I’ve heard of 4 of these games (Elden Ring, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, Wordle, and Vampire Survivors), and played 2 of them (Wordle and Vampire Survivors).
I’m sure at least half of these will be in my backlog in four years, though, just as half of 2019’s best games are currently.
Without looking I am sure the only game I played that was released in 2022 was Elden Ring. I would agree if you are a completionist then yea, it can be a long game. But as someone who likes open world games and who was hoping for a Dark Souls meets Skyrim I got everything I wanted and more.
It’s nice to see Wordle there. I can’t remember the last time a game has both captivated (and held) the attention of so many people in my life who have otherwise zero exposure to games.
Elden Ring would be my #1.
For me, it’s Elden Ring, The Case of the Golden Idol, and… I guess that’s it? I’m not sure I’ve really played many other 2022 games.
I like top lists like this to tell me about games I’ve never even heard of let alone played.
But I did play and finish Pentiment. Before tonight, I would have agreed with it’s place on the list, but have to wonder now if they finished it.
Otherwise, nothing else on the list made an impact on my play time this year. Maybe a bit of Wordle pre-buy-out. Hmm.
Loved Norco and Citizen Sleeper, looks like I need to get round to Pentiment ASAP.
I will never play Elden Ring even if we discover the secret of immortality (see what i did there)
Vampire Survivors 100% GOTY
Funny thing, I actually thought the Elden Ring inclusion felt… almost forced. She/He clearly is into a style of games looking at the first four, they are all narrative-heavy, gameplay-light adventure games, the four of them. And then also Elden Ring. Uhm.
If people dig Wordle, I strongly recommend giving Knotwords a try. It’s an ingenious minimalist word puzzler that (at least for me) scratches the Wordle itch but with less guesswork.
The app is free on the Android and Apple store, and offers daily play ad-free.
There’s a one-time purchase if you want to play older puzzles, and alternate formats.
Glad to see Immortality did well, and I enjoyed Norco a lot but lost the thread a bit towards the end. Surprised at Wordle, but only because I remember putting it on my Quarterlies list last year - maybe their eligibility requirements are looser?
Oh I’d assumed that was this year but my mind has jumbled the last three like a washer on fast spin.
My top 5 on play time for the year:
It’s been long proved that time is relative even beyond physical considerations in the gaming cosmos. Only that revisionist pithole known as the yearly quarterlies thread still denies the science.
We still have standards around here, gosh darn it.
Time’s list is pretty much all big triple A games with a couple of exceptions.
The Economist is behind a paywall, so here’s an archive link.
i didn’t need to click, I was yawning at the snippet already! that’s professional writing.
Paste (like most publications) has multiple contributors. So they’re a group with different tastes, and the awards represent whatever consensus they can come to, I assume.
Boom! The New Yorker’s picks!
Good list, and it’s cool to see a nod for the single developer game Roadwarden (on sale, try it):