Board 8 > SHINE's favorite games of 2022 #lists #aceofgames #platinumget

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's that time of year again where I need to put out some lists about the games I played. As usual it's my 10 favorite games of 2022 + 5 honorable mentions (aka games that were on the list as I was building it and dropped off as I added more), Top 5 old games (games that got new remasters in 2022 or games from prior years I played for the first time. Remakes don't count for this) and the 5 games I wish I had played this year. I'll start from the bottom and work my way up! After all that maybe I'll throw out some of my most anticipated games for next year.

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
------------------------------
???
???
???
???
???

Top 5 Old Games of 2022
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Top 5 Games of 2022 I wish I played
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Tag

Hmm

Zu

(Of course right when I made this topic the ER blew up at work and I've had no time since then)

Top 5 Games of 2022 I wish I played

5. Star Ocean: The Divine Force

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/3/AAB6RfAAECb5.jpg

THE SUMMER OF STAR OCEAN NEVER ENDS! Just never had the time to get around to starting this one. It seems to take a lot of inspiration from SO2 and is an improvement over both SO4 and 5 and I guess it got a big patch earlier this month that fixed quite a few issues people were having at launch so will definitely check it out when I have a chance.

Top 5 Games of 2022 I wish I played

4. Soul Hackers 2

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/6/8/AAB6RfAAECcI.jpg

The first Soul Hackers one of the better SMT spin-offs back in its day and this new one has some interesting character designs. When it came out reviews seemed mostly positive but not mind blowing with a lot of complaints being the slow movement (which has since been patched) and the monotony of the dungeon design. Now that that patch is out with more QoL improvements I'll probably be checking it out sooner rather than later.

Ah, time to check the games you wished you'd played last year:

Monster Hunter Rise
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Lost Judgment
Hitman 3
Tales of Arise

How many have you gotten around to?

3 of them!

Oh wait 2 I started Judgment but didn't actually get to Lost Judgment yet

Top 5 Games of 2022 I wish I played

3. Vampire Survivors

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/7/5/AAB6RfAAECcP.jpg

Giant Bomb is mostly to blame for me being interested in this game. Just been waiting for this to come to Switch or PS4/PS5 before I grab it since I dont really play games on PC. The gameplay loop is exactly the type of thing Id be into and I love seeing how crazy it can get the further into a run you go. Plus its only like $3 (or $5 now with the DLC) thats basically free.

Well you're working through them, I'm impressed! How about the 2020 list?

1. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
2. Twials of Mana
3. The Last of Us Part 2
4. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
5. Hades
6. Star Wars Squadrons
7. Persona 5 Royal
8. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore
9. DOOM Eternal
10. Half-Life Alyx

Just Miles Morales XD

Also wow I did 10 games that year I blame animal crossing

Also I'll put this out now Final Fantasy 14 doesn't appear anywhere on this year's lists despite being my most played playstation game this year. I was mostly just finishing up all the post-ARR content before jumping into Heavensward. I'll finally dive into all that next year once all the patches are out to play the game solo if you wish

But hey speaking of Final Fantasy

Top 5 Games of 2022 I wish I played

2. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/8/7/AAB6RfAAECcb.jpg

Ive been very pre-occupied the month of December this year and Crisis Core just came out too late for me to actually get to it. I enjoyed the original PSP game and with how FF7 Remake is messing with the timelines this game is the perfect refresher before we get to Remake Part 2 where I expect them to mess with the events of Crisis Core even more.

Top 5 Games of 2022 I wish I played

1. Pokemon Legends: Arceus

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/0/1/AAB6RfAAECcp.jpg

Its no secret that I had a falling out with Pokemon games in the 3DS era. The games themselves seem to refuse to evolve and every time they tried a new idea it seem completely uninteresting to me. While I finished all those games eventually its come to bite me on the Switch and I only ever bothered to finish Lets Go Pikachu. I got maybe 2 hours into Pokemon Sword and just havent continued since then and havent touched any of the other games. Arceus move to an open world seems like a good first step to what I might want out of Pokemon game even if it is rough around the edges. Im stuck in my ways though and continue to play things in release order so I dont see myself starting Arceus until I least go back to Sword and finally play through the rest of that, but I really want to play it!

And first batch done

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
------------------------------
???
???
???
???
???

