2022 Community Game of the Year

Yars Recharged and Voodoo Vince in the Xbone get my votes. Never played Voodoo Vince before, and it is similar to other games like Gex: Enter the Gecko and Jersey Devil, but it feels, of course, shiny and poished.

Yars Recharged is sublime reimagining goodness.

It was a light year for games over here - I spent a large chunk of the year not feeling like playing much of anything and instead spectated while Mr. Dragon played through several. Still hit a few gems though, so here goes the list:

4. Maquette (PS4):
A puzzle game built around a clever mechanic of nested worlds, where interacting with a model affects yours and vice versa. Tells the story of a couple that's very relatable but often heavy handed - I wish they'd trust the player more and leave things unsaid. Still, a short and satisfying puzzle game that we enjoyed solving together.

3. Stray (PC):
A cyberpunk game where you play as a street cat? Sign me up! Every bit of being the cat was an utter delight. Meowing, knocking things off of shelves, scratching, all wonderful, with a side effect of confusing my real-life cat who went behind the TV to try to find the other kitty. I enjoyed playing through the story, which was interesting to experience from the perspective of a cat. Some of the sections where you have to outrun enemies were a little frustrating, and the checkpoint system often left me needing to complete the next story beat to save twenty minutes of progress exploring for extras. Overall had a lot of fun, 11/10 would be an annoying little cat again.

2. Ori and the Blind Forest (PC):
I had heard many good things but didn't pick the game up until the spring semester ended, at which point I mainlined it to 100% completion over three or four days. Delightful metroidvania with gorgeous art and music. I really enjoyed running around to unlock and pick up every little thing. Some of the big level-end sequences got a little frustrating, but overall a lovely game.

1. Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye (PC):
Outer Wilds edged out Hades for my top spot in 2020 and if I could wipe my memory and play it again, I would. I wasn't sure the DLC could live up to that experience, but it once more introduced new places and stories to explore, slowly unfolding what happened. The new mechanics and atmosphere really let the whole thing feel new again. And there's an incredible moment where it all comes together and you know what you need to do. They really did it again.

Thanks as always, Eleima! Looking forward to reading about all the games I missed out on.

Sorry for disappearing a bit, folks!! I got sick, and spent last weekend in bed and about 10 days without any gaming and/or streaming, my voice was just gone. ANYWHO! I'm much better and operational, looking forward to all your lists. A_Unicycle and ActualDragon, thank you for kicking things off! I'm glad to see some VR games, I was wondering if that was becoming a passing fad or something (since I'm still opting out due to both anxiety, and motion sickness ^^ ). ALWAYS pleased to see Outer Wilds at the top of a list, of course. And looking forward to all these GOTY potentials that I haven't played at all (I see Elden Ring is sneaking in)!!

Picked up Midnight Suns on a whim the other day, so gotta get a couple weeks in that before finalizing the list. Might start writing up and then work around it.

Thanks!

1: Elden Ring

More Dark Souls with a focus on status effects, weapon special abilities, and coop.

The respec option let me try multiple builds in one run with magic, heavy weapons (hammers), and dexterity / bleed. Had a pretty good time with each of those builds.

Particularly enjoyed the thunder spear boss which was quite silly.

2: Final Fantasy VII Remake

The characters and moments were the best part.

Kids imitating Cloud

Combat is a fun puzzle, if challenging to get used to, and materia upgrading continues to be a fun idea even in this action version of the game.

I'd recently played through the original and still the story made absolutely no sense, which was fine.

3: Death's Door

Challenging, but not too difficult. Has a number of "aha" moments when I realized how to interact with the environments.

Had a moment with one of the optional upgrade bosses (fire upgrade) where I tried for about an hour to defeat him, came back the next day and got it first try. Took my brain a few hours after to build that timing skill.

4: Resident Evil 2 Remake

"It's secret weapon time" - Ada

Maybe this is the point, but I never quite felt like I had a grasp of the controls and mechanics and as a result sort of stumbled through the 2 part campaign.

Played Resident Evil 3 Remake directly after and I would recommend both. Similar but different the way the original 2 were.

5: Person 3 FES

Enjoyed more Persona (after 5 and 4 last year).

The characters are fun to be with and the single tower dungeon works OK with a few themed dungeons at story beats. The final boss is a particularly interesting concept.

If you give it a shot, you should expect to spend about 30 hours before the main plot really picks up.

"Some dances will put you in a trance."

6: Resident Evil Revelations 2

The episodic structure created nice stopping points and playing through sections as 2 pairs of characters worked well to mix things up. Moira has just a flashlight (to stun enemies) and a melee weapon and that worked out quite well. You sort of play as the support character in a coop game, although you can also play as the traditional character with the gun at most points.

