The Best Reviewed Games of 2022
2022 had the potential to be the biggest year for new video games since 2017 — a standout year that brought us Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Horizon Zero Dawn, Persona 5, Resident Evil 7, Nier: Automata, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and so much more. Unfortunately, a number of big delays (Breath of the Wild 2 and Starfield among them) has taken some of the wind out of this year’s sails. Yet even with those setbacks, there have still been 54 games released in 2022 that IGN awarded a review score of 8 or higher.
To keep track of the year’s best new releases we’ve compiled this running list of every new, standalone game (no DLC) that received an 8 (“Great”), 9 (“Amazing”), or 10 (“Masterpiece”) from IGN. Click through the gallery below or continue scrolling for our full list of 2022’s best games, ordered from lowest score to highest.
This list will be updated throughout the year as new games are given qualifying review scores.
These games leave us with something outstanding to remember them by, usually novel gameplay ideas for single-player or multiplayer, clever characters and writing, noteworthy graphics and sound, or some combination thereof. If we have major complaints, there are more than enough excellent qualities to cancel them out.
From our review: Excellent, punchy side-scrolling combat against diverse and interesting enemies is almost enough by itself to make Anno: Mutationem an easy recommendation. When you add in the neon urban sprawl of Skopp City, bursting with flavor and character around every corner, it gets even easier. An unwieldy plot and less than amazing script show that if the project was missing one thing, it was probably an editor. But none of that stopped me from thoroughly enjoying all the things it did well. – Leana Hafer
From our review: Apex Mobile is a surprisingly fun battle royale experience that brings everything Apex Legends does on PC/console to mobile devices in a way that is in some ways better than the original. While a few things are still being worked on, like reliable controller support, I found myself wanting to spend more time on, especially immediately after finishing a match. Being able to play Apex anywhere on a platform that can handle its fast-paced movement and gunplay well is incredible, and extra touches like the directional audio visualizer and an exclusive Legend that introduces new tactical possibilities give me a few reasons to play here instead of my usual stomping grounds. Some of its tweaks mean teamwork isn’t as encouraged as it is on other platforms, but sometimes there’s nothing wrong with a little lone-wolfing. – Stella Chung
From our review: The Capcom Fighting Collection has everything it needs to succeed: a collection of great games alongside some rarities, an impressive museum filled with interesting art and music, and a snappy UI linking everything together. Online play has been flawless ahead of launch thanks to easy matchmaking and modern rollback netcode. It’s a bummer that there’s no cross-platform play and Street Fighter III is conspicuously absent, but other than that Capcom truly has a collection worth collecting on its hands. – Ronny Barrier
From our review: Cult of the Lamb is as adorable as it is unsettling, an eclectic mix of genres and themes that come together extremely well. Its combat is immensely satisfying even if its short runs and the relative lack of variety between them doesn’t give it the lasting appeal of other action roguelikes, and building my very own cult base and tending to a flock of followers was just as fun as any swing of the axe. I may not revisit it now that the credits have rolled, but Cult of the Lamb is something altogether different that I had an absolute blast playing. – Tom Marks
From our review: Disney Dreamlight Valley is an awesome life simulator that flexes its iconic characters to riveting, satisfying effect. Adding these instantly recognizable villagers to your magical kingdom and forging friendships with them through quests is a blast, even when many of those amount to mundane village errands. Even with a ton of bugs and a missing final act in this early access state, spending 40 hours running around with the gloriously beefy Maui from Moana and cooking meals with Remy from Ratatouille was a consistently delicious treat.– Travis Northup
From our review: DNF Duel’s simplified inputs make it a great game for beginners to pick up, press a few buttons, and get right into the action. However, that simplicity doesn’t mean it isn’t also a great game to play online after you really understand the complex mechanics underneath those inputs and how any two characters interact with one another. Getting from that first point to the second may dissolve into a series of frustrating knowledge checks until you learn the hard way what you can and can’t do, but on the other side of the grind is a fun fighting game with enough hidden depth to hopefully sustain a player base that thrives on continued discovery. – Ronny Barrier
From our review: Overall, I’m very impressed so far with Dune: Spice Wars. There are some balancing issues with the victory conditions and espionage mechanics, as well as the kind of minor bugs you’d expect from early access, but it’s a layered, clever, generally well-balanced RTS with strong faction diversity, and it feels more or less finished even in its current early access state. The map looks great, and forces you to make interesting decisions about its deadly terrain and even deadlier inhabitants. Most remarkably, it manages to lay a lot of complex systems on the table while rarely feeling overstuffed or overwhelming. If this is just the launching pad for our adventures on Arrakis, I look forward to seeing where this one eventually lands, and I have no hesitation about recommending that strategy fans jump in now. – Leana Hafer