Top 5 Old Games of 2022
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Top 5 Games of 2022 I wish I played
1. Pokemon Legends Arceus
2. Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII Reunion
3. Vampire Survivors
4. Soul Hackers 2
5. Star Ocean: The Divine Force

Top 5 Old Games of 2022

5. Tactics Ogre Reborn

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/4/0/AAB6RfAAECdQ.jpg

I havent quite had enough time to mess around with this as much as I wanted to and see all the new rebalancing theyve done to the battle system and classes, but I already considered the original game to be the gold standard for grid based SPRGs that any improvements would just be icing on the cake. They totally should give this treatment to Ogre Battle 64 though because thats the real one that deserves another shot.

Top 5 Old Games of 2022

4. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/6/0/AAB6RfAAECdk.jpg

Ill always have mixed feelings about Chrono Cross. On one hand yeah it doesnt compare at all to Chrono Trigger, but on the other hand its so unique I cant help but love the mess they created. I enjoy revisiting this game again even if the actual remaster work done to it wasnt the greatest. Seems like it was just run through an AI that touched up all the backgrounds, but they didnt go back and check its work because some of the remastered areas just look really off. Being able to use the cheat menu to blow through the game though and see the parts you want to see was appreciated, but the real gem here was finally getting the first official western release of Radical Dreamers.

Been really enjoying Crisis Core. Some good QoL improvements over the PSP version

Top 5 Old Games of 2022

3. Alan Wake Remastered

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/1/2/AAB6RfAAECeY.jpg

The only game on this list that didnt release this year (Although I guess it did on Switch although sounds like thats a bad version of the game). After playing Control a few years ago and loving it, I had to stop myself before playing the 2nd DLC since it seemed you would get more out of it if you had played Alan Wake. Turns out Im a big sucker for the eccentric and thrilling stories of Remedy-verse because a lot of the things I liked about Control are also the things I like Alan Wake despite the fact its a much worse playing game. Still wondering if I should bother with Quantum Break since that seems mostly disconnected, but Ill definitely replay Control at some point (The Ultimate Edition of PS5) and finally play that DLC too and then Ill be ready for Alan Wake 2 whenever that releases.

Tag

Top 5 Old Games of 2022

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/7/5/6/AAB6RfAAECfE.jpg

2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection

Since the NES days Ive always been of big fans of Konamis TMNT games, even that very first one because Im a sicko. Having the chance to replay them all with trophy support and online multiplayer for a handful of them was a treat. That 3rd Game Boy game is actually awesome and I never played it before so that was a nice surprise. I guess the people who developed that went on to make Symphony of the Night so that checks out. The amount of archive material present in this collection is impressive from all the manuals in every language to design docs to arcade materials and shots from all the comics and TV shows. If youre a fan at all of these games its definitely a collection to check out.

Tag

Top 5 Old Games of 2022

1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/2/5/AAB6RfAAECgJ.jpg

Okay so kinda unfair because I'm pretty sure I put this on my old games list a few years ago too when I played the fan translation, but now that it was officially released in the west in 2022 I have to include it again. The Crossbell arc of the Trails games is my favorite arc and Lloyd Bannings is my favorite character in the series. It's a shame it took so long for these games to finally come out in English officially because a lot of their plot twists were already spoiled in the Trails of Cold Steel games. Still worth playing though because they're awesome games and have all those fun QoL improvements to help speed things along. Zero in particular is a lot like Trails in the Sky FC in that it's mostly just world building, but it's all centered around one city instead. Crossbell to me is a lot like Kamurocho in the Yakuza games where the city almost feels like a character itself and is constantly evolving over the course of the series. Azure is the better game for sure, but we can worry about that next year.

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
------------------------------
???
???
???
???
???

Top 5 Old Games of 2022
1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection
3. Alan Wake: Remastered
4. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
5. Tactics Ogre Reborn

Top 5 Games of 2022 I wish I played
1. Pokemon Legends Arceus
2. Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII Reunion
3. Vampire Survivors
4. Soul Hackers 2
5. Star Ocean: The Divine Force

my top 5....3 old games since i think i only played 3 re-releases
1. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection
3. Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium

Top 5 2022 I wish i played:
1. Triangle Strategy
2. RPG Time: The Legend of Wright
3. Horizon: Forbidden West (I didn't play enough to form a real opinion yet)
4. God of War: Ragnarok
5. Shovel Knight Dig (for Switch)

requesting Shine's Top DLCs of 2022

Cuphead DLC
Stranger of Paradise DLC 1

I don't think I played any other DLCs this year!

