The Rllmuk Games of the Year 2022 - That's a Wrap

[Alan Stock]

I'm really hoping Powerwash Simulator and Elden Ring combine forces for Elden Powerwash 2. The thought of a massive open world of the incredibly grotty The Lands Between, and your hero armed with his powerwashing tools and trusty steed (van) is a thing of beauty. Wandering into gore-filled dungeons going 'how did they let it get to this state?!', dragons that just need a good hosing down to calm their nerves, final level is of course the classic Fromsoft swamp. Best game of 2026?

[Benny]

The Great Caelid Cleanup.

 

Presented by Sue Perkins and Greg Davies.

[Qazimod]

It sort of lends itself well to crossover culture, provided they can find willing participants and get the physics to work. (They're already doing a Tomb Raider thing aren't they?) "Lend us your maps or assets and we'll turn them into a thing to wash."

 

I could imagine something like washing robot equipment in the Aperture Science labs, or some furniture in one of the Stanley Parable rooms.

[Benny]

14. Citizen Sleeper

 

 

One of the great fundamental needs of the human condition is finding your place in the world, a place to be loved, a sense of purpose and belonging. Whether through hard work, social connections or just happenstance, this drives many of us through life and affects nearly all of our relationships.

 

Citizen Sleeper, if nothing else, is a deeply personal exploration of this, and is concerned with the essential humanity of just surviving life or carving something out of it that exists in us.

 

Dumped on a space station with nothing, a broken shell of a being that is no more than the product of another person’s dreams, you must learn first how to address your situation and meet the basic needs of survival.

 

This shell you inhabit as a player acts as the blank slate. In each game day or “cycle” you will have a maximum set of actions you can take with the time given to you. At first simply staying alive will be the priority, as your rapidly decaying body will be unable to perform as many actions as time wears on, and finding ways to replenish your synthetic body is the most pressing task on your mind.

 

 

You might choose to spend an action exploring the ship to find new job opportunities, maybe some honest work at a shipyard, maybe something a little more clandestine. As you explore the spinning metal hulk, no matter what it is you do you will meet a cast of colourful and varied characters, all extremely well written and realized.

 

You will meet people who will be suspicious of you, maybe even hostile, and you will no doubt be wondering how you can persuade or even trick these people when your very survival will depend on their charity or pity. They feel like living, breathing people with their own inner lives and relationships, both to you and the station around them.

 

As each day progresses and you struggle even to find food, it will be apparent just how much control other entities have over you and how escape from this ever present danger from all directions seems almost insurmountable. The timer placed on various objectives means you always feel like you are living on a knife edge, where things could go wrong in a heartbeat.

 

And yet through this struggle there will be pockets of humanity and the sense of community that can shine through. Citizen Sleeper is ultimately about making connections, and how you choose to spend your time and who you spend it with throughout your journey can create a significant amount of self-reflection for how you do this in your own life - the surrogate “avatar” body in the game seeming at times like a literal representation of your real self playing the game.

 

 

The world of Citizen Sleeper manages to be one of the most intricate and expertly fleshed out in a game through a presentation that is so simple as to initially appear dry… But the simplicity of the slowly spinning station, the straightforward interface and character portraits, paired with some absolutely pitch perfect ambient music, is exactly enough to let your imagination take flight.

 

From descriptions of cold, cramped sleeping pods, to vast colony ships swarming with construction workers, the writing of Citizen Sleeper manages to weave a tapestry of decaying, corporation ravaged human civilization that feels at times tangibly and vividly grotesque or beautiful.

 

Pull up a chair at a noodle bar, and chat with a local about your hopes, dreams and fears, as they solemnly toss a wok full of unusual fungus. It evokes the noise and bustle and neon drenched streets of that noodle bar scene in Blade Runner, but through just a small amount of bite-sized paragraphs and conversation options, and so much more intensely intimate and personal.

 

In those moments, as you choose how to live your life and make friends or enemies on The Eye, you might just come away knowing a little bit more about yourself.

 

And that, in any art, is a very rare and precious gift.

[BabelRich]

Excellent write up. 

[thesnwmn]

Wish I'd have played it last year so I could have voted for it and maybe helped boost it's position. A real triumph of story telling.

 

Having tried to start the highly rated Roadwarden straight after I'm hit by how much more approachable Citizen Sleeper is comparatively.

[Benny]

13. Horizon Forbidden West

 

 

 

You kind of have to feel for Guerrilla Games. Through two unlucky twists of fate, both times their open world exploration adventures were released, they were out literally mere days before another open world game came along that completely stole their thunder.

