2022, probably a less diverse year in gaming for me due to the overwhelming time sink that was and still is: Elden Ring.

Still, here is my list

Cyberpunk 2077

While I was waiting for Elden Ring to come out, I played Cyberpunk 2077 for the second time. I enjoyed it possibly even more than the first, and wrote a lengthy love letter

Elden Ring

I have played this game for over 500 hours, this year. By far, my most played FromSoft game.

Its hard to explain how good this game is, and even if I nitpick a few flaws like multiplayer, its so exceptionally well done it seems kind of silly to harp on the lack of ultrawide support, dead multiplayer, and the stuttering shader compilation issues that have plagued all of PC gaming this year.

Dead Space

This was the first game The Jump Crouch folks asked if I wanted to do a long jump episode. That episode is here

I enjoyed replaying this with a fresher perspective

Dead Space 2

I immediately started playing Dead Space 2 after beating the first one. It was really good, but I need to get back to it.

Hotline Miami

My second long jump episode with The Jump Crouch

Hotline Miami is one of my top games ever, I replayed this one from start and had a great time all over again

Hotline Miami 2

So inspired by the first game, I deleted my saved data and started this one all over again as well. It was amazing, and for some reason, easier than the first time I played it.

The two creators had a great NoClip episode, and I truly feel terrible for how the gaming community reacted to HM2. I’ve mentioned it in my Cyberpunk 2077 post, but gamers are by far one of the worst entitled and tone deaf communities out there.

I still hope to see what Denis a Jonatan come up with in the future.

What Remains of Edith Finch

The Jump Crouch folks did a long jump on this on as well, so I bought it on steam and knocked it out one friday after work. A touching walking sim game.

Assassins Creed Valhalla

Carry over from 2021, its a very long game, and it took me well into 100 hours to beat. I really liked the ending, I was a little surprised actually.

Overall, its a pretty enjoyable game. I feel like this is no longer about Assassins Creed but more of a soulslike at this point. I rarely bother stealth killing, I just run in and make a big mess of things.

Far Cry 6

Still really disappointing, but, sometimes I fire it up for general mayhem and possible join Owen.

Power Wash Simulator*

I swear, no joke, this is one of the best games of 2022. I got in on Game Pass, and people thought I was joking when I said how good it is.

Probably because I’m a Dad and its in my genetic makeup to power wash the driveway and buy cheap shoes at Costco, but this game was so incredibly relaxing to play.

I would usually play it after lifting weights at night, and it just happen to strike a zen like chord and I would feel completely relaxed after an hour.

Signalis

This came out of nowhere, and its in-fucking-credible. Its a great homage to classic PS1 style survival horror, but it does everything SO WELL. Puzzles are amazing, atmosphere is great. All of the little clues and world building are fantastic. Also created by TWO PEOPLE.

My only complaint is the combat. Its awful… I really didn’t like the aiming and shooting, so I would run by everything.

Prodeus

Super fun old school boomer shooter. I played it with Kevin and had a ton of fun. Another great Game Pass deal.

High on Life

It looks great, and if you like Rick and Morty you will like this games humor. It has its entertaining moments, and it was interesting to see how many different game mechanics the devs employed. Puzzles, platforming, shooting, hub area, etc..

The game REALLY needed a skip dialog button. It felt like they really wanted this to be a TV episode, so you HAVE to listen and focus on wherever is talking.

UPDATE: I wrote this before the allegations of Justin Roiland domestic abuse and false imprisonment came up. To a degree I can separate the art from the artist, but not at this scale or magnitude. The game studio, Squanch Games, have publicly separated from Justin, but I ended up uninstalling the game because it just felt gross.

Pentiment

If Elden Ring didn’t come out, this would have been my number one game of the year. Obsidian should do more of this, a lot more.

The first hour or so felt like a religious studies class. I actually ALMOST fell asleep playing it. Until the first murder and that really kicks the game in high gear.

I loved every aspect of this game. I pet so many cats, and tried to solve the unsolvable. The ending was so touching, it had some real heartbreaking moments that stuck with me.

Scorn

Loved the art style and presentation, and even the puzzles. Absolutely hated the combat. Worst combat in a game ever. I had been looking forward to this for YEARS, every since it was announced, and I ended up having to force myself to play the rest of it.