From our review: With its typically deep and rich career mode and its usual class-leading spectrum of assists and difficulty options, F1 22 maintains this series’ run as the most fully-featured and accessible reproduction of a single modern motorsport on the market – and long-awaited tweaks to some of its most reused elements haven’t gone unnoticed, either. It’s not quite as bold as F1 2021, though, and the footwear-and-furniture-focussed F1 Life mode really isn’t a patch to cover the lack of last year’s ambitious story mode. – Luke Reilly
From our review: Even after my worst race results, where everything fell apart at the seams despite having what I felt was a concrete strategy and top-line drivers, I never walked away from a session in F1 Manager 2022 without a dumb smile on my face. Sure, sometimes the racing can look a little robotic and there are some key facets of modern F1 racing that are missing entirely, but this never detracts from the thrill of watching my drivers cross the line for some hard-earned points or their first-ever podium. The excitement and thrill of Formula 1 is here in spades. – James Swinbanks
From our review: You generally know what you’re getting into when you boot up any Omega Force games, but Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes includes pleasant surprises. Unlike the original Fire Emblem Warriors, Three Hopes no longer feels like a musou game with references to another series layered on, but a true hybrid of Fire Emblem’s social gameplay and Warriors’ battles, and it works despite overstaying its welcome and missing the mark when it comes to the more intimate interactions. Any progress in the Warriors series is welcome, and Three Hopes is full of well-considered changes that should bode well for the future. – Alex Santa Maria
From our review: Between the tough but engaging tactical battles, a robust campaign system, uncommonly strong plot and characters, and the chance to live through so much of one of the most fascinating periods in all of history, Expeditions: Rome is one of the better tactical RPGs of the last several years. It can feel weighed down at times by all the systems it tries to cram in, and the mass combat remains a vexing enigma that no tooltip or tutorial can properly explain. But with interesting random events, meaningful strategic choices, and plenty of brain-bending smaller-scale scenarios to keep things fresh, that can be mostly forgiven. These developers deserve a Roman triumph. – Leana Hafer
From our review: I really enjoyed just about every run of Rogue Mage. The familiarity I developed with enemy decks later on was broken up by discovering combos and mixing up my playstyle with each of the decks, which is great fun, even if I also wished I could carry over some more direct buffs from run to run after a while. And while the lighter story may not hit the same epic highs as Thronebreaker, its character-driven snippets are delivered with strong writing and voice acting. As a fan of the Witcher universe and card battlers with wacky mechanics that upend the usual rules, I left feeling pretty satisfied. – Leana Hafer
From our review: Immortality is a thoroughly mesmerizing mystery and one of the most surprising video game stories I’ve played through this year. Its image-based search tool might make its actual investigating feel noticeably dumbed down compared to that of Her Story and Telling Lies, but the credibility of its faked film productions, the powerful performances of its cast, and its regularly confronting, David Lynchian discoveries kept me captivated for its nine-hour duration. Immortality might not live forever in my mind, but it’s likely to linger there for quite a while yet. – Tristan Ogilvie
From our review: King of Fighters XV is not the most ambitious or revolutionary fighting game to come out in recent years, but what few changes have been made to distinguish it from its predecessor are done well. It’s a significant step up over KOF 14 in terms of its detailed character models (if not animations), there are a handful of smart adjustments to its fighting mechanics that give you more options than ever before, and its large roster of 39 characters features a wide variety of different character archetypes to choose from. It’s disappointing that SNK still hasn’t figured out how to provide value for those who are looking for single-player content in their fighting games, or a way to learn to play better using the actual tools provided by training modes, but those shortcomings are easy to overlook in the face of its fantastic netcode and simple, but effective online modes. – Mitchell Saltzman
From our review: Kirby and the Forgotten Land successfully warps the series’ already fun mix of ability-based combat, platforming, and secret hunting into the third dimension. The post-apocalyptic setting may not be as thematically interesting as Planet Popstar, but it is still lovely and vibrant, with cleverly designed levels that make consistently smart use of Kirby’s abilities. Despite the change in perspective, Forgotten Land maintains most of what I love about classic Kirby games – and if the future means more 3D adventures for our hungry pink hero, I’d be more than happy to swallow them up. – Tom Marks
