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Discussion Share Your Top X Favorite Games Of 2022! New, Old, And Mixed Lists All Welcome! Get In Here!

xghost777

xghost777

Magical Girls <3 #TeamJRPG #TrustTheProcess
We all made it Fami, it's finally 2023! Now is an awesome time to review the year we just had by sharing and celebrating your favorite games of 2022. This is the more casual thread with no voting attached compared to the official big site event which I'm also very excited to see and participate in! Top ten favorite games lists are the classic favorite, but feel free to pick the number that feels right to you and feel free to make lists for 2022 games, old games, or a mix of both! Everyone is welcome here! I'm just going to ask you label your list(s) and that you share at least one thing if not more about your list (you absolutely don't have to write about each game or write as much as I accidentally got carried away doing lol). Maybe you'll share why your number one game is on top or you'll share why another game is higher than you think others might suspect. It doesn't have to be a lot, but give us something to work with! Whatever you do, remember the main purpose here is to have fun and share the games that made your year special!

I know the year barely just rolled over as I post this, so don't feel too pressured either to commit to your top X list right away. You always can go back and edit it or post days/weeks from now if needed. Some people have been hungry to get started, so I wanted to have this up as early into 2023 as possible! I barely finished my own list in the last 24 hours that I think I'm happy with? Maybe? I think so anyway lol. So yeah no pressure here either!

Here's my own top ten favorite games of 2022! All ten I happened to play on Switch this year! Honorable mentions go to Trails From Zero (I played it in 2020 so I didn't want to feature it, but if I did it would be number 2 otherwise thanks to the extensive new voice acting that adds so much more dimension to the story and characters!) and Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labryinth (another great Metroidvania from Team Ladybug!).

xghost777's Top Ten Favorite Games Of 2022!

10: Lunistice - Really fun 3D platformer thanks to extra smooth controls.

9: Chocobo GP - Battle royale Kart racing was incredible, amazing controls.

8: River City Girls 2 - Bigger and better sequel, lovable characters and writing, fun brawling, and an awesome soundtrack that goes harder and more funky.

7: Splatoon 3 - Not a lot new, but everything here is more refined and super fun. Cutthroat online multiplayer is incredible, Salmon Run 2.0 is the best, and the campaign is great.

6: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 1-3 - Normally I don't include DLC quite like this, but this is some of my favorite gaming content all year. It revitalized my love for my favorite Mario Kart game and has brought me, no joke, more than two hundred hours of fun this year with family and friends. Many of the tracks like Ninja Hideaway and Shroom Ridge have become some of my favorites in the game. Also huge shoutout to the Mario Kart Booster Course Pass ST members (Volcanic Dynamo, Magic-Man, Thunder etc.) for all the fun discussion, speculation, and hype!

5: Pokemon Legends Arceus - This game reconnected me with Pokemon, a franchise I thought I had left behind for two decades. Throwing Pokeballs and being in that world was an amazing experience and I was absolutely hooked until I caught them all.

4: Ai The Somnium Files NirvanA Intiative - Amazing story and amazing characters and significantly improved murder mystery investigation gameplay in the real world and in Somnium. My favorite story moment of the year was the big twist.

3: Pokemon Violet - If Arceus reconnected me with Pokemon, Violet sealed the deal that Pokemon is back in my life and is easily my favorite game in the series. The open world structure is a revelation for Pokemon and the online co-op social experience with friends is outstanding. I caught everything I could by myself (sitting at 392 right now) and I loved how the story and characters all came together.

2: Kirby and the Forgotten Land - I've been going back and forth whether Kirby or Pokemon is my second favorite game, but Kirby is front to back incredible so I'm giving it the edge. This game is so excellent it's hard to believe it's Kirby's first 3D action adventure. It reminds me in the best way of some of my favorite N64 platformers like Bomberman Hero and elegantly translates Kirby's essence into 3D. The journey to the credits and beyond is incredible. Easily the best Kirby game since Super Star and an instant classic. I'll be happily replaying this one many times in the future.

1: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - It's been ten years since Xenoblade Chronicles entered my life and snagged my 2012 GOTY and now with Xenoblade 3 the series is once again snagging my GOTY. Xenoblade 3 was an outstanding adventure and offered a world I didn't want to leave until I explored every last inch of it. While the main story is great, the big standouts to me are the main party of six and the amazing array of high quality side content as you get to know the colonies and get them to work together. Exploring Aionios is richly rewarding and satisfying (Fornis and Cadensia are the best!) and the combat, backed by the job system, is my favorite in the series. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 serves as an excellent example of why I love video games and why I'm always so excited for the future of gaming. It was an absolutely engrossing experience and I can't wait to see what Monolith does next.


Ok I really got carried away writing more than I planned here. Let me turn it over to you now Fami, please share your favorite top X games of 2022!
 
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1. Infernax
I absolutely loved Infernax. At first glance it looks little more than another NES-style platformer wearing its influences on its sleeve (in this case, Castlevania 2), but it’s so much more than that. The controls are perfect, it makes combat a joy. The bosses are huge and inventive. The decisions you make at key points have tangible effects on the game. The dungeons are just the right length, with a save point right outside that you can return to at any point. It’s just stunning, and reminds me of a lot of stuff I like about Shovel Knight and many other indie greats- that nostalgia isn’t about re-enacting what NES games were like, but how your memory remembers the sense of wonder, weird new ideas on every screen, exploration and kinetic joy of videogames. Packed with easter eggs too.

2. Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak
Well my save file is at 400 hours plus and half of that is Sunbreak, which isn’t too bad for an expansion! The new monsters are all great, but what Sunbreak added was various postgame mechanics worth playing with, due to the ‘Qurious Crafting’ letting you continually tinker with your armour and weapons. Being able to take followers into almost any quest (added in a recent update) is great too, giving the full sense of being in a party even if you just want to play offline or don’t have wireless access etc. I’ll definitely keep returning to it as the new updates roll around in 2023.

3. Triangle Strategy
Another game that is visually evocative of older titles (in particular FFT and Tactics Ogre), but the 2D-HD adds a lot to it, and there’s a ton of more subtle mechanical additions. Stuff like the tiles and lines of who can see, reach and target who feels like an addition from stuff like Fire Emblem when you’re trying to keep weaker units in a safe place. It’s big selling point is the key decisions though, and they have major effects on the campaign. You plan as one household that makes up a portion of one faction, woefully outmatched vs the major forces. Sometimes you have to give up something important to save something essential, and it helps that your range of advisors mostly come across as sensible and informed, just with differing perspectives. It makes the decisions hard to make, when a simplistic ‘we should fight overwhelming odds because we’re the good guys!’ doesn’t really work when you have dependents like the civilians you are responsible for relying on you to keep them safe. I really enjoyed it for this, the tough decisions of navigating a path through a pointless war without supernatural aid or some overarching ‘good’ entity sanctioning your actions with divine right.

4. Live A Live
I had been looking forward to this, I barely even knew it existed before the remake was announced. I played the various chapters in a rough order of the eras through time, and to be honest the prehistoric era was the worst one to start with- it was long, clunky and the mix of childish humour and sexist tropes didn’t work for me at all. However, by the end I really enjoyed it as the variety of the chapters, the varied pacing and game mechanics and influences from stealth infiltration to Street Fighter to sci-fi horror shone though. One character chapter was a new addition to this iteration, but to me it felt so natural in its inclusion and made the final battle all the more epic, rounding out the game themes.

5. Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi
A dungeon crawl mixing Experience’s usual set up of fantasy classes and monsters with a sort of 1970s industrial/analogue design and a weird sci-fi story. Enjoyed this, it’s very memorable as it’s just so weird. Reminds me of SMT Strange Journey in a way, good to play a blobber that has a very unique setting even if the characters themselves feel transplanted from any other Experience game. The key mechanic here is that you are underground explorers and can dig your own passages and shortcuts on certain tiles, which is a really cool addition to the genre!
 
Doing a top 7, since I never finished Ragnarök, Forbidden West or Elden Ring, and didn’t like We Are OFK all that much.

7. As Dusk Falls
A game in a genre that I really adore. I love these kinds of games, tense choices that makes you sweat, characters to care for, flowcharts, all of that stuff. As Dusk Falls really delivers on the premise, it's a tense and engaging story. It's a shame that it's a bit short, and doesn't quite stick the landing towards the end, because it's otherwise a great game.

6. Immortality
Not the best I’ve played this year, but it’s the year’s most inventive, daring and just all around fascinating game. The premise is so unique, and it’s being explored to its full extent. It feels so authentic, like Marissa Marcel has actually existed, and I respect this development team so much for doing such a bold experiment that really payed off.

5. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
I’ve always liked Kirby, but the huge step he has taken into a proper 3D platformer is alongside Tropical Freeze probably the biggest quality jump a Nintendo mascot has ever taken in a game. Forgotten Land is just brimming with inventive shenanigans that has you all filled with glee. Truly a platformer for the ages.

