My Personal Top 10 Games of 2022
February isn't really the best time to post a game of the year list, but the beginning of the year for me was a bit of a whirlwind and once everything settled down I didn’t really feel like writing about video games. But I like coming back to these lists as times go on and I got to the point where I know I would regret not actually writing one for the year.
2022 was a slower year for me, not that games I wanted to play didn't come out, or that I didn't like the games that I did play but that by the end of the year I struggled to think of 10 games I played that I liked enough to put on a list.
Missed Games
There was a few games this year that I wanted to play that I just never got around to. Games like Ai The Somnium Files: NiravnA Iniiative and Live a Live. Indie gems I had never heard of like Tunic and Signalis. And finally a handful of games i ordered through Limited Run Games rails that I still haven’t received, such as Cogen Sword of Rewind, Gunvolt Chronicles Luminous Avenger Ix 2 and Azure Striker Gunvolt 3. But enough of the games I didn't play, on to the ones that I did.
Honorable Mentions
The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero
This is a game released officially this year, but was based off a fan translation released in 2020, in which I also put it on my honorable mentions. This is really good, just a stand out JRPG in a series that is highly regarded. Great characters, storm, world and music. I could speak a lot about any of the games in the series but they would all sound the same. Zero specifically has the benefit of introducing a new country to the world and giving a new political backdrop to set the story to. As a relatively new fan to the series it didnt affect me the same way as other people but it is super nice that their games finally found their way out of Japan officially.
Top 10 Games of 2022
10. Escape Academy
I really like the zero escape series of games, yes the stories were good but also the escape room puzzles really entertained me. That is what I liked about Escape Academy, it was just plain fun. The game had enough difficulty and variety to keep me interested in each new set of puzzles. While I only played about half of the game I really enjoyed what I did play and definitely want to go back for more.
09. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
The humor of the borderlands series is decisive thats for sure, but for the most part I find it fine, not particularly strongly in either direction. So when my brother asked me if I want to play coop with him I said sure, and overall had a great time. The game excels in all the ways the Borderlands games do, the gunplay is good, the art is awesome as always, the loot allows for fun and unique situations and the characters are all unique enough to be fun. Playing night after night was great, the story was irrelevant because playing the game moment to moment was so good. Unfortunately the game was buggy as hell at release and we stopped playing when I lost a ton of progress on day while my brother didn’t, leaving me at about half of his level.
08. This Way Madness Lies
Magical girls and Shakespeare, what a great combination. This is the newest game from Zeboyd Games, a small indie studio that makes comedic yet very mechanically interesting JRPGs. This Way Madness Lies features a group of magical girls in the modern world who teleport to the worlds of Shakespeare in order to save them from Lovecraftian monsters. Outside of really nice pixel artwork and a refreshing 7 hour length, the things that make this game stand out is the battle system and the humor.
The humor in the game works, making me laugh or chuckle at times. From dialogue to enemy descriptions, the games writing is clever and interesting. The battle system also take a lot of queues from one of the other games Cosmic Star Heroine, in which characters use skills in battle that are limited use, and only recharge after defending, HP is refilled every battle so each battle is an opportunity to use all the resources at your disposal. If you are a fan of JRPGs than this game is very much for you.
07. Pokemon Violet (& Scarlet)
This Pokemon game is really fun to play, everything that the series is good at, is present in this game. A fun world to explore, a solid and incredible battle system and a ton of different “characters” that make for an incredible amount of customization in terms of party makeup.
That being said this game is a technical mess, from awful textures to bad frame rate to pop-in to straight up seeing under the world if you happen to battle on a hill. Everything that has been said about the performance of this game has been said but for me the technical aspects of these games arent what disappointed me in this game, but instead was the design decisions.
This game coming off of Sword and Sheild, which were the most linear, and least “Adventurous” game i the series, Scarlet and Violet over correct in every way. The 3 stories of these games are all about exploration and openness in approach, but come short. The gyms are all uneventful even if the gym leaders are some of the most memorable in the series. The Titans are cool but are all single fights and the Team Star stuff just doenst tell enough story. The game would have been exponentially more interesting if all the characters followed you around and were involved in all the stories but they’re not. Nemona only shows up after gyms to speak about the gyms and leaves, Penny and Arven only exist in their respective stories of which are only told in small chunks after each encounter.