From our review: LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga provides some rollicking reimaginings of Star Wars’ most iconic moments and seats them inside a series of interplanetary playgrounds that are dense with discovery and entertaining diversions. Certain elements like its upgrade and cover systems feel somewhat superfluous, and co-op has some notable drawbacks, but there were otherwise enough laugh out loud gags and surprising shifts in gameplay to keep me thoroughly engaged from the opening crawl of Episode I all the way through to the end of Episode IX – which is more than I can say for the actual movies. – Tristan Ogilvie
From our review: Loopmancer is a great roguelite. Repeating the same day over and over again is anything but routine thanks to great combat, compelling progression, and consistently refreshed levels stocked with a huge variety of weapons and enemies. Even after dozens of loops I feel compelled to jump back in and see what random assortment of gear I end up with, and how quickly I can make it through to the end. This is a loop well worth getting caught in. – Justin Koreis
From our review: Lost Ark takes a genuinely impressive stab at the isometric action RPG genre, and its integration into a perpetually online world is complementary rather than invasive. It’s expansive and deep, capable of scratching the itch for a new Diablo-like action RPG that is filled with other players to meet and team up with. The excellent and flexible combat system channels the best of its ARPG forebears, but it can start to wear out after you’ve slaughtered your way through enough lower-tier enemies. Lost Ark’s most prominent fault, though, is that its generic story can be cheesy due to awkward writing and voice work. However, there are a lot of interesting locations to discover as you sail your ship around the open seas, and at the end of the day, this is a world that’s certainly worth the time to explore, even if you never pay a cent for its optional premium boosts. – Gabriel Moss
From our review: Mario Strikers: Battle League is part skillful soccer game, part ruthless brawler, and almost always a complete blast to play. If you’ve played any games in the series before, there won’t be many surprises in store for you and the small roster of characters and game modes is definitely disappointing, but what’s there is incredibly fun and replayable. I’m impressed by the online mode in the time I’ve had with it so far too, as it sets the stage for a ranked playlist that I look forward to grinding my way to the top of. – Travis Northup
From our review: Moss: Book 2 is an exemplary sequel that provides more of what I loved about its predecessor. Building upon the original with new weapons, clever puzzles, and a vibrant storybook setting, the premise remains entertaining four years later even if none of those additions truly try to innovate on it. Its exclusive availability on the PSVR’s now noticeably outdated tech holds it back more than anything else, so I’m hoping it’ll make the jump to PC or Meta Quest in the coming months like the first Moss eventually did. But even with a Dualshock 4 in-hand, I still had a wonderful time revisiting this world and I can’t wait to see what Polyarc does next. – Henry Stockdale
From our review: MultiVersus is a raucous and fun competitive platform fighter that rewards players for learning the strengths and weaknesses of its eclectic cast of characters and working as part of a team. Its focus on online 2v2 means it lacks the pick-up-and-play nature of a game like Smash Bros., but it also does a nice job of setting it apart from other games in the genre. MultiVersus may need time to grow its currently limited selection of stages and characters to meet its bright potential, but its foundations are already rock solid. – John Carson
From our review: Neon White is a quick and compulsive first-person platformer that’s surprisingly simple to understand and play, but packs a very stern speedrunning challenge at its core. Tying your combat options to your traversal mechanics, Neon White makes every encounter a deadly parkour puzzle that can be replayed over and over, in search of the perfect run and the tightest time. The dialogue between its unlikeable troupe of angst-ridden, anime-inspired assassins may be a hokey misstep, but its airtight level design and fantastic sense of momentum ensure Neon White’s gameplay is something to celebrate. – Luke Reilly
From our review: Red Matter 2 is an impressive sequel that builds upon its predecessor where it counts, pushing the Meta Quest 2 to its limits to nearly match the outstanding graphics on the PC version. With its intuitive control system, excellent object interaction, and some great UI design, this Cold War-themed sci-fi adventure is one of VR’s most polished games yet. It’s unfortunate that combat doesn’t quite hit the mark due to being limited to just two enemy types, neither of which is fun to fight, but that’s just a side activity compared to the puzzles. There’s just enough variety to them and they’re often delightfully tactile, which sustains the six-hour story through its largely predictable twists and turns. It all leads to a curious mystery that had me invested until its conclusion – which was satisfying though not mind-blowing. Of course, the journey is more important than the destination, and Red Matter 2 takes us to some fantastic places. – Henry Stockdale
