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Happy New Year!

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Games of the Year, 2022

Last year I switched things up, and decided to simply list the best ten games I'd played the previous year regardless of release date. I felt overwhelmed by the number of new games I was interested in checking out. However, by prioritizing things a bit differently this year, I was able to play pretty much every 2022 release that I felt would be a candidate for this list.

Additionally, I've realized that I never replay anything. There are just so many new games that I'm interested in getting to that I just don't make the time to replay older games. However, I do think it's a worthwhile endeavor to replay your old favorites - it's interesting to see how these games might hold up, how your tastes might've changed, or simply to spend time doing something you know you'll enjoy. To be more intentional about this, I've chosen two favorites from 10 years ago, two from 20 years ago, and two from 30 years ago to replay this year. Although I didn't finish most of them, I found this to be a worthwhile endeavor and one that I'll likely repeat in 2023.

List items

  • 1992 Favorite #1 (1992 GOTY list #1)

    I actually suspected that Link to the Past might not have aged well for me. When I've tried more recent games inspired by it, I've found myself bouncing off of them fairly quickly. Although the lack of direction and confusing dungeon design were not much of a problem when I was younger, I quickly tired of it in 2022. For a time in the 90s, A Link to the Past was one of the very few SNES games I owned, and I also had a lot more free time to wander around in it (not to mention a well-worn physical strategy guide). I remembered that Link would need to hookshot across a river during my recent playthrough, mostly because I remembered the frustration of being stuck at this exact point in the game in the 90s. I still don't understand how anyone just arrives at that particular solution in order to progress. I also found the combat in the game painful, from the endlessly respawning enemies to the interminable low health chime. While I'm still glad I had a Link to the Past to keep me busy during my childhood, I didn't finish my recent playthrough and doubt I'll revisit the game any time soon.

  • 1992 Favorite #2 (1992 GOTY list #2)

    Super Mario Land 2 was much easier to finish, as it only takes around two hours to complete. It was a relatively easy journey, with the exception of a few sections in the final stage that seemed to require superhuman reflexes. With "save state" capability and infinite attempts, however, I was able to push through. I found some of the zones in the game quite creative - the "Space Zone" has lower gravity and puts Mario in a spacesuit, while the "Macro Zone" shrinks him down to tussle with ant enemies. Lastly, I liked the game's use of Wario over Bowser as a final boss! As I don't much prefer 2D platformers these days, I can't say I loved the time I spent with Super Mario Land 2 - however, it was definitely a blast from the past.

  • 2002 Favorite #1 (2002 GOTY list #7)

    I was still a teenager when Terminal Reality released BloodRayne, so I was part of the target demographic for the game. Although the combat was solid enough (albeit a bit messy), I do think the jiggle physics and orgasmic feeding noises added something to the game for me at the time. Unfortunately, playing it in 2022 as a grown man, it was difficult to stop cringing at these aspects of the experience. Even so, I might've played the game to completion if I didn't start getting lost in these enormous Nazi bunkers. I have no idea how I figured out where to go when I first played this game! I have to give Bloodrayne credit though, as it ignited my love for third-person action games with super-powered protagonists (a love that is still strong today!).

  • 2002 Favorite #2 (2002 GOTY list #1)

    I purchased a GameCube copy of SoulCalibur II in the hopes that I'd be able to revisit it this year, but alas, it was not to be. Unfortunately, I only have one friend that still owns a GameCube, and he had a very busy year. However, I do remember playing Soulcalibur II many years after release at a friend's bachelor party. At the time (and even now), I remembered the button presses that produced my favorite moves, and my Astaroth wiped the floor with everyone else at the party. Although I have tried many of the sequels (including 2018's SoulCalibur VI), none have had the balance of the second iteration, and I feel confident in saying that SoulCalibur II would stand the test of time.

  • 2012 Favorite #1 (2012 GOTY list #1)

    Outside of Super Mario Land 2, Mark of the Ninja is the only other game that I replayed to completion. And to be honest, it didn't feel like an inconvenience at all to do so. Mark of the Ninja remains a perfect stealth game, not only providing excellent feedback to the player but providing a number of tactical options that allow players to approach levels in their own style such as alternate costumes, various techniques, and numerous attack and distraction items. It's clear when the player is visible and when enemies are alerted, as well as how much sound you're making or how much sound the use of an attack item will make. While I will admit that it's difficult for me to be rational in light of my affection for the larger experience, I also feel that Mark of the Ninja's story was better than it had any right to be. Mark of the Ninja is easily one of the top 10 games I've ever played.

