Community MetaCouncil's Games of the Year Awards 2022

[Le Pertti]

Welcome to MetaCouncil's Annual Game of the Year voting! Vote for five of your favorite games of 2022.

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Shamelessly copied and changed past work done by Wok

Check out our GOTY's for past years:
GOTY 2021
GOTY 2020
GOTY 2019

Rules are as follows:
The categories for voting are:

• Game of the Year 2022 Award (main award)
• Ongoing Game of the Year (optional)
• Early Access of the Year (optional)
• Best Old Game (optional)
• Turd of the Year (optional)

Rules specific to the main award:

• Up to 5 choices can be submitted (ranked voting without point):
  • 1st Choice
  • 2nd Choice
  • 3rd Choice
  • 4th Choice
  • 5th Choice
• You can submit fewer than 5 games, but you must submit at least 1 game as your 1st choice.
• For the 1st Choice, you have to write a short text to explain why you have chosen it as your GOTY. It could be a sentence.
• Do not submit the same game for several Choices of the main award.

Eligibility criteria for each category:

• GOTY 2022 Award:
  • Any game fully released in 2022 is eligible.
  • This includes remakes and remasters, provided that they are new to your platform of choice. (For example: Spider-Man on Steam or Deathloop on Xbox, both are eligible.)
  • Episodic content is eligible if the last episode was released in 2022.
  • As MetaCouncil is a predominantly English language website, any game getting an English translation in the correct time frame can be eligible.
  • As to be clear, you can choose VR games for the GOTY category.
  • You can submit games from any PC store front and Console and even Phones.
• Ongoing Game of the Year
  • Any game fully released prior to 2022 which received content updates in 2022 is eligible.
  • New content can be in the form of patches, DLC or general updates, but not bug fixes.
• Early Access of the Year
  • Any game released into Early Access (or equivalent) in 2022 is eligible.
• Best Old Game
  • Maybe you played a non 2022 game this year and it completely blew everything else away and you want to give some acknowledgment.
• Turd of the Year
  • Any game fully released in 2022 is eligible. We're looking for the worst games.

To Vote send a PM to me Le Pertti with the subject GOTY2022 and format you message as follows:

GOTY 2022
1. Game Title (Platform)
2. Game Title (Platform)
3. Game Title (Platform)
4. Game Title (Platform)
5. Game Title (Platform)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
Your awesome text.

Ongoing:
Game Title (Platform)

Early Access of the year:
Game Title (Platform)

Best Old Game:
Game Title (Platform)

Turd of the Year:
Game Title (Platform)

Deadline:
January 5th 2023

 

[C-Dub]

I already know what mine are. Already sent a PM but sharing here for others to see.

GOTY 2022
1. Persona 5 Royal (Steam)
2. AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative - (Steam)
3. Stray (Steam)
4. Return to Monkey Island (Steam)
5. Citizen Sleeper (Steam)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
Persona 5 Royal is the gold standard for a "long game". Good writing, a strong motivational thread that runs from start to finish, and satisfying grind that makes you want to go the whole way on its 120+ hour runtime. It also helps that, despite being a PS3 game at heart, it is visually more interesting than most games that came out in the last decade and has a killer soundtrack to boot.

Ongoing:
Hitman 3 (Steam)

Early Access of the year:
Death Trash (Steam)

Best Old Game:
Horizon Chase Turbo (Steam)

Turd of the Year:
Bayonetta 3 (Switch)

 

[Ascheroth]

Here's mine, with additional motivation

GOTY 2022
1. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero (Steam)
A fastastic JRPG with an even better PC version. Great story, characters and worldbuilding.

2. Monster Hunter Rise (Steam)
Looks great, runs great, plays great.

3. Digimon Survive (Steam)
It's basically Digimon Adventure: The Game in spirit and I love it for that.

4. Seventh Lair (Steam)
A short but heavy-hitting game from the House of Fata Morgana devs.

5. Vampire Survivor (Steam)
Aka "where did the time go!?". It's great fun.

Ongoing:
Genshin Impact (PC)
Probably its best year yet. The Sumeru update was as big as a big full price JRPG with a big new area to explore, excellent side quests and the best main story chapter so far. The Dendro element added a lot of new team building options. Outside of that there were another couple smaller-but-still-meaty areas throughout the year, and a lot of good story and side quests. And a slew of other events big and small. And next week is gonna be the release of a fullblown card game side activity.
Seriously, the pace at which they output quality content is crazy.