"She's not a horse" - Claire
"I'll just be on flashlight duty" - Moira
"Well f*** that place very much" - Moira
"Well that's one thing they left out of the brief: this island is completely crazy" - Barry
"Hatred of Natalia" document name
"Oversee this, b***" - Claire

7: The Hex

Enjoyed more than Inscryption both moment to moment and as something to think about. It's a game about how people interact with games outside playing them. Like we're doing here on a forum!

#freebandito

8: Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland

First time playing a Kirby game. Feels like a team that figured out some neat toys and set up some rooms that let you play with them.

If you really wanted to, you could just float over most of the levels.

9: Immortals Fenyx Rising

I rediscovered my enjoyment of Ubisoft open world games after a 6 or 7 year break.

There are many activities in the world and with some focusing on traversal, or combat, or light puzzles, they are consistently fun. Played the game mostly by jumping in and just doing a few objectives and calling it a day.

Only made it about 1/3 through the primary objectives before getting distracted with other stuff, but I'd like to return.

10: Bloodstained Ritual of the Night

Enjoyed farming magic upgrades and crafting materials in order to steamroll the bosses. Towards the end the traversal mechanics combine to something quite fun as you're able to zip around the world very quickly.

----

Would also really like to recommend Legend of Zelda: The Missing Link which is a fan game / hack of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I played OOT again (on an N64 for the first time) and had a really great time. The Missing Link feels like it is an official OOT mini follow up in terms of mechanics, characters, story, and puzzles.

Edited for typos / grammar

Ah Persona 3. Love it. Sometimes I want to go back and play 3 and 4 again. But also 5 Royal.

Never enough time.

Thanks, A_Unicycle! A lot of those games sound great and I'll have to circle back to the list later and take a closer look. Maybe one day I'll get to try RE4 on VR as I have never really tried VR before. Psyching myself up to try RE VIII in 3rd person mode since I'm quite a scaredy cat.

I want to keep this thread positive, so I'll frame this as: I'm glad you, others, and myself are able to enjoy games by seeing the manipulative side and making sure it doesn't get out of hand whether that is playing in moderation or putting them down.

ActualDragon, thanks as well. You've made those sound quite fun too!

PikaPomelo wrote:

3: Death's Door

Glad to see some more love for Death's Door. It got my #3 last year among a massively overcrowded list.

ActualDragon wrote:

1. Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye (PC):
Outer Wilds edged out Hades for my top spot in 2020 and if I could wipe my memory and play it again, I would. I wasn't sure the DLC could live up to that experience, but it once more introduced new places and stories to explore, slowly unfolding what happened. The new mechanics and atmosphere really let the whole thing feel new again. And there's an incredible moment where it all comes together and you know what you need to do. They really did it again.

Does the expansion make the original better, or is it add-on missions a n00b wouldn't miss?

I absolutely love this thread every year. So cool to see what people are playing for the first time. I am hoping to be able to get some time over the holidays to play some “oldies, but goodies” for the first time like Red Dead 2 and Kentucky Route Zero.

PikaPomelo wrote:

10: Bloodstained Ritual of the Night

Enjoyed farming magic upgrades and crafting materials in order to steamroll the bosses. Towards the end the traversal mechanics combine to something quite fun as you're able to zip around the world very quickly.

I know it just made it to the end of your list, but I'm glad to see this game still getting some love. It wasn't perfect, but it still a fun game the heaves closer to it's spiritual fore-bearer more than any other metroidvania.

Barely played any games let alone 10 long enough to form opinions but the ones I did are my GOTY

1. Elden Ring. Love this game so much and I’m glad to see FROM dabble in a semi open world concept. After 150+ hours and multiple play throughs I do realize that it’s still not better than Bloodborne.

2. Salt and Sacrifice. Sequel to one of my favorite 2D souls like this one didn’t disappoint. It’s actually not as good as the first one for numerous reasons but still the best 2D MetroSouls series.

Natus wrote:
ActualDragon wrote:

1. Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye (PC):
Outer Wilds edged out Hades for my top spot in 2020 and if I could wipe my memory and play it again, I would. I wasn't sure the DLC could live up to that experience, but it once more introduced new places and stories to explore, slowly unfolding what happened. The new mechanics and atmosphere really let the whole thing feel new again. And there's an incredible moment where it all comes together and you know what you need to do. They really did it again.

Does the expansion make the original better, or is it add-on missions a n00b wouldn't miss?

It feels completely new, different mechanics jump to the forefront (the use of light being one such) & the setting is completely different. It's another masterpiece that has layers of secrets & one of the best expansions ever released.