  • 2012 Favorite #2 (2012 GOTY list #7)

    I ended up putting almost two hours into Hitman: Absolution. I liked what I played this year, but couldn't shake the thought that Absolution was just an inferior version of the Splinter Cell games that came out in that same era (Conviction and Blacklist). Absolution is more about using your environment than Splinter Cell, but doesn't have all that many environmental hazards or objects to interact with. To some degree it's also about using enemy uniforms, but here it absolutely pales in comparison to the modern Hitman games, which see 47 penetrating secure area after secure area through careful escalation of disguises. Absolution isn't bad, but all of its gameplay elements have now been done so much better elsewhere. Even so, I still think that the "Contracts" mode is ingenious and wish that my friends and I would've created more challenges for each other to attempt back in 2012.

  • #10

    I feel that Saints Row was a bit unfairly maligned by reviewers this year. As soon as you launch the game, you know you're in for a good time. My co-op partner made both of his character's arms and legs into metal prosthetics and used tissue boxes for shoes. The game features fun combat and takedowns, meaningful gun upgrades, interesting perk abilities, and brings back my old favorite activity, insurance fraud. The game's map is sprawling and well-designed, and it's a cinch to get around with fast-travel points, the ability to call in a vehicle, and your wingsuit. The game is also hilarious - the culmination of a story arc about LARPing made me laugh until my head hurt. Although there are certainly some side activities that are quite boring (hidden histories and photo hunts come to mind), my main strike against the game (and the reason it isn't ranked higher) is the game's stability. There were multiple times that my character bugged out - sometimes I couldn't shoot my weapon, and other times I would spawn stuck in the ground and missing parts of my body. Completing challenges, which was necessary to earn perk points and unlock combat abilities, often didn't work for me in co-op - the things I did just didn't count. Though the stability issues certainly didn't sour my time with the game completely, they are absolutely worth noting.

  • #9

    Research and Destroy is a co-operative, turn-based (but also real time) third-person objective-based shooter. Your teams of super scientists are attempting to stave off an incursion of "supernaturals" into our world. Initially, Research and Destroy seemed HARD. Although I took out some of the enemies that spawned as I rushed to objectives, I thought that perhaps I'd be able to outrun others. Research and Destroy does not play that noise, and you'll get wrecked if you try it. At all times, you'll need to be focusing on enemy spawns to keep from getting overwhelmed. Once I got the hang of it, I loved it. The game featured very creative weapons and support items, but only allows players one of each to spread between their three super scientists. At times I found this limitation annoying, but it very much encouraged me to try everything at least once. Some of the items, like the time bomb, are ingenious within the framework of the gameplay. The game also encourages a lot of coordination between players to keep things clear, and you'll develop a protocol for which enemies to prioritize relatively quickly. The boogeyman is another ingenious stroke by developer Implausible Industries, an enemy that only one player can see. You'll need to communicate well to take him down! My main gripes with the game include the upgrade system (which isn't quite as impactful as you'd hope), the campaign map (I'd prefer it if the game were simply linear), and the fact that enemy damage over time effects somehow transcend the turn-based system and damage characters on your turn, even when those characters are not in use. Even so, Research and Destroy is great - I've never played anything like it.

  • #8

    The first thing that strikes you about Hellslave is the fantastic art style - the macabre animated characters and the forlorn world. The only way for your character to survive is to briefly ally with one of the Lords of Hell, and so this is what you do. Your choice of Lord will bestow upon you specific strengths and abilities, and you'll learn as you progress through the game that each has their own personality. However, at its core Hellslave is essentially a dungeon-crawling, turn-based action RPG, so you're here to create a build. And boy, does Hellslave gives you the tools to do so. Not only do you have all of the item slots you're used to seeing in an ARPG (with the addition of a "Relic" slot), but the items themselves are interesting and powerful. You'll also have multiple skill trees to play with, various fighting "postures" to switch between, and "momentum" effects that you can choose between that activate at certain intervals during fights. At the end of my time with the game my character had 17 abilities to choose from, with wildly differing effects and different cooldown logic, and you'll develop an ideal rotation and prioritization based on what you're fighting. Your build will need to be good, as Hellslave definitely brings the noise. There were numerous fights where I just decided I'd have to try again another day with a "fresh set of eyes" after so many failures. However, if you like creating builds in ARPGs, you'll like this.

