Top 10 Game Completions of 2022

In total I played about 180 different games this year, most of which were either new to me or ones that I hadn't previously beat. This is significantly more than I typically play per year so I'm pretty pleased with myself. I discovered a lot of dull, banal sludge but I also played more than my fair share of interesting, creative or just plain well executed gems as well. I mostly eschewed major mainstream releases this year in favour of (much) older releases so a lot of these games were very short. It's hard to properly order these and I'd probably change my mind if you asked me about it again tomorrow but for now here you go:

10. Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy
9. Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak (Not Rise by itself, I played both a few months ago and the base game definitely wouldn't crack my top ten for this or most years)
8. Demon's Crest
7. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
6. Terranigma
5. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
4. Streets of Rage 2
3. Treasure of the Rudras
2. Alien Soldier
1. Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master

I've gotten 66 completions this year. I don't really have 10 games I'd consider top 10 material for me if I don't include replays. So I'll just do top 5 newly played in no particular:

Disco Elysium
Persona 4 Golden
Return to Monkey Island
TOEM
Live A Live

If I was done Ys VIII yet, I'm sure it'd be in this list too.

I have beaten a total of 222 games this year for 2022. That's a lot. Lots of gaming this year for me.

Here's my top ten completions of this year. I decided to merge some series together though, otherwise my list would be boring and filled with a lot of Xenoblade.

10. Resonance of the Ocean
9. Prune
8. Monster Hunter Rise
7. Pick Pack Pup
6. Ace Attorney games (Apollo Justice, Dual Destinies, Layton crossover)
5. Super Mario 3D World
4. Monument Valley 1 & 2
3. Celeste
2. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
1. Xenoblade 1, 2, and 3

As for my stats.



It's hilarious seeing August so high, as that's certainly when I played a bunch of different Wordle clones and list them on the site.

@RiptoR

If you enjoy the STALKER series give Into the Radious VR a try. I got it in a Humble Bundle and wasn't expecting much, but I got really immersed in the game and marathoned it for weeks, truly my surprise of the year.

I've got the STALKER games and Into the Radius in my backlog. Haven't purchased a VR headset or Into the Radius yet but I'm looking forward to trying them all.

@GCX

Going through the ENTIRE Final Fantasy Franchise is a life-long commitment by now.
I'd suggest you start with the "Big 3" in terms of popularity, so FF VII, FF VIII and FF IX. Or you could start with the most recent ones (FF VII Remake, FF XV) and work your way backwards in time. Also FF XVI is going to drop next June.

But overall it doesn't matter, because apart from FF X/X-2 and FF XIII/XIII-2/Lightning Returns none of the main entries are related in any capacity.

I actually have my complete play order for the Final Fantasy series in a Reddit comment if you're interested in taking a look. I've bought everything except the Pixel Remaster bundle, VII Remake, and Crisis Core Reunion already.
https://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/comments/ugu8j1/weekly_rfinalfantasy_question_thread_week_of_may/i7642tu/

@AlphaOmega247

The only Final Fantasy game that matters to me anybody on this website is Final Fantasy XII (or its Zodiac Age remaster). Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is also acceptable.

I've got both Zodiac Age and Revenant Wings in my backlog. Excited to play through the series eventually.

@AlphaOmega247

Oh yes, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is probably one of the best games in the series. Thoroughly enjoyed that one. 🎵

I only played the Halo Infinite campaign, so my feelings are based entirely upon that. I don't think I ever touched the multiplayer. But the campaign was pretty solid. Because of the game's more open structure, I don't think the narrative was as tight as Halo Reach or Halo 2 or whatever, but freely exploring the map was a decent enough tradeoff.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is indeed great. But like someone else said, the endgame is kind of meh. And the DLC is abysmal. Don't touch it unless you can get it for cheap.

Horizon was good, but with a few asterisks. The game was absolutely gorgeous. I loved exploring the world and the combat was a lot of fun. But I felt like the story was trash and Aloy's constant narration was very annoying, especially when she just blurted out the answer to a puzzle just as soon as you start to solve it. Aloy is definitely the worst thing about the game. 🤣 I could go on. And on. And on. And on... But I shall refrain.