It's stands toe to toe with the original, both experiences are the pinnacle of exploration & discovery IMO.

5: Person 3 FES

Enjoyed more Persona (after 5 and 4 last year).

The characters are fun to be with and the single tower dungeon works OK with a few themed dungeons at story beats. The final boss is a particularly interesting concept.

If you give it a shot, you should expect to spend about 30 hours before the main plot really picks up.

"Some dances will put you in a trance."

Love to see it! Overall, I think Persona 3 is my favourite. It was my first, and other games may be strictly better, but the music and vibes are unrivaled. Not sure how I'd feel going back to only controlling the MC, but I remember the AI being pretty decent.

Also cool to See the RE Remakes on your list. I adore those games. I actually played RE2 a week before RE2R and it was one of the coolest experienced I've had in a long time. Usually, that would make a game feel stale, but they are so vastly different (but also similar) that it becomes a fun game of spotting what's changed and having your expectations constantly challenged. Great games.

Also, I never finished Outer Wilds despite thinking it was incredible. I had a small break from it then found it hard to go back. I think I'm going to make it a goal to finish both it and the DLC. Would you recommend playing them together or should I finish the base game first?

I did not play it, but Persona 3 Portable is supposed to let you control the party and has some other features from 4. That's the version the new releases are supposed to use. Maybe we'll see that show up on some lists when it comes out!

I can see it still being fun to play both RE2s close together. As you said, quite different and not too long. To be fair, the plot of these RE games makes no sense to me, but I love the characters and scenarios so replaying is still a good time.

A_Unicycle wrote:

Also, I never finished Outer Wilds despite thinking it was incredible. I had a small break from it then found it hard to go back. I think I'm going to make it a goal to finish both it and the DLC. Would you recommend playing them together or should I finish the base game first?

I personally would finish the base game first. It would be tough to juggle both, the mapping out of places in your mind (so you can get back to them & do as much as possible within the time limit) plus the bits of story you get from each game. I couldn't imagine playing both at the same time as there's so much going on.

1. God of War Ragnarok

Spoiler:

Ragnarok was everything I hoped for in a sequel. It’s the perfect game for me. I have seen criticisms regarding the narrow paths through most of the areas but that works better for me than a huge open world. It all felt very focused and I loved the dialogue. I loved the combat even more than 2018. I was happy to see the relationship between Atreus and Kratos evolve. At the beginning of the game I was disappointed they hadn’t evolved more but then realized they had to show how their relationship was before they could move on to what it became. It wrapped the story up well while allowing for another story to be told.

2. Tunic

Spoiler:

This was my surprise hit of the year. It takes all the strengths of a classic Zelda game and does its own thing to create a unique experience. The collecting of manual pages and deciphering to learn new abilities was perfectly done. Discovering you had some hidden abilities gave a great “ah ha!” moment after collecting the right pages. The final puzzle requiring all the other pages was great. It was the first time I was willing to get paper and pen out for a video game in a long time.

3. Stray

Spoiler:

Stray is high on my list because it was a blast to play through with my 7 year old daughter who loves cats. It’s a fun little game that focuses on one thing that it does really well – impersonating a cat. The robots and environment were fun, controlling the cat was cute. It all came together well for a small title. If it wasn’t for playing through with my daughter it wouldn’t have been as high on my list but it did that magical thing of bringing us closer together.

4. Horizon Forbidden West

Spoiler:

Another sequel with high expectations, Forbidden West lived up to most of what I wanted it to be. Zero Dawn wrapped itself up so well it felt like they had to jump through a lot of hoops to set the new story up. The overall story never clicked with me though I liked the characters. The ending also felt unsatisfying and obviously set it up for a sequel or DLC.

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Spoiler:

This was such a great throwback to all the arcade and console TMNT games of my childhood. The online works well, local multiplayer works well and it’s full of references to the old games. My only complaint is that I wish it was much longer or had more ways to add replayability.

6. Elden Ring

Spoiler:

I’ve never been able to get into the Souls games since I’ve never been into hard games and I like games to be forthcoming in their mechanics. I’m not afraid to bump down the difficulty and I don’t like having to look up what something does. A friend who had similar views said he loved it and to give it a try. I did give it more time than all the other Souls games I’ve tried combined but I still hit a wall where I wasn’t having fun and didn’t want to grind levels or anything like that. I liked that items had descriptions and I could mostly figure out what stuff did as I went. It felt like a step towards grabbing players like me. I completed multiple boss fights by enlisting the help of others and that was a cool feature too.

