Every year brings about a fresh flood of gam🏅es to wash away our time and troubles. And though the roster of games releasing changes over time, the excitement and hope with which we view our most anticipated titles never really does. 2022 promises to nourish our enthusiasm with a deluge of games we are eagerly expecting.
So as 2021 winds to a close and 2022 looms on the horizon, TheGamer staff thought wܫe'd take a look at our hotly antic🎉ipated game launches of the coming year. From triple-A sequels to fresh indie titles, there is an assortment of games we can't wait to dive into when the new year splashes onto the scene.
Elden Ring
by Damien Lykins
Years of anticipation preceded 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elden Ring’s showing at E3 2021, anౠd seeing i꧙t finally hit the scene with a release date alongside an official gameplay trailer was something akin to witnessing a live unicorn — or finally climbing out of the murky, framerate-destroying mire of Blighttown for the first time. Bit of a range there, I know.
Put simply, the Dark S💖ouls trilogy (yes, even Dark Souls II, before you ask) maintains my undying affection between now and forever. From the hauntingly beautiful desolation of Lordran to the wave-kissed shores of Majula, these are the places I go to drown and process my troubles. So it should go without saying that Elden Ring is easily the apple of my eye for 2022. I mean, it's open-world Dark Souls with horses, George R.R. Martin, and adorable sentient pottery that is undoubtedly hazardous to life and limb. Is there much more that needs to be said?
Pokemon Legends: Arceus
by Michael Christopher
For years, Pokemon fans have dreamed of an open-world Pokemon RPG. We were given a glimpse of what this could be with Sword & Shield's Wild Area, but Game Freak has finally given us a full realization of this♍ dream in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. I've been a diehard Pokemon fan for almost my entire life, and I don't remember a time I was so intrigued about an upcoming installment in the🌸 series.
This game is set in the Hisui region, long before it became known as Sinnoh. This is a feudal era where Poke Balls are made of wood and people live off the land. From the art style to the game mechani꧅cs, it looks absolutely breathtaking, and seems to be a new era for both Game Freak and the Pokemon Company.
Much of the expectation for Legends: Arceus is not what it will be, but what w♏ill come after. Is this a new series? Will main series games learn from the freedom an open-world game offers? Hopefully, this means a future Legends series — perhaps we'll see Pokemon Legends: Celebi take ಞplace across time or Pokemon Legends: Magearna in a Jules Verne-esque Steampunk industrial era. The possibilities are endless, and I can't wait to see what Pokemon Legends: Arceus will bring to one of my favorite series of all time.
Starfield
by Juliet Childers
When Bethesda revealed the Starfield release date as November 2022, I thought "what the heck am I going to do for like... a year?!" Of course, in retrospect, that thought feels quite a bit silly. Chalk it up to childlike innocence at being excited about something amid the cynicism and crushing nihilism of 2021. Even though there have been tons of excellent spaཧce-faring games like No Man's Sky, E♒lite Dangerous, or even the polarizing Star Citizen, Starfield promises something unique.
The game seems like it will, in true Bethesda fashion, be a lonely gꦛame — one to echo the experiences so many of us have had in recent memory. We still don't know the exact setting of Starfield; if some great cataclysm occurred or mankind is just now taking flight to space. But Starfield promises wonder and discovery and something akin to hope. That's what everyone needs a dose of right now.
Gotham Knights
by George Foster
A new Batman game is an exciting enough prospect on its own, but a Batman game focused on the infinitely more interesting Bat-family? Hell yes. Gotham Knights is a bit of a mystery at the moment with only one proper showcase, but even from the concept alon𝕴e, it seems like it could be something special. The jury’s still out on the new combat and focus on co-op, but the prospect of roaming around Gotham with a friend is truly exciting. Batman’s totally not dead, though.
Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
by Eric Switzer
While other live ser🧸vice games expand infinitely into all all-encompassing "metaverse," Bungie continues to refine Destiny 2 with each passing year. The game has never felt better to play, and while you could likely make that case at any point in the past, it's also never told a better story. The Witch Queen - while technically just a middle point in the Light and Darkness Saga - is a story that has been building in the background of Destiny from the very beginning. It's not the ♐long wait that has me anxious for TWQ, but rather that Bungie has steadily refined, and in fact defined, the process of live service storytelling over the last seven years. Savathun's Throne World, with its sickly green swampy hue and twisted Hive magics, will take Guardians to a place unlike anything we've ever seen, and I'm confident that its story will be just as horrifically engrossing as the Witch Queen herself.
