TOP 10 – Despite the turmoil of previous years, in 2022 the games industry seemed to be back to normal. The backlash caused by the pandemic meant that many of the most anticipated games of 2022 were postponed until 2023, and in some cases indefinitely.

 

 

Although the wounds of the global pandemic are still healing, it was a great year for the games industry. 2022 boosted spending, and this year saw some of the best games in recent times.

 

 

10. Ghostwire: Tokyo

 

A rare open-world, first-person action game from Japan, Ghostwire: Tokyo’s structure feels a little familiar, but the combat and environment design gives it an identity that few games can match.

Rarely has it been so much fun to walk around Tokyo, looking at the world around us and pulling seeds out of enemies while striking unique poses. It’s been over six months since I played the game, and I can still feel the “snap” effect when I grab a seed. It was a little worrying when the game’s director left halfway through production, and a little odd that the game ended up being released as a PlayStation-exclusive by Microsoft, but Ghostwire: Tokyo makes a strong case to distract from all of this with its unique style and plenty of confidence.

 

 

9. Marvel’s Midnight Suns

 

There’s always been something dollhousey about XCOM’s base building, and Firaxis’ new tactical game is right up there, to the point where it’s almost a Marvel and Fire Emblem crossover. Take your famous superheroes on an elaborate, thoughtful, turn-based skirmish, but then lead them back to the communal abbey to join book clubs, forage for mushrooms and watch terrible movies on the couch together. The bonds make the team stronger, but there’s also something fun about taking Iron Man fishing.

 

 

8. Gran Turismo 7

 

If you’re not at least open to loving cars, Gran Turismo 7 will make no effort to love you back. There’s a peace to it that’s rare in such big and expensive video games, a kind of zen focus that paradoxically encourages players to engage with it briefly and deeply at the same time. That’s the magic of Gran Turismo, a franchise that enjoys both the instant gratification of taking a car on the road and the long-term pleasure of becoming a better driver as you tune and evaluate each car you collect. Gran Turismo 7 is a hobbyist’s game that remembers, better than most mainstream video games, that the essence of a hobby is not what it brings you, but what you give it.

 

 

7. Stray

 

The fact that BlueTwelve Studio has managed to capture the essence of our most troubled family of pets is an achievement in itself. That the developer was able to wrestle the feline into a dystopian adventure set in a vibrant, forgotten city is another matter entirely. Stray could have worked with any of the main characters. But it soars with the breakout tabby star of the year.

 

On a mechanical level, Stray is a platform game with light exploration and puzzle solving elements. There are dangerous moments, such as when the city’s invasive gypsies chase the feline protagonist through narrow alleys or treacherous rooftops. And yes, the cat can die, in the video-games-immediately-again sense. But the point of the game is simply that it’s a cat, and despite what the carpet-scraping, box-toppling, furniture-destroying mechanics might otherwise suggest, it’s a warm, helpful presence for abandoned androids seeking escape from their neon purgatory.

 

 

6. Total War: Warhammer 3

 

There are ambitious games and there are ambitious games. Total War: Warhammer 3 is the latter. It has a bigger map than all its predecessors combined, and it launched with eight fantasy factions, each one weirder and grander than the last. It’s also extremely weird, and refuses to rest on its laurels as the strategic trilogy comes to a close, instead pushing the boundaries where it can.

And now it’s unveiled one of the biggest and most ambitious projects in video games (I’m not kidding) with Immortal Empires, an expansion pack that combines all three maps and all playable factions from the entire trilogy. It almost completely redefines what it means to play a ‘sandbox’ video game, with emergent storytelling as nations clash, leaders betray each other, and a vast world unfolds, even beyond the player’s gaze.

 

 

5. Return to Monkey Island

 

Many video games attempt comedy, but few succeed. It’s a shame, because comedy is the perfect panacea for a tricky puzzle. The original Monkey Island series of point-and-click adventure games perfected this pairing, enhancing the puzzles with wacky puns, jokes and just plain silly situations. Return to Monkey Island picks up where the series left off years ago, reviving the same characters – would-be pirate Guybrush Threepwood, his feisty mistress Elaine Marley, ghost pirate nemesis LeChuck, and more – only you don’t have to play the previous games to giggle along with the game. The Return is full of great, family-friendly jokes, and while any rewrite would diminish the impact of the excellent performances by the voice actors, I’ll give you one tip: if you need a mop, don’t try to borrow one. Make one from scratch, starting with a visit to the mop tree. After all, its branches are uniquely suited to making mops.

 

 

4. Elden Ring

 

The Elden Ring is the rare game that came out at the perfect moment. When it arrived in February 2022, five years had passed since the release of Breath of the Wild, six years since the last Dark Souls game seemed to have positioned the series one step away from mainstream success, and what’s more, we were in the midst of the biggest mainstream fantasy drought we’ve ever experienced. And in this perfect cultural moment, with a mountain of hype behind them, FromSoftware managed to release a game that deserved every inch of it.

