The best games of 2022 (so far)

After Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Gleaming Pearl left us with a bittersweet taste in our mouths , we were waiting like water in May for the new title in the saga, this time produced by Game Freak. The result has been outstanding.

Pokémon Legends Arceus is a true gameplay revolution for the Pokémon universe . On the one hand we have the setting in the Meiji Era that completely changes the style of past installments, but perhaps the most significant change is its commitment to open settings . We can explore five large areas in search of new creatures. 

We have also been captivated by its Monster Hunter -style game structure , with a central village from which all missions are organized and a more careful representation of the pokémon than ever. Each creature has its customs, attack patterns and peculiarities that make it more or less difficult for us to capture. It is, without a doubt, one of the most fun games in the saga in years. A breath of fresh air that defines the future of the franchise . 

Platforms: Nintendo Switch

Lego video games have always been one of our weaknesses, but this Skywalker Saga is truly outrageous . As we told you in our analysis, it is not just that the content offer is brutal when bringing together the 9 films of the three main trilogies. It is that, in addition, the playable variety that it offers us is really incredible .  

We can pilot all kinds of ships, vehicles, use animal mounts, participate in pod races, explore the galaxy in search of secrets,… And all this with much more freedom than ever to explore each planet in search of secondary missions. In addition, at the playable level, everything has improved substantially, with new features such as coverage in firefights , the aiming system that now allows us to choose the point at which we shoot or the combo system for melee battles. Amazing. 

The new game from Tango Gameworks and Bethesda may not innovate too much in terms of gameplay, but it has managed to win us over with its excellent setting and its ability to immerse us in a universe that we haven’t been able to easily get out of. 

It plays like a first-person shooter , but we use elemental magic to fight our enemies , a range of creepy spirits that roam the streets of a Shibuya neighborhood that has seen all its inhabitants vanish in a mysterious fog. 

In addition to an absolutely brilliant recreation of the well-known Tokyo neighborhood, it has also captivated us with its way of introducing us to typical Japanese folklore, urban legends and ghost stories . A world as paranormal as everyday that we liked a lot. 

Platforms: PS5 and PC

Without a doubt, this is one of the great indie games of the year . The Annapurna Interactive game, which is also becoming one of the best publishers of the moment, immerses us in a first-person action adventure in which we use cards instead of weapons . The grace, beyond this detail, is that we must choose if we want to use them or prefer to sacrifice them to perform special movements to move through the levels. 

And it’s important because we also have to find a way to complete the levels in the shortest possible time since we are participating in a kind of contest against other murderers who, like us, have been able to leave hell to compete for a place in heaven . Yes, the universe is that cool. Oh, and the art direction is great too. 

In our review we defined it as the most accessible and challenging skateboarding game we’ve ever played . Two terms that seem completely antagonistic and that Roll7 has been able to masterfully combine. 

Its Adventure Time aesthetic is the perfect visual claim for you to give it a first chance, but OlliOlli World manages to captivate us due to its devilish difficulty . However, it is not one of those impossible games, since its learning curve is very well designed and it gradually poses new challenges for us. 

Plataformas: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC y Nintendo Switch

Aloy’s new adventures are a tremendous leap for the saga at a playable level . In addition to having new gadgets such as a hook with which to move around the scenarios with more ease, a glider to launch from the heights and climbing and hand-to-hand combat have also been improved . 

However, the improvement that we liked the most is in the level design . All the places that we can explore in which missions take place are luxuriously designed, they offer us very interesting puzzles and platform sections that always offer us different challenges and situations, including secondary missions. 

In the graphic aspect, we are facing the most cutting-edge game of the moment, at least as far as consoles are concerned . The level of detail in the settings, and especially in the character models, is simply impressive. A portent that dazzles on PS5 and that it seems incredible that it can be run on our old PS4.  

Platforms: PS4 and PS5

Kirby is probably one of the most unknown characters in the Nintendo universe considering that he has been starring in games for 30 years. The strong point of the pink ball has always been in its ability to gobble up enemies and acquire their abilities from it, thus expanding our playable possibilities.

The biggest novelty of this new installment is that it takes place in 3D scenarios and we move with some freedom through the levels . The artistic direction is also beautiful, but the best thing is still the different abilities that we can steal from enemies and that make us a warrior or a magician, among many other options. The great novelty here is in the transmorphosis, which allows us to absorb large objects to transform ourselves into a gigantic construction cone, a soda vending machine and even a car. Essential if you like platform and action adventures .

