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I'm ranking completed or sufficiently-retired games I played in 2022 that received a 3.5 out of 5.0 or higher on my Glitchwave profile. To me, 3.5/5.0 is the demarcation line for games worth the time and attention. That filter narrows down the list to...48? Oh god, how much longer would this list be if I included all the underwhelming older games I tried after my Steam Deck arrived. 48. Milk Outside a Bag of Milk Outside a Bag of Milk (3.5/5) 47. Ib (3.5/5) 46. Condemned: Criminal Origins (3.5/5) 45. Franken (3.5/5) 44. Trombone Champ (3.5/5) 43. Taiji: (3.5/5) 42. Rogue Legacy 2 (3.5/5) 41. Iron Lung (3.5/5) Worth playing once for the incredible atmosphere but lasts a little too long to maintain the tension. 40. 1080° Avalanche (3.5/5) 39. Vampire Survivors (3.5/5): You, the reader, are not allowed to play this. This twin-stick-but-actually-one-stick shooter is far too addictive of a rogue-like gameplay loop that will be only mildly fun when playing yet impossible to stop. There’s lots of ways your run can end but only one way the game can end. The screen shuts off and you realize thirteen months have passed. Your credit card expired and the energy bill wasn’t paid. You open your blinds and no one is on the street. Every lawn is overgrown. Missiles screech overhead after no one was available to hit a Cold War-era deadman switch. The apocalypse is here but the energy bill comes first because you just unlucked Cavallo and want to try him out. 38. Nier Replicant (3.5/5): Yoko Taro wants gamers to consider the bigger questions in life. How do you define humanity or a soul? Are good people capable of great harm? Will there be a quest that isn’t tedious? I understand why this game’s plot is a milestone but I couldn’t get around the repetitive gameplay and lifeless world. Like hitting a rock with a sword over and over until it cracks open, then moving on to a bigger rock. 37. If Found… (3.5/5) 36. The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow (3.5/5) 35. Hylics (3.5/5) 34. Soul Hackers 2 (3.5/5) 33. AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative (3.5/5): This is still worth playing if you loved the first game but nirvanA Initiative has a bit of sequel-itis. They’ve improved what could be iterated, like making the Somnium puzzles far more intuitive and fun, The Pokemon Go parody was an inspired choice, but wrote a mystery that’s just not as fun as the first game. In a year with so many awesome narrative-driven games, the gap between nirvanA Initiative and higher-ranked titles feels more significant despite all the still-great qualities of a Somnium game. My hot take rankings: Somnium 1 > Somnium 2 > 999 >>> VLR. The ending song is a bop! Much better than the first game, even if it's not as surprising. 32. Stray (3.5/5) 31. Persona 3 Portable (3.5/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV2sRhaQrxc I wrote a longer review of P3 originally, how it started the P4/P5 social framework, offered one the best OSTs you’ll ever hear, sadly wrapped within a mediocre RPG experience. I want to replace all that with a simpler story. Around a decade ago, I checked online if I should start with P3 or P4 first. I followed what sounded like good advice to start with P3 FES on the PS2 since it supposedly had a better story and I like the sound of that! I stopped after an hour and, for some reason, never went back to pick it up. Another game may have caught my attention, I could’ve been scared of committing to the game’s length, I don’t remember. But thank god I didn’t go further. I would’ve found P3 boring, the story not especially interesting until the end, the confidants soulless and unlikable, the battles too repetitive in the dullest battle location I’ve ever seen in a video game. Persona 5 and 4 rank among my all-time favorite games but I would’ve never tried another Persona game if I committed to that first P3 FES run. It would’ve scared me off a series that I would later love, dreading an hour talking with a high-resolution Gourmet King. Playing P5 first was the dream outcome. My wife and I both ended up with multiple playthroughs, a few books and merch purchased, and we even dressed as Joker/Makoto for Halloween one year. Does any of that happen if I stuck with P3 all those years ago? PS: What was with that Chariot confidant? As a high school track runner with an oft-injured knee, I can’t imagine hearing a teammate tell me to “suck it up” and “You need to toughen up”, nevermind as the best possible answers for friendship. 30. Secret Little Haven (3.5/5): A tale of posting too much on an irreverent pink message board. 29. Journey to the Savage Planet (3.5/5) 28. