Our individual Game of the Year articles allow our lovely team of writers to share their own personal PS5 and PS4 picks for 2022. Today, it's the turn of reviewer Annette Magaña.
5. Elex II
Remember those PS2 “middleware” titles that looked and played awful, but somehow managed to not cross the line into being shovelware? Yeah, Elex II is one of those odd guilty pleasures I could not bring myself to stop playing. A weird sci-fi fantasy with forgettable characters. Not to mention, it's a clunky janky mess to play. Yet, I love it.
4. Relayer
Honestly, I've never been a fan of mecha or stories told in a visual novel manner, but I wanted to experiment and venture out to new horizons. Enter Relayer. A strategy RPG with quite a complex customisation system that honestly triumphs over the rather weak story. I'm quite a sucker for games having good soundtracks, and composer Shuichiro Fukuhiro is able to integrate a bombastic, epic orchestra for this niche little game.
3. Stray
Come on, you play as a cat. What is there not to love? Stray didn’t rank a bit higher in my list just because I felt it was a bit too hand-holdy, and the ending was also a little unsatisfying. The game's nothing genre-ending, but it was short and sweet. If anything, I was able to spend time with my actual cat, playing as a cat, trying to find his cat family.
2. Signalis
This one was quite a surprise. The only gripe that I had with Signalis is that it left me wanting more. While not necessarily scary, it did manage to combine the old-school charm of the original Resident Evil and the overall 90s horror experience. Challenging scenarios and puzzles make this relatively short game such a joy to experience.
1. Tactics Ogre: Reborn
Unfortunately, this one was lost amongst the sea of video games that were released too close to the more anticipated God of War Ragnarok. I had never played the original Tactics Ogre, but I'm glad I chose this one as my first experience with the game. It has everything I could ask of a strategy RPG. The story oozes political intrigue led by a colourful cast, both personality-wise and artistically. Better yet, I had incredible fun with its intricate combat, and it has been quite a while since I decided to lose myself in a video game for so many hours.
What do you think of Annette's personal Game of the Year picks? Feel free to agree wholeheartedly, or berate relentlessly in the comments section below.
Comments 36
Tried Signalis for a while on Game Pass and it pleasantly surprised me. Very cool game! Definitely need to get around to playing through it.
I'll see you on Blood Bowl 3 in feb! I personally think stray as a game is boring. One playthrough was enough for me.
Can't go wrong with some Piranha Bytes jankiness. Their games are usually poor on the technical side but they ooze so much charm.
Happy New Year guys!
Hope you find this list interesting and motivates you to try new things, both with video games and the real world d:
This definitely was the year to broaden my horizons and see what else is in store. There is still a few 2022 gems I would have liked to try out and maybe this would have changed my list a little (looking at you Trails from Zero xD), but otherwise, I am super happy with what I was able to play after a taking a brief hiatus in video games for around 2/3 years.
I am curious.
What game(s) do you guys weirdly love despite knowing it is mediocre in some aspect (story, gameplay, etc…)? A game where perhaps it doesn’t deserve your time, but yet, you give it out anyways?
Looking forward for 2023 as it looks as if it is going to pack quite a punch! Just look at the lineup!
@Loftimus
Oh yeah, the game is quite slow-paced and I can see how it’s very hand-raily gameplay mechanic/linearity can detract others from ever want to replay it.
Never played Blood Bowl and surprised it is already going for its third installment! Gonna make some time to play the other ones before the third one comes out!
Great to see some Elex II love on a list like this. It's definitely not for everyone but there's just something about that Eurojank gameplay that I adore. It was my 2nd most played game this year
@JudgeDredd Paul W.S Anderson RE movies, James Gunn’s Scooby Doo 2, and Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raiders.🫢
Tbh a lot of early 2000 movies really. The list goes on haha xD
I want to try tactics ogre i will wait for a sale though ,stray i just couldn't get into,I found it extremely boring, I also hate cats so that probably wouldn't have helped
Never heard or Relayer but it looks really cool. As a SRPG fan it's one to add to the wish list.
@AnnetteM I know I’m going to get some groans about calling Xenoblade Chronicles 3 a mediocre title that I gave my time to, but honestly it’s so true! I thought the gameplay was awful. I loved the story though. It was my favorite story in a game this year, but, man, that gameplay was a slog. It’s been a while since I’ve played a game saying, “I’ll push through for the cutscenes,” but that’s one of them. I’d even put the game in my top 10 this year.
I really like the list. I’m going to have to check out your #4 and #5 picks as I’ve never heard of them, but since Stray and Signalis were particularly strong hits for me, and I loved Tactics Ogre millions of years ago when it first came out (though I need to start the remaster, which I know will be excellent).
