The Best & Worst Games of 2022
After significant pondering, I landed on continuation. For the most part, things have stayed the same from 2021 to 2022, for better and for worse.
Yes, that's it. Continuation.
Many of the trends from recent years continued in 2022, including my gradual and unplanned drifting away from the PlayStation brand, and a near-total preference for digital over physical, both of which would've been unthinkable just a few years ago. The "next-gen", a misnomer that I still favour for an era that is now over two years old, continues to lag, though I must say that 2023 is looking very bright indeed. Hopefully we'll see both the PS5 and Series X come of age, an expectation that I incorrectly held for 2022.
I still squeeze in around an hour of gaming most evenings. I continue to be drawn to single player experiences and get very excited when I learn that a game can be finished in under twenty hours. I'm still bowled over by Game Pass, and remain unimpressed by PS Plus. A PS5, Xbox Series X and Switch can still be found under the living room TV, and a Saturn and a Dreamcast remain hooked up to a tiny CRT in the spare room. I'm still blogging, and have more opinions than I have time to share. I still adore video games.
I'll turn forty next year. A proper big boy. Much like my last three decades, I'm sure the next will be ram-packed with games.
Continuation.
2022, then.
Played (on contemporary consoles, to completion or for a significant amount of time): A Plague Tale: Requiem, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Binary Domain, Cursed to Golf, Cyberpunk 2077, Death's Door, Elden Ring, Exo One, Final Fantasy XIV, Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels, Guardian Heroes (Xbox), Hitman (Hitman Trilogy), Immortality, Nights into Dreams (Xbox), No More Heroes 3, Papers Please, Shatter Remastered, Sniper Elite 5, Switch Sports, Tactics Ogre: Reborn, Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, The Forgotten City, The Pedestrian, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Townscaper, Triangle Strategy, Vampire Survivors
Currently Playing: LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Pentiment
Bought but have yet to play: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Far Cry 6, God of War Ragnorak, Gran Turismo 7, Live A Live
These are the best and worst games of 2022, according to me.
Enjoy your games and have a very Happy New Year.
1. Game of the Year: Elden Ring
If you'd have asked me back in April what I thought my 2022 GOTY would be, I'd have had a hard time believing anything could top Elden Ring. However, as the year progressed, I was taken by smaller but no less impactful games, experiences that had almost nothing in common with Elden Ring and spoke to me in very different and meaningful ways.
Immortality and Vampire Survivors captured my imagination, and relegated Elden Ring to the back of my mind. Elden Ring is a typical me-game, one that pleased in all the ways that I expected it would, whereas Immortality and Vampire Survivors challenged my concept of what exactly a me-game is, and in doing so left a greater impression.
Add Tactics Ogre: Reborn into the mix, and it's no wonder my mind had strayed far from the Lands Between. While I haven't considered Tactics Ogre for this category, on account of it being a remaster, it has fully consumed me the last few weeks and I'm starting to wonder whether I should make room for it on my all-time list.
No time for Elden-things when I'm busy Ogre-ing.
My 104 hours in ER feel like a lifetime ago, or at least not of 2022. So in preparation for my Best & Worst, I started to refamiliarize myself with it. I watched videos, re-read my old tweets and blog posts, and even considered jumping back in for a few more hours. This exercise enabled the fog to be lifted, and I was transported back to two months of big-sword-battering, and reminded of the contentment that comes with fully losing oneself in a single, and singular, experience.
For eight weeks, I had eyes for no other. I was immersed, though admittedly it did take me a week or two to warm to it. My evenings were spent criss-crossing a mysterious sandbox that is as varied as any I've ever explored, poking around a kingdom of very distinct looking regions. One minute galloping across grassy meadows, surrounded by medieval-looking fortresses and stone towers, the next trudging through swamps in landscapes as deranged as the weirdest of Dali artworks. New discoveries at every juncture; near inexhaustible potential for "I shouldn't be here yet" moments.