4. Harvestella
This game feels so wonderfully nostalgic to me, with its sort of modest, muted presentation that makes it come across as a sort of cozy callback to mid-00’s RPGs. But its all the better for it - Harvestella just oozes charm and warmth. The farming is strangely addictive, the characters are impossible to not like, and the story goes to some pretty wild places. It all makes for the year’s biggest and most pleasant surprise, and a game that I’m so happy I took my time with.

3. Tunic
Tunic felt like its success was written in stone way before release. An isometric Zelda-like, with a great soundtrack, top-tier level design and i general just polished to damn near perfection. But hoo boy. This game is so much more than that, in a way that comes completely out of left field and leaves you speechless. Again, this game is so meticulous and borderline perfect that it’s a GOTY contender on that merit alone, but that extra mile it walks makes for something extremely special.

2. AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative
I love VN’s, I love great stories in general, and I love twisty murder mysteries, and so I adored the first AI game. I had eagerly anticipated the sequel for a long time, and when I finally laid my hands on it, the excitement was through roofs. To say that the game delivered on expectations would be a massive understatement. I was floored. I was left numb, but silently euphoric. When credits rolled, I had a hard time thinking that anything coming out in 2022 could possibly be better than this g-

1. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Dang. This is one of those rare, rare games where just thinking about it gives me this strange, warm feeling inside. This is one hell of an emotional ride, where I couldn’t put the controller down, I just had to see what was next for these characters, and this story. I was being punched with feels front, left and center during the entire playthrough. I can’t believe that Takahashi and team dethroned Xenogears as the best Xeno game. But they did. They fucking did.
 
Irene said:
Doing a top 7, since I never finished Ragnarök, Forbidden West or Elden Ring, and didn’t like We Are OFK all that much.

7. As Dusk Falls
A game in a genre that I really adore. I love these kinds of games, tense choices that makes you sweat, characters to care for, flowcharts, all of that stuff. As Dusk Falls really delivers on the premise, it's a tense and engaging story. It's a shame that it's a bit short, and doesn't quite stick the landing towards the end, because it's otherwise a great game.

6. Immortality
Not the best I’ve played this year, but it’s the year’s most inventive, daring and just all around fascinating game. The premise is so unique, and it’s being explored to its full extent. It feels so authentic, like Marissa Marcel has actually existed, and I respect this development team so much for doing such a bold experiment that really payed off.

5. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
I’ve always liked Kirby, but the huge step he has taken into a proper 3D platformer is alongside Tropical Freeze probably the biggest quality jump a Nintendo mascot has ever taken in a game. Forgotten Land is just brimming with inventive shenanigans that has you all filled with glee. Truly a platformer for the ages.

4. Harvestella
This game feels so wonderfully nostalgic to me, with its sort of modest, muted presentation that makes it come across as a sort of cozy callback to mid-00’s RPGs. But its all the better for it - Harvestella just oozes charm and warmth. The farming is strangely addictive, the characters are impossible to not like, and the story goes to some pretty wild places. It all makes for the year’s biggest and most pleasant surprise, and a game that I’m so happy I took my time with.

3. Tunic
Tunic felt like its success was written in stone way before release. An isometric Zelda-like, with a great soundtrack, top-tier level design and i general just polished to damn near perfection. But hoo boy. This game is so much more than that, in a way that comes completely out of left field and leaves you speechless. Again, this game is so meticulous and borderline perfect that it’s a GOTY contender on that merit alone, but that extra mile it walks makes for something extremely special.

2. AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative
I love VN’s, I love great stories in general, and I love twisty murder mysteries, and so I adored the first AI game. I had eagerly anticipated the sequel for a long time, and when I finally laid my hands on it, the excitement was through roofs. To say that the game delivered on expectations would be a massive understatement. I was floored. I was left numb, but silently euphoric. When credits rolled, I had a hard time thinking that anything coming out in 2022 could possibly be better than this g-

1. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Dang. This is one of those rare, rare games where just thinking about it gives me this strange, warm feeling inside. This is one hell of an emotional ride, where I couldn’t put the controller down, I just had to see what was next for these characters, and this story. I was being punched with feels front, left and center during the entire playthrough. I can’t believe that Takahashi and team dethroned Xenogears as the best Xeno game. But they did. They fucking did.
Click to expand...
Tunic is somewhere near the top of my ‘must play’ pile, I’m at the point where games I know I’ll love come out far faster than I can complete them, where replaying an old favourite often means several others I’m interested in come out in the few weeks that’ll take me :D
 
PixelKnight said:
Tunic is somewhere near the top of my ‘must play’ pile, I’m at the point where games I know I’ll love come out far faster than I can complete them, where replaying an old favourite often means several others I’m interested in come out in the few weeks that’ll take me :D
Click to expand...
I have a Tunic shirt and haven't played Tunic yet. I need to play Tunic...
 
1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + DLC
2. Pokemon Legends Arceus
3. Mini Motorways
4. Revita
5. Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan
6. Riddled Corpses EX
7. Splatoon 3
8. Pokemon Scarlet
9. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
10. Valfaris

Honourable mentions: Lacuna, Flipping Death, Anodyne, Atelier Ryza
 
  1. Genshin impact. Tried to play it again after dropping it twice since it launched and it finally clicked and I have been enjoying it alot, Great World, msic and alot of content
  2. Elden Ring. Haven't been enjoying an open world like this since Botw. Art direction really is incredible and it has some of my favourite bosses in all fromsoft games. For Games that came out this year it is easily my goty
  3. Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Enjoyed it alot at first, then the last two chapters come and my enjoyment of it crumbles. But still, I really had a good time with it
  4. Xenoblade chronicles DE. Enjoyed the story and music, but didn't really like playing it.
Other than those I've started Omori, but havent finished it yet.
Didn't play alot this year.
 
Happy new year! I urge everyone to check out Inscryption if you haven’t already. My personal “hidden gem” of the year, by far.
 
PixelKnight said:
5. Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi
A dungeon crawl mixing Experience’s usual set up of fantasy classes and monsters with a sort of 1970s industrial/analogue design and a weird sci-fi story. Enjoyed this, it’s very memorable as it’s just so weird. Reminds me of SMT Strange Journey in a way, good to play a blobber that has a very unique setting even if the characters themselves feel transplanted from any other Experience game. The key mechanic here is that you are underground explorers and can dig your own passages and shortcuts on certain tiles, which is a really cool addition to the genre!
Click to expand...
An Undernauts fan lets go!!! That is Experience best DRPG
 
10-Mass Effect Legendary Edition

9- Mortal Kombat 10

8-Forza Horizon 5

7- To The Moon

6-Pokémon Legends Arceus

5-Triangle Strategy

4-Kirby and the Forgotten Land

3-Star Wars Empire at War

2-Chrono Trigger

1-Xenoblade Chronicles 2
 
It's always fun to reminisce about the games you've played, so thanks for making the thread @xghost777! We all obviously love talking about games, we're in a freaking enthusiast forum, of course we do. And there's nothing better than talking about stuff we liked! so here:

The Top Ten Games I Played In 2022

So, not necessarily games that released in 2022, but games I played for the first time this year. Here we go! But first, some honorable mentions:

  • Snakebird is an excellent puzzler designed around an amusing yet deceptively challenging mechanic. It's nothing too fancy, but it's a good time and decent for knocking your neurons around.
  • Alien Soldier was a game I could only admire in gaming magazines, since we were too poor to afford a SNES, let alone a Mega Drive, back in the day. I was stoked to finally play it via NSO, and what a blast! Treasure run n' guns really don't miss.
  • Indivisible has fantastic anime-style visuals courtesy of the Skullgirls team, and it gets a lot of points simply for copying Valkyrie Profile. Not enough games take inspiration from Valkyrie Profile.
  • Dark Souls 3 is my successful return to Souls after bouncing off the first game several times. I don't think I enjoyed the core combat that much relative to other action games, but I absolutely loved the map design, the monstrous enemies the RPG mechanics, the dark fantasy setting and the vague, mysterious lore. Visiting that parallel-world (?), abandoned Firelink Shrine was mind-blowing.
  • Pokemon Scarlet (and to a lesser extent, Legends Arceus) feels like Game Freak really heating things up after the largely underwhelming Sword and Shield. The open world and core mechanics are lacking in many ways, but GF actually gave the story substance, gave us some incredible characters, and gave us a whole lot of incredible new Pokemon designs. The final area in particular is one of the best parts of any Pokemon game, ever.