Here's the HONORABLE MENTIONS listed in alphabetical order. Or is it dishonorable because they were cut from the top 10?

Also from this point on there will be SPOILERS mentioned for some games.

Horizon: Forbidden West - This is one nice looking video game and maybe some of the best face animations I've seen in a game. Wasn't a big fan of the first game (except the snow DLC which was rad) mainly because I thought the open world design was kinda boring and there wasn't much driving you to actually seek out the collectibles other than the ones that were required for trophies. Combat gives you a lot more options than before you really can make most fights trivial though with the right set ups. The main thing that sticks in my mind though is they somehow made the climbing worse like I just couldn't stand how Aloy felt climbing up any cliffs. Just go full BotW already and let her climb on any surface. I did enjoy things more though once I finished the main story and got to the post game (and subsequent NG+ playthroughs) because of the ability to fly around on a Pteradon and I just kinda loved that aspect of it.

Neon White - Turns out everyone just got this game on PC so I had no one on my Switch friends list to play times against which seemed like the main draw. I really enjoyed it for what it was as I've been known to speedrun some games in my day. Even with a controller the movement felt good and trying to get through with the cleanest run you could was addicting. I only got maybe halfway through the story though so I don't know how it looks towards the endgame. I may pick up the PS5 version when it's on sale and play it again for trophies some day.

Stray - The draw of playing as a cat is strong with this one. However in practice the actual game you really could have been anything, not just a cat, and it would have played out the same way. There's no actual platforming either as jumps are all automated so you can't really die from that. It's all about being stealthy and avoiding the enemies that are around in various areas while you help out the robot people in this underground city.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Tribute Games and Dotemu knocked it out of the park with this new TMNT game emulating the style of the old Konami games. It felt like a natural evolution of what those games would become if they continued past the 16 bit era with updated movesets, 6 player online and 7 playable characters. All in all it was only like 2 hours long, but I did multiple playthroughs alone and with friends and it was always fun to play.

Windjammers 2 - Yes I'm still EVO grade at Windjammers and I was the fist person in the world to get the platinum in this game which I'm proud of. The new additions to Windjammers 2 are alright, but I liked the simplicity of the original more. The game never really got an online community though and was already dead the day of release so I didn't play it much beyond getting the platinum the first 24 hours after it came out.

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
------------------------------
Honorable Mentions

• Horizon Forbidden West
• Neon White
• Stray
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
• Windjammers 2

Top 5 Old Games of 2022
1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection
3. Alan Wake: Remastered
4. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
5. Tactics Ogre Reborn

Top 5 Games of 2022 I wish I played
1. Pokemon Legends Arceus
2. Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII Reunion
3. Vampire Survivors
4. Soul Hackers 2
5. Star Ocean: The Divine Force

Anyway I'll do the actual top 10 after I wake up later tonight because it's my bed time

This is good

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022

#10. God of War: Ragnarok

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/3/6/AAB6RfAAECmk.jpg

Full disclosure I've only put about 10 hours into this game so far so I'm sure it's gets crazier and more engaging, but what I've played so far has just felt like a DLC expansion to the first game and hasn't been able to keep my attention for long. It's still fun to just dunk on guys with Kratos, but the first time they put in control of Atreus I wasn't a big fan. Haven't played it since then after finishing up that segment, but I want to get back to it soon. I kept it in the top 10 just on faith that I will like the game more going forward, but if not feel free to drop it off the list and replace it with Shredder's Revenge from my Honorable Mentions XD

Wigs HMs:
Sonic Frontiers
Case of the Golden Idol
Soundfall
Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion

Sonic Frontiers was pretty fun! Buggy as hell in kind of a good way and I also had a lot of issues with it and hated the "typical" 3d sonic sections, but open world exploration a la Mario Odyssey and BotW is good. it has that Sonic Jank.

Case of the Golden Idol was ok. Obra Dinn is way better, and I felt this game had a lot of things where the scenarios it wanted you to fill in had many viable solutions even after you got all the clues, but you had to answer the way it wanted and there often just wasn't enough distinction to tell that. Pretty interesting mechanics though

Soundfall was a fun rhythm looter-shooter with a solid but not amazing lineup of music. You have to shoot to the beat and can use 4 characters powerups (also to the beat). It was fun enough, but I don't typically like these top down shooting diablo-likes that much to begin with and the rhythm aspect made me like it more. Super Guitar Bros and Danimal Cannon show up in the music if you know them so thats a plus

I haven't played much Crisis Core yet, just starting, but its ok enough. Kinda boring in parts. But i enjoy it.

my number 10 is Tiny Tina's Wonderlands

Haven't beat it yet but played def enough to eval it. Good BL style humor, good voice acting. Fun weapons. I love the magic spells, they feel great. The D&D overworld is cool. Basically its the very fleshed out version of the BL2 DLC and its got fun vibes. This is the 2nd best Borderlands game after 2.

