Yeah I know I'm over a month late. I didn't really plan on doing this this year because 2022 was a weird year for me in which I didn't finish as many games as usual (thus the preponderance of shorter games on this list) but I find myself with some time to kill and so decided I wanted to shout out these games after all (I mean, number one is really underappreciated...).
10. Panzer Paladin (Switch)
I got into "new retro" games in 2022, i.e. games made recently but purposely going for a retro aesthetic and/or gameplay but often tuned with modern sensibilities or quality of life features. So you'll see a few of them on this list. The first is Panzer Paladin, a side scroller heavily influenced by Mega Man but you're in a slow-moving mech and fight with breakable melee weapons. Said weapons can be purposefuly destroyed for a variety of special effects, including healing, so knowing how to balance use and destruction is key to getting through some of the harder stages. Developer Tribute Games did a fine job evoking the past for a modern audience, helping them snag their next project, which was...
9. TMNT: Shredder's Revenge (Xbox)
Like pretty much every elder millennial male, I have a lot of fond memories playing the OG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games both in the arcade and at home, especially with my dad. So I was rather intrigued to see how Tribute would return to the beat-em-up genre, rather stale in 2023, to give the Turtles another chance to shine. The result is just awesome. What could have been entirely a cheap cash-in on nostalgia was clearly designed by folks who love the source material and wanted to pay homage to it in the best possible way but also put their own spin on it. The graphics are bright and colorful, the controls are smooth and modern, the moves are flashy and easy to pull off, and you can play as April, Shredder and Casey Jones with up to 6 players (which is pure chaos). But the standout star for me is the soundtrack, which instantly transports you to a 1990 arcade while also packing in some fresh new tunes, including nerdcore rapper Mega Ran on the end credits theme (so happy for him to be in this game, what a dream come true). Seriously, check it out on Spotify. It's not higher on the list because ultimately it's a beat-em-up you can finish in a couple hours, but those hours are a real blast.
8. Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures I and II Deluxe (PS4)
I admit to having watched AVGN episodes since almost the beginning, maybe 2008. The humor doesn't always land for me, but it's undeniable that creator James Rolfe was a pioneer in online gaming video production. The games based on the series, however, didn't really interest me until they were on sale for dirt cheap and I read that the "Deluxe" edition includes difficulty options that let you tone things down from "screw you" to "tough but fair." What results are two very well-made retro run-and-gun platformers where you will die a lot, but instantly restart at a recent checkpoint with a little bit of increased knowledge to help you try again. Fans of the series will appreciate the myriad references but it's not totally necessary to enjoy the action. Both also feature an outstanding chiptune soundtrack (also on Spotify) by designer/composer Sam Beddoes, with my favorite track "Laughin' Jokin' Numbnuts" creating the perfect final-stage atmosphere of "shit's real now but you got this."
7. Guardians of the Galaxy (Xbox)
I admit I've been a little Marveled-out since Endgame, there's just too much. However when I needed a little break from a certain other game on this list this was a nice palette cleanser, a straightforward, well-written action game with some light RPG elements. Star Lord, Drax and the rest come off just about as well as you could hope for given that they are not portrayed by their movie likenesses (but obviously heavily inspired by them). Nice alien landscapes, fun tactical combat, a meaningful story and engaging banter made this worth the ride it takes you on (although the fake swearing gets a little farking old and I also got a little bored of the combat towards the end once I had unlocked all the abilities).
6. Borderlands 3 (Xbox)
The original Borderlands would've been very high on my list had I actually been ranking games the year I played it (2010 I think?). Before that I wasn't the hugest fan of either FPSes or Diablo but putting the two together really worked for me. I didn't fully play through Borderlands 2 until years later, it was fine, and then got to Borderlands 3 in 2022 when it was on a super sale. It honestly does earn its derisive moniker of "More-derlands," but for whatever reason it clicked with me in a way that 2 didn't. Playing as a gunner class that could hop in a mech whenever things got a little too intense probably helped. I understand how the humor in these games can be grating for some but it didn't bother me too much, I mean Tiny Tina is barely in it. It's just a fun "looter shooter" you don't have to think too much about it and sometimes that's just fine.