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (3.5/5) 27. Alba: A Wildlife Adventure (4/5) 26. Pillars of Eternity (4/5): How big is my backlog? I kickstarted this game in 2012 and finally got around to playing it in 2022. Patient Gamer, indeed. It’s a worthwhile revival of the isometric RPG that hits the genre’s expected tropes and a light amount of twists on expectations. However, I absolutely loathe RTwP combat and turned the difficulty all the way down to focus on the plot. And you know what, enjoying these types of CRPGs as quasi-VNs are my current preference. I've grown to value exploration, characters, and story more than combat. I wonder how I would’ve reacted to this game if I beat it at launch instead of now. 25. Who's Lila? (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6c-JxUDA44&t=5643s Horror games rarely scare me, in the same way that funny games rarely make me actually laugh. Most of these games know how to be in roughly the right atmosphere and include common tropes, but lack that real emotional impact. Who’s Lila fortunately knows how to disturb you well. There are a minor amount of jump scares but the game’s real quality comes from the horrors that aren’t, like the slow realization of what is going on, the nature of your character, and moments where you simply can't stop what's about to happen. The game’s emphasis on finding different endings means constant repetition, including long conversations, but when the game gets to show you something new, it delivers. 24. Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i2BfnDVZac The original Stanley Parable was an instant classic. The follow-up Ultra Deluxe material is still funny but lacks the same level of timelessness. The overarching theme of the developer’s sequel struggle lacks the genuine charm of the original’s narrator/player conflict. Is it wrong to think new players should play the original and not bother with the extra content? 23. Crystal Project (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDokgvuuS7E After many indie attempts, someone’s passion project finally cracked the code on the ultimate comfy open-world JRPG that emphasizes exploration. It’s not a perfect game, the reliance on platforming and the lack of a strong story hinder things, but it’s an incredible achievement by a solo developer. Imagine the same game with a BG2-sized world of sidequests and content... 22. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lun8FPg0dbU Being a Pokémon fan is frustrating. Everyone daydreams their perfect Pokemon MMO, then plays the new generation that retreads decades of familiar territory. But they finally did it: they gave us little baby steps into the Monster Hunter-esq open world that we wanted, where you feel like an explorer with an enormous toolset of options instead of participating as a guest on a guided tour. Throw pokeballs as much as you want, battle at any time you want, and watch Pokémon live their adorable lives out in the wilderness. The edges are extremely rough when you compare Legends against modern open-worlds but the heart of something incredible shines through. It’s a title that makes you dream about future improvements, which is the most Pokémon fan thing imaginable. 21. The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEUcOyUM8KI This is what I always wanted in a visual novel, something that feels like a choose-your-own-adventure story that tracks RPG-like character stats. You make entirely text-based decisions and guide your character through life’s rough trials. The writing style is immaculate, nailing the emotional tone with terse efficiency. A tightly-constructed paragraph in this game would be ten tedious minutes in Muv-Luv or Umineko, and nowhere as affecting. The plot is hard to sit through as it extracts more misery from Sir Brante in repetitive fashion. You can keep someone from throwing a baby in front of a moving car but that baby is now a serial killer wizard and he enslaved your family, you shithead, you dick. Now restart the entire chapter by participating in medieval COINTELPRO slightly differently. It’s hard to keep emotionally involved when all results are obviously going to be miserable. 20. Ace Attorney Investigations 2 (4/5): I thought the critical praise for this game was due to selective bias: anyone playing this game must love AA already since you need to patch the fan-made English translation. I was wrong, this is a banger of an Ace Attorney game that never dips into low-quality. The mysteries are great but the characters really shine here. Miles Edgeworth is a far more engaging protagonist than Phoenix with his snooty ego on full display. If the Great Ace Attorney can make it to the US, why can’t this game? 19. TOEM (4/5): Is “new sincerity” a video game genre yet? TOEM asks you to help a wide cast of cute, mostly well-meaning characters through your unique powers. This time, you help through the power of your camera. Complete a minimum number of photo-related requests in the level and you gain access to the