7. Warhammer 40k: Darktide

Spoiler:

This would have been higher on my list if the game was more feature complete. I love the Vermintide games and other co-op games like it so my expectations were high. I really like the mechanics and running missions but there’s not enough itemization or variation to put this higher on my list. It also has performance issues that should have been resolved in beta. The Vermintide games also needed work when they released and the developers delivered so I have hope that this will become more than it is right now.

8. Cult of the Lamb

Spoiler:

Build > Dungeon > Worship with cute and evil animals is my jam it turns out. I enjoyed all of the mechanics of this game though it did feel repetitive by the last areas. It’s a fun little game that could have used a bit more mechanics on the building side of things to round it out (not just more to build).

9. Pentiment

Spoiler:

A mechanically simple game wrapped in historical fiction isn’t something I thought I’d be into but when I saw Obsidian made it I had to look into it. It turned out to do most of what I liked about Tyranny and left out the tedious combat. If I knew more about this time in history it would probably be higher on my list. I think it does a good job of being true to that time period but again I don’t know to be certain. I enjoyed the mystery solving and it made me realize I should look out for more games that involve mystery. I wish it had more exploration, I love exploring places in games and it just had a few interesting unexpected places.

10. Deathloop

Spoiler:

I haven’t been into first person shooters in a long time and I picked this up mainly because I wanted something new to play on my shiny PS5. I came in with low expectations and the mechanics surprised me. I really enjoyed having the same place with differences at different times of day and the loop mechanic pushed me to look at details more than a shooter typically does. I never quite finished it but it was fun and I recommend it to someone who wants a puzzle to solve along with shooting stuff.

I have my list half written up. Hopefully should be able to post it soon

I went through my installation histories and I've got shy of 10 games this year. I pray the .txt file I saved it in does not go missing by the time I get around to writing my list up! It might get to 10 by the time we get to 31 December as some of the titles I wanted to explore are now in Games Pass (e.g. Dune RTS early access).

What I'm going to try to do this year, in addition to the usual commentary, is to ask my 13yo to prepare a top 10 GOTY list. I feel he has installed far more than 10 titles so it'll be interesting to see what he has been experiencing throughout the year.

I love to hear how people are enjoying these games.

I'm often hearing opinions when the games come out from people who can get quite held up by a particular thing.

Might not be perfect, but here's what was fun!

10. Rogue Legacy 2 (Xbox Series X)
I need to play this one more. I was a big fan of the first game (first Rogue-lite I ever got into), but so far this one has been mostly just sitting there wondering why I haven't put more time into it.

9. Generation Zero (Xbox Series X)
Fired this up because Arthur Gies was talking about it on the RebelFM podcast and it was part of Game Pass. I really dug it for about 20 hours and then just lost interest.

8. Yoshi's Crafted World (Switch)
Delightful and cute and another game I need to put more time into. Was one of the first games I picked up for the Switch when I finally got one earlier this year.

7. Powerwash Simulator (Xbox Series X)
I played this game to completion and I am not sure why. The story goes some weird places and I think I just wanted to see exactly how weird it was going to get.

6. Titanfall 2 (Xbox Series X)
I picked this up when it was on sale years ago but never got around to playing it. I was in the mood for something linear that wouldn't take 60+ hours to finish and it it was perfect for blazing through in like three sessions.

5. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)
Yea not much to say about this. I don't think Nintendo has ever made a Mario Kart game that wasn't tons of fun to play.

4. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Switch)
I am counting this game as new to me because it is a very different game when compared to the Gameboy version. It is based on that game but it plays and is structured so much differently that it is really something new in my opinion. It is a very charming game with it's tilt shift effect and cute character designs. I would love for them to make a few more Zelda games in this style (update the Oracle games the same way for instance).

3. Vampire Survivors (Windows & Xbox Series X)
This is such a perfect game to fire up when you have 30 minutes to kill (muahaha). I don't really understand why it is so fun other than that but I keep coming back to it. I had kind of fallen off because it was starting to lag a bit on my PC (which needs replaced), but now that it is on Xbox I have found myself going back into it more since it doesn't lag out quite as bad on the Series X.

2. Stardew Valley (Xbox Series X)
I had been interested in trying this game for years, but had never gotten around to it and then it came to Game Pass and next thing I know I had put like 150 hours into it. It can get a little too chore like at times, but eventually I got to the point where I realized I should just focus on one part of the game and let other parts fall to the wayside until I was ready to pick them back up.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Zelda series is like 90% of the reason I decided to get a Switch. Between the online series and the remakes/remasters of older Zelda games it has more of the series available for it than any other Nintendo system (hoping they add Gameboy stuff to the online service soon). Other than the super annoying durability system for some equipment everything about this game was so good. I loved puzzling my way through the Shrines and the general exploration based nature of this game.

