Pointless Venture's Best Games of the Year

 

Let's start this off with a list of titles played (an asterisk denotes a title not played to completion):

God of War

Cyberpunk 2077

Guardians of the Galaxy

Elden Ring*

Halo 5

Trek to Yomi*

Assassin's Creed Odyssey*

The Outer Wilds*

Quake 2 RTX

Quake

Portal RTX

Spider-man Remastered

Metal Hellsinger

Vermintide 2

Warhammer:Darktide

Plague Tail:Requiem

Tunic*

So this was a year of Gamepass. There were a couple more titles that I played such as Scorn and Pentiment that I haven't played enough of to really count, but such is the beauty of Gamepass--you can try before you commit. Guardians of the Galaxy, Halo 5, Metal Hellsinger, Plague Tail:Requiem, and Darktide justified the fifteen bucks a month I spent on Gamepass Ultimate. It's a great deal even at that price.

Best Singleplayer Game of the Year: God of War

God of War is a 2018 release, but it came out in January 2022 for PC. Even after four years, it's a stunning title that's probably the penultimate Dad Game. Its story is compelling, its world is beautiful, and its combat loop is great. My only complaints are a lack of enemy variety in the late game, and a slow mid-game section. Hopefully Ragnarok comes to PC in less than four years.

Best Multiplayer Game: Warhammer:Darktide

Darktide could use more maps and perhaps the promised crafting system, but it's a fun Left 4 Dead style romp through the Warhammer universe, featuring excellent graphics and meaty kinaesthetics that make heretic-slaying a good time.

Best game I didn't finish: Elden Ring

I've spent 74 hours making my way through Elden Ring's dense open world. It's a deeper, better designed take on Dark Souls, but it's just too damn big. I'm in the Mountaintop of Giants, and the difficulty curve has taken a sharp increase upward, and something else always seizes my attention. There's oodles of lore in here, but not much of a story, and I find that I typically lose interest in RPGs that aren't focused on their story as much as their mechanics. Will Elden Ring be my next Divinity Original Sin 2, a great game that I just couldn't finish? We will see.