The favorite games you played in 2022

1. Deathloop was my #1 this year, very underrated i think.
2. Resident Evil Village is good so far, I'm about 75% through it.
3. Zelda Breath of the wild, I was late to the party i know, but it is a great game.
4. Valorant, I know i know most on this forum probably hate it. I've found myself sinking some hours into this and find it highly enjoyable. I landed a job in the technology department at a high school and shortly after they were looking for someone to coach the Esports team, I naturally fell into this being that I've always been a PC gamer.

Small List I know, hard to juggle family career, and hobbies. I go for quality over quantity, if I don't enjoy the game within the first hour of playing i'll probably never go back to it and i only have 2-3 hours a week to game.
 
M76 said:
The novelty wore off much faster for me, mostly due to the repetitive and boring nature of encounters, going through the same motions got really annoying after the nth time. If the game had decent action sequences instead it could've been great despite the wonky physics. Since I haven't even managed to get through the first a sequel is an automatic ignore for me.
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Did you get to the second map? First area is more of an intro place to learn how movement works, but the larger map is where the gameplay gets a bit more interesting although never deviates too much. Like many games this was probably a bit too long for what it was.
 
Flogger23m said:
Did you get to the second map? First area is more of an intro place to learn how movement works, but the larger map is where the gameplay gets a bit more interesting although never deviates too much. Like many games this was probably a bit too long for what it was.
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I thought there was only one large seamless map. If I didn't finish the tutorial in 5.5 hours, that just makes the game seem even more bonkers.
 
M76 said:
I thought there was only one large seamless map. If I didn't finish the tutorial in 5.5 hours, that just makes the game seem even more bonkers.
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First area is like the first little island in Far Cry 6. Essentially a small but somewhat limited sample of the gameplay. The second map is where the traversing becomes more interesting.

The radar stations in the first and second picture are the same, you can see how much more expansive the map is and how much freedom of movement you have. You can climb up the tallest mountains.


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Games that I played through to completion in 2022 along with the score that I would give each game:
1. Baten Kaitos: Origins (Gamecube) (9/10)
2. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Gamecube) (9/10)
3. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (N64) (9/10)
4. Banjo Tooie (N64) (8.5/10)

Lots of other games on the go that I played but didn't get to finish last year:
- Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast)
- Earthbound Beginnings (NES)
- Might and Magic (NES)
- Tetrisphere (N64)
- #FE Tokyo Mirage (Wii U)
- Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii)
- Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U)

In 2023, I am planning to focus more of my attention on my Genesis/Saturn collection once I finish playing through the above backlog.
 
I didn't game in 2022 nearly as much as 2021 but here's my list based on (estimated) play-time:

1. Grim Dawn - still my favorite ARPG, been playing it non-stop since Early Access in 2014

2. Starcraft II - somehow fell back into playing this again

3. Warhammer 40K Gladius Relics of War - fantastic "Civ-lite" (especially with the additional races DLC)

4. Quake - enjoyed another replay of this CLASSIC

5. Vampire Survivors - a great little game for $5 and now they've released it for free on mobile as well... which is awesome

- This year, I'm determined to give Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring a PROPER play-through (y)
 
Flogger23m said:
First area is like the first little island in Far Cry 6. Essentially a small but somewhat limited sample of the gameplay.
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Kind of silly game design, to give you a smaller, more restrictive, basically crappier version of the game to start. And then keep you thinking that's the entire game for 5 hours, it's so stupid it can only be Kojima.
 
gvx64 said:
Games that I played through to completion in 2022 along with the score that I would give each game:
1. Baten Kaitos: Origins (Gamecube) (9/10)
2. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (Gamecube) (9/10)
3. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (N64) (9/10)
4. Banjo Tooie (N64) (8.5/10)

Lots of other games on the go that I played but didn't get to finish last year:
- Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast)
- Earthbound Beginnings (NES)
- Might and Magic (NES)
- Tetrisphere (N64)
- #FE Tokyo Mirage (Wii U)
- Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii)
- Yoshi's Woolly World (Wii U)