Hardware of the Year: Nintendo Switch
I was very late to the party on the Switch and I mostly picked it up on an impulse (I had originally gotten a PowKiddy RGB10 Max 2 from my wife for my birthday but the buttons on it were tearing up the pads of my thumb so I returned it), but I can see why it was so praised now. Every first party Nintendo game I have played on it has been great. Third parties a little less so, but Nintendo has always been better at making games for their platforms than anyone else. With the addition of the Hori Split Pad Pro controller to replace the JoyCons it has become an almost perfect travel gaming machine (which I have been trying to find for years now). Such a great little system and I am hoping that whatever Nintendo makes next will be backwards compatible with it and they will continue bring their games from other systems over to it (I would love to be able to play every Zelda and Metroid game ever made on a single system).

I kept a list of games I played this year and it was loooong!
I did manage to cut it down to 10:

1. Sound Voltex EXCEED GEAR
IMAGE(https://www.otaquest.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/EOSR1948-683x1024.jpg)
Much like I never understood fighting games for a long time, it appears I had no idea what rhythm games even were or how fun they could be. When I saw the sdvx showcase at SGDQ I immediately had a strong urge to try this game. Unfortunately there aren’t any arcades in Germany. After much research I found a small company in Hong Kong that makes rhythm game controllers, and purely based on how fun I imagined what I had seen on SGDQ to be I spent almost 500€ (including shipping and customs) to buy just one such Sound Voltex controller.
I’ve been having so much fun with the game ever since. I can’t even really explain it, but it’s a kind of visceral enjoyment I maybe have felt the first time I discovered fighting games.
I have tried a few other rhythm games since and enjoyed some of them, but they really hit something special with the lasers and 4+2 buttons. No matter what other game might have come out this year, none could stand even the slightest chance against the pure joy I felt when playing Sound Voltex throughout the last few months.

2. Persona 5 Royal
IMAGE(https://fs-prod-cdn.nintendo-europe.com/media/images/10_share_images/games_15/nintendo_switch_download_software_1/2x1_NSwitchDS_Persona5Royal_image1600w.jpg)
Coming off Persona 4 Golden I had incredibly high expectations and still wasn’t let down. I might prefer Persona 4 slightly overall in the end (it does have the better soundtrack) but I could not put P5R down and managed to put almost 150 hours into it within a month. Something about the mix of turn based combat, persona fusing, managing each day’s time and the social links just works.

3. Neon White
IMAGE(https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1533420/capsule_616x353.jpg?t=1660855488)
I looove a good first person platformer. Neon White might actually be the best one of them yet, maybe even topping Mirror’s Edge Catalyst (maybe). I spent so much time retrying every level over and over, trying to find the best route and executing upon it perfectly. Absolutely brilliant.

4. Judgment
IMAGE(https://image.api.playstation.com/vulcan/ap/rnd/202103/2619/IzMWMc5WywmJdtu2AbxLgBN3.jpg)
I got into the Yakuza games at the end of 2020 and have slowly been picking away at the series’ previous entries ever since. I was absolutely thrilled about the surprise announcement of the Judgment spin-offs finally coming to PC and picked them both up immediately. I was not disappointed - it’s just as much fun as the best of the Yakuza entries I’ve played.

5. Yakuza Kiwami 2
IMAGE(https://gpstatic.com/acache/40/13/1/de/t620x300-b381712599faf5261699b904d8d49a41.jpg)
Speaking of the Yakuza Series. Kiwami 2 just barely slides into this year's list as an early January entry. This is an incredible game, as well as an incredible remake. Both Kamurocho and Sotenbori feel so alive to walk through, the story is gripping, I love the characters and the Gokudo vibes, just overall a stellar time.

6. Card Shark
IMAGE(https://images.gog-statics.com/6fcb227d02c60315b84f05f63111d2b71cefda7ef3e9bdbb225c8573de2fed9f.jpg)
A card game that is not a card game! It's actually a cheating game, teaching the player fun tricks throughout a very fun presentation of a story full of intrigue and betrayal. Unfortunately an update broke my save file at the final enounter, so I never got to see how it turned out...

7. DNF Duel
IMAGE(https://www.fettspielen.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/resize.webp)
This game followed the typical trajectory of my time with any fighting game: spend 10-ish hours in practice mode, play a bunch for a month or two, then rapidly fall off. Still, I enjoyed my time with DNF a lot more than with most recent titles. It is an 8ing game after all, they are stupid, imbalanced and every character feels incredibly overpowered. It was a shame that the player base fell off so quickly shortly after release, but I had an incredible time with this game while it lasted.

