Collage by Aurich Lawson

Before we get connected to the list, don't miss this year's Ars Technica Charity Drive sweepstakes. You tin triumph portion of astir $2,000 successful prizes, including limited-edition gaming collectibles, each portion helping retired a bully cause. Entries are owed by January 3, 2023, and there's nary acquisition necessary. Thanks successful beforehand for your entry!

2022 was a spot of a weird twelvemonth for video games. For a start, rather perchance the astir anticipated crippled of the twelvemonth came retired successful March, good up of the accustomed vacation play unreserved of releases. But that vacation unreserved was itself muted this year, acknowledgment to delays of big-name franchises from Diablo to Starfield to The Legend of Zelda.

That's led immoderate commentators to telephone 2022 a "slow year" for a games manufacture inactive recovering from the improvement chaos of COVID. And it's true; we did person immoderate corporate occupation getting to our accustomed enactment of 20 games for this year's champion games list, a imaginable motion that determination were less "obvious" picks than usual.

Looking implicit the selections that did marque the 2022 list, though, it's hard to consciousness similar the corporate manufacture has fto america down successful immoderate way. The comparative deficiency of big-budget blockbusters allowed plentifulness of autarkic games a accidental to shine, including those that made this database connected the spot of brave caller ideas successful gameplay oregon storytelling. All told, the games listed beneath volition instrumentality with america for a agelong clip and talk highly of the crippled industry's continuing creativity and resilience.

This twelvemonth we chose to database our gaming picks successful alphabetical order, with a azygous "Game of the Year" prime astatine the end. Here they are.

Atari 50: the Anniversary Celebration

Digital Eclipse; Windows, Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series, Atari VCS

It’s uncommon for a compilation of retro games to beryllium considered for Ars’ yearly Game of the Year list. It’s unprecedented for specified a crippled to really triumph 1 of our coveted spots. But Atari 50 does a mates of important things to abstracted itself from the countless classical crippled emulation collections that person proliferated implicit the years.

Enlarge / A fast-paced instrumentality connected Atari's Lunar Lander, arsenic seen successful Vctr Sctr.

The archetypal is an aggravated absorption connected supplementary materials. Atari 50 is packed with video interviews, plan documents, contemporaneous advertisements, trivia, quotes, and more. It each gives important discourse to Atari’s 50-year history, and makes adjacent the slightest playable games successful the postulation much absorbing from a humanities perspective. The “timeline” presumption is besides top-notch, making the full merchandise consciousness much similar an interactive depository than a elemental postulation of aged titles.

Atari 50 also shines successful its half-dozen “reimagined” versions of a fewer Atari classics. These diagnostic updated graphics, sound, and gameplay that takes vantage of decades of advances successful crippled plan and technology, giving aged concepts caller beingness for a caller audience. While these offerings aren’t each winners, the addictive enactment of Vctr Sctr alone is capable to lukewarm the bosom of immoderate old-school arcade crippled fan.

-Kyle Orland

Cult of the Lamb

Massive Monster; Windows, Mac, Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series

Here's a weird statement: There aren't capable cult simulators retired there. There are, however, plentifulness of roguelites. Cult of the Lamb is both, and portion it's a bully roguelite, it's the cult simulator portion of the bundle that made it basal retired this year.

Enlarge / You cognize the boss-battling drill—avoid ranged and melee attacks portion countering with your own. So far, the demonic beasts we've battled successful Cult of the Lamb onslaught a coagulated equilibrium betwixt hand-drawn frames of animation and stretchy vector effects.

Devolver

The combat portions of the crippled play similar a much forgiving and accessible relative to the indie classical Binding of Isaac. The dodge-and-slash enactment connected connection present is choky though thing excessively original. But you'll walk astatine slightest arsenic overmuch clip successful a town-building loop successful which you'll nutrient and harvest resources, execute favour quests for townspeople, and negociate your cult's wide happiness and productivity—all portion delivering sermons, silencing heretics, and performing anthropomorphic carnal sacrifices.

There are dashes of Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and adjacent Peter Molyneux's Black and White successful here. It's each rather fun, but the cartoonish imaginativeness of moving a cult successful a satellite of Lovecraftian horrors is what truly sells the game.

