I made a promise to myself at the start of the year that I'd at least attempt to write down my thoughts on games I played throughout 2022 so I could post a list here. I ended up being a lot more negative than I had hoped, but maybe that reflects my current feelings on... Everything this year. Either way, here are some games I played, in no particular order.

Games from previous years that I still played a lot of

Persona 5 Royal

With the announcement of P5R coming to PC, and a steep discount on PSN, this was the year I finally decided to make good on finishing this game. I had previously made it about halfway through the original release before giving up on it in favor of eventually playing the "complete" version, and I'm kind of glad I did. Royal adds some interesting stuff, though the idea of being able to miss out on most of it is kind of audacious and the stuff that you can't opt out of seems to break the game. It didn't take me long to realize I was steamrolling through encounters, but considering this game is roughly 800 hours long I wasn't about to complain. I could nitpick and bemoan certain aspects, but I do think it all comes together beautifully. It obviously really resonates with people, considering how many times they've re-released this thing. I even tried to roll right into Strikers, but I think I'm all Phantom Thieves'd out for a while.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

After trying and failing to get into Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I got it in my head that what I really needed to do was go back and finally finish XBC2. It was another JRPG I had put time into before dropping, so I figured 2022 could be the year I clean some of that backlog up. I had forgotten how cartoonish 2 is, especially compared to the early hours of 3. It's not just the mustache-twirling villains, there's literally slapstick gags and anime sweat drops in some scenes. I hadn't forgotten how horny it is, though. XBC2 feels like a shounen anime in all the best and worst ways. I really don't like anything about Pyra, but at the same time her inclusion here may have funded the entire development of XBC3, so I get it. In fact, the more I played 2 the more I came to dislike it. I hate the gacha mechanics, I hate the field skill stuff, and I really came to dislike the encounter design. Every other fight either turned into a slog due to an enemy calling in reinforcements or simply breaking away from combat in order to run into another group of enemies, or the encounter broke completely because the enemy I engaged decided to jump off an edge. I eventually turned off enemy aggro and did everything in my power to mainline the story, and I came away feeling that that option was included because someone on the design team realized they messed up. My frustration got the better of me, and I gave up once again. Maybe some day I'll actually finish this out, but I'm beginning to think these games just aren't for me.

Games from this year I just didn't play enough of

Horizon: Forbidden West

I feel especially bad about this one because I had asked for it for my birthday and ended up getting the big Collector's Edition with that mecha mammoth thing. I had only really had it on my list for lack of better ideas, but I felt obligated to play it. I put about a dozen hours into it before saying out loud "I don't want to do this anymore" and shelving it. I hope to come back to it at some point, but... I guess the one thought I had coming out of those dozen hours is that Forbidden West feels more like a technical showcase than an enjoyable video game.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

As mentioned earlier, I had bought into the hype and made an effort to get into this. I ultimately failed and went back to it's predecessor in an attempt to "unlock" the means to enjoy it but I may have only done more damage. If you've ever had the desire to play as an MMO raid group, then I think this game is for you. I don't think that's me, but I just don't enjoy MMOs in general. I also feel like this is a game trying to do too much at once. Systems upon systems. Menus within menus. XBC3 feels like the JRPG people who don't like JRPGs are talking about. I know people really seem to love these characters, but after playing a bunch of 2 I have to wonder how much of that love comes from the fact that they aren't those characters.

Neon White

I'll give it this: I don't care about speedrunning, but Neon White still managed to hold my interest for a decent amount of time. I do truly appreciate how it handles that aspect of it, and that it does everything in it's power to guide you to embrace at least some amount of speedrun tech without making you feel like too much of an idiot. It's satisfying, smart, and stylish, I'm just ultimately not super interested in that sort of challenge.

The Actual Games of This Year

Rune Factory 5

I've been a fan of the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons/Rune Factory games for a while, so I was going to grab this regardless. I did eventually "beat" it, but I mostly feel like RF5 was a disappointment. You can really feel the struggle with making this game an 'open world', especially on the Switch where performance is a major issue. The PC version does fix some of that, but it doesn't fix all the problems with pacing and emptiness. The days are too long, the world isn't particularly interesting but it doesn't matter since you just end up fast-travelling everywhere anyway, and the story pacing is both too fast and too demanding. There is so much locked behind progressing through the plot that you're likely to rush through what little story there is, only to look back and realize you exhausted everything interesting in the first 3 in-game months. If there ever is a Rune Factory 5 Special, my hope is that they tweak day length and add the ability to decorate the world. I don't think that would fix the game, but I do think it would help mask the issues it has.

Ai: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative

This is hard to talk about without risking spoilers, so I'll keep it brief. If you liked the first game, you'll like this one. I think it's a better game, but a weaker story overall. The twists are fun, but the ending lacks the weight that the first game had. Still smart, still funny, but lacks a bit of that 'horror' element from the first Ai.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring is the second Dark Souls in all but name. The way it's talked about, and the impact it's had on gaming conversations is only comparable to that first Souls game. It's a full on event, and one that managed to completely take over online discourse before breaking through and escaping into our fleshy reality. There was no escaping it. There is no escaping it. Elden Ring has always been this year's GOTY. And I hate it. Rather, it's less that I hate Elden Ring-it's pretty good-but I fully admit Elden Ring has turned me into A Hater. I don't share the religious zeal, or the amazement, or obsession. I can faintly see where that comes from, but I'm unable to fully make the connection. I feel like I've done something wrong in thinking it's only okay. I didn't find any of the bosses fun. The long attack strings felt like a waste of time, and the hit boxes made it feel like I was constantly brushing up against invisible walls. The open world never really resonated with me that way it seems to for everyone else. I still beat it, but mostly so I could try to understand it. I failed. In what might be the most Souls move they could pull, Elden Ring has introduced a level of misery into my life that wasn't there before. 10/10. Game of the Year.

Harvestella

Harvestella deserved better than it got. It's a Square Enix game, promoted by Nintendo, sold for full price, and put in direct competition with games like Rune Factory 5 and Stardew Valley. I won't say it doesn't earn that comparison, that very much feels like what the marketing was going for, but I do think it does a disservice to what Harvestella actually is. It's a JRPG with farming mechanics. Not a farm life sim with combat. An actual JRPG with farming as a means to gather resources. There is a fine, but distinct line there. Expecting a game to be like Rune Factory or Stardew brings with it certain expectations. Harvestella doesn't really adhere to those same traditions, because it isn't really one of those games. There is farming, and it's fine. There's relationship stuff, but it's not really the same thing as those other games. It is a solid sci-fi adventure with a party of misfits and outcasts who get wrapped up in something larger than life. If nothing else, Harvestella is a branch off the Rune Factory tree that shows what that style of game could be capable of if it didn't follow series tradition so strictly. I would definitely recommend it next time you get a JRPG craving.