Untitled Duck Demo

Gaming
#1

I played Untitled Goose Game not too long ago. It’s a perfectly fine game. We’ve got a discussion about it here: Untitled Goose Game Discussion

This topic isn’t about Untitled Goose Game, it’s about the ridiculousness of game awards.

Here’s a list of nominations and wins for Untitled Goose Game:

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The mere fact that it was nominated for Ultimate Game of the Year, nevermind winning some of them, is so ridiculously stupid that I can never trust game awards again.

Here’s the critic scores for the game:
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Destructoid is obviously on drugs. But then you also have to wonder how a game that scored about 8 out of 10 on average got nominated for so many awards.

I played the game. It’s a little puzzle game. Super short and really annoying in parts. I played two other little puzzle games recently too. Old Man’s Journey and The Gardens Between. Both were better than Untitled Goose Game in my opinion and they got similar ratings to the award winner. They sure weren’t nominated.

When you look at Metacritic’s best games of 2019 it really shows what a disgrace this is:

Untitled Goose Game doesn’t even make the front page and there’s so many titles that I’m not even going to go count how many there are.

The goose was a bit of a meme when it came out and I think it only got the awards because it was popular, instead of good.

Untitled Duck Demo made me lose all faith in game awards.

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#2

it’s all political

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#3

I’d like to make a few points regarding this matter.

I’ll state my thesis at the start: I think Untitled Goose Game was brilliant and well deserved the praise and admiration it received. Will it go down in the annuals of all time greatest gaming experiences, no. But it did provide me with a fun-filled romp as a goose.

UGG was a game that was unexpected. When it released, thousands of people played this little, inexpensive game, and fell in love with the goose. To the point that the goose and it’s antics became a meme. The more viral the game became, the more people wanted to play it.

UGG is a simple game, where the mechanics and puzzles are easy enough for anyone to understand and finish, yet difficult enough to warrant maybe a second playthrough. There is nothing ground breaking about the game design, nor the graphics, nor the stealth mechanics or any aspect about the game. And yet, it became one of the most important games of 2019.

Look at the Indie scene of 2019. There were MUCH better Indie games that came out in 2019, eg. Baba Is You, Disco Elysium and The Outer Wilds to name a few. Many of those games won awards that UGG was nominated for. Yet UGG was the one that went vira;. UGG was the game that stole the imagination and hearts and minds of millions of people around the world.

And is that not what games should be celebrated for? A game capable to put a smile of the face of millions of people, to brighten the day of anyone who played it, is that not what makes special games special. Sure, many other Indie games were better in a traditional sense. But UGG was much more than that. It was a meme. It was fun. It made you smile and forget about the world for a few seconds. It gave thousands of people something to laugh at, and enjoy.

For those reasons I think Untitled Goose Game fully deserves all the admiration it deserved. There is no quantitative metric to measure this with. Some games are just special, regardless of what critics think. Same goes for movies. Same goes for music, books, or any other form of entertainment. UGG is not a technical marvel, nor does it claim to be. What it is, is wholesome, fun, and escapist theater. In a world where so many games take themselves way too seriously, how refreshing it is to see something like UGG.

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#4

Haha nicely done @DieGrootHammer.

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#5

I 100% believe that @DieGrootHammer will be bringing an actual live goose to use as a prop during his TED Talk.

:rofl:

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#6

This is the kind of discussion I love forums for. Especially ours.

As someone who hasn’t yet played Untitled Goose Game, I don’t have a gander in the fight, but sometimes it is just edifying to soak up the informed opinions of others.

Somehow @Solitude and @DieGrootHammer have got me to agree with them both! :laughing:

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#7

I give that a -3!

I’m still down to try the game.

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#8

That’s probably why you’re a journalist. :smiley:

I still have to try the game as well. Might pick it up on the Switch sometime and see what the fuss was about. That’s after I finish the daunting task that is Breath of the Wild. And Golf Story. And Mario vs Rabbids. And Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.

So maybe in 2022 then…

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#9

Oof. That’s a -3. (Revised my initial score.)

Perhaps one day the game will migrate South into your Steam library.

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#10

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