I am legitimately so happy about how amazing my top games were. There are two themes I noticed with my list: Square Enix had a good year, and we had a matchup in the top half of my GOTY list that is reminiscent of the 2019 list. I won’t even lie to you all. My top three shuffled around A LOT while I was finishing up this list, and I struggled so hard to pick which one got the top slot. After a lot of deliberation, listening to podcasts, and suffering, I finally went with the list we have here. That being said, all three of them are really phenomenal games, and I was really impressed with the games on my list this year…which it is worth noting that I finally broke my rule of 7 and have a list of 10 this year. :O
Without further ado…let’s GOTY!
Best moment:
Of course it’s the grand finale from AI: The Somnium Files nirvanA Initiative. Who is shocked by this? This song has been stuck in my head since this game came out, and this scene is just a ton of fun. This is the best way to end a game, let’s be real.
Best old game:
Although I had previously watched my brother play this, I finally got to play Resident Evil Village this year for myself because of the third person DLC. This game is a return to form in terms of the return of ridiculous Resident Evil and beefy Chris Redfield. This game was seriously a ton of fun, it’s got some spooky and unsettling moments, and I hope that the series continues in this direction from now on. Also, giant baby jiggle physics.
Best surprise:
All we really knew going into this game was the memes and chaos, but Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin was a giant surprise in how fun it actually was, where it went with the story, and yes, still the memes. I was super happy that they included a difficulty setting, and the fact that it was a huge love letter to the series was so charming and fun. This game had no right to be as good as it was, but here we are.
Biggest Disappointment:
Man, the first Piofiore game was so amazing, and it is in my top 5 otome games as of this writing. When I heard the sequel was releasing, I was super jazzed. I preordered the special edition, and I was looking forward to more content with these wild ass dudes. Then Piofiore Episodio 1926 actually came out. It was utterly disappointing. It treaded a lot of the same ground as the first one (but worse), didn’t have anything at the level as the first game, and it was painful to get through. The most interesting part was the section where Nicola talked about his time in World War I. I was so very let down, and it was so frustrating!! This one landed at #20 on my list as of writing, which tells you a lot on what I felt about it.
Best Jared and AL Co-op:
Jared and I played Fornite just so I could fish as Sultry Indiana Jones. It ruled. Jared agreed to protect me in Fortnite while I fished. That’s all. It ended up being so fun, and I bet everybody who killed me was utterly confused by the items I dropped when I died.
Otome game of 2022 that I didn’t hate:
This year has been the year of disappointing otome games, which is a huge bummer. None of them have really clicked with me so far. At the tail end of the year, Lover Pretend came out, and it gave me faith again. It’s a cute slice of life otome where you play as a screenwriter looking to follow in her mother’s footsteps and learn who her dad is. It has one of my favorite datables ever, and as long as we ignore the last route, is mostly unproblematic. It’s a fun game, and it was seriously refreshing after the rest of the year’s otome games.
Best game that I fished in this year:
Resident Evil 4. I’m just pleased I made it work. That’s really all there is to it.
Best re-release/remaster/remake:
I know you all will be 100000% shocked that I didn’t put Crisis Core here. I thought about it, but I think another game really deserves this award. Live a Live got its first western release this year as a shiny new version, and it’s actually very good. I’ll talk about this game more below, but it is amazing that this came out here at all.
And without further ado, AL’s top 10!
10.) Omori
The console release of Omori came out this year, and I honestly had no idea what to expect when I picked it up. It’s a charmingly deceptive old school style RPG with a very dark storyline, interesting characters with great dynamics, and a buff moon. It can be pretty hard to get through at times because of the story, but I really did enjoy my time with the game.
9.) Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Speaking of charming, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a super cute and fun ride. With the addition of mouthful mode, Kirby can even become objects like cars, traffic cones, and vending machines. While the end drags on a bit, I still had a fantastic time playing through all of these levels in a strange quasi post-apocalyptic Kirby game.