5. Mass Effect Legendary Edition (Xbox)
Ok, to be clear if this were my first time playing through the Mass Effect series it would be higher on the list. But it's not; however, replaying all three games on the same system (I first played them on 3 different underpowered PCs) together with all of the DLC (new to me) was a great way to reevaluate and reexperience them. It's funny how ME1 is the most RPG of the lot which would've originally been most my jam however this time I kept thinking "God I hate dealing with this inventory, can't wait to get to ME2 where I can just upgrade and shoot shit"). It was definitely a much smoother and prettier experience this time and a great way to replay one of the greatest sci-fi series in gaming history (well, I do have Andromeda in my backlog, maybe I'll try that sometime. Maybe.)
4. Infernax (Xbox)
What a great Game Pass surprise while I was waiting for a "certain other game" on this list to come out. I've played Castlevania II: Simon's Quest a little bit and do think it was really ahead of its time, but not executed very well, partly due to limitations of the era. Infernax is basically "what if Simon's Quest but modern and good?" Great old-school platformer action with a dash of Metroidvania and progression thrown in. And of course it has another great chiptune soundtrack that would've been one of the all-time classics on the NES. Old farts like me who were bamboozled by the games of the 80s that don't hold up so well nowadays should really check this one out.
3. Pentiment (Xbox)
Obsidian, you can do no wrong. I'm usually not one for narrative adventure games with no combat or little exploration, but I do trust the writers at Obsidian implicitly, and was not disappointed here. Pentiment is an engaging tale presented in a beautiful late-medieval manuscript art style wherein you play as Andreas (that's me!), a young artist working at a monastery in the small town of Tassing, Bavariat to complete his masterwork in the early 1500s. Soon tragedy unfolds at the monastery which thrusts Andreas into the middle of the complex history and relationships embedded in this Alpine village as the medieval world of the Holy Roman Empire starts to give way to the modern. I cannot say enough good things about the writing and the history woven into this game. As a bit of a Germanophile I never thought I would see this time period and place so accurately and exhaustively represented in a video game. And while many RPGs (including those by Obsidian) do the "here's a bunch of slides to show what happened depending on what you did" ending, Pentiment does it better than no other. A game that can be enjoyed by those who don't really play games (95% of what you do is walk around, talk to people, and respond), so I can't recommend it enough. And while I understand that for most people life sucked 90% of the time in this period, this game sure did make me want to spend one Christmas Eve at a Bavarian inn in 1520.
2. Ghost of Tsushima (PS4)
Since Nioh was my favorite game of 2020, it's a pretty high bar for a samurai game to make it this high on my list. But Ghost of Tsushima does it by being the perfect representation of a samurai movie in video game form. For one, it's absolutely gorgeous even on my old base PS4. Combat is really fun, not as hard as something like Nioh but challenging with a lot of tricks up your sleeve. It tells a fun revenge story, nothing groundbreaking but good enough to keep you engaged. And it may be a standard Western-style open world game with lots of checkboxes, but I feel like it does that style better than most in the space, with the wind guiding you towards discovering activities instead of automatically seeing all the "map barf." And what other open world game has you writing haikus or following foxes to shrines?
1. Elden Ring (Xbox)
Wow, what a surprise. That "certain other game." Like every other website in gaming, From Software's "what if Dark Souls but open world" masterpiece is my game of the year. I'm really not sure what else I can add to the conversation that hasn't already been said. I'm just glad I put in the effort a couple years ago to come around to this style of game - more rewarding than any other for me - in time to enjoy this at the time of release. And while this game is still very difficult, it is more accessible than previous From games. If you have any interest, if you enjoyed Breath of the Wild, it's worth giving this a try. Do it.