And I was glad to see Assassin's Creed Origins on your list. That's probably one of my all-time favorite games. I just fell in love with the Egyptian setting. One of the few games that inspired me to actually go out of my way to learn about the setting. I read all the in-game lore, did the Discovery Tour, I even watched a couple of documentaries. 🤣

Admittedly I've only played a couple Kirby games but not sure which ones (an old one through the Wii Virtual Console and one on Game Boy Advance) but I liked them both. I'm not really a mutliplayer gamer anymore so the campaign is all I really care about for Halo Infinite. I don't really care about endgame stuff either so as long as the base Tiny Tina's Wonderlands campaign is good, I'll be happy. I think I'll enjoy the Horizon games, I have heard complaints about the story and main character in the second one though. I think I liked Assassin's Creed Origins so much because I've been playing pretty much nothing except no-name indie games from the itch.io charity bundles for a couple years now so going back to a AAA game that's actually good was quite refreshing. I'm enjoying Odyssey right now.

I'm not really a mutliplayer gamer anymore so the campaign is all I really care about for Halo Infinite. I don't really care about endgame stuff either so as long as the base Tiny Tina's Wonderlands campaign is good, I'll be happy. I think I'll enjoy the Horizon games, I have heard complaints about the story and main character in the second one though. I think I liked Assassin's Creed Origins so much because I've been playing pretty much nothing except no-name indie games from the itch.io charity bundles for a couple years now so going back to a AAA game that's actually good was quite refreshing. I'm enjoying Odyssey right now.

I don't really do multiplayer, either. Mostly because my lack of skill always guarantees me last place. 🤣 So if you're only interested in Halo's campaign then I think you'll be happy. Same with Tiny Tina; the campaign is great... the post-game is fun for a little bit but gets old pretty fast.

AC Odyssey was pretty good, too. I don't think it's one of my all-time favs like Origins, but I definitely don't regret the time I spent with it. And then there's Valhalla, which I feel is 130 hours too long. And I'm not even done with it yet. 🤣

@RiptoR

If you enjoy the STALKER series give Into the Radious VR a try. I got it in a Humble Bundle and wasn't expecting much, but I got really immersed in the game and marathoned it for weeks, truly my surprise of the year.

I've got the STALKER games and Into the Radius in my backlog. Haven't purchased a VR headset or Into the Radius yet but I'm looking forward to trying them all.

@GCX

Going through the ENTIRE Final Fantasy Franchise is a life-long commitment by now.
I'd suggest you start with the "Big 3" in terms of popularity, so FF VII, FF VIII and FF IX. Or you could start with the most recent ones (FF VII Remake, FF XV) and work your way backwards in time. Also FF XVI is going to drop next June.

But overall it doesn't matter, because apart from FF X/X-2 and FF XIII/XIII-2/Lightning Returns none of the main entries are related in any capacity.

I actually have my complete play order for the Final Fantasy series in a Reddit comment if you're interested in taking a look. I've bought everything except the Pixel Remaster bundle, VII Remake, and Crisis Core Reunion already.
https://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/comments/ugu8j1/weekly_rfinalfantasy_question_thread_week_of_may/i7642tu/

@AlphaOmega247

The only Final Fantasy game that matters to me anybody on this website is Final Fantasy XII (or its Zodiac Age remaster). Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings is also acceptable.

I've got both Zodiac Age and Revenant Wings in my backlog. Excited to play through the series eventually.

@AlphaOmega247

Oh yes, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is probably one of the best games in the series. Thoroughly enjoyed that one. 🎵

I only played the Halo Infinite campaign, so my feelings are based entirely upon that. I don't think I ever touched the multiplayer. But the campaign was pretty solid. Because of the game's more open structure, I don't think the narrative was as tight as Halo Reach or Halo 2 or whatever, but freely exploring the map was a decent enough tradeoff.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is indeed great. But like someone else said, the endgame is kind of meh. And the DLC is abysmal. Don't touch it unless you can get it for cheap.