The games focused so hard on being open, that it missed out on telling a good story, with good characters set in an interesting world, all of which exist loosely in these games.
06. Kirby and The Forgotten Land
I have always been a big Kirby game, and with each game, it seems like more and more people play them and exclaim “This Kirby game is really good”. It feels like despite Kirby being a well known property people are not always the most acquainted with the games. Anyways weird rant aside, this game is no different. The move to 3D was a good move, despite still being straight forward, the larger and slightly less linear levels allowed for the hidden collectibles which are common to the series to be more challenge based. Like usual the game is bright, cute, fun and if going for more than just getting from A to B can be quite challenging. It might not be my favourite game from the series it is probably the best game in the series.
05. Eiyuden Chronicles: Rising
Bloodstained set a pretty high bar when it comes to “smaller side game, as an incentive to a larger crowdfunded game” with Curse of the Moon, but Eiyuden Chronicles at the very least meets that bar.
This game is a great little metroidvania, that introduces the world and characters of Eiyuden Chronicles. Overall the game is fun to play, has pretty good if not a little simple writing and is generally just a good time. The game also ends with a pretty good interest hook to what will be the main game. It definitely got me excited.
04. Star Ocean: The Divine Force
Straight from moment one, they give you a mystery that leaves you curious. After that it introduces you to the action combat that gets better and better as the game goes on, and finally gives you a different interesting mystery revolving around the planet you find yourself on.
The Star Ocean games are always about people finding themselves on medieval planets, And this game is no exception except for story reasons, they main characters can actually talk about space, technology and other planets. All this makes for a really fun to play action rpg, that has deep skill trees, side quests, and a story that left me feeling good and satisfied. Also as all good jrpgs this game has a card/board game that exists throughout the game that is super fun.
03. Pokemon Legends Arceus
This was my favourite of the 2 pokemon games that came out this year (serious Pokemon Company give Game Freak a break, no wonder Scarlet.Violet turned out poorly). This game makes the right choice by focusing on collecting Pokemon, which is the thing I like doing in these games. The mobility and exploration was a breath of fresh air after Sword and Shield. My favourite part of this game is the little touches throughout the course of the game, doing side quests seeing the locals and Pokemon start to live together. Its a great but subtle piece of storytelling that you only start to notice once you start getting to the end of the game. Not to mention that even though battling takes a back seat this game is still good with an all new battle system. I really do hope they make more games like this, as I enjoy every aspect of it.
02. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
A lot could be said about this game. The things it says about War and the cycle of hatred. What it means to “live in the now”. The games job system and battle system. And how this game ties into the first 2 Xenoblade games.
Like the others, running around the big world felt great, fighting monsters, finishing quests and gaining points towards the job system. The twists and turns of the story, linking each game in the series and finally ending with a bittersweet finale that puts a lid on the series. (I doubt we will see another Xenoblade game). I am very much looking forward to any DLC that comes out for this game.
01. Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist and The Mysterious Dream
The Atelier games are really good but a bit hard to explain fully without completely boring the reader. Like Call of Duty being good because of the gameplay, or Minecraft being notable for the crafting, the Atelier series is awesome as a JRPG that focuses on material gathering and item creation.
Imagine a JRPG in which all your equipment; weapons, armor, accessories, healing items and battle items all being not only craftable but the power of the items depends entirely on crafting new and stronger equipment, using randomly generated traits and abilities to pass down through different materials until you can suddenly boost your stats due to a new weapon or piece of armor. You get into a loop of using materials to craft bigger and better stuff, to get better materials.
The Atelier games don't always have the best or most interesting story, but they tend to facilitate a reason to explore the areas. But where the games shine is the small moments and stories of the characters. THe stories are light, and “fluffy”, a real good participant of the cozy game space.
