2022's Games of the Year, Part 3

We made it! The final portion of my 2022 Games of the Year. The first five (as well as games I didn’t get to but really wanted to) and the second part (plus honorable mentions) published earlier in the week, which leads to the last group of five, as well as my six-year-old daughter’s favorite titles from her own year playing video games.

These aren’t in any particular order, because, well, you’ve seen the amount of time I spend on ranking things. Just narrowing things down to these 15 plus another six honorable mentions was ranking enough for me. Let’s get to it.

Elden Ring

Developer: FromSoftwarePublisher: Bandai NamcoWindows, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, Playstation 4, Playstation 5Feb. 25

You know, I’ve never finished a Souls title. Despite being in and (enthusiastic) on the ground of what we know as the Souls games, I just haven’t completed any of them. Played a bunch! Skipped a few! Always enjoyed myself, and Elden Ring is no different. I actually hope to complete this one at some point, though. I put in 50 hours or so, got frustrated, and as is the nature of things, gravitated elsewhere. But there will be a lull at some point in the future and I’ll return, which says a lot about the game.

Usually I write new material for games I haven’t written about in this space (or at Paste), but for Elden Ring, I think my journey through tweets about the game will suffice. They capture an important vibe.

Actually, there are two other things I’d like to point out other than that Elden Ring reminded me of Odama of all things. One is that Elden Ring’s dungeons are tremendous, and are the true draw of the game for all of their surprises, the strategic choices they force you to make, the things they hide and protect and that will find you before you can find them. (Dia Lacina’s descriptions from her review of th game are on point and better than what I can muster, so, read those.) Which is saying something, too, because Elden Ring’s open-world is excellent. Part of that is Elden Ring being the first game to truly implement the lessons of 2017’s Breath of the Wild’s design into its own. The nature of Souls games and their structure allowed for that sort of — wait for it — grafting, but the point is that FromSoftware saw an opportunity and seized it, and the result was a thing of beauty. It would have been more difficult for someone like, say, Ubisoft to combine Breath of the Wild design philosophy with a preexisting one, since for them that would have meant a complete revision of what an open-world game even is to them, but for From? Some tweaks, some merging, some deep understanding of what made Nintendo’s masterpiece and their own games sing, and then Elden Ring was born. Neat.

Neon White

Developer: Angel MatrixPublisher: Annapurna InteractiveWindows, Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation 5June 16

A first-person shooter puzzle platformer focused on parkour, special powers, and letting explosions and special abilities launch you through the air. Neon White rules. It’s actually a little difficult to explain how it works in practice, so, instead, here’s some gameplay footage of an Ace medal run through one of the game’s stages:

You have weapons, but you aren’t supposed to use them “just” to defeat foes: you defeat them in service of opening up the exit, but you also need to defeat them in certain ways, at certain times, in order to benefit from said defeats. Whether it’s to open a path, or start a chain reaction, or use them as a launch pad to get somewhere you can’t get without doing so, or… there are lots of options, and only by playing the levels will you start to see just how the game works and how it expects you to approach the stages.

It’s a truly brilliant platforming experience, a triumph in the first-person space that built on the kind of stuff Mirror’s Edge did by adding a layer of the fantastical to it, but still letting believable physics be involved — it doesn’t remind me so much of the main game of Mirror’s Edge, but its time trials, which were focused so much on finding the perfect path as fast as possible, and playing again and again to optimize your runs. It’s just the ways you find to get those believable physics in your corner in Neon White that are otherwordly, which, hey, this is a game set in heaven, with you fighting demons so that you aren’t sent to hell. Otherwordly is appreciated.

The characters you find yourself palling around with and trying to work alongside are all a good time and fun for very different reasons — a meathead, a lover of explosions, someone who is horny for how clueless you are — and they have secrets you need to uncover as you play, which you’ll do by playing optional, unlockable levels, and collecting enough of what is there to collect to both see the entire game and achieve the best ending. And hey, John Cena is here! If you can see him, anyway.

Neon White wasn’t the only platformer from 2022 to combine speed, parkour, and shooting into a first-person perspective, but it felt much better to play out of the gate than Severed Steel. Not that there’s anything wrong with Severed Steel, which is structured differently — a short campaign meant to be played and experimented within again and again vs. a game that takes 20-plus hours to complete even if you aren’t trying to get the absolute top secret medal in every stage. But Neon White was the superior title of the two and better than most of what released in ‘22; if you haven’t played it yet, you need to.

Live A Live

Developer: SquarePublisher: NintendoSwitchJuly 22

The release of Live A Live outside of Japan was overdue by multiple decades and change, but in 2022, we in North America finally got it, and in large part because Nintendo reminded Square Enix it existed in the first place. What a tremendous JRPG, and a fantastic example of paths the genre could have taken — even with everything headed in non-Live A Live directions, it still ended up plenty influential and absolutely still kills it in 2022. From my write-up of the classic earlier this year:

I can only hope that the success this version of Live A Live found — it sold nearly twice as many copies in its first month than the original has in its lifetime — means we’re going to get even more of these HD-2D remakes of classics and previously hard-to-find (or unable to be found) titles. An official release of Bahamut Lagoon, perhaps? Star Ocean? Dragon Quest V? Terranigma? Now I’m just setting myself up for disappointment. Regardless of what the future does or doesn’t bring, we have Live A Live now, and you’d be foolish to skip out on it if you’re into JRPGs.