Whew, that's a lot. But we're not done yet. Now it's time to get to the really good stuff. Once again, the top ten games I played this year:

My top ten game is the charming Passpartout. The premise is simple: you're an up-and-coming painter trying to make a living off your art. So unleash your best Paint skills, display your work in the crummy alley you operate in, and hope passersby like your paintings enough to buy them off you. Customers have their own tastes; some might like abstract art, while others might like more detailed portraits. The absolute best part of this game is that there's no concrete explanation for how potential buyers evaluate your art. The devs themselves have refused to release a "walkthrough", because they want people to experiment. So most online "guides" are actually mostly other players showing off their paintings and discussing their findings. You slowly learn that the snobby beret guy likes bright colors and random shapes. Or that the businessman seems to like detailed linework and art of inanimate objects. It feels awesome hitting the sweet spot of those suckers squeezing a thousand dollars out of them. I filled a museum with embarrassing Pokemon fanart, and it in turn filled me with joy.

My top nine game is Rune Factory 5! Before it got revealed in a Direct, our last bit of news was that the studio behind the series had gone under. So you can imagine my delight when RF5 materialized into existence. IT'S ALIVE! Truth be told, it's not as bombastic a comeback as fans would have liked, with its underbaked transition to full 3D, substantially weaker writing and a myriad of a technical issues. But by the gods, juggling the gameplay loops is addicting. The stroke of genius in Rune Factory is that everything you do feeds into everything else you can do. Even walking will increase your stamina and HP. So no matter what you decide to do for the in-game day, you're opening up more and more of the content. Also: hot anime bachelors and bachelorettes. Overall I'm glad Rune Factory is still around, and I have complete faith the devs will learn from RF5 to improve the next installment, and return to the heights of RF3 and RF4.

My top eight game is Control Ultimate Edition. As a fan of SCP, the stylings of the Oldest House and the Federal Bureau of Control immediately grabbed me. From a motel serving as a sort of interdimensional crossroads, to a fridge that kills people if no one is looking at it, there's a lot of quirky, often dangerous objects that love to violate the laws of known reality. Your player character Jesse can even join in on the supernatural weirdness with a host of psychic powers. I kinda wish those powers were focused on more (telekinesis is amazing!), instead of the standard FPS guns, but I can't complain too much because the gunplay is great. You can't take cover and take potshots from a safe place; enemies can and will flank you, and your best bet is always to keep moving, trying your best to control the crowd, weave through attacks and hit back. Control rocked, and I'm immensely excited for the recently announced sequel, which I hope will dive even deeper into the madness.

My top seven game is the REAL best Pokemon game of 2022, Pokemon Unbound. It's one of the few completed Pokemon fangames, which is an even more impressive feat considering how it's bursting with content. Think Gen 4 sprite graphics, but an engine on par with generation 8. Think difficulty modes from friendly Easy to back-busting Insane. Think QoL options like DexNav or Auto Run. Think side quests and mini-games. It's basically the traditional linear style of Pokemon game, refined to better match the tastes of long-time fans. And oh boy, did I lap it up. I mean come on, I got to pick a Beldum for my starter. That's just awesome. Definitely gonna do a Nuzlocke run for Unbound in the near future.

My top six game is Gnosia. I was really curious about how a singleplayer social deduction game would play, and it works surprisingly well! It takes a while to understand how to effectively smoke out the impostors (or deceive the others if you are the Gnosia), but once you do, it's really satisfying. The great part is that the mystery isn't really about the impostor, since anyone can be the impostor. No, the mystery is more of a puzzle. You're piecing together who the people you're trapped with are. What the purpose of the spaceship you're trapped in actually is. And heck, what the Gnosia are in the first place. I don[t want to spoil too much, but the story goes a lot of unexpected places.

We're finally at the top five game, and at first I was unsure if I should even include in the list, since I haven't actually finished it yet. But I had an absolutely wonderful 15 hours with it so far, so yeah, Prey is one of my favorite gaming experiences this year. It's Arkane doing what they do best-- an immersive sim with plenty of deep mechanics to tinker around with. For example I got a joke weapon that basically shoots foam bullets, which seems useless, but then lo and behold, those foam bullets can activate touchscreens, which can for example let you bypass a locked door by letting you hit the "unlock" button from a crack in the wall. You have a GLOO gun that shoots out a gel that quickly hardens, which I've found can be used to create impromptu platforms to jump off of. SO GOOD. Also loving the classic space horror story. The Mimics in particular are an inspired idea: the way they can mimic any random thing in the environment ratchets up the paranoia, and at the same time it feels great when you spot an extra trash bin and stealth attack that damned thing. Looking forward to finishing the game this year. Might even end up in my top X list for 2023, who knows?

My top four game of the year is Don't Starve Together. I have a funny and cute story about this one. So I'm a big fan of regular Don't Starve, and I randomly brought it up while talking with my girlfriend. Turns out, she knows the game. More than knows it. By her estimation she had spent at least a couple thousand hours playing DS during her college years, and she was so addicted to it that her friends at the time had to stage an intervention because it was affecting her grades. She had sworn it off since.

So like any good boyfriend I decided to buy Don't Starve on Switch and lent my Switch to her. I thought she was exaggerating. What followed was two weeks of my girlfriend forgetting my existence as she entered an endless cycle of work -> Don't Starve -> sleep. I legit had to drag her to dining table so that she wouldn't starve (heh). Then she started feeling guilty about leaving all the housework to me and she snapped out of her spell. But I didn't want her to fully swear the game off again, so I got DST so we could play together. We could bond, and I could keep her addiction in check. Win win.

My top three is a game I expect to see on a lot of lists, and that's Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It's hard to believe this is Kirby's first 3D platformer outing because it is so effortlessly top tier. Kirby's movesets and copy abilities translate seamlessly to the 3D plane. The juxtaposition of decrepit cities and cute monsters is also great, with my personal favorite theming being the space-themed amusement park. The levels are full of personality and stuffed with secrets. You bet I scrounged for every last Waddle Dee I could find. On that note, this isn't just 3D platformer Kirby. They went ahead and gave you Waddle Dee Town, and it's amazing. You get a house with a big comfy bed to sleep in. You can work in fast food, made infinitely more tolerable with your customers being soft, round blobs. You can go fishing because any game worth a damn has some sort of fishing minigame. There's also a boss rush arena, challenge levels and post game content for players that want to really play around with our pink fluffball's arsenal. Kirby's latest adventure is big, wondrous, and it will not be forgotten anytime soon.

My top two game marries two of my bigger gameplay fetishes, which are cards and roguelikes. It's then no surprise that Slay the Spire sunk its teeth so deep into me. Four different characters to play with, each with their own gameplay gimmick and unique cards, which multiply into hundreds of possible builds. I rarely had a run where I felt screwed by bad luck, you get so many ways to rebalance the scales in your favor. And when you get that sweet, sweet synergy going, it's a supremely addicting rush. This is one of those games that will likely never be leaving the SD card of my Switch.

And my top game of 2022 is... dun dun dun... MONSTER! HUNTER! RISE!

Like Dark Souls, Monster Hunter was a franchise that I bounced off of several times in the past. And I wasn't planning to play MH:Rise at all, but then it became available as part of the NSO trials, and since it was "free" I decided to give it another shot. And wow, every demo of Monster Hunter I have ever played did not do the game justice.

I love how the wirebugs and the Palamutes gave you a lot of movement options. Less time running while playing seesaw with your stamina bar, more time hunting the giant monsters, which is the best part. Those monsters are big and menacing and have incredible designs. You've got fire-breathing cranes and acrobatic bat-bonobos and mud-slinging lobster-dragons. Those creature designs belong in the monster-game pantheon alongside Pokemon and Dragon Quest.

I love the dance between hunter and monster. You're slowly learning the tells of the beast, when to block, when to dodge, when to attack. I mainly use the gunlance which has a surprising number of moves. I can go for a safe poke, or I can go full blast with a wirebug combo. You just have to know who wide the windows of opportunity are. One thing I really love is that as the battle goes on, the monster's behavior visibly changes. Their attacks get more aggressive but they're also obviously worn out, sometimes even outright failing their attacks. Seeing a huge beast start limping under my barrage gets me fired up like a shark that's caught a whiff of blood.

Then after you've slain the monsters and carved them up, you go back to the village, and oh no there's a bunch of armor and weapons to craft. Time to hunt another monster. Get more mats and forge more weapons. Rinse, repeat. It's a nigh inescapable positive feedback loop. Then there's the sidequests, which net you new sub-camps, weapon blueprints and most importantly, dango recipes. Then you learn that the maps have all sorts of secrets tucked inside them. I'm still finding new things in the Shrine Ruins, 70 hours in. Rampages are also an interesting wrinkle in the gameplay, playing somewhat like a cross between a musou and tower defense. They're not my jam, but I appreciate the variety they bring to the table.

It also helps that MH:Rise is a graphical showcase. Like hot damn, I don't know how Capcom managed to make it look so good, and with relatively short loading times, to boot. The animations for the monsters themselves are very natural while keeping the hitboxes clear. Exquisite.

MH:Rise is just a fantastic action RPG by all counts, and singlehandedly turned my opinion around on an entire franchise.

So yeah, that's it, my very long-winded soapbox gushing about my favorite games. Thank you for reading. If you did reach this far haha.
 
