12DOVE is ready to present its pick of the best games of 2022.
The team here at GR+ has spent the past few weeks debating, and now we're ready to celebrate the 25 best games of the year. As you'll see reflected in our selection, it's been a wonderful year for video games – full of surprises, and a varied range of truly incredible experiences.
2022 will no doubt be remembered as the year where the PS5 and Xbox Series X really came into their own, but there's also so much to fall in love with on PC, Switch, and mobile devices too. Honestly, there's something for everybody here, and jumping into any of these excellent games will be well worth your time.
So keep reading to find our pick of the best games of 2022, and be sure to find us on Twitter and Facebook if you'd like to share your GOTY with us.
25. Norco
Developer: Geography of Robots
Platform(s): PC
What is it?
A beautiful point-and-click adventure game that you won't soon forget
Why should you play it?
There's more to Norco than meets the eye. While on the surface it may appear to be a smartly-dressed homage to classic LucasArts adventure games, it doesn't take long to discover that there's something truly special here. This point-and-click adventure uses sharp writing and simple environmental puzzles to tell a truly incredible story – a smart meditation on rural decline, set in a visually stunning portrayal of southern Louisiana. There's a raw honesty to Norco's presentation that is easy to fall in love with, and developer Geography of Robots should be commended for putting such an ambitious package together. Do yourself a favor and set some time aside for Norco, but don't try to rush through it – this is a weird and wonderful world you'll want to spend time in.
24. A Plague Tale: Requiem
Developer: Asobo Studio
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X
What is it?
A stealth action game that follows two heroes on the run from the Inquisition and hordes of plague rats
Why should you play it?
Awe-inspiring visual design? Memorable stealth-action scenarios punctuated by sharp bouts of violence? Two strongly-written characters with a sometimes-strained familial relationship? No, this isn't a checklist for some Naughty Dog game, but rather developer Asobo Studio's fantastic follow-up to 2019's A Plague Tale: Innocence. For the sequel, the studio answered the call of critics and expanded the suite of combat opportunities and introduced more depth to puzzle solving, all as it expanded upon the core sell of the concept: Hundreds of thousands skittering rats, swarming across stunning sun-soaked environments. There's a lot to like in A Plague Tale: Requiem – it's a more balanced adventure, with stronger pacing and peril than anything Asobo has delivered before. While we recommend going back to the original game before jumping into this adventure, you won't regret time spent with Amicia and Hugo de Rune.
23. Hardspace: Shipbreaker
Developer: Blackbird Interactive
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X
What is it?
A salvage simulator where you dismantle abandoned spaceships to pay off your massive debt
Why should you play it?
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is the ultimate podcast game, where you can start some background listening then happily potter about in zero gravity for hours. It's fascinating to peel back the layers of a spaceship and see what you discover within, and it's greatly satisfying when every last piece of it has been stowed, processed, or incinerated to leave you with an empty dock. While the mechanics of surgically taking the ships apart is well polished, there's also a compelling narrative running alongside it, satirizing capitalism and labor exploitation as you tackle unsafe working conditions, an overbearing administrator, and a profit-above-all-else corporation while trying to pay off your billion dollar debt. With increasingly large ships, reactor meltdowns, and rogue AI nodes to deal with, there's plenty to keep you coming back for 'one more job' without it ever feeling like actual work.
22. Tunic
Developer: TUNIC Team
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Switch
What is it?
A Zelda-inspired roguelike starring an adorable fox and made by a solo developer.
Why should you play it?
Tunic's cutesy looks belie the fact it's got the heart of Dark Souls and the mind of a Zelda game. Behind the utterly lovely visual style is an experience that is intensely difficult, with challenging combat and equally complex puzzle-solving. Combat works by dodging and rolling, dying and dying again, all the while working to improve your stats and gain new weapons. But the beauty of it all is that there's no signposting, no dialogue, no text at all really. It's all about discovery – from the deliberately awkward camera angle that hides away routes and collectibles to the manual that you'll slowly find the pages for. Deciphering what you find in there, scribbled in the margins and hidden amongst diagrams is all part of the progression. Tunic tells you absolutely nothing, and it's a work of art because of it.
21. Marvel's Midnight Suns
Developer: Firaxis
Platforms: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One
What is it?
A tight, super-powered strategy game combined with a bafflingly deep friendship sim.
Why should you play it?