Horizon was good, but with a few asterisks. The game was absolutely gorgeous. I loved exploring the world and the combat was a lot of fun. But I felt like the story was trash and Aloy's constant narration was very annoying, especially when she just blurted out the answer to a puzzle just as soon as you start to solve it. Aloy is definitely the worst thing about the game. 🤣 I could go on. And on. And on. And on... But I shall refrain.

And I was glad to see Assassin's Creed Origins on your list. That's probably one of my all-time favorite games. I just fell in love with the Egyptian setting. One of the few games that inspired me to actually go out of my way to learn about the setting. I read all the in-game lore, did the Discovery Tour, I even watched a couple of documentaries. 🤣

Admittedly I've only played a couple Kirby games but not sure which ones (an old one through the Wii Virtual Console and one on Game Boy Advance) but I liked them both. I'm not really a mutliplayer gamer anymore so the campaign is all I really care about for Halo Infinite. I don't really care about endgame stuff either so as long as the base Tiny Tina's Wonderlands campaign is good, I'll be happy. I think I'll enjoy the Horizon games, I have heard complaints about the story and main character in the second one though. I think I liked Assassin's Creed Origins so much because I've been playing pretty much nothing except no-name indie games from the itch.io charity bundles for a couple years now so going back to a AAA game that's actually good was quite refreshing. I'm enjoying Odyssey right now.

Hot damn, that is a list alright.
I'm waiting for your final verdict...somewhere around 2025. :D

So far Elden Ring is on three lists out of ~20. How come? I thought it would be the one outstanding game of 2022 that's on top of most people's lists.

Elden Ring is not on my list either but that's because I'm not good enough to beat it. :| Same reason for you guys or how come almost nobody mentions the game? Just curious.

I have beaten a total of 222 games this year for 2022. That's a lot. Lots of gaming this year for me.

Here's my top ten completions of this year. I decided to merge some series together though, otherwise my list would be boring and filled with a lot of Xenoblade.

10. Resonance of the Ocean
9. Prune
8. Monster Hunter Rise
7. Pick Pack Pup
6. Ace Attorney games (Apollo Justice, Dual Destinies, Layton crossover)
5. Super Mario 3D World
4. Monument Valley 1 & 2
3. Celeste
2. Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
1. Xenoblade 1, 2, and 3

As for my stats.



It's hilarious seeing August so high, as that's certainly when I played a bunch of different Wordle clones and list them on the site.

Glad to see you liked the Ace Attorney games. It's one of my favourite game series of all time. I also noticed that you've only played the first two Professor Layton games. You should play the other ones. In my opinion, all the other ones are better than those two. (Except Katriella.)

So far Elden Ring is on three lists out of ~20. How come? I thought it would be the one outstanding game of 2022 that's on top of most people's lists.

Elden Ring is not on my list either but that's because I'm not good enough to beat it. :| Same reason for you guys or how come almost nobody mentions the game? Just curious.

For myself I just wasn't interested in playing it. While I'm sure there are some things I'd enjoy--exploring--I'm pretty sure I'd get more frustration than satisfaction out of it. I haven't played any of their games.

I like that a lot of people added platform breakdowns, I've edited my post to match. A vast majority of my completions were PC so it doesn't add too much new information but it's there regardless. I had one PS5 "completion" but it didn't show up on the stats since it makes up less than 1%. It was the Matrix tech demo so it barely counts anyway.

@TheOro44

10. Someday You'll Return
9. Syberia: The World Before
8. A Plague Tale: Innocence
7. Forgive Me Father
6. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
5. DUSK
4. Ghostrunner
3. In Sound Mind
2. Kena: Bridge of Spirits
1. DOOM Eternal

Solid list. I've only beaten Metal Gear Rising but have Plague Tale, Forgive me Father, In Sound Mind, Kena, and DOOM Eternal in my backlog.

@GreenStarfish

10. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
9. Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
8. I Expect You to Die 2
7. Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
6. Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
5. Professor Layton and the Lost Future
4. Celeste
3. Undertale
2. Teardown
1. Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

Celeste is such a good game, I played it a few years ago. I played the original Stanley Parable but not the Ultra Deluxe. I really enjoyed that one as well. I have I Expect You to Die 1 and 2 in my backlog waiting for me to buy a VR headset. Undertale and both Mario + Rabbids games are in there as well.