8.) Sonic Frontiers
I’ll be honest, this game wasn’t even on my radar until I saw Korone and MRKN1v3S play through it. The more I watched, the more interested I got in playing it myself. Plus, there was fishing with Big the Cat. It’s a sort of Breath of the Wild-esque Sonic game with sublevels based on old Sonic games, which is a really unique approach to Sonic. It’s not a perfect game by any means (WHY IS FAST TRAVEL ONLY AVAILABLE THROUGH SCROLLS OR AFTER YOU COMPLETE THE MAP WTF????), but it is a lot of fun!
7.) Live a Live
Again, it’s amazing that this game came out. It’s got a lot of bite sized JRPGs that somehow tie into a larger story, and these smaller games tackle a variety of genres in a unique and interesting way. I’ve had better feelings toward this game as I got further away from it (partially due to how rushed I was to complete it), and I think that there is a lot of great stuff here. Plus, “Megalomania” is an absolute banger.
6.) Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
When we were introduced to this game, it felt like it was going to be a goofy ass meme game with an attempt at some Souls-like gameplay. We got that and a lot more. This game is a giant love letter to the entire series of Final Fantasy, and it’s wild that the plot is set up to characterize the main villains from the original Final Fantasy. It was a blast to fight some Chaos, throw out some nu metal, and dress like a complete lunatic with Jack Final Fantasy and his band of buddies.
5.) Crisis Core: Final Fantasy Reunion
It’s no secret that I love the original Crisis Core and Zack Fair. I am pretty sure you could know me for a day and find that out. When I heard this was getting a remake, I was so jazzed out of my little AL mind. It’s everything I hoped for with a remake. The story is still enough to make me cry, the characters are still goofy and melodramatic, and the combat is really great. It’s nice to see Zack in all of his HD beautifulness. Most of the new voice acting is really well done, and Zack’s new voice actor definitely has his moments where he sold me on it. It just took some getting used to.
4.) Lost Judgment: Kaito Files
This is the second time in the history of my GOTY lists that a DLC has made my list, but that’s what happens when DLC is released that has a fantastic story and serves as a great continuation of the original game. Lost Judgment was such an amazing game, and the Kaito Files is a worthy follow up. We get some great backstory of Kaito, boss fights that go from terrifying to absolutely bananas silly, and it gives us a great future for the series.
3.) The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero
Again, anyone who knows me at all knows how much I love the Trails/Kiseki series. I previously played this game with the Geofront fan translation, and I loved it then. Since then, we got the exciting news that the game was receiving an official localization and that NIS of America had hired the Geofront team for that localization. It was amazing and unheard of news. This game is exceptional, and the core members of the SSS are so well developed and fascinating. Crossbell and the politics behind it are really amazing, and the story sets up big mysteries. I am really excited to play Azure again once it drops in 2023 to be around these characters and the world of Crossbell again.
2.) Xenoblade Chronicles 3
This game made me feel SO many things. This is the second game on this list that made me cry like a giant baby, and this one made me have to take a break and recharge because it really hit hard. The story of this game is probably the best of the series, and the cast absolutely is. I love every single one of the main cast members. The gameplay is perfected, it’s a beautiful game, and I loved all of the side content in this game. It easily has one of the most emotional moments of a Xenoblade game in it, and it’s a beautiful and brilliant game. It’s a story of love, it’s anti-war, and it questions existence, and it also has Eunie ask if they have any BAYBEES.
1.) AI: The Somnium Files nirvanA Initiative
This game is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I loved the first AI: The Somnium Files game, and this one improved on that in every single way. Uchikoshi shows off his brilliance when it comes to story writing with nirvanA Initiative, especially when he takes a staple of his previous games and throws it directly out the window to mess with us as players. The character writing is amazing, the twists are phenomenal, and of course, the grand finale music is so catchy that I listen to it at least once a week. The secret ending is also brilliantly done, messing with the idea of the game being a video game at all and asking you the player what you think. I think about this game often, and I can easily say that it is the best work Uchikoshi has done period. Well done, sir and thank you for making my 2022 Game of the Year.
And that’s it for the 2022 Game of the Year!! If you’re interested in hearing Jared and I talk about it (or Jared’s write up), you can check it out here. I’m looking forward to 2023, and I am really pleased with how many great games I got to play this year.