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022

#9. Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/3/AAB6RfAAECm_.jpg

While Atari was my first console as a young SHINE, I never had much games for it nor do I have much nostalgia for their games in general, but I still check out these collections to see what's good. Atari 50 managed to be not just the best Atari collection, but because of the way its laid out it I'd consider this to be the new gold standard for how video game collections should be done. Instead of taking you straight to a game list, everything is arranged in a timeline from the beginning of Atari until the end of the Jaguar days in the 90s and all the archival footage and print materials is sprinkled along the way. They also did a ton of interviews with former Atari developers and put those in the timeline too to give context to the games you're seeing. Beyond that they also made new 2022 versions of a few Atari games and they're pretty fun to play. They even recreated the Swordquest game that never released, Airworld. I would to see this style of collection with other companies like Capcom or Sega. I don't say Nintendo because they'd never allow it.

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022

#8. Kirby & the Forgotten Lands

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/9/AAB6RfAAECnP.jpg

Really can't believe it took this long to get a fully 3D Kirby platformer. It's still pretty linear though, it's not like the Mario Odyssey style environments that people thought it was going to be when it was announced. It was more like a Kirby take on Mario 3D World though, even down to the part where every stage felt like it was introducing a new idea throughout almost the entire game. Everything that makes Kirby games great can be found here: adorable visuals, fun-to-use powers, and a gentle learning curve that steepens only when you want it to. Throw in a ton of collectibles and a DBZ level final boss fight and that was enough to find its way onto this list

number 9 TMNT Shredder's Revenge

fun beat em up, created lovingly from the old 90s pizza shop or roller rink arcade types. Fun to play with a ton of people and you can just do a quick run through for fun.
The music is also fantastic and includes the likes of Mega Ran

number 8
inscryption

Technically 2021, but ill count it here cuz it was released on ps5 in 2022.
i dont want to say much about this game but its a deck builder, but youre also playing it against your will as you're held hostage by a serial killer in the woods. and twists and turns happen in the narrative as you countine to play his card game over and over. lot of puzzley stuff in this one. it's no slay the spire but check it out if you like that kind of game, or also if you like the Pony Island/Superhot kind of games.

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022

#7. Bayonetta 3

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/8/8/AAB6RfAAECnY.jpg

Technically a small disappointment for me because Bayo 2 was my GotY 2014. Bayo 3 really is the first game where I've begun to feel the Switch is no longer up to the task of modern games, but not only does it run at a low framerate but even visually it doesn't even compare to how 2 looked either. Despite that it's still a blast to play and they really get far more nuts than they ever did with prior games. The weapons don't even make logical sense anymore you're just turning into clock towers and doomtrains and dunking on enemies with controllable kaiju demons that you can just bring in mid combo whenever you have the meter for them. The whole Multiverse story also confirmed my own theory that I thought the Bayos in 1 and 2 (and now 3) were actually different characters and seeing all 3 of them get together to take on the big bad was awesome. The game can be a little overwhelming at times just because there is so much to do in terms of collectibles and weapon variety, but they made it easier by making the combos universal across all weapons. For the more hardcore character action purists that's probably more of a negative than having a big complex combo tree, but I felt it made all weapons accessible instead of just the one I was good at.

numba 7

Jackbox party pack 9
more jackbox goodness (play with us on discord on new years!)

Junktopia is meh but the other games are great.
New fibbage, including video clips is fantastic.
Quixort where you rank things from least to most is a good trivia game.
Nonsensory is the best one, if you ever played Wavelength, its like that
Roomerang is very open ended and requires the players to go along with the joke and be funny but its simple and chill enough so its usually a good time.

is Jackbox a real game or just a social experiment

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022

#6. Sonic Frontiers

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/0/8/AAB6RfAAECns.jpg

Okay I'll be the first to admit this game is very unpolished. The camera is weird, you don't always land on platforms like you think you would and they ran out of assets 2/3 through the game and started reusing them, but you can see the skeleton here of what could be an amazing Sonic game in future iterations. Just running around the open zone areas and bouncing and grinding on whatever I wanted was actually very relaxing and fun on its own even if I wasn't working towards any sort of objective.