My top 10 for 2022 (in no order) with brief snippets:

1) AI The Somnium files Nirvana Initiative (my goty): a great follow-up with improved detective mechanics, the dual protagonist was very interesting and the cast of characters are memorable.

2) Xenoblade Chronicles 3: A jrpg series that I recently got into (2021) and I am glad I did. From world building to character development to side questing. An overall treat and joy that few rpgs do now a days.

3) Triangle Strategy: What a game. Better HD-2D, great story telling, a fantastic cast (this will be a common thing lol) and a battle system that is simple yet the layers of strategy are deep. I need to get back to get the other endings.

4) Pokemon Legends/Scarlet: Legends was incredible, even the story was really nice. It has one of my new favorite tracks that I listen frequently, the Jubilife Village theme. Scarlet has a ton of problems but the story, characters and overall design was a real treat.

5) Live a Live: Best implementation of hd-2d. I game I cannot believe came out a year before I was born lol. And the new content for the remake gave me goosebumps. Soundtrack is next level.

6) 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim: This game made me appreciate the gaming medium even more. Its a story that has so many layers you would think it would fumble but no, it just gets better and better. Also made me want more vanillaware games lol.

7) Yurukill: The Calumniation Games: Weirdest game I've played all year. Its a visual novel detective game that has shmups sections. The art in this game is fantastic. VAs did an amazing job (jp only). And the story was definitely interesting. Its my pick for hidden gem of the year, fully recommend.

8) Trails from Zero: I've always wanted to get into the Trails series and this seemed like the best started point. I did not play Sky but I watched the trilogy with in-depth analysis and was interested. But Zero really got me thanks to its small cast and story. I like how grounded everything and how it slowly evolves. And I cant wait for Azure.

9) Spirit Hunter: Death Mark: Ok I don't like scary stuff, specially supernatural. But this game had a really compelling story and narrative. The art was sublime (Undernauts), the spirits had interesting backgrounds and their fight made my skin crawl. I played only during the day with all the lights in the house on but I really enjoyed it lol.

10) Persona 5 Royal: The elusive game that finally came to switch. My most played game of 2022 even though it came out in late October. I put 118 hours and loved it. While I am still on the fence on the calendar system, the rest of the game was incredible. Stylish, bursting with personality, great cast, great music and solid battle system. I am glad I played in hard cause even then it was not to challenging, although I am an smt person lol.

Honorable mentions: Labyrinth of Refrain (post game at the moment) start it back in 2020. Splatoon 3, first game of the series I tried, great. And my most played game Yugioh Master Duel, good job Konami for making a ftp game where I have not spend a dime.
 
meatbag said:
It's always fun to reminisce about the games you've played, so thanks for making the thread @xghost777! We all obviously love talking about games, we're in a freaking enthusiast forum, of course we do. And there's nothing better than talking about stuff we liked! so here:

The Top Ten Games I Played In 2022

So, not necessarily games that released in 2022, but games I played for the first time this year. Here we go! But first, some honorable mentions:

  • Snakebird is an excellent puzzler designed around an amusing yet deceptively challenging mechanic. It's nothing too fancy, but it's a good time and decent for knocking your neurons around.
  • Alien Soldier was a game I could only admire in gaming magazines, since we were too poor to afford a SNES, let alone a Mega Drive, back in the day. I was stoked to finally play it via NSO, and what a blast! Treasure run n' guns really don't miss.
  • Indivisible has fantastic anime-style visuals courtesy of the Skullgirls team, and it gets a lot of points simply for copying Valkyrie Profile. Not enough games take inspiration from Valkyrie Profile.
  • Dark Souls 3 is my successful return to Souls after bouncing off the first game several times. I don't think I enjoyed the core combat that much relative to other action games, but I absolutely loved the map design, the monstrous enemies the RPG mechanics, the dark fantasy setting and the vague, mysterious lore. Visiting that parallel-world (?), abandoned Firelink Shrine was mind-blowing.
  • Pokemon Scarlet (and to a lesser extent, Legends Arceus) feels like Game Freak really heating things up after the largely underwhelming Sword and Shield. The open world and core mechanics are lacking in many ways, but GF actually gave the story substance, gave us some incredible characters, and gave us a whole lot of incredible new Pokemon designs. The final area in particular is one of the best parts of any Pokemon game, ever.

Whew, that's a lot. But we're not done yet. Now it's time to get to the really good stuff. Once again, the top ten games I played this year:

My top ten game is the charming Passpartout. The premise is simple: you're an up-and-coming painter trying to make a living off your art. So unleash your best Paint skills, display your work in the crummy alley you operate in, and hope passersby like your paintings enough to buy them off you. Customers have their own tastes; some might like abstract art, while others might like more detailed portraits. The absolute best part of this game is that there's no concrete explanation for how potential buyers evaluate your art. The devs themselves have refused to release a "walkthrough", because they want people to experiment. So most online "guides" are actually mostly other players showing off their paintings and discussing their findings. You slowly learn that the snobby beret guy likes bright colors and random shapes. Or that the businessman seems to like detailed linework and art of inanimate objects. It feels awesome hitting the sweet spot of those suckers squeezing a thousand dollars out of them. I filled a museum with embarrassing Pokemon fanart, and it in turn filled me with joy.

My top nine game is Rune Factory 5! Before it got revealed in a Direct, our last bit of news was that the studio behind the series had gone under. So you can imagine my delight when RF5 materialized into existence. IT'S ALIVE! Truth be told, it's not as bombastic a comeback as fans would have liked, with its underbaked transition to full 3D, substantially weaker writing and a myriad of a technical issues. But by the gods, juggling the gameplay loops is addicting. The stroke of genius in Rune Factory is that everything you do feeds into everything else you can do. Even walking will increase your stamina and HP. So no matter what you decide to do for the in-game day, you're opening up more and more of the content. Also: hot anime bachelors and bachelorettes. Overall I'm glad Rune Factory is still around, and I have complete faith the devs will learn from RF5 to improve the next installment, and return to the heights of RF3 and RF4.

My top eight game is Control Ultimate Edition. As a fan of SCP, the stylings of the Oldest House and the Federal Bureau of Control immediately grabbed me. From a motel serving as a sort of interdimensional crossroads, to a fridge that kills people if no one is looking at it, there's a lot of quirky, often dangerous objects that love to violate the laws of known reality. Your player character Jesse can even join in on the supernatural weirdness with a host of psychic powers. I kinda wish those powers were focused on more (telekinesis is amazing!), instead of the standard FPS guns, but I can't complain too much because the gunplay is great. You can't take cover and take potshots from a safe place; enemies can and will flank you, and your best bet is always to keep moving, trying your best to control the crowd, weave through attacks and hit back. Control rocked, and I'm immensely excited for the recently announced sequel, which I hope will dive even deeper into the madness.

My top seven game is the REAL best Pokemon game of 2022, Pokemon Unbound. It's one of the few completed Pokemon fangames, which is an even more impressive feat considering how it's bursting with content. Think Gen 4 sprite graphics, but an engine on par with generation 8. Think difficulty modes from friendly Easy to back-busting Insane. Think QoL options like DexNav or Auto Run. Think side quests and mini-games. It's basically the traditional linear style of Pokemon game, refined to better match the tastes of long-time fans. And oh boy, did I lap it up. I mean come on, I got to pick a Beldum for my starter. That's just awesome. Definitely gonna do a Nuzlocke run for Unbound in the near future.

My top six game is Gnosia. I was really curious about how a singleplayer social deduction game would play, and it works surprisingly well! It takes a while to understand how to effectively smoke out the impostors (or deceive the others if you are the Gnosia), but once you do, it's really satisfying. The great part is that the mystery isn't really about the impostor, since anyone can be the impostor. No, the mystery is more of a puzzle. You're piecing together who the people you're trapped with are. What the purpose of the spaceship you're trapped in actually is. And heck, what the Gnosia are in the first place. I don[t want to spoil too much, but the story goes a lot of unexpected places.

We're finally at the top five game, and at first I was unsure if I should even include in the list, since I haven't actually finished it yet. But I had an absolutely wonderful 15 hours with it so far, so yeah, Prey is one of my favorite gaming experiences this year. It's Arkane doing what they do best-- an immersive sim with plenty of deep mechanics to tinker around with. For example I got a joke weapon that basically shoots foam bullets, which seems useless, but then lo and behold, those foam bullets can activate touchscreens, which can for example let you bypass a locked door by letting you hit the "unlock" button from a crack in the wall. You have a GLOO gun that shoots out a gel that quickly hardens, which I've found can be used to create impromptu platforms to jump off of. SO GOOD. Also loving the classic space horror story. The Mimics in particular are an inspired idea: the way they can mimic any random thing in the environment ratchets up the paranoia, and at the same time it feels great when you spot an extra trash bin and stealth attack that damned thing. Looking forward to finishing the game this year. Might even end up in my top X list for 2023, who knows?