From our review: Splatoon 3’s single-player campaign takes all the highs of Splatoon 2’s creative Octo Expansion missions and places them in a satisfying hub world where freedom of choice lets you get as much as you want out of your playthrough — confident that you’ll be back for more. Even when it relies heavily on familiar enemies, smart level design and objectives, and bosses brimming with personality keep things fresh for the whole ride. – Brendan Graeber
From our review: It began as a collection of the loosest of story ideas that seemed to go nowhere, but slowly but surely Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin pulled it all together and managed to stick the landing – though you’ll want to be sure to scour it for collectibles if you want the full effect of its revelations. A solid and engaging action combat system can be tuned to be as challenging as it is rewarding. Coupled with versatile character customization that lets you mix and match from dozens of interchangeable jobs, your character fights how you see fit and gives the ability to experiment and find a winning combination in single-player or three-player co-op. There’s significant room for improvement in the tools it gives you to manage the avalanche of gear that drops in every mission, but the nods to Final Fantasy history littered throughout its levels are enough to divert attention from that sort of thing. Add in all the extra challenges awaiting after finishing the story, and you will find plenty of content to sink your teeth into that is made even better when you join up with others. – Jada Griffin
From our review: Stray is a delightful adventure in a dark but endearingly hopeful cyberpunk world, and that’s thanks in no small part to the fact that you are playing as an adorable cat the whole time. Its mix of simple platforming and puzzles with item-hunting quests is balanced very well across the roughly five-hour story – and though I wished my movement was a little more nimble during that time, I still loved hopping across rooftops and scampering through back alleys to find its well-hidden secrets. The new ideas it introduces along the way help keep things as fresh as a new bag of litter, too, even if not all of those ideas work quite as well as others. But whether I was scratching at a carpet or curling up into a ball and taking a catnap, Stray does a great job of setting itself apart in a way that feels like more than just a novelty. – Tom Marks
From our review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is exactly what it looks like: A lovingly crafted reimagining of the TMNT arcade beat-em-ups from one of the best beat-em-up developers in the business today. It’s the perfect game to have in the library for when a group of friends come over and you want to play something that’s simple, fun, and can be comfortably finished in a single sitting. It does admittedly play it pretty safe with its level design, and as a result there is some tedium that creeps in towards the tail end of the campaign or a single sitting arcade mode run, but these shortcomings are for the most smoothed over thanks to fun combat, a charming and nostalgic pixel aesthetic, and one of the best soundtracks of the year so far. – Mitchell Saltzman
From our review: Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a fantastic fantasy take on Borderlands’ tried-and-true looter shooter formula. As spin-offs go, it sticks dangerously close to its past successes which at times felt a bit unoriginal and some of the new stuff it tries, like procedurally generated combat encounters, didn’t pan out terribly well. Luckily, the excellent writing, hilarious performances from an all-star cast, and ridiculous combat continue to shine brightly and make this tabletop-inspired explosion-fest absolutely worth your time. – Travis Northup
From our review: Total War: Warhammer 3 has the best multiplayer features of any game in the series’ long history. The pair of quick-and-dirty mini campaigns offer your warparty a great way to have a more laid back and self-contained experience beyond fighting individual skirmish battles but without having to commit to a campaign that might take months to finish. Now it’s accessible to groups of friends who only have a few hours a week to play together. Its simultaneous turn-based campaign map can get a little harried, and there are definitely some network issues that still need to be ironed out. But overall, I’m pretty impressed with what Creative Assembly has managed to put together. – Leana Hafer
From our review: It may not put its best foot forward immediately, but once Triangle Strategy gets going it’s shockingly successful at telling a story based on real-world ideas like resource competition and the ambitions of nobles, and those human stories manage to overcome even a massive wet blanket of a main character. It allows for meaningful choices while also including a voting system for party members that can override your desires – based on a groundwork you laid yourself – in fascinating ways. Underlying all of that is its combat, which is simple, well-designed, and appropriately challenging in all the right ways. It may be quiet in its greatness, but that’s still great. – Rowan Kaiser
From our review: When it comes right down to it, Two Point Campus is a deep and rewarding management game. And that’s what matters most here. Growing my college, hiring and training faculty, adding new courses, spiffing up my dorms, and watching my grades and profits soar in the Sandbox mode is addicting enough that I could keep at it for dozens of hours more, even after having put in almost 40 hours for this review. The art style and quirky humor don’t really do it for me most of the time, but they’re usually not actively obnoxious, and eventually I sort of just tuned them out. At the end of the semester, I’d pass Two Point Campus with a solid B+. – Leana Hafer