8. Norco
IMAGE(https://www.gameshub.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/03/norco-review-keyart.jpg?w=1024)
I have no special connection to the south (or the us for that matter), but this game hit me regardless. Such strong atmosphere, none of the bs of oldschool adventure games.

9. Citizen Sleeper
IMAGE(https://i0.wp.com/www.thisweekinvideogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/citizen-sleeper.png?fit=800%2C445&ssl=1)
Chill yet tense and great storytelling with novel mechanics.

10. Elden Ring
IMAGE(https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bByhky6jeMXqwxkPV9DZsg.jpg)
It's pretty good.

Rykin wrote:

whatever Nintendo makes next will be backwards compatible with it and they will continue bring their games from other systems over to it (I would love to be able to play every Zelda and Metroid game ever made on a single system).

Yes please.

Since Metroid Dread isn't on your list I guess that's for next year?

Rykin wrote:

10. Rogue Legacy 2 (Xbox Series X)
I need to play this one more. I was a big fan of the first game (first Rogue-lite I ever got into), but so far this one has been mostly just sitting there wondering why I haven't put more time into it.

This is one of two games I had to drop this year, not because it wasn't good, but rather because it was just eating away too much of my time! Kept firing it up to do yet another run, and then another, and then another.. with no end in sight!

Stele wrote:
Rykin wrote:

whatever Nintendo makes next will be backwards compatible with it and they will continue bring their games from other systems over to it (I would love to be able to play every Zelda and Metroid game ever made on a single system).

Yes please.

Since Metroid Dread isn't on your list I guess that's for next year?

I played the demo and I bought it and I don't think I have even taken the shrink wrap off of it yet so probably

Wow, a bunch of new lists, that's awesome! Seeing a lot of Resident Evil, that's fascinating! Thank you PikaPomelo, The Gameguru, mrwynd, Rykin, nako for your lists.

Completely agree with Spikeout regarding Outer Wilds' DLC. It's amazing and stands on its own, so anyone on the fence should go play it immediately. Just go now, don't even check any info out.

I'm loving seeing all your lists, and I'm sorry for not being more present, it's kinda crazy, BUT I'm super excited about all your lists. I'm already seeing a few trends, but since those lists are still not too numerous, only time will tell with those trends will hold or not.

short list for Eleima's sanity:

1- A Plague Tale: Requiem
2- The Excavation of Hobbs Barrow
3- Stray
4- Elden Ring
5- Eternal Threads
6- Strange Horticulture
7- Omno
8- Beacon Pines
9- Tunic
10- The Entropy Centre

1 A Plague Tale: Requiem
I don’t think I've play a game with a more memorable and heart-crushing ending in the last few years. Picking up almost directly from where the first game ends, Amicia and Hugo are denied the tiny sliver of hope at the tail end of the first game, instead being thrown into even more danger from the Macula plague, culminating in an ending that BROKE ME. From a gameplay standpoint it’s opened up a bit from the first game, offering many more tools and options for getting through dangerous situations, but without getting too broad that it bogs things down. The story is GREAT, though it does abandon any pretense at being grounded in history the way the first game started with. And the music is amazing as always (the horrible little sting that plays whenever the rats enter a scene is probably one of my favourite little ‘sound bites’ from a game in recent years, it’s just this horrible little sharp, vindictive sting and I love it).

Amicia remains an absolutely badass protagonist, even through struggling to contain her anger and trauma after the events of the first game (and into this one).

Downsides: For whatever reason the English cast are speaking with english accents this time around which…is weird. I would HIGHLY recommend playing this (as I did) in French with subtitles, it was a GREAT experience. I also think you REALLY need to be in the right frame of mind for playing this because it is unremittingly GRIM, and especially if you have trouble with harm being done to children, that is basically the ENTIRE game.

There is also an exciting little post-credit tease that hints at a very different direction for a third game, which I am super intrigued by.

2 The Excavation of Hobbs Barrow
A combination of classic cosmic horror tales and M. R. James’s english country hauntings, this is probably the best point and click game i’ve played in years. I wont say much else about the story because it’s easy to spoil, but it’s worth noting that you know going into the game that the protagonist - a woman cataloging ancient barrows of England and dealing with the trauma of a disabled father - is 100% doomed from the get-go. The story is mostly being told in flashback, but that doesn’t detract from the slow build of tension throughout. It helps that the protagonist is fantastically voice acted. There are line performances in the last few scenes that genuinely made me tear up with how broken she sounded. If you like point and click games, I would HIGHLY recommend.

3 Stray
You’re the best animated cat in the world, running around like a little chaos goblin, accidentally saving a city full of robot people at every turn. No, don’t ask how the cat can read and understand the English language, THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT. The important thing is that you can knock paint cans off of roofs and ride buckets like lifts. Also there is WAY more body horror in this game than I was expecting!

