Our Games of the Year 2022 - The Winners of GotY

This is it. Of course, any and all lists are subjective, but these are the titles that members of our team looked back on and thought to ourselves: this is the gaming experience that defined 2022 for us. 

Pierre-Yves - Chained Echoes

So coming in at the very last minute, Chained Echoes by Matthias Linda and Deck 13 Spotlight easily became my 2022 Game of the Year. It had just about everything that one could want from both a retro inspired RPG / JRPG while also having all of those modern day "luxuries". 

Like Rise of the Third Power that was my Game of the Year right until I sat down to Chained Echoes, it has a lot of the same elements but what brought it a notch above is that the gameplay is all designed to constantly keep you moving. There are no transitions, splash screens for stats, or any of that. You run around the field, get into battle if you want to, fight, and keep moving with nothing more than a few stats showing the results of the combat. Adding in great writing, visuals and audio effects and music? This is what put Chained Echoes at the top of my list for the 2022 gaming year. 

Susan - My Time at Sandrock

Pathea Games released My Time at Sandrock after pushing it back a few times due to licensing issues. As a fan of the first game, My Time at Portia, I immediately sought out the sequel and found myself in awe of the graphics improvements and QOL features. While it is still in Early Access, I’m definitely making Sandrock my GOTY because I cared about the character storylines (unlike its predecessor) and beauty of the game. Plus, Pathea included a multiplayer feature that allows my friends and I to build the town together!

Richard - Dragon Munchies

An amazing sidescroller action platformer with an amazing cast and an amazing storyline. There was so much to love about Dungeon Munchies that I have a hard time not recommending it to almost everybody I can.

Nick - Elden Ring

I know this is a popular choice in a lot of corners, but I'm a sucker for a big fantasy game, and Elden Ring is the biggest one in a long time. I haven't been this engrossed in a game since... probably Dragon Age: Inquisition (and I sunk about 140 hours into that one). Elden Ring pisses me off, it gives me a sense of satisfaction, it tickles my desire for exploration and discovery and most of all I just got lost in it for dozens and dozens of hours. It sucked up my time like no other game in 2022 did. 

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Our Games of the Year 2022 - Runners Up

The games that nearly took the top prizes in our hearts and minds. Our team had a very difficult time narrowing it down - overall we felt like 2022 was an excellent year filled with fantastic video games. It can be hard to pick a favorite. Or a second favorite. Sometimes even a third. As such, this post is all about the games that our team thought were great - just not quite the best of the bunch.

Nick - Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi 

Just about everything this title did tickled some part of my brain. Nostalgic old-school dungeon crawling goodness of my youth? Check. Satirical yet meaningful and interesting story? Check. Sharp visual and musical presentation? Check. Challenging, fun and addicting? Check, check and check.

Pierre-Yves - Runner-Up - Rise of the Third Power

Rise of the Third Power by Stegosoft Games for me is at the top of this year's list. This adventure had everything. Well written and thought out characters, story, events, excellent music and an amazing battle system that never got old. This was a shining example of a well thought out and executed title.

While sad when it ended, because of how good it was, the only thing left now is to wait and see what new amazing title Stegosoft Games comes out with next.

Pierre-Yves - Honorable Mention - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge by Tribute Games and Dotemu was so close to being #1 for the year. The Turtles were back, they had Splinter, April, Casey Jones and magically brought back bad guys from the cartoons and the movies all without missing a beat. 

Best part? The side scrolling beat 'em up gameplay was smooth and while it brought on that sense of nostalgia? It was designed by today's standards offering a super smooth experience. 

Susan - Runner-Up -  Brok the Investigator

This year my runner-up is none other than Brok the Investigator. This indie title is not just a game - it makes you think about certain ideas as you play, but does so in a way that is fun. Brok has a couple of different features that I absolutely love like using the ads as its in-game hint system, a simplistic combat system that doesn’t require the memorization of a thousand combos, and the switching between two characters to show how a relationship can be helped or hindered by daily actions. Honestly, the game impressed me so much that it had to be my runner-up.

