If you haven't played all five yet, then you must correct that ASAP.
We'll be honest... it hasn't been a GREAT year for games so far, has it?
With the delays from the pandemic still directly affecting the release dates of some of the biggest games of 2022 and beyond, releases have been sparser than usual.
But with some great games on the horizon over the last six months of the year, we wanted to celebrate the best that we've got our hands on so far in 2022, in order of the dates they were released. Speaking of horizons...
1. Horizon Forbidden West
Release Date: 18 February
Arriving a long five years after the events of Horizon Zero Dawn, the developers of the sequel borrowed some of the best bits from Breath of the Wild for this return to the world of post-apocalyptic robot dinosaurs and the remnants of humanity that is trying to survive alongside them. Huge, beautiful, detailed, mysterious, with a great sci-fi tale to tell. It would've been A LOT bigger had it not been for what was released just seven days later...
Available on PS5 and PS4.
2. Elden Ring
Release Date: 25 February
The epic pairing of the creators of Game Of Thrones and Dark Souls was always going to be something special, but nobody could've anticipated that it would result in a game that is still what most gamers are talking about, a full four months on from release. As a (mostly) solo warrior in a decrepit world in which (mostly) everything is trying to kill you, Elden Ring takes no prisoners, and we love it all the more for that.
Available on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
3. LEGO Star Wars: Skywalker Saga
Release Date: 5 April
Instead of one big game, you get nine smaller games, each set against the backdrop of a different movie from the main movies. So you can kick off as Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon in The Phantom Menace, and follow all the way through to controlling either Rey or Finn in The Rise Of Skywalker. These are matched with the usual mix of humour and inventiveness we'd come to expect from the LEGO games. Jedi: Survivor might be a ways off yet but the guaranteed family-friendly fun should tide you over until then.
Available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC.
4. The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
Release Date: 27 April
Yes, the original version was released nearly a decade ago, but this update gives you even more routes to take following on from how the game originally ends. In case it passed you by back in 2013, you control an office worker - appropriately named Stanley - who discovers the building he's working in appears to be completely empty. All you have for company is a narrator, and the decisions you make throughout can either align with the narrator's descriptions, or go directly against them. Either way, whatever decision you make will impact how the rest of the game plays out.
A comedy about living in an existentialist nightmare? Sounds like any old week in the life (also, yes, please).
Available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC.
Release Date: 16 June
The most recent entry on the list is also the most old-school. A slight update to the Streets Of Rage format, in which you control one of the six heroes (the four Turtles, Splinter or April) and take on Shredder and his army of henchmen. The solo campaign is two-to-three hours of pure nostalgia, while the multiplayer allows you to be joined by up to five friends and/or strangers, which in turn multiples the baddies on screen. Huge amounts of fun.
Available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC.
Clips via PlayStation, Xbox, Warner Bros. & Bandai Namco
Honourable mentions
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (PS5)
OlliOlli World (PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)
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