While some may consider 2022 a “down” year for XBOX. I’m one of those gamers that just happens to disagree. I don’t think that exclusive 1st party titles are necessary in terms of dictating a successful year for a console brand. FUN AND EXPERIENCE STILL MATTER.
Yes, there are those that need to have 1st party exclusive titles for goofy console war bragging rights but in the grand scheme of things a good game will ALWAYS be a good game whether 1st party or 100th party (I’m of course being silly). I personally had a great time on my XBOX with GamePass and I played a ton of games and not once did I ever feel cheated by a lack of 1st party titles.
These are the games that I thought were the best this year for XBOX and Team Green because I played these games the most on my XBOX and or PC with GamePass. Check em out.
NOBODY SAVES THE WORLD
While this is no longer an XBOX exclusive, it was when it released earlier this year. This game to me was the sleeper indie hit of the year, IMO. Sorry, Stray. Nobody saves the World had a concept like no other dungeon crawler type game out there with a super unique art style, story and most important, the gameplay was fun. Being able to assume a variety of identities with the main character “NOBODY” each with a different skill set to tackle a variety of dungeons made this game such a joy to play and sadly it wasn’t talked about enough and it should have been. This was one of my favorites this year. HANDS DOWN.
AS DUSK FALLS
This is not my typical game and truthfully I hate games of this type. I always found them boring but this year I was invited to a show here in NY and was introduced to this game first hand before release and this game changed my mind about narrative/story driven, point and click choice games. This is a game that has an engaging story that compels you in so many ways and it drew me into it because it was so well written and I couldn’t help but be drawn to certain characters and their story arc. The choices you make in this game build out the story in so many ways that it has great replay value because there are multiple endings. This game was shockingly a favorite of mine this year and that’s why it won the IMPACT AWARD at the Game Awards this year. Well deserved and a must play
HIGH ON LIFE
This was an entry that about a week ago that I wouldn’t have considered High on Life as one of my favorites for 2022 but it wasn’t until I actually played it that I said to myself “This game is pretty damn good”…Created by the small dev team at Squanch Games, High on Life is a very strange game to say the least. The entire premise of the game is to stop a group of alien terrorists from essentially making the humans on Earth their new source of food and with that the adventure begins. With comedy from the mind of Justin Roiland (Rick and Morty), High on Life is NOT for kids. It has a sense of humor that isn’t for most wrapped up in colorful gameplay and raunchy dialogue. Unique talking weapons with brazen personalities make High on Life a sleeper hit for 2022 and it is a MUST play but remember, IT’S NOT FOR KIDS
VAMPIRE SURVIVORS
Just like High on Life, Vampire Survivors is one of those games that came out of nowhere and ended up being probably the most addicting game to play on XBOX in the last three months of this calendar year BY FAR. The premise is simple. Survive for 30 minutes. How do you do that? By playing and playing and playing. Your character who is a Vampire Hunter starts off on an open map and basically you move around while your character attacks automatically and the more you play the more you gain money to level up your character until you’re able to fight off the sheer onslaught of creeps that are trying to kill you and when I say onslaught, I shit you not. Vampire Survivors is an 8-bit 1980’s retro beast of a game that surely give you hours of fun because I assure you, you won’t be able to stop playing.
ELDEN RING
This game doesn’t really need a lengthy paragraph about why it was one of the best XBOX games of the year but the fact that it was GOTY and you can play it on your XBOX says enough. If you have an XBOX and you wanna dive into a Souls game for the first time like I did, then this is that game. Period.