As with every other Soulsborne before it, I was drawn to ER's cryptic storytelling and shady characters enunciating their words through tin buckets. There were just enough threads to follow, enough direction and guidance to ensure that I never lost my sense of purpose, which was always a danger in such a wide-open, unforgiving and potentially overwhelming space. I thought those open spaces might dilute the Souls essence, but it did no such thing. As much as I enjoyed the open exploration, I must admit that my favourite parts were the legacy dungeons. Intimate spaces and dark rooms, riddled with traps, full of shortcuts, and patrolled by unspeakable horrors - locations that could've been lifted directly from Dark Souls.
Within those dungeons, behind locked doors and cloying fog, lay some of From's finest bosses to date. As challenging as ever, but mostly less frustrating. Not because they hit less hard or are more predictable, but because the open world afforded me the option to piss off and do something else whenever I hit a wall, to come back later, stronger and rejuvenated. In Elden Ring, there is always something else to do: a new dungeon to explore, a new corner of the map to cautiously ramble across, a new mysterious NPC to meet, or some giant that once-stomped me but is about to get their comeuppance.
And all of this was made better by experiencing it with others, albeit indirectly. Weeks of discussions in Line Chats and on Twitter, as we made our way across the length and breadth of the Lands Between. A peculiar blockbuster, but a blockbuster nonetheless, and one that demanded our collective attention and begged to be pored over.
While Immortality and Vampire Survivors might stay with me longer, in the moment Elden Ring was unchallenged. The first great game of this "next-gen".
Honourable Mentions: Immortality, Vampire Survivors
2. Best Remaster: Tactics Ogre: Reborn
Tactics Ogre is one of those rare experiences where 50 hours flies by. Even when I enjoy RPGs and SRPGS, I'm often guilty of clock-watching, pondering my time investment and wondering when it might draw to a close. Triangle Strategy - a fine modern SRPG - is the perfect example, being that I both enjoyed it and found myself wishing it would end. Again, unlike Triangle Strategy, a game that owes much to Tactics Ogre, the narrative delivery is perfectly balanced with irresistible gameplay. The art, the speed of combat, the soundtrack - everything here is just-right. This remaster does justice to a genre-defining classic, and now we just need a Final Fantasy Tactics revisit to complete the perfect set.
Honourable Mention: Shatter Remastered
3. Best Pre-2022 Game Played for the First Time: Cosmic Smash
Cosmic Smash is a simple delight. It's future-squash, mixed with some Rez aesthetic, on a Sega console (Dreamcast), so I really should've bought it sooner! And to make it even more endearing, it comes in one of those unusual DVD long-boxes, featuring a partially transparent cover. I'd long mulled throwing down the cash for a copy, which'll set you back around the same as a new PS5 or Xbox game. It's far from bank-breaking, but I'm always wary of paying new-game prices for retro games, as I'm unsure whether I'll play them enough and whether they are going to last. No fear with Cosmic Smash, as I played it to death at the start of this year. As I slow down on buying new games, and rely more on Game Pass, perhaps I'll start paying a little more for retro-wants. Mercari merchants rejoice!
Honourable Mention: Witcher 2, The Forgotten City
4. My Daughter's Game of the Year: Animal Crossing & Minecraft
As I've done each of the last three years, I asked my daughter for her favourite game. This was her response: "I really like Animal Crossing and Minecraft this year, but Animal Crossing is still my number one. Because Animal Crossing has lots of cute animals and you can have some fun like decorating your house. Christmas event is my number one event because there's a character called Jingle and you have to help deliver their presents, and that's why it's fun. My favourite characters are Pinky and Shari - the same!
In Minecraft you can make a house with blocks. Inside my house I've got lots of pets. The first pet is Mooshroom and the other pet is a horse. And another pet is an axolotl - that's all my pets. And I have too many! Inside my house there are five rooms. All of it is good. I fall asleep before the monsters come out but sometimes when I'm building stuff, because it's creative mode, I see them but you don't get hit by monsters at night. The one monster I really don't like is Enderman because they can warp so they are a little bit annoying and they can take house blocks sometimes. So I'm a bit scared of them. Animal Crossing gets 100 points and Minecraft gets 99 points."