 

And unfortunately not only that, but it made for fresh in the mind comparisons to their otherwise perfectly cromulent game, that now looked somewhat old hat. At least, if not in visuals, then almost certainly in terms of game design.

 

Having played through the first game a bit again recently, it’s quite achingly apparent how much things really have moved on from then, with the revolution in design that Breath of the Wild precipitated now finally starting to filter through into the mainstream.

 

Zero Dawn’s objective based progression, and route based map design that leads you to specific quests and activity areas, always felt like it didn’t have much to reward pure exploration. Go off the beaten path for a bit if you like, but ultimately all roads lead to defined goals.

 

 

 

 

What it did have though, was an incredible atmosphere. As one of the prettiest games of its generation, and with a unique sci-fi story that was well written and engaging, it was still a world that it was great to just exist in.

 

So it now falls to the sequel, in the shadow of an absolute titan of a game that was released this year, to try to set itself apart again, and show how much it has evolved from its predecessor. Because graphics are good and all, but it is not enough. 

 

Though by Jove it does look like a generation defining game again…I mean have you seen how good this looks? People have facial fuzz and wonky teeth. It’s mind blowing seeing this kind of detail now in video games. (Odontophobia content warning):

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

But, alas, I’m not the person who can explore that, as I have not played it this year, and nor have any of the current contributors, but here are a few thoughts from the voting thread:

  

On 02/01/2023 at 15:49, Treble said:

 

There are a lot of criticisms you can level at Horizon Forbidden West, but 'unambitious' isn't one of them. The scope makes the game a 'choose your own adventure' that is as off-putting to many as it's enticing to some, not helped by the sheer amount of choice presented to the player with no way of understanding what will be vital come the end-game.

The thing is, though, you can mainline the quests and do just fine; you can push the fat to the side of the plate and enjoy the tasty treat that is the main game. Messy as that is, it's worth doing. The plot is compelling but, even more importantly, the characters and their lives form a rich story layer that marries-up beautifully with the action. Missions and battles have direct consequences to the lives of the people you have kinship with, taking it a world away from the standard 'I'm killin manz becuz... reasons' you get in most action games. A rough gem, for sure, but a gem nonetheless.

 

  

On 11/12/2022 at 09:03, Danster said:

 

Horizon Forbidden West - and why it doesn't quite make it to my GOTY. There aren't many games that could pip HFW to be my best game of the year. I really enjoyed my hours in that game, felt connected to the world, the characters and the story. I liked how Aloy's character had developed from the first game. Her unstated autistic tendencies, her difficulty with other characters and dealing with their problems (especially that one particular person...) and her journey into another part of the post-apocalyptic world of machines. The graphics and sound design were spectacular and the control and combat intuitive. And while a lot of people moaned about Aloy just shutting the fuck up for a bit I wasn't too distracted by her constant mutterings. It's just one of those things, like when I see the way forward her saying "maybe I could try climbing that" is like yeah I KNOW!  But when I've been scrabbling around for five minutes and getting frustrated with not knowing where I can go and her saying "maybe I could try climbing that" and I'm like YES! Thank you. So it's a bit of swings and roundabouts. So why isn't it my GOTY? 

 

Because Elden Ring...

 

  

On 09/12/2022 at 16:51, Down by Law said:

graphically incredible, a real treat. Falls in to too many open world traps to achieve classic status (bloat) but sticking on the story path kept me engaged until the end.

 

 

And if anyone wishes to add or offer expanded thoughts before the next entries, now is the time.

 

 

[Danster]

Being able to pose Aloy in photo mode is inspired. Incredibly beautiful game.

 

[footle]

It is pretty, and I did eventually go back to it and complete most of the story (I think there was a difficulty spike and I couldn't face it), but Oh It Is the Anti-Elden Ring.

Huge, pretty (and hell it's very pretty), but obvious, a collect-em-all, and mechanically not that good (and it felt the combat was distinctly more cluttered than the original, or it might just be that I didn't leap from it to Elden Ring?). It also loses points because the original had an interesting storyline. This inevitably couldn't reach those heights.

 

But I'm still looking forward to Call of the Mountain in a month's time, because Guerrilla can do pretty landscapes and spectacle. And it's not really like I expected any more from it.

[Isaac]

It massively struggled with the fact that they had blown all the most interesting plot reveals in the first game, and none of the characters are interesting enough to drive a strong narrative.

[Benny]

Normal service should be resumed shortly.

