Best Games Of 2022

 Intro

it may be hard to believe, but yes, there were video games other than Elden ring this year. it's rare for a game to dominate the conversation as thoroughly and for as long as elden ring has in the first half of 2022, but it's also rare to give us so much to talk about and think about. elden ring is a true triumph and one of the best games of recent times. and somehow it's not even the best game of the year yet.

if you're looking for an incomprehensibly massive open-world RPG to disappear into for a few months, Elden ring has you covered. if you like perfectly tuned action and the adorable aesthetics of high-end Nintendo, Kirby and the forgotten land is the game for you. if you want to push yourself to the edge with lightning-fast time trials and breakneck platforming, you need to download neon white right now. and if you want to remember that games can be a uniquely powerful and sensitive narrative medium, capable of telling stories in a way that no other art form can, you owe it to yourself to check out Norco and citizen sleeper - one of the best games out there. PUSH. we saw this year when i played so far.

OlliOlli World

The world of OlliOlli The third in Roll7's series of artistic lo-fi skateboarding games follows the typical trajectory of the video game series: everything is bigger, longer and deeper. Even more massive. It has characters. even the whole story. at its heart, it's still the sore thumb and fast trick that olliolli has always been, but with the storytelling and world-building elements so thoroughly expanded that it doesn't always feel like the slick puzzle engine it used to be. that's neither good nor bad - it depends on your personal taste - but it's all done with the same charm and cool aesthetic that the series is known for. and given that it's been seven years since we last dived into a new olliolli, it's a very cool world that's really welcome.

ELDEN RING

THE ELDEN RING You'd be forgiven for thinking that Elden Ring was the only game that came out this year. for a solid three months, it seemed to be the only thing anyone was talking about, writing about, or even playing. from software has reworked its signature rpg formula into one of the biggest open-world games in memory, making it more accessible than their earlier souls games, but also more mysterious and unsettling. its massive mystery-filled world is clearly influenced by the legend of zelda: breath of the wild, but with the brutality and nuanced approach to storytelling you'd expect from a souls game. it can be a little too big and can become a bit of a drag in the late game, but Elden ring remains an almost unthinkable success. i'm over 170 hours into it and keep going back every now and then to look for some caves or ash that i may have missed. Elden ring has a way of setting up camp and refusing to leave that few games can match.

Neon White

Neon white is pure movement. it might look like a first-person shooter--it's a first-person shooter, and you shoot a lot--but it's all in service of the constant, reckless rush at the heart of the game. almost every time you shoot a demon, you gain whatever kinetic ability it gives you, which you can use almost immediately to jump a little higher, rush forward a little faster, or literally throw a grenade dozens of feet into the sky to reach. another platform. you're not there to shoot per se, but to get from point a to point b as quickly as possible, and shooting just makes it easier for you. when you take full advantage of its flow, neon white is about as exciting as video games get, becoming an extension of your own nervous system as you effortlessly string together moves and try to knock microseconds off your best time. and aside from its mechanical perfection, it also has a story and cast of characters so well written that i'm able to overlook its unfortunate reliance on aesthetics and character tropes straight out of the anime. neon white combines arcade elegance and extreme replayability with a truly thoughtful and surprising story, making it almost the best game of 2022 so far. it's the only game that finally completely broke elden ring's grip on me; i haven't set foot in the lands between since i first sprinted across the sky.

NORCO

NORCO As a Southerner, I don't trust anyone to write about the South unless they're from there too--or at least haven't lived here long enough to really understand what makes it great and terrible in equal measure, and how screwed up it is. the south is he really is, he's often different from what the screwed-up outsiders think he is. a clever narrative play about the unique ways institutions like religion and big business have exploited the south, its people, and its land throughout history, Norco is clearly the work of people who understand the region and its fundamental flaws. it's an intrepid, at times surreal look at a slightly exaggerated version of Louisiana, with its mythic and allegorical flourishes only emphasizing the aimless mundanity and real degradations of the modern south. if you only play one game from this list.

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