Susan - Honorable Mention: V Rising

My honorable mention for the most memorable game is another vampire game - what a shock, I know. But I couldn’t wrap up 2022 without including V Rising. It is a mix of everything I’m looking for in a game like building, crafting, combat, and conquering the lands. You can hunt V Bloods to unlock buildings or abilities and each enemy increases its difficulty level when there are several players in the area. One of the other things I love about V Rising is the fact that you can also build your own castle! What’s also great is that you control the game’s pace which is a fact I appreciate. For me, it is memorable for many reasons like being able to vicariously make and live in my ULTIMATE CASTLE. Ahem Anyways, I absolutely adore V Rising so it needed to be on this list.

Susan - Other Honorable Mention: Slime Rancher 2

My honorable mention for 2022 is Slime Rancher 2. Sure, it isn’t complete yet but how could we not love the slimes? They are adorable! And they constantly smile at you! What’s not great about that? (Especially in recent years…) Anyways, the moment I knew the game was coming out, I jumped out of my seat from excitement because I absolutely loved the first one. It’s no surprise that I needed to get the sequel. Besides, when you see the smile on the slime's faces, you will understand. They just can’t be denied! Sure, I may already have a ton of money from selling plorts, but I need more! Plus, it’s a fantastic game to play after a particularly tough day. Slime Rancher 2 is 100% another amazing guilty pleasure for me this year. Now stop reading this and go take care of the cuties!

Richard - Runner-Up - AI: The Somnium Files Nirvana Initiative

Sequel to AI: The Somnium Files, Nirvana Initiative takes everything I loved about the first game and brings it to the sequel. It's fun, full of interesting puzzles, and a lot of funny gag moments. Good times. Well, for the player, anyway.

Richard - Honorable Mention - Never Awake

An interesting take on the shooter/bullet hell genre where you actually earn powerups and equipable accessories throughout the game. A kind of gut punch story I wasn't expecting and smooth shooting mechanics make a solid game

Richard - Other Honorable Mention - Gunvolt 3

The Not-megaman we needed to bring a refreshing light to the megaman style games. Gunvolt 3 had an incredibly smooth style that I enjoyed all the way through. Seriously, pick up the whole series, it's great.

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Our Games of the Year 2022 - Most Memorable

Sometimes a video game just sticks with you. Maybe it's a character you're particularly attached to, or a narrative you're wholly invested in. Sometimes it's just a catchy song or an addicting gameplay loop. Whatever it is, I'd wager every gamer has at least one title that lingered in their thoughts well after turning off the television and putting down the controller. 2022 provided plenty of those experiences for members of our team as well - here were some of our favorites.

Nick - Tactics Ogre: Reborn 

This one also had me feeling nostalgic. The Tactics Ogre series actually was a major part of my video gaming past. This is a remake of an already excellent game, somehow finding more ways to improve upon it. I bought it the day it came out and subsequently lost most of my weekend to it and I’m still going back for more. There's an excellent story, characters I care about, lovely music, throwback visuals and loads of depth to the turn-based strategic gameplay.

Richard - PowerWash Simulator

So soothing. Much cathartic. It just...feels good. The sense of accomplishment when you hear those Dings is just... mmm

Susan - Vampire: The Masquerade: Swansong

This year, the game that stuck out to me the most was Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong. As a vampire game, it will immediately stick out for me because the genre is intriguing to me for many reasons, but as a video game it stood out even more. For one thing, it has some prevalent scenes that I can never wash out of my brain. Another reason it stands out is because of some of its writing. There were points where I felt like the names and traits of the different clans felt hamfisted, and yet, I still enjoyed playing it. Plus, the three characters you play have different abilities. I found that it was entertaining to play multiple characters in a game where their actions intersect in a way that just works.

Pierre-Yves - The Legend of Heroes: Trails Form Zero

There's no hiding my love for Nihon Falcom's Trails (or Ys) series. Minimum 40 hour RPGs each, the characters, the combat, the music, they all blend in for memorable experiences that you just want more of. 

Actually an older title that has just recently seen a localization outside of Japan, and the sequel due out Spring next year, Trails From Zero would have been memorable all on its own. 

Thrown together as an experiment between being police officers and Bracers, a guild that takes requests from the people generally outside of the scope of authority like the police and the military, the Special Support Section had their work cut out for them. Starting out on their first day, this adventure will see plot twists and the deepening of friendships that we know will last as we see our cast again later down the line in the conclusion to the Trails of Cold Steel Series.

