#goty 2022

[shakespearefreak]

Trying again (with increasing desperation 😂) to catch up on doll posts

This was a few weeks ago now (all the snow is gone, hopefully for the last time this season *knocks on wood*), but Corinne and Gwynn took Flurry 🐕 for a walk in the snow! ❄️

[majadraws]

Truly the gamest... It wasn’t shocking, but I am still so glad Elden Ring won Game of the Year I wish I had the time and energy to finish this whole thing, but this crop will do. I just wanted to do something for it

Congratulations Elden Ring!!! 

[madfanatic]

It took me more time than I thought but CONGRATULATIONS KIRBY!!!

[blueberry-lemon]

My Top 10 Favorite Indie Games of 2022! There were so many cool indie games this year, all of which were very very different, but here's the small sliver that I'd like to shout-out.

You can also view the list here on Backloggd.

Number 1: Crystal Project

A truly unique RPG. Imagine Final Fantasy 5 with open-world BOTW exploration, 3D platforming, and it's all left to uncover on your own.

A special experience I'll never forget, and now has Randomizer options to do it all again.

Number 2: Potionomics

A really in-depth potion shopkeeper game with loads of charm and strategy. Brew potions, send out adventure parties, boost relationships with NPCs, and do deckbuilding sales negotiations. The loop is so satisfying, and the art is beautiful.

Number 3: Orb of Creation

Incremental game, idle game, clicker game, whatever you call it, this is one of the most mechanically interesting of any of the ones I've tried. Advancing through the unlock trees is the primary puzzle itself, using all sorts of systems at your disposal.

Number 4: Citizen Sleeper

I haven't finished quite yet, but this is a really engaging story about life under oppressive systems, scraping by the best you can, and making alliances with other folks who are desperate. The dice-slotting mechanic is so smart here.

Number 5: Grapple Dog

A colorful, charming, and beautifully animated platformer. Very satisfying to go through levels, get the collectables, and challenge yourself to bonus levels. If you master it, the sense of momentum is so fluid.

and the rest of the list...

Olli Olli World

Chained Echoes

Neon White

Trombone Champ

A tie between Super Kiwi 64 and Lunistice

My Top 10 Favorite AAA Games of 2022

Splatoon 3

Marvel Snap (small design team, but i'm counting this as AAA)

Pokemon Legends Arceus

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Triangle Strategy

Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Live A Live

Marvel Midnight Suns

Multiversus

Elden Ring

There were lots of other cool games this year, like Chiki's Chase, Tunic, Nobody Saves The World, Poinpy, Tinyfolks, and Kardboard Kings!

Excited for 2023.

[spectreship]

2022 has been an excellent year for video games, by which I mostly mean the weird indie stuff I like (the only major release I played was Elden Ring, actually.) I figure I'll put up a highlights reel of smaller things I liked that came out this year:

- Iron Lung: great little spooky game by the Dusk guy. I really like games like this, little 1 or 2 hour experiences that focus on doing one thing really well. Also a great example of how budget development can be turned in the game's favor--the gameplay revolving around taking grainy photos hides the game world's relative barrenness, and the choice to use an FPS engine for a game where you pilot a submarine does a lot to make the game feel more claustrophobic than something with a dedicated interface would.

- Card Shark: a narrative adventure game telling a picaresque story of 18th century France. It's a little uneven, but it's basically Barry Lyndon's Warioware--I had a lot of fun with it. Has a really gorgeous artstyle as well as a great soundtrack.

- Trombone Champ: I know this was the streamer game du jour back in September, but it's genuinely pretty fun and has some really great jokes, as well as doing a hell of a lot with a largely public domain soundtrack. I think it's a lot more innovative than it seems--it's a rhythm game where you actually play the music note by note, instead of hitting buttons for canned soundbytes.

- The Case of the Golden Idol: a Return of the Obra Dinn-esque mystery game (I think a lot of people, myself included, heard about it when Lucas Pope signal boosted it.) Has a pretty novel method of deduction making and a really ingenious final twist. The plot is more outlandish than I'd expected but it executes some pretty interesting ideas. Also, it has an enjoyably weird artstyle--sort of a grotesque Monkey Island kind of thing.

- Frog Detective 3: I played the whole trilogy in 2 days. Very cute and has some good jokes in it.

- Pentiment: Easily game of the year for me, I beat it day 1 and then posted about it for a week straight. An ingeniously constructed visual novel* about the grand tapestry of history and the rippling effect of our choices throughout our lives and those of others. I don't want to drag this out because I've described my thoughts on it elsewhere and I'd need a whole book on its own to get all of them down, but suffice to say it's an incredible game.

Also an honorable mention to Gloomwood, a promising immersive sim that went into early access in October, and an honorable mention to Dwarf Fortress for its Steam release, which despite a couple minor hiccups has gotten me playing that game more than I have in half a decade.

I haven't finished FAITH 3 or played Norco, but those are also on my list for this year, so I'll reblog with an addendum if I get around to either before January.

*"visual novel" used loosely here. it's somewhere between Night in the Woods and Disco Elysium, but visual novel feels like the most appropriate term due to the amount of reading involved.

[stephenhilger-art]

One of my favorite GOTY traditions for @intothecast is getting to draw the episode art. We’ve been doing the show for over 4 years now, it’s cool to track my own progress as an artist alongside our big end of the year episode. Very happy with this one 🐋

[evs-eme]

Elden Ring - Game of the Year 2022

The game that has consumed my time and my soul this year, I'm happy that it won the #GOTY.

I made a fanart yesterday with the NPCs of the game after watching The Game Awards and finished it today.

Eme

LINK: https://twitter.com/evs_eme/status/1601324194033471488

[sanaez214]

Game of Year 2022! Congratulations Elden Ring!