Okay so another year of trying to game in between work and wiki/LoK related work and this year was the year where my household finally took the plunge and upgraded to a new generation of consoles. So a brand new PS5 dominates the list from the middle of the year onward. It ended up being a choice between that or a Steam Deck... so like perfectly sensible people we ended up with both in the end.
So here are the games I've played and enjoyed (or not) in the past year.
Honorable Mention
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver HD Remaster
This one is something of a personal labour of love. Obviously I'm a huge fan of the LoK games, I'm lucky enough to share my life with another huge fan and I'm privileged enough to have watched her toil to bring this together and help in my own small way. So I can honestly say that the commitment and passion that went into this project was astounding. Probably thousands of hours were poured into tracking down the original sources of textures and refreshing them upto modern standards - or tracking down 'as near as humanly possible' replacements. The end result is a startlingly good remaster of a fan favourite that the community can be proud of. It's probably not fair for me to rate it personally, but it is amazing and I would recommend anyone to try it.
Also Rans/Maybe Next Year/Haven't Played Enough to Rate
Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled
The Crash Team Racing Remaster. It seems just as much fun as I remember but is slightly different. I did only really play a couple of races so I'm not really sure I can judge.
Goat Simulator 3
Scorn
Oh my Lord, the art design on this one, like HR Geiger came back to life and started developing videogames. Everything is creepy and disgusting and I love the atmosphere. It's really a thinker though and it took a while to work out what I was supposed to be doing - unfortunately that also meant that my time in 2022 ran out for it, but I will be doing it at the start of 2023.
God Of War Ragnarok
BBBOOOOYYYY!! Yeah I know this will be good. But I just got it at Christmas and I'm only 10 hours in. It got me straight away though - twice - so I'm sure it'll rate highly in my 2023 lists.
Disappointments
Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Crossover/Tombs of the Fallen/Discovery Tour
I'm not even sure if I count this one as a disappointment because I learnt my lesson on this one last year with the main game - and it's significantly soured my opinion on the whole AC series, which is a real shame. I suppose I should be impressed at the continued support for this game but the bad taste remains and after a few of the DLC's I couldn't stomach it any more
The discovery tour felt boring and a slog compared to those in Odyssey and Origins. Tombs of the Fallen was interesting until I discovered it was unfinished and half of the tombs were missing with no payoff. Then finally they raised my hopes with an Odyssey crossover. As you might see later in the list, the Odyssey portion was fun, but the Valhalla part once again crushed my hopes and seemed to butcher everything all over again. More Valhalla DLC has been released since but I'm not playing it. And the upcoming AC Mirage does look amazing, but it's gonna have to be near perfect for me to consider it. A very disappointing end for a franchise I enjoyed a lot in the past.
Inscryption
This came highly recommended as a genre crossing masterpiece. And yet as far as I can see it is just deck building card game with a few side activities. And I just can't seem to get anywhere every card I choose seems to be wrong and it just got boring really quickly. If Witcher 3 had made you play 10 hours of Gwent with no apparent progress before letting you get to the main game then it probably wouldn't have been as successful. I just didn't get this one.
Elden Ring
Yep. The real 'Game of the Year' ends up here for me. Sorry. I tried, I really did. I loved the atmosphere, the locations, everything seemed to be gorgeous and epic...and then I played it and encountered a minor sub boss and just no matter what I did I couldn't get passed it. Hours spent wasting my time banging my head against a brick wall with no progress. I'm getting too old for this 'git gud' rubbish. It's probably a great game, but it's not for me - and that's a real shame
Returnal
Another on that suckered me in with its beautiful haunting world, its amazing atmosphere, its endearing mystery only to soon start slapping me across the face screeching "not for you" in my ear. Again I really wanted to like this but just banging my head against a wall for hours on end trying to beat the first boss got to me. Probably a masterpiece, but one I'm locked out of - and that's a shame too.
The Middle Ground
Genesis Noir
Another somewhat misguided recommendation. I mean its a short creative indie game that seems like it'd be pretty good. But unfortunately it bored me rather quickly and after it kept losing my progress I called it quits
Exo One
I'm not sure I ever completely got the hang of what was going on here or what I was supposed to be doing, just half controlled a disc skipping off surfaces on various alien planets. Sort of relaxing but also confusing.
Immortals Fenyx Rising
Well I liked AC Odyssey, so maybe some similar Ubisoft fare could clean the taste of AC Valhalla out? Unfortunately not. Not that it's bad. It seems okay enough. I found it quite funny and was reasonably entertained, but just found myself becoming bored with the endless map junk and after a while I couldn't go back
Matrix Awakens
I'm not sure what I expected for this. For all the advanced technology on show it is just a tech demo and once the initial action was over I found myself a little bored exploring the city. It is really impressive what it can do and what the engine will do in future.
Scarf
Another recommendation that missed the mark. It has to be said that it is an enjoyable enough indie game with a lot of heart and some interesting mechanics, but it just lacks some of the magic of Journey or some of the other indie fare I've played.
Road 96
An indie game that seems to set out to fix most of the problems that 'Life is Strange 2' had - and it's an intriguing concept. You are a nameless teenage runaway seeking to escape an oppressive regime and cross the border to start a new life - along the way you meet a cast of interesting characters and make it out or not. Then you start again with a different teenager taking a different path. The story and characters build across this disconnected runs to perhaps overthrow the government. It's quite nice if not too advanced.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Crossover
As I said before, I'd really enjoyed Odyssey so the news that there would be new content for it and a crossover event for both Odyssey and Valhalla raised my hopes and persuaded me to dip my toes in again. And I was reminded just how much I love Odyssey and missed Kassandra. It was like putting on an old pair of comfy slippers.