Early Access of the year:
-

Best Old Game:
Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen (Steam)
Really good story with a great cast of characters and a fun enough battle system to break things up every now and then.

Turd of the Year:
-

 

[fantomena]

Gonna have to play through some games before I decide, but I know at least some games that will pop up on my list. Im just hoping Im done before deadline.

 

[Amzin]

I'll work on my list but I wanted to suggest for future GOTY (way too late to make changes this time I assume) - considering the amount and quality of some games that persist in getting into the "ongoing" category, maybe having a ranked list for that (top 2 or 3 instead of top 5) might be valuable. Terraria, No Man's Sky, Genshin are just the start - and next year there will probably be games like Vampire Survivors joining it. It's becoming a whole new genre of GOTY to me honestly, as much as I play through new games every year, the ongoing ones are important.

 

[Joe Spangle]

Thanks Le Pertti for organising.

Im going to try and squeeze in a couple more games before the year is up and see if they make my top 5.

 

[Le Pertti]

I'll work on my list but I wanted to suggest for future GOTY (way too late to make changes this time I assume) - considering the amount and quality of some games that persist in getting into the "ongoing" category, maybe having a ranked list for that (top 2 or 3 instead of top 5) might be valuable. Terraria, No Man's Sky, Genshin are just the start - and next year there will probably be games like Vampire Survivors joining it. It's becoming a whole new genre of GOTY to me honestly, as much as I play through new games every year, the ongoing ones are important.

That’s actually a great suggestion!

 

[Yoshi]

GOTY 2022
1. Raft
2. PowerWash Simulator
3. Not For Broadcast
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
5. Police Simulator: Patrol Officers

Short Motivation for GOTY:
Of all the survival games I've played, Raft is #1. It's easily the most fun and adventurous game I've played in a long time.

Ongoing:
Tower Unite

Early Access Game of the Year:
V Rising

Best Old Game:
NARAKA: BLADEPOINT

Turd of the Year:
Diablo Immortal

 

[Derrick01]

GOTY 2022
1. Final Fantasy VII Remake (Steam)
2. God of War Ragnarok (PS5)
3. A Plague Tale Requiem (Steam)
4. Fire Emblem Three Hopes (Switch)
5. Triangle Strategy (Steam)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
If we're being honest when this was in development I don't think anyone thought FF7R would turn out well. You're taking one of the biggest and most beloved games ever, splitting it into multiple parts, and you have modern day SE making it and the dev team is full of guys who many thought are well past their primes and are known for making questionable choices. Against all odds they put out a game that, yes it only covers like 10% of the original game, but it's executed better than the original's Midgar section. Every character is much deeper and better written than they were in the original and the combat system they created is IMO the best jrpg combat ever. The soundtrack is also ridiculously good and is a legit GOAT contender already. It has some padding issues due to being limited to Midgar and some don't like what they did with the story (I do though, at least for now. We'll see if they screw it up in part 2) but it's a game that I wanted for 15+ years and it somehow lived up to the hype.

Ongoing:
Genshin Impact (PS5)

Turd of the Year:
Sonic Frontiers (PS5)- This one isn't just the worst game I played this year it's one of the worst games I've ever played in my 30+ years of gaming. It looks and plays like what I'd have imagined a steam shovelware game using stolen Sonic assets would play like, set in a stock UE or Unity open world.

 

[Parsnip]

I know what my GOTY is but I need to think about the other stuff a bit more I think.

 

[PhaZZe]

GOTY 2022
1. Elden Ring (Steam)
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Steam)
3. God of War (Steam)
4. Persona 5 Royal (Steam)
5. Sackboy™: A Big Adventure (Steam)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
I enjoyed my time with the game, was a great experience, but with the co-op mod it was perfect, really enjoyed with a friend a my brother.

Ongoing:
Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition (Steam)

Early Access of the year:
-

Best Old Game:
Psychonauts 2 (Steam)

Turd of the Year:
Battlefield 2042 (Steam)

 

[Panda Pedinte]

I need to organize the games in my list, but the year has been amazing to me so far.

 

[Valdien]

GOTY 2022

1 - Neon White (Steam)
2 - Fire Emblem: Three Hopes (Switch but played via Ryujinx because I rather not suffer )
3 - Bayonetta 3 (Switch but same as above)
4 - CULTIC (Steam)
5 - TMNT: Shredder's Revenge (Steam)

Short Motivation for GOTY:

I had already posted my short impression on Neon White here: Community - MetaSteam | July 2022 - Stray(t) out of Kowloon.

