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It was always going to be Elden Ring. I didn't play God Of War or Horizon. There's a good chance they might have made my top 5.

Okay I expect this will be the same answer for many people but what the hell, might as well do this anyway and see if there are any surprises. Sorry to disappoint but my GOTY and my runner up are probably quite predictable. It really couldn't have been anything else. The scale, the polish, the sheer sense of adventure I got out of this game was unlike any other open world game I've played. It is huge but not overwhelming with lots of secrets to discover and yet it doesn't bog you down with Ubisoft-style busywork all over the map. This is the kind of game I was hoping Breath of the Wild would be but was ultimately disappointed by, which I know is a minority opinion. I ended up playing this game six times, and if I can convince my friend to get the PC version I'll be going right back in for a seventh playthrough with the co-op mod. This is one I can see myself coming back to every so often even after all the DLC is out and From has moved on to other things. It's just one of the best games I've ever played and I don't think anything will ever bump it off my top 10 list. Runner-Up Damn, we were eating good this year. In any other year, this would have easily been my GOTY over pretty much anything else. It's just unfortunate for Ragnarok that it came out in the same year as Elden Ring. The production value on this is insane, the combat is even more fun than before, and the story brings things to a satisfying conclusion for the Norse saga. There are some minor pacing issues here and there, but not nearly enough to drag this down from being a 10 out of 10 for me. Next year has a pretty tough act to follow because 2022 was one of the most kickass years for gaming in recent memory.

I'm onto the final boss/s in Sekiro, but I know it's going to require me to spend a bit of time learning the fight, so I'm taking a week or two off from it with the aim of playing a few other games for a bit. The Devil In Me: The final (?) episode of this current batch of Dark Pictures games. I'm about 2/3 of the way through and whilst the actual idea behind this game is kinda awesome, it takes a good hour or two before you get to that part of the game. They've also changed up some of the QTE's from previous games, although I'll be honest I'm not in love with a few of them, that's a preference thing however. I hope to have it finished in the next day or two, and I think it'll likely end up placing 3/4 in my ranking of these games (Behind Little Hope and House of Ashes). Kirby and the Forgotten Kingdom: I'm working through this with my daughter who absolutely loves it. For what it's worth I think it's kinda okay too.

My final list for 2022: 1-Halo Infinite 2-Dark Souls 2 Scholar of the First Sin 3-Duel Princess 4-Remnant From the Ashes 5-Elden Ring 6-God Eater 2 7-She Will Punish Them 8-Moero Chronicle Hyper 9-The Future You've Been Dreaming Of 10-Prison Princess 11-Aperture Desk Job 12-XCOM Enemy Within 13-Dead Space 14-Dead Space 2 15-Dead Space 3 Awakened Last year it was 24, so down 9, but also last year, 12 of those 24 were Resident Evil games, this year there was a bit more variety in there.

I've yet to play Elden Ring (probably won't) and not yet got around to Ragnarok. Given literally game I've googled that I thought came out this year came out in Oct/Nov 2021...it by default means my game of the year is: I did rather like GotG and Deathloop.

Yeah, same same. Elden Ring and Ragnarok. Not sure which I prefer, but both are my top games of the year that I recall.

GOTY: Elden Ring Couldn't have been anything else lol. I already love the Souls games and this one took many of the concepts and gameplay systems from those games and improved on them, it is no exaggeration to say that for me, it completely changed open world games, to the point where I struggle to play many of them due to how bloated their design feels. Hell, it even changed how I feel about some Souls games, trying to go back to the Demon's Souls remake after Elden Ring was quite the experience, so much so that I just gave up on getting the platinum on DS. Looking forward to whatever DLC is released, and I may also get it on PC as well, play it several more times there. Runner-Up: Pokémon Scarlet Is it a technical mess? Yes. Is it missing some features and QoL from previous entries? Yes. Could/should it be better given how much money the franchise makes? Absolutely. Am I having a ton of fun in spite of all the issues? HELL YEAH. Yes, it's a bit of a mess, but it's still quite fun, as someone that buys Pokémon games every once in a while (think I only own Y, Sword and Scarlet lol), there's something about these games that makes you forget some (but definitively not all) of their issues. Feels weird to have it as my runner-up since I haven't finished it yet, but I've been enjoying my time playing enough to put it here. Honorable Mention: Duel Princess One of Qureate's best games, outside of their VNs, fun gameplay, cool art, some MOST EXCELLENT character designs and that "punishment" minigame is a masterpiece.

GOTY: Horizon: Forbidden West I loved Zero Dawn, and this is basically just a refinement of that. The world is just so cool, exploring the lore is so cool, I love the story, everything about it is great to me. I can't wait for the DLC. Very few things could have topped this for me, and since there's no Zelda this year it clinches it. Runner-Up: Elden Ring The fact that this is even on my list at all is really quite an accomplishment. I have previously tried and bounced off of Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, so I was convinced From games just aren't for me. The only reason I even tried it is because everyone was hyping it up so much, and boy am I glad I did. I think the factor that finally made it click for me is that the ability to go wherever you want means you don't have to just keep beating your head against a wall if you encounter a part that's too hard, you can just go somewhere else for a while and come back when you're stronger. I'm sure there's more to it than that, but that was the biggest thing, and boy am I glad they did it. This game is great. Honorable Mention: Sifu This is another game that kind of came out of nowhere for me. Normally I'd say I'm not a fan of "hard" games, but Elden Ring and this one would seem to question that. The combat in this just feels so good, and I loved learning the levels and strategizing how to go about it to keep your age down going into the next level. I can't wait to see what they do next.