The Nesta’s Games of The Year 2022 Edition
Prologue
Hello friends, and welcome back to another Game of The Year list. I started doing these way back in 2006, so we’re getting kinda close to going on 20 years of this nonsense. But not quite yet.
I just wanna say that this was a difficult list to do this year for a number of reasons, and I might go into some of those reasons at some point… but not right now. I will also say that you might notice this list is far shorter than normal! Though still decently long all things considered. Still, I feel like it’s a good list, and I’m proud of it all the same.
Last thing I’ll say before we begin is that this year was actually pretty good for my wife and I up until about a couple months ago. The end of the year has been real rough, but we’re getting through it.
But we accomplished a lot of this stuff this year, and actually got a new kitty, Dolly! We love her to bits and she’s actually been around for a good number of these games.
Anyway, hope you all enjoy the list, and I promise I’ll try to still do one next year too, lol.
Honorable Mention: Chained Echoes
I sadly have not had the amount of time required to make it very far into Chained Echoes, but it has become my go to nightly game that I play by myself to unwind. Chained Echoes is a ridiculously smartly designed homage to classic JRPGs developed by a single person.
His love and appreciation for the genre shines through in every facet of the game from its combat to its world and characters. Seriously this game is honestly one of the best indie JRPGs I’ve ever played and it could potentially sit alongside classic giants like Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. It’s always the highlight of my nights, so you should go check it out right now!
11. Frog Detective
Note: Frog Detective WAS my #10 on this list until a last minute addition, but it’s too good to cut, so this is actually a stealth Top 11 Games of The Year list. Thank you for understanding.
Frog Detective was a real short and sweet surprise for my wife and I this year. I had seen mention of Frog Detective before, but it wasn’t until the third game, and indeed the compilation of the trilogy that was released this year, when I finally got around to checking it out. Frog Detective is made up of three episodic adventures that each take roughly an hour and a half to two hours to complete.
The games have a cozy low-fidelity style to it, and they’re genuinely funny, like really funny. Also very wholesome and cute. Towards the end of the year, which is when we played them, we hit a bit of a rough spot for the year. So it was really nice to sit down and spend a couple hours with each one of these. I would totally be down for some more Frog Detective, but either way will be paying attention to what the developer does next!
10. Triangle Strategy
Triangle Strategy was an early favorite for me this year, especially considering I fell in love with the game as soon as it was announced thanks to a same-day early demo of the game. Square Enix has certainly been putting their “HD-2D” technology to use since Octopath Traveler from a couple years ago, and of course a honest to goodness spiritual successor to Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre would be near the top of my most anticipated games list.
I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint! Triangle Strategy’s high quality sprite work and special effects look absolutely gorgeous, the game has a wonderful soundtrack, and the tactics based gameplay is best in class quality. I think one of the things that stood out the most for fans of the game, myself included, is just how varied the cast of characters are when it comes to combat abilities. You can do some really twisted shit with some of the characters.
If I had one complaint about the game it would be that the voice acting is hit or miss. For the most part I think it’s fine, but there’s a confusing trend in Square Enix going all in on British voice acting for most of its games. And even though this is a case where it feels thematically appropriate, it’s not necessarily “good” voice acting at times. Some of the characters’ repeated battle quotes became quite endearing in this apartment though by the end.
9. Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion
I’ve waited so many years to show Crisis Core to my wife, seeing as how it’s one of my favorite Final Fantasy games in the entire series. And thankfully we got an amazing surprise announcement of a total remake of the original PSP game. I’m happy to say it’s the definitive way to play this game, and you totally should since it rules.
Crisis Core was very impressive for a PSP game, to the point that I used to say they could just remake Final Fantasy VII to look like that. In an odd twist of fate, Crisis Core Reunion actually looks like the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but that’s fine because both games are gorgeous!
Crisis Core is well loved for both its surprisingly heartfelt story that turns Zack into one of the most endearing characters in the series, and provides some great additional context for the events of FFVII’s past. But also the game’s wide variety of missions that a more dedicated player can dig into if they truly want to break the game to their will.
I’m more into the story than anything else, especially the incredibly well executed ending that *still* makes me cry, but I also find the mission based structure of the game to be enjoyable. Definitely give this game a look if you skipped it on the PSP, it might surprise you!
8. Pokemon Violet / 7. Pokemon Legends Arceus
One could argue there have been TOO many Pokemon games lately! I say that as someone that has not only played Pokemon Legends Arceus and Pokemon Violet which both came out this year. But also as someone who is currently catching up on Pokemon Brilliant Diamond which came out last November.
