Games That Were Important To Us in 2022
To continue the Capy tradition, we’ve put together another retrospective of games that were important to us (in some way!) in 2022. These games didn’t all necessarily release in 2022, they just were important to us for their own reason.
Pok Pok Playroom
“My 5 year old and I played this together a whole lot in 2022, and there is no sign of that changing in 2023! It’s open-ended and very intentionally designed to foster play and curiosity. There are endless ways to play and it’s constantly being updated with new content so there is always something different to experience or explore. The diversity and representation in the art seems genuine and cute as heck! The game isn’t overly stimulating or annoying, a real worry I had when trying to find a game for Oscar and I. I will admit to getting a little carried away when playing, Oscar sometimes has to remind me it’s his turn!”
-Vic Nguyen
Disney Dreamlight Valley
“I was truly hooked on this game, in a playing-for-7-hours-straight kinda way in 2022. I found the mechanics and story super easy to get into, and got busy clearing my town of Night Thorns right away. If you’re into Stardew Valley, or Animal Crossing: New Horizons, this game might be perfect for you.”
-Farah Coculuzzi
Valheim Mistlands
“Valheim is an escape. Thankfully it can be an escape with friends. I still haven’t returned to a life where my friend group is able to have in-person game nights so we have been enjoying a rotation of multiplayer games and the Mistlands update for Valheim couldn’t have arrived at a better time for us. We have been able to put in a lot of time with some other games while fondly thinking about returning to Valheim and Mistlands has given us a great reason to go back to rediscover why this game is so fun to explore and develop your skills in its challenging survival world”
-Christian Meyer
Shift Shaft
“Sure, I played a ton of Marvel Snap (a TON!) and Vampire Survivors and a few other zeitgeist-capturing games this year like everyone else. But, before I’d even heard of those titles, most of my gaming time was hoovered up by a small handful of under-the-radar iOS games that proved every bit as compelling.
First up, Shift Shaft: A match-3 with the added twist of screen-rotation, opening up new combo possibilities as well as danger from baddies with unique attack behaviours. I got totally hooked on this great little puzzler!”
-Dan Vader
Broki
“Single-screen puzzler where you’re fitting brick shapes reminiscent of Tetris, into grids in order to smush lil’ demons. A simple premise with a ton of variation and an impressive amount of visual and audio polish. I played a couple hundred levels of this!”
-Dan Vader
Text Express: Word Adventure
“What if a Word Game had a story and a campaign and an open-ish world and tons of different modes? Answer: you’d play it a whole lot.”
-Dan Vader
Numeon
“Colour AND number tile matching game with great visual style and absolutely devilish level design.”
-Dan Vader
Newtro
“Super stylish, minimalist brick breaker with terrific level design and a surprising amount of variation on the theme. Figuring out the striking, mysterious UI is a lil’ game in itself.”
-Dan Vader
Final Fantasy XIV
“I was asked to fill in by a group of friends last year and I agreed even though on paper this is not my kind of game (MMO, JRPG). To my surprise I ended up getting really into it and we still play every week, and on my own as well.”
-Drew Grainge
Steam Deck
“I’ve really enjoyed revisiting old favourites and chipping away at my backlog with the Steam Deck this year. I was lucky enough to get a Steam Deck in the second batch. With instant access to my Steam library the hardest part was deciding what to play. I played old favourites like Burnout Paradise and SteamWorld Heist. Then I chipped away at my backlog with Death’s Door and Strider. I enjoyed new games like Spider-Man Remastered, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, Vampire Survivors and Cult of the Lamb! It was amazing switching between my PC, Steam Deck and even the Steam Deck docked to my TV. The Steam Deck is a great way to enjoy games no matter what type of games you’re into!
I also played a lot of Deep Rock Galactic again this year.”
-Jon Maur
We Are OFK
“We Are OFK was the chaotic bi game I needed in 2022. It was full of so much heart and so much great music that it actually had me in the routine of waiting for the next episode to play on the exact day it dropped. It’s a charming game, filled with really authentic and honest characters talking about failures and ambitions, all which meant a lot to me when I was playing it. But beyond appreciating a game that is so unapologetically queer, it also inspired me a lot to think deeper about camera and story.
But We Are OFK also kept going once I finished the game. “Footsteps” and “thanks,” are definitely both appearing on my Spotify Wrapped with the amount I’ve listened to both on repeat since hearing them.”