next world. Photography games aren’t new but TOEM builds a sweet atmosphere with its little open worlds, playful tone, and writing that may come from an Adventure Time fan. If you loved A Short Hike, try TOEM next. 18. Immortality (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se7OpT6XTwI This is not what I meant when I said I wanted a Persona sequel *ba dum tss* Sam Barlow hit upon hyperlink media gold with Her Story, which offered players a unique way to non-linearly research a crime. Even though I thought the story and twist were too strange to be immersive, the act of discovering the situation piece by piece was stimulating and contained so much promise. He followed up with Telling Lies, which gave a simple mainstream-ready story but told in a far worse manner. It’s really not worth playing. So it’s happy news that he came back with his best work yet in Immortality. It’s a halfway point between his past two games. The story isn’t as obtuse and impossible to decipher as Her Story; more complex and mysterious than Telling Lies. As much as I want to nitpick the plot, and there is a lot to nag about, that’s not as important as how certain moments in this game scared me better than anything in years. And I’m talking scared in a genuine, dread-filled, nightmare-inducing way, not from gore or cheap jump scares. Go try this out if that sounds promising. I won’t spoil the plot but it’s hard to talk about a game so built around discovering new information right from the start. Just know that it’s still a Sam Barlow game: You’ll often get lost, frustrated, and stuck on how to find the next clue. It’s fair to call this a puzzle game that rewards random point-and-click instead of logic. Also, most people who reached the credits recommend you stop playing afterwards and not torture yourself to find all clips. I absolutely agree. 17. Wario Land II (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbfsLOK0xSk When I first loaded my Steam Deck with EmuDeck, my expectations had to be checked with a sad acknowledgement: most of these games were going to be disappointing. Games from the 80’s and 90’s lack decades of incremental game design, can you really enjoy old games without that context? Isn’t that even worse for Game Boy games that struggled to run on primitive hardware? But here comes Nintendo’s fat libertarian to shatter that notion. Wario Land II recalls the best Mario games in terms of building novel ideas for individual levels but adds the unique-at-the-time idea of “powers” given by enemy attacks. A flame warrior hits you with fire, you lose a few coins and turn into a sprinting wreck then a walking ember…that can destroy flame-icon blocks and open new passages. This is an unbelievably impressive full-length game for the Gameboy that provides some of the best platforming gameplay. Modern indie games reference Metroidvania concepts so much that it’s a stereotype, how in the world have they not cribbed Wario Land in the same way? 16. Neon White (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Kjn9qw-rw Mario-Speedrun-by-FPS is such a wonderful concept, sadly shared with a medicore visual novel bolted to the side. I didn't find the story outright horrible as others found but it's also template capital-A Anime. I rarely care for time trials but Neon White makes it a captivating challenge, one where you technically reached the next chapter but you replay a past stage anyway because you know in your heart it could be even faster. Aim for the Heavens. 15. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLdcZ9KZlGA Am I insane or is the latest Pokemon the best mainline title in years…or possibly decades? Every review tells me I should utterly hate Scarlet/Violet for the framerate dips, the lazy animation moments, the open world pop-in, but it’s not nearly enough to convince me I didn’t have a fun time running around the world. I didn’t have unfun and you can’t make me not have fun earlier. Scarlet/Violet fulfills the promise of a self-directed open world of Pokemon. The new mons are some of the best in the series, the characters are great (Larry is me), and the different stories in parallel are a massive step up in quality for the series. Even the music is as great as it’s ever been. If you really want to spend time on inexcusable flaws, ask about the lack of voice acting. Why would they make all those cutscenes and emotional moments completely silent? 14. The Case of the Golden Idol (4/5): https://twitter.com/MIDImyers/status/1595431368154120195?s=20&t=Cao44n4gMWkk4PM61VJDWA Some knock-offs are better than the originator. The Return of The Obra Dinn took everyone by storm but I had a more fulfilling time solving the mysteries within The Case of the Golden Idol. It’s the same concept of investigating a frozen moment in time, but Golden Idol emphasizes a self-contained murder mystery per scene. It keeps the game streamlined on solving mysteries instead of mentally juggling details of Obra Dinn’s collection of individual deaths. Some Golden Idol scenes feel too conceptually large for the game: one case requires comparing multiple eyewitness testimonies through the game’s primitive UI, a great concept that’s tedious in practice. 