game: The World Ends With You

By the way, the first game was GotM three years ago. For anyone interested in checking out its thread, here you go: https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/2363/1

Out of curiosity, I decided to take a quick look on Ori reviews on YouTube. From the thumbnails alone I got this:





Then a quick scroll on the comment section of IGN's review:









Wow, people really like this thing.

That's some high praise. I hope it lives up to the hype.

It's almost April again (already?!), and you know what that means: Fool's Choice nominations! Here's how it works:

In addition to the usual game of the month, you can nominate a "Fool's Choice" game. The nominees can be funny, ridiculous, "so bad it's good", or any game that would be funny to experience as a group. It's a chance to share oddball games that might not fit the usual GotM mold. As the voters, you ultimately decide the criteria.

The only additional rule is that a game can't be nominated to both categories.

The original instance of Hell's Little Story that I created apparently never merged with one that was created shortly after.
https://howlongtobeat.com/game/45503
https://howlongtobeat.com/game/45824

I'll nominate Cube Escape Collection.

It's a compilation of 9 short puzzle games. I wouldn't say it's scary, but it's macabre. And it has 98% positive reviews on Steam.

Sometimes a franchise is big and vast which such potential that GotM has had to have multiple dips into these franchises but which franchises have been the most popular. We have had 14 different franchises with repeat entries for a total of 46 games and 31 separate threads.
Note: If a franchise is Underlined then it means these games where part of a collection/series nomination before we excluded multi game nominations:

Franchises



4th - Bayonetta / Bioshock / Castlevania / Fallout / Final Fantasy / Metroid / Resident Evil / Super Mario / Yakuza - 2 Games


3rd - Borderlands / Doom - 4 Games


2nd - Mega Man - 6 Games


1st - Bit. Trip / The Legend of Zelda - 7 Games

Didn't the Borderlands series only have 3 games when it won?

This game is a duplicate of this game, which has been renamed to "Alien Attack".

EA has replaced Origin with the "EA App". Could you please replace the "Origin" storefront with "EA" or "EA App"?

Hey there! Just came across this for the first time and super interested. Is there a discord group for discussions and an easy way to see nominations/what won? Or should I favorite the thread and come back to it often?

The Discord link is at the bottom of the page. Once you're in, check out the game-of-the-month channel. Each month's games get discussion threads in that channel, so click the # icon at the top when you're in that channel and find the game or games you want to discuss and join those threads.

I'm excited to play this one for the first time. I'll mostly post my takes and progress to the Discord thread, but I may post some here, too.

Double nom there as also nom breath of the wild 😜

Oh, I didn't see your nom before posting. I'll stick with it.

April - Regular GotM + April's Fool

Are we doing an additional April's Fool again? If so, what exactly was that again? A silly game?

From my original announcement post last year:

In addition to the usual game of the month, you can nominate a "Fool's Choice" game. The nominees can be funny, ridiculous, "so bad it's good", or any game that would be funny to experience as a group. It's a chance to share oddball games that might not fit the usual GotM mold. As the voters, you ultimately decide the criteria.

The only additional rule is that a game can't be nominated to both categories.

For game of the month, I nominate The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

For fool's choice, I nominate An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs.

With Tears of the Kingdom coming out in May, I'll nominate The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

https://howlongtobeat.com/game/99353
is a duplicate of
https://howlongtobeat.com/game/82743

I nominate Splatoon 3.

Arguably one of the strangest, darkest entries in the franchise, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was an ambitious attempt to marry the wildly successful control/gameplay design of Ocarina of Time with a bizarre time travel system that forced players to play through the same three days of events over and over again to save the day. While generally acknowledged by critics and fans as a less than worthy successor to Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask was Nintendo's first real attempt to change the classic Zelda formula.

When focusing on the main objectives, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is about 20½ Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 31 Hours to obtain 100% completion.



You are Simon Belmont of the Belmont clan. Count Dracula has appeared and it's your job to rid the world of him. You are armed with your trusty whip and have the ability to pick up an item that you find in the game as a secondary weapon.

When focusing on the main objectives, Castlevania is about 3 Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 5½ Hours to obtain 100% completion.



You've come here for a reason. The Union Aerospace Corporation's massive research facility on Mars is overwhelmed by fierce and powerful demons, and only one person stands between their world and ours. As the lone DOOM Marine, you've been activated to do one thing: kill them all.

When focusing on the main objectives, Doom is about 11½ Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 26½ Hours to obtain 100% completion.

Who's the hater who wrote that Majora's Mask description? The last sentence isn't even true; Majora's Mask is a fan favorite and received great reviews.

Arguably one of the strangest, darkest entries in the franchise, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was an ambitious attempt to marry the wildly successful control/gameplay design of Ocarina of Time with a bizarre time travel system that forced players to play through the same three days of events over and over again to save the day. While generally acknowledged by critics and fans as a less than worthy successor to Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask was Nintendo's first real attempt to change the classic Zelda formula.

I nominate Year Walk.

Legacy Games and Jast USA seem to have disappeared from the storefront options.

I nominate Crypt of the Necrodancer.

Can "Legacy Games" be added as a digital store front please? =)

https://legacygames.com

I second this.