2022 - Year in Review
In my 2021 retrospective, I lamented my lackluster gaming year and fantasized about how I would do better in 2022 - projects tackled, backlogs knocked down, longstanding curiosities satisfied - a cavalcade of gaming triumphs, one after the other - each more impressive to myself (and Backloggd!) than the last. I thought and wrote this despite having - probably within sight at that very moment - a two-month old child. I somehow assumed, I guess, that I would have more time to do all this when he was between the ages of 3 and 14 months. If you can believe it, that turned out to not be the case.
In addition to parenthood very predictably devastating my time and energy in all aspects of life, not just gaming, two big releases (two-and-a-half if you count Pokemon Arceus) took up probably a combined four months of the year for me, as I obsessed over them in my own weird completionist way. One was a bit of a disappointment and one was excellent (even though I had played the whole thing before, really), but they combined for probably 500 hours, and that's a big chunk of time for Mr. Dad of a One-Year Old, so.
As with last year, this isn't every game I played, but ones that stand in for different sections of my gaming life in 2022, with elaboration in the details. Independent of that, here's my top ten first-plays of 2022, with review links:
1. Disco Elysium
2. Tactics Ogre Reborn (real review of this still forthcoming)
3. Adventure
4. Hypnospace Outlaw
5. Devil Daggers
6. Iron Lung
7. Trombone Champ
8. Monster Bash HD
9. Faith
10. Elden Ring
In addition to parenthood very predictably devastating my time and energy in all aspects of life, not just gaming, two big releases (two-and-a-half if you count Pokemon Arceus) took up probably a combined four months of the year for me, as I obsessed over them in my own weird completionist way. One was a bit of a disappointment and one was excellent (even though I had played the whole thing before, really), but they combined for probably 500 hours, and that's a big chunk of time for Mr. Dad of a One-Year Old, so.
As with last year, this isn't every game I played, but ones that stand in for different sections of my gaming life in 2022, with elaboration in the details. Independent of that, here's my top ten first-plays of 2022, with review links:
1. Disco Elysium
2. Tactics Ogre Reborn (real review of this still forthcoming)
3. Adventure
4. Hypnospace Outlaw
5. Devil Daggers
6. Iron Lung
7. Trombone Champ
8. Monster Bash HD
9. Faith
10. Elden Ring
12 Games
My one big successful gaming project of the year was starting a chronological playthrough of every scrolling beat 'em up. I got through about 40 in total, going from 1986 to 1991. Here's my rankings of everything up through Final Fight, which, maybe unsurprisingly, is the top dog of them so far for me. One of the more rewarding parts of this was sampling all the different versions of it, and experiencing weird new spins on an old favorite of mine. I am going to continue this project in 2023 - it's been on my mind a lot, even as I've done other stuff. Beat 'em ups are just easy fun. Zero barrier for entry, accessible, immediate reward, and in the early '90s they're just starting to get goofy.
Shame of the year right here, as I ONCE AGAIN failed to get through this very good game. I'm still not even that far! I had a good excuse for getting derailed in 2021, but this is just ridiculous. I HAVE to finish this shit ... and GREAT ACE ATTORNEY, too. Let this stand in for the many games I started but did not finish this year, including THE SUFFERING, THE VOID, GABRIEL KNIGHT 1, THE GOOD LIFE, WARRIORS OROCHI, and (most regrettably) a SKIES OF ARCADIA replay, among others. Ring that shame bell.
Lots of complex feelings here, as this is one of the aforementioned whales that ate up full months of my time this year, and I ended up kind of hating it by the end. To my understanding, I came pretty damn close to 100%ing it, but I don't really know whether to be proud of that or not. My review on here is a little glib and angry, as I wrote it having just come off of beating my head against the endgame dungeons, Malenia, and the final boss for what seemed like fucking weeks, but I still don't really disagree with anything I wrote there. This game remains a mild disappointment, and I'm not sure how to feel about how much time I spent dutifully consuming all that content if that was the result.