13. R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaBUeINW_3s&t=25s Dear Mr. Hirai, I would like to apologize for laughing at your 2006 E3 conference presentation on the PSP. It was not fair to laugh at your presentation showcasing how people could play Ridge Racer portably for the first time. I grew up without a PlayStation and did not recognize the greatness of Ridge Racer and thus, didn’t recognize the truth of your announcement. I finally got to play Ridge Racer Type 4 this year and I have to say, what a fantastic game! So many games attempt a simplified arcade racer but R4 may be my favorite outside of Mario Kart. Power slides feel amazing and I never got tired shooting for the right amount of brake for each turn. The tracks bend, lift, and curve in beautiful ways. The soundtrack is an absolute banger. I miss the 90’s DnB: those fast and soft amen break drums, the low bass, and those old orchestral patches! My god, I opened Ableton afterwards just to make more music like this. It’s inspiring. I loved the futuristic and clean design language too. Is the person who designed this still happily working? I hope they are. Did I mention I played this at the same time as Gran Turismo and Wipeout? I excused my disappointment with those games, didn’t we all decide the early 3D era was the worst console generation? But R4 set me straight: it was possible to make a great and timeproof racing game for the original PlayStation. You were right all along about playing Ridge Racer and how much more amazing it is to play R4 portably! I have a Steam Deck, wouldn’t it be just as good on a PSP back then? I know R4 isn’t perfect, the racing game genre isn’t my thing, but it got so much right that I must write and apologize for my reaction to your E3 conference. Maybe you would’ve not been as lonely on stage if circumstances were different and I was in the audience shouting along with you “It’s Ridge Racer! Riiiiiidge Racer!” Love, DMCrimson 12. Dark Scavenger (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUzfYcfY35Q A great 3-4 hour RPG-esq text adventure that functions like a Dungeon Master with a good sense of humor. You’ll click room-by-room through worlds that present silly misadventures and antagonists, with the chance of combat and the post-fight choices of weapons, items, or allies. The launch trailer promotes a "Dark Twisted Sci-Fi Narrative" which, lmao, thank god it's actually goofy fun adventure story. The interface and graphics are outright poor. You can imagine a high school sophomore freehand drawing inside a textbook or uploading a Flash game to Newgrounds in the early-aughts. But that doesn’t matter as much as the goofy loot system, the silly ways you can react to characters, and the surprising plot turns. Fun gameplay and entertaining writing shines through no matter what. I have one recommendation if you end up buying and trying this game: Never use the last resource of a weapon/item/ally. Your supply refreshes between levels and you’ll want to maximize your strategic options. Useful inventory runs low quickly and the game prioritizes hitting weaknesses to stun. 11. NORCO (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy_1lZCu4Z4 I’m so easily taken by any game that reminds me of Disco Elysium in the slightest way. NORCO is a point-and-click game with great writing in a dialogue window that’s taller than it is wide! Ok, there are more parallels to Disco than what I’m implying. This is a game set in an overwhelming corporate hellscape, against enormous class struggles, in pursuit of a local mystery. Your character finds answers to questions in a city that would disintegrate all the same without you around. No bird internet or rocket ship cult in your hometown but the heart of the game, the unshakable corporate control over the region, keeps the game sadly relatable. 