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2022 is here, and it’s time to begin anew. Are you struggling to feel the spring of optimism? Have you taken a hopeful walk, only to feel an indifferent January scraping against your cheeks? Have you returned to work, under grey-white skies and early-onset gloom? Do you have a heartful of resolutions and a more immediate thirst for alcohol? Will we be young again, will we ever go home? No matter! Shake off the melancholy and look to the games ahead. 2022 promises to be a big one. Let us look at the games that give hope.
Game: Stray
Release date: TBA
Platforms: PlayStation, PC
Hope-o-meter: Hopurrful
Stray is the main reason that 2022 will likely go down as one of the best years in the industry’s history. It is an open world, wherein you play as a cat who wears a backpack. I’ve been quite restless for months, wanting to know what was in the backpack.
Game: Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Release date: January 28
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Hope-o-meter: Hopémon
Pokémon Legends: Arceus is set in Sinnoh, the region of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl—and, latterly, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. But it looks as though it has been breathed on by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; it features an untamed open world, and it’s more of an action-RPG. Plus, for that retro charm, it features wooden Poké Balls that let out puffs of steam.
Game: Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
Release date: January 28
Platforms: PlayStation 5
Hope-o-meter: Hopetic feedback
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection brings both Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy to the PlayStation 5. This is good news, because both of those games are very good games. Now, you will be able to fire guns with the added rattle and judder of the PS5 controller, to say nothing of the updated visuals. I hope to hear the bristle of Sully’s moustache with the aid of the Tempest 3D audio engine.
Game: Dying Light 2 Stay Human
Release date: February 4
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC
Hope-o-meter: Staying Hopeful
Dying Light 2 Stay Human should be looked forward to for several reasons. First, there is no hyphen in the title; it is simply “dying light two stay human”—an intriguing run-on sentiment. Second, “Stay Human” is very good general advice in a zombie apocalypse. Third, the game itself looks pretty good: open world, zombies, presumably set during the evening. And the first one was good.
Game: OlliOlli World
Release date: February 8
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC
Hope-o-meter: Froghoper
The first two OlliOlli games were fantastic, and the upcoming game features an open world with a frog man who wears pink trousers.
Game: Sifu
Release date: February 8
Platforms: PlayStation, PC
Hope-o-meter: Slohope
Kung fu is excellent, generally, and the developer of Sifu, Sloclap, previously made Absolver, which was also excellent. What’s more, every time you die in Sifu, you come back aged, with whitening hair and a full-flowing beard: a comment on the tired genre of the roguelite.
Game: Horizon Forbidden West
Release date: February 18
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
Hope-o-meter: Hoperizon
Aloy is back, and this time she’s heading westward, which is apparently forbidden. We’ll see just how forbidden it is, though, because Aloy is heading there. Other reasons to be excited: more robot dinosaurs, floaty laser umbrellas, and very pretty graphics.
Game: Elden Ring
Release date: February 25
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC
Hope-o-meter: Hopen Ring
Elden Ring is good. I played the closed-network test, and I found it good. When the full game is released, it will be like the closed-network test, only longer, and with more things in it.
Game: Gran Turismo 7
Release date: March 4
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
Hope-o-meter: Adhopetive triggers
I miss Gran Turismo, having not played one since Gran Turismo 4, on the PlayStation 2. I’m still not wholly convinced that the series isn’t a wondrous excuse for its creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, to drive around in cars full time. Still, as long as he’s happy to take us with him, we shouldn’t complain. Hopefully, the driving will benefit from the added throttle and crunch of the PlayStation 5 controller.
Game: Tunic
Release date: March 16
Platforms: Xbox, PC
Hope-o-meter: It’s dangerous to hope alone…
A little fox, garbed in a verdant tunic, with a sword and shield in his paws. I have been looking forward to the Zelda-inspired Tunic for some time (going right back to when it was known as Secret Legend). I shall continue looking forward to it this year.
Game: God of War Ragnarök
Release date: TBA
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
Hope-o-meter: Hopenarök
More of Kratos, more of Atreus, and more time with that axe—hopefully given some haptic heft with the PS5 controller. On top of that, this game features a drum-bellied Thor and, we can only hope, the return of that large snake gentleman.
Game: Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp
Release date: April 8
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Hope-o-meter: Re-hope it holds up
The Advance Wars games, on the Game Boy Advance, were both very good indeed. They are coming to the Nintendo Switch, but the name remains Advance Wars, which no longer fits thematically. Nevertheless, I am still excited to be playing both games again.
Game: Forspoken
Release date: May 24
Platforms: PS5, PC
Hope-o-meter: Dysthopeia
The word “forspeak” means to enchant or bewitch; thus, casting aside its working title of Project Athia, Forspoken hopes to put a spell on us. It centres on a New Yorker, Frey Holland, who is transported to a fantasy realm and imbued with magic powers. She is also accompanied by a talking bracelet.
Game: Ghostwire: Tokyo
Release date: TBA
Platforms: PlayStation, PC
Hope-o-meter: Hopewire
Shinji Mikami could start a brand of brie that stood a chance of being one of the better horror-tinged releases of the year. As it happens, he is working on Ghostwire: Tokyo, which, though possibly cheesy, will definitely be a video game.
Game: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Release date: TBA
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Hope-o-meter: Hopeley Quinn
In truth, I can’t summon much excitement for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but Rocksteady is making it, so I remain moderately hopeful. It also features a land-dwelling talking shark and an evil Superman, so it may fulfil the year’s quota of weird.
Game: Gotham Knights
Release date: TBA
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC
Hope-o-meter: Under the Red Hope
Gotham Knights features the dysfunctional Bat-family: Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood—but, sadly, no Batman. (Still, he is hardly ill served when it comes to good video games; perhaps it’s time for him to slip back into the wings.) Warner Bros. Interactive is behind this one, and the Gotham that we’ve glimpsed is puddled and empurpled, like a wet bruise. Bring on the family entertainment.
Game: Trek to Yomi
Release date: TBA
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC
Hope-o-meter: Hopi
2022 will certainly not be the year in which samurai stop being unreservedly cool. Trek to Yomi is a side-scroller, scarfed in smokey black-and-white, like Limbo, and it focusses on a lonely figure, who, according to the game’s website, “must voyage beyond life and death.” Like Limbo. He also has a sword. Unlike Limbo.
Game: The Callisto Protocol
Release date: TBA
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Hope-o-meter: Hope is a dangerous thing
The Suffering, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, A Way Out, Batman: Arkham Asylum: Games set in prisons tend to be good. The Callisto Protocol—which is helmed by Glen Schofield, of Dead Space fame—is set in a prison during an alien invasion. Top that.
Game: Breath of the Wild 2
Release date: TBA
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Hope-o-meter: Nintendhope
Obviously.
