Blake Reno’s Top 10 Games of 2022
I don’t know if it was a huge backlog of great games delayed by the pandemic or if it was me playing the right games this year, but 2022 was a great year for video games (and I didn’t even play Elden Ring or God of War: Ragnarök). I normally write a “top 5” list, and while my top 3 were pretty set in stone, I could see so many different games have a great argument for the 4 and 5 spots that I thought I needed to expand things this year and make sure that the games that I really wanted to talk about all got time to shine (rather than have some uber-expansive “honorable mentions” section). Just like last year, stories, art, dialogue, and things outside of gameplay really seemed to grab me more than gameplay itself, but I felt like getting back into ranking games because it’s fun to put numbers next to game names to generate discussion.
10. As Dusk Falls (Played on Xbox Series S, also on PC)
This game really surprised me. As someone who has played most of the Telltale Games catalog, to see a different studio essentially out-Telltale Telltale was immensely pleasing. Whereas Telltale’s games blur together the more you play them, getting bogged-down in unimportant decisions, As Dusk Falls makes almost every decision feel important, even though the game tells you which decisions are the biggest ones as you’re making them. Because the story is so self-contained and each chapter the game explains how many different branching paths there are, the player’s always aware of the weight of their choices. In addition, the game gives you the option to look at all the branches in the path at the end of each chapter, and you can resume the game right at those choices, adding replay value to a genre that typically has very little. I also played this game multiplayer, and being able to turn this game into a psychological journey within the group of folks you play with is also a treat in itself.
9. Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling (Played on Series S, also on PS4, Switch, and PC)
Unsurprisingly, the formula Nintendo created with Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is still a winning one. The issue is that someone else had to take it upon themselves to continue giving us games with the formula. Bug Fables ups the ante in terms of difficulty and complexity of combat, adding in positioning of your 3 bugs and the order in which you take their turns as elements to consider. Outside of that, this game is totally derivative of the aforementioned Mario RPGs, but even so, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy it. As derivative as it is, it still feels like there’s something missing about the game that just makes it lack the charm of Nintendo’s Paper Mario games. The writing is surprisingly emotional as your party members discover each other’s backstories and there’s humor in the dialogue too, but maybe it just wasn’t the same kind of humor or at the same level as Nintendo. In spite of that, Bug Fables is still absolutely worth playing if you want a Paper Mario-styled game with more strategic depth.
8. Shin Megami Tensei V (Switch)
If you’re tired of Pokémon, please consider looking into SMTV. This is exactly what adult Pokémon should feel like. The story is mature (even if it isn’t great), the monsters are based off of many mythologies, it’s difficult, and there’s plenty of reason to explore the world. The game doesn’t run very well, with ridiculous draw-distance issues, but Atlus certainly made a game that’s an absolute delight to play. I found myself pushed to “recruit ‘em all” or “fuse ‘em all” to try and get all the information on every available creature. Both for a sense of completion and to make sure that I had as much information as possible so my team didn’t get wiped out in one turn.
7. Tinykin (Played on Series S, also on PS4, Switch, PC)
The “sleeper” hit this year for a lot of folks was also a hit with me. While this game most immediately makes one think of Pikmin (I screamed when Miyamoto announced Pikmin 4), the tinykin themselves are more of an additional collectible in the game than a tool for multitasking. Despite some wishful thinking for a non-Nintendo Pikmin, Tinykin instead felt like the game Playtonic should have made when they attempted to revive Banjo-Kazooie with Yooka-Laylee. Tinykin is collectathon bliss: there’s lots to collect and do, you can switch areas of a room if you’re stumped on something or don’t have the right tool yet, and while the rooms (levels) feel massive, traversing them is not some kind of huge ordeal like it was in Banjo-Tooie or Yooka-Laylee and doesn’t have 12 different collectables like Donkey Kong 64. It certainly helps that the developers thought ahead and gave you incremental upgrades to Milo’s ability to float as you continue to progress through the game, making it easier to traverse the levels in a non-convoluted manner. I 100%-ed this game because I was starving that much for a competent collectathon.
6. Blasphemous (Played on Switch, also on Xbox, PS4, PC)
There’s undoubtedly a renaissance happening in the 2D metroidvania sphere post-Hollow Knight, especially with the picking and choosing of certain aspects of the Souls-like genre to add into the genre. Blasphemous has an incredible art direction and a story that got me invested. I’m one of the people who doesn’t think Hollow Knight or Souls games with their complete lack of narrative that’s filled in by item description, one-off remarks by bosses, and headcanon is exactly riveting, but it is the setting and world of Blasphemous that got me invested in what would happen to The Penitent One. And with that comes very tight combat that feels, as fans of the Souls-like genre like to say, “tough but fair”.
