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Save your money: 2022 is going to be gaming’s next big year

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It’s no secret that 2021 has been a quiet year for gaming. While the indie scene has been as active and exciting as ever, larger studios have had to delay their biggest games, largely due to development challenges posed by having people work form home. While we’ve seen some high-profile hits like Deathloop and Resident Evil Village this year, many of 2021’s most anticipated titles ended up moving to 2022.

If you feel like you haven’t played many new games this year, that’s about to change. As it stands, 2022 is shaping up to be the biggest year in gaming since 2017.

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That statement might elicit some initial eye rolls. Gamers tend to make that claim at the start of any given year. With so many major studios churning out major releases, any year can look good on paper. The reality is that not all of those games end up being good; the hype cycle is always viewed through rose-colored glasses. Games like Kingdom Hearts 3 drummed up excitement heading into 2019, but ultimately ended up slipping off the radar come “game of the year” season. And don’t even get me started about Cyberpunk 2077.

Kratos in God of War Ragnarok.

Pandemic upsets routine

Companies also tend to drop aspirational release dates for games that they can’t always keep. Sony originally claimed God of War: Ragnarok was coming in 2021, which felt like a laughably unrealistic goal designed to better sell the then-upcoming PlayStation 5 in 2020. Delays ultimately gutted 2021’s schedule, though for good reason. The challenges of developing games during a pandemic added extra complexity to an already complicated process. We’re lucky that any major releases that involved tens of thousands of moving parts came out at all.

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The 2021 spillover is exactly what’s driving 2022’s overly packed schedule. Games that were supposed to be huge holiday hits this year will now launch early next year, and that’s creating a bizarre change in how we’re used to seeing games launch. Generally, September through November is the busiest time of any given year, as companies release their biggest games in a few densely packed months. That lets them end the year on a strong financial note, buoyed by parents who need to get gifts for their kids during the holidays. After that, the industry goes into hibernation for a few months before picking back up.

A giant battle in Elden Ring.

Instead, January and February 2022 look more like what you’d expect from the fall season. The year is set to kick off with three heavy hitters: Elden Ring, Rainbow Six Extraction, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus. That momentum keeps rolling in February with Horizon: Forbidden West, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, Saints Row, and Dying Light 2 Stay Human. March is already stacking the deck, too, with Gran Turismo 7, Kirby and the Forgotten City, Marvel Midnight Suns, and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands leading the pack.

And that’s only the first three months.

A stacked lineup

We’re essentially going to get two year’s worth of games compressed into one. We won’t see the usual dry spells as publishers wait to release their biggest games; it’s going to be a free-for-all. Just look at what else is on tap for 2022: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Bayonetta 3, Splatoon 3, God of War: Ragnarok, Redfall, Gotham Knights, Ghostwire Tokyo, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a brand new Sonic game … and that’s barely scratching the surface. This doesn’t include promising indies like Stray, niche titles like Triangle Strategy, or whatever big titles will get a surprise reveal at next year’s E3.

Link runs across Hyrule in the sequel to Breath of the Wild.

Naturally, not all of these games will be released as planned. Just as is the case in any year, some of the biggest titles will be bumped around and wind up in 2023. I’d put money on games like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora quietly slipping off the calendar. Even still, a third of these titles could move to 2023 and we’d still be looking at a year that’s bound to gum up backlogs.

While the social lockdowns of 2020 got more people gaming than ever before, it wasn’t the best time to introduce fans to the medium. The game release cycle quickly started slowing down as studios simply couldn’t capitalize on the momentum. That’s going to change in 2022. Start budgeting now.

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Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni Colantonio
Section Editor, Gaming
Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…
Midyear progress report: Here are the best games of 2022 so far
Aloy swimming underwater.

We’re already nearly halfway through 2022, and it’s been an unusual year when it comes to new video game releases. The first quarter of 2022 was loaded with massive hits that eclipsed 2021’s holiday season. Major releases slowed to a drip after March though, creating a front-loaded year for gamers. Even with a slower cadence, however, each month has brought some excellent new titles -- some of which were easy to miss.

The midway point of any year serves as a good excuse to stop and take stock of what’s launched so far. You likely already know the biggest releases (such as the Radahn-sized elephant in the room), but there’s a whole sea of vibrant games worth catching up on during this slow summer. Here are the best games we’ve played so far this year.
Elden Ring

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If you like Elden Ring, play 2021’s most underrated game
Sable watches the sunset from a perch.

