Hi everyone,
For my first Substack post, I want to talk about my favorite games I played last year. This list is not limited to 2022 releases, and they are in no specific order- just games I enjoyed from January until now.
Bayonetta 2
To prepare for Bayonetta 3, I decided to finally play through Bayonetta 2, which I have owned for years and have neglected to complete. I don’t think it’s as strong as the debut game in the series, but B2 is still excellent, with great music and flashy combat. Kick the difficulty up and really focus on pulling off stylish combos and you’re in for a grand time. Just try to forgive the muddy resolution.
Disco Elysium
If you’re a fan of games with strong narrative, interesting characters, and an engrossing atmosphere, then Disco Elysium is a must play. It stars an amnesiac alcoholic detective and his partner Kim Kitsuragi as they attempt to solve a murder in a war-torn, post-communist society. Compared to most RPGs I’ve played this one is very unique- there’s little combat, you earn EXP through conversing, and there’s also no real correct way to play through the game.
One of the best parts about Disco is how different everyone’s experience is going to be. I recommended this game to a buddy and once he finished and we began discussing it, we realized there was so much stuff he experienced that I completely missed out on. There were places where I used brute force and he used persuasion, there were people I met that he did not and vice versa, and thanks to the game’s character system and thought cabinet, our characters’ internal monologues were different too.
What blows my mind is that this game launched without full voice acting. To me, the voice acting was one of the strongest parts of the game, and it’s almost impossible for me to imagine it without the voice over since it was so important in absorbing me into the world of Revachol. Even without it though, the music, writing, characterization, atmosphere, and presentation are all so fantastic you’ll believe Revachol was real.
God of War (2018)
This was the final game I finished in 2022, in preparation for God of War: Ragnarok. God of War is very, very good. I don’t think it’s the best at anything in particular since I’ve played games with better stories, better gameplay, better graphics, better whatever, (although it is very good at all of these things) but it’s definitely a game that is greater than the sum of its parts.
God of War begins with the relationship between Kratos and his son Atreus being distant and somewhat strained- you can tell they care for one another, but the recent death of their wife and mother respectively really highlights the emptiness of their bond. I honestly wasn’t sure if Kratos had been around the entire time and was just a poor father or if he had recently returned when hearing of his wife’s death. The story of the two ascending to the highest peak in all of the realms to fulfill a final wish is simple, but it allows us to focus on the relationship between our two protagonists. As you progress through the game, Kratos slowly opens up to his son and learns to show affection towards him. It feels so natural and thus feels very earned.
Of course, an action-adventure game with poor gameplay would be a poor action-adventure game, and God of War does not disappoint in this regard. The moment I found out you could throw your axe and recall it back at will was when I realized I was going to like the combat (i.e., about 5 minutes in). It’s a lot of fun to throw an axe at a guy, rain fists upon him, then literally rip them upon with your bare hands. The combat kind of feels like a more forgiving Soulsbourne game with more brutality. This game was also very challenging on the difficulty I played it on- I don’t even want to know what “Give Me God of War” is like.
If there’s one thing I dislike, it’s that the RPG stuff kind of feels tacked on and I wasn’t a fan of upgrading gear and crafting or whatever. I’m fine with unlocking new gear and getting stronger of course but visiting dwarven shops and messing with my armor to make sure Kratos’ vitality goes up by a measly 3 points felt like a chore at times. Nevertheless, God of War’s strengths definitely outweigh its few weaknesses, and judging by the couple of hours I’ve played of its sequel, Ragnarok might be just as good if not better.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
I was very excited for Skywalker Saga to release as both a Star Wars fan and a LEGO fan. Like most people my age, I had pretty fond memories of The Complete Saga (which I also revisited this year- it’s still great!) so this game was on my radar from the moment it was announced. I’m happy to say I had a pretty good time with it. It’s a welcome change of pace for the somewhat stagnant LEGO formula.
Gone is the fixed camera angle and button mashing combat- Skywalker Saga features a Fortnite-esque third person camera and a surprisingly in-depth combat system that reminded me a lot of Devil May Cry or Kingdom Hearts. Seriously, look at this! The old-school hub and level system is gone now, and stories of the films are instead told through both levels and open world gameplay, so instead of watching a cutscene where Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon visit the gungans, you get to control the two as you explore their underwater city. It’s the kind of game I dreamed of playing as a kid.
I’m a bit outside the target audience’s age range so I have no idea if the kids are enjoying this one, but I had a lot of fun exploring different planets and collecting things against a Star Wars backdrop. If anything, there’s too much to do, and I think around the 50% collected mark is when I got burned out. Even so, I enjoyed my time I spent with it and would gladly return for Mandalorian or Solo themed levels.
Metroid Dread
The day after I finished Metroid Dread I started another playthrough. I’m not super big on the Metroidvania genre (or “search action” as Nintendo insists on calling it) but Dread really spoke to me. I was impressed with it enough that I went back to the 3DS to check out Samus Returns, MercurySteam’s previous Metroid game. Dread is moody and creepy, it’s fast and it’s challenging, it’s my favorite Switch game in a long while. My best time isn’t anything too insane, but I think it’s respectable.
Neon White
First thing to get out of the way- Neon White’s dialogue is awful. Not even Steve Blum can make the dialogue bearable. Just fast-forward through all of it. However, Neon White’s gameplay is fantastic. If you’re a fan of Mirror’s Edge and speedrunning you’re going to love this one. Most levels in the game can be beaten by following a predetermined path, but the real fun of the game comes from discovering new ways you can diverge from the beaten path to save precious seconds on your completion times. You’ll beat a level and then think, “Hey, I could’ve rocket jumped here to avoid that entire section" and go back and replay it. There’s also a challenge mode where you’re tasked with beating the entire game without dying, which was very tough, but I managed to do. Pretty proud of that one! Give this game a go if you can.
