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Looking back over my notes from this year it’s not apparent that I actually like playing video games all that much. I mean I do like video games, but what I mean is that the reason I play video games isn't always the video games themselves. I like is being part of a community, and video games gives me an in for that. I’ve made some great friends from talking about video games with goons, and some of those friends stood next to me at my wedding this year. All of this is to say that my 2022 Game of the Year is The Friends I Made Along The Way. Not really. I didn’t play many games this year, between planning the wedding, working, and getting a new puppy to close out the year. I have ranked the best 10 games that I did play. Lots of people complained about a dearth of releases this year, but I had no such issue finding things to play. I didn’t give sufficient time to a few games I bought – Sonic Frontiers may have made this list, Pokemon Scarlet/Violet definitely would not have – and didn’t buy several others – I’ll have to wait until next year to try Stranger of Paradise and Project Triangle Strategy. Some of the games I played this year are some of the best I’ve ever played. You should consider the top 3 all #1 for different reasons, ranked just so that Rarity and VG can do the spreadsheet thing. So, let’s get started. The 2021 Game Most Likely To Make The 2022 List: The Great Ace Attorney 2 …I only played one case of this. Reading puts me to sleep, okay? The 2022 Game Most Likely To Make The 2023 List: Need for Speed Unbound I started playing this in December and while I don’t think I want to remove anything from the 2022 list to add it, it’s really great if you are itching from a clearly Fast and Furious-inspired arcade racer on your next gen console. On PlayStation, anyway, arcade racers are sorely lacking. The game looks great, plays well, and the races all feel personal thanks to the game’s systems. It’s captivated me in a way that other games have failed to, and I’m excited to play more of it in 2023. Honorable mention: The Digimon Card Game I’ve had my eye on the new Digimon TCG since it released in 2020, the ideal year to start a new card game. In September, a local store announced that they were going to do Digimon locals on Wednesday nights, and that’s all she wrote for me. I am now hundreds of dollars and several decks into this stupid game, and I’ve made several three-hour road trips to take my friends to play in a more populous scene (and have another planned for early January). So if it looks like I haven’t played a lot of video games this year, or fell through on giving the proper time to even some stuff on my list…this is why. The Digimon TCG has occupied most of my vastly diminished free time in the latter third of this year. I love card games, and Digimon has always held a special place in my heart (more so, possibly, than Pokemon). #10: Poinpy As Geoff Keighley’s “Summer Geoff Fest” raged on, showing minute after minute of space horror games, Netflix had a showcase. “Whatever.” I said. “Netflix games will be a stupid thing I don’t care about.” Then they announced Poinpy, a vertical scroller by the developer of Downwell, which is also a vertical scroller and a very good one. In Poinpy, you climb a level, bouncing off walls and enemies to collect fruit and make a smoothie for the large beast chasing you. As you play, you gain extra jumps and items that make the experience a little easier. This is all typical post-gacha mobile fare on a curated service like Apple Arcade, or *spits* I guess Netflix Games. What is interesting about Poinpy is that it ends. You get to “Gourmet Level 20” by making increasingly difficult smoothies, and then play a definitive final level. Then, you are treated to a fully produced cutscene that recontextualizes the entire game. The context is heartwarming, the gameplay is perfect, and I think Poinpy is just really good. #9: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge Speaking of friends, this game is a great way to kill two hours with your buddies. Shredder’s Revenge is a throwback to the old TMNT beat-em-ups that incorporates some modern developments like supers and dodge rolls alongside a kick-rear end soundtrack by Tee Lopes that involves Mega Ran and Ghostface Killah and features really clean pixel art reminiscent of the best of the GBA. That should be enough for anyone, frankly. #8: Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak I feel like I owe this game an apology. I banked 100 hours on the Switch version of Rise, and it was easily my GOTY last year. I bought Rise again for the PC, and Sunbreak for only the PC when it came out over the summer. And then…I just didn’t play it a lot. I don’t know if I burned out on Monster Hunter on the Switch, or having the game on the PC makes it less accessible to me than it was on the Switch, but I don’t feel like I’ve given this game the shake it deserves. Regardless, Monster Hunter Rise still kicks rear end, so here it is on this list. #7: AI The Somnium Files: The Nirvana Institute You can make a lot of hay over whether the original Somnium Files game is better than The Nirvana Initiative. The sequel is more up its own rear end, which is saying something. It is a matter of some debate whether this works for it. Some criticisms are that it is less tightly plotted than the original, and that some of the supporting characters are not as interesting as the cast of the first game, and I think I do agree with those criticisms. However, what