Game of the Year 2022 | Team Talk

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And so, the end of the year is almost upon us. With hundreds of games released throughout the year, surely there’s been something for everyone? At least one game to remember 2022 by?

While The Game Awards will bring the “official” winner on 8 December from the shortlist of Elden Ring, A Plague Tale: Requiem, God of War: Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, Stray and Xenoblade Chronicles 3, for our award, any title is allowed.

There are no right or wrong answers of course – whichever game you feel is your Game of the Year holds that title for you, and no one can take it away – but in the interest of fun we thought we’d all make our case for the game which has hit the spot for us in 2022.

We’ll now be taking a bit of a break for the festive season, unless something comes up we decide we’d really like to chat about, so see you in 2023.

In the meantime, give us your suggestions in our Discord.​

by Team PTC

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​@pass_controller

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Overwatch 2 | Chris Brand

Though I've willingly chosen it, I'm going to start by complaining about Overwatch 2. Partly because it could be so much more, partly because I'm annoyed I didn’t buy a single item with even a hint of nutritional value when I went shopping earlier.
 
First of all, we need the ability to customise the dead zone on controllers. Maybe it's from heavy use with large hands but stick drift is a constant issue in my life and I'm sure I'm not alone.
 
It further irks me that it somehow makes me a better player…? My janky controller and lack of dexterity are definitely negatives but the two result in a positive. I could live with this, if it didn't make navigating the menus awkward.
 
Secondly, the transition to a free-to-play model has, as expected, brought about some fairly aggressive monetisation. Skins (and other, ridiculously priced, though purely cosmetic items) which I acquired for free, can be found in the shop. The battle pass though, remains the worst thing to happen to gaming since Geoff Keighley's smug face.

Overall, it's more considered than its predecessor without sacrificing any of the intensity...

Despite it all, I genuinely love the direction they've taken Overwatch. Lesser played heroes have become favourites, after various changes to them as well as the game overall. A metagame still exists, yet it's more fluid and the change to 5v5 means it's easier to keep track of the enemy team and predict a table turning ultimate. Overall, it's more considered than its predecessor without sacrificing any of the intensity.
 
The Halloween event offered a new co-op mode that was a little more engaging than others and it has me excited for what's to come in future events. We may still have to wait until next year for something substantial on the co-op front, but with a new competitive season just around the corner, I'll keep myself busy by trying to best my stupid friends on the stupid leaderboards.​

Metroid Dread | Rob Holt

Yes, yes, yes, keen-ear’d observer, I am bending the laws of the task to my will, as Metroid Dread did indeed release during the back-end of last year. Does the fact that I only recently uncovered a batch of time in which to play it help my cause at all...? 
 
Back when the world was sepia - around 2011, if I recall correctly - I had my first of several attempts at understanding/enjoying the Metroid series, with 2D classic, SUPER. I enjoyed the atmosphere of it, but found the punishing difficulty - yes, I am a noob, and yes, Dark Souls can bugger off, too - a tad too rich for my liver. I tried again with Prime, but the pointer controls solicited such profound rage & frustration within my very noggin that I never made it past the second hour. Why then, Young Idealists, has Dread been the entry to finally take-a-hold?
 
Let me reel off a ream, chums: I’m older, and although significantly stupider with every passing day, I am wiser to the tricks of these MetroidVanias, and have grown to love them for their multiple paths, abilities and puzzles. The way Dread opens up with each new discovery or scrap is utterly dreamy, giving this creaky-hipped curmudgeon a great sense of satisfaction - especially learning and beating those punishing, bastard bosses. The music and sound effects are delicious, the controls metronomically tight, the graphics luscious, and the story is wonderfully, accidentally hilarious/dross. It all bubbles away to create a heady, highly replayable jous. 
 
Are the E.M.M.I enemies a total pain in the Harris? Yes, almost definitely, but the joy in which I took in destroying them only served to prove how much I had enjoyed and invested in this entry in the series. AND I actually finished it.
 
“The longer the note, the more dread."​

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Booster Course Pass | James Parry

Like Rob, I’ve also picked a game which didn’t come out this year, but its constant presence on the sales charts since 2017 is a testament to its quality.

After a few years off, I’ve bounced back to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe thanks to a combination of a regular tournament with some very cool people and the Booster Course Pass, bringing 48 new tracks to the game over the next couple of years, bringing the final total to 96.

The approach Nintendo is taking to breathing life into the game is smart. Since it’s been five years, you might expect Mario Kart 9 news by now, but instead the team is doubling down on the strength of what’s already there but adding replayability and variety.

It might not be all-new, with most of the tracks coming from previous games, but plenty are being included from Mario Kart Tour, which far fewer people are familiar with. On top of that there are small updates being made to tracks here and there, showing player feedback is being taken into account.

There’s another eight tracks coming next week with the Rock and Moon Cups, including a special, Christmas-themed new course, Merry Mountain. What more could you want?

Honourable mentions should go to the very fun Cat Café Manager, the charmingly endearing The Last Hero of Nostalgaia and the curiously different Pentiment.​

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | Liam Andrews

Modern Warfare 2 might have only just arrived, but since its release a little over a month ago I’ve pretty much been glued to it.

The campaign is decent (though nothing the series has done has ever topped the original two Modern Warfares (Modern Warfi?) in my opinion) and isn’t afraid to throw a few curveballs at the player by introducing RTS elements and crafting. While these would probably be considered gentle underarms in other games (especially the latter), their presence in a CoD campaign was notable.

The multiplayer is as addictive as ever, and the new unlock system does a good job of encouraging players to try weapon classes they might have otherwise avoided. The game modes have hardly changed since the original MW released, but that’s a testament to their quality, rather than a lack of evolution.

I’m also going to lump Warzone 2 in with Modern Warfare 2. Even though they’re technically two separate products (the former being free-to-play) the two are intrinsically linked, sharing menu screens and weapon/character progression, at least until the next CoD comes along.

The battle royale part of Warzone 2 hasn’t yet grabbed me the way 2020’s Warzone did, but the DMZ offering, which sees players trying to get high-end gear out before the last extraction helicopter leaves, has been hugely enjoyable and is set to be my go-to multiplayer experience for the foreseeable.​