GOTY 2022 — Kes' top 3 best PS5, PS4 games

2022 on PS4 and PS5 has been massive, with games coming out that have hit an extraordinarily high bar. So, the writers have put together a list of three games from 2022, honourable mentions, and some bits from years past.

2022 had some massive games and PlayStation exclusives. The quality bar has been raised yet again, so the TT staff has made a list of their favourite best games of 2022. While, yes, you can expect to see some games that have cropped up on our best PS5 games list and our best PS4 games list, rest assured that there are plenty of other nuggets in here.

Top 3 Best Games of 2022 — Kes

This time around Editor Kes will delve into three (predictable) favourites from 2022, some games he finally got around to, and some honourable mentions. Let's dive in!

Honourable mentions

My honourable mentions list is honestly pretty small. Uncharted Legacy of Thieves blew me away at the start of the year at its ability to make the PS4 action-adventure entries look even better than they had previously. Trek to Yomi came out in the mid-year, which was a beautiful platformer that used black and white to superb effect. I think I have to give it up to Modern Warfare 2 at the end of the year, though. A good single-player is matched by a good multiplayer, but really it's Warzone 2.0 that has kept my friends and I plugging at it every night. There are problems, for sure, but this is overwhelmingly the most comprehensive shooter I've played in ages.

Gran Turismo 7

Gran Turismo 7 — PS5

Gran Turismo 7 is very good. It has had — and still has — problems, but I had a great time taking to the track back in March. I think it's the combination of small things that makes GT7 work. The graphics are unabashedly superb and perfect, with cars looking like the pristine covers of auto magazines at every corner. Then you have the feel of the cars... the way they rumble through corners and condition simulation to make the game nigh-on different every time you play. The single-player might be full of rolling starts, but it's nice and lengthy and the addition of the cafe story mode is full of love. The menus are sloppy and the underlying meta-game systems are from a different era, but it makes up for it all with a prevailing sense that this game was made with pure automotive intentions. So, love it back, I do!

Horizon Forbidden West

Horizon Forbidden West — PS5

I've gone back and forth on Horizon Forbidden West since I gave you my review. I still think it is superb and one of the prettiest games I have ever played. However, it isn't really revolutionary in any way. You climb ascribed paths, you collect things in an open world, and you go from mission to ascribed mission with a sense that you are kind of floating through the world with no attachments. Then, I realise this was more of a perfection of that formula we started getting with Assassin's Creed II back in 2009 rather than some Elden Ring or Red Dead Redemption 2 blowout of all the existing remits of what we thought game design was capable of.

Without that revolutionary expectation, it's much easier for me to fall back in love with Horizon. The story is predominantly fantastic and the combat is outrageously good. There is nothing quite like taking on a machine that looks like an elephant and slicing it off bit by bit until you can see daylight. I think the world itself is stunningly realised — beautiful, varied, and contextually immersive. There are sights I won't forget for a long while, so I think this really must qualify in my top three.

God of War Ragnarok is everything I wanted and more

God of War Ragnarok — PS5

God of War Ragnarok has a story that won't let you go for 40 hours. Add in combat that often leaves you breathless and locations that fill you with wonder, and there is no doubt that this is my GOTY for 2022. If my major hangup is that this feels like a PS4 game passing as something next-gen, then that is perfectly fine by me. Emotion runs through its core as you see Kratos and Atreus adventure through new territories and deal with the mythical peoples and stories that surround them. I think, in turn, that is why it gets my vote. No game made me feel quite like God of War did this year, so I think it is the best thing I played!

Return of the Obra Dinn

Other gaming delights from years past

I think my favourite game I played this year was actually Return of the Obra Dinn. Not only does it have an art style I've never seen before, but its setting and puzzle are also ludicrously compelling. This is game design at its simplest and most effective — solve a mystery. It plays with time, yes. It has incredible music, yes. But, ultimately, you are motivated by your insatiable curiosity. I'm fairly certain this is a perfect game so I'm glad I could give it a nod.

Two more I played this year were Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart and Death Stranding. I would highly recommend the first PlayStation staple as a game to get on sale. For such an easy-to-love mascot shooter and platformer, it takes a while to get going and once it does, it kind of just ends. However, it looks great and the shooting is properly good arcade fun. Kojima's effort, meanwhile, is an odd and imperfect masterpiece. The exploring you do is unlike any other in video games. I'm convinced it is genius that the natural world becomes the level for you to conquer. It no doubt stumbles — the shooting is not good, at all — but the story and the world are so compelling and weird that I can't help but love it!

Final thoughts

2022 has been very solid, I think. It's a post-pandemic year in which delays became the norm, but out of that I think we got a really well-paced year of PS5 and PS4 game drops. The likes of Elden Ring and Cult of the Lamb are now in the backlog after I mop up Returnal and Cyberpunk 2077, for sure. Next year promises to be massive, though — too massive? We will see, with PlayStation's rather empty-looking lineup possibly giving us plenty of room to play a myriad of other AAA titles and exciting-looking indies.

How was your 2022? Any gaming highlights? Get in the comments and I will see you there!

Written by Kes Eylers-Stephenson

Editor Kes is our resident expert in PlayStation and other gaming news. He writes about PS5 exclusives like The Last of Us and Horizon, PS Plus news, and his favorite games — The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed, and God of War — before an evening swim.