From our review: Most of the time I spent with Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters, I was having a literal blast plotting how to turn the tide of a seemingly impossible battle with my trusty squad of veteran, psychic space paladins by chaining together just the right moves in just the right order. On the other hand, there were moments when it stacked the odds so high by trying to cram more enemies onto the screen that I felt absolutely exasperated, and wished it came up with more clever and less annoying ways to challenge me instead. But that complex, sometimes too-punishing campaign is supercharged by endearingly over-the-top, gothic bridge officers and a story that never runs out of new wrenches to throw into your plans. It’s one of the best XCOM-likes out there. And if there were a hall of fame for 40K games that really understood the setting and did something thematically appropriate and exciting with it, Daemonhunters would certainly belong there. – Leana Hafer
From our review: The world needs more games like We Were Here Forever. The cooperative-only puzzle landscape is largely untapped and full of potential, and We Were Here Forever is one of the best examples of why. Its puzzles rank up there with some of the cleverest and most satisfying I’ve seen in a video game, and its decently lengthy 10 to 12-hour campaign ensures that by the time it reaches its memorable conclusion the requirement that each person buy their own copy doesn’t feel like too much to ask. The way it requires clear communication between partners at all times means it doesn’t lend itself well to online matchmaking, so I highly recommend bringing a puzzle-loving friend along for the ride. On that note, it would’ve been an even more irresistible deal if it came with a friend pass, but all things considered, We Were Here Forever is a monumental leap forward for a series that has been quietly but consistently creating some of the best co-op experiences around. – Mitchell Saltzman
From our review: Weird West more than lives up to its name in all the right ways. Playing through its five stories and reaching their collective conclusion produces a wagonload of bizarre encounters, twists, and reveals, and its stealth and chaotic combat are challenging but come with the built-in safety nets of unlimited slow-motion and an old-school quickload system. It comes with its fair share of limitations, managing a lot of mostly dull loot, and typical bugs, but exploring these wide-open spaces feels like striking gold a lot more often than not. – Dan Stapleton
From our review: Windjammers 2 is a worthy sequel to a retro classic that manages to improve upon the highly competitive arena with new characters, levels, and abilities that make this fighting game version of Pong incredibly addictive. It lacks some key features like a spectator mode or any kind of tutorial to walk new players through all the complexities of combat and makes a limp attempt at telling a story about its characters, but it’s so much fun to play that it’s easy to forgive those whiffs. – Travis Northup
From our review: 2K Games and Visual Concepts needed a win with WWE 2K22, and while it’s far from a complete ground-up rebuild, it’s quite possibly the biggest leap forward the series has ever seen. The year off has clearly paid dividends: Virtually all of the major bugs I experienced in WWE 2K20 have been squashed; the revamped combat is faster, leaner, and full of smart tweaks that make it approachable for newcomers and rewarding for veterans; MyRise takes the MyCareer mode into a bold new direction; and MyGM offers a very niche, but nonetheless well put together management sim that’s sure to be a blast if you can find a like-minded wrestling fan to play it with. All this on top of an impressive visual overhaul that makes all 160+ superstars look the best they’ve ever looked in a video game. It’s the rare case of a marketing slogan that actually rings true: WWE 2K22 hits different. – Mitchell Saltzman
From our review: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is another excellent JRPG with great characters, a unique world, and addictive tactical combat that remains entertaining even after the over 150 hours it took to complete it. For the first time in the series side quests are actually fun to do, and the class-swapping and Interlink Ouroburos mechanics keep the revised combat system feeling fresh long into the adventure. Plus, the story is worth seeing through to the end even though it’s overwritten and takes some meandering detours. At the same time there are a fair amount of odd game design choices, like its annoying and repetitive combat voice lines and uninteresting cookie-cutter boss fights, and it’s unfortunate that Aionios’ beauty seems held back by the Switch’s hardware. But none of that should deter you from going all-in on another fantastic odyssey in a series that is worthy of a massive amount of your time. – Travis Northup
We enthusiastically recommend that you add these games to your to-play list. If we call a game Amazing, that means something about it seriously impressed us, whether it’s an inspired new idea or an exceptional take on an old one. We expect to look back at it as one of the highlights of its time and genre.
