Best Games of 2022: Lilia’s Top 5 Games of 2022

2022 has not been the best year for video games, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have much to offer. While the year’s biggest releases will be hitting the history books for their outstanding performances, overwhelming acclaim, and award-winning standings, the indie scene continues to thrive and leave just as grand of an impression.

I find it hard to argue that point with just how victorious the latter has been, especially with almost all of my highlights for this year coming from amateur groups, solo creators, or studio debut releases. Between visuals novels on the more gruelingly dark side and spectacularly fast-paced action games that never run out of steam, without further ado, here goes: my Top 5 Games of 2022.

5. Neon White

Neon White is a surreal concoction of so many genres, one which is wildly imaginative and what makes it stand out as such a one-of-a-kind experience. Namely, it is a first-person shooter, puzzle-platformer, dating sim, mystery, and parkour adventure – just to vaguely sum its deal up as best I can. While its gameplay is the primary hook to it for its sheer polish and fun factor, its narrative beats are much more of a slow burner. For what initially appears as archetypes of popular anime tropes and cliches, the uncovering of Heaven as a location and its lore as the game depicts it, as well as your fellow comrades’ pasts, are what build up Neon White to be something truly special.

As an incredible indie debut title from developer Angel Matrix, Neon White gets better and better the longer you stick around for it. You simply cannot take anything about it for face value as its levels increase in difficulty, its characters drop their facades and reveal their true complexities over time, and its story elevates at each and every turn. Neon White will blindside you in more ways than one, and it is my most satisfying gaming experience this year.

4. Cut to the Core

Body horror is an underutilised subgenre, maybe not across video games as a whole, but most definitely in the visual novel sphere. Despite 2022 treating us to some of the most memorable within said subgenre, such as with indie developer Wirion with the highly uncomfortable and oppressive Athanasy and even across games as a whole with Ebb Software’s Scorn that prioritised its visuals and art direction over everything else, what surprised me most this year is with this hidden gem of a psychological and bloody treat Plasma Press brought to us.

As a kinetic visual novel, you cannot seek refuge in any way when choosing to see through this wild ride. Stylised after the iconic American horror comics of the 1950s, such as Tales from the Crypt, Cut to the Core is as insane as it looks. It goes from one extreme to the next, with its harrowing events never running out of steam and only ever escalating. It is unlike anything I have seen in the medium before for how close of an experience it is to watch the darkest, most bloody black comedy movie play out before your eyes. It’s one you have to see for yourself to believe.

3. Soulstice

If you were to tell me that we were getting a video game within 2022 that has its biggest influences coming from Norihiro Yagi’s manga series Claymore, I would not have believed you. Claymore was originally serialised from 2001 to 2007 and remains my favourite-ever manga. So, you can probably already guess how much adoration I have for this broody, hack-and-slash title of this year that heavily borrowed from it.

Soulstice has everything a fan of Claymore and even Berserk will love – a suspicious Organisation who are seemingly pulling the strings out of sight, human hybrid warriors who can “Transcend,” and a Berserker mode where you can unleash everything you have in your arsenal at the expense of completely breaking your psyche and losing your humanity. Alongside this is a narrative that continuously pulls you in, not just to witness its main two characters, Briar and Lute, hone their talents, but as their bond as siblings grow and build one another up even after death. It’s surprisingly heart-warming despite the darkness surrounding them at all times, making for a splendid juxtaposition.

2. The Price of Flesh

The Price of Flesh is a guilty pleasure of a game for me and one that has completely stolen my heart for how unafraid it is in delivering exactly what it sets out to be. If you thought Cut to the Core was for mature audiences only, you have to see just how far The Price of Flesh pushes this particular envelope – as long as you are over 18, that is. Of course, considering that it was developed by Gatobob, creator of the Boyfriend to Death series, you will have a good inkling that you already know what you will sign up for here.

The Price of Flesh has players auctioned off and sold to one of three bidders, each with differing intentions, locations, and play styles in their respective routes. In each and every one, survival is the one and only goal. Managing your resources, time, and various personal meters, such as food and sanity levels, will also vary in significance depending on the route.

The game itself offers so much versatility in its design, such as each route being based on a death game, escape room, or even the most intense game of hide and seek. It is wildly entertaining and highly challenging, and it’s made even better by being able to unlock its Memelord mode once completing all achievements. It’s a masochist’s dream come true and is the video game of 2022 that I clocked in the most hours with.

1. IMMORTALITY

IMMORTALITY deserved to win narrative game of the year. In fact, it still deserves even more acclaim than it is already receiving. It is a game I still have yet to forget, as it plagues my mind every night for the meaning behind its layered messages and haunting send-off with its final footage reel. It shook me to my very core.

IMMORTALITY is a number of things. With an incredibly impressive production for showcasing three full films from different eras and the most remarkable acting to have come out from an FMV game, it stands above the rest when taking it at its face value. But looking any deeper into it is what really showcases its worth and everlasting factors. With shocking twists and turns and a profoundly deep and meaningful message as its final hook, IMMORTALITY is a breathtaking experience that is truly striking and unique. It is not one to be missed. This is, undoubtedly, my Game of the Year for 2022 by a mile.