10. DUSK (4/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi1e2wvBego This may be hearsay but it’s true: I often dislike older FPS games. Doom, Quake, Hexen, Duke Nukem, all the others, I only liked first-person shooters once the genre became more immersive and less about killing huge numbers of enemies (this line will be funnier once we hit this year’s #3). DUSK has a few of these modern elements but I can’t believe I love this game for all the reasons I didn’t like those older games. Turns out, I love blasting tons of demons with a giant shotgun when it’s done as well as DUSK. The development team is one to follow since they began work on something requiring more ambition… 9. Gloomwood (4.5/5): https://twitter.com/DaveOshry/status/1567957416616300544 So you’re telling me the makers of DUSK, the only game I’ve really loved in the boomer shooter genre, is now pushing out a spiritual successor to Thief? An immersive sim? In this economy? Thank goodness, because the Early Access-limited game we currently play is a fantastic modern translation of the genre. This is what your nostalgia thinks Thief 2 was like, but now it actually exists. Take the first level for example. The environmental storytelling is wonderful, you have multiple routes to explore, and a promise of an open world just beyond the horizon that builds from your early tests. Let’s pray that the remaining game updates builds on the early success but what’s available tells us the team knows exactly what oldheads like me wanted. 8. TUNIC (4.5/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hJ8o-lnDxg&t=81s The last puzzle is the greatest puzzle in gaming history but you have to go through a good-not-great Zelda clone to get there. Discovering “the” puzzle is an incredible revelation that made me want to find Twitch playthroughs to see how others felt the same shock of realization. I broke out a notepad and started writing/drawing notes with a pencil and a giant smile on my face. This is the puzzle I think about when people talk about incredible moments that could only happen in video games. Make sure to turn on invincibility when you feel the combat’s getting a tad annoying. Do not let mere sword fighting stop you from unveiling the final mystery. 7. Grapple Dog (4.5/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpSzms-aic0 Grapple Dog is the ideal difficult fast-paced 2D platformer for me. The world is full of 2D platformers of every style, gameplay, and difficulty and they sometimes blend together in your mind. Hell, you probably played other 2D platformers with the same grapple hook mechanic as this game (Does Worms count? It should). But Grapple Dog nails it. They’ve found every interesting platform permutation for grapple hooks and just went for it, the entire game. Has any platformer felt as good when you’re going fast? Sonic exists but it’s nowhere near the rush when your grapple hook launches Pablo the Dog through spikes, saw mills, and fireballs as a series of nail-biting grapple hook dexterity tests. The cartoony art looks even better in motion, like when piloting your little boat through the overworld that bounces up and down like a Cuphead boss. And that bright sample-heavy saturday morning cartoon soundtrack? Absolutely perfect. The only “Before I Play” recommendation I’d warn you about is the difficulty. To me, this is a nearly-perfect level of challenge through the end of World 4: somewhere around the Donkey Kong Country Returns series while offering a more forgiving checkpoint system. But there are World 1 levels that feel like late-game Mario tests and Bonus Levels that touch post-game Super Meat Boy demands of perfect execution. When the game throws you gates that require sizable gem totals, the time necessary to replay old levels for one incremental gem or complete an unforgiving bonus stage weighs on you. 6. Pentiment (4.5/5): https://twitter.com/supitscarrie/status/1596675012580327424 If there’s a genre for Night in the Woods and OxenFree walking-and-talking story games, Pentiment is now the best of the bunch. An absolute milestone for story-driven games that constantly surprises me with its sheer cleverness. I catch myself in one of Pentiment's pivotal decisions and there they are, rope kid and team, behind me with a smirk. And they're right to smirk, the stress of these weighty decisions is memorable, these difficult decisions are the point. It takes a masterful game like Pentiment to line up all these perfectly-tangible characters and small-town gossip into the game's heartbreaking investigations. gently caress, did I ever react to the ending of Act 2. That might be the most thrilling narrative sequence I've seen in a video game since Disco Elysium. The beginning of Act 3 doesn't have the same dramatic propulsion as Act 2 but eventually gets good by the end. 5. Betrayal at Club Low (4.5/5): https://twitter.com/NewsSwsArmyKnfe/status/1569207673056555009?s=20&t=KTrSVGhW0OVoGuHvs6u8gw Betrayal at Club Low is the perfect one-shot RPG campaign if you miss the show Xavier: Renegade Angel. You get to explore every detail of a small nightclub as a secret agent disguised as a pizza delivery man, interacting with every item and character for dice-rolled interactions. Beyond the janky-on-purpose art and janky-not-on-purpose UI, it’s a tightly-constructed and hilarious tabletop RPG that’s a blast to play in a single afternoon. Games usually fail at being funny, this is a rare case of video game humor actually succeeding. Funny games are often easy but this game is a hefty challenge even on normal or easy. You encounter skill checks that seem impossibly high and your single dice rolls become ridiculous combinations of a half-dozen dice with absurd conditions. The game emphasizes exploring all options on all characters to give as many secondary benefits as possible to help you when the odds look impossible. Trust yourself that there’s always an opportunity to get the odds in your favor through a backroom you haven't found yet…or just restart the game, it’s really that short. 4. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (4.5/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK2DqhRRSQ4&t=192s Last year, I said Metroid Prime felt like the "right" way to bring Metroid into 3D, as if there was a single true way to convey Super Metroid’s sense of exploration and immersion that Retro luckily found. This year, I could say the same thing about Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Decades of great 2D Kirby games are in my mind, but it’s their first real 3D game that is the best Kirby game. If the game improved a few slightly-mediocre boss fights, you could honestly argue this against Mario Odyssey and Mario Galaxy. 3. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (4.5/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ih2rHwmNxA I often make mistakes. Five years ago, I bounced off Revengeance after an hour of playing. I walked Raiden around without sprinting and took more time scavenging for secret items than finding the next baddie to decapitate, ultimately deciding the game just wasn’t for me. I picked up the Steam Deck this summer and revisited past games that I retired, especially Revengeance as I felt a little regret not giving the game enough time despite the acclaim around it. And the acclaim only grew since my first attempt… Well gently caress me. I played this game like the fans suggested, aggressive balls-to-the-wall attacking for electrolytes, and I’m utterly beaming. There’s no ramp-up, you start at 100% speed and you stay in the zone. Sprint-and-Slash gameplay has never felt better and you will smile like a kid hearing dinner tonight is pizza. Cast aside your self-awareness and indulge playing an eyepatch-wearing cyborg swinging badass anime swords to a cyber nu-metal soundtrack for five adrenaline-filled hours. And somehow, somehow, MGR manages to insert a political message C-SPAM would be proud of. Just imagine the writer of Senator Armstrong’s dialogue watching Trump introduce his campaign slogan back in 2015. I’m trying to think of anything else that has been this over-the-top and a genuine classic: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure? Everything Everywhere All at Once? But those examples are too modest to kickstart the vocals of “Rules of Nature” when you single-handedly parry a building-sized sword wielded by a mech during the first fifteen minutes of the game. Did you overthink yourself into not liking it or did you let yourself enjoy the moment? You should admit it’s fun because every boss does this music trick and it thrills every time. Months after playing, I’ve set multiple gym PRs listening to “The Only Thing I Know for Real”. I was wrong five years ago but I’m correcting past mistakes. MGR:R is god-tier. 2. Before Your Eyes (5/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTI1WCopTsg Before Your Eyes is difficult to compare against triple-A titles. It’s an independent first-person game lasting all of 90 minutes that works off a gimmick of using eye movements like blinking to change scenes. The 3D graphics are simple in a way that recalls itch.io games by college teams. It’s a bit like recommending a self-published book or a local band’s album on Bandcamp that you are convinced should be right alongside established icons. Of any game in this list, it’s the one that I’d recommend first to anyone. Everyone can recognize something meaningful here. It’s more emotionally affecting than nearly every other game. I want to stay coy of the story but it will target the nostalgic part of your brain and the way you recall those early memories. They were all you could imagine at the time. They are now rarely thought about and gone in a blink. The game is gone in a blink too, but what you take away from it will last much longer. 