5. Best Replay: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Revisiting Binary Domain and Road Rash 3 was fun, but c'mon, Uncharted 2 is one of the finest games ever made. I'd been threatening to revisit it for a couple of years, and I'm so glad I finally did during my post-Elden Ring swoon. It is, in every way, as good as it ever was. It's the high water mark of a series that I love, and one that I hope we haven't seen the last of. If we can get a movie, I see no reason why we can't get an Uncharted 5, assuming Naughty Dog hasn't forgotten how to have fun. Which, having played The Last of Us Part 2, I'm slightly concerned they may have.
Honourable Mentions: Binary Domain, Road Rash 3
6. Best Gameplay Mechanic: Immortality - jumping between scenes
Immortality sets you a simple task: find out what happened to Marissa Marcel, a once-blossoming star who appeared in three movies over a thirty-year span before vanishing. You do this by scrubbing through short clips, some taken directly from her films, and others from behind the scenes. To unravel the mystery, and unlock further scenes, you click on key items that appear on screen, which then transport you to another which contains a similar item or theme. Given the sheer volume of clips, and the fact that the order in which they unlock is entirely non-predetermined, player experiences will likely be different, and how we reach the final, chilling revelations will vary. A technical wonder, which may seem simple on the surface but is surely anything but. If you have yet to experience Immortality, I would urge you to give it a go.
Honourable Mentions: The hands-off simplicity of Vampire Survivors, Rewinding in Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels
7. Standout Moment: A Plague Tale: Requiem - the destruction of Provence
Plague Tale: Requiem is the type of game that gets lost in the mix come my end of year awards. A thoroughly entertaining eight-out-of-ten that won't threaten the best games I played this year, but is far too good to appear in any of my less desirable categories. It's this year's version of 2021's Resident Evil Village, so I'm glad to have found a reason to praise it here. While it was a little long, and the stealth sections weren't always that much fun, Requiem features some hugely impressive moments. Some are quiet and understated, while others, like the collapse of the city which I've chosen here, is anything but. We'd witnessed the overwhelming force of the rat pack at different points in the first game, and its tsunami-like ability had been hinted at earlier in Requiem, but to see Provence literally bursting at the seams was a spectacle unmatched. Towers collapse, walls crumble, fortifications rupture, and homes are swallowed up by the marauding rodents. The trick was repeated at different points later in the game, but here it was fresh, shocking and ultimately disturbing.
Honourable Mention: The moment/s when Immortality's mysteries start to unravel
8. Worst Moment: The Elden Ring earthquake
Back in mid-March we had an evening earthquake that gave the house a good shake. It's probably the largest I've ever felt, though it only caused minimal damage here in Japan. Nothing major, but it woke everyone and even flung my Saturn arcade stick off the shelf and left a sizable dent in our wood-effect flooring. The worst part was the timing, as it arrived just as I was getting stuck into Elden Ring. At first, I thought it was the Dual Sense vibrating, but then as the shaking became more intense I realized it was something more. I put down the controller and ran upstairs to check in on my daughter and investigate the large crashing sound (arcade stick). Five minutes later, having assured my daughter it was fine to go back to sleep and having checked nothing else was about to fall off the shelves, I returned to ER only to find that I was dead. Fully dead. Those massive bastard-hands had done me in and I had been unceremoniously dumped back outside the fortress, all because Elden Ring will not allow you to pause. Progress lost, enemies respawned. I now feel quite strongly that you should be able to pause Souls games, especially during natural disasters.
9. Best Character: Everyone in Immortality
Immortality was always going to live and die by its performances. Thankfully, the cast are superb. Despite watching the same scenes over and over, looking for new clues and new routes to something unseen, I never tired of the captivating Mannon Gage as Marisssa, nor any of her support, in particular the mysterious The One (Charlotta Mohlin) and the splendidly hammy Robert (Miles Szanto), who I'd happily watch all day as a devout and debauched monk. The characters are unendingly fascinating, and it still bothers me that I'll likely never see every available scene, despite already having uncovered Immortality's secrets. Fuck, Immortality really is special.
