Games I beat in 2022 (Complete)

A list of all the games that I completed the main objective of in 2022.
Sorted in order of how much I enjoyed the game, not necessarily the score given to them in a review.

Abhorrent. I legitimately cannot find a single good quality about this. Not one.
I cannot understand why this game is a big deal. Hitting people is not fun. It doesn't look good, it doesn't sound good, and boy it does not play good. Eat my Golden Ass.
I played this for shits and giggles. I got one of those two things from it.
"Better than Altair's Chronicles" is an accolade up there with "In jail for attempted murder" and "Could outsmart a single celled organism".
I have no memory of playing this. Who put this here.
If you know me, you know I hate fighting games. Despise them. I only played this as someone who is addled with being a psychotic completionist of franchises...and like, it honestly looks pretty good for a fighting game? But everyone hates it so, idk??
Important thing is, didn't like it much. Next.
I can't believe how badly this ran. I think that's the most insulting thing of all, beyond the inept game design and total absence of sub-weapons.

52

Not an arcade game enjoyer, so this placement checks out. Like, it's cool for the time I guess? Plays like shit though.
"Contra again, but better".
So, I dislike it about 1% less. Checks out!

50

Yes, I played through the second half with godmode. No, I am not in the least bit sorry. Fuck this game.
I have been meaning to write a proper review for this, but I just can't find the energy to write a 4,000 word hate piece on how every single aspect of this game is utterly broken in design. I can't hate it completely, the premise is genuinely interesting and the gameplay has its moments, but the overall package is the worst AAA game I've ever played.

48

You just shoot people. That's it. That's the joke. Mind numbing and dull, though that's probably the idea I just can't care enough about the game's content to give it any kind of philosophical praise.

47

Going fast is cool. It's even fun! Sadly, Burnout 1 doesn't want you to have fun. Given the sheer lack of content, I don't think Criterion even wanted to make the game in the first place.
Bit Dungeon is a wild series, and culminates in this strange Souls-esque game that just throws shit at you until it ends suddenly. Then you play again. No thanks, but I guess it was alright while it lasted?
Postal with aliens that fight back. Instantly better. Unfortunately, still repetitive.
A beat 'em up I actually kinda vibed with, until it just suddenly ate shit towards the end.
Yeah, I get it, it's a classic, but after playing this...idk, maybe I actually just don't like beat 'em ups? Always feel way too rigged against the player in my experience, and this one sure felt the same. Immaculate vibes, at least.
Just, the most whatever platformer. I can't fault it too hard, I just didn't like it much. What the hell even are the S rank times?
It's a classic! It's iconic! It's...been surpassed many many times. As it should. Holds up in places but the controls did not feel great at all to me.
I played this on a whim at 4AM and accidentally finished it in a single sitting. Oops. Simple, but fun, even without the whole copy ability thing. Also, there's a legit hard mode and I actually wanna try it.

39

Holy shit, it's so much more playable than the arcade version! Controls and shooting feel great, music slaps, but the whole one-hit-kill thing has never been a design decision I've enjoyed.