In 2023, I am planning to focus more of my attention on my Genesis/Saturn collection once I finish playing through the above backlog.
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Baten Kaitos is a hidden gem on the Gamecube. The story, gameplay, and graphics are all top-notch. I think the first one is better than the prequel, though.
M76 said:
Kind of silly game design, to give you a smaller, more restrictive, basically crappier version of the game to start. And then keep you thinking that's the entire game for 5 hours, it's so stupid it can only be Kojima.
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A lot of games do this kind of thing. The aforementioned Far Cry 6, The Witcher 3, Mass Effect: Andromeda. We can even go back to Final Fantasy 7-8-9. It's actually a better way to introduce players to the gameplay loop than handholding them through tedious tutorials, in my opinion. It's a concept that was talked about in the Souls thread about "play conditioning" versus "play conveyance."
 
M76 said:
Kind of silly game design, to give you a smaller, more restrictive, basically crappier version of the game to start. And then keep you thinking that's the entire game for 5 hours, it's so stupid it can only be Kojima.
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I can think of plenty of games that do similar. Far Cry 6, Horizon Zero Dawn, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Witcher 3 are immediate examples that come to my mind.
 
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horrorshow said:
I was one of the few people that actually owned this game lol

AMAZING soundtrack and it was especially way too much fun after ingesting Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.... :cool:
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You know, I have a soft-spot for flawed puzzle games that were a few key innovations away from being masterpieces. If you can actually get over the hump of not only learning how to play the game but play the game well, I think you can find it as enjoyable as (if not more enjoyable than) the original Tetris. That said, that learning curve is steep. I remember my friend renting this game for us on a sleepover when I was 10 years old and after a couple of hours we had no frickin idea of what to do. Something about it stuck with me though, I ended up buying it 6 years back from a used gameshop and went through the tutorials and could at least play the game in the early levels but then found myself rage quitting part way through level 5 of the rescue mode and eventually had to force myself to stop playing. I went back to the game, yet again, in the past year or so and hit that same wall again but finally figured out how to play the game strategically and now it is actually a really relaxing and enjoyable experience all the way through to the end. Now I play it for fun and relaxation and I think that it is even more satisfying than the original Tetris. It just took a long time and a lot of rage to get to that point.

I might write a review of this game at some point in the review thread. I really wish the folks who made this game would go back to it. It's got a lot of potential and could be a killer smartphone game. It just needs more polish and to have the learning curve brought down.
Armenius said:
Baten Kaitos is a hidden gem on the Gamecube. The story, gameplay, and graphics are all top-notch. I think the first one is better than the prequel, though.
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Yes, I played Eternal Wings in 2021 (for probably the 4th time now in the past 7 years, very few games get that kind of attention from me). Eternal Wings is possibly in my top 5 games of all time and for sure in my top 10. It's a solid 9.5 for me, possibly a 10. It is criminal that it hasn't been released on any platforms since the Gamecube. It's a deeply immersive turn-based RPG masterpiece. If anybody reading this hasn't played this game and you like turn-based RPG's that are so artistically creative that you feel like you have been picked up and placed in a living, breathing universe completely unlike our own (kind of like how you felt when you saw the Mos Eisley bar in Star Wars episode 4 for the first time) then you need to play this game. The graphics are so artistically polished that some of the pre-rendered mattes even look impressive by today's standards:
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Also, its plot does things that no RPG has ever done before and, frankly, I don't think have been done since. The game has a few weaknesses with the voice overs and the card-based battle system is both a strength and a weakness in my view (it is surprisingly deep and enjoyable when you get the hang of it, but which definitely has a learning curve and you are punished hard if you don't know what you're doing -- even once you get the hang of it you probably won't master it on your first playthrough of this 60 hour game and I find that makes you want to play it again and again). The battle-system is basically its own puzzle game in and of itself and it can make the RPG grind surprisingly deep and enjoyable, it's only weakness is that it doesn't scale down to low experience levels well. You need to be moderately proficient in knowing which cards to use in battle as well as building a properly-balanced deck (outside of battle) otherwise you will feel overwhelmed and the battles will be rough. The game does not hold your hand in this regard and I think that will turn some people off who are looking for a quick return on investment. That said, there are so many different elemental attacks and so many different characters that you can use that the battle system has incredible depth, you can play this game again and again and get totally different experiences. Also the battle magnus artwork is insanely creative in and of itself, I got hours of enjoyment just reading the descriptions and appreciating the artwork and the transformations that the magnus goes through as time passes in the game.

