When it comes time to write down these year-end lists, I normally slim them right down to my prime 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.
But 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. But going via tumultuous instances and a layoff on the final job doesn’t depart one a lot vitality to speculate time in a ton of video games.
But I did expertise a handful of video games that basically resonated with me, a number of of which have been outdated ones that received renewed in a roundabout way in 2022. So don’t yell at me once you see them on this record. It’s my record, and I’ll cry about Cyberpunk 2077 if I wish 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. However, I simply have too many points with this recreation to provide it a correct spot on my record. It’s buggy, positive, but it surely’s additionally designed in such a method that it may well’t sustain with its personal “find your bliss” philosophy, which made complete sections of its major 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 recreation in co-op with my associates is a childhood dream come true. It’s deeply flawed, however I maintain wanting again at screenshots of me and my associates hanging out in Paldea like an outdated photograph album. It’s received so many nice concepts, but it surely’s all constructed on prime of a shaky basis. I’m awaiting its DLC with bated breath.
Honorable point out: God of War Ragnarök
I actually adore the 2018 God of War reboot as an examination on the collection’ earlier gleeful glamorizing of gratuitous gore, and when it was at its greatest, God of War Ragnarök felt prefer it was constructing superbly upon Kratos’ and Atreus’ relationship as father and son. But, 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, reasonably 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 recreation, I’d’ve beloved 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 method the 2018 reboot didn’t. I’m all the time going to surprise what the conclusion to God of War’s Norse story would’ve seemed like as two video games as an alternative of 1, as these are those that might’ve possible made it onto my record.
5. Cyberpunk 2077
I’m nonetheless very proof against any narrative that Cyberpunk 2077 is “great” in 2022 after CD Projekt Red 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 12 months, and has gone from one thing I performed out of a piece obligation two years in the past to a recreation that’s turn out to be fairly particular to me.
I performed via and dissected Cyberpunk 2077 all 12 months as a part of Normandy FM, a retrospective podcast I co-host, and brushing via 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 via job stuff and within the medical system, there was one thing liberating about current in Night City, which felt like an oppressive, capitalist amalgamation of the cities I dreamed of residing 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 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 it’s a must to 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 probabilities it held for me. Thankfully, I reside in a metropolis now, and not should dream. But 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 Night City in my coronary heart, even when I don’t suppose it’s an important online game.
4. Gayven (Haven, however homosexual)
Haven fully slipped by me in 2020, however that modified this 12 months when The Game Bakers added an replace that allow you to play as same-sex pairings of its major characters Yu and Kay. As an individual who has written lots about queerness within the online game business, I used to be instantly drawn to Haven as a case research in a developer placing within the effort and time to make a recreation queer-inclusive. Getting to expertise Yu and Kay’s story from the attitude of two queer males was a beautiful approach 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 residing collectively via essentially the most mundane elements of being collectively. Where many video video games thrive within the lead-up to a romantic relationship, Haven sits with what it means to already be properly and established, and it results in a few of my favourite romance writing in a recreation. It’s full of huge, 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 prepared to search out pockets of pleasure once they’re all they’ve received left.
3. We Are OFK
The music of We Are OFK, an episodic biopic a few group of younger adults drifting via the L.A. recreation dev grind and right into a musical act, practically topped my Spotify Wrapped this 12 months. The band was second beneath Coheed and Cambria, my favourite band that launched a brand new album this 12 months, which speaks volumes about how catchy and contemplative Team OFK’s indie pop stylings are. These songs are interwoven between We Are OFK’s depiction of the dramatic, interpersonal relationships between a bunch 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. But as an unapologetically queer musical drama about discovering your self and people prepared to place up together with your bullshit, it’s deeply relatable. The recreation 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 large number of microtransactions and free-to-play grind, however Blizzard’s sequel/reboot of its hero shooter continues to be such a gold normal for team-based fight that I’ve sunk practically 300 hours into it since its launch in October.
Right 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. However, in its full revamp of the unique recreation’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. This is injury of Blizzard’s personal doing, as the corporate basically put the primary recreation on ice till Overwatch 2’s launch. But 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 all the things 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 residing as much as the promise of the universe Game 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.
Much of that got here from Legends: Arceus’ use of a historic setting, reasonably than the trendy one seen in most different Pokémon video games. Taking the participant again to when the Sinnoh area was often called 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 likelihood for Sinnoh to really feel like the numerous origin level of the universe it had been described as in Diamond and Pearl.
On prime of simply feeling extra huge, Pokémon Legends: Arceus was additionally essentially the most tangible the world felt to me as a participant. This was due to Game 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 large 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 compared.
Legends: Arceus solidified to me what it’s I would like out of Pokémon video games. Some individuals wish to seize each Pokémon within the Pokedex, some wish to compete and turn out to be a revered champion. But for me, current on this world and discovering its secrets and techniques with Raichu by my facet is why Pokémon nonetheless holds my consideration a long time later, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus is essentially the most I’ve felt captivated by this universe, most likely 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 greatest moments for years to return.
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