5. Nobody Saves the World (Played on Series S, also on Switch, PS4, PC)
Drinkbox Games (of Guacamelee! fame) just dropped the multiplayer ARPG everyone has always wanted (sorry Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin and Diablo IV). NStW’s sense of progression is unmatched: complete little quests by using different forms’ abilities. The game really opens up about 90-120 minutes in when you unlock the ability to mix and match form abilities with each other. You want your horse form to be able to leave slime trails like the slug? Done. You want your ghost form to be able to shoot arrows in addition to emitting a spooky aura? Done. That sort of customizable fun, plus the chaos of being able to play it online or local with your pals makes this game one of my favorites for this year. I’ve played it through 2.75 times: once solo, once with a friend, and about ¾ through with another friend.
4. Ghost Song (Played on Series S, also on Switch, PS4, PC)
Another one of the many metroidvanias I played this year, Ghost Song left the strongest mark on me. This one has you playing as a Samus-adjacent robot, arm-cannon and all, but gives you the chance to build melee if you’d rather smash enemies instead. What Ghost Song does better than other metroidvanias (in addition to the soundtrack) is give you a reason to fight. Shortly after the game begins, you stumble upon a camp of humans who crash-landed on the planet and they all have existential things to consider due to their situation. Having a direct connection with beings who share in your existential dread really adds to the sense of isolation when you’re out exploring the world in a manner that other games in the genre don’t come close to. In addition, the game is not as sprawling as other metroidvanias, the world is very compact and it’s relatively easy to get to where you need to go, and that cuts down on the backtracking that can sometimes be overdone in the genre.
3. Chained Echoes (Played on Series S, also on Switch, PS4, PC)
Taking the best parts of the SNES Final Fantasy games and some inspiration from CrossCode, Chained Echoes is everything anyone who grew up playing 16-bit turn-based RPGs could ever want. One of the small design choices that makes Chained Echoes so much fun is getting a full heal after every fight: it allows one to let loose and have fun instead of playing conservatively in normal encounters to save HP and MP. In addition, there’s little grinding. There’s an SP system that improves the skills of your characters a little bit, but the only stat upgrades are predicated on getting grimoire shards and using them (which are obtained after boss fights, some of which are optional). What really put Chained Echoes over the top for me was the lack of melodrama in the story. It’s mature, but compact, never feels overbearing. The dialogue itself is well-written too, with some witty banter (that’s not groan-inducing!) between characters and some moments of care as the party members’ backstories are fleshed-out over the course of the game.
2. Yakuza Kiwami 2 (Played on Series S, also on PS4, PC)
The second Yakuza game to be made in the Dragon Engine (and a remake of Yakuza 2), Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio finally figured out how to make every single great aspect of Yakuza come together. Kiwami 2 completely reformulates how experience and upgrades work. Things like eating at restaurants finally do more for you than grant you a meager amount of experience and heal you, and everything feeds into the XP system. In addition, the writing for the substories is uproarious and the best of the series I’ve played (at the time of writing I have played Yakuza 0 – Yakuza 4 and I am about 3/4 of the way through Yakuza 5). What also impressed me about the Dragon Engine was the removal of loading screens when entering buildings. There are so many more nooks and crannies to explore than before and you don’t realize just how immersive it is to not have loading screens when entering buildings until you go to Yakuza 3 and realize how badly it takes you out of the game. Ryuji Goda is also the series’ best antagonist thus far and the tension of scenes that feature him are remarkable even in comparison to the great cutscenes of Yakuza 0.
1. OMORI (Played on Series S, also on Switch, PS4, PC) (note that the console versions, released later, have additional content; the developer has not stated whether this content is coming to the Steam version, but this content is on the PC Game Pass version).
I think the most telling thing about how much I love OMORI is the fact that when I asked a couple of my friends what my “games of the year” would be, I received answers that were “Omori x5” or “Omori” and a list of 4 made-up OMORI sequels. This write-up will be pretty vague, as the less you know about the game going in, the better. That said, OMORI is an EarthBound-style turn-based RPG about guilt and trauma (not "depression,” as the memes often say) and how the best ways to overcome them (without therapy) are through friendship, memories, trust, and love. As far as I can remember, I cried six different times playing through OMORI (both happy and sad tears) and it has made me feel things I didn’t think a video game could make me feel. I felt attachment, caring, and almost a friendship with every single character. One of the game’s final moments even evoked a tightening chest and a shortness of breath in myself because I couldn’t bring myself to do what I needed to do to “progress” in the game. While OMORI doesn’t do anything remarkable gameplay-wise, the art, dialogue, humor, soundtrack, and story are so incredible that it didn’t matter to me. The game I experienced in OMORI was a world with a story, characters, dialogue, music, and emotions deeper than anything I may experience in a video game ever again. It may not have the same impact for you, but it had that kind of impact on me.
See meme below for my relationship with my friends after finishing OMORI.