My top four game of the year is Don't Starve Together. I have a funny and cute story about this one. So I'm a big fan of regular Don't Starve, and I randomly brought it up while talking with my girlfriend. Turns out, she knows the game. More than knows it. By her estimation she had spent at least a couple thousand hours playing DS during her college years, and she was so addicted to it that her friends at the time had to stage an intervention because it was affecting her grades. She had sworn it off since.

So like any good boyfriend I decided to buy Don't Starve on Switch and lent my Switch to her. I thought she was exaggerating. What followed was two weeks of my girlfriend forgetting my existence as she entered an endless cycle of work -> Don't Starve -> sleep. I legit had to drag her to dining table so that she wouldn't starve (heh). Then she started feeling guilty about leaving all the housework to me and she snapped out of her spell. But I didn't want her to fully swear the game off again, so I got DST so we could play together. We could bond, and I could keep her addiction in check. Win win.

My top three is a game I expect to see on a lot of lists, and that's Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It's hard to believe this is Kirby's first 3D platformer outing because it is so effortlessly top tier. Kirby's movesets and copy abilities translate seamlessly to the 3D plane. The juxtaposition of decrepit cities and cute monsters is also great, with my personal favorite theming being the space-themed amusement park. The levels are full of personality and stuffed with secrets. You bet I scrounged for every last Waddle Dee I could find. On that note, this isn't just 3D platformer Kirby. They went ahead and gave you Waddle Dee Town, and it's amazing. You get a house with a big comfy bed to sleep in. You can work in fast food, made infinitely more tolerable with your customers being soft, round blobs. You can go fishing because any game worth a damn has some sort of fishing minigame. There's also a boss rush arena, challenge levels and post game content for players that want to really play around with our pink fluffball's arsenal. Kirby's latest adventure is big, wondrous, and it will not be forgotten anytime soon.

My top two game marries two of my bigger gameplay fetishes, which are cards and roguelikes. It's then no surprise that Slay the Spire sunk its teeth so deep into me. Four different characters to play with, each with their own gameplay gimmick and unique cards, which multiply into hundreds of possible builds. I rarely had a run where I felt screwed by bad luck, you get so many ways to rebalance the scales in your favor. And when you get that sweet, sweet synergy going, it's a supremely addicting rush. This is one of those games that will likely never be leaving the SD card of my Switch.

And my top game of 2022 is... dun dun dun... MONSTER! HUNTER! RISE!

Like Dark Souls, Monster Hunter was a franchise that I bounced off of several times in the past. And I wasn't planning to play MH:Rise at all, but then it became available as part of the NSO trials, and since it was "free" I decided to give it another shot. And wow, every demo of Monster Hunter I have ever played did not do the game justice.

I love how the wirebugs and the Palamutes gave you a lot of movement options. Less time running while playing seesaw with your stamina bar, more time hunting the giant monsters, which is the best part. Those monsters are big and menacing and have incredible designs. You've got fire-breathing cranes and acrobatic bat-bonobos and mud-slinging lobster-dragons. Those creature designs belong in the monster-game pantheon alongside Pokemon and Dragon Quest.

I love the dance between hunter and monster. You're slowly learning the tells of the beast, when to block, when to dodge, when to attack. I mainly use the gunlance which has a surprising number of moves. I can go for a safe poke, or I can go full blast with a wirebug combo. You just have to know who wide the windows of opportunity are. One thing I really love is that as the battle goes on, the monster's behavior visibly changes. Their attacks get more aggressive but they're also obviously worn out, sometimes even outright failing their attacks. Seeing a huge beast start limping under my barrage gets me fired up like a shark that's caught a whiff of blood.

Then after you've slain the monsters and carved them up, you go back to the village, and oh no there's a bunch of armor and weapons to craft. Time to hunt another monster. Get more mats and forge more weapons. Rinse, repeat. It's a nigh inescapable positive feedback loop. Then there's the sidequests, which net you new sub-camps, weapon blueprints and most importantly, dango recipes. Then you learn that the maps have all sorts of secrets tucked inside them. I'm still finding new things in the Shrine Ruins, 70 hours in. Rampages are also an interesting wrinkle in the gameplay, playing somewhat like a cross between a musou and tower defense. They're not my jam, but I appreciate the variety they bring to the table.

It also helps that MH:Rise is a graphical showcase. Like hot damn, I don't know how Capcom managed to make it look so good, and with relatively short loading times, to boot. The animations for the monsters themselves are very natural while keeping the hitboxes clear. Exquisite.

MH:Rise is just a fantastic action RPG by all counts, and singlehandedly turned my opinion around on an entire franchise.

So yeah, that's it, my very long-winded soapbox gushing about my favorite games. Thank you for reading. If you did reach this far haha.
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Loved your post Meatbag! You easily beat my word count :) More importantly I loved your write ups! I think tomorrow now that this thread is properly rolling I’ll go back and expand my own entries a bit. Not too long still, still don’t want to overwhelm people walking in, but more true to me :)
 
I’m loving the nirvanA Initiative mentions and love here! It’s such an incredible game on so many levels, and it’s well deserving of all the words that has been spoken about it here.
 
The vast majority of games I've played in 2022 were older titles and games I've played before. Most of the games that were actually released in 2022 I've only started but didn't finish (Triangle Strategy, Live A Live, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Bayonetta 3 are looking at me angrily). So this is definitely the thread for me. My casual 2022 GOTY list looks like this:

1. Wave Race 64
From a modern perspective this is a deceptively simple and barebones game: 4 racers, 9 courses, 4 difficulty settings. But as you dig deeper its genius is slowly revealed. I played this over two decades ago when I was a lil dumb child and enjoyed it back then but it wasn't until later that I started loving it. There's a long and straight stretch on Drake Lake where it finally really clicked for me. You start the course in this chill, almost ethereal tune and when you get to that part and you hit it just right you can zip over the surface of the fogbound lake and bob and weave effortlessly between the buoys. It's pure zen-like bliss. They really don't make them like this anymore.

2. Elden Ring
At the beginning of 2022 this consumed me for a few weeks and yet I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. I generally don't like open world games because far too often I can feel the heavy hand of the developer shove me towards points of interest. This is one of the rare games that doesn't have this issue but just let me to my own devices to explore and get my ass kicked by this cruel world. Can't wait to go back to it and finally finish it but it left a stronger impression on me that many games I've played in 2022.

3. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
2022's recipient of the rare and highly coveted "1.0 award", a game so good they released it, refused to elaborate and dipped. It's a joy to play from the syrupy sweet beginning to the tour the force that is the finale and a much needed jump for the franchise.

4. Dragon Quest V
One of the GOATs and to this day my favourite Dragon Quest game. Fun characters, excellent and surprising scenarios as well as appropriately challenging combat encounters. Later entries often felt too long to keep my attention, this one keeps it relatively concise and is engaging throughout, which is a big deal for me.

5. Nintendo Switch Sports
I was tempted to put this at the top of my list simply by virtue of it being my most played game of the year (105h and counting). Aside from a short time during my holidays I've basically played this every week since its release. It's great fun both in local and online multiplayer and thanks to the Golf update it now has my favourite selection of disciplines of the Sports games. However, I'm not oblivious to its deficiencies and how it is a step back from Resort in some areas (I've spoken about it at length in multiple threads) so I have to rank it lower.

Honorable mentions (2022 releases only in no particular order):
Tunic
Tinykin
Splatoon 3
Lunistice
Vampire Survivors
 
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1. Elden Ring

Honorable Mention: Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course. Would easily be my #2 GOTY if it wasn’t a DLC.

That’s it, that’s the list. To be fair, I didn’t play very many games released in 2022 last year. Infernax, Islets, Stray were some other games I enjoyed, but none of them enough to be considered GOTY worthy. Hopefully 2023 is a better gaming year for me.
 
Thank you! More people should ask for my opinion. I am an infinite well of knowledge. I beat 45 games this year, and I'll be sharing the 5 games that I gave a 10/10 score.

5. Tokimeki Memorial: Under the Tree of Legend - Despite being considered the worst version of the original Tokimeki Memorial game, it was still a ton of fun.

4. TearRing Saga - It's Fire Emblem. It's literally just Fire Emblem. Nintendo should sue whoever made this.

3. Berwick Saga - It's definitely not Fire Emblem. It's super difficult, but a ton of fun. They let you save every 5 turns, and I never had more fun reloading a save for hours on end. 🙃

2. Elden Ring - Great game. Got the platinum trophy. I think I still like Bloodborne more.

1. Metroid Dread - I'm shocked. I'm shooked. And quite frankly, I'm a bit surprised. For various reasons, I was not expecting to like this game as much as I did. I ended up adoring every second of it.
 