  • #7

    I have a particular friend that I’ve played a lot of escape room video games with. There aren’t too many that we regret playing, but each has its own flavor of jankiness. In some, it’s difficult to physically see the item or apparatus you’re supposed to interact with. Some are overly fiddly, and feel more like doing math homework than playing a game. In some, the logic just doesn’t connect with us – we’re not sure what we’re supposed to be doing or what we’re supposed to be interacting with. In almost all, there is a pervasive low-budget feel. In many, myself and my co-op partner are just represented by disembodied torsos of different colors. However, Coin Crew Games’ Escape Academy is just solid throughout - the rooms are creative, and challenging without being illogical. The rooms are even connected to a larger story that, while not particularly memorable, represented something new that we had yet to see in the genre. Lastly, I appreciated the fact that even when playing online the players are given a split-screen view. While I balked at this at first lamenting the lost screen real estate, it became invaluable when collaborating to solve the game’s puzzles. This was the best escape room game I’ve seen, and I’m sure my co-op partner and I will pick up the season pass to play the DLC in the near future.

  • #6

    Although some felt that Extraction didn’t do enough to set itself apart from Siege, I didn’t play Siege, so it was all new to me. I’ve often wanted to play a cooperative shooter in a stealthy way, but there’s always that teammate that just runs ahead, guns blazing. In the past I’ve played games that featured recon drones, but using them just meant that you’d be tagging enemies right as your trigger-happy friend reached them and filled them with bullets. Extraction does not and will not tolerate this foolishness. It is vital that at least one player uses the recon drone, and going loud prematurely almost surely means being overwhelmed. Alien nests grow on the walls of the infested locales your operators visit, and other aliens patrol these spaces. If an alien spots one of your operators and is not immediately taken down, it will scream. All nests in the vicinity will activate, and will continually pump out aliens to attack you until either you or the aliens and their nests are destroyed. Extraction marks one of the very few times that a game forces players to engage with it in a stealthy way. I love stealth games and cooperative games, but rarely do I get to combine these loves. Although some of the operator characters were better than others, all could be useful depending on the objectives players were asked to complete. Lastly, the game featured a novel mechanic concerning characters that were overtaken during a mission. If the downed operator couldn’t be recovered, the aliens would take the body and imprison it in a stasis cocoon. Players would then have to pick another operator to take into that location as part of a separate mission to recover the lost operator, around which the aliens had created a type of pulsing alarm system. This game was just solid all around, and should’ve gotten more attention than it did.

  • #5

    About 2/3 of the way through 2022, I took a new job. Although I was technically doing the same work, in the same field, a change in setting made all the difference. I had to learn so much so fast, and it took me forever to do any of it. After work, I wanted nothing difficult or taxing, craving only ease and relaxation. Tinykin found its way to Game Pass at exactly the right time for me, and I couldn’t get enough of it. It’s essentially a 3D platformer/collect-a-thon which takes place in what appears to be a human home. Milo (the protagonist) needs to collect "spaceship parts" that are scattered all around the home, but he’s unfortunately only about the size of a mouse. By collecting various species of Tinykin, he is gradually able to traverse the entirety of each room. Each room represents its own separate level of the game, and all are ingeniously designed. Although some of the jumps may appear difficult, Milo is able to encapsulate himself in a bubble to glide and make them easier. As you progress through the game (depending on how thorough you are), you’ll be able to glide further and further with this bubble. Tinykin is relentlessly delightful and I’d recommend it to anyone, whether you’re undergoing a difficult change in your life or not.

  • #4

    I went back and forth in my head, over and over, between Forbidden West and Ragnarok. Although Forbidden West eventually edged out Ragnarok for me, both games are absolutely stellar experiences. I must be frank – I play games like this in a very particular way. Partially to avoid upgrading gear that will later be replaced but also to use the game as a vehicle to express myself, I’ll spend a lot of time before I start the game in earnest analyzing the skill tree and the weapons and armor available to my character. I’ll then chart the most efficient path to acquiring the skills and equipment that I want, and save as much of the side and main game content as I can to do after I’ve acquired it. Unfortunately, Ragnarok did not reward me for this time, as it is incredibly difficult to catch higher-level enemies on fire and not at all worth the effort. As there is much less healing in Ragnarok than in Forbidden West, I turned my attention to some of the heal-enhancing gear unlocked by finding and eliminating Odin’s ravens. Due to my insistence on doing everything in the most efficient way possible, my phone was out and open to a guide during much of my playtime with the game to get rid of the ravens as soon as I encountered them. Many of the ravens are well-hidden, and some can be difficult to eliminate even once found (throwing that axe like a Hail Mary pass). Acquiring and upgrading gear is a much more laborious process in Ragnarok than Forbidden West, as mystic gateways are much sparser and mounts are only available in a select few locations. Even so, it wasn’t awful to pass the time listening to the chatter of whoever my current companion was – a lot of the story and character development takes place during these chats as Kratos moves from place to place. The voice acting is all exceptional, especially Christopher Judge, who won “Best Performance” recently at the Game Awards. I found much of the side content in Ragnarok compelling, only refraining from completing some of the final Crucible trials, the Berserker headstones, and taking down Valkyrie Queen Gna (the Berserkers and Gna are the spongiest bosses in the game). Overall, I think Forbidden West edged out Ragnarok because I found the combat slightly more enjoyable in the former and I just tend to prefer Sci-fi over Fantasy these days.

