This year has been a bit of a disappointing year. Between the Series X and PS5 still being challenging to find and multiple big games being delayed, 2022 seemed like the kind of the year that was kind of... meh? A few big games were released this year, but that’s it: only a few big games. In other years it’s banger after banger, but throughout most of the year, we did not see a lot of triple-A or even big indie games. I was convinced in August that there would be at least two games on my list that I did even really like. Thankfully, I found ten games I enjoyed, so I am putting together this list and special awards for the first time ever.

Before we start, a shoutout to all the games I did not play this year, including Stray, Neon White, Cult of the Lamb, Gotham Knights, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Goat Simulator 3, Session: Skate Sim, Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, Triangle Strategy and Dwarf Fortress.

The Willies Awards

Best Game I Did Not Play: Dwarf Fortress

I am fascinated by Dwarf Fortress. Seemingly endless in complexity but with its Steam release, it is as accessible as it’s going to get. I wanted to get into Dwarf Fortress for a long time, but the ASCII art, lack of mouse control and lack of tutorials were all deal breakers but fixed with the Steam release. Unfortunately, it came out right as Christmas was getting into gear and, as such, was drained of disposable income. Alas, Dwarf Fortress remains unplayed. However, there is an excellent chance that I will have bought and played Dwarf Fortress by the time you read this.

Runners Up: Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Session: Skate Sim

Most Disappointing: Overwatch 2

There is no greater tragedy in the video game industry than the state of Blizzard. What was once the best video game developer in the world whose every release would revolutionise whatever genre they chose has now been reduced to a company that every time I see them trending, I think, ‘Oh god, what did they do now?’. Even if you ignore all the horrible stuff happening at the company behind closed doors, Blizzard’s output has been embarrassing at best. Yes, they occasionally pull off a World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, but you have to get through a Warcraft III: Reforged, Diablo Immortal and the winner of this “award” – Overwatch 2. A sequel to a game that I sunk 100s of hours into, which now is a game I might play once or twice a month. Between the lack of the promised single-player mode, terrible Battlepass/microtransactions, completely borked game balance and the continued adoption of Role Queue, Overwatch 2 is not only the biggest disappointment of the year but potentially killed a franchise I once loved. I pray that Microsoft can pull Blizzard back into shape.

Runners Up: Diablo Immortal, MultiVersus

Biggest Surprise: High on Life

My experience with Justin Roiland’s work was one playthrough of his VR game Accounting+. Never saw Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites or anything else he has done. His humour and style of writing, while not repulsive as some people think, definitely was not something I gravitated towards. However, the reveal trailers showed me a goofy, gorgeous-looking first-person shooter, which I believe is a genre that is lacking. I was sold as long as it wasn’t as annoying as Borderlands 3. Well, High of Life was much, much better than I expected. While the humour and writing didn’t blow me away, it got some laughs out of me, which is more than most comedy games get. I did not expect solid shooter mechanics and level design on top of the best-looking game this year. This is not Doom Eternal, but it’s enjoyable enough to warrant praise. I started High on Life to see how bad it was; I finished High on Life because of how good it was.

Runners up: Marvel Snap, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

Best Game That Did Not Technically Come Out This Year: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic

World of Warcraft, at least a particular era of World of Warcraft, is my favourite game of all time. Going on an adventure of a lifetime, through fantastical areas, battling Murlocs and joining with other like-minded people is a feeling I will probably never experience again. However, Wrath Classic was like a nostalgia trip through that era of time. This version is not some remade game with new graphics and quests. It just is Wrath of the Lich King, again. That’s all it needed to be, and I love it for that. Games aren’t made in this way anymore. With a focus on player adoption and attention, almost all games of the MMO mould try to be as assessable as possible. That is not necessarily bad; more people should have the chance to play more games.

But a consequence of this philosophy is that everything must be accessible to everyone, even if it’s a detriment to the game overall. Quests will highlight areas on the map for objectives, dungeons automatically pair you with other players and teleport you straight there, and enemies are scaled to your level. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic brings me back to that sense of adventure where quests tell you that you need to go west down the road and north at the big tree. Where dungeon groups need to be created by talking to other players and physically walking there. Where wandering into Duskwood is going to result in you getting stomped. It turned World of Warcraft back into an adventure rather than a chat room.

Runners Up: Fortnite, Zero Escape: The Nonary Games

Best Character: Mizuki Date (AI: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative)

When they announced a sequel to AI: The Somnium Files, I was pretty stoked about it, but one part of the announcement was the thing that made me want to buy it on day one: Mizuki Date was going to be the player character. Fuck. Yes. Mizuki is a short-tempered, tomboy-ish girl from the original who is now a badass detective with smacks people with a neon-lighted lead pipe. Going through AI: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative’s plot as her made an honestly entertaining visual novel much more enjoyable. She and Aiba were a delight to see and made the experience much better. To be frank, the whole cast is excellent, but Mizuki stands out.

Runners Up: Eunie (Xenoblade Chronicles 3), Kiriko (Overwatch 2)

Best Music: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Those motherfuckers over at Monolithsoft did it again. They always bring out the best when making music for the Xenoblade Chronicles series, but they nailed it with Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Not only did that craft a stellar score by Yasunori Mitsuda and his team, but how they incorporated the music sets it apart from every other game this year. From the gorgeous flutes of ‘A Life Sent On’, the driving violins of ‘The Weight of Life’ to the reuse of themes from previous games such as ‘Toward the Heavens’ and ‘Ancient Memories’, every piece of music has a purpose to the broader narrative and themes. It is used throughout Xenoblade Chronicles 3 perfectly. It is the best soundtrack in a series of best soundtracks.

