My 2022 Games of the Year

My Game of the Year list, featuring 5 games!

I can’t believe it’s time to go into 2023. I kind of don’t want the new year to come, I did have some close calls that are still lingering in the back of my mind. Hopefully, nothing bad happens next year as well (I certainly don’t want to lose everything I have). Plus, there were so many games that I wanted to play before the year ended, some that came out this year, but I sadly was not able to get around to every one of them. Which is especially sad for those released this year (like Bayonetta 3), but hey, they have a chance in popping up in next years Favorites!

This year, like I mentioned in my previous article, decided to just go with my top 5. Since I do have plans to resist temptations in the new year, I thought making the hard decision of picking half the games I would normally do challenging enough to prep myself.

Anyway, here are my Top 5 Games of the Year in no particular order:

Ghostwire: Tokyo

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I think we all still remember this game’s E3 presentation that pretty much hyped everyone that was interested. Though, when the gameplay was shown closer to release probably worried everyone. I knew I was worried over it. Luckily, I ended up really enjoying Ghostwire: Tokyo, flaws and all. I enjoyed the atmosphere and setting like I thought I would, I really liked the focus on Japanese folklore, I really loved the dynamic KK and Akito had throughout the game, and the combat ended up to not be as bad as I thought. It definitely goes for the rule of cool with how it was stylized and there’s a decent amount of difficulty with the encounters you’ll have with Visitors. I even didn’t mind the stealth as it was actually pretty good.

Sifu

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This was another game I wasn’t too sure on and it was a combination of it’s difficulty and how it handled carrying over skills. When I got around to it, Sifu actually got more difficulty settings, adding in an easy mode and a hard mode. I don’t care about what the difficulty gatekeepers say, as the inclusion of more difficulty settings got me to play the game and ultimately enjoy it. It was still hard, but it wasn’t so hard that it drove me away. The combat is challenging to master, but fun to use, it’s fun going through levels and building up to the perfect run, and I loved the art style and music.

Neon White

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I’m not someone that’s that into speedrunning. I especially hate achievements that are basically speedrunning achievements as I know I would have a hard time getting under the timeframe. While Neon White automatically interested me, I was a bit iffy on the fact that it focuses on speedrunning. So it was a surprise that I fell in love with Neon White. While the writing could have been better, the superb gameplay brings it to the top. The way the game plays is hard to really explain, but it’s smooth and fast way you’ll be going through each level is a rush. It also helps that the minimalist color palatte brings readability up as you can easily see cards to pick up, enemies to shoot, and to easily navigate through the well crafted levels. You’re never in a level for long and it’s satisfying finding ways to make your time in a level shorter and shorter. Even when you get an Ace Metal, there’s even a hidden Red Medal for those that want an extra challenge.

Soulstice

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Including Soulstice was something that I had to think hard on and in the end I decided to include it. This might be the strangest inclusion as I had a good handful of other games to replace this one with, but I just felt like it was right. While Soulstice was annoying in a couple of aspects and I was actually going to drop the game originally, I felt the positives outweighed the negatives. Once the combat opens up more, it is great to work with, I liked the enemies even though you get into a lot of annoying enemy encounters, and the story ended up drawing me in despite the fact that I was totally disinterested in it at the start. I also came to love the characters as time went on, especially Lute (my favorite character in Soulstice) who plays off all the other characters extremely well.

Lil Gator Game

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This is a recently released game and while this could be partly due to recency bias, I absolutely loved Lil Gator Game. The first thing you’ll notice is how cute the game is and trust me, going into the game will proof that it is even cuter. You play as the Lil Gator himself as he plays a game that everyone on the island he lives on is taking part of. You’ll be destroying cardboard enemies, gathering cardboard and confetti scraps to craft cute cosmetics, and talking to and doing quests for other characters. I loved interacting with each character, as each ended up having different personalities with their own interests and you never felt like you’re doing the same things (even if it’s part of a multi-part quest). This was a delight to play through and it became one of those games that I got sad that it ended as I just wanted to hang out with the characters more.