Hopefully the changes they made to Tactics Ogre were significant. The PSP remaster was a real slog for me.
Have literally never heard of Relayer, but I like SRPGs and mechs, so I'm interested, to say the least.
@AnnetteM A mediocre game that probably doesn't deserve my time, but which I dumped tons of hours into and enjoyed regardless? This sounds like Pokemon Scarlet/Violet in a nutshell. Had a ton of fun with Scarlet, despite it having a million needless issues that any number of more competent developers would have addressed prior to launch.
@somnambulance
boos and throws rocks
Out of interest, what didn't you like about the gameplay?
@AnnetteM The one that clearly springs to mind from recent memory for me is Biomutant. Almost every aspect of it feels half-baked yet I put well over 50 hours into it and enjoyed every minute. Kind of like an untoasted pop tart. It’s not what it could or should be and there’s far more nourishing options out there but it’s got icing and makes me smile.
@AnnetteM Games that aren't great but I weirdly enjoyed - that one that was a bit Dragon Age-y that came out a couple of years back. It was so forgettable I've already forgotten what it was called. You played as a pirate or something..?
I enjoyed Relayer. Could have been a lot more, but it was comfort food for me.
Oooh you've piqued my interest with Relayer!
@AnnetteM Happy New Year to you as well. Nice to see Relayer on one of these lists. I’m afraid the marketing direction they took has doomed it to sub-niche levels of success.
Your question made me think of one of the most lackluster games I’ve finished in recent memory. For some reason, I finally got around to playing Arc of Alchemist after picking it up during a sale ages ago and saw it through to the end. Like many other Idea Factory games, it didn’t do anything particularly well, but I enjoyed it despite all the glaring flaws.
@Ralizah See, I just don’t really like the battle mechanics in Xenoblade games. Didn’t like the gameplay from the first one onward either. But focusing strictly on battle mechanics, it never really felt like I actually knew what I was doing. It’s just like, “Ok, the game plays itself, and I occasionally did something to add to that.” It doesn’t help that I’ve got this bad habit of grinding as early as possible in JRPGs to turn them into cake walks. I definitely breezed through XBC3 after early game grinding. I feel like the worlds are quite well done, but filled with sort of time waster fetch quests too. I mean, I’m a person that considers FFXV as one of my favorite games of all time, so I can forgive fluff side quests though. I just sort of skip them after a while if I can. That said, as much as I felt a lot of the game to be a chore, that story… man, that story… it really says something when you can push yourself through 50-ish hours of gameplay you don’t enjoy to get to the story. I can see where people liked it, but I did not. For me, XBC3 was the exact opposite of what HFW was, and, uh, I’ll be honest, I’ll be singing praises to XBC3 for all time and probably saying nothing about HFW as soon as possible.
And also, I LOVED Pokémon Violet, by the way. I didn’t have the technical issues on my playthrough, just a lot of fun in the most open mainline Pokémon game yet. I’ve only got positive things to say about the title. I suppose that’s considered a “jank” title though. Sonic Frontiers too.
@somnambulance The sidequests are the biggest area of improvement in XC3, since the game has almost none of the tedious fetch quests that plagued XC1 (and XC2, though to a lesser extent). To be honest, the game has the single best set of sidequests I've ever seen in a JRPG, and it's the defining factor that elevates this above the previous entries for me.
Leading up to release, I actually wasn't sure how I'd feel about it, but XC3 has quickly become one of my favorite games of all time.
But yeah, the single-player MMO gameplay has always been the most marmite aspect of the series, and some people will just never be able to jive with it. I have a friend who avoids the series, even though he likes the music, characters, plots, etc. because of the combat.
I didn't have a ton of glitches in my Scarlet playthrough, but the framerate was noticeably unstable throughout, and I DETEST most of the new NPC designs. Half the people in this game are ugly, and I hate it. Regardless, setting aside Legends: Arceus (which isn't really a comparable experience to normal mainline entries, IMO), it's the most fun I've had with the series since I was a kid.
@AnnetteM finally a list that looks outside the box a little. Since Guillermo del Toro promoted it back in 2021 I've had my eye on this. Ogre was also mindblowingly good.
Don't know if this falls in the mid tier Jank territory or rather in the indie space, but I really enjoyed Ghost Song. Very atmospheric metroidvania.
Stranger of paradise and the new star ocean also had that mid tier quality, which unfortunately in 2022 instantly attracts the naysayers and haters, but ultimately turned out well received.
@Ralizah xenoblade 3 is an essential JRPG. Personally I'd rank them 3,2,1, all great games.
Gameplay was strange for me at first, but actually deep and as I'm told commonplace in MMORPGs.