I agree that Origins overall isn't at the same level as Eternal Wings, it re-uses most of the same worlds and some of the graphics have been downgraded from the first game which is a bit of a disapointment given that the graphical artistry is part of what made the first game so immersive (the blur effects and the nice crisp filtering in battles from the first game is gone and the new graphical content in Origins that isn't re-used from the first game just isn't as visually impressive as what was in the first game). Also the battle system has been heavily stripped down and you have basically half the playable characters and way fewer battle cards that you can choose from (by the end of the game you will have picked up the same battle card again and again which makes building a deck kind of dull). The sequel clearly had a budget compared to the first game but it's strength is its story, which is amazing. I won't spoil anything but Origins takes a Godfather II approach to its plot which comes together beautifully at the end. Also where most JRPG's have overused tropes such as "power of the heart" this game laughs at those and looks at these issues from a very Aristotle-like perspective (where there are two extremes to a particular ethical issue but where the virtue is the golden mean that lies between). I felt that the story was very sophisticated and while the game lacked the artistic creativity, gameplay depth and general immersive experience of Eternal Wings it was still a very enjoyable and solid gameplay experience as its own game.
 
Slice and Dice is my standout find for 2022. Of course Elden Ring was great and I sunk a lot of time into monster hunter world and rise, but slice and dice is the best strategy roguelike I've found since slay the spire.
 
Flogger23m said:
I can think of plenty of games that do similar. Far Cry 6, Horizon Zero Dawn, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Witcher 3 are immediate examples that come to my mind.
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I didn't like it there either, but at least in those games the introductory handholding was never more than 1-2 hours.
Some games take this to such extremes that they don't even allow you to remap controls or go into the main menu before completing the tutorial part. These used to be optional.
 
M76 said:
I didn't like it there either, but at least in those games the introductory handholding was never more than 1-2 hours.
Some games take this to such extremes that they don't even allow you to remap controls or go into the main menu before completing the tutorial part. These used to be optional.
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I too don't like extended tutorials. I cannot recall which game it was but something I played fairly recently had a tutorial section that lasted 5-6 hours. I think it was Watch Dogs Legion. Death Stranding wasn't really a tutorial section, but just a bit more limited as the map was smaller to get you used to the bascis. The second map is where you spend most of the game and that provides more challenges that will require a bit more planning. It isn't extremely detailed but you will probably want to check the map, hazards, and pack the right gear. I drove my trucks to 90% of all places. I had to temporarily abandon it a few times in the mountains but I always came back for them.
 
gvx64 said:
I was 10 years old and after a couple of hours we had no frickin idea of what to do.
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I was in 8th grade when Tetrisphere came out... So I would've been 14 heh

But yeah, there is def a preliminary learning curve to the game..

Outside of Wipeout on PSX, it EASILY had one of the best soundtracks for its time (esp for a cartridge game)

EDIT: Speaking of flawed puzzle games... Look up "No One Can Stop Mr. Domino" on PSX ;)
 
Flogger23m said:
I too don't like extended tutorials. I cannot recall which game it was but something I played fairly recently had a tutorial section that lasted 5-6 hours. I think it was Watch Dogs Legion. Death Stranding wasn't really a tutorial section, but just a bit more limited as the map was smaller to get you used to the bascis. The second map is where you spend most of the game and that provides more challenges that will require a bit more planning. It isn't extremely detailed but you will probably want to check the map, hazards, and pack the right gear. I drove my trucks to 90% of all places. I had to temporarily abandon it a few times in the mountains but I always came back for them.
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Thanks but, I don't think I'm returning to this one. If I want to drive a truck I'll play snowrunner, much better graphics, and physics :p
 