In terms of new games, in no particular order:

Eldin Ring
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
High on Life
Pokémon Legends Arceus
Nintendo Switch Sports
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Nintendo Switch Online
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Capcom Fighting Collection
Capcom Arcade Stadium 2

Other Mentions:
Best old game that will shortly cease to exist: Rusty's Real Deal Baseball
Best old game I played for the first time:
TIE between OutRun 2 and We Love Katamari
Best surprisingly good old game:
Yar's Revenge (2011)
 
Mine are:

10. Grapple Dog: Fantastic platformer with very simple but nice graphics, You can do some really cool acrobatics with the grapple. Very chill too if you want something to simple and it has accesibility options so even if you lack skill can complete it. Also well Pablo is a nice dog.

9. Resident Evil 4: Finally manage to beat this one and I can see why it's so praised. All the ride was very good and even if the companion AI could be better I never thought I was fighting against it. My only gripe is the lack of subtitles as sometimes the sound mix really make it hard to hear what they were actually saying.

8. Tactics Ogre Reborn: Fantastic port (remaster? whatever its called now). As mentioned before I was never a big fan of SRPG but this one manage to keep me playing it. Simple, straight to the point with all the mechanics (not the 10+ mchanics of disgaea) and the audio (both voiced and OST) was very good. While I was not a fan of the balance in the last part of the game it made it more interesting as the game gives you the tools to overcome those challenges. I still believe SQE will have a change of heart and patch an easy mode or balance update cause otherwise I will never clear the post game.

7. Voice of Card the forsaken maiden: An improved version of the first one with better and harder combat and a very good story that ties into the Dragon's Roar. It's good to see SQE giving the chance to more experimental RPGs like this one.

6. Fire Emblem Warriors 3 Hopes: Very complete package despite clearly having space for some DLC. The way they integrated the combat with the class skills and having a very good MC made it a blast playing through the 3 routes.

5. Gunvolt 3: Inticreates finest game to the day. They really thought about the action with more than year of development and it shows their vision of rewarding the player if they want to master the game instead of punishing bad players (like MMZ). They also refined other things like the way the checkpoints and difficulty works, giving the chance for players of different skills to complete the game on hard or very hard. Even more interesting the choice that you actually don't play as gunvolt (you can but it's a temporal thing) but it had to be done as Kirin mechanics only work with her and it's also a way for Inti to move from Gunvolt now. It also had 3 updates adding an alternate way to play Kirin, and extra mode for Gunvold and a new character mode for the end game so you are looking at a very complete package. Also very good OST and Morpho songs are very catchy. The only downside I would say is the story, I don't consider it bad, but rather weird but it in the end is an action game that made the best god damn job.

4. Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Nintendo did a very good job converting Kirby to 3D and it shows. The action, the music, the story, the levels, each one has been carefully crafted to make one of the best 3d platformer game.

3. Xenoblade 3: Nothing much else to add than what others had say about the game. It's a ride from beginning to end and really manage to expand on the other 2 games in most of its elements. Still waiting for the DLC story part.

2. Dragon Quest Treasures: The real hidden gem of 2022, I know a lot of people passed this because it looks like a kiddie game / destroyed DQ Monster legacy, but make no mistake, this is DQ version of Breath of the Wild were exploration and treasure discovery is the main game and they really put an effort. Every island is it's own world to explore wand even after finishing the game I'm still finding new little things or areas that I missed. Also don't let the autocombat fool you, mid-end game and post game battles are really challenging and you have to learn to manage your monsters abilities and sinergies.

1. Atelier Sophie 2: Gust really going all the way to make one of the best games for the 25th Atelier anniversary. From the start it gives you everything you would need to synthetize good items with the link system, you can make loops very early and very easy (just 2 items), no waiting for NPC to unlock smithing or armors, and even duplicating is as easy as choosing the item and quantity and paying (so no more waiting for the item to be in stock or using another currency like Ryza), it was clearly made for the hardcore fans of the series while adding a lot of QoL for begginers.

The battle system is also very good. I always like it when they let you use all your party in a dynamic way (like Xeno 3), and the twin system action makes the battles better allowing you to change party members without losing turns and buffing/debuffing the party / enemies. Even if you don't fully exploit the alchemy system, battles will always give you aditional options to complement the items effects. For the story the main quest is simple and direct (no bad guy appearing suddendly at the end) but I think the important part it's that it complements nicely the events of Sophie 1 (which was kinda weak in that part) having young Plachta and Ramizel and knowing more about them, filling some of the gaps of their past. So if you never played the older ones (and they give you a recap of what happened in one) you can still play this one.

For the presentation Gust doing their magic, the fantasy landscapes works very well considering it's a dream world and they continue to do an awesome work to show it properly on the switch (it even has a graphic performance mode now). There are also some neat effects like when it's raining and you use the gravity stone, the water dropplets floats around you. They clearly have put work on understanding the hardware since Lydie/suelle and it's one of the best looking games on Switch. And the music, oh the music, just when you think Gust Sound Team can't make better battle themes, they just go harder

Honorable Mentions
  • Luminous Avenger IX 2: I know a lot of people didn't like the change in Coppens moveset, but I liket it better as really the Gunvolt universe was missing a more melee combat approach.
  • Infernax: very good NES tribute to Zelda 2 but with more QoL features and interesting approach to quests and bosses
  • Needy Streamer Overload: really nice fun game that takes on a serious issue regarding streamings and toxic relationships (in this case with you, the player). It really goes dark if you star abusing your producer power (or don't)
  • Touken Ranbu Warriors: It was even a miracle they localized it for the west so had to mention it. It is very simple compared to any other musou game, but still that simplicity allows for some crazy combos as you can block/jump cancel anytime.
 
My Top 5 Games of 2022: (I don't think I played enough new games to do a full Top 10 justice!)

#5) Pokemon Violet

Technical problems galore didn't stop this game from making its way on here, and I really did like it. A great set of new Pokemon, one of my favorite Pokemon soundtracks, and a much better story and plot (especially the ending) made this a great experience. They can definitely improve on the open world design and features, but this was a really great starting point and I'm looking forward to where they go next with the series.

#4) AI: Somnium Files: Nirvana Initiative

This game didn't hit me as hard as the first one, mostly because I just connected to the character stories in the original way more, but it's still a great game with much better puzzle rooms and sequences than the first, and better gameplay in general. And one of the most ambitious 'big twists' I've ever seen in a game that made me immediately want to do a replay. Definitely worth a look if you're into visual novels/puzzle games/twisty mindbending stories.

#3) Tunic

Tunic is a game all about discovery, and that's what puts it on this list for me. The mystery, discovering what everything does, finding the manual pages, and everything related to all that was pure magic and I was completely enraptured by it. It fell off a bit in the second half and the combat is always a bit iffy, but it's an overall incredible experience that you should go into knowing as little as possible.

#2) Xenoblade Chronicles 3

I have a lot of quibbles with XC3 that add up over the course of the game that make it my least favorite of the Xenoblade trilogy, but they're mostly small: XC3 is still an amazing game that offers so much of what I love about the series. It has the best cutscenes and direction in the series, great characters, great music, and probably the single best 'moment' with an absolutely audacious set of cutscenes leading up to it (you know the one) that is still sticking with me to this day. Wonderful game even if it didn't quite live up to the previous two.

#1) Elden Ring

I'm not sure what I can say about Elden Ring that hasn't already been said, but it's my Game of the Year without question and one of the best games in recent memory. The art direction is stunning, with so many jaw-dropping 'let me just stop and stare at this vista/view for a while' moments. The music is often subtle but great, the combat is the best Dark Souls has ever been and has tons of options and builds that are viable, the lore is interesting and deep, and they managed to mostly pull off an open world in exactly the way I want open worlds to exist. Just a phenomenal achievement of a video game from start to finish.
 
Thanks to the second half of the year, I don't have to write only about old games or replays.

Got 4 new 10/10 games this year, so the main top 4 is:

1. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. If Kingdom Battle comfortably had gameplay up there with the Mario and Luigi series and Paper Mario, then its sequel creates a universe and story that reaches the highs of those 2 as well, is a game that evokes what makes those games special (most of them anyways) with its own brand of humor and charm, is a far more confident game in itself, breaking away from typical Mario universe elements and brings planets and characters that feel distinct and new, while also feeling fitting for Mario, kinda feels like a game that could fit 2 or 3 gens ago, back when stuff besides 3D Mario got to be weird, new and cool, all the neat Rabbids designs essentially taking the spot of Toads and NPCs we used to get in terms of design in the previous is probably the best legal loophole in recent years. And the gameplay is great as well, so that is nice.

2. Freedom Planet 2. I been waiting for this since, 2015, and it delivered on every aspect, more polished gameplay, story, music, visuals, I fucking love Freedom Planet, is like playing a brand new Treasure game in spirit. The level design is excellent, bosses just as crazy as the original, simply adore everything about it.

3. Bayonetta 3. Can't believe they made the sequel to The Wonderful 101 a Bayonetta game, some story issues aside, in terms of pacing and development, I actually really like what it went for, an excellent game with that crazy amount of variety, and made me realize that the last Platinum game I finished was Bayonetta 2, and Star Fox Zero.