4 Elden Ring
I really don’t think I need to write up a big spiel as to why this game is so good. It’s the best of the Souls Games (primarily because I think it’s the easiest of the Souls Games, aside from a couple of bastard hard bottlenecks). I don’t know if I would go back to play it again, the way I’ve played Dark souls 1 or 2 multiple times. (the original version of 2 is still the best souls game, FIGHT ME!) just because of its size. But I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in that world.

5 Eternal Threads
So…ok. This is a weird one. I think it was RPS that described it as “Eastenders meets Time Travel”. It’s a very fun little “single location” puzzle / walking sim where you are scanning backwards and forwards through the timeline of events leading up to a terrible accident that killed the tenants of a flat share…but was not SUPPOSED to kill the tenants of a flat share. Something has broken the timeline and so you have been sent to fix it… for handwavey-post apocalypse reasons… by reliving the last few days of their lives, tweaking the timeline in places and then watching the repercussions butterfly outwards from there until, in the words of the Ninth Doctor, “Just this once, EVERYONE LIVES!” Also it has a very weird cliffhanger that means there will be at least one more game in this series which I am very happy about.

It’s entirely MY JAM.

6 Strange Horticulture
I LOVE me any game that lets me be a detective, and SH is one of those, except you’re paging through herbalist guides and plotting locations on the map and working out the identity of the various plants that are collected in your little shop, and working out how best to treat your many strange customers. There’s an overarching plot that unfolds, with some parts being influenced depending on how you approach ‘curing’ certain individuals. It was a lot of fun.

7 Omno
Omno is exactly what I needed at the time I picked it up (via humble I think.) A super chill game about a little guy going on a pilgrimage and learning that it’s not the destination that counts, but the journey. Extremely easy-going little game with some nice puzzles and cute creatures. Really good soundtrack as well.

8 Beacon Pines
The second game on this list that involves manipulating timelines! Beacon Pines is a super cute, short little adventure game which has a deceptively dark story and involves manipulating a storybook tale of conspiracy and murder by deciding how the main character in the story reacts to certain situations, branching the timeline in different directions because of that, with the ultimate goal of saving your little town from some horrible apocalyptic disaster. If you don’t like anthropomorphic animal folk, the art style might not be for you, but it’s worth persevering through for the story.

9 Tunic
Another game with just a little guy. It bears some superficial DNA with Zelda, for certain, but it’s probably got a bit more in common with games like Fez, in that there are secrets buried within secrets, all tied in to the unique “instruction manual” presentation where you build up the games manual over time and learn about new things you can do or explore as they are laid out in the guide pages. Plus the fox is super cute.

10 The Entropy Centre
OK, lets be honest. This is as close you can probably get to Portal without getting sued by Valve. A lone surivor of some unnamed disaster, having to solve room sized puzzles to progress and accompanied (or harassed) by AI creations - it brazenly flaunts its inspiration. But the relationship between the main character and her “time gun” is endearing, and the story has some nice twists and turns. Plus I found the puzzles all JUST on the right side of challenging, without becoming annoying.

Honorary Mentions:

We Were Here Forever and Escape Room Simulator -- Two VERY fun escape room games made better with my co-op escape room buddy Eleima! These have been a blast to play through (and there's some new Western themed DLC for ERS *JUST* released. Nice!

The Gunk -- This was a LOT of fun. A bickering lesbian couple landing on an alien planet and cleaning it up with space vacuums and uncovering the secrets therein. It just didn’t quite make the list because its mechanics do get a little repetitive over time, and it shoe horns in some combat which I think was super unnecessary.

The Looker - Ok, so really the only reason I have this on here is because (a) it is genuinely funny in a very juvenile sort of a way and (b) it makes fun of The Witness and Johnathan “up his own butt” Blow, which we should all do more often.

Somerville - This was SO CLOSE to being amazing. The opening stage (depicting an incomprehensible Alien invasion of England and the main character attempting to flee to safety and find his family) is extremely tense and nerve-wracking, thanks mainly to some AMAZING sound work and Alien monolith designs. However, there’s a jankiness to the controls that gets in the way more often than i’d have liked, and the story (which is all visual with no spoken words) eventually becomes so vague as to be indecipherable. By the time you get to the ending, where your character has seemingly acquired super powers from…some guys…at a thing…for some reason it’s real easy to lose track of what’s actually going on.