From our review: As Dusk Falls is a masterwork of branching storytelling that makes the best out of its comic book-style animations, which end up giving you the opportunity to fill the negative space with your imagination – and this works surprisingly well during some of the more intense scenes. It’s an impressive solo experience, but its eight-player mode makes it a potential hit at family or friend gatherings where gamers and non-gamers mix. Its many possible choices, mixed with the emotional intensity of its expressive voice cast make it a great recommendation for fans of crime dramas like Breaking Bad and Fargo. Virtually no one is safe from the consequences of your actions, but even if you make a choice that results in an unwanted consequence, or mess up one of many simplistic quick-time events, the story can still manage to spiral out in several interesting directions that you won’t expect, even on subsequent playthroughs. That makes it a joy to approach again and again until you uncover each character’s secrets and mentally reconstruct the story’s bigger picture. – Gabriel Moss
From our review: On the eve of the series’ 25th birthday, Gran Turismo 7 is more than just a celebration of cars this time around; in some ways, it’s also a celebration of itself. A modern mix of the original Gran Turismo’s trendsetting format with GT Sport’s stern but very successful focus on competitive online racing, this version is a potent podium performance from developer Polyphony Digital. With gorgeous graphics, a fantastic driving feel, and racing options galore, it’s the best the series has been since its dominant PlayStation 2 era. It does have some significant failings, though, including how it continues to cripple its career mode races with dreadfully flawed rolling starts, its car list is no longer as comprehensive as the competition, and its always-online single-player mode still seems needlessly punitive. But all of that is on the periphery of GT7’s outstanding driving experiences, which are enhanced by the PS5’s gorgeous graphics and intense and flavourful haptic feedback via the DualSense controller. – Luke Reilly
From our review: A triumphant combination of enthralling combat, top-tier creature and character design, and a captivating open world, Horizon Forbidden West is an absolute blast and fantastic showcase for the power of the PS5. Although the return of a couple of familiar series trappings and a noticeable lack of freeform climbing never threatens to derail the enjoyment, it does leave it falling frustratingly short of something revolutionary. Major evolutionary steps have firmly been placed in the right direction, however, and there’s no doubting the many, many hours of fun to have with Aloy, who stakes her claim further to be one of this generation of gaming’s greatest characters. Guerrilla has outdone itself yet again with Forbidden West, and at this trajectory, neither the horizon nor the sky’s the limit for what could come next. – Simon Cardy
From our review: A gorgeous and well-honed remake of one of the biggest boppers in the PlayStation pantheon, The Last of Us Part I is the best way to play – or replay – Naughty Dog’s esteemed survival classic. The striking improvements it makes to its completely rebuilt world are complemented by the subtle refinements of its characters’ performances, and while it isn’t retrofitted with every one of the sequel’s best changes, the upgrades to movement and AI make a welcome difference in an already outstanding game. It’s harder to argue it was an entirely crucial remake, though, considering 2014’s The Last of Us Remastered still stands head and shoulders above nearly all of its story-driven, action-adventure peers to this day. – Luke Reilly
From our review: Live A Live is a fascinating piece of JRPG history that’s more than worthy of the energy Square Enix has spent to remake it for a global audience with a beautiful new art style decades later. Its unusual vignette structure and lovable ensemble cast are a delight to spend time with, especially thanks to the addition of voice acting, and the ultimate story payoff remains surprising and stand-out among JRPGs even decades after its original iteration. Its seven different characters each make inventive and surprising use of the deceptively simple combat system, which adds even more flavor to the most challenging optional boss fights. The remake could have put a bit more work into mitigating some of the original’s more tedious grinds toward the end, but by the time that grind kicks in, Live A Live had enough hooks stuck in me that I couldn’t put it down until I’d jammed out to Megalomania for the final time. – Rebekah Valentine