[Wiper]

12. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

 

 

I was very excited for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, as one of those unusual individuals who thought the original Xenoblade Chronicles was merely fine; thought Xenoblade X (I refuse to write Chronicles any more) was nearly great, and thought Xenoblade 2 was a work of brilliance, albeit one marred by awful gacha elements, creepy sexualisation, and the fucking nopon. In short, given the direction of travel, things were looking very promising for the next entry in the series.

 

Happy me, then, that Xenoblade 3 offers marked improvements over the previous game: the removal of the gacha elements prime among them, alongside the fact that character designer Masatsugu “creepy” Saito was clearly asked to tone things down a notch. The improvements are significant, and it offers yet another visually stimulating world to discover, filled with weird and wonderful creatures to beat over the head and/or run away from. The oversized party is (nopon excepted) a pleasure to get to know, if exceedingly tropey, and the story a pleasingly weighty affair. It’s an enjoyable experience to be sure, it’s just…

 

Well, I didn’t finish it. By my usual standards that isn’t all that unusual, but given the fact I reduced Xenoblade 2 to its very bones, I was a little surprised that Xenoblade 3 didn’t compel me to its close. And ultimately, I think the primary issue can be demonstrated by those damned nopon.

 

Sod off

 

You see, it’s not that they’re egregiously awful (though they are egregiously awful); that was an issue in 2 as well. It’s that they’re egregiously frivolous, in a game which is trying very hard to be sincere. They, along with certain members of your party, are Very Anime, much as the cast of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 were Very Anime. But Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was also a Very Anime game with a Very Anime setup; you were the Plucky Hero with a Positive World View who used the Power of Perseverence to overcome the Forces of Darkness. It was Very Anime, but it was also entirely coherent.

 

Xenoblade 3, on the other hand, establishes itself as a Serious Sci-Fi War Story starring Battle-scarred Veterans; it encourages you to engage with it on those terms, emphasising the tragedy and brutality of war and choosing as its primary protagonists two characters whose calling is to send on the spirits of the dead. It’s heavy stuff. Which is immediately, consistently undermined by its bubbly side-characters and their daft hijinks. It feels like the creators wanted to tell a serious tale, but didn’t have enough confidence in their writing to commit to it; the end result like watching a eulogy interspersed with the occasional interjection of a Buster Keaton sketch; never mind ludonarrative dissonance, this is your common or garden narrative dissonance, and for me it badly spoils the experience.

 

No, really, go away

 

If you can look past the story/character clash, there’s a moving drama to enjoy here, along with a satisfying JRPG, a wonderfully dynamic combat system, and a gorgeous world to explore. It’s a perfect demonstration of just how much you can get out of a system like the Switch, and it’s justifiably found an eager fanbase. I just wish it worked for me.

 

[Tim Rogers excited voice]Unlike these folks![/Tim Rogers excited voice]

 

 

Quote

SuperCapes: [Xenoblade Chronicles 3] really took me by surprise. Having not really enjoyed previous titles in the franchise it was a shock to get sucked in by it so much. The world felt very much alive and interesting, and the characters and overall narrative fantastic. Combat was also something I thoroughly enjoyed, and the technology used for their cutscenes is unbelievable (mixed with sensational cinematography). A true 10/10 for me. 

 

(alas that’s it for outright positive write-ups of the game, as the other fans of the game for some reason don’t seem as big a fan of the sound of their own typing as I am. That, or I’ve missed them when browsing the voting thread — apologies if so, I’ve had to finish this write-up on a tablet due to technical issues)

[Kevvy Metal]

Those wee Togepi-like sidekick guys are great! WRONG. 

[Stanley]

Great write up @Wiperit was my GOTY that one 

[Treble]

"Nopon your Nelly" was right there. 

[Alan Stock]

Like Wiper I couldn't put this on my list because despite enjoying it, I too have flatlined over 60 hours into the game. I've overdone it with big open world games and RPGs the last few years and Xeno 3 is just another example where fatigue eventually sank in and I don't feel an urge to go back and finish it (for context I am in the archipeligo area now). I probably should have beelined the main storyline instead of doing a lot of side content so in part it's my own fault. Part of the problem is that battles on the hard mode take ages - once you get access to chain attacks and the like, every fight can take minutes and boss fights even longer. Add to that the huge world and a lull in the story and it's just hard to go back to. It is a great game but I might recommend that people stick more to the main story than I did if you want to see it through.