It should come as no surprise that Firaxis, the developer behind the rebooted XCOM series, has made another excellent strategy experience. When your squad of heroes gets to duking it out with Hydra, Marvel's Midnight Suns is tight yet playful, each of your super-powered allies bringing unique strengths to bear in a way that lends strategic depth while ensuring you never lose the Avengers-level power fantasy you'd expect from a Marvel game. Midnight Suns might be a GOTY contender from the strengths of its tactical combat alone, but it's its heart which turns it into something genuinely special. A subtle daily loop of activities opens up a surprisingly tender (if disappointingly chaste) friendship sim, perfectly blending action movie excess with quiet, more thoughtful moments that easily turn Firaxis' latest into one of the best superhero games of all-time.
20. Modern Warfare 2
Developer: Infinity Ward
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One
What is it?
The second installment to Infinity Ward's ongoing Modern Warfare reboot
Why should you play it?
With Modern Warfare 2, developer Infinity Ward has sketched out the future for the entire Call of Duty franchise. A new game engine binds the core offering and the expansive Warzone 2 experiences more closely together, with Modern Warfare 2 ultimately introducing weightier movement, overhauled weapon handling, and more considered bullet ballistics. It makes for a slightly slower, more tactically-engaging shooter without sacrificing the chaos that Call of Duty has always been so adept at generating. The visually-stunning single-player borders on photo-realism, and leverages the mechanical overhaul smartly to create a more cinematic campaign; the multiplayer is as aggressively competitive as it has ever been, with sharp map design and combat pacing working to keep groups locked between close-quarters firefights. Modern Warfare 2 is a remarkable FPS, and a fantastic foundation for the future.
19. Cult of the Lamb
Developer: Massive Monster
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Switch
What is it?
A brilliant cult-inspired take on Animal Crossing with the roguelike combat of Hades.
Why should you play it?
It's not often we praise a game that contains quite so much poop, but with Cult of the Lamb we'll make an exception. This excellent indie game asks you to lead a cult, rescuing your flock from the clutches of (hopefully) more awful fortunes than you can offer. Although, that does depend on what kind of cult-leader you're going to be… Murder, intimidation, ritual sacrifice are all options, after all. Those choices are down to you and there's a lot to do to keep your followers in check. In between leading though, you must go on crusades to take down heretics and find supplies for your cult. It is management sim meets roguelike, and its particular blend is seriously successful. By diving into combat to provide for the needs of your cult, its interlinked two halves become a brilliantly moreish whole.
18. Neon White
Developer: Angel Matrix
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Switch
What is it?
A speedrunning FPS with the power to dominate all of your spare time.
Why should you play it?
Neon White is one of those video games that can quickly become all-encompassing. It can take just seconds to blast through some of its vibrant levels, but you'll easily spend countless hours trying to refine your scores and dominate the leaderboards. Neon White is all about the pursuit of mastery, where the difference between success and failure can be measured in milliseconds. It's difficult to pin down exactly what Neon White is, and why it works as well as it does, but developer Angel Matrix presents a killer blend of first-person action, light deck-building, and tight platforming that just has a way of sinking its hooks in. If you're looking for a game that will rupture your friend group, do yourself a favor and dive headfirst into this wonderful speedrunning gauntlet.
17. Sifu
Developer: Sloclap
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Switch
What is it?
Following the success of Absolver, Sloclap returns with another intricately-crafted brawler
Why should you play it?
What is risk without reward? It's a question that Sifu takes to heart, as it thrashes you within an inch of your life. Developer Sloclap built a smart brawler, allowing you to leverage over 150 attacks against swarms of martial artists with delicate runs of combos; gaining new skills and abilities gradually over time, as you become older and just a little wiser to the challenges ahead. Death isn't the end, but rather a chance to try again – albeit in a more vulnerable state. Sifu is a finely-tuned fighting machine, but where it becomes something special is in its delicate respawn system: every time you die you become a little older, experience at the cost of strength, and the challenge just that little bit greater. The learning curve is steep, but the experience is too good to be ignored.
16. Return to Monkey Island
Developer: Terrible Toybox
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Switch
What is it?
The creators of Monkey Island get the opportunity to create a sequel nobody thought would ever happen
Why should you play it?