Early Access of the year:
Core Keeper (Steam)

Turd of the Year:
Soul Hackers 2 (I hate everything about this game. Although the loading times were near instant on PC, and the compendium search function is great!)

 

[Parsnip]

Sent mine in. Unless something changes in December, these are my votes.

=======
GOTY 2022
1. Elden Ring (Steam)
2. Axiom Verge 2 (Steam)
3. HITMAN 3 (Steam)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
-Even with cookie cutter catacombs and mines, there's just so much stuff in there to enjoy. It's almost too good.

Ongoing:
No Man's Sky (Steam)

Best Old Game:
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (Steam)
-I finally got around playing the DLC campaigns and they are all varying levels of excellent but instead of picking just one I'll nominate the whole Treasure Trove (though I enjoyed Specter of Torment the most).

 

[QFNS]

Got mine done early this year.


GOTY 2022
1. Elden Ring (PC)
2. Vampire Survivors (PC)
3. Return to Monkey Island (PC)
4. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch)
5. Warhammer 40000: Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters (PC)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
Elden Ring did something that Soul games have been trying to do for years in creating a cohesive, connected open world that truly felt open and full of possibility. There are maybe a few too many re-used fights (especially in those Catacombs), but the lovely thing is that this game is SO BIG, you can skip a bunch them and probably never know you missed a dungeon. You'll run across 2 or 3 more in the next couple minutes anyway.

Ongoing:
N/A - have mostly cut these out of my gaming, and though I played many ongoing card games, I don't like nominating them here

Early Access of the year:
N/A - didn't really play any

Best Old Game:
N/A - can't remember any I played though I'm sure I did

Turd of the Year:
Diablo Immortal

 

[ExistentialThought]

GOTY 2022:
1. Steam Deck: Add to Your Backlog Edition
Hands down biggest game changer for me this year. Though also lead me to increase the number of games I purchase by three fold while still being reminded by the harsh reality that while I can now play games anywhere that does not mean I have more time to play games.

1. Persona 5 Royal (Steam)
2. Elden Ring (Steam)
3. Vampire Survivors (Steam)
4. Immortality (Steam)
5. The Case of the Golden Idol (Steam)

Short motivation for GOTY:
The OG Persona 5 and Horizon Zero Dawn had me sitting down at a Target in 2018 wondering if I should finally bite the bullet and get a PS4. I walked away and told myself I needed to give up on ever playing them, which only got harder when Royal was released to rave reviews. Never did I think so many years later that not only would both of these games come to PC, but that I would be playing P5R on a handheld Linux PC.

That aside, I love this game. I am still working my way through, but it is everything I love about JRPGs with little of what I do not like. Often times I struggle with JRPGs as they are usually too grindy, have a mixed bag of characters, and/or an extremely predictable story. For me, Persona games have usually avoided these issues and manage to hit the right spots. Yes, they are not perfect and gosh darn are they long, but every night I boot it up to play for a couple of hours is like tuning into an interesting show with a fun cast of characters.

On-going:
DJMax Respect V
Hands down my favorite rhythm game. Loved the new tracks this year, especially the Muse Dash DLC.

Early Access of the year:
Disney Dreamlight Valley
I dislike Disney, but love games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing. This game really manages to give me those same comfy vibes. It does come with an important disclaimer that this game will likely be monetized out the bum once it fully launches. At that point it will likely be a tough recommend, but time will tell how F2P friendly it will be...

Best old game:
Project Zomboid
I am cheating a bit, this is still EA, but it also feels like the sort of title that may be in EA for another 6 years. I played a decent amount of this earlier this year and it is the best of class survival game. If that does not count then,

Total War Warhammer 2
I have been slowly playing through 1 and 2 leading into TW3 and I have had loads of fun. Perfect combo of warhammer and total war, who knew this could work so well together. DLC prices aside, everything else is awesome.

Turd of the year:
Nikke?
This was maybe the worse game I played thay actually released this year. Extremely botched launch, unfair gacha, and mixed thoughts on gameplay.

