POTY 2022: Pre-Game of the Year 2022 - The Ones That Didn't Make It

I'm assembling my list for Game of the Year 2022 (GOTY), just like everyone else. There is a slight bump in my way, however. A game that I wanted to check out before the buzzer, 13 Sentinels, got delayed in shipping and now my finalized list feels wrong. I'm just not sure if the Nintendo Switch version that was released this year will crack my list, but I'm also not sure it wouldn't do that. You understand. I've been rushing my way through games and, so far, none have breached new heights, so by sheer laws of probability, it means one of these has to strike gold.

In the meantime, I've had plenty of time to whittle my shortlist down to 10 big winners. All but one (maybe two), have a slot that I can feel confident about. Plenty of notable games did, sadly, have to get their throat slit for this to happen. That's a good thing! The slaughter is for the greater good. Most years, I struggle to highlight anywhere from six to eight games; pushing myself to round out ten choices. Finally, 2022 is a return to Good Video Game Years™, I think. Your mileage may vary, but we don't have to settle for something like fuckin' Chicory: A Colorful Tale anymore. We can just have a great game win the GOTY trophy, not just a good one.

So, while I scramble to put together the definitive, most objectively accurate description of GOTY 2022 on this site, I thought I'd pre-game it a little bit. I'll show you how the soup is made and go over the ones who got the chop. The five big'uns will get their own little spotlight, while the five below will just get a mention. I usually pre-game the pre-game. It's an anxiety disorder thing.

This method isn't waterproof, considering that if a game creeps into my official list, the one that gets bumped will fall into an oubliette. I'll need to make a second honorable mentions category and I really dislike those. That's exactly what this list already is, you know? Anyway, keep in mind that your favorite game might slip through the cracks. If that happens, you have my sympathies. And, hey, if you want to guess from this list which 10 did end up making it, feel free to tell me.

Here are the five games on the dark side of this coin:

• Card Shark: What a super interesting game, with great art and a charming story that I wish wasn't as time sensitive.
• Hyper Demon: My mystery disease made me develop light sensitivity, so this kick-ass assault on the senses makes me violently ill.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge: A solid number 11 game on anyone's list, where it nails everything it does, but you're also done with it when you're done with it.
• The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition: The original is such a great game, but I can literally not find anyone that streams it, so I never even saw it.
• Deathverse: Let It Die: The very same issue; could be as thrilling as the original, but I never found a single person who plays it.

Now, on to the winners of the losers section. Here's the "bammer," as this website has sordidly coined:

List items

• 

  Pokémon Legends: Arceus

  Open world Pokémon is such a cool concept that I wish this game was just a little bit more fleshed out. If it was just a tad bigger, a tad more versatile or a tad more modern, I think it would've become the next big thing. Developer Game Freak gets a lot of flak for doing the bare minimum, but I feel like they at least tried here. They have a yearly attempt at diverging from their roots and it always feels like 'something', some dark force, coerces them to just turn back and repeat the same actions indefinitely. The sisyphean developer deserves a flower for doing their best and, let's not forget, give people a Pokémon game that was fresh and fun again. That feeling of coming up against an Alpha Pokémon for the first time is the single greatest representation of what it actually would feel like to suddenly cross a monster's path. They actually pulled it off! Now let them finish the job. Please.

• 

  Elden Ring

  I'm sorry. I know, I know. As the resident Dark Souls hater, everyone expected me to piss on this one, but it was on the list for a long time! The open world aspect carries it a lot, sure, but Elden Ring definitely feels like a culmination of what the series should've been. As a result, finding items feels more magical, carving a path feels more meaningful; you're no longer just going through the meat grinder. You create your own story! The reason that it was ultimately cut is the same reason that every From Software game ultimately falters: technical ineptitude. When talking to a friend, they told me that they had played for over 100 hours, only to wake up one day and find out that the game deleted their save. There was no recovery possible, nothing in cloud storage; Elden Ring had just wiped their existence without a notice. I would never touch a game like that again.

• 

  Rune Factory 5

  What a great year for the farming simulator fans or, at least, for my kind of fan. I don't know what you Stardew people like; I never will. Ultimately, there's nothing wrong with Rune Factory 5, as it's a continuation of the series, like a lot of these Japanese franchises. They're very iterative. Its biggest moment is that the game lets you be gay now, which doesn't sound like a lot, but they at least tried to make good on catching up. During the promotional cycle, publisher Marvelous made sure to lead with their inclusive change, just in case they had to weed out some vermin. That, along with the same versatility that the franchise is known for, is always a good time. Farm, craft, raise monsters, fight and dethrone God; you know how it works. The only reason that it didn't make it to the end is exactly because there were so many good farm games this year. One of them bumped the whole stock down and I didn't feel strongly enough to double or triple down. Gay farming simulators are on the rise. To the moon! 🚀

• 

  Xenoblade Chronicles 3

  Once again, my apologies to the Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) community. I know that I'm a failure on many aspects. I just didn't play it, because I want to play the first two, even if I know that those don't matter. Also, I don't have infinite money, so that factors into another full price release. I've heard so many good things, but when I was watching streams of it, it didn't resonate with me at all. I just know that, if I get my hands on it later, it will retroactively make the cut. Slashing people to bits seems like the element that gets you hooked. As of right now, without playing it myself, it's just not there yet. What a crazy video game though and it's remarkably fleshed out as well. It's not uncommon for a JRPG to just coast, but this release goes above and beyond to grab your attention for the start and then rides that out for triple digit playtime. One day, I will also start my journey to that 100 hour mark, but not today.

• 

  Crisis Core –Final Fantasy VII– Reunion

  Similar reasons are at play here. Crisis Core is the best Final Fantasy of all time, we all know that, so this should logically make a list. I just don't have any urge to play this release. It could be amazing. It probably will be amazing, because it's Crisis Core. However, the PSP version is already perfect as it is. The original is the crowning achievement of the handheld. As the best game on an entire platform, I just don't feel like playing a game that will still be great, but not the literal best, on some random different console. I've had that immaculate experience already and finalized that moment. I don't have modern gamer syndrome of morbidly needing to go back to the same well a dozen times, like video game fentanyl. It will be magical, when I get around to it in like two or three years, because it will remind me of the PSP version. I'm not at all immune to nostalgia; none of us are.