[Kevvy Metal]

10 hours ago, Alan Stock said:

Like Wiper I couldn't put this on my list because despite enjoying it, I too have flatlined over 60 hours into the game. I've overdone it with big open world games and RPGs the last few years and Xeno 3 is just another example where fatigue eventually sank in and I don't feel an urge to go back and finish it (for context I am in the archipeligo area now). I probably should have beelined the main storyline instead of doing a lot of side content so in part it's my own fault. Part of the problem is that battles on the hard mode take ages - once you get access to chain attacks and the like, every fight can take minutes and boss fights even longer. Add to that the huge world and a lull in the story and it's just hard to go back to. It is a great game but I might recommend that people stick more to the main story than I did if you want to see it through.

Have you tried? - 

 

Lowering the difficulty. 

Sticking to the main quest. 
 

This could likely bring you a good time and a resolution to the game. 

[Stanley]

Whereas I blitzed it in a couple of weeks and enjoyed every moment. It is long and sprawling with side quests galore, but it’s all ace imo, fantastic game. I liked the nopons too 

[Benny]

 

Before we get into the top 11, time to take a short break. Why stop before the top 11 and not the top 10? Because this is a Benny List, and I have no truck with conventional list etiquette.

 

So while we wait for the next entry, let's take a moment to look at the top 3…

 

Stupid Sexy Systems and Services of 2022

 

 

 

 

 

3. PC

 

 

Ah, the humble PC. Long thought to be the domain of nerds and stunted anime lovers with body pillows across the globe. Now they can ALSO be a vessel for Game Pass. Why buy an Xbox when you can just play an endless procession of glorious, glorious indie games on the clapped out old Dell downstairs in your parent’s basement.

 

But, then again, why would you want to do that when there are Retro First Person Shooters to play? Sure, you might be balding, rocking an alt-right goatee and have a penchant for fedoras, but no-one can take your Boomer Shooters away from you. And they have been represented quite thoroughly in the last few years, with truly brilliant efforts like Ultrakill from New Blood, the glorious Prodeus, Turbo Overkill and a certain other title this year that I may bring up later…

 

But, “wait!”, you say, “I’m not a 50 year old virgin - I don’t even know what a Tensor core is!”

 

Well then you’re in luck, because these days nearly all of the cool games that come out on the younger, fitter and more attractive fun machines are nearly all available on IBM compatible computers too! And not only that, but they cost next to nothing.

 

Or are even free! You too can watch the Epic store like a hawk hoping to pick up a game for no more than the price of drawing a few more precious breaths. Maybe scour CD Keys to get a new indie game for a fiver that you will tell yourself must surely mean the developers are still getting paid a fair price and it’s all fine.

 

Or you can pay “full price” on Steam and marvel that a new console game like Forspoken or The Callisto Protocol is available. And will surely look great if you’ve made sure to spend £2000 on a graphics card, essential to make them look so good with all that fancy Ray Tracing that you’ll get overstimulated like someone is shining lights into your eyes every two seconds. Or at least pretend that is the case with Forspoken.

 

You might not even notice that horrible stuttering in every game you play, that your mate Dave says never happens when he’s playing it on his little Sony peasant box. Never trust Dave, he always lies. Just buy a new PC, you’ll be fine.

 

 

 

 

2. Game Pass

 

 

Game Pass, Game Pass, Game Pass. It’s the phrase on everybody’s lips these days. Usually in the form of: “Hmm, that game looks fun, but I’ll wait until it’s free on Game Pass”. Oh how spoiled we all are. You would think tens of thousands of layoffs might give pause to the notion that all is right with the Microsoft business models, but no. The Spice. Must. Flow.

 

From a sheer brute force perspective, the X branded content delivery system has been host to a significant number of the year's best games. If you like indie titles that is. 

 

No, there will be no AAA story driven single-player games where you walk forward for a bit and get chatted up by a talking head and given the solution to an easy puzzle like you’re 5 years old before you’ve even looked at it here. Game Pass is the place you come if you are snapping at the fringes of the hobby, eager for some more dirty, dainty little morsels to add to your ever growing pile of barely played let alone finished games.

 

And yet, “what is this?!” You will say, “Where are the big First Party games to sate my appetites? Why hath daddy Phil forsaken me?”

 

You will look at all of the Yakuza games laid out in front of you, literally hundreds of hours of top quality entertainment contained within, and you will quietly install Powerwash Simulator instead and spend a whole evening cleaning dirt.

 

Tomorrow, the incredible and vibrant Hi-Fi Rush will be released on the service, a bundle of sheer joy mere clicks away. But you will not notice. You want your free Halo. No, not that one. A good one. Get back in the office and code it, slackers.

