Not a 2022 game but I finally got around to playing Psychonauts 2 this year - what an amazing game! I thought I was over platformers but the writing and creativity of this game really won me over.
Honourable mentions:
Many thanks to @Brooski for organizing this, it’s a great way to find games I’ve missed over the last year.
Coming back to edit later (and maybe change some things around), but here’s my list:
I’m not a Souls fan and Midnight Suns is on my birthday list for next month.
I just realized Marvel Snap and Suns were different games :0
I had to check but Pathfinder: WotR was out in 21 unless you count the Xbox version which I think came out earlier this year. If it were allowed it’d be number 2 or 3 in my list.
Honestly, I did not like as many games this year as I expected, though my #1 was a pleasant surprise and my #2 was everything I had hoped and more.
Vampire Survivors - Castlevania meets SHMUP. Not sure if a game this busy can be called elegant, but that certainly applies to the game design if not the presentation. Despite its simplicity—all you do is move—it has a surprising amount of depth and in no time you’re discovering weapon evolutions and synergies. In terms of money-to-enjoyment ratio, it might have a legit claim as the GOAT.
Persona 5: Royal - I spent considerably more time with Persona 5 than my #1 choice and might ultimately prefer it, but I think the #1 spot should go to a game of the current year, not something five years old. Still, I love this game. It throws just enough variety at you to keep any part of it from getting stale—social simulator, dungeon crawler, exploring its version of Tokyo (surprisingly good even if I think games still haven’t quite figured out how to ‘do’ cities)—all done with winning panache. Indeed, it is still probably the best looking game of the year, despite its age.
Worldle - Suck it, word nerds! The map-based take on the Wordle formula reigns supreme.
Alfonzo’s Bowling Challenge - Short and sweet indie game I learned about from a post on these very forums. Hang out with your dirtbag uncle and bowl for a while. To say it goes places is an understatement, but in the end it’s all about the pins. Check it out here.
Pentiment - I’m wrapping this up now and I have some thoughts about it I have not quite worked all the way through yet. It is impressive and frustrating in equal parts, but I love that it exists.
I will give a shoutout to Dwarf Fortress for finally getting a proper release. It is still probably a masterpiece, but not one I have played in many years. I meant to give Chained Echoes a go, but I was all JRPGed out after Persona 5. Likewise, Midnight Suns seems nifty, but I have been let down to varying degrees by all the SRPGs I have played this year, so I am waiting for a sale.
I was going to ask about this yesterday but I never thought of it while I was at my computer, so thanks @Nightgaunt for pinging @Brooski, and Brooski for taking the time to manually count the votes, that’s quite the undertaking and it is much appreciated.
My votes are as follows.
I ended up with 12 games of 2022 to pick from and it was kind of hard to pare it down to just 5, honestly. Warhammer 3 would under normal circumstances not just made the top 5 but probably the top 3, except there were so many great gaming experiences I had (that were also new and interesting), it’s hard to put a game I’ve technically been playing for six years up. But the beta for the Immortal Empires dropped in August and while being a “beta” was almost immediately what I had wanted, and it’s only gotten better from there. So, to shine a light on maybe some other games that deserve a glance and a look, here are my 6-12 spots!
Speaking of, honorable mentions must go to two games I’m actively playing that I’m absolutely loving but I haven’t completed yet (not even close in likely both games’ case) but would have definitately made the list if I’d been able to before creating it.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
God of War Ragnarok
Okay, that’s where I’m at, at least until I remember something I forgot!
I really need to try out Slice and Dice, it’s right up my alley, but I keep forgetting about it since it’s not on Steam yet. Ack.
I only played two new releases in 2022, so my list is easy. Thankfully they were both quite good, too.
I haven’t played some of the bigger names of 2022. I expect at some point - years from now - I may look back at this list and wish I’d been able to name Elden Ring, GoW Ragnarok, or other big releases. Instead, I’ll have to choose from the dozen or so games I played that actually released this year.
PowerWash Simulator - Ha ha, I actually played this throughout 2021 and 2022, when it was in Early Access. A steady stream of content meant I kept this thing installed and got to revisit it with every update. This was just an amazing game to relax to. I kind of liked waiting in between updates, because it meant I didn’t plow through all of the content immediately, since I had to wait between releases.
Vampire Survivors - I really, really had no idea how taken with this title I’d become. Folks talk about how it’s great in small bites because of the thirty minute time limit, but the sometimes agonizing choices you’re making for upgrades often means a run takes a lot longer than that (I kind of wish they enforced a time limit on your decisions). While I generally try to “complete” a lot of games, I often don’t 100% them because I just can’t be bothered with all the fiddly nonsense of collectibles and achievement hunting. I 100%'d this game. It took a while. I was kind of obsessed.
Weird West - I was kind of surprised at how this game came and went with few people talking about it (there was a thread here; it seemed short lived). It had a ton of style, a super great story, marvelous interactivity, and really fun systems to play with. It had some balancing issues, and it definitely was rough around the edges, but it was one of those awesome “If you like this genre, this game kills it” titles for me. This game understood how important tone is, and it nailed it in spades. I have no idea if it did well; I hope they get to sequel it and polish the framework they built here.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker - I know this one (like PowerWash) has been floating around in EA for years, but I didn’t play it until full release. Look - it has a lot of issues. The UI in between missions causes me physical pain, and the unskippable story elements in the Hab also make me want to hurt people. But when you’re in the yard, cutting apart ships and trying to figure out the best, fastest, safest way to dismantle a huge and dangerous ship, you’re kind of in this weird zen place where you fully engage with the game. The moments where your tethers and force push line up to pull like ten things into the recycler at once are awesome.
The Case of the Golden Idol - A lot of people compare this to Obra Dinn; I get that. I can’t say this was nearly as amazing as Obra Dinn, but it scratched that itch a little bit. I had fun with the deductions, and it was enjoyable to play a game where I could attack each chapter at lunch, and wrap it up within a week or so with small sessions. I feel like this is the kind of game where they could just keep dropping new chapters, and I’d gladly grab each and every one.
Runners Up:
I bought like 30 new games this year, but these are the ones with any real playtime. Elden Ring is Way ahead of the pack. my numbers should be 1,2,3,4 = ER, then 5 = HZD, etc…
Another year, and another year where I didn’t play a ton of 2022 releases. I spent most of 2022 playing Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and WoW. I don’t have a PS5 so that’s a couple of AAA titles I would have played that I didn’t.
I don’t have strong feelings about any of the games on my list, but I feel like I should contribute for posterity.
Oh wow, I remember this! Thanks for the reminder, that was a fun little game.