Fortunately all of these games are good! I’d rank Pokemon Legends a spot higher than Violet and I’ll explain why.
Pokemon SV is a pretty damn good Pokemon game with some glaring flaws. It truly brought the mainline Pokemon games into a new era with a very open ended campaign with three different routes to tackle in any order you want, and tosses you into a big seamless open world to play around in.
As I’m sure you’re aware, SV has some issues. The game was seemingly rushed out to hit the usual November release window for these games, and as a result SV is a game riddled with some hilarious bugs and glitches, terrible looking terrain, and huge performance troubles.
However, that doesn’t take away from the fact that SV somehow manages to tie three different storylines together into one of the best Pokemon narratives we’ve ever gotten, but it’s also a surprisingly challenging game with some battles that I even lost in.
Another great thing about the game is that within the first couple hours you can obtain like 30+ different species of Pokemon, so there’s always an opportunity to mix up your team and try something different.
All that said, it was really Pokemon Legends that knocked me on my ass this year. I was pretty critical of Pokemon Legends leading up to its release, but once it came out it had my attention. And I’m glad it did!
Pokemon Legends is a really unique take on the Pokemon formula that also puts you in a somewhat open world. There are big areas to explore, and different types of traversal options to get around. In Legends you’re not only able to catch Pokemon in the traditional way, but also by just hurling a bunch of PokeBalls out in the wilds.
The game has an extremely different format than any other Pokemon game, with you tackling each of the game’s areas, following their storylines, fighting boss type encounters at the end, all the while completing different objectives like catching a ton of a certain kind of Pokemon to fill in your journal.
Similar to Pokemon SV, I found Legends to be extremely challenging at times, and I thought it was all the better for it. Also, especially when compared to SV, I think Legends *looks* amazing. Even though it too has its share of performance issues.
Either way, it’s hard to complain if you’re a Pokemon fan this year.
Intermission 1: VTubers
Virtual Idols, right? “VTubers” have been with us for a while now, and while I first got into them in 2020 with Hololive, I never fully got into the whole craze.
That changed early this year when both my wife and I got into Nijisanji EN. A growing group of English VTubers that smartly decided to capitalize on the lack of prominent English male VTubers.
Since then we’ve both come to love most of the talent in Nijisanji EN and it has resulted in a year full of listening to their songs and covers. Watching a ton of live streams, and keeping up with the sheer amount of Twitter antics the group gets up to.
6. Fire Emblem Three Hopes
Admittedly I’ve had an on again / off again relationship with Fire Emblem Three Houses. I’m a massive Fire Emblem fan, but the (for now) most recent release in the mainline series has rubbed me the wrong way at times for various reasons. Fortunately thanks to Three Hopes I think I’ve finally come to terms with it.
While Fodlan might not be my favorite setting in the series, I have grown attached to most of these characters, and Three Hopes does an excellent job of letting you spend a little more time with them albeit in an alternate timeline. I would even go so far as to argue that Three Hopes is the better game when it comes to writing. Which could have something to do with 8–4 handling the localization for this one.
I also enjoyed the first Fire Emblem Warriors which was an interesting, and cool mix of traditional Fire Emblem mechanics blended into Musou style gameplay. But that first game was much more of a spin-off game with heavy fan service, as opposed to Three Hopes which shares more similarities with Persona 5 Strikers in that it actually feels like an authentic follow-up to the mainline game.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game, and would love to go back and finish the other two routes sometime. And I would strongly recommend the game to both fans of Musou style games, and especially fans of Three Houses.
5. Xenoblade 3
I spent a long time playing Xenoblade 3 earlier this year. Pretty much an entire month spent playing the game all day everyday. It was well worth it, as Xenoblade 3 is one of my favorite games to come out this year, as well as one of the best Switch games available.
I’m a huge fan of the Xeno series dating all the way back to Xenogears, and it’s been an interesting journey to develop a true appreciation for the Xenoblade series itself. I’m not sure that I would say Xenoblade 3 is my favorite in the Xenoblade series, but it’s close.
The things that Xenoblade 3 does exceptionally well are the amazing cast of characters (minus Sena) and a battle system that is by far the best in the series. I love Xenoblade 1 for its story, and Xenoblade 2 for its character designs, but Xenoblade 3 strikes a nice balance and kind of ends up being the most well rounded.
Still, I cannot say enough nice things about the gameplay mechanics in this game. The Class system and the Hero system allow for some amazing customization, and the refinements and QoL improvements made to actual battles make this game much more approachable than the mess that was Xenoblade 2.