38

See above. It's the same but a little better.
This game is fantastic, I'm sure. Certainly looked and sounded incredible. Thing is, the design is so different to the rest of Classicvania than my mind just couldn't adapt to the brutally vicious enemy design.
One of the worst Ys games, so I'm told. Certainly feels like it, but I still found it decently enjoyable, and the music slaps as always. Falcom sound team made that Genesis audio chip dance.
It starts cool, but stages 5 and 6 badly hurt it. It feels almost like a bootleg 'vania at times, but it plays like the real deal. Gear Steamer, my beloved.
Castlevania 1, again, like the 4th remake or something? I forget. It's a solid remake, though brutally hard. The spike at the beginning put me off, but it felt better as it went on. Great OST.
This game was just really frustrating to me, but I get why it was a big deal at the time. It's a little satisfying to pull off a huge killstreak, but I was mainly just hoping it'd end.
It's Assassin's Creed 1 shrunk down for PSP. It's honestly better than I'd have expected, but the PSP controls really drag it down.
The most fun I've ever had with monotonous gameplay. The repetition of using the same 2 button combos to wipe out hundreds of enemies was counterbalanced by the amazing feeling of being one little guy on a huge battlefield, with all sorts of events happening offscreen.
VERY goofy zombie game. Actually pretty fun too, but held back for being...a zombie game. Bit of a waste of the Judge Dredd IP, but this is Rebellion we're talking about so...par for course.
I honestly found it a pretty thrilling adventure game, and some of the QTE sequences I found to be pretty intense and exciting. Then there's the narrative and acting, which I enjoyed in a purely ironic capacity because holy shit, David Cage.
I don't know what the fuck I just read, but...yeah, uh, certainly not gonna forget it any time soon.
Now see Konami, that's how you code for a Game Boy. I have my grievances with certain elements of design but this goes much harder than Adventure could ever hope.
Lego game moment. Feels like way more of a drag than Star Wars, and suffers from source material that doesn't fully fit the game design.
I love picross, but Murder by Numbers was a bit of a letdown in both puzzles and narrative. I tried to like it, but it was just ok in the end.
Screaming into the fucking abyss at the hell that is the Ice Cavern, but the rest is just a pretty alright DnD campaign that formed a solid basis for the genre.
Wolfenstein 3D, but a bit worse. Design gets super cheap, but the finale is an amazing surprise.
Spear of Destiny, but a little bit better. A lot of content packed in and holds up decently well...but only with the ECWolf source port. Also, screw Episode 2 and mutants. Atrocious.
It's a fine game, neat mechanics mixed with great spritework. However, it felt like a letdown after Luna Nights (more on that later).
One of THE car games of all time. After playing it though...damn. It's an otherwise awesome game, but the campaign gets really repetitive and the AI rubberbanding seems glitched to the extreme. Enemy drivers are capable of these superhuman feats, and the balance of the game falls apart in the last third.
Very cute puzzle game. Relaxing and satisfying, even if there's not exactly a huge amount of "game" to be found.
Finally finished this game. It plays on all the worst parts of Half Life 2, unfortunately, but is still full of spectacle and intrigue within the environments.
Check it out, I played Armored Core BEFORE it was cool! Like, a few months before at most, but still. Stiff and with some poorly designed sections, but still a really impressive game for PS1 and the mecha genre overall.
Controversial, but I preferred this to NFS Underground. There was way more track variety and I vibed better with the more arcadey handling. Crashes were more fun than frustrating too, compared to NFS and (ugh) Burnout 1.
Minesweeper meets picross. Love it.
Honestly becomes a decent game after the first 5 hours...not exactly a great sign when i say it out loud but I honestly liked the second half of the game enough to put it up here. Not great at horror, though.
More Hexcells. Love it.
Infinite Hexcells. They weren't lying.

Love it.
An interesting, if flawed story, and an open world design I really didn't like. The setpieces were fun though, as were the ties to the Altair saga. Excellent wrap-up for that generation of Assassin's Creed.
2D Max Payne but it's cripplingly unfunny, and has some baffling platforming design. This aside, the experience can be very fun, and for something I played on Game Pass, there's not even any regret of sunk cost.
Really relaxing to play on Game Pass, just a real pretty game that felt good to unwind in during a stressful period in my life. Creative storytelling choices too, I just wish there were more of them.
The story left me a little disappointed, and it didn't leave as much of an impression on me as the original. But so what, this game played and handled so much better! Physics objects added a ton to making shootouts fun. I now only fear what 3 is going to do to my goodwill for the series.

7

Thank you everyone who recommended I start with the PS2 original and not Kiwami, because this slapped. The work that went into the environments and cutscenes are second to none, RGG really have been top-tier directors from the start. The gameplay may be clunky and the story not always strong, but this was an unforgettable experience.
Ace Combat was new ground for me last year, and the PS1 trilogy are some of my favourite games. 4 is bittersweet for me - i dislike the mission design and it feels like a rehash of the PS1 games without adding anything new. The narrative is simple yet effective, but it's probably my least favourite next to the original. And despite all this disappointment, nothing gets me going quite like Ace Combat gameplay so all is forgiven.
It's neat! I like immersive sims, and this sure is a watered down (heh) one. Has some neat moments storywise, but I can see why some find it pretentious - it is. Still, I personally loved the gameplay loop and environments.
Worth the pain to get it to run. Remedy did fantastic things for the time, and all the cinematic DNA that would form their core ethos for their future games can be seen here. Rough around the edges but will certainly stay in my mind for a while to come.
A fantastic sequel that offers no shortage of content. I really enjoyed the presentation of the story, and the fact that this offers not only a well-paced single player campaign, but an extensive co-op one and a level editor makes it one hell of a package.
A game I'd never heard of from a franchise I have no interest in. Yet lured in by a "leaving soon" on Game Pass, I did not expect to discover such a thrilling platformer. I hesistate to call it a Metroidvania given how light it is on those elements, but the streamlining and bite-sized length is what I think really works to this games benefit.
It's really beautiful to witness the exact point where a game series finally nails it, and Devil May Cry 3 does so in explosive fashion. Just an absolute blast, it earns its reputation as one of the greatest action games of all time.

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