Great ending though. I really felt like this could have been a top contender of the year it if wasn’t so awful to play.

Immortality

Manon Gage has infiltrated my sub conscious and I don’t want her to leave.

The more I played this, the more invested I got. First finding The Other, and hunting for anomalous footage is addictive. I played it enough that I dreamed about it all night.

The actress, Manon Gage, should have won best actor. She is so amazing playing different roles in a very meta way.

I also appreciate a game like this, back to the old full motion video games like Sierra used to do.

Backbone

Another Game Pass game for me. My daughter played in the other year, and really wanted me to check it out. Since it was free, I did. I was not disappointed. It was a fun point and click detective game. Last act took a hard turn though, really strange.

As Dusk Falls

I thought I would like this more than I actually did. I think it felt too much like watching a TV show. I did not finish this. Oddly, Immortality is just as much video watching as this one, but its the lynchian style that captivated me.

Unpacking

I liked the story telling in subtext here. Nothing is spelled out, but you start to figure out who this person is by moving their items during each phase of life.

TMNT

Simple arcade game. I played it with the kids. Its well executed for what it is.

Call of the Sea

Really fun adventure game with puzzles. I had some criticism over some of the sharp tone changes when you’re going through items. It was a little too happy of an ending for my particular tastes but that’s because I can’t stand there being anything wholesome and nice in the world.

Its shitty and bleak here, make my games a dark reflection of that.

Thymesia

Soulslike game from a small dev team in Taiwan.

It plays more like Sekiro, with a heavy focus on blocking. I found it fairly entertaining up until the end, but ultimately a little forgetful. For Soulslike games, I still find the Surge series and Mortal Shell to be the better implementations.

Fallout 4

This game is a buggy and boring piece of shit. I played it thinking it could be like Cyberpunk 2077, terrible at launch but redeemable.

No. This was a bad experience all around. It made me a little sad considering how much I liked FO3 and New Vegas.

Death Stranding

I love this game, I still continue to work through it. The directors cut has dualsense5 support on the PC, and thats pretty cool

Weird West

Seemed like this would have been right up my alley, but it just didn’t stick with me beyond the first few hours.

Phantasy Star Remastered

I stumbled across this, because I was playing the Wonder Boy 3 remaster on Epic. It required a PS2 emulator, and its really good. I played the Sega Master System version a lot when it came out, and this was a great way to relive the experience.

God of War Ragnarok

This could have been great, but its not. I have no idea why it won so many awards. Its not fun, the NPC’s spoil combat and puzzles, its nearly identical to the 2018 God of War, yet way longer and more drawn out. I’ll finish it one day, but I’m not in any great hurry.

Top 5

5 Immortality

Great game, I’m a fan of old FMV games from the 90s and this hit the spot. For a few hours, I thought I was playing it wrong,until things got weird. I became obsessed with finding the weird anomalies in the footage. I really felt like marissa was a real person

4 Signalis

Absolutely fantastic horror scifi in the vein of resident evil. It does so many things well and I was engrossed in the story itself

3 Power Wash Simulator

This shouldn’t be a surprise from me, but this game has provided me with hours of entertainment and relaxation.

2 Pentiment

Such a gem. I was happy to come on the podcast and talk about it. It was my Disco Elysium of 2022. From petting animals to hearing august say I love you daddy, it was one of the best adventure games I’ve ever played

1 Elden Ring

No shock here. I play this game casually at this point, and with over 500 hours of game time I’ve had a blast making different builds and cooping with my daughter and friends

Other Musings

This was the year I subscribed to Game Pass, and the vast majority of the games I played were because of that subscription. 10000% worth it in my opinion. Not only did Game Pass make something like Pentiment even possible, it exposed me to a wide variety of games that I didn’t stress over being invested in at all

Some things I played on Game Pass that I didn’t mention here at all, because the amount of time I spent was very small, but it was still of value.

I also bought my friends Xbox Series S, I have a Xbox One, and it was starting to get a little long in the tooth. I’m mostly excited to play Diablo 4 this year on it. Cross save and Cross play are huge benefits as well