-Kaitlin Tremblay
Kid A Mnesia Exhibition
“Not exactly a game, but when Unreal dropped their one-two punch of the The Matrix Awakens and the Kid A Mnesia Exhibition, I was blown away by both. But while the The Matrix Awakens was absolutely an impressive showcase of Unreal’s raw horsepower and technology, the Kid A Mnesia Exhibition was the exact opposite and it profoundly shook me to the core with its creativity and artistry. I walked through its beautiful, melancholy spaces wide-eyed and covered in goosebumps. The way each space expressed and imbued the qualities of the song contained within its walls was consistently jaw-dropping and quite moving, even bringing me to tears more than a handful of times. After crawling through all of its labyrinthine corridors, listening to the mumbling chatter of its twisted denizens and reading the madman scribblings all over its walls, I walked away from the Kid A Mnesia Experience supremely inspired and in awe.”
-Kris Piotrowski
Inscryption
“I’m certainly late to this party, having just finally played this game in 2022, but Inscryption is a brilliant, brilliant game. If Inscryption was JUST the card game alone, it would still be incredible because the card game itself is amazing, hilarious, dark, original and full of nuance. But Inscryption is so so so much more, and saying anything else would be ruining it for anyone who hasn’t played it yet. The setting, the art, the sound design, the card game design, and where the narrative takes the player… all of it is absolutely drenched in style. Inscryption is a wholly original and conceptually super inspiring experience. It filled my game design skull with completely fresh ideas.”
-Kris Piotrowski
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
“The third entry of the Xenoblade series provided an escape into a world which was cohesively presented through a strong art direction, a masterful soundtrack, and refined gameplay all supported by a lovable cast of characters and their heartfelt story. The expansive world of Aionios was visually captivating through its otherworldly landscapes and the large variety of fauna present for the player to interact with. While the game did drag at points with its ~60 hours playtime, and the 13 hours of cutscenes are better approached as watching a movie at times rather than playing a game, it is undeniable that XBC3 certainly stands as one of the best games of 2022. If you love JRPG’s, definitely pick this one up!”
-Keegan Marr
In Other Waters
“No game of recent memory has submerged me so deeply and leveraged my imagination as one-person studio Jump Over the Age’s title from 2020 has. In Other Waters is a compelling exercise in less-is-more; playing as the AI of a futuristic diving suit with a human occupant named Ellery Vas, the player navigates an alien ocean via a stylized U.I with only abstracted topological overlays representing the immediate environment. It took a little bit of adjusting to get used to the minimalist controls of the “player”, but soon I was fully on board with where the game wanted me to be. Lively animation flourishes, a hand-drawn creature codex and excellent sound design work hand-in-hand with the U.I format to invite the player to fill in the blanks of what Ellery experiences as she descends towards the ocean floor.
One highlight of the game is the ecology world-building, where each creature or plant encountered is very thoughtfully designed with interdependent relationships and life cycles, and invites curiosity to discover more about them. They work well with the narrative in exploring themes of collaboration, adaptation and ecological loss. Another highlight is the soundtrack, a haunting and melancholic synth score that I couldn’t stop listening to long after I finished the game.
I highly recommend checking this game out, and on the Switch if that’s your fancy!”
-Ben Thomas
Final Fantasy XIV
“I’ve been playing this game since 2010 and it’s still important to me 12 years later! FFXIV is the place where I spend time with friends that I recently moved away from, and I love winding down with fishing. I can’t wait to see what new adventures are ahead!”
-Kaitlin Smith
Tinkykin
“I loved my time with Splashteam’s Tinykin when it came out this Fall. The game combines a fresh take on the “you are itty-bitty” concept, and crafts a tight gameplay loop that evokes the best bits of the golden era of 3D platforming. I loved hopping and gliding around the tiny worlds/rooms of the house, and peeling back the mystery of what happened here. Maybe best of all was the utterly charming visual style of the game, that kept me smiling throughout the adventure. If you’re looking for a lovely weekend game, I couldn’t recommend it enough.”
-Joel Burgess
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
“I finally got around to checking out Fall Guys this year when it went Free-to-play. I liked the concept after seeing the very first trailer but, like many of us, it’s hard to keep up with every game, tv show or movie that comes out. It’s a notable trend seeing games start out as premium and then transition into F2P (Destiny 2, Rocket League). I don’t know if the fan-base feels like it ruined the game, or is happy to see the game live on and have a bigger community now, but it’s good fun when you’re looking for a bite-sized gaming session. I’ve only put about 5 hours into it though. I’m intrigued to see what else can be done with the battle royale concept.”
-Sean Lohrisch
Honourable mention: Marvel Snap
We all played a lot of Marvel Snap this year! It’s a brilliant, snappy card-battler built for quick sessions, perfect for VS multiplayer matches on mobile, and a lot of people at Capy loved it quite a bit and will likely be playing it deep into 2023!