Honourable Mentions: Your new allies in A Plague Tale: Requiem (Arnaud and Sophia)
10. Most Addictive: Vampire Survivors
I usually play games in the evening. Forty-five to ninety minutes, after the rest of my family have retired to bed, and the last thing I do before I join them. Every now and then, a game arrives that has me searching for new, short windows of time in which to squeeze in an extra, irregular session. Vampire Survivors is one such game. I'd get in thirty minutes during my lunch break, or a quick go on Saturday morning with my daughter sat next to me, making weapon and upgrade suggestions. The steady stream of achievements, the brevity but completeness of a single session, and the fast-paced unlocking of abilities and characters ensured that I kept wanting to come back, and my attention wasn't allowed to wander despite the lack of demands made of the player. Computer game crack.
Honourable Mention: Shatter Remastered
11. Most Concerning: Still not knowing where the buttons are on the Xbox controller
This year was the second in a row where I have spent just as much time with my Series X as I did my PS5, if not more. However, I still cannot get to grips with the layout and labeling of the Xbox controller. I routinely have to glance down at the pad when an onscreen prompt has me pressing anything but X. I cannot get it into my thick skull which switch is the bumper and which is the trigger, no matter how many times I look or try to invent little ditties to remind myself which is which. I'm fortunate that the days of time-sensitive QTEs are well behind us, and perhaps my inability to get button locations straight in my head may be traced back to my limited interaction with the 360 back when QTE were all the rage and muscle memory was being formed. That must be it.
Dishonourable Mention: The continued lack of traditional blockbusters across all platforms
12. Best Sampler: Kirby and the Forgotten Land
I mostly sampled Kirby through my daughter, who was having fun with it in a rare break from Animal Crossing, and before we bought her a copy of Minecraft. That being said, I helped her enough with challenging sections, and even a little co-op, that it definitely qualifies as a decent sampling. It's a charming adventure that I should probably play in full at some point, if not just to marvel at all the shit Kirby can swallow and put to good use.
13. Best Disregard for Gravity: Forza Horizon 5: Hot Wheels
I'm not a scientist, but I'm pretty sure you can't build a race track in the clouds without at least using special helicopters to hold everything in place. I imagine the logistics alone would be well beyond the capabilities of the annoying pricks on the Horizon Festival Organizing committee, with their incessant babbling and trending phrases. However, if I can suspend my disbelief for one second, I'm pretty happy they made it happen. The Hot Wheels expansion may be a little repetitive, and the events far less inventive than the setting, but it makes for a fantastical addition to the slightly more grounded events in the main campaign. Honestly, any excuse to go back to Forza Horizon 5 is a good one.
14. Most Ego-Inflating: Shatter Remastered
I'm not sure if I'm good at Shatter, or just very familiar with it. Whichever it is, you'll find my name near the top of many of the current PS5 worldwide scoreboards - look for "talkingbook". I haven't checked for a month or two, but I was proudly sat atop at least one of the single level tables, which isn't bad for someone who struggles to stay awake for more than an hour of gaming each evening. I was ecstatic to have Shatter, one of my favourite games of the PS3-360-Wii generation, on a current console, and I'm sure I'll be playing it again at different points next year. Being internationally-good will give me extra motivation.
Honourable Mention: Vampire Survivors
15. Least Ego-Inflating: Cursed to Golf
I really like Cursed to Golf, but it clearly doesn't like me. It's a wonderfully punishing golf roguelike that has you putting your way to victory in golf purgatory, or defeat as was often the case for me. Still, I had fun being made to look inept, and I didn't play anything else quite like it this year, which makes it a winner in my book. That being said, fuck those bunkers!
Dis/honourable Mention: Elden Ring (Malenia), Sniper Elite 5 (I kept trying to play it like a shooter and dying)
16. Biggest Surprise: Immortality
I was not expecting a game that consists entirely of full-motion video to rank so highly on my GOTY list, being that it's not 1994 and I don't have a Mega CD. I was aware of Sam Barlow's previous works, Her Story and Telling Lies, but they didn't really appeal. It took a fair amount of buzz, from friends and strangers alike, to convince me to give Immortality a try, and obviously I'm very happy I did. Another case of Game Pass lowering the barrier of entry and encouraging me to try something that I wouldn't usually go for. Long may it continue.