Runners Up: Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster, Splatoon 3

Most Anticipated Game of 2023: Baldur’s Gate III

When I played Larian Studios’ last game, Divinity: Original Sin 2, I thought, ‘This is the greatest RPG I’ve ever played’. It would have been my Game of the Year had I played it at release. Since then, I have been going through CRPGs trying to find a game to fill that void: Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland, Pathfinder and even Divinity: Original Sin 1 all failed to meet the high standards of Original Sin 2. Finally, after years of waiting for whatever they did next, they released a sequel to probably the most influential CRPG of all time: Baldur’s Gate III… in Early Access. Early Access as a tool to help develop a game is fine and good, but this was Larian’s next game. I did not want to spend dozens of hours on a bug-filled mess only to be stopped at the end of Chapter 1. So I waited, and waited, and waited for a release date or anything signifying a release, and after two years, I finally have a release window. Every once in a while comes a game where you take time off work to play it. The last one for me was Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain. I’m confident that my next one for me will be Baldur’s Gate III.

Runners Up: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Starfield

Game of the Year 2022

#10 - Rogue Legacy 2

Rogue Legacy 2 continues its simple yet refined formula of Rogue-inspired platformers without changing the formula too much. But the changes they do make create a better version of the original with more traits to get, a more significant focus on exploration and more secrets to poke an oversized sword at. Rogue Legacy 2 will be installed on my computer for a long time.

#9 – High on Life

Perhaps the most creatively weird game released this year, the humour is not for everyone but with solid shooting mechanics, gorgeous visuals and the most creative boss fight in years, High on Life is the kind of game I wish more studios and publishers took risks in developing. I look forward to whatever Justin Roiland and Squanch Games do next.

#8 – Teardown

Teardown is just a super cool thing to mess around with. The campaign is not great and having to unlock items is a pain, but the destruction technology on top of best-in-class mod supports means I don’t even need the campaign to enjoy Teardown. Just give me a replica of the Statue of Liberty, a gun that shoots mini-nukes and a PC with an excellent CPU, and I can make dozens of hours slip away.

#7 - Vampire Survivors

I honestly don’t even know what to type here. Vampire Survivors is just a dopamine hit on a Steam page. Vampire Survivors seemingly came out of nowhere and became the most prominent indie hit since Among Us. Its extremely simple concept and execution means anyone can pick up, play and get addicted. It is a game I will always have on my PC and always just boot up and play for hours.

#6 – Tinykin

MORE GAMES NEED TO TAKE PLACE IN OVERSIZED BEDROOMS AND HOUSES. There I said it. Tinykin harkens back to the days of Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie, where all you need to great controls and solid level designs, and you got yourself a video game. Tinykin takes it one step further by using the ‘small person, big room’ aesthetic and running with it. With the excellent level design, inventive platforming mechanics and a weird but pleasing character design, Tinykin was a wonderful surprise to find this year.

#5 - World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

Look, I know I said Blizzard is a terrible company that makes bad games in my awards section, but I will give credit where credit is due. Dragonflight is great. A massive beautiful land to explore with many secrets to find, new reputation and crafting systems that make me want to engage with it and Dragonriding, the best mechanic added to World of Warcraft since Transmogrification. Dragonflight will be my go-to night game until Blizzard almost assuredly fucks it up.

#4 - AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative

Nirvana Initiative is an excellent example of an improved sequel. They crafted a wonderfully bizarre and somewhat confusing story. That was a given. But they also made a much better playable character with Mizuki, completely rehauling the Somnium sections, making them fun to play, and giving the player more to do in the investigation sections. It also has the best dance number of the year, again. AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative is a crazy, wild, and fun rollercoaster ride to Weirdtown.

#3 - Nightmare Reaper

Nightmare Reaper is my happy place. Here is a randomly generated level with a bunch of monsters, and here are some weapons that are entirely fucked up. It doesn’t have a great story, the soundtrack is more annoying than enjoyable, and it has the single worst upgrade system I have seen in years, but its core shooting is top-of-the-line superb. It is a game that continually surprises you, and you always want to keep moving forward. I am going to be playing Nightmare Reaper until I get Nightmare Reaper 2.

#2 – Elden Ring

I have a weird relationship with Elden Ring. It came out on February 25th, and about a day or two later, my town was severely flooded. I couldn’t get to my workplace, the Internet was down, and all major roads near my house were inaccessible. So, I played Elden Ring. A lot. Like 10 to 12 hours a day a lot. I finished 95 hours of Elden Ring in a week. That is not a typo. Elden Ring will always be that game that kept me sane for that week. It helps that it is one of the best open-world games ever made, on top of having incredible art direction and excellent boss fights. Even though I am 100% sick of FromSoftware’s Souls games, this was their best.

#1 – Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is my favourite type of game.

It is a game with an extensive emotional story with a cast of lovable characters that you want to see succeed and win. It is a game with a large open world with many different side quests and areas to find. It is a game with a deep combat system you can completely get yourself lost in. It has a varied musical score that makes you tear up just listening to it. It is a graphical showcase with a massive scale and extreme details. It has cat girls and bird girls.

I don’t really have a favourite genre, but I have a favourite game type: adventure. A game that takes you to a world and allows you to explore and experience everything the world has to offer, whether that’s the landscape, the people, the story and even the mechanics. It’s the same feeling I got playing games like World of Warcraft, Morrowind and Breath of the Wild. It is a game I always want to play and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 gave me that experience and then some. It is my Game of the Year, and it is well-deserving.

Anyway thanks for reading.