"You Can't Go Home Again." Or so said Thomas Wolfe back in the '40s, as the author considered the implications of returning to a place from your past only to find it corrupted by a miasma of nostalgia. If only he could have embarked on a Return to Monkey Island. Developer Terrible Toybox was able to deliver a heartfelt and intuitively-crafted return for a point-and-click adventure series that many feared had long been left behind. It's both smart and surprisingly self-aware; a spirited sequel to LeChuck's Revenge that succeeds in not only breathing new life into a beloved world, but in making it feel relevant again for a new generation of players. While the future remains uncertain for Guybrush Threepwood, if Return to Monkey Island is to be his final adventure, it's one hell of a way to go out.
15. Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Platform(s): Switch
What is it?
A colorful, inventive 3D platformer that takes the pink puffball to a mysterious new world
Why should you play it?
Kirby and the Forgotten Land arrived this year to win the hearts of players everywhere thanks to its brilliantly creative level design, quirky new abilities, and charming featureset. It's a big year for the pink puffball – with 2022 marking Kirby's 30th anniversary – so it's only fitting that we got to jump into the first fully 3D adventure that opens up HAL Laboratory's long-running platforming like never before. With more open areas and the addition of the wonderfully weird mouthful mode that you won't soon forget, Kirby and the Forgotten Land also invites you into a world steeped in mystery that does more to surprise you then you might expect. All of this results in a bigger, bolder, and more memorable Kirby-shaped adventure that never fails to bring a big smile to your face. It's an instant mood-lifter in game form.
14. Marvel Snap
Developer: Second Dinner
Platform(s): Android, iOS, PC
What is it?
A free-to-play competitive card game that stacks drama and strategy into digestible six-minute rounds
Why should you play it?
Marvel Snap is responsible for countless missed meetings, wasted evenings, and decaying phone batteries. Not that you'll find us complaining. Such is the pervasive power of developer Second Dinner's competitive card game, which is among the most approachable entry points to a traditionally challenging genre that we've seen this year. Where Marvel Snap succeeds is through its simplicity, which it achieves without sacrificing any of the tactical depth that powers games like Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering. You build a 12-card deck and put it to work in battles that unfold over three locations and six turns; whoever has control of a majority of zones after six minutes wins. Marvel Snap is easy to learn and difficult to put down, a smart and intuitive CCG that rarely fails to drag just one more game out of your tired fingers.
13. OlliOlli World
Developer: Roll7
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Switch
What is it?
A side-scrolling sports game where you create a character, shred spots, and set high scores
Why should you play it?
OlliOlli World asked the world to check out the positive vibes, and the game-playing public responded with one whispered, joyful obscenity after the other. Such is the comfortable cycle of failure that lays at the heart of this long-awaited sequel to OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood. Gradual mastery over a series of simple inputs is key to shredding some truly astral skate spots, and to your eventual ascent through its leaderboards. OlliOlli World demands nothing less than perfection to make a mark on its scores of challenging environments, but the fun is found in the flow state you enter trying. Don't resist the urge to reach for the reset, for there is replayability in the rhythm of it all. OlliOlli World is among the best score-chasers of the year, and the vibe check we desperately needed after a dreary winter.
12. Citizen Sleeper
Developer: Jump Over The Age
Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox One Switch
What is it?
A tabletop-infused sci-fi story about the perils of space capitalism and beauty of finding community
Why should you play it?
From start to finish, Citizen Sleeper compels players to wake up. This is both figurative and literal in that everyone should open their eyes to what is really going on around them, and also that the protagonist is an emulated consciousness inside of a robot body called a Sleeper. The sci-fi trappings of a space station abandoned by corporations, only to be reclaimed by the people left behind, mix well with narrative choices dictated through dice-rolling mechanics and impressive character design to create something truly singular. There's nothing else quite like Citizen Sleeper that has released this year – not at such a scale, and with such a fine attention to detail. So while it might find itself a bit alone and lacking easy comparisons or competitors, that only manages to make its impressiveness stand out that much more for it.
11. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Developer: TT Games
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Switch
What is it?
TT Games throws the ultimate celebration for the Skywalker Saga of Star Wars films
Why should you play it?
After 17 years spent piecing together 20 games brick-by-brick, what else could Traveller's Tales possibly build out of Lego? That was the question going into Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, and the answer was a wondrous love letter to one of the most beloved film franchises of all-time. It's an expansive celebration, of both everything that this studio has achieved and to all nine adventures that comprise the Skywalker Saga; funny and wholesome, authentic and expertly-crafted, it's a generous experience that provides fun for the entire family. What's impressive too is how Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga dares to be ambitious, introducing wider playgrounds and revised combat systems to keep the action feeling fresh – regardless of whether you were there for Lego Star Wars: The Video Game in 2005 or just coming into it fresh here in 2022.
10. Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Developer: Game Freak
Platforms: Switch
What is it?
An instantly memorable open-world reinvention of one of the most iconic RPG formulas ever made
Why should you play it?
For years, a common request of Nintendo and Game Freak from fans was for something resembling a traditional Pokemon game that took risks and did something less constrained by its own history. The typical refrain was for an open-world Pokemon game, and Game Freak finally delivered with Pokemon Legends: Arceus, keeping much of the underlying mechanical bone structure of traveling across a map to do battle while shaking it up in many other ways – like capturing Pokemon without actually battling. It's also a time travel story, sending players hundreds of years into the past. The game's far from perfect, but the important changes are so refreshing that it manages to make a franchise that is now over 25 years old feel largely new. An impressive feat, even if Game Freak hasn't quite figured out how to capitalize on it yet.
9. Pentiment
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox One,
What is it?
A historical narrative-driven game focused on choice-driven storytelling, wrapped in a gorgeous painterly art style
Why should you play it?
In a year that's blessed us with so many brilliant high-profile, blockbuster games – from Elden Ring to God of War: Ragnarok; Horizon Forbidden West to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Pentiment sidesteps creative restrictions to great effect. Billed as a passion project by developer Obsidian Entertainment, this beautifully original sixteenth century-set narrative adventure is a breath of fresh air. Its heartfelt storytelling is engaging, engrossing, and endearing from beginning to end. In your bid to crack clues and untangle the game's mysteries, you'll converse with NPCs from all walks of life, often breaking bread with friends and foes in quick succession. Through this, you'll play amateur detective, quickly learning who can be trusted and who's out to deceive you in a world brought to life by its super tight writing, genuinely funny exchanges, and drop-dead gorgeous watercolor art style.
8. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
Developer: Ubisoft Milan / Ubisoft Paris
Platform(s): Switch
What is it?
The sequel to Ubisoft and Nintendo's surprisingly successful crossover strategy title.
Why should you play it?
Few expected the Super Mario gang and Ubisoft's Rabbids crossover to be a success, let alone earn itself a sequel – and yet here we are, and all the better because of it. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope expands its XCOM-esque strategy concept, delivering a fresh take on the formula by ditching the grid and loosening the turn-based elements to create battles with much more freedom, and room for creativity. The same can be said for its approach to world-building too, with the linear overworld replaced with Super Mario Odyssey-like hub worlds with secrets and side quests to explore. New heroes – including Bowser himself – also make a massive difference, mixing up the roster with new attacks and abilities. It's a huge evolution over the original game, with much more fun to be had among the brilliantly strategic and creative battles.
7. Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Developer: Monolith Soft
Platform(s): Switch
What is it?
An enormous open-world JRPG that delivers blistering combat and memorable characters in a cruel world
Why should you play it?
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 might be the most ambitious JRPG ever made. More than any Xenoblade entry before it, it truly earns its daunting runtime – upwards of 150 hours for decent completion – and fully leverages its gargantuan world. It's one of the few releases this year that can genuinely rival Elden Ring's scope, and it builds on only the best parts of the Xenoblade games before it to deliver a climactic sci-fantasy epic. Lovable and tragic characters carry a compelling war story, and they lay the foundation for the best and somehow most complicated combat in the series. Engrossing systems – crafting, cooking, upgrades, skills, recruitable heroes, bio-organic mechs – combine to form seemingly bottomless progression. This is a moonshot sequel of almost unprecedented scale, packed with ideas most games wouldn't even attempt, and its successes more than make up for its occasional messes.
6. Vampire Survivors
Developer: Poncle
Platforms: Android, iOS, PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox One
What is it?
A reverse bullet hell with fantasy elements, pixel graphics, and plenty of vampires to survive
Why should you play it?
Vampire Survivors is deceptively simple. The goal: survive for 30 minutes as hordes of enemies bear down on you. The pixel graphics and easy-to-digest premise hide behind them a complexly layered system of weapon upgrades, pathing decisions, and other choices. And at the end there is only death. But death also brings the opportunity to unlock new characters, weapons, relics, and more. Vampire Survivors can quickly turn from, "I'll do just one run" into "I've been sitting here three hours; what happened?" No run is exactly the same, and there are so many ways to tweak how they go from upgrading different abilities before you start to deciding to build into a specific set of items that every moment is a hectic, uphill battle that's so, so satisfying that it'll have you coming back for more the moment you're dead.