Eunie ended up being my favorite character in the game, but the other playable party members (again, aside from Sena) are all great. And a good number of the Hero characters are great as well. The game looks gorgeous and is wildly ambitious for a Switch game in 2022, and the game also has an amazing soundtrack.
Now if we could just get a port of Xenoblade Chronicles X for the Switch, we’d have the whole set.
4. God of War Ragnarok
God of War 2018 was a real surprise. It’s not that I didn’t think the game looked good before it came out, I was already looking forward to it. But it was really the fact that it was one of the first games I played with my wife, and she expected to hate it, but somehow ended up loving it from very early on.
I do still enjoy the old God of War games, and was even prompted to play them for a bit again during my time with Ragnarok. But the Norse duology of games is a cut above the rest both in terms of amazingly well grounded combat, and unparalleled story telling.
God of War Ragnarok more than lived up to the hype, even if I feel like the game trips here and there due to some awkward pacing. I love how the game splits up into multiple perspectives that still seamlessly bleed together, and almost every character in this game is brilliant.
The game also benefits from incredible production values. The level of animation and acting on display here is really, really impressive, and I say that as someone who doesn’t typically value this kind of thing over something with a strong or interesting art style over technical horsepower.
My wife and I also spent a great deal of time with this game, wrapping up most of the side content. And the game ends with yet another amazing ending that had us both in tears. I don’t know where Sony Santa Monica will go from here with Kratos, but I know we’ll both eagerly be awaiting his return.
Intermission 2: Old Games
There were plenty of new games we played this year, but also quite a number of older releases. Whether it was something my wife and I had both played before, or it was another chance for me to share some of my old favorites with her.
Notably we started the year with the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters. We had a great time playing through that collection, though we inexplicably stopped during our playthrough of VI. We’ve been meaning to get back to that, and certainly will.
Later on in the year, thanks to Xenoblade 3 I finally had a chance to share Xenogears with her. Which I’m happy to report is still one of my favorite games of all time. As well as Chrono Trigger which is still my favorite game of all time.
After that we tried to play both Chrono Cross and Xenosaga, but it didn’t turn out so well, lol.
But by far the centerpiece of this all was when I showed her the Metal Gear Solid series for the first time. We played 1–4 and she became completely obsessed with it. Those games are all still extremely good, and it still makes me a bit sad that modern Kojima went in a different direction. Including MGSV in that by the way.
Still, I’m sure my wife and I will continue onto MGSV, as well as Death Stranding, and maybe even some other Metal Gear games, but either way it’s a new favorite in this apartment!
3. Judgment
My wife and I are both huge fans of RGG’s Yakuza (or Like a Dragon, I guess is what we’re calling it now) series. But somehow we bounced off Judgment back when that came out. We didn’t even get around to play it before last year’s sequel Lost Judgment came out, but 2022 was the year to fix those mistakes.
I’m specifically including Judgment here because overall I think it’s a much better game than its sequel with very few exceptions. Lost Judgment ended up being very disappointing with its story, and focused on a character’s death that my wife and I hated. The school setting also didn’t do many favors for this game in particular. However the one real shining beacon in Lost Judgment is the main character Takayuki Yagami himself.
Yagami is such a much better character in Lost Judgment, it’s not even close. In fact my only real complaint about the original Judgment is that Yagami comes off as the weakest part of the whole thing. It’s a shame we couldn’t somehow… combine these factors…? But I digress.
Judgment is an incredible game despite this. The story was a wild roller coaster that kept getting better and better as the game went on. In a way that I think most of the Yakuza games can’t even keep up with. There’s also a very strong cast of supporting characters, and another outlet for the brawling fighting style of the pre-Yakuza 7 games.
At the end of all this, I’m left hoping and praying we get more Judgment games in the future. But in the meantime we’re getting THREE more Yakuza/Like A Dragon games in the coming years, so I can’t complain too much. We’ll see how RGG does in this post-Nagoshi era.
2. Live A Live
I’ll tell you right away that it takes an extraordinary amount of willpower not to make Live A Live my game of the year, but I ultimately had to put it in second due to the juggernaut that was my actual #1.
But yeah, if you couldn’t guess already Live A Live is fucking awesome. I was only vaguely familiar with the game for many years, hearing it was another one of those hidden Super Famicom gems we never got here. Well, that and the fact that UnderTale’s Toby Fox based the sensational track ‘Megalovania’ off of Live A Live’s boss music ‘Megalomania’. (More on that in a moment).
I think the biggest and best compliment that I can make about Live A Live is that if I got to play this game in the 90s alongside Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger it would definitely be one of my favorite games of all time.