Slime Rancher 2
by Amanda Hurych
The a🌠dorable adventure presented in the first Slime Rancher gets bigger (and cuter, if that is even possible) in the upcoming sequel. Slime Rancher 2 ticks all of the boxes I have on my 🅷wishlist. Not only can I explore a new landscape and build up my very own slime ranch, there seems to be a whole host of new Slimes to suck into my Vacpack. I have my fingers crossed that the Plort Market will make a return because who doesn't like to participate in an in-game economy that runs on poop?
All kidding aside, Slime Rancher was a genuine delight to play. The first game absorbe🍌d my time more completely than aꦐ Gordo Slime consumes food, and I honestly can't wait to have my life wholly consumed by its successor.
God Of War Sequel
by Sam Hallahan
Ragnarok is coming. In the final moments of the 2018 God of War, we saw Thor arrive at Kratos’ doorstep, Mjolnir at the ready. This setup indicates that there is likely to be some clashing with the bigger Norse gods, and we might finally step foot in Asgard to co𒐪nfront Odin himself - a name which carries weight and fear throughout Midgard and its surrounding realms.
Alongside the twist that reveals Atreus seems to have more of a significant role than we 🐠first expected, fans are eager to see where the story goes. And with a fantastic team of writers, we can only prepare ourselves for one of the biggest games of the year.
Stray
by Harry Alston
Pet the cat? In Stray, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:you are the cat. Developed by BlueTwelve Studio and published by indie powerhouse Annapurna Interactive, Stray follows the story of, well, a stray cat. The nameless feline protagonist must navigate a dystopian city glowing with neon lights while solving puzzles, interacting with the city's denizens, and getting by with a little help from🅷 its drone companﷺion, B-12.
Beyond the gameplay, the narrative has been kept relatively secret. There are a few glimpses of puzzle-solving and interacting with the bizarre humanoid robots that inhabit the city and talk a little like Animal Crossing characters, but mostly it's hush-hush. You're a lost cat on a mission to find its family. Simple premise? Maybe. But not likely. Knowing the caliber of its Annapurna neighbors, Stray definitely has more to offer than we've seen so far. To top it all off, Stray looks gorgeous. The mellow beats of its soundtrack aren't Cyberpunk 2077 gonk-smashing, but more "l💦o-fi beats to relax/be a cat to." Pair the smooth animation of the cat with the intricate🅰ly detailed city and you've got what looks to be a 2022 stunner.
Two Point Campus
by Meg Pelliccio
Endless classes, living on c𒉰anteen food, late nights with fellow students… It’s time to go back to university, but not as you know it. Two Point Campus is launching next year, but it wouldn’t be a proper Two Point game without the studio’s brand of wacky humour. Naturally, the studio is adding its own 🐓formula of bizarre and hilarious qualities to academic life.
Instead of the usual classes, students will be enrolling to become clowns, wizards, knights, and more. Don't expect the normal roster of faculty members either. Of course, for t🐻he whole university experience, you’ll need a social scene too — so you can add clubs, concerts, and societies to your campus. Ensuring your students are living life at its very best is part and parcel of running your own campus.
With new and improved building tools makingꦅ it even easier for newcomers to the genre, Two Point Campus looks set to be even bigger, better, and sillier than its predecessor. As a fan of both Theme Hospital and Two Point Hospital, I can’t wait to see this fresh entry to the sim genre and start building my amazing(ly daft) university.
Sifu
by George Foster
Ever since its initial reveal earlier this year, the brief looks we’ve had at Sifu make it look like one of the most exciting indie games in some time. Even without having played it, its combat looks nearly unmatched in its cinematic flow. Bones really do crunch in Sifu, which I guess is a weird thing to be excited about, but it's proof that the melee looks like it has been pret♊ty much mastered.
Here’s hoping the combat is as deep as it is as satisfying to watch. If it is? Holy cow.