I played and completed so few games this year despite buying a ton. Really eye opening that I need to buy fewer games

 

[tetel]

To be honest, I have a hard time ranking my top 3 (perhaps even top 4, although my opinion on Zero dropped a bit in the last two years) as all of these are excellent games in my favorite (sub)genres and my order could be different tomorrow (especially as I'm still learning HYPER DEMON). No late PC ports on the list (although neither P5R nor Judgment would have made it to the top 5).

GOTY 2022:
1. Arcaea Final Verdict (iOS)
2. Neon White (PC)
3. HYPER DEMON (PC)
4. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero* (PC)
5. Needy Girl Overdose (PC)

*Based on Geofront version played two years ago.

Motivation for GOTY:
There isn't unfortunately much to be said about a song pack for a mobile rhythm game. To put it simply, this is the best piece of content in one my favorite games of all time, it's fresh and shows that there's still plenty to explore with Arcaea's gameplay, it offers endgame content for even the best of the best and it also offers the best selection of songs in a pack. I couldn't have wanted more from the big main story's finale.

On-going:
DJMAX Respect V
Not many games I can put here, Arcaea had really high highs but there were also some duds. Respect V meanwhile had an excellent year with all packs being at least very good, not to mention tons of new SCs and each song getting 16 charts from Technika Tune/Q onwards.

 

[LEANIJA]

GOTY 2022
1. Elden Ring (Steam)
––––
2. Return to Monkey Island (Steam)
3. Plague Tale Requiem (Steam)
4. Asterigos (Steam)
5. Blacktail (Steam)
5. Kena (Steam)

Honorable Mention: Zachtronics Solitaire Collection
Might still be added, as it releases next week: Blacktail (this is also the reason I am not submitting my vote just yet )


Short Motivation for GOTY:
ER is an amazing game that just drags you into its harsh but beautiful world and lets you loose to explore on your pace without a myriad of checklist map markers, instead letting you take the reins. Another key strength is the brutal but generally fair combat and several ways to tailor the experience to your difficulty level. The game can be as easy or as hard as you make it, basically. Additionally, the similarities to Dark Souls are there, but it feels more accessible and while not easier, perhaps less needlessly punishing. It's a game I played for a long time and after I was done, played it again. And then after I finally put it aside found it really hard to get into other games again, it had such a strong pull.

Ongoing:
Hitman III (Steam)

Early Access of the year:
Disney Dreamlight Valley (Steam)
nothing

Best Old Game:
Dark Souls III (2016, Steam)

Turd of the Year:
nothing

 

[Dragon1893]

I've played some great games this year, both from 2022 and before.
I actually have a hard time choosing which of the pre-2022 games I enjoyed more. There's Guardians of the Galaxy, Village, Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen and Metro Exodus.
I also want to include P5R and Trails from Zero on my list even though I haven't played the steam versions yet, just because I think they deserve to be in the top 5, but that will force me to leave out some games I did play. Decisions...

 

[Joe Spangle]

Its tricky isn't it.
I'm still sorting out my list and have played a few games in the last month that may squeeze into my list.

 

[Le Pertti]

I know I keep saying everyone should vote asap... but even I will be putting it off until last minute haha! Still playing Weird West and need to see where it lands.

 

[Joe Spangle]

Yo. Done mine, sent you a PM but here they are for all to see..

GOTY 2022
1. Elden Ring (Steam)
2. Hitman 3 (Steam)
3. Strange Horticulture (Steam)
4. Dorf Romantik (Steam)
5. Trombone Champ (Steam)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
Just a terrific continuation of the Souls like formula with an enormous world to explore full of adventure. Been in love with these games for a long time now and Elden Ring was a joy to play. It might not be my favourite Souls game but its right up there and a worthy GOTY.

Ongoing:
The Long Dark (Steam)

Early Access of the year:
Prehistoric Kingdom (Steam)

Best Old Game:
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Steam)

Turd of the Year:
-

 

[low-G]

GOTY 2022
1. Elden Ring (PC)


Short Motivation for GOTY:
It hits the Zelda-clone beats and knocks it out of the park. It fulfills my sense of adventure, exploration, progression, and engrossment. It surpasses any of its genre ever made in many aspects by leaps and bounds, with incredible level design, compelling gameplay, a fascinating world, breathtaking art, and so much to discover and do. If it ends up being the best game of the century, I wouldn't be surprised. As I played, I realized it fulfilled an empty place in my gamer heart that even the legends of games never touched.