 

 

1. Steam Deck

 

 

 

Finally, the prophecy long foretold hath come to pass. Sir Gaben, lord of the Steam, Hat Master, Bane of the Three did come upon the earth, and his Deck sprang forth into their waiting hands.

 

A heretical idea maybe: a PC, but it’s also a Nintendo Switch?! The humble virgin soldiers of the great Ray Tracing wars would suddenly have to contend with a revolutionary concept: do graphics really matter all that much?

 

Just like last year, and every year before that, and every year before it was released, the Nintendo Switch wins the hardware awards. Except this time, it’s a Switch with Steam on it. It turns out that what everyone really wanted was a Switch Pro - and considering Nintendo are unlikely to update their hardware before the heat death of the universe, people naturally flocked to the Steam Deck with grasping, grubby little hands.

 

I don’t have a Steam Deck. I like my PC gaming to be at a desk, where I can really work on my arthritis, back problems and rapidly deteriorating vision in the way that God intended. But I’ve heard the Steam deck doesn't have a nice OLED version like the Switch. Because of course an OLED version would be nice.

 

Because you would absolutely tell someone you had an OLED screened Steam Deck if you had one. It would be impossible to not talk about it. You might think people would tell you what games play best on the Steam Deck, but no, there’s handy information for exactly that on every game’s Steam page. No, they will only ever discuss the OLED.

 

Probably just as well it doesn't have one. The OLED would be vibrant, practically blinding. You would not believe how good it was until you’d seen it. The OLED could have a screen with your emails on it telling you that you’ve been found guilty of Argentine Peso related tax fraud, and still you would be smiling through your tears.

 

Wait, where was I? Anyway, I’m going back to my basement.

 

[Stanley]

To be fair there should be a ‘best gaming screen’ category.

[footle]

3 hours ago, Stanley said:

To be fair there should be a ‘best gaming screen’ category.

LG OLED (this years model) wins again for being relatively affordable, having four proper HDMI 2.1 sockets, and sufficiently popular that more than one person has bought one.

We’ll just ignore audio lag.

[Wiper]

11. Return to Monkey Island

 

 

I was going to do a write-up about this, telling you all how wonderful it is, how warm it makes me feel, all of that good stuff. Really, I was! And then, instead, I found myself inexorably drawn to do something much dumber instead, so if you would like to know just how good this game is, please click here and find out through an innovative combination of Interactivity and Fiction that I like to call Reading With Clicking On Options.

 

Spoiler for the link averse:

 

Spoiler

It good.

 

No, really, if you want to find out more, click on the link. It's just reading, but with the occasional extra mouse-click, I promise.

 

One of you had nice things to say about the game too, albeit with less of an interactive element for some reason. Benny (never heard of him) says:

Quote

When I reflect back on the games I really enjoyed this year, nothing can beat Return to Monkey Island for the way it truly speaks to a player of a certain age and with such a knowing nod to the pitfalls of nostalgia. There's something loving and warm about RtMI that embraces you and never lets go until the credits roll. Magic.

 

[Qazimod]

Incredible.  

[Darwock]

Wiper, you’re a lunatic.

 

(I will never believe you when you say you don’t want to do the write-ups ever again)

[Stanley]

Amazing 

[Majora]

I found RTMI a little disappointing to be honest. Loved the art, loved the sound design, thoroughly enjoyed acts 1 and 4, but all the other acts felt a bit underbaked. I thought the final act and ending were especially half-hearted and reeked a bit of running out of time/money.

 

It could have been much worse but at the end I basically just shrugged my shoulders and forgot about it almost immediately.

[Wiper]

31 minutes ago, Darwock said:

Benny, you’re a lunatic.

 

(I will never believe you when you say you don’t want to do the write-ups ever again)

 

As much as I'd like Benny to take the fall for this one, I'm afraid I'm the responsible party this time around!

 

Incidentally, in case anybody's interested, this is what this incredibly tiny, simple piece of dialogue looks like as a flow chart:

 

 

One can only imagine the seventh-circle-of-hell levels of spaghetti nightmare that a game like RTMI's dialogue trees must develop into.

[Darwock]

4 minutes ago, Wiper said:

 

As much as I'd like Benny to take the fall for this one, I'm afraid I'm the responsible party this time around!

 

 

Apologies, edited. I was reading before my morning coffee had taken effect. I don’t know what your excuse is then, but… well done.

[Benny]

My lunacy is a different flavour.

[footle]

You are mad, Wiper. Lovely stuff.