Flogger23m said:
I too don't like extended tutorials. I cannot recall which game it was but something I played fairly recently had a tutorial section that lasted 5-6 hours. I think it was Watch Dogs Legion. Death Stranding wasn't really a tutorial section, but just a bit more limited as the map was smaller to get you used to the bascis. The second map is where you spend most of the game and that provides more challenges that will require a bit more planning. It isn't extremely detailed but you will probably want to check the map, hazards, and pack the right gear. I drove my trucks to 90% of all places. I had to temporarily abandon it a few times in the mountains but I always came back for them.
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This is why we have them (quote from 2019 but it's been going on longer):

GoldenTiger said:
There is indeed a purposeful dumbing down for the wider audience. One playtest I saw a focus group testing of a new action game. You began in a room and had to walk out to the main hall. However there was no mission objective saying to open the door.

Of the teens testing, none figured out to walk up to the door and try opening it. After five minutes each, they were baffled and told what to do. The next iteration of beta had a notice in your quest tracker saying "open the door" and the teens didn't fail.

This was several years ago, so I am sure the seeds were planted at most companies that gamers needed handholding more than past games. The tests bore out the truth: they were right! :(
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M76 said:
Thanks but, I don't think I'm returning to this one. If I want to drive a truck I'll play snowrunner, much better graphics, and physics :p
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The game does get a bit repetitive. That is why I am doubting the sequel can live up to the original game which had shortcomings as it was. With the novelty gone it will probably get old and feel too drawn out even earlier on. I do plan on playing the sequel, but I would prefer if the action sequences were better and more frequent. But then it would just turn into a generic 3rd person shooter or cover shooter.

One of those times where the studio should have done something else.
 
GoldenTiger said:
This is why we have them (quote from 2019 but it's been going on longer):
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This really bugs me, that the modern gamers are dumb. I really enjoyed the last two God of War games, but of all the games in the series, they're the easiest in terms of "hidden" chests. They're all out in the open, so you can see them.

Whatever happened to exploring? Finding secret areas felt rewarding, now they have giant arrows pointing to them.
 
horrorshow said:
I was in 8th grade when Tetrisphere came out... So I would've been 14 heh

But yeah, there is def a preliminary learning curve to the game..

Outside of Wipeout on PSX, it EASILY had one of the best soundtracks for its time (esp for a cartridge game)

EDIT: Speaking of flawed puzzle games... Look up "No One Can Stop Mr. Domino" on PSX ;)
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You are right, Tetrisphere has a really catchy techno soundtrack and it deserves recognition. The tracks are well-composed and actually elevates the gameplay experience, which is quite rare for games of this era. A good soundtrack counts for a lot in a game like this because each level you're basically doing the same thing but the music keeps things fresh.

I watched a let's play for "No one Can Stop Mr. Domino" and you're right it is definitely creative. How frustrating is it though? With enough practice does it eventually become a relaxing and fun game experience? If so, I might have to give it a try.
 
gvx64 said:
You are right, Tetrisphere has a really catchy techno soundtrack and it deserves recognition. The tracks are well-composed and actually elevates the gameplay experience, which is quite rare for games of this era. A good soundtrack counts for a lot in a game like this because each level you're basically doing the same thing but the music keeps things fresh.

I watched a let's play for "No one Can Stop Mr. Domino" and you're right it is definitely creative. How frustrating is it though? With enough practice does it eventually become a relaxing and fun game experience? If so, I might have to give it a try.
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Recognized:


Mr. Domino IS AWESOME and not difficult to "pick-up" at all. Def check it out..

..... No One Can Stop Him
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EDIT: Also, let us never forget N2O... soundtrack by Crystal Method:


Check that PSX game out too
 
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The only games I remember as being good in 22 were Elden Ring and a handful indies like Against The Storm, Vampire Survivors, etc. Was God of War PC this year or last? It was really good as well.