From our review: Radlandia may seem like an offbeat location for a skating game, but in reality it’s a wonderfully eclectic reflection of what OlliOlli World itself is trying to be. In this vibrant place, skating is an obsession and an escape, whether you’re wall-riding through a forest or grinding across an incredibly industrial factoryscape. Its gameplay has enough depth to challenge hardcore players to master its level-long combos, but it’s also a smooth and exciting ride for novices, backed by characters that are quirky and passionate. These elements ring true in every facet of its design, from the more forgiving approach to basic gameplay through to the new mechanics and refinements that make the skill ceiling higher than ever. OlliOlli World is a fantastic evolution of what was already an outstanding skating series. – Cam Shea
From our review: After decades of believing that we’d never see Gilbert get to make his Monkey Island 3, I was in no way disappointed with Return’s conclusion. In fact, it moved me, and made clear that Gilbert cares as much about these characters as we fans do. I expected Return to Monkey Island to be funny. I expected it to have good and often-zany puzzles and hilarious puzzle solutions. You can see that in its writing, its acquired-taste art style, and its delightfully upbeat music. But I didn’t expect it to have such heart. Monkey Island has been known almost solely for its comedic prowess over the past three decades, but Return reminded me of why I first fell in love with Guybrush Threepwood in a way that will have me thinking about it for a long time. What longtime fans get out of it is definitely going to be markedly different from what newcomers take away from it, but I can say that Return to Monkey Island meant a lot to me before I ever clicked to start a New Game, and it meant far more after the end credits rolled. – Ryan McCaffrey
From our review: Rogue Legacy 2 is a transformative sequel that essentially rebuilds the extraordinarily influential 2013 original into a modern roguelite that stands nearly shoulder to shoulder with the best of the genre. Its wealth of upgrade choices to be made in between runs can be a bit overwhelming the first time through, especially without a way to undo mistakes, but that issue feels small compared to its an incredible menu of customization options, excellent combat that handsomely rewards skillful play, six diverse areas that each provide their own unique challenge, and a deep post-game mode that provides plenty of reason to come back for new challenges long after the first rolling of the credits. With Rogue Legacy 2, Cellar Door Games can now not only have a claim to developing one of the first ever Roguelites, but also one of the best. – Mitchell Saltzman
From our review: Inventing a new sport is no easy task, but Rollerdrome finds consistently clever ways to marry extreme skating with explosive gunplay. The story can be ignored in favor of raw action if you want, but it’s intriguing enough that I was excited to find so much hidden underneath this beautiful surface when I went looking. Either way, developer Roll7 has found an inventive mishmash of genres that work so well together I can’t stop replaying levels to better my scores. Its rollerskating and third-person shooting may sound odd together, but just like its stellar soundtrack, Rollerdrome finds harmony in marrying the two to create something that truly shreds. – Jonathon Dornbush
From our review: If it can get its technical issues under control quickly (and progress is already being made on that front), Rumbleverse’s fantastic wrestling-flavored gameplay has everything going for it to become the next big thing in the battle royale genre. Once I was in a match slammin’ bodies, slappin’ chests, and RKO’ing dudes from out of nowhere, it quickly became some of the most fun I’ve had playing video games in 2022. And it’s more than just spectacle – there are some extremely deep and well-thought-out mechanics ingrained in its combat design, opening up plenty of possibilities to outplay and out-think your opponent just like in a smartly designed fighting game. I’m hoping it fleshes out the shop with more worthwhile and over-the-top items, but if Rumbleverse is this good right out of the gate, I can’t wait to see where it goes over the next few years. – Mitchell Saltzman
From our review: Sifu demands a lot from you, and that’s a sword that cuts both ways. Its combat is impeccable, with incredibly smooth and impactful animation, deep fighting mechanics, and challenging enemies that really make you fight tooth and nail for every victory. At the same time, the repetition that comes from replaying levels so you can essentially set a high score and give yourself a chance at completing the rest of the short campaign with what’s effectively one persistent pool of lives can lead to some really frustrating moments with no clear path through outside of just trying and trying until you get better at it, which can be frustrating. On the other side of that vicious learning curve, though, is one of the most impressive beat-em-ups I’ve ever played, with excellent level design, fantastic music, and – once it was all over – a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that few other video games can provide. – Mitchell Saltzman
