Cody's Top Five Video Games of 2022

It is that time of year again when we take note of the year that is behind us and organise our thoughts, and I didn't want to disappoint all of my loyal Cohost followers (I have one singular follower and have never posted) so here I am with a list for you. The format of this list is a Top Five, preceded by whatever other miscellaneous categories I come up with. Without further ado: GAME OF THE YEAR THAT I HAVEN'T ACTUALLY PLAYED YET TUNIC Tunic [https://i.imgur.com/Me5UHuc.jpg] Tunic is a game that I am certain I will enjoy - I love Zelda games, and a lot of my friends have also recommended this game to me in particular. However, for various reasons, including waiting for a Switch release and then being busy with life when it did release on Switch, I haven't gotten around to it yet. Watch this space! Honourable Mention: Dwarf Fortress OLD GAME THAT I JUST KEPT PLAYING ANYWAY AWARD CRUSADER KINGS III Crusader Kings III [https://i.imgur.com/Eg0FIQ3.jpg] Crusader Kings III was released in 2020, but that hasn't stopped me from learning more about the inner workings of this incredibly complex game every year. It continues to offer experiences unique to this series - for example, in no other game this year did I successfully seduce the Pope, all while an excited Twitch stream chat chanted "Pope baby! Pope baby!" Unfortunately, the Pope died before I was able to give birth to his child, but the important part was the fun we had along the way. There were also some expansions and event packs that did come out this year - I had some fun with the Royal Court one, which provides for more direct interaction between a vassal and their liege. Ruling in your own right tends to be the default position of players after a while, but there's also a joy in being a Count who is using his king as a diplomatic shield, and this expansion added some more flavour to that aspect of the game. Honourable Mention: Stardew Valley NINTENDO 64 GAME OF THE YEAR (NON-ZELDA) PAPER MARIO Paper Mario [https://i.imgur.com/wRJBjlu.png] When I played Paper Mario on the Switch's N64 Online service, I was surprised by just how well it held up. Nintendo 64 games have a reputation for being kind of hard to go back to, given that it was a very experimental generation on the cutting edge of the transition to 3D - playing Goldeneye with only a single analogue stick was exciting at the time, for example, but feels archaic in the modern day. Paper Mario, however, doesn't have any of those problems. It takes a little while to wind up to having access to all the mechanics, but once you do, it stays interesting throughout. The writing is also good, and I've always enjoyed being able to interact during a turn in a JRPG - a mechanic that I really enjoyed in The Legend of Dragoon but which otherwise doesn't seem to have much traction outside of Mario RPG games. Honourable Mention: Banjo Kazooie ZELDA GAME OF THE YEAR MAJORA'S MASK Majora's Mask [https://i.imgur.com/BxtEYs8.jpg] The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was another game that I replayed on the Switch N64 Online service this year. What an incredible feat of sound design it is. I don't mean its soundtrack, though it has that too. I'm talking about the vibes - the ominous thump thump of reaching a new day, and the way that the music changes on the second day and then again on the third. It all builds up together into a greater whole that I just love. I always enjoy the experience of playing the game itself too - that's maybe the part I would find hardest to recommend to someone who has never played the N64 (I might instead suggest that they play the 3DS version, which I used as the image banner), but it's nostalgic and fun to me. The part that really surprised me, though, was having so much of the vibe still hit. As someone who has played the game many times, I no longer fear the three-day cycle for the most part, and these days the game's famous creepy moon is just another friend staring back at me. But at one point, as I was exploring the Stock Pot Inn on the third night, it all hit me like a truck. The emptiness of the inn felt wrong, and as the earth started to rumble, I was engulfed in that sense of dread, loneliness and loss that so intrigued me about the game in the first place. Honourable Mention: Link's Awakening (Switch) #5 MARIO + RABBIDS: SPARKS OF HOPE Pokemon Scarlet and Violet [https://i.imgur.com/aDJhQRg.png] Now, onto the real list for this year. Up until the original Mario + Rabbids hit in 2017, I had never paid much attention to the Rabbids, the Minions of the video game industry. But this bizarre choice for a crossover series has turned out to be of consistently high quality. The general combat gameplay of the series is similar to something like XCOM - you control a squad who all take their turns at the same time, shooting (yes, Mario has a gun), flanking and hiding behind cover. The most significant difference is that Mario + Rabbids is much more loose and free-form - depending on how clever you get with your setup, a character can take several actions in a single turn. The maths is also simpler - while XCOM infamously can involve missing shots that have 95% accuracy, in Mario + Rabbids a shot either has a 100%, 50%, or 0% chance of hitting, depending on the level of cover they're hiding behind. If you're interested in that general genre of tactics, it's worth giving this series and its new entry a shot! #4 POKÉMON LEGENDS ARCEUS Pokemon Legends Arceus [https://i.imgur.com/YoRYzjA.png] I had also considered Pokémon Scarlet and Violet for this spot, but in the end, I found it too inconsistent of a game; its highs were high but its lows were low. Legends Arceus, which was released right near the start of this year, kept me engaged throughout. The most impressive part about Legends Arceus to me is that, unlike any previous Pokémon game, this one actually made me invested in "catching 'em all". My experience with Pokémon is typically more battle-focused - I like to create a strong team, and sometimes get involved with the online multiplayer element of the game. Typically, though, my actual Pokédex is left half done, leaving Professor Oak to cry a single tear. In this game the actual experience of capture was a lot of fun to me, and so was the immersion of roaming through their habitats, looking for the best way to sneak up and try to catch them by surprise with a Poké Ball. If you've become tired of traditional Pokémon games but still enjoy the thrill of the hunt, this one might be for you! #3 TRIANGLE STRATEGY Triangle Strategy [https://i.imgur.com/019gssm.png] Triangle Strategy is another turn-based tactical RPG available on the Nintendo Switch (I have a type). This isn't quite the same genre as Mario + Rabbids, though; whereas Mario + Rabbids is reminiscent of XCOM, a better comparison for this game might be Fire Emblem, or Final Fantasy Tactics. The game isn't devoid of fantastical elements (it's a world of swords and magic, after all), but in some ways, the premise is almost hilariously mundane: some local territories are having a political dispute about salt. There are branching paths based on your political decision-making, and I ended up playing a New Game+ run so that I could experience the "golden route" that provided the best ending. The pacing can be a little bit off at the beginning in particular, but when it gets going I find it to be both compelling gameplay and also compelling storytelling. #2 LIVE A LIVE Live a Live [https://i.imgur.com/cwqXMmy.jpg] I actually already wrote a full review for Live a Live when it came out, so if you like you can check that out [https://zeldauniverse.net/features/review-live-a-live-a-worthwhile-remake-of-a-somewhat-secret-classic/] (just don't forget to come back to finish reading my list). What I'll say for the purposes of this list is that compared to many of the other games on the list, this is a very concise game. A scenario will last 1-3 hours, and then bam, onto the next one. The short story collection format might be offputting to some, but to others who feel overwhelmed by having so much to do in huge RPGs, this might be the game that gets the balance just right for you. #1 XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3 Xenoblade Chronicles 3 [https://i.imgur.com/67LnJy3.jpg] Expansive Japanese RPGs like the Xenoblade Chronicles series are often about the Big Moments - I go into them expecting the spectacle of an over-the-top story and over-the-top characters, with cool explosions to match. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 certainly isn't missing these, and the climactic moments are as climactic as ever, but what propelled this game to the top of the list for me was the masterwork in the small details. I've played previous Xenoblade games and enjoyed questing before, but mostly in a World of Warcrafty "let's collect several quests for the area without reading the details and then feel the enjoyment when the numbers go up by killing rats" kind of way. In this game, I paid attention to the actual writing of every side quest. When I played Xenoblade 1, I enjoyed the main storyline but didn't bother with most of the optional "Heart to Heart" chats between the party because I wasn't compelled by the writing. Here, I actively sought them out. In many ways, I believe that this is the best that the Xenoblade series has ever been. I do have a couple of minor hang-ups about the game, mostly around the combat side of things, but overall, I don't think that there was any game that impressed me more this year.