4. Potionomics. Synthesizing potions? Managing a shop and selling potions through a card game? And is all under a timer/ day limit? Sign me up. Excellent pacing, simple mechanics that are elevated by the time limit, lovely animations, surprisingly great music, and gave me some good feels of the Atelier games I like.

*5. Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak. Is just an expansion, but is an expansion of the second best MH after 4, so hey, is good.

A game that got close to the 10 is Lunistice, I don't understand how this game has such great controls and game feel, like is only second to Mario in terms of 3D platformers, really its only negative is that you need to re adjust the camera too often, besides that is excellent.

And a game that will be up there most likely when I finish it will be Signalis.
 
1. Bayonetta 3
2. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
3. Horizon Forbidden West
4. God Of War Ragnarok
5. Elden Ring
6. Evil West
7. A Plague's Tale Requiem
8. The Callisto Protocol
9. Star Ocean The Divine Force
10. Kirby and The Forgotten Land
 
Sticking with games released in 2022, of which I played 8, and doing a top 6 list because those are the games I can talk about without going overly negative (imo I've talked enough about my feelings on last year's basically consensus GoTY, and this should be a positive thread)

6. Bayonetta 3
Really fun action game with tons of excellent ideas and a bombastic presentation, featuring some of the best battle tracks of the year. Still wish we got Astral Chain 2 instead (that teaser still saddens me) but that's probably coming anyways, and this game was still a blast.

5. Triangle Strategy
Asano don't miss, and this time they hit the mark with a excellent tactical game with an engaging story and characters, backed by the ever-excellent HD-2D artstyle and a great soundtrack. However, it did inflict me with "realistic fantasy politics fatigue" so I guess that's a mark against it

4. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
XC3 feels like a game that's slightly less than the sum of its parts, but damn are some of those parts excellent. A stellar cast, some of the best side content in a JRPG, and engaging gameplay make this one of the best titles of the year, and a lackluster story, soundtrack, and resolution for some of the character arcs make this overall a bit of a disappointment for me. Still put 100 hours in it, more than any single playthrough of a game I've done prior, and it kept me hooked the entire time, so I do feel like maybe I'm being a bit too harsh on it, but the remaining games on this list just left much more of a positive impression

3. Pokemon Scarlet
I had this as my GoTY after finishing it, but with a bit of distance I think it's fairer to put it here. Still one of my favorite Pokemon games and an all-around excellent experience even with its many technical flaws. It combines the addictive and honestly unfair loop of open world Pokemon catching with a pretty solid set of challenges in the games' three routes, a surprisingly effective story, a great soundtrack, and just all around good vibes to create just an excellent time all around. One of the reasons I'm very excited for the future of Pokemon going forward

2. Crystal Project
I did not play enough 2022 indies this year, but I made a good choice with the one I did decide to play. The only non-Switch 2022 game I completed this year, Crystal Project is an open-world indie turn-based JRPG, with a FFV/BD style job system and a lot of platforming elements. The game is basically a top down 3D Metroidvania in a lot of ways, and the way the world interconnects and unfolds as you unlock new traversal options is a thing of beauty. The exploration gives me CrossCode vibes too, which is always a good thing. Plus, the areas are nicely varied and usually have some fun twists to them (one dungeon is basically a homage to 2D Zelda which is pretty fun).

The combat is great too - while the job system is a bit less fun than something like Bravely Default 2, the tighter combat design overall makes bosses a nice challenge to get through. The game does fall into a bit of a problem later on where normal mob encounters just become tedious, which eventually just made me drop the game at the finish line, but it made such a strong impression before that that I felt it was still worth this slot. Honestly without that caveat it might've had a fair chance of entering my top 10 games of all time, but difficult normal encounters mostly just tend to annoy me.

1. Pokemon Legends Arceus
Upon reflection I think I have to put this above Scarlet as the Pokemon game of the year, my game of the year and my favorite game in a series I've been playing since I started playing games (seriously, the first video game I owned was Emerald). A wonderful spin on the usual Pokemon formula, set in a unique and interesting setting, with a seriously addictive gameplay loop, stunning presentation, and just the most fun I've had in a game all year. Seeing pictures or video of the game just gives me a warm feeling inside and makes me want to jump right back into the magical world of Hisui. PLA is an absolute triumph and I really hope GameFreak continues the Legends series instead of making it a one-off like Let's Go. It's a neat place to explore new areas of the Pokemon lore and bring gameplay twists that just don't fit into the main series. But either way, between this game and Scarlet, Pokemon is the series of the year, and I've never been more happy to be a fan. Whatever else the series may bring in the future, I hope they keep up the level of innovation and fun we've seen from this year's titles.
 
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I don't tend to game over a wide breadth, but instead, play the games I'm interested in a lot. I've beaten less than 10 new games this year but put over 1000 hours into my Switch, probably more like 1200-1300 at this point. I'm going to do a top 5 as to narrow it down to some degree.

I'm going to be honest, my 1-3 are EXTREMELY close. I've essentially chosen them randomly.

1) Xenoblade 3.

The sequel to one of my top 10 favorite games of all time, Xenoblade 2. Xenoblade 3 might be my favorite game of all time, dethroning the likes of FFXI, Legend of Mana and Yoshi's Island. Managing a cast this large while still giving them all actual character is insane. The game is quite beautiful, the music amazing (though not quite on the level of 2), the cast has an enormous amount of variety, and through it all, Noah and Mio feel like regular people. Noah, the protagonist, manages to be completely silent when other characters need to have their moment. Each game of XBC3 has made the rest of the cast more important, but XBC3 has reached another level. Everyone gets to have moments, everyone has a character, everyone comments and ACTUALLY FIGHTS THE BAD GUYS. It's great! The story too, overall is great, continuing on from XBC2 and its deep themes. The battle system is quite fun, simplified, with a job system that has some issues, but is still fun overall. I think XBC2 combat is just a bit better. But XBC3 beats all the games in terms of its sidequests. These are sidequests that fill out the world, and boy, do they fill out the world. And that's without getting into Hero Quests, which are insanely good. Every one of the heroes gets their own story, and it's always treated as important. You will miss so much by ignoring them, because they're not just "side quests", many of them might as well be a part of the main story. Anyway, that's enough, XBC3 is amazing.

2) Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

For a long time, I was very worried about Pokemon going open world. Would it be an empty world of nothing? Would we lose the urban aspects of the series? Legends Arceus earlier in the year showed that they could make extremely fun open world game loops, and Scarlet and Violet show they can make a full on open world Pokemon game, while keeping the urban feel and that sense of Pokemon. An amazing story with great focus on the cast, The music is top tier and we even got some new talent, with the Game Freak SuperSweep friendship working out quite well. Teruo Taniguchi made his big Pokemon debut here, responsible for all the Team Star themes. Toby Fox of course contributing some music, and Go Ichinose, the god of Pokemon music himself, all over this soundtrack. And you know what? It has the largest new cast of Pokemon in a long time, with 103. Gone are the days of XY and 72 new Pokemon! This game also has the most relevant, best endgame Pokemon has ever had. PVE people have actual reasons to make unique builds, IV train, EV train, all of that stuff. No longer is it "here's a tower, go beat a bunch of CPUs with annoying teams and AI." So yeah, this is a masterpiece.

3) Harvestella.

Harvestella is a game overlooked because people have expectations for the game to be something it's not. It's not full RPG, and people were expecting some huge AAA RPG for some reason. Farming fans were mad that it wasn't FULL ON FARMING, as if we are not getting a million of those. This is game that is very much itself. It has a unique identity and loops that makes it stand out. It has the energy of PS1, PS2 RPGs, games like Legend of Mana and Atelier. The game itself is an RPG with farming aspects. The world is not some giant place, but the stories it tells are large. Farming is meant to add flavor, and relax, and make yourself money and other stuff, but the dungeons and battling are still an enormous part of the game. And boy, these are some fun dungeons compared to a lot of modern games. They aren't some super hard, dungeon crawler stuff. But the game is very much still a dungeon crawler. You have dungeons where the goal is to make it further and further, with the time system making you make decisions to maximize your time. You unlock ladders and shortcuts, which makes it easier to get further. Reaching a savepoint is a new teleport point for you. Do you push yourself to reach that new savepoint when it's 11 o'clock? Do you initiate the boss battle (these do not take time btw) at 11:30, 30 minutes before you automatically faint? These are decisions I have had to make, and you will have to make.

Speaking of combat, the base combo is simple, but fun. There is a job system, of 12 jobs, and you can equip 3 at a time. It's cooldown based, so you tend to cycle through your jobs, or stick on one that is strong against what you are fighting. But this simple combat system makes the game able to shine where it really counts: The boss battles. These are full on FFXIV style fights, where you need to move and position. Ground telegraphs that make you try to greed that skill off and punish being late. I don't know why more games don't try this out!

