Great games of 2022
Games I loved in 2022. Likely includes older games and Game Pass titles.
List items
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I've occasionally found the shield controls frustrating, but otherwise really enjoyed Tunic. I've never got into a soulslike game and this game has really grabbed me. The sense of mystery is incredible.
There was a later combat room that has a huge difficulty bump, but it was rewarding to make it through without No Fail mode.
Early puzzles aren't too tough, but endgame ramps up puzzle challenge massively, but can feel directionless. Minor mistakes in some optional puzzles were hard to catch. Frustrated, I looked online and found some hints without spoilers on reddit.
Despite frustrations, I loved it.
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Awesome adventure with the kids. They found the snax and replacing limbs hilarious and enjoyed customizing their friends. A bit scary at the end, but otherwise very kid friendly.
The included Bigsnax DLC was a nice change of pace too: a good twist, some fun puzzles, and a good storyline between the grumpuses.
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Awesome beat 'em up with a good difficulty scale. The easiest mode was a blast to play with my kids. They're now shell-heads too! Not really long, but we had a lot of fun fighting our way through. It's proven to have staying power with them since they keep going back to old levels.
We haven't completed all the challenges ("don't hit obstacles 4 times" is too tough with kids), but still having fun.
My only real complaint is the upgrade system is hard to understand (playing gets you points to level up the active characters and levelling up unlocks new abilities). The system is pretty simple, so it's not a big fault.
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Incredible adventure with remarkable variety. Played through with a 6 year old and it was a challenge, but he rose to it.
Initially found the characters unlikeable and the divorce plot unappealing, but the growth of the characters was a pleasant surprise.
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Cute fun for the whole family without being overcomplicated enough to turn nongamers off. Really interesting to play with your young kids because you have to work together on a team where you essentially all have the same capabilities. And you see their ability to steer and aim improve.
We made it to the third constellation?
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I love puzzle games and played through this with my four year old. It was challenging enough to keep my interest but the method of interaction was simple enough that he could solve some parts of the puzzles.
Great game. Only got stuck twice (hands and ladders) and both we solved after coming back the next day.
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Great co-op focused (no griefing) local multiplayer, but frustrated by some initial technical issues.
My Xbox Series Bluetooth gamepad shows up as two controllers and since you just press A to join, I'm always controlling two Nobodies. (Launching the Gamepass version from start menu or from Steam with a shortcut.) I managed to get into the Assign Controllers screen and move left to put one of them into "unassigned" and now I can play the game. Pressing A on two gamepads at the title screen makes both show up so local multiplayer works. The Assign Controllers screen ignores mouse input (no cursor) and accepts your results even if you don't pick Confirm, so I was able to get into a bugged state where both gamepads were P1. Fortunately, restarting fixed.
Vsync causes camera stutter, but turning it off makes it smooth and no tearing so far. Maybe because my display is 30 Hz.
Once I got past those, I've enjoyed the game. Some minor feel issues (like picking from the character wheel), but the tutorial is well done and combat fun. The writing is pretty good. Multiplayer is very additive: It's a lot of fun with my son since he can contribute to combat but can't grief me by failing at combat or intentionally being a jerk. Staying alive gives the other person more time to revive, we don't block each other, we don't hurt each other much. A great time!
Finished in 35 hours.
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Really enjoying the challenge of the combat. Defeating the first brute (big round one) was great: I learned the pattern (which turned out to be simple) and whalloped him.
Made it to the green biome and slowed progress a bit because I keep wanting to deposit my shells and feel a bit lost.
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Fun dice mechanic; whimsical implementation.
One time I used an opponents card to turn into a bear and I defeated them. Then I was a bear for the rest of my run!
Every time you play for the first ~10 games it unlocks something totally new. It's great and very charming.
Haven't even nearly finished it because there are so many campaigns.
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Just started. Didn't really grab me and I haven't come back after my first play session.
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Still plucking away.
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Lost my saves when switching to Steam. Enjoyed it enough to start trying to get back to where I was, but then I fell off.
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Just started. Fun to play with my kid.
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Kids find it hilarious so far.
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Having a fun time catting around, but the story isn't very strong so it isn't pulling me back regularly.
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I was very excited for Sable. I really wanted to like it, but I find the speeder bike physics too unstable to be fun. Having your speeder flip and flop around ruins the sense of exploring. Going to the sky city first was a mistake because I was afraid of coming down and then my speeder disappeared (not at location on map). Turns out fast travel was a solution to both of those problems, but I'd lost so much steam by the time I found it.
However, the art, atmosphere, and writing in this game is fantastic. I love the conversation system where you hear your thoughts and other's words, but not your own dialogue. The open plains with interesting ruins are great. There's some weird touches like the chum eggs that seem out of place, but otherwise all that part is great.
Never finished it because I hoped they'd improve the speeder.
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Kids enjoy this one but it's just a lot of bashing things and the open world parts are tedious, so it's better to let them play instead of trying to play with them.
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Pretty funny, but mouse-based only.
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Played a bit, but it's a bit bloody and violent for the kids and too dangerous for them to want to try hands on.
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Played a bunch of the campaign, but found it kinda boring. The story isn't very interesting and there's not a lot of it. Feels very open world filler. Tons of icons on the map but most seem irrelevant to the story.
The combat is good and it's fun infiltrating bases and shooting, but also very chaotic. Felt hard to be strategic because it was hard to know when you could be seen. Guns blazing everywhere meant failing and restarting a lot.
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played a bit with the 7 yo. a bit hard for him I think.
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Kinda entertaining puzzler, but a bit tough for the kids. They enjoy watching.
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Not nearly as captivating as the first game. Made it to the west and then it gave me three big fetch quests and I haven't gone back much. Too big and too open!
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Racing is okay, but kids aren't excited about it and don't want to try themselves.
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The settings and characters are refreshing: don't often see Indian culture represented in games. Makes for interesting characters and the two narrators are pretty good.
The spear combat gets a little boring, but the bow made things much more interesting. The game really leads you along slowly in the beginning. It loosens up later, but seems that it's mostly a sequence of combat arenas separated by walking through vistas. Not enough done to shake that up.
I eventually gave up because it wasn't holding my interest.
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Cartoony look hides some language and dark themes that made me no longer want to play it with my son.
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Playing with the kids.
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Didn't really play at all.
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Frustrating local co-op.
Looks really nice, but combat is pretty boring. Works well for a 6 year old but not great fun to play with.
Made it just past the worm boss.
Local co-op keeps you tethered close so you often can't get around either side of an obstacle.
Seen a bunch of bugs:
* objective not triggering and enemies knee-deep in the ground (flipping switches did nothing and we had to quit the game to fix)
* GPS shows the wrong path after leaving the mall through the wrong exit
* bumped out of world bounds and walked around in darkness
* characters unequipping items when you enter the equip menu
The writing is generally bad and the main character is very annoying. Some of the quips are good. My son's read one of the books, but not invested. He likes watching the cinematics.
The button layout is awkward because it's hard to reach roll when you're doing quick attack. Playing with my 6 year old, it's easiest to reach the charge attack button, but he has more success when doing quick attacks.
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