AINI does do is laser-targeted to appeal to me, forums poster wuggles specifically, and for that I love it very much. And…that’s all I can say! To say anything else would be to spoil an insane reveal that (to me) is incredible and sufficiently justified. Play this video game please. Mizuki is the best video game character of all time. Thank you. #6: Kirby and the Forgotten Land I’m not really excited to talk about Forgotten Land in the same way I’m not really excited to talk about Elden Ring. It’s just an insanely competent video game with a lot of content. I’ve only rolled the credits once, which means there is a lot of stuff left to do, and maybe one day I’ll get back to it because I know the post-credits stuff is very fun. I will say that all Kirby games should be 3D adventure games that lean into character action boss fights from now on. I don’t think the series will continue to appeal to me in 2D after playing this game. #5: Neon White  Neon White (the game or the character, you pick) stands before the armies of hell and heaven and dares to say, “I’m not cringe. You’re cringe.” Neon White is a game about being good at video games. It is a first-person speedrunning platformer-shooter. There are cards, but it’s not about the cards (they are just a visual language for managing a different finite set of power-ups in each level). I was in on Neon White early because its developer, Ben Esposito, made the excellent Donut County, and Neon White looked completely different. What captivated me about the game immediately was seeing that Relax or Die had beat my time on the tutorial stage by ten seconds. “I must destroy my friend,” I thought, and played the tutorial level a dozen more times to limited success. Regardless, I was hooked. So, Neon White is a game where you are incentivized to play its short (typically sub-minute) levels over and over for perfection (a Gold, Ace, or even Developer Medal if you’re a real sick gently caress) and for the hidden gifts in each one. You traverse levels by “discarding” your weapon to trigger its single-use traversal effect, which might be a double jump or an air dash. They get cooler as the game goes on, but I don’t want to spoil. The other, far less baked side of this game is the visual novel. In Heaven (you’re in Heaven fighting demons I don’t think I mentioned), White talks to his friends and acquaintances, giving the gifts you collect in the action stages to unlock typically middling dialogue, typically excellent bonus stages, and occasionally memories to White’s past that are key to unlocking the game’s “good ending.” Look, you’re either going to like or hate the writing. There’s references to John Cena, My Chemical Romance, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the game is incredibly horny. Even as someone who doesn’t mind a horny video game (see: AI), I found the writing usually below average. However, writing and plot are separate. Once it got rolling in the last third of the game, I thought the plot was extremely interesting, and asks some provoking questions about the nature of the afterlife even if it doesn’t seem interested in answering those questions. The thing is, no matter how you feel about the visual novel, the action stages own. Anyone interested in platformers, so-called “boomer” shooters, or going very fast and getting salty about your friends owes it to themselves to play this game. #4: Snowrunner  A game I never would have touched if not for the fact that it was constantly being discussed in the CSPAM games thread. (You do not need to tell me how you feel about CSPAM.) I have been playing video games for at least 25 years and so I’m pretty good at a lot of different types of them, fighting games being a notable exception (though I’m getting better). Snowrunner, a simulation game about driving trucks through inhospitable terrain, is not in my wheelhouse. Once I took some advice from my fellow goons – use your pickup truck to scout the area for upgrades, prioritize getting your big truck some better tires and raised suspension – I have always had a good time when I booted up this game to drive around. And I haven’t even left Michigan yet! Snowrunner and other goon darling Death Stranding share the commonality of being my favorite type of open world game, where traversing the terrain is the game. Even in Elden Ring, traversing the world is sort of a frictionless experience (turn of phrase thanks to Waypoint’s Renata). The game is elsewhere. In Death Stranding and Snowrunner, the game is the open world. Yeah, Snowrunner’s got towers, but getting to any one of those towers is a triumph. #3: Vampire Survivors  ShallNoiseUpon summed this up perfectly (I’m paraphrasing): “What if we used casino mechanics to make the game more fun instead of to take your money?” Vampire Survivors, which I came to long after everyone else did, is a constant dopamine drip. The experience bar fills quickly, items drop constantly, and the goal is to fill the screen with your poo poo faster than the screen can be filled with other poo poo. It’s a great game to play while you chat with your buddies or listen to a podcast, and I was delighted to learn some parts of it are straight up weird. I said earlier that the top three are all #1 in their own way. In an era where many games are overwrought – games are delayed constantly because AAA development is unsustainable – Vampire Survivors is the opposite of that. It is deliberately lo-fi, streamlined as much as possible to get to the fun part. #2: Rogue Legacy 2  Rogue Legacy 2, like