2022 Games of the Year - Superlatives
I made the decision to not present a numbered list for various reasons: I didn’t want to cut the list down in a stacked year, I’m lazy, I don’t want to rank some of these apart from naming one definitive Game of the Year…plus I think this approach will be fun. So here’s my yearbook-style breakdown of the games I played enough of in 2022 to say “I really liked this.”
2022’s 2021 Game of the Year
The game released in 2021 that I didn’t play until this year but absolutely adored is The Forgotten City. What started off as a mod for Skyrim became its own full fledged release, standing on its own as an inventive detective/investigation/deduction game. Set in Roman times, you play as a fish out of water trying to save an insular community from…vengeful gods? Itself? You? It can be a quick play, even if you want to see as many possible outcomes as there are, and I highly recommend playing once by feel and intuition, and then grabbing a guide to see the other endings.
2022’s Most Relaxing Game(s) That Also Criticize Our Modern Capitalist Hellscape
Congrats to Hardspace: Shipbreaker and Powerwash Simulator for creating enjoyable, relaxing experiences that provided a refuge from modern life while also reminding us that the power of capital is inescapable. Both games came out of Early Access this year, so they weren’t exactly revelations. Shipbreaker is more overt in it’s message, and it works thematically with the themed labor of using various cutting and explosive tools to break apart large spaceships. Powerwash is more subtle, but the joy I felt from being presented with a dirty [house, car, golf cart, plane, mansion, etc], a powerwasher with various attachments, and nothing but time to make the dirt and grime disappear is largely indescribable. It shouldn’t have kept my attention for 40+ hours. It did.
2022’s Narrative Bangers That ALSO Criticize Our Modern Capitalist Hellscape
Not a misprint. Both Citizen Sleeper and NORCO have things to say and stand out in their narrative more than their perfectly fine mechanics. Citizen Sleeper should actually be lauded for finding a way to bring table-top RPG systems more akin to Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark to video games instead of Dungeons and Dragons’ traditional Roll 20 we’ve seen done to death. NORCO is a throwback 2D point-and-click adventure game that is clearly made with such familiarity, love, and contempt for its setting of Southern Louisiana that it’s completely inescapable. To say too much about their stories ruins the experience - just play them.
2022’s Best Game Inspired by the Protestant Reformation
Pentiment is an incredibly beautiful game. Made by the people behind Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds, Obsidian eschews lush 3D worlds explored in first person for a 2d, hand drawn adventure game that looks like it came from a Bavarian bible of the 1500s. While the story went a bit long for me, the murder mysteries and slow discovery of the history of the local village and associate abbey provided a contemplative and engaging few afternoons.
2022’s Most Unsettling Game
The team at Half Mermaid, led by Sam Barlow, made a Sam Barlow game. Like both Her Story and Telling Lies before it, Immortality has you watching short clips of things, presented out of order, and looking for the connections between them. Immortality is the most advanced of these, building a user interface that makes the act of searching and connecting clips feel like part of your investigation into the core question of “What happened to this actress?” The story plays out over clips from three of her films, including behind the scenes segments, all filmed over different time periods that are easily recognizable in their fashion and even simulated film stock. This is another game where the story is the game, so I won’t say much more beyond exploring and patience are deeply rewarded here.
Quick Hits:
2022’s Best Chance to Get Mick Schumacher a Damn Podium Finish: F1 Manager
2022’s “Just One More Run on my Steam Deck” Game: Vampire Survivors
2022’s Steam Deck Economic Simulator of Choice: Potionomics
2022’s Game That Was Better Than I expected Based on the Franchise’s Trajectory: Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
2022’s Gigantic Open World Game I Played a Ton Of, Still Barely Dented, and Will Finish Sometime in 202…4?: Horizon Forbidden West
The 2022 Multiplayer Game I Love Despite Being Garbage At it: Rumbleverse
Interactive Game Preservation Done Right
I hope this can become an annual category, because Atari 50 The Anniversary Collection is something very, very special. There are probably hundreds of collections of old games. Emulation of old games has never been easier. But this carefully considered and curated collection of titles from Atari’s history as a developer and publisher is more than just playable versions of old games and new takes on their themes and mechanics. I’ve probably spent more time reviewing the archival video clips, new interviews, and beautifully scanned documentation about these games and their creators than I have actually playing the games, and that’s perfect. This isn’t just a collection of games, it’s about contextualizing them, the people who made them, and ensuring they remain playable long past their original hardware’s expiration dates. Made by Digital Eclipse, I hope they’re able to do the same thing for another studio, or someone else with the same passion and technical chops can copy their style.
Surprise of the Year
Nobody Saves the World is a 2d RPG where you start off as Nobody, a wizard’s apprentice with no real skills. After a calamity and your master disappearing, you’re on your own but slowly begin to be able to take on the forms of other professions/creatures you’ve encountered. Shrink down like a rat to get through small spaces. Rear kick like a horse to knock enemies away. Swim like a mermaid to get to hard to reach islands. The plot is typical RPG nonsense but the acquisition and mixing and matching of different job or class abilities made this an incredibly fun game to tinker around with, and I had zero expectations for it. If you can find it on sale or have access to Game Pass while it’s still included, I couldn’t recommend it any more.
2022’s “Man I MIss Fez” Award
Zelda Like a Fox, aka Tunic looks at first glance like a Zelda-like game where you play as an adorable little fox character. And it is, but that also hides a demanding combat system (that can be set to easy mode), in-world collectibles that scratch a very specific nostalgia itch around SNES game manuals, and puzzles. So many puzzles, the likes of which I haven’t encountered or had take over my brain in this way since, well, Fez. Tunic, Fez, and the Portal series make up a very small club of “Games I wish I could forget playing for the first time” because those first experiences are simply magical.
2022’s Way Too Early Contender to be Hall of Famed
The games that made my GOTY Hall of Fame are some form of live service game, with a model that allows for continuously new content additions. They can always create new Hearthstone or Magic cards; there are always new stars in baseball to be excited about using on your team. You know what else has a seemingly endless supply of characters and locations and lore and different ways to sell those characters to you? Comic books. Marvel has gotten into the digital card game game with Marvel Snap and it’s amazingly insidious and an amazingly good game. Cards can’t directly be bought via packs; they;’re earned by “leveling up” the cards you already have cosmetically, which earns you additional cards and cosmetic items on an endless rewards track. Games are played by players taking simultaneous turns - usually 6 to a match but never more than 7, and decks are limited to 12 cards. The quick matches, the streamlined deckbuilding, the monetization that doesn’t exactly feel like a pay-to-win scheme - I’m in love.
There you have it - my favorite games of 2022. Although it feels like with all those fancy titles I’m missing one. Right! My actual Game of the Year for 2022! I should write that one up next.