@juanfrandm98

I uploaded a couple of videos to my YT channel speaking about my top 10 games completed in 2022 (which were not published on 2022) and another one speaking about my top 10 games completed in 2022 which actually were published this year, but don't know why I never thought about the general top 10.

So here it is:

10. Tails of Iron (PC)
9. Age of Mythology - Extended Edition (PC)
8. A Plague Tale: Requiem (PC)
7. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (Switch)
6. Tunic (PC)
5. Pokémon Legends: Arceus (Switch)
4. Disco Elysium (PC)
3. Inscryption (PC)
2. Hollow Knight (PC)
1. Bloodborne (PS4)

That's another fun idea, top 10 games completed in 2022 that came out in 2022. It looks like I beat 34 games this year that actually came out this year, which is a much higher amount than normal. I usually wait years after release to play games. If I had to have another top 10 of 2022 releases only, I think it would go like this:
10. Obscurant
9. Electrogene
8. Ghost Stories: Case of the Lost Skeleton
7. Naiad
6. Lifting Journey
5. Pitstop in Purgatory
4. Mythic Meetup
3. Moonscars
2. Signalis
1. Ghost Song
As for your top 10 completions, I haven't played them but I have Plague Tale, Skyward Sword, Disco Elysium, and Bloodborne in my backlog. I've heard good things about Tunic, Inscryption, and Hollow Knight.

@Athruntalan

10) Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch)
9) Deathloop (PS5)
8) Guardians of the Galaxy (XSX)
7) Triangle Strategy (Switch)
6) It Takes Two (XSX)
5) Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (Switch)
4) Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)
3) Nobody Saves the World (Switch)
2) Death's Door (Switch)
1) Beacon Pines (XSX)

Wow, that's high praise for Kirby! Is it really that good? I've got it in my backlog to play later. I have Deathloop, Guardians of the Galaxy, and It Takes Two in there as well.

@FakeEntity

1. In Sound Mind
2. G String
3. Elden Ring
4. Entropy: Zero 2
5. A Plague Tale Requiem
6. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
7. Stray
8. Tunic
9. Signalis
10. The Entropy Centre

Another top 10 entry for In Sound Mind, interesting. I have it in my backlog but I don't recall seeing much discussion around it. I've got Plague Tale and Stray in my backlog as well.

@Everdred

10. Horizon Forbidden West
09. Metal: Hellsinger
08. Deathloop
07. A Plague Tale: Requiem
06. Tunic
05. God of War: Ragnarök
04. Grounded
03. Death Stranding: Director's Cut
02. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
01. Elden Ring

It looks like you have mostly AA and AAA stuff in here. I really need to play more bigger budget games. I have Horizon Forbidden West, Deathloop, A Plague Tale: Requiem, God of War: Ragnarök, and Death Stranding: Director's Cut in my backlog. I still haven't played Horizon Zero Dawn, A Plague Tale: Innocence, or God of War 2018 yet.

@TheAutisticGamer

#10: Requiem of Science (7/10)
#9: Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer (8/10)
#8: The Spy Who Shot Me (8/10)
#7: Forza Horizon 5 (8/10)
#6: Singularity (8/10)
#5: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare -2019- (8/10)
#4: Prodeus (9/10)
#3: Half-Life: Restored (9/10)
#2: Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (10/10)
#1: Prey -2006- (9/10)

Interesting list. I played Singularity back in the day and really enjoyed it but I remember it being short. I think I beat it in a day. I haven't played Call of Duty since Black Ops 2, just kinda fell off. I have the newer Prey in my backlog but not the original.

@AlphaOmega247

01. God of War: Ragnarok (PS5)
02. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (NS)
03. Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (NS)
04. Kirby and the Forgotten Land (NS)
05. Halo Infinite (PC)
06. Pokemon Legends: Arceus (NS)
07. Triangle Strategy (NS)
08. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (PS5)
09. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PS4)
10. Horizon Forbidden West (PS5)

More high praise for Kirby! That's good to see. I have God of War: Ragnarok, Halo Infinite, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, and Horizon Forbidden West in my backlog. I'm glad to see Halo Infinite is at least good enough to make somebody's top 10 and not be a total disaster. I love the Halo series.