And yet, having said all of this, I have not even gotten to the biggest surprise of this game. The story, and the localization. Both are top notch superb, some of the very best the RPG genre has to offer. The game takes many of the usual tropes and twists them into things you might not expect. The main plot creates a world that is unlike any other, with some very interesting aspects. But throughout, there are strong characters, written in ways that can surprise you. The story is both philosophical and introspective. Many sidequests go into these same things, often not giving you that "and all things worked out perfectly" feeling of other RPGs (which I still enjoy) which gives many of them a wistful, somber feel. This is a game that asks, how do we weigh the suffering of the ill and the importance behind making end of life care comforting, and not just focusing on a cure. It's a game that brings into question the very meaning of faith, and what is more important: The deity, or the teachings themselves? It just routinely, again and again, takes your usual situation in an RPG, and puts its own spin on it, that is always prodding into the meaning of humanity.

also the soundtrack is by go shiina sooo yea

4) Monster Hunter: Sunbreak.

Rise was a very fun vanilla game, but it had some issues by the end. Valstrax armor was literally the choice, gear had not enough slots and not enough skills, etc. Sunbreak generally fixes the gearing system, allowing you to really tailor armor sets the way you want. There is always some choice, with a bunch of interactive skills and skills with their own unique effects. You might be able to min-max, but you can also min-prettymuchmaxbutactuallymakingyourownbuild. It's great! The follower system is a godsend, allowing you to have unique characters on hunts with you and not always having to go online to find people. With how it is now, you can hunt with followers and have a fun experience without having to go online. That doesn't stop people from going online, but it adds a hugely important choice. Choices are great! I also find the armor augmentation and the endgame systems quite fun. The best part of this expansion, though, is the monsters. Flaming Espinas and Violet Mizutsune? Some of the best designed fights around. The Risens? Pure terror. Lucent Nargacuga? Super fun. And to top it all off, Chaotic Gore Magala. Chaotic Gore Magala might be the very best overall monster in MH history. Amazing visuals, amazing music, amazing theming, but none of that would matter if the fight wasn't fun. And taking two of the best monster movesets in the series, Gore and Shagaru, combining them, and adding all kinds of other tricks? Perfection. Amazing fight.

5) Splatoon 3.

Salmon Run is available 24/7. Nothing else needs to be said.
 
Dolce said:
I don't tend to game over a wide breadth, but instead, play the games I'm interested in a lot. I've beaten less than 10 new games this year but put over 1000 hours into my Switch, probably more like 1200-1300 at this point. I'm going to do a top 5 as to narrow it down to some degree.

I'm going to be honest, my 1-3 are EXTREMELY close. I've essentially chosen them randomly.

1) Xenoblade 3.

The sequel to one of my top 10 favorite games of all time, Xenoblade 2. Xenoblade 3 might be my favorite game of all time, dethroning the likes of FFXI, Legend of Mana and Yoshi's Island. Managing a cast this large while still giving them all actual character is insane. The game is quite beautiful, the music amazing (though not quite on the level of 2), the cast has an enormous amount of variety, and through it all, Noah and Mio feel like regular people. Noah, the protagonist, manages to be completely silent when other characters need to have their moment. Each game of XBC3 has made the rest of the cast more important, but XBC3 has reached another level. Everyone gets to have moments, everyone has a character, everyone comments and ACTUALLY FIGHTS THE BAD GUYS. It's great! The story too, overall is great, continuing on from XBC2 and its deep themes. The battle system is quite fun, simplified, with a job system that has some issues, but is still fun overall. I think XBC2 combat is just a bit better. But XBC3 beats all the games in terms of its sidequests. These are sidequests that fill out the world, and boy, do they fill out the world. And that's without getting into Hero Quests, which are insanely good. Every one of the heroes gets their own story, and it's always treated as important. You will miss so much by ignoring them, because they're not just "side quests", many of them might as well be a part of the main story. Anyway, that's enough, XBC3 is amazing.

2) Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

For a long time, I was very worried about Pokemon going open world. Would it be an empty world of nothing? Would we lose the urban aspects of the series? Legends Arceus earlier in the year showed that they could make extremely fun open world game loops, and Scarlet and Violet show they can make a full on open world Pokemon game, while keeping the urban feel and that sense of Pokemon. An amazing story with great focus on the cast, The music is top tier and we even got some new talent, with the Game Freak SuperSweep friendship working out quite well. Teruo Taniguchi made his big Pokemon debut here, responsible for all the Team Star themes. Toby Fox of course contributing some music, and Go Ichinose, the god of Pokemon music himself, all over this soundtrack. And you know what? It has the largest new cast of Pokemon in a long time, with 103. Gone are the days of XY and 72 new Pokemon! This game also has the most relevant, best endgame Pokemon has ever had. PVE people have actual reasons to make unique builds, IV train, EV train, all of that stuff. No longer is it "here's a tower, go beat a bunch of CPUs with annoying teams and AI." So yeah, this is a masterpiece.

3) Harvestella.

Harvestella is a game overlooked because people have expectations for the game to be something it's not. It's not full RPG, and people were expecting some huge AAA RPG for some reason. Farming fans were mad that it wasn't FULL ON FARMING, as if we are not getting a million of those. This is game that is very much itself. It has a unique identity and loops that makes it stand out. It has the energy of PS1, PS2 RPGs, games like Legend of Mana and Atelier. The game itself is an RPG with farming aspects. The world is not some giant place, but the stories it tells are large. Farming is meant to add flavor, and relax, and make yourself money and other stuff, but the dungeons and battling are still an enormous part of the game. And boy, these are some fun dungeons compared to a lot of modern games. They aren't some super hard, dungeon crawler stuff. But the game is very much still a dungeon crawler. You have dungeons where the goal is to make it further and further, with the time system making you make decisions to maximize your time. You unlock ladders and shortcuts, which makes it easier to get further. Reaching a savepoint is a new teleport point for you. Do you push yourself to reach that new savepoint when it's 11 o'clock? Do you initiate the boss battle (these do not take time btw) at 11:30, 30 minutes before you automatically faint? These are decisions I have had to make, and you will have to make.

Speaking of combat, the base combo is simple, but fun. There is a job system, of 12 jobs, and you can equip 3 at a time. It's cooldown based, so you tend to cycle through your jobs, or stick on one that is strong against what you are fighting. But this simple combat system makes the game able to shine where it really counts: The boss battles. These are full on FFXIV style fights, where you need to move and position. Ground telegraphs that make you try to greed that skill off and punish being late. I don't know why more games don't try this out!

And yet, having said all of this, I have not even gotten to the biggest surprise of this game. The story, and the localization. Both are top notch superb, some of the very best the RPG genre has to offer. The game takes many of the usual tropes and twists them into things you might not expect. The main plot creates a world that is unlike any other, with some very interesting aspects. But throughout, there are strong characters, written in ways that can surprise you. The story is both philosophical and introspective. Many sidequests go into these same things, often not giving you that "and all things worked out perfectly" feeling of other RPGs (which I still enjoy) which gives many of them a wistful, somber feel. This is a game that asks, how do we weigh the suffering of the ill and the importance behind making end of life care comforting, and not just focusing on a cure. It's a game that brings into question the very meaning of faith, and what is more important: The deity, or the teachings themselves? It just routinely, again and again, takes your usual situation in an RPG, and puts its own spin on it, that is always prodding into the meaning of humanity.

also the soundtrack is by go shiina sooo yea

4) Monster Hunter: Sunbreak.

Rise was a very fun vanilla game, but it had some issues by the end. Valstrax armor was literally the choice, gear had not enough slots and not enough skills, etc. Sunbreak generally fixes the gearing system, allowing you to really tailor armor sets the way you want. There is always some choice, with a bunch of interactive skills and skills with their own unique effects. You might be able to min-max, but you can also min-prettymuchmaxbutactuallymakingyourownbuild. It's great! The follower system is a godsend, allowing you to have unique characters on hunts with you and not always having to go online to find people. With how it is now, you can hunt with followers and have a fun experience without having to go online. That doesn't stop people from going online, but it adds a hugely important choice. Choices are great! I also find the armor augmentation and the endgame systems quite fun. The best part of this expansion, though, is the monsters. Flaming Espinas and Violet Mizutsune? Some of the best designed fights around. The Risens? Pure terror. Lucent Nargacuga? Super fun. And to top it all off, Chaotic Gore Magala. Chaotic Gore Magala might be the very best overall monster in MH history. Amazing visuals, amazing music, amazing theming, but none of that would matter if the fight wasn't fun. And taking two of the best monster movesets in the series, Gore and Shagaru, combining them, and adding all kinds of other tricks? Perfection. Amazing fight.

5) Splatoon 3.

Salmon Run is available 24/7. Nothing else needs to be said.
Click to expand...

This is an amazing Harvestella write-up! I’m happy to see it.
 
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