The Best Games of 2022, According to Carlos

2022 has come and gone and it was a fantastic year for gaming for a variety of reasons. We did have a few disappointments here and there but the considered “big hitters” definitely hit the mark and we had a few indies surprising as well. For me, these are the best games to come out of the year 2022.

Carlos’ best games list for 2022

God of War Ragnarok (review)

I’ll get God of War Ragnarok out of the way. What more can I say about this one that I haven’t said in my review back in November?

I remember collecting my thoughts for the review and noticed that I had difficulty finding anything remotely bad about the sequel. What I wanted out of a sequel of 2018’s God of War is in Ragnarok. It’s bigger, it’s better, and the conclusion of Kratos’ norse saga was done surprisingly well despite it having more layers compared to the first game. Based on the reception from other critics and the fanbase, it’s a monster hit and a must-play for sure.

Sifu (review)

Sifu was not only a game that was thrilling to play, but satisfying to master as the more you understand the game’s beat em’ up play style, the more sufficient you are at reaching the end of the game in your character’s younger years. There’s only a handful of levels, but they were designed to each have their own personality, from the music score, the level’s color palette, the type of enemies you face, down to the final boss waiting for you at the end. It’s crazy how much you’ll feel like a one-man army after a few hours with this game, choreographing your way through each level. More details on my review here.

Destiny 2

Yes, Destiny 2 didn’t come out in 2022 and it’s a live service game where it drip feeds its community with new content every three months or so. But the Witch Queen expansion did come out back in February 2022 and was a game changer for a variety of reasons. 

Red border grinding aside, I’ve never been this invested with the Destiny 2 grind before as I came in during the second half of 2022, taking in all of the content released so far and loving every minute of it, that includes the latest expansion that delivered what I think is the best Destiny campaign ever developed by Bungie. 

The amount of possible builds is at an all-time high right now, and it helps that the new exotics encourages further experimentation with them being the catalyst for certain loadouts. If you liked Destiny 2 but fell off because of a dull season, you’ll be surprised at this year’s batch of seasons. Especially the last one, Season of the Seraph, as it’s turning out to be the best season. Good timing as the next expansion, Lightfall, is set to release this February. 

Stray (review)

Cat game. A platformer with barely any combat but filled with all the charm to brighten your day.  It’s a simple heartfelt story with characters that can make you emotionally driven to see this stray cat’s adventure to the end. The world was inviting and the platforming was unique as level designs and how you progress really puts into consideration that you’re just a regular cat. Stray can easily make any cat lover’s day, or even make you one as well as you get to do cat things, such as scratch on rugs or take naps in the most unusual places.

Horizon Forbidden West (review)

What I got out of Horizon Forbidden West was that it’s one of the most visually appealing open world games out today as from start to finish I couldn’t stop taking photos or simply take in whatever vista I come across while avoiding robot wildlife. 

You then add the usual open world activities that are just fun to do thanks to the game’s combat not being dull even after the 20 hour mark as you are constantly switching due to the different enemy types loaded with their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Alloy’s next journey is just a fun time, plain and simple

Just like God of War Ragnarok. The sequel just went bigger and better. 

The Quarry (review)

This is easily the best story-driven thriller Supermassive Games have come up with since they released Until Dawn. It’s campy, characters are mostly annoying, and the kills can be guesome. It’s a perfect horror thriller with slasher tropes that it’s best played with a friend or four. Replayability is high as it was fun seeing the different outcomes based on the decisions you make.

I’m a big fan of Supermassive Games’ work and hopefully we see more like this in the next batch of titles through their The Dark Pictures series, or maybe a completely new title. 

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

My biggest surprise this year. Marvel’s Midnight Suns came out in early December 2022 and I didn’t think I would have this much fun with Firaxis’ latest title.

It’s not the best looking game that came out that year, and it did launch with some technical issue on the PC platform, but it definitely retains Firaxis as being the masters of strategy games as they went out of their comfort zone in this one and still delivered a deep strategy game that has a card system, no grid layout, and a lot of dialogue and exploration outside of combat. 

The first five hours felt rough as you need to go through all the rough writing and relationship building while not on a mission. But it gets better as the gameplay does all the heavy lifting. Once you are best buddies with Blade and the rest of the Midnight Suns, explore the game’s hub, unlocks and upgrades appear, and everything just falls into place as I couldn’t stop playing. This one has that “one more turn” effect you usually get in a Firaxis games like XCOM and Civilization, and you can make it difficult to a point that one mistake can ruin a mission. 

Elden Ring (review) - My Game of the Year

Elden Ring is quite special. People can easily describe this as open world Dark Souls, but where it impressed me is on how dense and populated the game actually is that it shaped my expectations when it comes to exploring open world games. 

The idea that going one direction could lead to multiple discoveries with no help from the game is a powerful feeling and rare nowadays in modern titles. Elden Ring expertly displays how effective it can be in a player’s perspective. It’s no exaggeration that the developers intend to hide content from you, as your curiosity puts a spotlight on Elden Ring’s impressive game world design. 

Just going off and overcoming whatever you find can be a story in itself that the vague storytelling becomes less of a problem. I’ve racked up countless experiences worth sharing to friends that trumps any open world filled with the usual open world chore-like activities. 

You then top that with From Software showing they are still the masters of the Souls-like gameplay, delivering soul-crushing boss encounters, a working PvP and PvE invading system within the open world, and a deep character building with numerous viable builds. This game can easily inspire how future open world games will be created in the future that it was a no-brainer to call Elden Ring my Game of the Year for 2022. 

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