The fourth and final entry in the Flowers franchise. Don't have much to add to this without repeating what I said about the previous entries in the franchise, but I will say that it is probably the weakest of the bunch. While I'm not as dissatisfied with the ending as other people, I definitely enjoyed the others more, including Automne which I also read this year.

So why am I including this one here? Because it's the end of the journey. It was something I really looked forward to reading more of, ever since I finished Printemps back in May 2019. It remains my favourite yuri franchise and I'll give it a spot on the list, even if just barely. Ete is still the best though.

I had quite a lot I wanted to talk about for this VN but for once, I actually don't really remember all the details, particularly in regards to several QoL features I liked (probably due to the fact that Riddle Joker outclassed it in that regards, which I read later in the year). I also wanted to make a couple of voice reels to showcase just how amazing the voice acting was in the game but naturally I ended up being too lazy to make the compilation.

Anyway, the title and gorgeous cgs were more than enough to get me interested in this VN and I'm glad it did. Between the superb art direction, the masterclass in voice acting and the different interesting stories converging into the main one made this one of the better reads of 2022. It sold pretty poorly unfortunately but I suppose that was to be expected with the $40 price tag, which is usually much higher than most people are willing to pay for VNs in the west.

As someone that wasn't too familiar with Uchikoshi's works, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this title. Sure, the trailer and screenshots looked like I'd probably like it based on my previous enjoyment of games like Danganronpa, but the only other thing I've seen/played from the director was Punch Line, which was… not for everyone, let's just say.

I do feel like Somnium Files is in a similar position - while I did greatly enjoy my time spent throughout the whole craziness going on in here, I do feel like it has quite a few elements that might put other people off, like the protagonist's personality and a lot of fetish talk. Since that doesn't really bother me and this was also one of the more… unique games I've played last year, it's gonna be getting the 6th spot on this list.

And now we're getting into the really good games of 2022. Any of these could've probably been my goty in previous years for one reason or another, hence why I said my challenge was a success.

MHS2 is… rock-paper-scissors pokemon. That's it, that's the whole game.

No, but seriously, this game's concept is so ridiculously simple and stupid that it has absolutely no right to be as fun and addictive as it ended up being. I laughed when I saw the trailer and how your companions are called "monsties" - like really? what is this child pandering doing in my monster hunter game? And yet… the 2-ish hours long demo was all I needed to know just how badly I was mistaken about this game. It just works so well for such a simple concept (it does get more complex in terms of how you build, weaknesses and all that jazz, but it's still a glorified rock-paper-scissors simulator).

As easily one of the best "monster collector" games on PC, this would've probably been much higher on the list if my 2022 completion list wasn't so stacked.

Elden Ring at… #4? Huh? Am I reading that right? 🤔

Yep, the most anticipated game for fans of soulslikes did not actually make my top 3 this year. It is, however, the highest placement for a 2022 release, so I suppose I do agree with all the GOTY awards this has claimed in the past month.

While this is "pretty low" on my list, it's not really because I didn't enjoy it or anything (as might be pretty obvious by the 200-ish hours of playtime). It does have its flaws, sure, like a lot of reused bosses and such, but it was just outclassed by the others.

I could just repeat all the stuff you might've already heard on the internet but I don't really see a point - this is likely one of the most discussed games of the year, so I'll just say that this is my favourite FromSoft game up to date, no doubt. While Sekiro's combat was more satisfying, the sheer amount of possible builds still make Elden Ring far more appealing in the end.

DMC5 was a really pleasant surprise for me. As someone that rarely plays pure hack'n'slash games, I can't say I have a lot of experience in the genre (I believe my last title played was Bayonetta in like 2017), but it sure as hell ticked a lot of boxes.

Should be no surprise that such a heavy action game is high up my list, especially when it's done so incredibly well, but I can't really say I was expecting it. Between the insane amount of combos, vastly different characters and style, attention to detail, the way everything interacts with enemies with so many unexplained mechanics you can figure out, you can just clearly see the amount of love that was put into this title.

It does not come without its flaws though, particularly being locked to a couple of fairly easy difficulties, having to replay everything (including every mission on every difficulty if you plan to get the achievements, as beating the higher ones don't unlock achievements for the lowest), but it did have one of the most satisfying combat systems I've seen in recent times. Looking back, I would've probably been annoyed if this game didn't win the "best action" award at TGA 2019.

Can't say I'm too excited about replaying every mission so many times to see how the highest difficulty feels like, but I'll probably at least go back and play the Vergil dlc at some point this year, as I didn't get around to doing so yet.