  • #3

    Horizon Zero Dawn was my favorite game that came out in 2017, so Guerrilla had quite an act to follow here with Forbidden West. However, for the most part they succeeded, and with a story that seems like a logical next step and evidences an important type of growth for Aloy. I began with Forbidden West the same way I did with Ragnarok, looking through the skill trees and at equipment online to create a build. The game’s fast travel and mount system made it a cinch to get around the map to the resources and vendors that I needed to put my build together. I was able to maximize the effectiveness of my ability to tame machines and have them fight on my side, which was quite an asset in more difficult battles. Ashly Burch and Lance Reddick did an excellent job reprising their roles, and I’ve always had a soft spot for these science fiction worlds in which nature grows back over the relics of human civilization. Although I enjoyed the main quests, side quests, errands, tallneck mounting, and missions about liberating rebel territory, there was much in the game that I wasn’t interested in doing. Perhaps due to how much content there is overall, or the fact that the rewards weren’t very exciting to me, I ignored the Hunting Grounds, Melee Pits, Arena, Salvage Contractors, and the Machine Strike card game. Even so, I spent 71 hours with this game, the most I spent on a PS5 game this year! Although I loved my time with Forbidden West, I do sometimes wish it had a bit more focus. I know that Playstation wants its single-player experiences to be appealing to everyone, but not even game has to be for everyone – really!

  • #2

    My God, I hope DrinkBox Studios has got the online multiplayer sorted by now. The stability of this feature was so bad back when I played this game that I’d dock it a full star for this failing alone. However, please don’t let this deter you from playing the best cooperative game that came out this year. A couple of my friends are currently playing through the title (and loving it) on Playstation 5 and haven’t mentioned anything to me about instability, so maybe it's been addressed. With the power of your (ownership is disputed) wand, you’ll gain the ability to change into many different forms, each with their own set of abilities. Different forms are better in different situations – some allow you to access new areas of the map, while others may make a challenging side quest into a cakewalk. Making things even more interesting, you’ll gain the ability after a while to mix and match abilities from different forms, creating your own personal Frankenstein. And while Diablo and Nobody Saves the World could both be classified as Action RPGs, Diablo has nothing on the dopamine hits you’ll receive playing Nobody Saves the World. You (and your co-op partner, hopefully) will CONSTANTLY be achieving various goals in the game. Leveling up certain forms grants access to new ones (and so on and so forth), and the game introduces even more goals (walking a certain distance, opening a certain number of chests, etc.) once you’ve unlocked most of the forms available. As some of the form-specific goals are quite difficult to achieve, the game also never begins to feel like it’s pandering to you either. Couple this rewarding gameplay with my second favorite OST this year, and you’ve got a winner on your hands.

  • #1

    After trying and failing for years to keep up with new releases, I decided to cut out the visual novel genre. Although these games tend to be short, they also haven’t traditionally taken advantage of the interactivity this medium is known for. However, when gaming with a friend online, he mentioned that he’d recently played a game called Citizen Sleeper that he really enjoyed. “Well,” I thought, “I have Game Pass. Why not?” While Citizen Sleeper isn't as much a visual novel as something like "Wide Ocean Big Jacket," an argument could be made that it does fit in this category. Either way, I did not know what I was in for. I adored the game. The writing is so consistently excellent, and the game’s world produces such a poignant mixture of awe and despair. I liked the mechanic of rolling and allocating dice to determine what I was able to accomplish in a day, which meshed with the idea that I’m living on borrowed time, in a borrowed body. This became especially interesting when you begin gaining skills, and when you find situations where lower rolls are more advantageous. I loved being in this wholly realized sci-fi world, even more so when my time was coupled with the best OST I heard in a game this year - try “Sleeper,” “Optic Nerve,” “Ember’s Wake,” and “Matsutake." Your ears will thank you.
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