IMO that's the only one that deserves such an award. It's the best game for me in the last 15 years and quite possibly longer. I put it up near Zelda Link to the Past, Doom, Halo, Mario World, Quake, Deus Ex, and many other all time GOATs. Definitely in my top 25 games of all time on a list that is literally >5000 long. It shattered my interest in other games, to the point where I developed quite a lot of resentment for other games for wasting my time on lesser efforts.

There's a few aspects that could have made it literally the greatest game of all time, but some of them - extensive modding capacity on the scale of literally no other game released in over 30 years - wasn't realistically going to ever happen again.

As far as anything else, I've enjoyed playing through Stray with my daughter, it's a reasonable graphical adventure. The recent Dwarf Fortress is so much easier to play than the original, and I enjoy the atmospheric audio. Pocky & Rocky for Switch is a great remake, but really it should come to PC. There are other decent experiences besides, the TMNT game, Ex-Zodiac, Final Vandetta, La Pucelle, Persona 5 Royal... some I'm not sure if they came out this year like Powerslave Exhumed, Drainus... Last Call BBS was a nice distraction, did Redout 2 come out this year? It's better than the first one.

Ongoing:
Halo Master Chief Collection (PC): Not sure if this was the year, maybe it was last year, but I'm happy that they finally got the PC version of Halo 1 on parity with the original Xbox version. Took a fucking long time but at least it's finally ported properly.

Early Access of the year:
I don't know

Best Old Game:
I played a lot of Raiden series this year, and Starcraft, Populous the Beginning, finally finished Duke Caribbean, Dark Forces got a great user port finally, but I'm going to have to go with the old standby
Quake (PC)
People still make amazing mods for it. I feel like I slightly prefer some of the mods that have come out for Quake over Doom this year. The best level design outside of Elden Ring for 2022 for sure! Reelism 2 is a pretty neat Doom mod though.

Turd of the Year:
I don't think I played anything too terrible this year.

Most Fun I Had On A Computer Besides Elden Ring:
Stable Diffusion (PC) - exploring the latent space has already taken hundreds if not thousands of hours of my time. I've tuned my own models, released some, contributed to the repos. Looks like I'm almost up to 50,000 images I made in my 'best' folder. It really is much like a game, if you're into exploration in games. In that it gives you an infinite, compelling visual cyberscape to explore endlessly. As someone who was at many points a 'graphics whore', SD accomplishes what even the best raytraced game cannot come close to: photorealism and cohesive visual styles. That is the capacity that I enjoy it in.

I've also enjoyed a lot of DungeonAI-like experiences locally via KoboldAI.

 

[hersheyfan]

1. Elden Ring (Multi, played on Steam)
2. Vampire Survivors (Multi, played on Steam/XSX)
3. Neon White (Multi, played on Steam)
4. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (NSW)
5. Midnight Suns (Multi, played on Steam)

My GotY choice really needs no introduction, so I'll just share an anecdote about Elden Ring. I have a friend who actively hates Souls games, as he's not really one for super challenging twitch gameplay. But he ended up playing Elden Ring for like 250 hours or so, because unlike typical Souls games ER gave you so much leeway to do whatever you want, instead of repeatedly banging your head against a wall until you succeed. He could level up and explore elsewhere, find nasty equipment he could use to improve his odds, etc.

He was so entranced by the experience that he actually bought a digital, non-refundable copy of Sekiro after we told him it was another From Software masterpiece. We then of course got to enjoy his wails of despair as Sekiro beat the ever living shit out of him. Thank you, Elden Ring!

Ongoing:
Genshin Impact! They've really been on a roll as of late, just confidently made, well thought out content.

Early Access of The Year:
Coral Island, by a country mile.

Best Old Game:
Yakuza: Like A Dragon. As a long time fan who felt the series was wearing thin, Like A Dragon was a breath of fresh air.

Turd of the Year:
Samurai Maiden!!! Jesus Christ, make it stop!

 

[LEANIJA]

1. Elden Ring (Multi, played on Steam)

My GotY choice really needs no introduction, so I'll just share an anecdote about Elden Ring. I have a friend who actively hates Souls games, as he's not really one for super challenging twitch gameplay. But he ended up playing Elden Ring for like 250 hours or so, because unlike typical Souls games ER gave you so much leeway to do whatever you want, instead of repeatedly banging your head against a wall until you succeed. He could level up and explore elsewhere, find nasty equipment he could use to improve his odds, etc.

