When it comes time to jot down these year-end lists, I often slim them right down to my high 5 favourite video games I performed as a result of, regardless of what this job entails, I often solely have passionate emotions a couple of handful of video games by the point we attain December.
However 2022 was a bizarre one for me, in that I really feel like I performed fewer video games than ever. Not that any of that has something to do with Kotaku, as I’ve solely been right here for about two weeks to this point. However going via tumultuous instances and a layoff on the final job doesn’t depart one a lot power to speculate time in a ton of video games.
However I did expertise a handful of video games that actually resonated with me, a number of of which have been previous ones that obtained renewed indirectly in 2022. So don’t yell at me while you see them on this checklist. It’s my checklist, and I’ll cry about Cyberpunk 2077 if I need to.
Honorable point out: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Getting two main Pokémon video games in 2022 was lots for some individuals, however with the ability to run round a Pokémon world with Raichu by my facet is the one factor that retains me going some days. So I used to be glad to bask in an open-world Pokémon within the type of Pokémon Violet. Nevertheless, I simply have too many points with this sport to provide it a correct spot on my checklist. It’s buggy, positive, but it surely’s additionally designed in such a approach that it could possibly’t sustain with its personal “discover your bliss” philosophy, which made complete sections of its most important story annoying and disorienting to play via.
That being mentioned, the stellar endgame has fully rewired my mind and I can’t take into consideration Professor Turo with out crying, and taking part in a Pokémon sport in co-op with my associates is a childhood dream come true. It’s deeply flawed, however I preserve wanting again at screenshots of me and my associates hanging out in Paldea like an previous photograph album. It’s obtained so many nice concepts, but it surely’s all constructed on high of a shaky basis. I’m awaiting its DLC with bated breath.
Honorable point out: God of Conflict Ragnarök
I actually adore the 2018 God of Conflict reboot as an examination on the sequence’ earlier gleeful glamorizing of gratuitous gore, and when it was at its greatest, God of Conflict Ragnarök felt prefer it was constructing superbly upon Kratos’ and Atreus’ relationship as father and son. However, man, what a messy follow-up it was.
I like giant swaths of Ragnarök, and I feel, had it been damaged up into two video games and made a trilogy, quite than Sony Santa Monica making an attempt to introduce and wrap up two video games’ value of story in the midst of an exhaustively lengthy sport, I might’ve cherished it much more. Its motion nonetheless feels weighty and enjoyable and attending to play as Atreus was a stunning shock, but it surely feels breathless and bloated in a approach the 2018 reboot didn’t. I’m at all times going to surprise what the conclusion to God of Conflict’s Norse story would’ve appeared like as two video games as a substitute of 1, as these are those that might’ve seemingly made it onto my checklist.
5. Cyberpunk 2077
I’m nonetheless very immune to any narrative that Cyberpunk 2077 is “nice” in 2022 after CD Projekt Crimson put within the work to raise it from the technical catastrophe it was when it launched in 2020, however the sport was nonetheless a central determine in my yr, and has gone from one thing I performed out of a piece obligation two years in the past to a sport that’s grow to be fairly particular to me.
I performed via and dissected Cyberpunk 2077 all yr as a part of Normandy FM, a retrospective podcast I co-host, and brushing via that sport in a comparatively steady technical state unmasked that it’s a reasonably unremarkable RPG. That being mentioned, as an individual who spent all of 2022 coping with the realities of the capitalist gristmill that’s America, each via job stuff and within the medical system, there was one thing liberating about current in Night time Metropolis, which felt like an oppressive, capitalist amalgamation of the cities I dreamed of dwelling in whereas I used to be stranded in small-town Georgia.
When Cyberpunk 2077 wasn’t being insufferably cynical about individuals, locations, and issues, it was a relentless interrogation of what I used to be keen to dwell for, and why I needed the issues I needed in life. It’s a product of the identical capitalist hellscape it claims to satirize, however within the margins there are issues value preventing for, even when you must go searching for them by yourself phrases. I don’t boot up open-world RPGs fairly often, however all through 2022 I might activate Cyberpunk 2077 simply to drive across the metropolis and picture the probabilities it held for me. Fortunately, I dwell in a metropolis now, and now not must dream. However Cyberpunk 2077 was a lifeline throughout a time when the house it proposed felt unattainable. For that, I’ll at all times preserve the story of V and Night time Metropolis in my coronary heart, even when I don’t assume it’s an incredible online game.
4. Gayven (Haven, however homosexual)
Haven fully slipped by me in 2020, however that modified this yr when The Sport Bakers added an replace that allow you to play as same-sex pairings of its most important characters Yu and Kay. As an individual who has written lots about queerness within the online game trade, I used to be instantly drawn to Haven as a case examine in a developer placing within the effort and time to make a sport queer-inclusive. Attending to expertise Yu and Kay’s story from the angle of two queer males was a beautiful option to first expertise the sport, and made its angsty science-fiction romance all of the extra affecting for me as a homosexual man who eats that shit up.
