Zack’s Personal Favorite Games from 2022
Better late than never, I always say! 2022 wasn’t exactly a year I fell in love with many video games, but that’s not to say there weren’t plenty of great games. There were certainly no bad games; there’s no such thing after all. Obviously. Without further ado:
Honorable Mention (Or 2022’s 2021 Game of the Year) – The Medium
This is where I like to discuss my favorite game from the previous year that I didn’t get to play until this year. And this year, that honor goes to The Medium. I thought this was a really good horror title in an adventure sort of vein. It really reminded me of the horror games from the PS2 era, and that can only be a good thing. I also commend the bravery to tackle some genuinely uncomfortable subject matter. It gives me hope for Bloober Team’s upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake.
#10 – Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Chaos.
#9 – Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden
I wasn’t blown away by the first Voice of Cards game from Yoko Taro, but it was a good foundation. The Forsaken Maiden has a much improved story, and is right in line with the themes the famous director loves to play around with. The gameplay itself is still the simple SNES-style JRPG mechanics, but it’s a nostalgic way to spend a dozen hours or so.
#8 – Gotham Knights
Anyone that knows me knows there’s nothing I love more in the world than DC Comics. It really defines my everyday activities, so this game should seriously rank a lot higher. Unfortunately, I just can’t lie to myself like that. I had a ton of fun with Gotham Knights, but the characters were written more like the Ninja Turtles than the Bat Family, and I just couldn’t get into it like I wanted to. The gameplay loop really did make me feel like a superhero in Gotham, though, and I plan to play around with it some more. But it should’ve been a lot better than it was. I can’t believe they did Tim Drake so dirty.
#7 – The Callisto Protocol
This game was fun, I don’t care what the consensus is. Spinning horror game combat into a melee direction was a fun change of pace, and I had a blast exploring the prison planet. I think this game’s reception has a lot more to do with the marketing leaning into it being like Dead Space than anything else. Because the similarities are only on the surface. Regardless, I’d like to see more of this universe, though hopefully next time we can play as the actual main character instead of some guy on the side.
#6 – Marvel Snap
Everyone’s phone addiction this year also had me in its clutches. It’s just such a fun party-style game. It has more to do with chance than strategy, but the games are so fast and fun that you always want to play just one more round. It also uses the license in really clever ways that shows a deep love and knowledge for the source material. Please make this exact game with DC characters next, please!
#5 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Another Call of Duty game, another banger campaign. Keeping these single-player adventures so short every time really lends to a creativity in mission design. I never know what to expect in the next level, and I just love that. The story was only serviceable in comparison to the first rebooted entry, but these characters have been around so long that it’s hard not to love being around them. Incredible way to spend a weekend.
#4 – Sifu
Sifu just embodies the very idea of cool. In only a short few levels, you become an expert in the game’s complex martial arts sensibilities. It demands perfection, as death really only makes the game harder, but once you master it, you feel amazing. You kind of become The One over time. Just awesome stuff with thrilling boss battles. Definitely recommended for action game aficionados.
#3 – Elden Ring
Take Dark Souls, make it bigger, and you get something awesome. Who knew? Elden Ring is a fantastic game for most of its runtime, with so many hidden secrets and a volatile open-world. You really can’t predict what any area will hold, or even how big the map will get. If more open-world games were designed with this kind of attention and detail, we’d all be better off for it. It’s just such a remarkable world with amazingly dense lore that you can’t help but want to learn more. If it wasn’t the completely ass design of the back ⅓ of the game and its bosses, it would be higher on this list.
#2 – Vampire Survivors
I know. You’re tellin’ me. A roguelike at the #2 spot?! But Vampire Survivors is really that good, probably the best $3 you could spend. In a world full of $25 skins, to get a game this fun and addicting for the price of a candy bar is insane. There’s such obvious love and passion poured into every single pixel of this title. It’s just good, old-fashioned video game fun in a way I wish we could get more often.
#1 – Sonic Frontiers
Speaking of fun, I didn’t have more with any game this year than Sonic Frontiers. Every time I booted up the game, I had a smile plastered on my face the whole time. The level design of the open-world is absolutely brilliant, full of little one-off platforming sections that take a couple seconds to complete. The open islands are small enough to feel manageable, and getting 100% on all five only took 20 hours or so. It was the perfect length and never wore out its welcome. The more standard Sonic levels scattered around were also great fun and mixed up 2D and 3D in confident ways. I wouldn’t mind a sequel to this as quickly as possible.
That was 2022. Not the best year, but there’s no such thing as a bad year when it comes to playing video games. 2023 looks positively stacked with exciting and major releases, so here’s to the future!