1. Elden Ring (5/5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OauP0B6I2jM My favorite mess. All addition, no subtraction. As if they released their next three games, DLC included, all at once. If this was the last SoulsBourne title, I would understand. Your favorite band releases a quadruple-album, your favorite movie’s director cut adds three more hours, and FROM Software releases Elden Ring. I haven’t felt this way about an open world since Breath of the Wild. Some games have larger land masses with more side quests, fine, but the world of Elden Ring is a perfect fairy tale. It’s a land I can explore with no specific reward happily. A game so enormous, you daydream about retiring early to devote your time. Exploration feels so good, speed runs feel insulting. Immerse yourself and enjoy every corner. Take as long as you need. And when you beat it, imagine closing a leather-bound book of fables and rest it on your lap for a moment in reflection. Dark Souls will be the FROM game that’s written in textbooks decades from now, Bloodborne has their best gameplay, but Elden Ring is the developer’s most impressive accomplishment, my 2022 game of the year. Another story that sums up Elden Ring to me happened over Thanksgiving when I asked someone about who they felt was the hardest boss. He took moment to consider and then described two different dragon bosses. As he describes each, I realize that I have no goddamn clue what dragons he is talking about or the areas to find either of them. Months after the game launch, when I had spent so much time in the game and various discussions/guides, there was still something completely new for me to find via word of mouth. It was Dark Souls community knowledge, a moment that proved the world was so mysterious, endlessly memorable, and worth exploring. DMCrimson fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Dec 19, 2022 |
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Dec 11, 2022 17:44
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Escobarbarian posted:Wario Land II is an amazing game. There is a platformer called Pizza Tower coming out early 2023 which is hugely Wario Land-inspired and looks sick Item Getter posted:Yeah it was great to bust out pen and paper and take pages of notes on a game, haven't done that in a long time. Thank you for the recommendations, I'll check these out!
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Dec 11, 2022 19:38
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Alxprit posted:4) EVERHOOD Absolutely agree that people should go into Everhood with no forewarning. The first gnome fight 15 minutes into the game throws so many new psychedelic ideas beyond the game's expected scope at you in quick succession, it's exhilarating. I legitimately did not know what was going to happen but I was excited to find out.
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Dec 15, 2022 16:59
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Escobarbarian posted:What the gently caress NORCO sounds amazing and you gave the best possible reference points to ensure I play it as soon as humanly possible Absolutely try it out! I'm worried that over time, it's liable to be forgotten in the recent wave of fantastic narrative-first games like Disco Elysium, Kentucky Route Zero, Night in the Woods, and Pentiment. However, NORCO does so much unique and emotionally-affecting that you might find it the best game of the entire wave. DMCrimson fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Dec 17, 2022 |
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Dec 17, 2022 19:37
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Relax Or DIE posted:I always enjoy the lists – I read every post in these threads – but I know not all of you are about reading. You’re about gaming! So this year I thought I’d provide an option for those of you who may wish to engage with a top ten in the most gamer fashion: blasting demons. If you’d like to instead play my goty list in Doom 2, here you go: https://github.com/RelaxOD/doomwads/blob/main/gotyrod.wad Oh my god
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Dec 19, 2022 03:52
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He's not kidding, folks. Go play DOOM II for the Top 10 list of 2022 games.
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Dec 19, 2022 03:55
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Jerusalem posted:Earlier today at the Relax Or DIE studios....
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Dec 19, 2022 05:25
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Fix posted:I finished Norco and am tits deep in Case of the Golden Idol since yesterday. You’re kicking off the year on such a good note
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Jan 2, 2023 17:39
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Natural 20 posted:It's going to be really interesting to see Tears of the Kingdom in the context of Elden Ring. Agreed, both games scratched the same rare world-is-immersive itch that virtually no open world game actually accomplishes. I'm not sure why more games don't mimic BOTW and Elden Ring's combination of self-directed player choice and quiet space between dungeons/towns. I'm hesitant that TotK could be any better than Elden Ring, the bar is set so unbelievably high.
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Jan 8, 2023 19:14
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