Haven is a stunning meditation on long-term relationships, with its exploration and turn-based fight damaged up by scenes of Yu and Kay simply dwelling collectively via essentially the most mundane elements of being collectively. The place many video video games thrive within the lead-up to a romantic relationship, Haven sits with what it means to already be nicely and established, and it results in a few of my favourite romance writing in a sport. It’s full of massive, oppressive science-fiction concepts, however its greatest moments are when two individuals sit collectively of their house and communicate to one another not as spacefaring adventurers, however as two star-crossed lovers keen to seek out pockets of pleasure once they’re all they’ve obtained left.
3. We Are OFK
The music of We Are OFK, an episodic biopic a couple of group of younger adults drifting via the L.A. sport dev grind and right into a musical act, practically topped my Spotify Wrapped this yr. The band was second beneath Coheed and Cambria, my favourite band that launched a brand new album this yr, which speaks volumes about how catchy and contemplative Crew OFK’s indie pop stylings are. These songs are interwoven between We Are OFK’s depiction of the dramatic, interpersonal relationships between a gaggle of queer creatives simply attempting to determine their shit out.
We Are OFK is contentious as a online game, as its interactive parts really feel insubstantial past selecting textual content messages and taking part in via an interactive music video on the finish of every episode. However as an unapologetically queer musical drama about discovering your self and people keen to place up along with your bullshit, it’s deeply relatable. The sport exists as a springboard for a bigger digital band expertise, and so long as they preserve producing bangers like “thanks,” and “Infuriata,” I’ll observe it in no matter kind OFK exists.
2. Overwatch 2
Look, look, I do know. I do know Overwatch 2 is a multitude of microtransactions and free-to-play grind, however Blizzard’s sequel/reboot of its hero shooter remains to be such a gold commonplace for team-based fight that I’ve sunk practically 300 hours into it since its launch in October.
Proper now, Overwatch 2 isn’t precisely what I used to be searching for when Blizzard introduced it again in 2019, as its story content material has been pushed into 2023. I (foolishly) got here into Overwatch on the again of its characters and lore, so I’m nonetheless eagerly awaiting that facet of the sequel. Nevertheless, in its full revamp of the unique sport’s format in favor of a 5v5 setup, its new modes, the heroes, and the nice deal of consideration given to its contextual banter writing, Overwatch feels extra alive than it’s felt in years. That is injury of Blizzard’s personal doing, as the corporate primarily put the primary sport on ice till Overwatch 2’s launch. However it’s comforting as a long-time participant to lastly see indicators of life for the sport in spite of everything this time, and to really feel hope for its future for the primary time in years.
1. Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Pokémon Legends: Arceus was every little thing I’d been wanting out of a Pokémon story for over a decade. After years of watching the franchise add to its mythology and world, it by no means actually felt like many of those video games have been dwelling as much as the promise of the universe Sport Freak had constructed over 25 years. Pokémon Legends: Arceus was the primary time since I used to be a toddler that this setting felt as giant and unknowable because it did in my youth.
A lot of that got here from Legends: Arceus’ use of a historic setting, quite than the trendy one seen in most different Pokémon video games. Taking the participant again to when the Sinnoh area was often known as Hisui, being current for lore-defining conflicts, and watching the universe’s gods have it out was extra impactful than listening to about them via historians and seeing cave work and statues. It felt like a second probability for Sinnoh to really feel like the numerous origin level of the universe it had been described as in Diamond and Pearl.
On high of simply feeling extra huge, Pokémon Legends: Arceus was additionally essentially the most tangible the world felt to me as a participant. This was because of Sport Freak’s shift into action-oriented mechanics like really with the ability to purpose and throw a Pokéball at an unsuspecting wild Pokémon, stealthing across the wilderness to keep away from big Alpha Pokémon, and with the ability to fluidly traverse its open areas on the backs of pleasant critters. Even when Pokémon Scarlet and Violet tried their very own variations of those programs, it by no means felt like they fairly captured Legends: Arceus’ frictionless traversal, and that’s why they felt flimsy as compared.
Legends: Arceus solidified to me what it’s I would like out of Pokémon video games. Some individuals need to seize each Pokémon within the Pokedex, some need to compete and grow to be a revered champion. However for me, current on this world and discovering its secrets and techniques with Raichu by my facet is why Pokémon nonetheless holds my consideration many years later, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus is essentially the most I’ve felt captivated by this universe, in all probability ever. I hope it’s a blueprint for the sequence’ future, as a result of I really feel like, in any other case, I’m going to be chasing the highs of its greatest moments for years to come back.