He was so entranced by the experience that he actually bought a digital, non-refundable copy of Sekiro after we told him it was another From Software masterpiece. We then of course got to enjoy his wails of despair as Sekiro beat the ever living shit out of him. Thank you, Elden Ring!

The story of that friend of yours mirrors my experience with ER and previous Souls-likes
and I also bought Sekiro but havent played it yet. I did however play through Dark Souls I + III. Will definitely play Bloodborne once it comes to PC in 2051.

 

[Parsnip]

2051.

Very optimistic.

 

[hersheyfan]

The story of that friend of yours mirrors my experience with ER and previous Souls-likes
and I also bought Sekiro but havent played it yet. I did however play through Dark Souls I + III. Will definitely play Bloodborne once it comes to PC in 2051.

I'm glad to hear ER helped you get over the hump!

You should totally get around to playing Sekiro, not only because its an amazing game, but just so that you can see if its your thing or not. A fair number of Souls vets I know initially struggled with Sekiro because it actively punished the overly defensive style theyre used to - you have to constantly stay on the offensive, with even your defense intended to set up more offense.

Such an epic game!

 

[d00d3n]

I voted like this:

GOTY 2022:
1. Supraland Six Inches Under (PC)
2. Elden Ring (PC)
3. God of War Ragnarok (PS5)
4. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope (Switch)
5. Neon White (PC)

Short motivation for GOTY:
Supraland Six Inches Under feels like a major improvement compared to the original game in most ways. The story has gone from being throwaway or non-existent to being pretty decent for an indie game. The introduction is short and sweet, and the big settlement that the game is centered around has a fun plot about class struggles and trickle-down economics! The graphics and music continue with the same themes as in the original game, but there is more attention to detail, and the results feel more aesthetically pleasing. I really have to applaud how much the pacing has improved compared with the original, because the repetitive stuff is pretty much gone and the puzzles on the main path feel luxuriously play-tested. The main puzzle path has lost some of the eureka moments from the original due to including more simple challenges, but there is plenty of optional content that has all the brain teasers that you may or may not need. I loved this game. I completed 100% of the content in two intense sittings and would warmly recommend the game to people who like 3d puzzle games and/or 3d exploration games.

Ongoing:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PC)

Best Old Game:
Crosscode (PC)

 

[Le Pertti]

There is actually a small issue with how the rules are set! Different people can vote for the same game for both in the GOTY and in ongoing. At first I thought about moving votes from GOTY to ongoing but that would be little fishy so I'll let it be. Technically a game could win both GOTY and ongoing!

 

[Durante]

I'm happy I waited a bit before voting, because Pentiment is certainly making it into my top 5. I probably won't start a new game released in 2022 over the holiday break, so I should vote soon.

 

[Le Pertti]

I'm happy I waited a bit before voting, because Pentiment is certainly making it into my top 5. I probably won't start a new game released in 2022 over the holiday break, so I should vote soon.

Yeah Pentiment is one of those that I regret not playing. Trying to finish Weird West and see where it lands in my list.

 

[Kvik]

Yeah Pentiment is one of those that I regret not playing.

If you like to consider it, the game is rather short -- 20 hours should cover a single playthrough. Maybe even faster if you're a fast reader.

 

[prudis]

hmm i should cast ym vote too , butmigth take a while to sort my thoughts

 

[thekeats1999]

I am going to leave sorting out my GOTY picks until the beginning of the New Year. I have a couple of games I am playing at the moment to see how they will fit in my list. At the moment there are three titles there (Vampire Survivors, Dorfromantik & FF6) but currently playing Citizen Sleeper and Morbid, although Morbid is out of the picture as it was released a couple of years back.

At this moment in time it is currently going to Vampire Survivors but I am liking what I have seen of Citizen Sleeper so far.

 

[Le Pertti]

I Said the deadline is 5th of January, but never specified what time, I think at the same time that the steam winter sale ends would be perfect!

 

[Mivey]

My vote here (already send a PM earlier)

GOTY 2022
1. Return to Monkey Island (Steam)
2. Weird West (Steam)
3. The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero (Steam)
4. FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE (Steam)
5. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (Steam)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
The Monkey Island series is close to my heart and Return to Monkey Island is very much a return to form. To me, it's as good as Monkey Island ever was, and more than comparable to Monkey Island 2 and 1 in terms of its wit, great writing and its cast of characters. A beautiful swan song to the series, that isn't exactly a definitive ending, but would work quite well if it was the last game in the series. It came as a complete surprise to me when it was announced just earlier this year and it is clearly the best game of this year to me, and easily one of the best point and click adventure games of all time.