As someone that cares more about combat mechanics than the actual exploration aspects, I've kinda kept going back and forth whether Sekiro or the first Nioh was my favourite soulslike for a while. That uncertainty was dispelled rather quickly in early 2021 when I initially started my playthrough of Nioh 2 and saw just how vastly it improved on its mechanics, swiftly surpassing the opposition.

But there was still the question… is it the level design that makes FromSoft the "top dog" in this debate? Clearly it wasn't the rb/r1 spam that made Dark Souls appealing, so it was obviously the interconnected world that made the games so memorable.

A year later, Elden Ring came out to also settle that debate for me. Not because it helped me understand why people love FromSoft's world vision so much, but because it made me realize that… just having "level select" type of areas and missions in the Nioh franchise is perfectly fine. Elden Ring's open world ended up being more detrimental for someone that tries to explore every nook and cranny, so maybe just having smaller areas (that still have the usual shortcuts and such) is perfectly okay. Elden Ring definitely had its "wow" moments when arriving in certain places, but having to fill the oversized map with the same bosses over and over again was by no means a better alternative to having smaller handcrafted levels.

As a result, Nioh 2 is undoubtedly my favourite soulslike up to date. The combat is incredibly fleshed out, NG+ cycles change how almost everything works (from having access to better gear, new enemy placements, new enemy mechanics, changed boss behaviour and so on) and it has one of the best character creation menus (maybe still not quite on CODE VEIN's level, but pretty close). Hell, the fact that the game actually managed to keep my attention all the way to the highest NG+ cycle is more than enough reason for me to praise the game - I pretty much never replay anything (other than roguelikes/lites, for obvious reasons).

My one complaint is that the boss roster is probably weaker than the first game. Not necessarily in terms of themes, but in how relatively simple most of them are. I suppose this is balanced by having less cheesing options compared to the first game.

There is always a bigger fish: The Videogame

If at the start of the year you told me that an indie deckbuilder was gonna surpass Elden Ring and Nioh 2, I would've probably called you crazy, but this game… this game was something else.

It's actually pretty hard to talk about what makes this game particularly special, as the unexpected things are part of what makes this so good. I could tell you all about the amazing songs Mili has put out for this game, but there's hardly anything that would leave an impression out of context. I suppose I could leave the opening cinematic if you wanna get a taste for it.

No, instead I can tell you that this is a game made by someone that added… everything he ever thought of and wanted in the game. Balance? Thrown out of the window. Keeping things simple so people understand the gameplay easily? We don't do that here. A straightforward UI to make every combat encounter feel effortless? Nah, how about over a dozen of dice with multiple arrows spreading across the screen making a complete clusterfuck towards the end of the game instead? One of the most common things associated with the game is that "the difficulty spike is vertical" (in fact googling that in quotation marks just gives you results about this game), and for pretty good reason. 127 hours for my playthrough and at no point did the game stop adding new mechanics, it's actually ridiculous. To be fair around 15 of those hours are fully voiced cutscenes, but still.

Yes, that was 127 hours for a single playthrough. Yes, it's "just" a handcrafted story, not a roguelike deckbuilder or anything of the sorts. And with that, I'll get to the point… Would I recommend this game? Probably not, to almost anyone (although I did gift this to someone for Christmas, sorry). I'm not gonna gatekeep about the difficulty or anything like that but more about the time this game demands from you. Not even the total playtime, but from how long you're kept in a particular session at times. I can only speak for myself, but carefully planning every move made one of the endgame fights take 110min (timed, not pulling a random number out of my ass). No, you can't quit and continue, you'd have to restart. Losing the fight? Yep, back to 0 as well. This is not just one fight either, this happens multiple times throughout the playthrough.

Anyway, it's edgy, it's gruesome, and it's super satisfying to figure out builds and how to overcome the difficult fights. It's hard for me to say if this overtook Darkest Dungeon as my favourite game of all time due to how different they feel (outside of the brutal difficulty found in both), but it certainly had many more memorable moments than any other game in recent times. Fortunately you can have 2 "favourite game" showcases on steam for now so I'll leave this problem for future me to solve, whenever a 3rd contender appears :)

Oh right, I'd also like to give a special shoutout to the ProjectMoon community in general. Never before have I seen such disciplined fans in a gaming community, doing their absolute best to keep everything spoiler-free even when someone asks for help. Everything is an abbreviation or just a general direction of which path you might wanna take before tackling another fight that you might be stuck on at the time.