George's Top 10 Favorite Games of 2022

I played many more indie games this year, which is reflected in my top 10 list. Arguably, 2022 wasn’t nearly as good of a year for AAA games and JRPGs, but there were many fantastic games to go around.

10. A Plague Tale: Requiem

This sequel to 2019’s A Plague Tale: Innocence is bigger and bolder in every aspect. It’s your typical third-person narrative adventure game like The Last of Us, but its mystical intrigue with rat plagues really helps it stand out amongst the crowd. The story and characters are pretty good, and the combat is fun as decide to either stealth your way through or take down all of the enemies.

And there’s nothing like sending a horde of rats toward your enemies and seeing them being devoured in the chaos.

9. Tinykin

On paper, Tinykin looks to be a Pikmin clone, but it plays a lot differently. The main difference is that there’s no combat or violence in Tinykin! You go around collecting different kinds of creatures that will help you navigate the 1980s house terrain like creating stairwells or moving heavy objects. It’s such a relaxing game and the environments are so fun and vast to explore.

8. Neon White

You’ll start to notice that some of the games on this list have similar features like Persona’s social sim elements, and Neon White is one of them. Combining an interesting card battler with speed-run gameplay, and then on top of that, a social sim mechanic, Neon White takes a bunch of different genres to create such an enticing overall package that makes it fun to replay over and over again.

7. Signalis

Signalis plays like an old school Resident Evil game with fixed camera angles and an emphasis on item management. It also blends a creepy sci-fi setting that reminds me of other games like Alien Isolation and Oberservation. The game’s mechanics also fit cleverly with its worldbuilding. For example, players only have six inventory slots, but that’s explained by a propaganda poster on the wall saying that six is a magic number.

Horror isn’t my go-to genre but I’m so glad I stuck with Signalis because its cryptic story is one of the most haunting I’ve ever experienced.

6. Astlibra Revision

Astlibra Revision will fly under most people’s radar, but it’s a fantastic retro feeling 2D side scrolling game that feels similar to something like an older Ys game. There are many different gameplay systems like weapon weight, magic, combat, and stat growth. While it can feel a bit overwhelming, they’re executions are quite simple. Astlibra Revision also sports an incredibly interesting time travel story, which ultimately kept me invested.

5. Marvel’s Midnight Suns

To me, this game was the biggest surprise of 2022. I didn’t see much fanfare for it before release, but when the review came out comparing it to Fire Emblem: Three Houses, I knew I had to give it a shot. And I loved it! The XCOM-like strategy gameplay is incredibly fun and dynamic, but what really makes Marvel’s Midnight Suns so interesting is its character dynamics. The tension between the Avengers and the Midnight Suns showcases how both teams have to set aside their personal differences if they want to save the world.

4. Vampire Survivors

Vampire Surviors this year was like Hades for me 2020. It’s my “just one more run” game. It’s simple execution is what makes it so much fun. All you do is collect powerups to see how many enemies you can defeat before running out of time or dying! There’s not much of a story, but that doesn’t matter when the core gameplay is rock solid.

3. Elden Ring

Yes, another list with Elden Ring on it. But who can blame me? Elden Ring took the Dark Souls formula and transitioned it flawlessly into an open-world format. It has the brutal difficulty, the interesting lore, and the elation of defeating bosses that made the Dark Souls franchise so revered. There’s honestly not much else to say about this.

2. Chained Echoes

This one is a late contender as it only released earlier this month! In any case, it’s really impressive that Chained Ehoes was only made by one single person as the game exudes classic JRPG influences like Chronic Trigger. The game also has incredible pacing and the political conflicts between the cast of characters and the overall world is enticing. The dynamic turn-based combat is some of the best I’ve played in recent years as well.

1. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

The scope of this huge open-world JRPG cannot be overstated. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is my favorite game of the year because of its incredible story, cast of characters, and fun gameplay. It has all the hallmarks of what makes a great JRPG and is a testament to how far the genre has come.

Even its side quests are filled with fantastic narratives that make the world feel lived in and this is a game that you can sink over a hundred hours into and still want more of. I really can’t wait to see where Monolith takes this franchise next.

Honorable Mentions:

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Cult of Lamb

AI: The Somnium Files -Nirvana Initiative-

Jack Move

God of War Ragnarok