@ThomasE

09 - Higurashi - When they Cry: Chapter 6 – Tsumihoroboshi
08 - Riddle Joker
07 - Sundered
06 - Doki Doki Literature Club!
05 - Hurashi - When they Cry: Chapter 7 – Minagoroshi
04 - If On A Winter's Night, Four Travelers
03 - Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition
02 - Disco Elysium
01 - Hades

Fallout 3 GOTY was definitely my favorite game for a while. I have Disco Elysium and Sundered in my backlog and have heard good things about Hades and Doki Doki Literature Club but I'm not familiar with the others.

@GCX

10. - Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (great game, but pretty straightforward in terms ot Platinum Trophy)
09. - Spider-Man: Miles Morales (short, but sweet)
08. - Life is Strange: True Colors (I love those narative driven games, but not really hard to 100%)
07. - Watch Dogs: Legion (sadly didn't quite meet my expectations)
06. - Mass Effect 1, Legendary Edition (didn't age well in some places, but still really enjoyed it)
05. - Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (LOVED the base game...the endgame sucks tho)
04. - Horizon: Forbidden West (amazing follow up to the first game)
03. - Dragonball Z: Kakarot (my first true DBZ game and I loved it from start to finish)
02. - God of War: Ragnarok (see #04...only even more epic)
01. - Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core Reunion (didn't enjoy any other game more than this one in 2022!)

I have more games from your top 10 in my backlog than any other top 10s in this thread so far. I love the Life is Strange games, as you can probably tell with Tell Me Why being my #3. I'm glad you liked Watch Dogs: Legion well enough. I have it in my backlog to play but haven't heard great things. I made the decision this year that I want to play through the Final Fantasy series but that's a ways away and will probably take forever to get through. I've got everything except Dragonball Z in my backlog to play.

@RiptoR

10. Serious Sam 4
9. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
8. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
7. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
6. Marvel's Spider-Man: Game of the Year Edition
5. Project Wingman
4. Resident Evil 4
3. Into the Radius VR
2. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
1. Doom Eternal

Ooh, another VR entry in the top 10 (three if you're counting Project Wingman and Resident Evil 4 as well). I can't wait to pick up a headset. I've got the STALKER trilogy, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Spider-Man, and Doom Eternal in my backlog as well. It looks like Doom Eternal made a lot of top 10s this year.

I really recommend it for everyone who enjoyed Half-Life games. Something about it screams of HL... think level design and some scenarios/puzzles and the story is one of the best I personally have experienced.

My Personal 10 Favorite Completions. Not based on overall quality of games, but more so on key and important memorable moments related to them. Wish I could fit more but will refrain from turning this top 10 into a top 30-40.

10. The Forgotten City - Fascinating and fun treatise on the importance of law, order and defining the crossing lines of what is reasonable.
9. Citizen Sleeper - Dice Based RPG story driven game that had me in tears by the end.
8. Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator - My personal pick for Best Quality (besides Gorogoa, which just missed the top ten). Came out of nowhere and captivated me.
7. Faith: The Unholy Trinity - Knew about this for a long time but wanted to wait for the whole trilogy to release before experiencing it just in time for Halloween. Awesome trilogy!
6. Lily's Well - The primary game that inspired my own (Constricted); horrifying and engaging gameplay and art style!
5. Dread X Collections - All 5 of Them - An absolute smorgasbord of creativity and ingenuity. Some are better than others, but a treasure trove for horror experimentation!
4. Iron Lung - A really ingenious concept for a short, terrifying game that sticks with you even after completion.
3. Vampire Survivors - The biggest time sink of the year for me. Absolutely brilliant example of simple yet deep game design with excellent value for money.
2. Beacon Pines - Played this with my sibling. We both voice acted characters and made decisions together as we progressed. More precious memories than anything on list except...
1. It Takes Two - Played with sibling. Same as above. We both had an absolute blast playing this! It was also fun to rib on one another during deaths and retries. Will never forget this!