Astlibra Revision

Developer: KEIZOPublisher: Whisper GamesWindowsOct. 13

Now here’s a game that, despite its quality, is still unknown enough that it doesn’t have a Wikipedia page. It’s going to probably be more of a known quantity in 2023, however, as it will no longer be exclusive to Windows and will also release on the Switch. It’s kind of a funny game, in some respects. The art is often very good, such as with character portraits and the enormous bosses, but animation can be a little stiff at times, and while there is certainly a clarity to the high-resolution backgrounds, sometimes they can look a little… off. Or out of place. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is, but something about Astlibra Revision’s look is just a little weird.

That being said, I simply do not care about that here. Astlibra Revision is clearly a love letter to a specific style of game: the side-scrolling action RPG. If you’re into Ys III, or Zelda II, or Faxanadu, or Vanillaware titles like Odin’s Sphere, you’ll likely find something to love about Astlibra Revision. It’s not the looker the latter of those is, as you were probably able to figure out given the previous paragraph, but again: I do not care. It’s a game full of exploring caves and dungeons and forests and swamps and customizing your skills and an array of weapons and casting powerful possession spells and a soundtrack featuring heavy guitars and ha ha numbers go up brrrrrr. It’s great!

There are a ton of systems in place here, but everything involved in them seems to happen naturally enough that it’s not overwhelming. You collect little gems — known as Force — in six different colors as you defeat enemies, and use those to boost your individual stats along a path with little locked doors in it, that require you find the keys within the upgrade tree. There’s the stats you can customize whenever you left up — which ones you strengthen is your choice each time out, so build out as you see fit, whether it’s giving yourself high hit points or pumping up your sword arm or making it so your possession spells wipe out anyone they hit whenever you can cast one. There’s also a magic crystal system that lets you equip skills: crystals are found in chests and after defeating some enemies, and you earn new skills by equipping new gear and wearing it long enough to earn the power inherent to it. While wearing that gear, the skill is yours for free: when you unequip it, you need to commit some of your crystals to it, which means you’re strategizing a skills loadout based on your situation and your gear.

Gear itself is purchased, but it’s all made on demand so you need to bring the components. You find those pretty easily just by playing — in chests, from enemies, in marked mining points you can’t miss — and then you can refine various stones into ingots yourself using the a tool you’ll find tons of all over the place for more advanced gear. It’s all necessary, and sounds like a lot, but it all flows together pretty well, too, so it doesn’t feel like a chore when you have to do it. And as someone who whines about having to spend time figuring out crafting systems sometimes — I’m probably never going to bother going back to The Witcher 2 no matter what you say to me — my saying so should mean something.

The localization is a little rough in spots, but the developer and publisher, KEIZO and Whisper Games, are working on improving that for an update and for the Switch port, so that’s a temporary issue. And “issue” is a strong word for it, too: the only reason it’s bothersome is because the story in this involves time travel and changing the past and it’d be nice to know you’re always correctly following along with what’s happening instead of missing some context due to the localization.

Anyway, this is very much not a friction-free experience between its many layers of customization and character growth, its sometimes brutal difficulty spikes that will let you know more growth is needed, its lengthy boss battles that require a very sure hand and even surer plan, and it will take some figuring out of systems for you to pull everything you can from it. I’m very much enjoying what’s on offer here, though, and think more folks into this genre should give it a whirl if they haven’t already.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Developer: HALPublisher: NintendoSwitchMarch 25

I figured I’d write about this last since it’s the least-surprising entry I could include if you’ve ever read literally anything I’ve written about video games before. I reviewed Kirby and the Forgotten Land for Paste back when it released, and had nothing but praise for it:

It might very well be the best Kirby game ever, which is saying something. As I wrote back in August while celebrating the 30th anniversary of the franchise, the only reason I can’t answer that for sure is because I’ve had decades of time to play and replay Kirby Super Star (Ultra), and just the one time to go through Forgotten Land. Maybe I’ll feel differently next time around, or five years from now or whatever, but… probably not. It’s a game full of and capable of creating joy, that’s just loads of fun to play or watch, to experience in some form. It’s one my kids both grabbed onto despite being just five and three years old back in the spring, and nothing about how accessible it was for youth of that age kept it from being a title I could give my full attention to. One of the best titles of the year, which is not something you often see said about a Kirby game, fairly or unfairly, but this time around it’s hard for anyone to argue against the fact.

Maddie’s Games of the Year

Let’s close up with my six-year-old’s favorite games from 2022. They aren’t all from 2022, but she’s six. I’m still catching up on the past and I’ve got 30 years on her, cut her some slack.

Sonic Generations: Hitting Dr. Robotnik in the butt is funny. I just watch the movies sometimes. Old Sonic is more fun but new Sonic is good, too.

New Super Lucky’s Tale: I like when Lucky hides underground and then pops up! I like when you get clovers for finding lost friends. I wish Lucky talked. [Maddie is learning how to read, and coming along on that front, but the lack of voice work and loads of dialogue do have her going in here just hoping she figures out what her mission even is.]

Super Mario Galaxy: It’s Rosalina’s game! I can bounce on the planets and Mario is in space. I like Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii better. [The replacement for the IR pointer was tough for her to grasp. She’ll get there, but if not, well, I have lots of Wii games.]

Kirby and the Forgotten Land: I love that Waddle Dee is in it and I can play him if you or Finn or mommy is playing with me! Kirby’s Fire Dragon is my favorite power. It’s so funny when Kirby swallows a car!

Kirby Star Allies: I can make friends for Kirby with his hearts! I love the boss fights, and I get to be Meta Knight! Mommy and Finn and daddy can all play with me together, and Finn gets to be Dedede!

She also wants everyone to know she’s going to play Splatoon 3 soon because, “I like all the colors and the paint on the floor!” Me too, Maddie. Me too.

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