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Our Games of the Year 2022 - Guilty Pleasures

As a team, we felt like 2022 was loaded with great games. There were of course plenty of big titles that dropped that garnered the majority of the 'Best Game' conversations; but what about those titles that simply tickled our fancies? Which games did we find ourselves coming back to not because they were necessarily the best-made AAA titles, or had the most outstanding visuals or gobs of content but because... we simply enjoyed them? Here's what the team weighed in with.

Susan - Recipe for Disaster

Sometimes a game becomes a guilty pleasure for reasons that we cannot explain. This year, that game is Recipe for Disaster which is a restaurant simulation game. You get to design a restaurant, craft a menu, and hire staff to run the place. Originally, I played the game in Early Access where it had some strange quirks that eventually were improved upon for the full release. I found myself playing in the restaurant simulator more and more. In fact, I almost had a massive disaster because the kitchen caught on fire, the bathroom toilets clogged, and my staff freaked out. To save the situation, I gave them all raises and closed the restaurant early once I dealt with the issues. Miraculously, I saved the whole playthrough by reacting that quickly. Needless to say, it has become one of my guilty pleasures for 2022.

Pierre-Yves - Dying Light 2 Stay Human

On a whim, Izzy and I played Dying Light together. Not knowing if it would be either of our thing, it was all we did for a few weeks straight if I wasn't reviewing anything else. The best part? We played Dying Light just in time for Dying Light 2.

Once again diving into this zombie apocalypse based world, there were now new twists, turns and tools to help you survive. It took a lot to put this down for other titles that I needed to cover. Unlike Elden Ring that I was able to put away after the platinum, with new content continuing to be released, there's nothing stopping Dying Light 2 from continuing to be a Guilty Pleasure to sit down to.

Richard - 7 Pirates H

Shut up, it's fun. Yeah, the "physics" may be...unique and the stages a little small, but it was surprisingly fun and the soundtrack was good...Don't judge me.

Nick - Capcom Fighting Collection

This is a spot that seems to usually go to the NBA 2K series, but I wanted to go in a different direction this year. And while NBA 2K23 is probably still the game I’ve put the most hours into since it released, Capcom Fighting Collection was yet another trip down memory lane for me that I found myself coming back to time and again. Some of these titles were new to me, but most of them were favorites from years (decades) past. Maybe it’s the holidays, but my sentimentality for games of old definitely hit different this year for me.

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Our Games of the Year 2022 - Biggest Surprises

Now that 2022 is in the rear-view mirror, we are entering 2023 with anticipation for the games to come. That doesn't mean however, that we don't want to take a little time to appreciate those titles that meant the most to us over the prior year as well. We have several categories in mind that will be rolled out each day, starting with our biggest surprises. As the name implies: which game managed to not only meet expectations, but blow them away? 

Pierre-Yves - Elden Ring

I don't know what I expected to be honest. Years in development, little teasers here and there, what was it? When would we get it? And then we had it. 

Dark Souls 4.

That's what Elden Ring is. Does it do anything new? Not particularly, but it's a combination of all of the Soulslikes experiences that From Software have done over the years into one awesome package. Is it perfect? No. Could the multiplayer use some enhancement like that epic mod that was created? Yes. But it was so hard to put down and it continued to impress me with its design approach. 

The biggest question now is, where does From Software go from here? Do they try to one up this? Return to Armored Core? Or make something brand new.

 

Note: This was originally written before the announcement of Armored Core 6. Yay for a new Armored Core!

Richard - Tiny Creatures

I'll admit, this isn't something I was expecting, and boy did it blow me away. A sort of novelized storytelling combined with puzzles and...action bullet-hell? It's an incredibly weird combination that just plain works. A weird and amazing take on Frankenstein told in a unique way, this is definitely the biggest surprise for me.

Nick - Roguebook

When this title was first announced, I really had no idea what to expect from it. As someone who enjoyed Faeria when it released, Roguebook was a welcome return to the characters and world that I hope to see in more games in the future. Like Faeria, Roguebook mashes up some aspects from similar but different genres and the end result was highly addictive and challenging game that I found myself picking up repeatedly throughout the year after its release.

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