Live A Live fits right in with those other legendary JRPGs from Square, and it’s a shame we didn’t get it sooner. Thankfully Live A Live (2022) seems to be an incredibly well realized remake of that classic game, and even if I lack the nostalgia for it, I would still consider it to be one of the greatest JRPGs I’ve ever played.
Each one of the game’s chapters where you take the role of a different character throughout history is a perfect bite sized adventure that is all paced extremely well. The only exception to this is the final chapter of the game which does get a bit tedious, but that’s the one and only complaint I have.
Every character’s chapter is tied neatly into the game’s overall narrative due to one unifying factor that is too good to spoil. But from what I’ve seen, everyone comes to that moment of realization at some point or another.
The game’s battle system is wildly unique and unlike anything I’ve seen before. This game’s combat is much more about movement and positioning your characters and the enemies, and it’s pretty awesome once you get the hang of it. Each character plays a bit differently too with different strengths and weaknesses, and a style to call their own.
But I think the biggest takeaway that people probably have with this game actually comes down to Megalomania. Not only does this song fucking slap HARD, but it’s utilized so god damn well in the game.
Every chapter ends with a big boss fight, and each fight is accompanied by this god damn banger, and it gets you SO fucking hype! There’s even an incredible twist with it at the end of the game too. And in general this game’s soundtrack is probably my favorite thing Yoko Shimomura has ever done. It’s too bad that it’s so hard to find a way to legally listen to it.
Live A Live is one for the ages, and if you like JRPGs at all you really owe it to yourself to check it out. Fucking outstanding game.
1. Elden Ring
Well friends, it finally happened. My game of the year actually, somehow lined up with what has kind of universally been accepted by critics and many players alike as THE game of the year for 2022. I know it’s a bit boring coming from me, and I’m sure anyone who knows me could have guessed it. Still, I can’t deny, Elden Ring was *the* game for me this year.
I’ve been a huge fan of From’s Soulsborne style of games for years now, even managing to get my wife completely obsessed with them last year too. And so it’s been such a long wait for Elden Ring, and I have to say that it delivered on the hype in some unexpected ways.
There are so many reasons people have for loving Elden Ring. It’s easily the most popular and successful Soulslike that has ever come along. It’s arguably one of the most accessible FromSoftware games for a wider audience of players. It’s an open world game full of stuff to do. Seriously, this game is so long, and was so popular that it’s the ONLY thing a lot of people played back when it came out earlier this year.
It’s a game that combines From’s signature Souslike combat, mystique, and captivating worlds with a far more grounded story and lore and setting all of that in a huge map full of things to explore.
All of these things are true, and I love it for that as well. But there are some ways in which keep it from being my favorite FromSoft game. As much as I love the open world approach as it’s applied here, I don’t think that I prefer it to the more condensed style of the previous games.
I think due to such a wide dearth of content that some of the game’s insane number of bosses end up feeling a little less satisfying or repetitive. As cool as it is to find so many secret areas and dungeons to explore, they all feel way less special than the areas from the game’s that preceded it.
There are other issues I have with the game, but most of them have kind of a caveat to them. I don’t necessarily dislike them in Elden Ring, but I just happen to prefer the way the older games were.
However there is one thing that Elden Ring does exceptionally well and I feel like it is unmatched in that regard. And that is the massive amount of customization, build variety, gameplay styles, and methods of putting builds together.
Part of the reason Elden Ring is “the” game for me this year is because I’ve never *stopped* playing Elden Ring. I pick it up every other month and play more of it. And a large part of this is due to the fact that I simply cannot stop watching build videos and other videos about Elden Ring.
I keep up with each patch, and I’m constantly on the hunt to try something new and exciting. To me Elden Ring has been as ever present for me this year as any Fire Emblem Heroes, Genshin Impact, or Final Fantasy XIV.
Builds have always been a big part of these games, but not to this extent. And it is exactly because of the open ended nature of Elden Ring as well as the massive amount of options available to you that make this such a fascination to keep me coming back for more.
I loved my first playthrough of this game which took over 150 hours, and then I enjoyed other playthroughs that got to one point or another with a new character. And then I enjoyed almost an entirely complete second playthrough of the game. And I’ve watched almost as much Elden Ring as I played it (not quite though, but still).
And there are even more things I could praise about it! It’s amazing cast of characters, it’s incredible soundtrack, it’s gorgeous visuals. The fact that the most shocking jaw dropping moment I had in a game all year came from an extremely optional and easy to miss side quests that dropped a head turning plot twist on my wife and I, that was plainly laid out on the screen in a text box message.
Elden Ring defined 2022 gaming for me. And it’s for this reason that it’s my game of the year.