@AnnetteM Interesting list and also an interesting question you pose. For me, my weird indefensible gaming pleasure is the genre of walking sims and the story-driven choice games like Telltale used to make. The gameplay for these is all but non-existent, and the stories often aren’t even that good, but I really enjoy them! Something about controlling a character walking through another world is very appealing and I like occasionally being able to just passively absorb content like that without having to battle demons, assign XP points, and craft armor. 😅
And I can completely agree about your comment about broadening your horizons. I’ve really try to do this each year by playing titles I may not be interested at first blush and I really find some gems that way. Also it keeps gaming from becoming too rote and boring. Cheers!
@tallythwack I think the game has hit its lowest as of yet here in the US. It is going for 34/30.
D: how dare you? D:
@Jey887 @Loamy
There’s a demo on US PSN if you want to try it out before investing in it.
@Gremio108 Skull and Bones? Oh wait, that hasn’t even come out yet 😆 Jk aside, going to see if I can find the one you mention.
@somnambulance Oh can’t say anything about XC3 since I haven’t played it yet, but I did play XC on the 3DS and it deflated my interest in playing the other ones. 100 hours just beating the main story and barely sidetracking with optional stuff. The gameplay was pretty cool, don’t know if the third one is different. But the main story I thought got so convoluted. Even worse, I couldn’t care about the main characters at all. They weren’t annoying or anything but for some reason their chemistry and individual stuff was just meh. The dialogue didn’t help either lol.
If you have PS Plus Extra, Elex I is free and I doubt it is any different from the second one, but I have yet to play that one too. Although it would help if don’t be want to be super lost in the story. Elex ii is not to expensive either though it’s going around 20/30.
As for Relayer there is demo on US PSN if you want try it out first.
@AnnetteM @Ralizah The side quests improving doesn’t mean a whole lot to me since I felt like… yeah, XBC side quests have always been rough to me. I’ll be honest, XBC1 was a real challenge to get through for me too and I just… I gave up on 2. In my fatherhood years, I’ve always sort of struggled on getting through JRPGs, just because of the time it takes to get through them. Way back in the PS2 and PS3 days I could waste weeks chugging through a JRPG that wasn’t necessarily my thing, but it’s got to be a 9/10 or 10/10 for me to keep diving (or admittedly, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, or DQ). I felt XBC3 was an improvement in every way though. The story was huge and out there, but it was also grounded by excellent characters with actually pretty good voice acting. It was everything I could’ve wanted out of a JRPG, just with gameplay that I could pass on. I would’ve preferred an anime series mode or something. Lol. And I totally agree about Arceus. It’s my #2 game this year, right behind Elden Ring. I think it may now be my favorite Pokémon game.
And great tips, Annette! I’m totally getting the demo and checking out the first game!
@AnnetteM Want to say Downfall but I'm pretty sure that's a board game and/or a film about Hitler
THANK YOU for putting together a list of different games to try. It’s nice seeing the variety.
The games I put the most hours into in 2022 were:
—Dysmantle
—Sniper Elite 5
—Conan Chop Chop
—Party Hard
—Quest Hunter
—Jurassic Park Evolution
They weren’t all released in 2022, but that was my 2022! I played lots of newer games, too, but the ones above are those I kept going back to.
@AnnetteM 😂
@Gremio108 I think you might be thinking of GreedFall. I haven’t played it yet (it’s on my backlog list), but from what I’ve heard about it, it seems that it fits your description. It was made by the developer Spiders, who are known for making eurojank games. Their latest release was Steelrising, another game with an interesting premise and a generic, forgettable name.
@jgrangervikings1 Dysmantle is in my top 5. I woke up on a Saturday and bought it without any previous info — what a great little surprise.
Great list! I loved the first Elex, despite all the jank and weird design choices. Can't wait to play the sequel, though I hope there is more than 1 face on all the women in the game this time around (seriously!).
I'm playing Risen 2 right now by the same dev and I love it, despite the flaws (awful combat/controls being nr.1) it has some really great environments to explore, some very memorable characters to meet, and this overall feeling of being on a pirate adventure.
I think I enjoy myself more than when playing AC: Odyssey, despite that game being objectively superior in most ways!
@Impossibilium Greedfall, thanks. That's the one. Eurojank is a perfect description, they should have just called it that.
You’re welcome. And yeah, eurojank is pretty much its own sub-genre. You have Western RPGs, JRPGs, and Eurojank RPGs (for example). They all have their own sorta flavour.
@Jimmer-jammer perfect example. The story was horrid, the characters were barely existent. Yet I had a blast exploring the world and building the ultimate weapons and armor. Never finished the main quest line but lucky I didn’t have to.
@Niktaw Yeah, I thought the gameplay loop of exploring, fighting, looting and crafting worked really well and the world was beautiful.
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