The creation is top-notch, the euphony volition get stuck successful your caput (in a bully way), and the progression systems are conscionable the close magnitude of addictive. Cult of the Lamb doesn't reinvent a azygous wheel, but it's a delicious cocktail of immoderate of the champion indie gaming has had to connection implicit the past fewer years—whether we're talking astir roguelite dungeon crawlers oregon the cozy crippled phenomenon.

In different words, it's a "greatest hits" of fashionable indie crippled mechanics with a hilarious and archetypal theme. As such, it's worthy of your devotion.

-Samuel Axon

Dwarf Fortress

Bay 12 Games; Windows

The mentation of Dwarf Fortress that has existed for the past 16 years has been, well, off-putting. The default graphics were colored ASCII characters; onboarding relied connected wikis and achy trial-and-error; and the inherent trouble was besides the game's rallying cry: "Losing is fun."

Enlarge / The optional tutorial punctual that appears erstwhile starting Dwarf Fortress' Steam edition. A mineral-rich portion of this satellite could beryllium yours.

Bay 12 Games / Steam

Still, Dwarf Fortress' unmatched complexity and epic storytelling imaginable gave it a devoted pursuing and kept the crippled funded with donations—but barely. That makes the game's modern-day "debut”—with 16-bit-style graphics, a fantastic soundtrack, tutorials, and optimized shortcuts—something of an invitation to newcomers. It's besides a accidental for longtime fans to amusement their emotion for Zach and Tarn Adams, the brothers who person kept this brainsick simulation moving without ever actively selling the game.

The new, commercialized mentation of Dwarf Fortress released this twelvemonth is overmuch easier to excavation than the aged version. Now, aft your archetypal fewer attempts astatine the game, you're much apt to beryllium near with a question like, "How bash you find an encampment with soil that besides has capable minerals?" alternatively than "What was that reddish Turkish-looking awesome and however did it termination my hunter?"

Yet contempt the spit-shine, the tremendously heavy systems and procedurally-generated mythical chaos are each inactive here, conscionable with much tenable ways of accessing and knowing them. (Which leads to different imaginable question: "Why does that feline get morose erstwhile it thinks astir tables?") This caller mentation of Dwarf Fortress lone adds to the charm of this already-impressive enactment and volition hopefully bring the crippled to a wider assemblage that tin amended prolong it. We’ll each beryllium amended for it.

-Kevin Purdy

God of War: Ragnarok

Sony Santa Monica Studio; PS4/5

After 4 years, Ragnarok could person conscionable provided much of the “Dad of Boy”-style God of War that we remembered and loved backmost successful 2018. That crippled astir apt would person been successful contention for a spot connected this list.

Enlarge / Kratos, looking implicit his soon-to-be-bloody domain successful God of War: Ragnarok.

Sony

And yes, astatine its core, overmuch of the gameplay and galore of the environments successful this sequel volition consciousness acquainted to fans of its predecessor. That’s not a atrocious thing; Ragnarok’s combat systems are arsenic heavy arsenic ever, to the constituent that large caller warring options were being introduced astir 20 hours into my playthrough.

But Ragnaork besides stands connected its own, acknowledgment successful nary tiny portion to its supporting characters. The Norse pantheon implied by the game’s rubric ably steals the show, trading subtle barbs and mythological play passim immoderate delightful, scenery-chewing performances. While the narration betwixt Kratos and his pre-teen lad Atreus doesn’t rather tug connected the heartstrings this clip around, determination are capable intriguing broadside stories to screen up this comparative deficiency.

The sequel does a bully occupation with its varied pacing, too, switching to the nimble, bow-equipped Atreus oregon to extended puzzle-solving sections earlier Kratos’ modular axe-and-chain-swinging gameplay tin consciousness excessively tiresome. And the wonderfully ornate environments radiance through, particularly connected the PlayStation 5, practically begging you to research each country for plentifulness of hidden paths and storylines. Touches similar that assistance propulsion this sequel onto our list, adjacent if it doesn't rather unrecorded up to its predecessor.

-Kyle Orland