Best Old Game:
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III (Steam)

 

[Amzin]

Finally sent in my vote:

GOTY 2022
1. Citizen Sleeper (Steam)
This is a tough one. All 5 in my list I would vote for GOTY, plus some I had to exclude. But Citizen Sleeper is such a well done narrative game. The characters are great, the graphics do a good job of conveying the setting, the dynamic between the rolls, skills, and goals is interesting but not overwhelming. There's a lot of tension, although I'm not actually sure you can "lose" in the conventional sense. It even allows you to see multiple endings in one playthrough which a lot of these types of games don't. I just don't have anything bad to say about it - if you like sci-fi / cyberpunk stories, this is the best story game I've played for that.

2. Vault of the Void (Steam)
My favorite deck builder game by a lot. It gives you a lot of control, meaningful choices. No just random guessing designed as a "choice". The classes are quite distinct, each with several ways to build plus a lot of room for hybrid, and being able to adjust your deck before each fight gives you a ton of freedom to experiment, rather than punishing you for it. It also is getting free updates, adjustments, and art added.

3. Islets (Steam)
It's just a very good, very clean metroidvania that I loved every minute of. In a sea of half-assed souls-vanias invading but missing the point of both genres, this is solidly a metroidvania that knows what it is and runs with it. It's charming and fun with a lot of exploring to do and a pretty interesting map changing gimmick with the islands.

4. Vampire Survivors (Steam)
The game itself is quite good - although I dislike how much RNG has taken over as they add more and more items but don't adjust level up options. The biggest thing to me though - it basically kickstarted a genre that I really love on Steam. What I get out of these games is kind of what I wanted out of ARPGs - trying builds, lots of combat, low cost to try new builds, etc.

5. Ghostwire: Tokyo (Steam)
It didn't make any big waves, but I really liked it. The city felt lived in (which is kind of ironic), fun to explore, the elemental spells look really cool, learning about Japanese folklore was neat, and the story while not original was approached in an interesting way. My complaints would be combat takes a while to be kind of interesting, and combat also wasn't great on a controller. But you don't have to fight a ton and the exploration and side quests really shine.

Honerable mentions: Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Tunic, Cult of the Lamb, Nobody Saves the World

Ongoing:
No Man's Sky (Steam)
While Genshin has had a remarkable year with some amazing new content, the fact the game is still, at the end of the day, a gacha, makes it hard for me to feel good about it as the best. NMS continues to be a one-time purchase that consistently gets better and bigger, with the latest update adding a lot of QoL things (which Genshin is still missing a lot of). It's a sandbox game so it's not for everyone but it has SOMETHING for almost anyone.

Early Access of the year:
Soulstone Survivors (Steam)
May end up taking over as my favorite "bullet heaven" game, it's in EA and I already just keep wanting to try out more and more builds, more so than Vampire Survivors. The RNG is less annoying than in VS as well for trying out things.

Best Old Game:
Omno (Steam)
If I'd played this in 2021 it would have been my GOTY easily. It's a love letter to the joy of exploration of nature and it's just pleasant.

Turd of the Year:
Batora: Lost Haven (Steam)
I liked the demo but the demo was hella misleading. You get 2 total abilities over the course of the game and they come in very slowly and late, making most of the game very boring and tedious. It feels like it was originally going to be a loot ARPG but they changed course to something more Zelda like and it's just bad at either. It's super linear, super shallow, and the writing gets progressively worse, with a "twist" so telegraphed I don't think it counts as a twist. Even the puzzles are rough to control through even though they're very simple.

 

[NarohDethan]

Game of the Year 2022 Award (main award)

Elden Ring

Ongoing Game of the Year

Apex Legends

Best Old Game

Final Fantasy VII Remake

 

[Le Pertti]

Game of the Year 2022 Award (main award)

Elden Ring

Ongoing Game of the Year

Apex Legends

Best Old Game

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Ff remake is eligible for main goty, want it on second place?

 

[Big McLargehuge]

GOTY 2022
1. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch)
2. Elden Ring (Steam)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
Mostly played older games this year, but of the new ones Xenoblade 3 was the most satisfying. It took all the best parts of the previous games of the series and made something incredible out of it. Elden Ring was a very close second with its sheer depth, beautiful world, and amazing bosses

Ongoing:
Gunfire Reborn (Steam)

Best Old Game:
SMT Digital Devil Saga 2 (PS2) (emulated on Steam Deck)

 

[Le Pertti]

I have an ethical dilemma! If there isn't more certain votes for best old game, I might have the deciding vote and I don't know how I feel about that!