It is another of the great indie surprises of 2022 . Its creator, Andrew Souldice, has been working on it for no less than seven years. For this reason, both the level of detail and the care and quality of the level design can be seen at every step we take in this beautiful universe. 

There is no doubt that Tunic has a lot of Zelda , both in perspective and in the appearance of our characters, even though he is a fox and because of the style of combat or exploration, but he also has touches of Dark Souls and his own mechanics. , configuring a world in which you want to get lost until you have overcome each and every one of its demanding challenges. 

We usually never do this thing of including a game that hasn’t actually been released in the year we’re listing, but the new Destiny 2 expansion deserves the exception . 

We have always said that Bungie’s shooter had the best gameplay on the market, but The Witch Queen manages to correct two of the great errors that the saga had always dragged: the quality of the campaign at a narrative and mechanical level and an offer of content that is interesting from the first moment and offers us a fair and balanced progression. 

Plataformas: PS4, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S y PC

Commonly known as “the cat game” , this adventure also published by Annapurna Interactive effectively puts us in the shoes of a pussycat. The poor kitten is separated from his family and ends up falling into a cyberpunk city that is inhabited exclusively by robots . Some androids that, by the way, compete in terms of cuteness with the cat himself. 

The development is quite simple, exploring the scenarios in search of clues and collectibles that allow us to advance. The twist is that our cat can jump to different surfaces such as furniture, roofs, etc… so that the scenarios have a very vertical level design. Then there is the fact that the plot is interesting and, above all, that the setting is absolutely superb. A simple but beautiful game .

Gran Turismo 7 offers us everything we had asked of the saga in the disappointing last installment . Thus, we have a practically eternal campaign mode, which in its most basic version allows us to spend about 30 hours. But then there is so much more. 

We’ve been in love with new things like dynamic weather and weather , which can turn a placid daytime run into a downpour in the middle of the night. We do not understand, however, how these options have not been included in all the circuits, really. 

The content offer is more than interesting, with more than 400 real cars to collect, 34 locations with 90 different layouts and a really generous offer of modes . Just the opposite of its cheap car lottery system, clearly designed to force us to checkout through micropayments. 

Platforms: PS4 and PS5

The fashion for retro-inspired games seems like an inexhaustible source of success for developers who know how to successfully exploit the nostalgia of the oldest players in the area. This is the case of this TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge , a me against the neighborhood that puts us in the shoes of the mythical Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and several of their best-known colleagues in the series, such as Master Splinter, April O’Neil and Case Jones . 

At the playable level, we are facing a copy of the classic Konami beat ’em up like Turtles in Time , with the addition of new types of attack, combos, a character improvement system, search for collectibles and multiplayer for six players . Among the defects that we see are its few innovations and a level of difficulty perhaps too low in Story mode.

The new Monolith has been unveiled as a must-have JRPG . Of course, we completely trusted the Japanese studio, but perhaps they have been able to refine their formula even more than we expected with this third installment in the saga. The world of Aionios is not only beautiful but also immerses us in a really interesting plot . 

This new universe is immersed in the war between different kingdoms and its inhabitants are born as warriors who never get out of being teenagers . The characters have seemed sensational to us and the combat system is absolutely round , offering us the usual complexity (or perhaps more), but greatly improving accessibility. 

The open world isn’t as empty as in past installments, and the design of the side quests has also improved considerably. One of the great JRPGs of recent times . 

If there is a game that has left us with a crooked ass, in the best sense of the expression, it has undoubtedly been the new From Software. A title that brings together all the good things from the Dark Souls , Bloodborne and Sekiro sagas to offer us a memorable adventure . 

Its open world design is simply a new milestone for the video game industry . Breath of the Wild had managed to place itself among the top of the genre, but the new Hidetaka Miyazaki has managed to surpass it in some aspects. 

Its gigantic world offers us an artistic variety and setting that is unparalleled. And it does so through an exploration that always feels natural and that invites us to explore in the broadest sense of the word , since the setting is full of details that get our attention and encourage us to continue exploring. 

In addition, at the playable level it offers us a really wide repertoire of blows, attacks, weapons, magic and strategies with which to defeat the complicated enemies that come our way. We told you in our analysis: a lot has to change in 2022 so that Elden Ring is not the game of the year . 

Plataformas: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S y PC