My short list:

1. Persona 5 strikers
2. Persona 4 Golden (Persona 5 should go here but I tried playing it before and only beat it when it came to PC)
3. Greedfall
4. Steelrising
5. Solasta Crown of the Magistrate
6. Lost Eidelons
7. Vampire the Masquerade Coteries of New York
8. Midnight Suns
9. Soul Hackers 2
10. Pokemon Arceus

Short list for Eleima:
1. Stray (PS5)
2. Monster Hunter Rise/Sunbreak (PC)
3. The Last Campfire (PC)
4. The Forgotten City (PC)
5. Yx IX: Monstrum Nox (PS4)
6. Ratchet & Clank (PS4)
7. Oceanhorn2: Knights of the Lost Realm (Apple Arcade)
8. Astro's Playroom (PS5)
9. Submerged: Hidden Depths (PC)

Only 9 games this year. According to my spreadsheet, I actually played 12 games I hadn’t played before this year to completion, but I combined Monster Hunter and its expansion into one, and the other two don’t really deserve to be on this list (although Zelda: Phantom Hourglass would have without those idiotic stylus controls). I still have two games in progress, but one them (Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen) is unlikely to end up on this list (so far), and I’ve played (but never beaten) the second one in the past (Persona 3).

1. Stray (PS5)
The cat is adorable. The world is both fascinating and depressing. I love the robots. The game provides a nice mix of action sequences and adventure sequences. The cutest part is when the cat sleeps (on PS5 anyway): It rolls into a ball, a purring sounds comes from the controller’s speaker, while the controller gently vibrates. Also the game has a meow button. The only thing that’s missing from it is the ability to customize the cat.

Would I have liked it as much without the cat though? Maybe not.

2. Monster Hunter Rise & Sunbreak (PC)
Definitely my most played game this year. Looks great (but not as good as World), the new wirebug mechanics are very a nice addition (and I miss them when I play World), the new monsters are nice and varied and provide quite the challenge (particularly in Master Rank), and the multiplayer works very well. I also love the addition of the palamute.

3. The Last Campfire (PC)
This is a charming exploration game by Hello Game. I like exploration games with puzzle solving and collectibles, so this ticked most of my boxes! It also doesn’t overstay its welcome (I 100%’d it in a weekend)

4. The Forgotten City (PC)

Despite hearing a lot about the game, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had heard about the basic premise, but that was pretty much it. The gameplay is pretty simple at first: walk around this Roman city, talk to the folks, and solve the mystery. There is more than that. Eventually. But I won't go over it as to avoid spoilers. This is one game where you don't want to be spoiled. The various stories are quite interesting, and the overall plot, while fairly predicable at a certain point, was entertaining enough to keep me going and going, and there were plenty of surprises along the way.

I had a great time exploring the city, uncovering and solving its mysteries, talking to its inhabitants! The city itself is very well done.

5. Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (PS5)
While I don’t think the game was as good as its predecessor, this one was still a ton of fun: fast and fun combat, with a somewhat engaging story. The exploration was a bit better than in the previous games, due to the new powers. The free-for-all sections were slightly better integrated than in Ys VIII in the story and the music, while file during playtime, felt somewhat forgettable, and it didn’t have bangers that will stay in my ‘game’ playlist.

6. Ratchet & Clank (PS5)
I installed that one when I got my PS5 mostly because I thought my roommate would enjoy it (he pretty much plays nothing but Mario games), and he did. I played it too, and had a ton of fun. The environments were varied and gorgeous, the combat was engaging, I like the variety of the weapons and, while the story was entirely forgettable, it was still good enough to keep me entertained.

7. Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm (Apple Arcade)
I installed this one as a way to test the 3D performances of my new Apple TV 4K, and then I ended up playing all the way to the end (it took me 16 hours, with an 84% completion). It’s fun! I liked running around the pretty environments and finding treasures and other trinkets (most of them useless). The list of issues with this game is pretty long though: bland combat, a story that is forgettable (and goes pretty weird by the end), stiff character animations… If running around looking for stuff is not your thing, you might want to skip this one. It screams low budget and small team. What this small team built is kind of impressive though!

8. Astro’s Playroom
This one feels more like a Playstation nostalgia trip mixed with a tech demo for the new controller, but the controls are pretty tight, the game is fun, the music is good, and it looks great! I kinda wish this had been allowed to be a bigger, longer title… Hopefully Team Asobi (assuming they are still around) gets to make that next!

9. Submerged: Hidden Depths
This is almost identical to the first Submerged game. It’s very relaxing, and since this is mostly an exploration game, it’s perfect for catching up on podcasts. It’s a nice way to spend a weekend, and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.

I'll add Scorn for the S|X, if only for the art. It's visually amazing, even playing it via Cloud. The gameplay is simply puzzles, but it's hardly simple. The atmosphere definitely pushes it a few tiers higher for me, and as a Giger fan, I'll take it.