The Elden Ring’s gameplay itself is the result of a mysterious game development alchemy. FromSoftware has taken the core gems of other games (the free exploration of Breath of the Wild, the combat of Bloodborne and Dark Souls, the condensed world of Skyrim), refined them, then fused them, mixed them with a dash of magic, and turned it all into gold.

But to limit Elden Ring to comparisons would be a disservice to the game and its own merits. The combat is superb, precise and demanding, and it maintains this across each of the half-dozen weapon variants and play styles. Its meticulously designed open world gives players almost no instructions, but it succeeds by how enticing it is to explore. Whether it’s stunning and carefully crafted vistas you’ll organically stumble upon, unique rewards hidden in hidden dungeons (and the bosses who guard them), or an overly tough enemy that serves as a prelude to your future power, every moment in Lands Between feels like it was placed with the greatest of intentions. And each new lesson or gift feels like the perfect excuse to spend another dozen hours exploring and fighting.

2022 was unmistakably a great year for games. But in a year of great games, the Elden Ring still stands above the competition as something truly special. After all, what else could you call it when a game so grim, massive, opaque and challenging also happens to be one of the year’s biggest pop culture phenomena and one of the best games of recent times.

 

 

3. God of War Ragnarök

 

God of War Ragnarok did not have it easy. God of War (2018) reinvented one of the biggest meatheads in video games, turning him into an emotionally compelling character that helped the game win Polygon’s Game of the Year award four years ago. It catapulted him over the bar of excellence, making him one of the best games of the decade, if not of all time.

In many ways, Ragnarök is just as good. In some ways, it’s even better. But because it tries too hard, or perhaps because the quality of 2018 was so shocking, Ragnarök can only scrape over the bar that its predecessor so easily crossed.

If the 2018 film was about Kratos’ journey to becoming a real, emotional man and father, Ragnarök is about an ensemble of characters trying to hold each other together during the end of the world. The focus this time is no longer on Kratos, but his newfound emotional development is key to the fabric of the story. Four years ago it felt like a triumph as he learns to express himself in small ways, but in Ragnarok he is a bona fide ‘good father’ – or at least he does his best. And as the world crumbles around him, we see Kratos not only helping to advise all his allies, but also preparing himself emotionally to give his all for his son’s future.

The play’s writing style sometimes falters – especially in the humour – but never spoils the honest moments between parent and child. It’s a dynamic that AAA games have been trying to capture for years, and God of War (2018) has been the shining example since its release. In most ways, it still is.

Still, Ragnarok takes on so much – including stories from the original game and brand new adventures – that a lesser studio could easily drown in ambition. Still, Santa Monica Studio has produced a worthy sequel to one of the best games ever made, and that in itself is an achievement worth celebrating.

 

 

2. A Plague Tale: Requiem

 

The sequel to the cult hit A Plague Tale: Innocence puts the franchise in the same league as stealthy biggies like the Dishonored series. In Requiem, 15-year-old Amicia must once again sneak past the soldiers of the French Inquisition and fight her way through. She, her mother and her boyfriend Lucas are searching for a cure for her brother Hugo, who carries a blood curse called Macula. When he gets into trouble, the curse of Macula floods entire cities with hordes of rats carrying a deadly plague.

As promised, Requiem has more rats than ever before, and Amicia must use her wits to solve the game’s environmental puzzles. Instead of the traditional perk tree, the game reacts to your gameplay, giving you points towards “caution”, “aggression” or “opportunism” to unlock relevant abilities. Most of all, the folk horror of Requiem is terrifying and evocative – beyond the horrors of rats or human suffering. This year I played with Elden Ring, which pitted my character against terrifying monsters but allowed me to become stronger, and God of War Ragnarok, which put me in the skin of a god with a giant axe. Amicia is just a girl facing the violence of a militia with a slingshot and righteous anger. Her fear and her cause drew her to the end.

 

 

1. Horizon Forbidden West

 

The sequel to 2017’s excellent post-apocalyptic Horizon Zero Dawn is already one of the best of the year. Horizon Forbidden West takes a lot of what made the first game great and gives players even more: more settlements, weapons and crossings. It starts a little slow, and it may take a while to show off some of the more creative gadgets – but it gets better as you unlock more tools for your arsenal. By the end, Aloy can glide down mountains, swim across the deepest seas and explore American landmarks along the West Coast. The game’s beautiful open world feels like a gift, and it’s easy to spend hours immersed in exploring every beautiful corner. Meanwhile, the character writing and world building convey a civilization worth saving.

-theGeek-