Buoyed by goodwill I decided to give the Valhalla portion a go - and you've already seen how that turned out...and I will never forgive them for butchering Kassandra in Valhalla.
Alan Wake: Remastered
I tried the original Alan Wake almost a couple of years ago after playing Control and Quantum Break and couldn't get into it. Luckily a PS5 remaster gave me an excuse to try again and I found that once I got into it I did quite enjoy this one. A lot more of a straightforward survival horror style adventure than 'Control' with some interesting if somewhat clunky mechanics and a nice story that feeds into 'Control'. The DLCs are where it does most of the interesting stuff and you can see where they pushed things and referenced to make 'Control' the game it is. Looking forward to the upcoming Alan Wake 2 now.
The Cream of the Crop
Heaven's Vault
I feel bad putting this game so low on the list because it really deserves better. It's a indie archaeology game where you decipher an ancient language and slowly play historian to uncover a whole timeline of ancient cultures - with a few lovely twist as you work it out and some really nice relaxing moods. For a small game It hit spots like no game since the Outer Wilds and I loved it.
Spiderman: Miles Morales
It almost feels like a DLC to Spiderman PS4, but done purely to show off what the PS5 could do and with some extra mechanics to the mix. Despite it being a little daunting at the price it was, as a game it just works and is just as fun as the original.Looking forward to the real Spiderman 2
Stray
I will admit this didn't click with me as much as I thought it would. That said it is a beautiful game, with a lovely atmosphere, some lovely characters and story and some of the most amazing cat physics and behaviours you will ever see - and how can you resist a dualsense controller purring? Perhaps didn't hit me in the heartstrings as it did others but it is an amazing captivating cat experience
Astro's Playroom
I don't often play platformers these days, but this one...boy it really hit the spot. The geniuses behind the PSVR showcase Astrobot Rescue Mission do it again for an entire console/controller with the PS5/Dual Sense-centric Astro's Playroom. I laughed my ass off so much, it's choc full of squee inducing Playstation references (including my honorable mention), it's so creative with the use of the dual sense (which has fast become my favourite controller of all time, I must say), it has a fantastic catchy musical score and is a genuine joy to play.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
Considering the news that broke this year with Embracer stealing Eidos Montreal and Crystal Dynamics away from Square Enix, it's perhaps fitting that the last game under the SE umbrella is one of the best. One suspects the heat from CD's unpopular Avengers game meant EM were a lot more free to do what they wanted with GoTG and they've done a great job here. It's a nicely worked action adventure with good mechanics, enjoyable gameplay, a great set of characters, great dialogue and banter and a great story - all of which seems to be very faithful to the property (where Avengers perhaps felt flat). And Damn, that soundtrack is amazing. 80's power ballad epicness mixed with fictional band awesomeness that fits right in.
Jedi: Fallen Order
I had tried this a little while back and had some bad technical issues which stopped me playing, but a PS5 sale gave me a chance to catch up and try again on a beefier machine - and boy am I glad I did. This one was a really enjoyable Star Wars adventure, great story, characters, mechanics, the right amount of exploration and collectables. And I mean who doesn't love space travel, lightsaber fights and force combat? And that ending? Chills. Bonus points for references in the new Star Wars series as well. Hyped for the upcoming Jedi Survivor.
Life is Strange: True Colors
Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut/ Iki Expansion
Perhaps a little in the vein of Mile Morales, in taking what seems to be a DLC for a PS4 game a beefing it up for a PS5 release, but whereas you can argue Miles Morales short run time doesn't justify the cost, the same cannot be said of GoT. A whole new island is added to the map with new challenges, new mechanics, new activities and new locations to explore along with an endearing and compelling story, that fits right in with the 'Kung Fu movie' aesthetic of the main game. I was a little rusty to start with, but this made me remember why I loved GoT so much in the first place.
The Pathless
This was one of the first games I played this year and for a long time I thought it was going to take the title. This game just feels like it was made for me. A vast beautiful open world with cool traversal, hundreds of enjoyable puzzles, epic bosses and all the feels. It's by the people that did Journey and Abzu and for the first time it takes those previous games and combines it all together into something approaching an all encompassing storyline which includes the prior games. I loved this.
A Plague Tale: Requiem
Wow, this sort of came out of nowhere.I liked the previous game a lot, but didn't think this one would be this good. It is absolutely stunningly gorgeous - putting a lot of AAA studios to shame - and they've worked on and tightened everything up from the first game so it all feels a lot better. It's gruesome in places, frantic in others, sometimes you have to be sneaky, sometimes you have to run for your life, sometimes you can relax and explore in semi open world, sometime you just have to open photo mode and take picture....and some times you have to stand in awe as literally millions of individual rats take on liquid physics.. this game has it all
Horizon: Forbidden West
Of course what indie studios can do a AAA should do better and this one does. You can really see the sheer effort, talent and attention to detail than went into this. This was the first game I played on the new PS5 and it remains my favourite so far (at least until I get through God of War Ragnarok). Stunning visuals, gorgeous views, new mechanics like the glider (and something else #spoilers) which make you wonder how you played in the previous game before it was a thing. The characters, the dialogue, the Mass effect style team building to the final Avengers style showdown - all is on point. I loved HZD but virtually everything here seemed to be a level above it and really showed what the PS5 could do. The only complaint really is that the story of course loses some of it's natural mystery and intrigue, being a sequel, but they still found ways to surprise me and keep me on the edge of my seat. And that ending really builds hype for the future of the series and I can't wait. It's perhaps a shame it's been beaten out on GOTY lists elsewhere - although I can see why. Horizon deserves more recognition - and needs to stop releasing so close to other GOTY contenders.