I've completed 48 games through 2022. This was my last year of college and I doubt I'll play as regularly as I used to, which I'm sorry for, but it's okay. Maybe one day I'll end up programming video games, so I feel like this whole year has been used to learn game design and come up with new ideas.

These have been my favorite games this year. I will never forget the three winners, which will always have a place in my heart:

10) Ghostrunner.
9) Tunic.
8) Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.
7) Inscryption.
6) Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove.
5) Neon White.
4) Black Mesa.
3) Elden Ring.
2) Dark Souls III: Deluxe Edition.

· And the winner:
-> 1) Outer Wilds: Archaeologist Edition <-

· Special mentions for: Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course, GRIS, Kentucky Route Zero, Klonoa 2 - Lunatela's Veil, Life is Strange, Portal, Return of the Obra Dinn, Sonic Frontiers, Sonic Mania Plus, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Super Mario Galaxy and The Stanley Parable - Ultra Deluxe.

For myself I just wasn't interested in playing it. While I'm sure there are some things I'd enjoy--exploring--I'm pretty sure I'd get more frustration than satisfaction out of it. I haven't played any of their games.

Very valid reason. :)

I never considered playing any Souls game either before Elden Ring. I have a very short frustration tolerance. But I had and have a lot of fun with Elden Ring. Even though I'm quite certain I will never beat the game (again, very short frustration tolerance). It's the most captivating game I played in 2022.

I think Elden Ring created quite a bit of mainstream attention because of the open world (if you keep dying when going left, you get to still go right ;)).
That's why I assume many people tried it out who wouldn't usually play a Souls game. That and the fact that there were no other exciting big releases at that time.

Perfect opportunity to point to the Steam statistics for 2022: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/BestOf2022?l=english
Elden Ring is the only singleplayer (or let's say not pure multiplayer game) in "platinum" category (= top 12 of the year) in the categories "top seller" and "most played".

So, yeah, the resonance for Elden Ring was absolutely massive. That's why it makes me curious why it's almost not mentioned at all in this thread.

Not many games played this year despite having a good start (had some big games like 120 hour Elden Ring).
Started to go out of the house a lot more after April so it makes sense the sudden drop out.
In the same fashion, had some big changes in my life after August (some friends, job, girlfriend), so I only started to play again after GoW: Ragnarok launched.



Chained Echoes surprised me way more than it should, so if you have a interest on jRPG ou are a jRPG fan, do yourself a favor and play this game. It's pretty good and not only is my favorite jRPG of all time now maybe (together with Crossbell Arc from Trails Of series and Xenogears (maybe)), it's a great game to introduce people to the genre - as it's more solid overall with a steady story pace.

Also, I didn't enjoyed God Of War: Ragnarok as I thought I would - as you can see by its rank.

1. Elden Ring 5d 1h 42m 54s
2. Chained Echoes 2d 3h 12m
3. Chicory: A Colorful Tale 23h 41m 38s
4. Monster Sanctuary 1d 6h 8m
5. The Messenger (2018) 15h 3m 45s
6. Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi 2d 4h 52m 34s
7. God of War: Ragnarök 1d 16h 17m 46s
8. Into the Breach 5h 22m 29s
9. ElecHead 2h 56m 30s
10. Wytchwood 10h 23m

Very valid reason. :)

I never considered playing any Souls game either before Elden Ring. I have a very short frustration tolerance. But I had and have a lot of fun with Elden Ring. Even though I'm quite certain I will never beat the game (again, very short frustration tolerance). It's the most captivating game I played in 2022.

I think Elden Ring created quite a bit of mainstream attention because of the open world (if you keep dying when going left, you get to still go right ;)).
That's why I assume many people tried it out who wouldn't usually play a Souls game. That and the fact that there were no other exciting big releases at that time.

Perfect opportunity to point to the Steam statistics for 2022: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/BestOf2022?l=english
Elden Ring is the only singleplayer (or let's say not pure multiplayer game) in "platinum" category (= top 12 of the year) in the categories "top seller" and "most played".