No More Heroes
No More Heroes was originally a Wii game from 2007 but was ported to the Switch in 2020. Initially I was playing with button controls and honestly wasn’t really impressed by the game, but once I swapped to the Joy-Cons I started having way more fun. This game is clunky, and the open world is a slog to navigate, but Travis Touchdown is such a spunky, horny goofball that he makes the game worth experiencing. (His whole motivation for killing the world’s top ranked assassins is that his contactor implies she’ll sleep with him if he does so.) Despite the clunkiness, it’s hard not to like a game where you can slice open guys with your beam katana and the motion controls really up the fun factor. Flinging your controllers up in the air to throw a guy is great and while I’m glad games that were overly reliant on motion controls are a thing of the past, this game did make me miss them a bit.
Rachet and Clank: Rift Apart
The big thing Sony was advertising prior to the PS5’s release was how Rift Apart was only possible on the PlayStation 5 because of how quick the worlds would need to be loaded (one of the game’s gimmicks is traveling between rifts). I’m not sure I totally buy that (though I’m not a professional game developer) but even so, this game is a lot of fun and worth playing if you’ve got a PS5. It’s like playing a Pixar movie.
3D collectathons haven’t really been a huge genre in the AAA space since the PS1/PS2 era so I’m glad they still exist outside of Super Mario. Ratchet and Rivet control pretty well and the wide selection of weapons you have at your disposal means you can play with whatever you’re most comfortable with. The guns in Rift Apart are all so creative, with examples including a sprinkler gun that transforms enemies into topiaries and a gun called the Ricochet that bounces projectiles off enemies repeatedly. A triple shot laser pistol ends up being the most boring weapon in the game. It’s not the longest game and I think I unlocked the Platinum trophy after less than 20 hours of playing but this game is yet another excellent Insomniac title.
Sunset Overdrive
I still think it’s really funny that Insomniac Games, a now first party PlayStation developer, was responsible for one of the Xbox One’s earliest exclusives. Anyway, this game is basically an amalgamation of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater’s grinding mechanics, Saint’s Row’s humor, and Ratchet and Clank’s gun variety. It’s essentially a very loud superhero game with somewhat obnoxious writing at times, but when traversal is so much fun, I can forgive the word “awesomepocalypse” being said.
Like Rift Apart, the gun variety here is really quite stellar, and I can sit here for a while deciding which game has the more creative arsenal, but the best part of this game is how much fun it is to explore Sunset City thanks to the grinding mechanic. Any rail or building edge you can grind with a button tap and you’re basically encouraged to never stop doing this, even in combat. Like Marvel’s Spider-Man that followed it, traversal is so much fun you won’t want to fast travel. I think any video game where moving from point A to point B is fun is a success in my book.
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series
This is technically five games, but whatever; they all came packaged in one Steam download. It’s got its highs and lows, but The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series is great, especially the inaugural entry and The Final Season. To me, these Telltale adventure games are at their best when making a “correct” choice isn’t always obvious. A great example is in the first season when Lee is put in charge of deciding who gets to eat from his group’s limited supply of food. I honestly don’t know if it has that huge of an impact on how the other characters treat you, but it’s that moral decision making you have to contemplate that I find so interesting.
The games in this series were not all created unfortunately, with A New Frontier feeling especially weak due to characters I found little interest in and the shift away from Clementine, but the Clementine centric games are all so good. She’s such an endearing character and her overall journey from sweet little kid to hardened survivor and mother figure is the highlight of this series. If you don’t shed a tear at the culmination of the series, do you even have emotions?
Of course, there were a few games I played that I didn’t discuss, so here are the “honorable mentions”:
Elden Ring: Anyone who played this knows it’s a very well-made game. Unfortunately, I’m terrible at Soulsbourne games, so I didn’t finish it, and I didn’t want to say a game I couldn’t finish was one of the best games I played this year. I’d like to go back and finish it though; I loved what I played of it.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown: Had to take a break from this one when finishing up my Bachelor’s degree, but XCOM is a killer strategy game. Play it with the expansion, it’s even better.
Batman: Arkham series: I replayed all of these games (and Origins for the first time) and they remain my favorite superhero games. Origins is the weakest one, but it’s still fun, and I liked the Cold, Cold, Heart DLC.
Spyro: Reignited Trilogy: I replayed these games on PC recently. Still awesome platformers. Hope the series gets revived like Crash did.
Guilty Gear: Strive: I continued to play this game last year. It’s not the best fighting game ever made, but the netcode is fantastic and makes online play actually doable.
Fortnite: This game has done a great job of staying fresh with its constant updates, so even if Epic makes a dumb change, they’ll probably change it soon anyway. The No-Build mode has been a welcome addition to the game.
Bayonetta 3: Did not finish this one, but I liked most of what I played of it. Really wish it was on something other than the Switch though, poor system seems to be buckling under the stress of running it.
Taiko no Tatsujin series: I played games from this series on both Xbox and Switch this year. Really fun, proudly Japanese rhythm games. Be prepared for a lot of Vocaloid music.
Thanks for reading. I’m excited to play even more games this upcoming year, as well as experience some of 2022’s best that I didn’t have a chance to play. Happy New Year!