From our review: Building from the solid foundations of its predecessors, the deluge of impressive quality of life changes and exciting improvements Splatoon 3 brings make it hard to imagine the ink-based shooter series as it was before this. More than just a simple upgrade, its array of new features make it just as enticing for competitive players as it is approachable for newcomers. And while there aren’t any huge additions that shake things up the way Salmon Run’s inclusion did for Splatoon 2, Splatoon 3’s new maps, weapons, and PvE bosses have still managed to make its already excellent multiplayer clashes even better. – Brendan Graeber
From our review: The Stanley Parable’s base game truly holds up almost a decade later, both in its hilarious narrated writing and the clever satire that houses it. Ultra Deluxe may seem like little more than a decent lighting improvement and a simple console port on the surface, but the new content that’s been added alongside those things is on the scale of a whole new game. Those new encounters are consistently impressive and always entertaining, even if the feeling that we’ve seen some of these tricks before means they never quite reached the heights of my first surprising playthrough back in 2013. But if you’ve never played The Stanley Parable at all, Ultra Deluxe is a definitive version that provides another extremely convincing reason to do so. – Tom Marks
From our review: Total War: Warhammer 3’s single-player mode presents us with a tense, challenging, multilayered campaign driven along by a compelling story and a memorable cast of rivals. The Chaos Realms cleverly draw these larger-than-life figures together, so even those from remote corners of the world will be able to test each other’s mettle. And while the size of the faction list currently feels a bit disappointing coming from Mortal Empires, all of the newly introduced factions are inventive and just plain fun on the campaign and battle maps. The true test of Warhammer 3 is still to come, when we’ll get to play with all the factions from all three games on the massive combined map. But even if that’s the main reason you’re interested in it, there’s plenty of excitement to be had already. – Leana Hafer
From our review: I completed the original Legend of Zelda when I was nine years old, but nine-year-old me wouldn’t have lasted long in Tunic. Though it may look adorably approachable thanks to its deceptively cute furry orange protagonist, Tunic quickly makes it clear that you’d best be ready for a fight. It is a fantastic Zelda-style game for the Elden Ring generation, and solving its ceaselessly clever campaign and challenging combat through careful studying of your indecipherable but intuitive in-game instruction booklet and agile controller work gave me a well-earned payoff and feeling of satisfaction that I won’t soon forget. – Ryan McCaffrey
Simply put: this is our highest recommendation. There’s no such thing as a truly perfect game, but those that earn a Masterpiece label from IGN come as close as we could reasonably hope for. These are classics in the making that we hope and expect will influence game design for years to come, as other developers learn from their shining examples.
From our review: It is no exaggeration to say that Elden Ring is FromSoftware’s largest and most ambitious game yet, and that ambition has more than paid off. Even after 87 hours of blood, sweat, and tears that included some of the most challenging fights I’ve ever fought, and innumerable surprises, there are still bosses that I left on the table, secrets that I’ve yet to uncover, sidequests that I missed out on, tons of weapons, spells, and skills that I’ve never used. And this is all on top of PVP and cooperative play that I’ve barely been able to scratch the surface of. Throughout it all, while the fundamentals of combat haven’t changed much from what we’ve seen before, the enormous variety of viciously designed enemies and the brutal but surmountable bosses have brought its battles to a new level. Even with all the threads I didn’t manage to tug on my first playthrough (of what I’m sure will be several), what I was treated to can easily be held amongst the best open-world games I’ve ever played. Like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild before it, Elden Ring is one that we’ll be looking back on as a game that moved a genre forward. – Mitchell Saltzman
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