So, yeah, the resonance for Elden Ring was absolutely massive. That's why it makes me curious why it's almost not mentioned at all in this thread.

That and the fact that there were no other exciting big releases at that time.

Poor Horizon Forbidden West

That and the fact that there were no other exciting big releases at that time.

Poor Horizon Forbidden West

Ah, that released a full 7 days earlier. That was old news by then. ;-)

I guess I just am not a fan of the series and overlooked it. Got the first one for free and didn't even play an hour before putting it away. But you're right. That definitely could count as a big and exciting release for many other gamers.

Ah, that released a full 7 days earlier. That was old news by then. ;-)

I guess I just am not a fan of the series and overlooked it. Got the first one for free and didn't even play an hour before putting it away. But you're right. That definitely could count as a big and exciting release for many other gamers.

Yeah, I tried Elden Ring for about 2 hours and quickly realized, that Soulsborne Games are just not for me.
The whole open world aspect was so intruiging to me, but I just cannot stand dying to some random mobs 4 times in a row, not to mention some boss battle I have to retry four several hours.
My frustration level simply rises too fast.

Yeah, I tried Elden Ring for about 2 hours and quickly realized, that Soulsborne Games are just not for me.
The whole open world aspect was so intruiging to me, but I just cannot stand dying to some random mobs 4 times in a row, not to mention some boss battle I have to retry four several hours.
My frustration level simply rises too fast.

Very similar for me!
I could not imagine trying a boss for dozens of times or an hour or even longer. There's no chance that my frustration tolerance would ever be okay with that. ;)

On my second, current try of Elden Ring I just try to massively overlevel and see how far that gets me. I surely am not getting the original Dark Souls experience this way but I wouldn't enjoy that anyway, I just want to experience the world.

Just a few days ago I beat the main boss of Stormville castle, Godrick the Grafted, and the recommended level for that area is 30-40. I did it on > level 70. ;)

I don't know if that gets me through the game or if it maybe won't be too time consuming but currently I'm having a lot of fun.

edit for clarification : I've explored far far beyond the starting area. I just left that boss out until now.

Let's see. I didn't complete all that many games in 2022, and there weren't many games I absolutely loved. Here's my loose ranking judged solely on how much I enjoyed the games:

1. Surviving Mars
2. Salt & Sanctuary
3. Cuphead
4. The Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me
5. Blasphemous
6. Lord Winklebottom Investigates
7. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Remake)
8. Silent Hill 2
9. Super Mario Odyssey
10. Vampyr

This is not counting replays.

#10: Requiem of Science (7/10)
#9: Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer (8/10)
#8: The Spy Who Shot Me (8/10)
#7: Forza Horizon 5 (8/10)
#6: Singularity (8/10)
#5: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare -2019- (8/10)
#4: Prodeus (9/10)
#3: Half-Life: Restored (9/10)
#2: Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (10/10)
#1: Prey -2006- (9/10)

Overall, Prey ended up being the best only because I feel on replays my feelings towards Siberian Mayhem will be more cooled down. I only beat 25 Games this year and a good chunk of them were 6/10 or below ratings. I know it doesn't seem impressive but what can I say I didn't have a good year in general not just for gaming. But at least I got to play the newest Serious Sam game and finally finished Modern Warfare 2019. Next year I'll be playing more ambitious games so hopefully 2023 will be more eventful in terms of my completions.

Your machine will load up Singularity. I tried several times a month or so ago and cannot get even the splash screen to load up.

Thanks for sharing the top games.

This was my record for Single-Player games completed in a year, although it could have been way more, but in August I entered a never ending Warranty cycle, after my GPU died and the manufacturer tried fixing it 3 times until they gave me the money, so in the meantime I mostly played Multi-Player games and indies that would run on a GT 710 lol.

10. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
9. A Short Hike
8. Hot Wheels Unleashed
7. Psychonauts 2
6. Mortal Kombat 11
5. Tunic
4. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
3. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
2. Inscryption
1. Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye (First time playing the DLC)

My top 4 in 2022, all make it into my top 10 games ever, Tunic just barely misses out by placing #11, below Sayonara Wild Hearts.