When it comes time to jot down these year-end lists, I normally slim them all the way down to my high 5 favourite video games I performed as a result of, regardless of what this job entails, I normally solely have passionate emotions a few 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 by means of tumultuous instances and a layoff on the final job doesn’t go away one a lot vitality to speculate time in a ton of video games.
However I did expertise a handful of video games that actually resonated with me, a couple of of which have been previous ones that bought renewed ultimately 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 so much for some folks, however having the ability to run round a Pokémon world with Raichu by my aspect is the one factor that retains me going some days. So I used to be completely happy to take pleasure in an open-world Pokémon within the type of Pokémon Violet. Nevertheless, I simply have too many points with this recreation to provide it a correct spot on my checklist. It’s buggy, certain, nevertheless it’s additionally designed in such a approach that it may possibly’t sustain with its personal “discover your bliss” philosophy, which made complete sections of its important story annoying and disorienting to play by means of.
That being mentioned, the stellar endgame has utterly rewired my mind and I can’t take into consideration Professor Turo with out crying, and enjoying a Pokémon recreation in co-op with my buddies is a childhood dream come true. It’s deeply flawed, however I maintain wanting again at screenshots of me and my buddies hanging out in Paldea like an previous photograph album. It’s bought so many nice concepts, nevertheless it’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 collection’ earlier gleeful glamorizing of gratuitous gore, and when it was at its finest, 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 trying to introduce and wrap up two video games’ value of story in the middle of an exhaustively lengthy recreation, I’d’ve cherished it much more. Its motion nonetheless feels weighty and enjoyable and attending to play as Atreus was a beautiful shock, nevertheless it feels breathless and bloated in a approach the 2018 reboot didn’t. I’m all the time going to marvel what the conclusion to God of Conflict’s Norse story would’ve seemed like as two video games as an alternative of 1, as these are those that might’ve probably made it onto my checklist.
5. Cyberpunk 2077
I’m nonetheless very proof against 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 recreation 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 recreation that’s change into fairly particular to me.
I performed by means of and dissected Cyberpunk 2077 all yr as a part of Normandy FM, a retrospective podcast I co-host, and brushing by means of that recreation 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 by means of job stuff and within the medical system, there was one thing releasing about current in Evening 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 folks, locations, and issues, it was a continuing interrogation of what I used to be prepared to reside 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’d activate Cyberpunk 2077 simply to drive across the metropolis and picture the chances it held for me. Fortunately, I reside in a metropolis now, and now not need to dream. However Cyberpunk 2077 was a lifeline throughout a time when the house it proposed felt unattainable. For that, I’ll all the time maintain the story of V and Evening Metropolis in my coronary heart, even when I don’t suppose it’s an excellent online game.
4. Gayven (Haven, however homosexual)
Haven utterly 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 important characters Yu and Kay. As an individual who has written so much 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 recreation queer-inclusive. Attending to expertise Yu and Kay’s story from the attitude of two queer males was a beautiful method 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 beautiful meditation on long-term relationships, with its exploration and turn-based fight damaged up by scenes of Yu and Kay simply dwelling collectively by means of probably 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 recreation. It’s full of massive, oppressive science-fiction concepts, however its finest moments are when two folks sit collectively of their residence and converse to one another not as spacefaring adventurers, however as two star-crossed lovers prepared to seek out pockets of pleasure once they’re all they’ve bought left.
3. We Are OFK
The music of We Are OFK, an episodic biopic a few group of younger adults drifting by means of the L.A. recreation 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 Group 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 components really feel insubstantial past selecting textual content messages and enjoying by means of an interactive music video on the finish of every episode. However as an unapologetically queer musical drama about discovering your self and people prepared 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 maintain producing bangers like “thanks,” and “Infuriata,” I’ll comply with it in no matter type 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 continues 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 aspect of the sequel. Nevertheless, in its full revamp of the unique recreation’s format in favor of a 5v5 setup, its new modes, the heroes, and the good deal of consideration given to its contextual banter writing, Overwatch feels extra alive than it’s felt in years. That is harm of Blizzard’s personal doing, as the corporate primarily put the primary recreation on ice till Overwatch 2’s launch. But it surely’s comforting as a long-time participant to lastly see indicators of life for the sport in any case this time, and to really feel hope for its future for the primary time in years.
1. Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Pokémon Legends: Arceus was the whole lot 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 baby 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 by means of 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 probably 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 having the ability to goal and throw a Pokéball at an unsuspecting wild Pokémon, stealthing across the wilderness to keep away from large Alpha Pokémon, and having 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 methods, it by no means felt like they fairly captured Legends: Arceus’ frictionless traversal, and that’s why they felt flimsy compared.
Legends: Arceus solidified to me what it’s I need out of Pokémon video games. Some folks need to seize each Pokémon within the Pokedex, some need to compete and change into a revered champion. However for me, current on this world and discovering its secrets and techniques with Raichu by my aspect is why Pokémon nonetheless holds my consideration a long time later, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus is probably the most I’ve felt captivated by this universe, in all probability ever. I hope it’s a blueprint for the collection’ future, as a result of I really feel like, in any other case, I’m going to be chasing the highs of its finest moments for years to return.