Another long journey of questionable merit was a revisit of all / four / Saints Row / games. For some reason I really felt like I needed to do this, so I did! It was fine! The Third sucked. Took up a good month. Dad brain is sending me to weird places for comfort gaming. This was very much Turn Your Brain Off, Turn On a Podcast, and Zone Out On Some Completionist Shit hours. Oh, and uh, no, I did not play the new one. Are you fuckin crazy?
One of the two big Digital Eclipse compilations from this year, and it folded in nicely with my beat 'em up project (although it meant jumping ahead a bit in the timeline for that). I love everything DE does and this was no exception. Super glad they put this out and feel quite fulfilled to take this journey through some games and a property I'd had limited exposure to. Off the back of this (and the impending Atari 50) I also bought the Disney Collection (which was more for my wife, really) and the Samurai Shodown collection (haven't gotten around to that yet). In my mind, these guys can do no wrong.
I took the time this year, as I often do, to revisit some of the classic shareware PC games that I loved when I was a kid, and either finish old ones I only played the first episode of back then, or fill in gaps of ones I never touched. There were fewer this year than usual, but I got to play the aforementioned excellent remaster of MONSTER BASH, and the similar one for SECRET AGENT, and blast through one of the all time favorites, RAPTOR, in response to finally trying what many consider its superior (spoiler: nope) TYRIAN 2000. I've already got a few in this vein that I want to get to in '23.
This was the biggest deal of the year for me - finally getting around to this universally beloved new classic, which couldn't possibly be as good as everyone has be-- oh sorry what, if anything it might actually somehow be better than it's reputation? Oh. P.S.: I got the best ending with no help on my first try :3
Plugged in the Dreamcast to finally get around to this long backlogged game (now that I've read the manga) and took the time to randomly replay a couple old / Star Wars games I haven't played since I bought them in 2000, for some reason. I meant to get more into my library for some meatier revisits ... SOUL CALIBUR ... SONIC ADVENTURE ... many TONY HAWK 1 and 2 ... Next year. It's still hooked up.
I rounded out the year with (the start of) a deep dive into this absolute masterpiece of celebration and preservation. I was too young for Atari so it's always been a big blind spot for me, and a big part of me has always wanted to get into it but haven't really known how to approach it's larger-than-life history. Obviously, this excellent game solved all of that for me. I'm a little more than halfway through the hundred or so games in it, and I have to thank this and DE's other compilations for inflating my total games played for 2022 - they're seriously like half of them. (Sad.) Very much looking forward to getting through the rest of this.
The other big dog that claimed all of December. The PSP game is currently my second favorite game of all time (still working on those definitive rankings, btw!) and despite having poured like 300 lifetime hours into it (including a minor revisit this year! (right before they announced the fucking new one!!)) I absolutely couldn't help myself but to start all over with this excellent, excellent reworking. I was hugely skeptical of this project and I have to say, it's extremely high effort and improved in ways that I never would have thought of. Still hate the voices, though. Two cutscenes in and that shit was turned offfff. I've probably got, oh, another 150 hours in this before all's said and done. And I'll love every second of it.
Took a lil' break from the T.O. Show for something completely different, and boy what an experience so far. I wish I could have beaten this by the end of the year, but I just started it a couple days ago and there's no way I'm gonna rush this - it's too good! If the rest of the game is as good as the first half, this would have placed VERY high in my top ten first-plays of the year. Loving it - gonna take my time. A very happy place to end the year, especially because I bought this entire series physical like 10 years ago now that I've finally dived in, it's looking like a fun project to start 2023 on the right foot. See you there!
DJSCheddar
1 year ago
- Lifetime games played: 1469 (+92)
- Total games played: 130
- Current games backlogged (actually owned): 490 (-5 net)
- Current games wishlisted (a.k.a. unowned backlog): 839 (+172 net)
- Current physical backlog: 82 (-4 net)
Insanely rookie numbers, this MUST improve