For some reason they went REALLY DARK with the story line and everyone seems to be having a midlife crisis over the horrors Eggman has put them through over these past 30 years. They also try to tie all the games together into a single continuity which is a kind of hilarious

halfway home

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Sonic Frontiers
7. Bayonetta 3
8. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
9. Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration
10. God of War: Ragnarok
------------------------------
Honorable Mentions

• Horizon Forbidden West
• Neon White
• Stray
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
• Windjammers 2

Top 5 Old Games of 2022
1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails From Zero
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection
3. Alan Wake: Remastered
4. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
5. Tactics Ogre Reborn

Top 5 Games of 2022 I wish I played
1. Pokemon Legends Arceus
2. Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII Reunion
3. Vampire Survivors
4. Soul Hackers 2
5. Star Ocean: The Divine Force

Not a super positive list so far.

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022

#5. Live A Live

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/3/3/AAB6RfAAECoF.jpg

The Super Famicom classic reborn as an HD-2D remake. I never got to play a fan translation of the original so this was my first time experiencing it. You can see the beginning of ideas that would become fully realized later in Chrono Trigger where instead of a fully cohesive time travelling adventure you'e presented with 7 different protagonists from 7 different time periods and they each have their own self contained story to play through which can range from 30 minutes to 3 hours long. Then after completing them all you unlock an 8th protagonist in a medievil setting that feels like it's trying to be their take on a Dragon Quest game, but then BIG PLOT TWISTS happen and all the different protagonists across time come together to stop the villain that has been influencing things in each time period. It's really cool and still a fresh idea you don't see in JRPGs too much. Visually I think it looks much better than an Octopath Traveler they figured out how to make these environments look more natural with the 2D-HD style and the music is just incredible. If anything go check out the OST.

wigs 6

stray

cat puzzle platformer with stealth also. my kind of game even before a cat was involved. also weird robots and futurey stuff. also you can MEOW AND TAKE NAPS

Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022

#4. Tunic

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/6/1/AAB6RfAAECoh.jpg

Easily the best indie game released this year, but beware the cute Zelda looking visuals are just to lure you in. At its core this game is more of a mix of Souls game and Fez. Everything in the game is written in a made up language and every inch of the map is filled with secrets to discover. You discover pages of an NES style manual and despite not understanding what's being said, but studying the pages you can tell visually what its trying to tell you and use that information to unlock more and more secrets. The base story it's pretty manageable without help, but if you're going for 100% some of those puzzles were beyond my comprehension and that's where more of the Fez style community problem solving comes into play. I'd recommend the PS5 version if you can because each secret is usually tied to a trophy and it uses those play cards that PS5 does at a system level to give you hints for those secrets, but not the full answer until you scroll through them all so if you just need a little nudge it provides that for you. Was pretty proud of solving the final puzzle of the golden path at the top of the snow mountain though I drew out that entire thing in MS Paint and was surprised what I was doing actually worked! I think my experience was enhanced because back in the NES days I would always read the manual cover to cover before a starting a game and it reawakened those memories within me playing this game.

wigs the 5th

Return to Monkey island

I didnt play these games until quite a bit later in life but i still really enjoyed them
Ron Gilbert returns and its many of the same humor you'd expect though not all the jokes are there, but its fresh and stale (in a good way) at the same time.

def play this if you liked the others but you dont need me to tell you that
but i wouldnt play this unless youve at least played the first 3 monkey islands, though they do a neat job recapping all of them at the start.

anyway a good amount of fun quirky humor here. the "use everything on everything" aspect is kind of dumbed down which is a little disappointing but its probably a tighter experience. also definitely turn on "wordier dialogue" in the options before you play if you like the jokes.

some people probably wont like the ending to this game its a stunt theyve pulled before and people didnt like it then but hey , thats what makes monkey island monkey island sometimes

wigs 4

Kirby and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat or whatever its called

A solid kirby game that delivered anything you'd want out of it. Fun but easy but not too easy platforming with copy abilities and missions to do and a pretty hefty amount of side content. good difficulty curve and right amount of fun factor. these games are generally good at adding one twist and making it feel fresh all the way through