 

[low-G]

I have an ethical dilemma! If there isn't more certain votes for best old game, I might have the deciding vote and I don't know how I feel about that!

Wow, Quake vs Doom again for the 26th year running! Which is it gonna be?!

 

[PossiblyPudding]

GOTY 2022
1. Elden Ring (Steam)
2. Tunic (Steam)
3. Monster Hunter Rise (Steam)
4. Signalis (Steam)
5. Vampire Survivors (Steam)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
I'm a huge Souls fan so it was pretty much guaranteed to be my #1 even before its release, but even I didn't expect it would hook me as much as it did. I stuck with it for days, every time I had free time all I wanted to do was progress further and see more of what Elden Ring offered. It's one I can easily see myself coming back to off and on for years to do another playthrough.

Ongoing:
Apex Legends (Steam)

Early Access of the year:
Have A Nice Death (Steam)

Best Old Game:
Unavowed (Steam)

Turd of the Year:
Scorn (Steam)

 

[Le Pertti]

Think I finally set my GOTY list.

1. Elden Ring
2. Vampire Survivors
3. Weird West
4. COD Warzone 2
5. Stray

Hardest part was deciding if I wanted to put Stray or Persona 5 on place 5. Decided to put Stray simply because I finished it while P5 I still have like half the game to go.

 

[Li Kao]

GOTY 2022
The Case of the Golden Idol

Ongoing Game of the Year
-

Early Access of the Year
-

Best Old Game
Persona 4 Golden

[Runner up]
Pathfinder Kingmaker

Turd of the Year
Ghostwire: Tokyo

[Runner up]
Diablo Immortal

Please don't count the runner ups, I just couldn't not list them.

 

[Cacher]

GOTY 2022
1. Harvestella (PC)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
An untold tale of civilization. A desperate call of attention to problems in modern society. A tribute to everyone who dares to dream and thinks the unthinkable. Harvestella may be low-budgeted, but the main story and the theme it entails, is truly epic and full of surprises. Whereas the side stories are grounded yet packed full of lore, while still being written and delivered genuinely is a sight to behold. It is in no way a perfect game: but in my heart it is the game of 2022.

Or, the game for 2022.

Best Old Game:
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (PC)

 

[Li Kao]

GOTY 2022
1. Harvestella (PC)

Eagerly awaiting a lower price, just based on your various posts and the fact the dev on Ender Lilies seems to be behind it.

 

[Cacher]

Eagerly awaiting a lower price, just based on your various posts and the fact the dev on Ender Lilies seems to be behind it.

Thanks. I can write more but don't want people to think I am gushing too much. The game has many small issues and plays like a PS2 game with modern graphics, but it also contains moments that made me hold tears during commuting. Very interesting game.

 

[Avern]

Just submitted my list. This was a pretty incredible year for games; making this list was hard. I couldn't decide whether to put Sephonie or Norco in at slot 5. I am still torn on whether Elden Ring really belongs above Signalis (maybe that's recency bias, since I just finished Signalis, but it's something special). Forget 5 games, I could fill out a 15 entry list with games that blew me away.

GOTY 2022
1. Elden Ring (Steam)
2. Signalis (Steam)
3. Tunic (Steam)
4. Pentiment (Steam)
5. Sephonie (Steam)

Short Motivation for GOTY:
I've been a fan of From's games for a long time now, but the appeal for me has always been the level design and art, while the combat has been solid, but never exceptional. Elden Ring was a massive step up for them. Guard counters, jumping attacks, and making enemy staggers a universal mechanic all added so much more nuance to the combat. From also gave more enemies delayed attacks that couldn't be avoided with automatic roll timing, something that makes the combat much more interesting. All of that lies on top of their best visual design and some of their most interesting dungeons yet.

Ongoing:
Ultrakill (Steam)

Early Access of the year:
Gloomwood (Steam)

Best Old Game:
OMORI (Steam)

Turd of the Year:
AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative (Steam)

 

[BaoLunia]

I don't remember what i played this year on steam
(I deleted my account when they locked it and only got respons from bots to my tickets)

Turd of the Year
Diablo Immortal (PC/Mobile)