Spelunky 2, is a game that is harmed by its predecessor. Some people who loved the first game skipped the second, since both are refinements on the formula. Fortunately, I have never played Rogue Legacy, so I love this game. Rogue Legacy 2, like Vampire Survivors, is the worst offender in the “Just One More Run” category. You say that you’re done for the night, but then you see your new heir, you buy some new upgrades, and now you HAVE to see how the new character is going to play out, right? I usually finish a video game and then bin it, but I’m on NG+2 of Rogue Legacy 2. For that reason – keeping my attention when it is so fleeting – it was really hard not to make Rogue Legacy 2 my GOTY. But of course… #1: Elden Ring  There is nothing to say about Elden Ring that you have not already read by this point. The first two-thirds of the game is a 11.5/10 and the last third is a 7/10, averaging out to a 10/10. It’s a masterpiece. Bring on Armored Core. Easy list for scorekeeping: 10. Poinpy 9. TMNT Shredder's Revenge 8. MH Rise Sunbreak 7. AI:TSF The Nirvana Initiative 6. Kirby and the Forgotten Land 5. Neon White 4. Snowrunner 3. Vampire Survivors 2. Rogue Legacy 2 1. Elden Ring
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Dec 21, 2022 20:50
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i'm gonna have to make my list into a stop motion animation or some poo poo next year, drat
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Dec 24, 2022 19:33
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luv 2 see all the rogue legacy 2 votesManoueverable posted:Thanks! I've played Ky since the beta, but the recent patch didn't do him any favors so I'm in a bit of a character crisis at the moment. may I recommend potemkin? he's great at making your friends mad
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Dec 30, 2022 01:35
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Lethrom posted:Question for all the people putting Nirvana Initiative on their lists, how do you all think it compares to the original AI? Depends on what you disliked about AITSF. The original game has a tighter narrative and a stronger supporting cast. AINI is more batshit insane. If you disliked the writing or the humor, you will not like AINI.
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Dec 31, 2022 20:10
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Oxxidation posted:there's a few coming onto the scene like kayleigh mckee but she's not in video games yet to my knowledge she is Testament in Strive!
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Jan 1, 2023 21:28
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i'm out of town so probe me for whatever. I'll read this later (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jan 8, 2023 00:37
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What upsets! Ragnarok below Horizon and Pokemon. Pentiment with that many points having come out in December. Shredder's Revenge failing to place entirely. Now that I've survived my probe I'll play the "how'd I do" game. On a personal level, this year is the furthest I've gotten from the aggregate list. Only any of my top 3 made the goon top 10 (though my placements for those were their exact placements), and one of my top 3 was in the fifties. 10. Poinpy - DNP 9. TMNT Shredder's Revenge - DNP 8. MHR Sunbreak - #16 7. AITSF Nirvana Initiative - #13 6. Kirby and the Forgotten Land - #14 5. Neon White - #18 4. Snowrunner - robbed/DNP 3. Vampire Survivors - #3 2. Rogue Legacy 2 - #56 (lol) 1. Elden Ring - #1 Delighted to see Nirvana Initiative do so well, but devastated for my boys Snowrunner and Rogue Legacy 2. Oh well. I have lots of games to play this year...
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Jan 8, 2023 11:11
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I think Rarity is always going to win the hipster award because of the way she plays games, so it would be interesting to know who the second biggest hipster is. We could even call it the Rarity Award.
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Jan 8, 2023 12:05
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Rarity posted:It was Levatein, they also had 9/10 but the one game that did pick up other votes got 15 total to my 13 which is how I do the tiebreaker Cool, thanks!
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Jan 8, 2023 14:33
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CottonWolf posted:list of best friends This is cool! Why is not commutative? Mathematically speaking if d(x,y) is the minimum value of a metric d(y,x) should be as well right?
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Jan 8, 2023 16:25
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CottonWolf posted:I’d been pondering that too. But I don’t think it has to be. Imagine an scalene triangle with corners A, B and C. Let the distance between A and B be x, B and C be y, and A and C be z, with x < y < z. Then A pairs with B, B pairs with A, and C pairs with B. So the distances commute, but C being closest to B does not imply B closest to C. Ah, got it. It works that way because not every point in the space is "inhabited" by a poster so to speak. Of the ones that are, it works like you said.
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Jan 8, 2023 19:51
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Snowy posted:And the game of the year is: That's right
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Jan 8, 2023 19:56
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