My 2022 GOTY Revisited: Ten Games That Still Resonate in 2026

Looking back from 2026, my personal game of the year list for 2022 remains the most important and most meaningless thing I could write.

It is important because it lets me honor the games that genuinely changed how I thought about play 🎮, story 📖, and labor 🛠️. It is meaningless because I am just someone on the internet with a pile of opinions. Still, if you loved these games too, I hope this revisitation brings some shared satisfaction. And if you never tried them, maybe my glowing memories will push you to finally pick them up.

Honorable mentions still go to the ingenious detective game The Case of the Golden Idol, Returnal — a game that would have topped my list if it had launched that year — and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, which I still have not given the time it deserves.

God of War Ragnarok

God of War Ragnarok is everything that made the 2018 reboot great, then somehow adds more. The refined combat and expanded monster variety deliver some of the best action of that entire generation. But what truly sets Ragnarok apart is the strength of its performances and storytelling. It is remarkable that a huge triple-A game chose to be a grounded family drama, especially given the series’ chaotic roots. Kratos’ journey shows how much gaming has matured, moving far beyond the cheap shock value of older entries. Even in 2026, Ragnarok feels like a cultural landmark.

Immortality

Immortality remains as boundary-pushing as games got in 2022. Sam Barlow’s third FMV mystery is his most ambitious, blending multiple narratives, genres, styles, and film technologies into a shifting labyrinth. The Lynchian narrative is so surreal and experimental that calling it a story feels reductive. Manon Gage gives an Oscar-worthy performance as the enigmatic starlet Marissa Marcel, and the voyeuristic obsession you develop with her feels both intimate and unsettling. I unraveled its secrets years ago, and it still haunts me.

Vampire Survivors

I played Vampire Survivors on trains, in the rain, and just about everywhere. It became my default way to kill time or let my mind idle. What disturbs me is how much it feels like it should have existed forever. It is technically a fresh take on the bullet hell genre, but it is so perfectly designed that it became a genre unto itself, inspiring endless copycats. You understand Vampire Survivors immediately, and it is almost impossible to put down. I can picture an alternate 2026 where Candy Crush never existed and Vampire Survivors came preinstalled on every phone.

Citizen Sleeper

Citizen Sleeper was the first narrative-driven, anti-capitalist indie cyberpunk game set in space that I loved that year, and it is still weird that there were two. Its unique dice mechanic gives the choice-based narrative a wonderful tabletop flavor. More importantly, the strength of its individual storylines makes it special. Whether exploring socioeconomic structures, technobabble, or interpersonal conflict, Citizen Sleeper always leads with emotional experience. The intricate worldbuilding and political intrigue would not be half as compelling without its lens of empathy. This is what thoughtful speculative fiction should look like.

We Were Here Forever

I appreciated It Takes Two for helping gamers and non-gamers share an interactive experience, but it lacked real collaboration for me. The We Were Here series, especially We Were Here Forever, remains the pinnacle of collaborative co-op. The puzzles are inventive and complex, requiring both partners to share information and solve problems together. Escape room games were on the rise in 2022, but We Were Here Forever is leagues beyond every other co-op puzzle game I have played since.

Ghostwire: Tokyo

Every sophisticated Ghostwire: Tokyo appreciator knows it is all about the vibes. I loved collecting souls in dark alleyways, gliding across rain-soaked rooftops, and gazing at the neon-lit skyline. Its dense supernatural city engrossed me in a way most open worlds never do. Ghostwire also offered a pointed critique of late-stage capitalism and a message about perseverance that felt unusually thoughtful for a big triple-A game. If more games were like Ghostwire: Tokyo, we would have a lot more enlightened players.

Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

Simping for Destiny 2 has been my honor for years, and The Witch Queen felt like the reward for that service. It was a huge step up from past campaigns and a massive improvement in Bungie’s approach to storytelling. Savathun is Destiny’s greatest villain yet, and the activities, locations, and campaign were all worthy of the threat she posed. We got real development, big unexpected twists, and the best raid boss ever. No other live game comes close to what Destiny 2 was doing year after year, and The Witch Queen set an impressively high bar for its future.

Marvel Snap

Marvel Snap was such a remarkable reinvention of digital card games that it attracted millions of non-card game players to a free-to-play CCG on their phones. Its short matches, easy mechanics, simple deck building, and frequent updates all contributed to its success. But it was the way all those bold design decisions worked together that made Marvel Snap a phenomenon. I played it every day since mid-June 2022, and even now it still surprises me.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

I knew Midnight Suns’ action-oriented turn-based combat would hook me, but I did not expect its Persona-like life-sim to compel more than 100 hours of play that year. Its self-insert character, The Hunter, was the smartest decision Firaxis made, because it let me become part of the team in a way no other Marvel game had managed. Every character had an endearing personality and a compelling arc, and the relationships I built felt authentic and earned. This might be the closest we will ever get to becoming a Marvel superhero.

Hardspace: Shipbreaker

Back in May 2022, I wrote that Hardspace: Shipbreaker might be the most important game of that year, and time has proven me right. Hardspace takes place in a future where billionaires have industrialized outer space and extended our capitalist nightmare into the heavens. But rather than a simple cautionary tale, it deals with the very current issue of labor organization. Its story follows exploited workers fighting to unionize against a mega-corporation that wants them to see themselves as weak and disposable.

What makes Hardspace remarkable is not just the topic, but how it explores our relationship with labor under capitalism. Through spaceship salvaging, it creates a satisfying game loop that challenges us to examine work as part of our self-worth. The process of learning, mastering, and enjoying the work reveals the social mechanisms that exploit our labor while conditioning us to feel rewarded by it. Not many games can change how you see something so fundamental to existence. That is why Hardspace: Shipbreaker remains one of the most profound experiences I have ever played.