5. Immortality
Developer: Half Mermaid
Platform(s): Android, iOS, PC, Xbox Series X
What is it?
Sam Barlow's latest, and suitably his greatest, take on the FMV genre.
Why should you play it?
Given the success of Her Story and Telling Lies, it's pretty amazing that game director Sam Barlow and the team at Half Mermaid continue to surpass themselves. But Immortality is a brilliant headfuck that'll have you scrubbing through footage thinking you've lost your mind. On the surface, it's a mystery about Marissa Marcel. By connecting people, objects, and other items between video clips, you begin to unravel various threads with the actor at the center of it all, through the lens of three separate unreleased movies spread across some 25 years. But then, underneath there's something more sinister, almost supernatural that's lurking – just waiting to be found. When you do, it's a moment of half-seeing and not believing, but we've never been so compelled to rewatch a library of clips just to see what else we may have missed.
4. Horizon Forbidden West
Developer: Guerrilla Games
Platform(s): PS5, PS4
What is it?
The continuation of Aloy's story as she travels to the west coast of the US to take on new threats.
Why should you play it?
Horizon Zero Dawn was a brilliant game, but Horizon Forbidden West is another thing entirely. The sequel builds on the baseline open world that Guerrilla created and imbues it with much more personality and soul. With side quests that give the main storyline serious competition, mini-games, and other discoveries, the land Aloy explores along the west coast of America feels far richer than what we saw in the original game. Plus, with almost Metroidvania-style exploration, there's always a reason to come back to areas you've passed through beforehand. The combat gets an upgrade too, with more tools at your disposal to take down the wider range of robot dinosaurs threatening your very existence. And at its heart, we still have Aloy trying to save the world (again), with another very personal journey about family and loss. Horizon Forbidden West is an adventure worth taking.
3. Stray
Developer: BlueTwelve Studio
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4
What is it?
Become a cat lost in a neon world of trash and robots.
Why should you play it?
Stray took the gaming world by storm. After all, how many games let you play as an adorable ginger tabby cat? Thankfully though, developer BlueTwelve Studio backed up the hype with a fantastic game, where a city abandoned by humans and now inhabited by robots – and a whole lot of trash – accidentally becomes your playground. The way Stray captures the movements and behaviors of your average house cat is a genuine joy, with elements like scratching on rugs and knocking things off tables seamlessly entwined with Stray's lovely narrative. Every moment you spend with the feline hero makes you appreciate the meticulous detail that has been poured into the experience, helping to bring the entire thing to life. And with a little drone as your navigator and translator, there's far more here than a cute platformer with excellent cat physics.
2. God of War Ragnarok
Developer: Sony Santa Monica Studio
Platform(s): PS5, PS4
What is it?
The highly-anticipated sequel to the 2018 God of War reboot, continuing the journey of Kratos and Atreus.
Why should you play it?
God of War Ragnarok needed to be at least as good as the 2018 reboot, and that alone was a tall order. But, Sony Santa Monica came in swinging and offered up everything we hoped it would – and more. The continuing and evolving relationship between not only Kratos and Atreus' as father and son, but also Mimir and other characters as a bizarre, dysfunctional extended family gave the story the emotional depth we yearned for. Coupled with tweaks and upgrades to its satisfying combat, smart puzzle solving, and some lovely little side quests, it can be argued that God of War Ragnarok actually betters its predecessor in many ways. This might be the end of God of War's Norse arc, but it also pays wonderful homage to its origins too. It certainly concretes the series' place amongst the greatest PlayStation exclusives.
1. Elden Ring
Developer: FromSoftware
Platform(s): PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One
What is it?
An open world action-RPG from the developer that brought
Why is it the Game of the Year?
It was inevitable, wasn't it. After years of surmounting speculation and expectations, FromSoftware not only rose to the challenge but delivered what is undoubtedly the best game in its storied history. The studio built masterfully on the foundations it established for Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – expanding them into a sprawling, ambitiously-structured open world which we're still being drawn into all these months later. The Lands Between, a playground built of boundless mysteries, has proven itself to be the perfect venue for FromSoftware's precise and demanding combat – where decisive action is rewarded with new and more spectacular encounters, and fresh opportunities to prove you are capable of surviving the gauntlet. Elden Ring is not only the best video game of 2022, but a true cultural phenomenon.