Spiderman was garbage. And many of the other "heavy hitters" like Stray and Cult of the Lamb were big on style but ultimately weak on gameplay.
 
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Another bleak gaming year for me in terms of new releases but I did have some great times on somewhat older games:

- Demon's Souls (remake)
- Mount&Blade: Warband (100s of hours in The Last Days and A Clash of Kings mods)
- Mount&Blade: Bannerlord
- Doom (2016) + Doom Eternal playthroughs (yearly tradition?)
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (various accessible mods and a large pile of extreme slav-jank mods this year)
- Counter Strike: Source (yeah yeah... nostalgia mostly lol)
- StarCraft (POKER-DEFENSE!)
 
Games i've played through completion for 2022 year:
- Days Gone (twice.. had to play it again after I put in my 6750xt)
- Mafia III
- Horizon Zero Dawn

Common theme among these games is that they all get very repetitive after a while.
 
jlbenedict said:
Games i've played through completion for 2022 year:
- Days Gone (twice.. had to play it again after I put in my 6750xt)
- Mafia III
- Horizon Zero Dawn

Common theme among these games is that they all get very repetitive after a while.
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How was Mafia 3 in your opinion?
 
jlbenedict said:
Games i've played through completion for 2022 year:
- Days Gone (twice.. had to play it again after I put in my 6750xt)
- Mafia III
- Horizon Zero Dawn

Common theme among these games is that they all get very repetitive after a while.
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Skott said:
How was Mafia 3 in your opinion?
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Mafia 3 was trash compared to the first two. It was quite repetitive and very little story.
 
vegeta535 said:
Mafia 3 was trash compared to the first two. It was quite repetitive and very little story.
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My opinion similar... I mean.. for me personally... a level below trash... I was interested in it enough to play it all the way through... but it was a struggle as all missions are basically the same...
It looks great, has a great soundtrack, good story... but it just gets very repetitive after a little bit..
 
jlbenedict said:
My opinion similar... I mean.. for me personally... a level below trash... I was interested in it enough to play it all the way through... but it was a struggle as all missions are basically the same...
It looks great, has a great soundtrack, good story... but it just gets very repetitive after a little bit..
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I wouldn't call it complete trash but it was very uninspired. It had a number of features that were copied from recent GTA games. Like calling for a driver to bring you your car or weapons. Which makes sense in modern GTA games. It made zero sense in the 1960s when cell phones didn't exist. So you'd see the main character shout aloud to himself, and some how someone over a long distance could hear you and bring your car. I understand why they wanted that feature but I found it funny.
 
2022 was an interesting year for me. My favorite games were all older games, and all ended up being in my top 5 of all time.

In order of my infatuation with them during 2022:
Red Dead Redemption 2 - finished my second play through, then played through the entire game twice again back to back. I’ve never done that with any game ever.
The Last of Us - completed my second play through when Part I released and I’m just about to complete my third.
The Witcher 3 - started first play through at the end of 2021 and finished in early 2022. Amazing game.
The Last of Us Part II - wildly different experience than the first game, and almost as good, just in a very different way.

Probably my best year of gaming ever, save for maybe 2007.
 
AceGoober said:
Two favorites on my list:

1. Horizon Zero Dawn with Frozen Wilds DLC
2. God of War
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I finally played God of War (2016) last year so Ragnarok was fresh on my mind when it came out revently and they are easily 2 of my favorite games of all times.
Elden Ring is one of my favorites as well. I beat that game over and over and still pick it up once in a while to just dink around.
Vampire survivors has eaten entirely too much of my time.
Neon Abyss is a really good one i found recently.
 
Stray, Horizon Forbidden West and A Plague Tale - Requiem were by far the best I've played last year, if i had to pick one it would easily be A Plague Tale - Requiem, should have won game of the year, story and graphics were AMAZING!!!!
 
ive been playing a done of halo infinite the past few months. The campaign is solid, and i love playing the game first on hard then do it again on Legendary
 
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