Honourable Mentions: Vampire Survivors,
17. Biggest Disappointment: My inability to push through the early-game rubbish in Final Fantasy XIV
I put about twenty hours into FFXIV in the spring, or probably twenty-five if you include the time I spent trying to close my 8-year-old account and unpair it from my PS4, so that I could open a brand new one. I redeemed my free trial and embarked upon what I hoped would be a long adventure in a world that I was desperate to like. I wanted to have the same passion for XIV that so many friends and twitter acquaintances share, but I was once again bored rigid by the old-school fetch quests and visually unappealing NPCs I was forced to interact with. I just couldn't justify the time it was going to take to push through the dregs in order to reach the main course of Heavensward etc. I tried, and I doubt I will again. I'll just have to learn to be happy for those of you who got to the good stuff and accept that I'll never do the same.
Dishonourable Mentions: Switch Sports
18. Best Location: A Plague Tale: Requiem - La Cuna island
As soon as you disembark on the island of La Cuna, you know something is afoot. Requiem excels at contrasting idyllic rural and urban settings with the death and decay that follows. La Cuna, a beautiful island location, is the most visually and stylistically impressive locale you visit, and you arrive mid-festival. You are given a warm-welcome and adorned with a garland, and slowly make your way along the cobbled streets, flanked by white-walled homes and provincial arches. The island as a whole offers a great deal of variety, from town centres to palaces, monasteries to subterranean ruins, and is hiding many dark secrets and answers that our protagonists have long been seeking. Ultimately you know it will all be undone, with the inevitable arrival of the rats, and the once picturesque setting will be turned into a hellscape. Good stuff.
Honourable Mention: Leyndell Royal Capital (Elden Ring)
19. Most Iconic Duo: Kane & Lynch - Kanye & Lynch 2: Dog Days
During an autumn lull between new releases, I decided to evict my PS5 from the living room and reconnect my beloved PS3. I revisited some old favourites, tried out some new junk-purchases including Street Fighter x Tekken and Zone of the Enders HD, and played Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days from start to finish. And I don't mind admitting that I greatly enjoyed myself. Dog Days is a grimy, filthy game about two morally defunct guns-for-hire trying to escape Shanghai after a deal-gone-bad. It's dated in all the ways I love - a real throwback to the cover shooters of the early 2010s - and Kane and Lynch are a thoroughly unlikable but worthy pair of protagonists. A classic 6/10.
Honourable Mention: Garlic and Bibles (Vampire Survivors)
20. Worst thing in a Great Game: Elden Ring - map open/close
The opening and closing of the map being assigned to different buttons is a baffling design choice, even for a series that is not exactly well-known for its UI implementation and easy-to-peruse menus. It is the single most unintuitive thing in a game that is full of unexplained mechanics; truly, the Dark Souls of map usage. Still, game of the year and all that, so probably not that important. But then why am I still so annoyed by it?
Dishonourable Mention: the slightly clumsy way in which my final Immortality scenes came together
21. Best Luxury: The Analogue Mega Sg
It's important to treat yourself every now and again if you're able, and the Mega Sg is pure indulgence. It encouraged me to dip back into my old Mega Drive collection, bringing my meagre selection back to life after several years without a reliable console to play it on. I was digging into storage boxes when I went back to the UK this summer, looking for my old 16-bit favourites, and spent many an hour in the autumn refamiliarizing myself with Road Rash 3, a comfort game if ever I've had one. It even caused me to shell out for a few games on Mercari. I don't play it all that often, but I appreciate having it to hand and the convenience it offers. And when I do use it, I feel thoroughly spoilt. If it weren't for the horrendous exchange rate, I would've already ordered a Pocket by now.
Honourable Mention: Spending ¥7000 on Cosmic Smash - not a huge amount, but still the most I've ever spent on a retro game
22. The Best Game I Played on Switch: Triangle Strategy
My daughter claimed my Switch two years ago, when she received a copy of Animal Crossing. I still use it from time to time, but it has definitely been my third-choice console for a while now. This year, I only played three games on it, and two of them - No More Heroes 3 and Switch Sports - weren't very good. Fortunately the third, Triangle Strategy, was pretty decent. The release of the superior Tactics Ogre Reborn did it no favours whatsoever, but TS is still an excellent modern-take on the SRPG genre, and one that I'm glad I stuck with from start to finish.
