Now that we’re on the finish of 2022, I am taking the time to look again on the yr and determine what the theme was — and the way we’ll bear in mind this yr in video games when it is gone.
For those who take a look at many websites’ GOTY lists, you will see all of them dominated by Elden Ring and God of Battle Ragnarok, however right here on Nintendo Life, we have had a really completely different yr. Two Pokémon video games, a brand new 3D Kirby, Splatoon 3, Bayonetta 3, and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope saved the exclusives and first-party fires burning on the ol’ Swap, and though we did not get a full Mario or Zelda launch this yr, we obtained loads of reports about Tears of the Kingdom and the Tremendous Mario Bros. Film to tide us over.
Personally, I am extra of an indies gal when it comes all the way down to it, and this yr did not disappoint, even when lots of the finest indies on Swap had been ports from earlier years. I prefer to assume that 2022 might be remembered as a yr of weird-but-beautiful narrative-angled video games that defy style, like Neon White, Cult of the Lamb, Citizen Sleeper, and Card Shark, and even when we did not get different video games in the identical class — Immortality, Pentiment, and Case of the Golden Idol come to thoughts — I nonetheless assume the Swap had a reasonably unbelievable yr for indies.
Nonetheless, if I needed to guess what 2022 might be remembered for, I believe I already answered the query: two Pokémon video games, which successfully bookended the yr, with Legends: Arceus initially and Scarlet and Violet on the finish. Each had been various levels of janky, however each elevated the sequence to new heights on the similar time, and in a yr that was bereft of Mario and Zelda, it is smart that one other one of many large canine would take the highlight.
These two video games, for me at the very least, had been an actual coming house second — the primary time in a very long time that I’ve really needed to play a Pokémon sport to completion. For therefore lengthy, the sequence has been about the identical factor with completely different flavours; Arceus and ScarVi lastly dared to take large steps into the good unknown, and regardless of a whole lot of technical flaws, the sequence is best for it.
And riffing off the themes of each of those behemoth Pokémon video games, I suppose I might argue that 2022, 5 years on from Breath of the Wild, was all about freedom. The liberty to roam in ScarVi and Elden Ring, the liberty to discover in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and even the non-linearity of Sonic Frontiers — I believe we’re persevering with to see sport design ripples coming from the big splash that Breath of the Wild made in 2017, and I do not thoughts in any respect. Lots of video games, AAA particularly, benefitted this yr from open worlds, and if studios can proceed to get it proper, video games might be all the higher for it.
However there could possibly be an even bigger, grander theme that I am simply not seeing, and so I flip to you, beautiful readers. What do you assume would be the “theme” of 2022? Is it completely different on Swap than different platforms? And what do you assume subsequent yr might be all about, aside from Zelda? Inform me within the feedback!