The Best Anime of 2022

The Best Video Games of 2022

2022, the year of the Farm Sim and people asking how Japanese was too Japanese for a Japanese video game. While much of the year was graced by Elden Ring's inescapable impact, it's important to remember that other games quietly came out and sat with us on the couch. Games not called God of War: Ragnarök. While some of these games might not have been much of a blip on some people's radars, I think it's still worth giving them a much-deserved nod before the last grain of sand from 2022's clock runs out.

5. Stray

Stray needs credit for thoroughly capturing players' imaginations everywhere. An adventure game where you play as a cat, the playable feline's animations have been the source of much delight to players. It squirms when a backpack is put onto it, it types nonsense into computers when you walk along keyboards, and robots everywhere are charmed by its purring. Actual players have made countless mods for the game, allowing them to replace the playable cat with recreations of their own IRL cats (which raises the question of why alternate cat skins weren't made as an option for the game—talk about leaving money on the table). Maybe the story isn't all that great in hindsight; perhaps the game doesn't do much else that's particularly fascinating. But sometimes, you only need a chance to be a cute little cat.

4. RPG Time: The Legend of Wright

Is it possible for a game to be too charming? Maybe, but it shouldn't matter. RPG Time has more charm packed into the first fifteen minutes than many games have in their entire runtime. It's not just that the entirety of the game is an attempt at re-creating a hand-made RPG made with arts and crafts, but that it's all coming from the imagination and efforts of a child named Kenta. The game posits Kenta as your best friend, and I promise you that he will feel as such when you're done playing. He's talented, enthusiastic, and clearly a brilliant young man for coming up with so many creative features. Is the game a bit too impressed with its art style? Maybe. A run button would have been nice, and some menu transitions take too long. But dammit, Kenta worked hard for this stuff. Let him have it.

3. Kirby and the Forgotten Land

… It's a Kirby game. It came out this year. What more do you people want from me? Okaaaay. Kirby's first foray into three-dimensional platforming was spectacular, for lack of a better term. The Mouthful Mode forms were weird and creepy, and I don't want to think about Kirby distending himself over a traffic cone any more than I have to—but the forms all opened the doors to charming puzzles and world exploration that only could have come from Kirby. The music is delightful and charming—there's a reason people went nuts for Roar of Dedede. If you haven't picked up Kirby and the Forgotten Land, you need to fix that. I believe that the Kirby games are secretly Nintendo's best franchise. Play Forgotten Land, and you'll know why.

2. Shin Megami Tensei V

“The God you so cravenly revere is dead.”

You can joke about JRPGs are all about killing God until you're blue in the face, but when Shin Megami Tensei decides to put God into a casket, it does not hold back. Shin Megami Tensei V fully takes advantage of its open-world design to let you feel the death of the world around you. All the while, the Nahobino's hair is straining Unreal Engine to its breaking point, and the music is wailing with mistuned instruments. This game has dirt under its fingernails, and it is all the better for it. The demons are as uncanny and characterful as ever. The moral quandaries are at their most thought-provoking. Nahobino might take a few too many bites out of Demi-Fiend's apple (calling him a “Proto-Fiend” was a bit much), but Shin Megami Tensei V shows that there's so much more Atlus can do than just the Persona titles. This is a game that wants to punch you in the face. Once you learn to roll with the punches, you're in for something that I promise you'll never forget.

1. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Anyone who's kept up with my column might offer me an askew glance—yes, my writing duties have made it rather hard for me to continue playing games regularly. I'm not even into Chapter 3 in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. But even coming off of Xenoblade 2, how can I not give Xenoblade 3 the nod? The music alone makes this a thematically powerful experience, tying the game's flute-based music in with the flutes played by the lead couple. Mechanically, it takes all of the best aspects of its predecessors and improves upon them. Bits and pieces of things like the Blades from Xenoblade 2 or Xenoblade 1's gem crafting have been refined into much more approachable systems. For folks who complained that Xenoblade 2 was “too anime,” the character designs have been refined into earth-toned people with sensible outfits—with enough charm and style to make their classes identifiable at a glance. And most importantly: for such a big game, your time isn't wasted. The massive maps aren't filled with worthless chaff and busy work. Sidequests have easy-to-understand goals and immediate rewards. An open-world game respecting your time is too rare, even now.

Who knows, maybe Xenoblade 3 will let me down. But for now, the 22 hours I've put into the game might only be a chip off of the block, but the story still feels more engaging and meaningful than a lot of what AAA games put into their whole runtime. What are the consequences of my choices in Xenoblade 1 and 2? So far, it looks like the imposition of a fascist lifestyle on innocent youths everywhere, but I look forward to fixing that.