Elden Ring was released to widespread critical acclaim and adoration over a month ago. It proved how open worlds that emphasize discovery and exploration engage and immerse players more than a world that just feels like a hub for a checklist of missions and collectibles. Unfortunately, Elden Ring isn't a game for everyone, myself included, due to its crushing difficulty and some other questionable design choices. 
Thankfully, Elden Ring isn't the only game to contain an open world that enables that much player freedom. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the easiest comparison to make, but an underrated indie game from 2021 also gives Elden Ring's open world a run for its money. The best part: It's more relaxing than Elden Ring because it doesn't contain an ounce of combat. 
That game in question is Sable from Shedworks and Raw Fury. Released for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S in September 2021, Sable uses an open world with immense freedom to tell a coming-of-age story that's as long or short as the player wants it to be. Whether you're a fan of Elden Ring looking for a similar game to sink your teeth into or someone who likes the freedom of Elden Ring's open world but can't get past its eccentricities, Sable should be the next game you play.
Sable - Launch Trailer - Available Now (4k)
Beneath the mask
In Sable, you play as the titular character, a young girl from the Ibex tribe on the giant desert planet of Midden who must go on a journey across the planet to collect masks. When Sable is ready, she can return to the village and choose a mask to determine what she'll do for the rest of her life. After a somewhat confined beginning where the player learns to float in the air and also creates a hoverbike called a Glider, they then set off into Midden's vast deserts, free to meet people, complete tasks for them, and solve puzzles while collecting masks and learning about the history of the world.
The moment when players are driving away from the Ibex tribe into the desert and Japanese Breakfast's original song Glider kicks in trumps the opening of both Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring in getting the players excited to explore a large world. Couple that with distinct visuals and excellent sound design, and you have a game that's a treat to look at and play. 
Although the player is directed toward a specific village after leaving Sable's tribe, they can choose to go anywhere from the start. The player's floating ability and stamina allow them to climb anything they come across. Players will slowly uncover the history of Sable's world while learning more about the cultures and kinds of people that populate it, which fans of Elden Ring's hands-off storytelling will appreciate. No matter where players go, they can meet another wandering traveler or complete a puzzle platforming challenge to get a mask. Sable is an experience that purely cares about that feeling of adventure, so there's no combat or overreliance on adjusting and leveling up Sable's stats. While this minimalist approach might seem too simple, it actually makes it a fantastic companion piece to Elden Ring. 
Relaxing, not taxing
Sable does many of the same things correctly as FromSoftware's latest, but without any of the overwhelming -- and sometimes poorly explained -- fluff. Players don't have to worry about difficult roadblocks that force them to explore and get good. Sable enables players to go anywhere they want and do anything they want until at least three masks are collected. Players can beat Sable in just a few hours, but the game has enough depth to support players for much longer than that with the number of quests to complete and masks to collect. The game features a quest log too, so even with its minimalist aesthetic and UI, you'll never feel truly lost.

Sable demonstrates that the difficulty isn't what makes Elden Ring so great; world design that encourages and rewards players for exploring does. Games like Breath of the Wild, Sable, and Elden Ring understand it and are three of the best open-world games in recent years for that reason. But out of this triple threat of standard-setting open-world games, Sable has garnered the least attention and acclaim for its efforts, making it a hidden gem. Now that Elden Ring has indoctrinated over 12 million players into this modern version of the open world, Sable is worth revisiting.
Sable is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. It's even on Xbox Game Pass. 

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The best video games of February 2022
Armored character wielding sword in Elden Ring.

February 2022 will go down as one of the best months for video games ever. From indie platformers to AAA open-world powerhouses, several fantastic games launched to critical acclaim and record-breaking player counts. Because so many great games came out in January and February, it’s not surprising if some players’ missed one -- or more than one.
Seven titles in particular rose above everything else released this month and will be remembered by many gamers for years to come. These are the February 2022 games that players should not miss out on, in no particular order.
Elden Ring
Elden Ring Review | A Near Perfect Open World Adventure!
The latest game from FromSoftware was finally released, and it’s clear that Elden Ring may be a contender for game of the generation. Combining methodical and challenging Soulslike gameplay with a vast and open world like that of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Elden Ring struck a chord with critics and audiences alike.
Digital Trends gave the game four stars in our review, which was more critical than the general consensus, but we still enjoyed the experience immensely. “Elden Ring is a new gold standard for open-world game design, dishing out some of the best freeform exploration since The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” our review states.
Elden Ring seems like it might be the pinnacle of FromSoftware’s Soulslike formula, and it’s a perfect example of what great open-world design looks like. If you somehow haven’t heard about it already, make sure that Elden Ring is on your radar.
Horizon Forbidden West

Both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West have had the honor of being fantastic open-world games … that were released just before other titles that revolutionized the genre. Though Horizon Forbidden West has tons of dialogue and might not be the most innovative open-world game, it’s still gorgeous on PS5 and an enjoyable romp.
“Horizon Forbidden West establishes the Horizon franchise as a power player in Sony’s first-party arsenal,” Giovanni Colantonio wrote in Digital Trends’ four-star review of the game. “It fixes the few blemishes Horizon Zero Dawn had by strengthening its combat and adding better ways to get around the world.”
There aren’t many other games that can match the feeling a player gets when taking down a giant mechanical monster in Horizon Forbidden West. It’s a must-play for PS5 owners, even if Elden Ring is the best open-world game released this month.
OlliOlli World

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