23. Best Skyrim Mod that Became a Standalone Game and is Available on Game Pass: The Forgotten City
A very specific category, but I really needed an excuse to mention The Forgotten City, which happens to be a Skyrim mod that became a standalone game and is available on Game Pass. It was always the favourite in this category, and I urge you to not be put off by the cover art that makes it look far more budget-release than it actually is. It's a clever adventure that sees you transported back to a cursed Roman settlement where if anyone sins, everyone dies. You must manipulate a time loop to solve the mystery and return back to the present day. I was so impressed with it that I even bought a copy of Ovid's Metamorphisis, which is referenced heavily throughout, and forced myself to read a few hundred pages before deciding that I'd had my fill of bleak stories of gods raping nymphs and turning them into animals. Wouldn't recommend Ovid; would recommend The Forgotten City.
Honourable Mention: also The Forgotten City
24. Best Wolves: Lone Wolf Ashes (Elden Ring)
My trusty pack of spectral wolves accompanied me from near-start to finish in Elden Ring. As loyal as they are vicious, time and time again they distracted my foes long enough to give me respite to heal or re-position myself, with no thought to their own wellbeing. Sure there were more powerful summons, but I never felt more at ease than when I had my pack at my side. Thank you, chompy lads.
25. Best Vegetable: Garlic (Vampire Survivors)
Garlic is a solid addition to any build you care to make in Vampire Survivors. It's the last-stand ability, a final barrier to prevent anything that slips through your outer-wave of utter destruction. If your garlic can catch the worst that each wave sends at you, you know you're in good stead. If it doesn't, you're going to need to make some adjustments and/or keep moving in tactical circles. Add it to some orbiting bibles and a couple of laser-shooting doves, and you needn't fear any foe except Death himself. He's going to fuck you up, regardless of how odious your garlic might be.
26. Best Xbox Back-compatibility: The Witcher 2
I bought my Xbox 360 copy of The Witcher 2 a decade ago. For many years, it remained untouched - a game in an unfamiliar series on a platform that I rarely played. I've been meaning to play it since falling in love with The Witcher 3 a few years back, and that's exactly what I did during a quiet period earlier in the year. While it admittedly feels dated in some aspects, especially in mission structure, it mostly feels as immediate and vital as W3. It's packed with meaningful decisions and a branching path that utterly dictates the content of the second half, as well as exceptionally well-written characters and events that bleed into the next game. I will absolutely be revisiting W3 in 2023, even if it comes at the expense of one of the several new games I'm desperate to play. Having now experienced W2, I think I'll be able to enjoy it even more.
Honourable Mention: Binary Domain (still excellent)
27. Wish I'd Made Time For: Pentiment
I have a larger backlog of bought-games than in previous years, though that's largely down to some late-in-the-year purchases rather than a busy new-release schedule. However, it's a title that I didn't buy that I most wish I'd made time for. Pentiment hit Game Pass just as I was starting Tactics Ogre. Several weeks and sixty hours of Ogre later, and I've only found time to download Pentiment and give it the briefest of looks. I won't be spending any meaningful time with it before the end of the year, so it'll be on hold for at least a couple more weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about.
Honourable Mention: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
28. Most Looking Forward to in 2023: An Embarrassment of big-name games
Starfield, Street Fighter VI, Final Fantasy XVI, Diablo IV, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Like a Dragon: Ishin and Giaden, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Alan Wake 2, Age of Empires II (Xbox), Assassin's Creed Mirage, Exoprimal, the Persona re-releases, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and on and on. Next year is shaping up to be a good one, full of long-scheduled releases and bolstered by several high-profile delays from 2022. I'm not sure that there's a single game that I'm anticipating more than the others, but I'm certainly looking forward to having more to play than I will realistically have time to get to. It's been a while since that last happened, and it's about time this gen took off. Fingers crossed 2023 will be the year.
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