An updated ranking of my now-top-50 games!
Rules:
- No two games from the same base franchise (spin-off franchises count separately)
- No games which will be impossible to play after a server shutdown occurs. Heavily-online games which still have offline components and games with local multiplayer are okay
- No board game video games, I do love board games but I’m too inexperienced with the wider spectrum of board games to have a good widespread grasp on them
- Nothing I haven’t finished yet, which excludes Sonic Frontiers, a game I expect to have in my top 50 in 2023
Honourable mentions that, in some cases, break the above rules
Antichamber
Apex Legends
Board Game Arena (all of it)
Cluedo
Cyberpunk 2077
Jackbox Party Pack 6
PlayStation Home
Sonic Frontiers
Street Fighter X Tekken
Ticket to Ride
Town of Salem
Tsuro
The List
50. My Time at Portia (* NEW ENTRY)
49. Paradise Killer (* New Entry)
48. Jak 3 (+ HM)
47. Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst (* NEW ENTRY)
46. Retro City Rampage DX (* NEW ENTRY)
45. Gravity Rush (+ HM)
44. Portal 2 (- 18)
43. Tetris Effect (+ HM)
42. Gorogoa (* NEW ENTRY)
41. Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles (* NEW ENTRY)
40. Unreal Tournament: GOTY Edition (+ HM)
39. Psychonauts (- 19)
38. The Elder Scrolls v: Skyrim (* NEW ENTRY)
37. Crazy Taxi (- 25)
36: Spider-Man: miles Morales (+ HM)
35: Gitaroo Man (+ HM)
34: Beat Saber (+ HM)
33: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (* NEW ENTRY)
32. Rocket League (+ HM)
31. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (- 16)
30. Skate 3 (- 14)
Shares its spot with Skate 2, I play both a lot. I don’t hold out a world of hope for the upcoming new Skate game, but I’m open minded and will give it a damn good try.
29. Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fuelled (= 29)
I love Mario Kart, but I love CTR more. I love CTR so much, it basically knocked Mario Kart out of contention - the little nippy hops you can do, the boosts you can attain in Nitro-Fuelled, and the expansive level selection (rivalled only by MK8D) is fantastic.
28. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (+ HM)
Upgraded a little from its Honourable Mention spot in 2021 due to my slight broadening of what I’d count - casual experiences are allowed now, and this is the best of those.
27. Hogs of War (= 27)
RIP Rik Mayall.
26. Crash Bandicoot: The N-Sane Trilogy (* New Entry)
Warped is my favourite of the 3 by far - and the only one I can consistently complete - but this trilogy is a great pack of three classics. I like Crash Bandicoot 4 as well, but the difficulty of 4 (like the first two) push 3 to be my favourite Crash platformer.
25. Grand Theft Auto V (- 21 Grand Theft Auto IV)
GTAV replaces IV, its predecessor, this year thanks to a fresh playthrough of the fifth Grand Theft Auto on its PlayStation 5 release. While not a ground-breaking port by any means, it was solid, affordable, and the game honestly has hardly aged a day in nine years. This was my first full playthrough of Grand Theft Auto V since its PS4 port came out eight years ago and it feels as fresh and life-packed now as it ever did.
24. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (- 20)
A game I’ve replaced lately and it always hurts me that the game is effectively only half of a duology unlikely to ever see completion. The main area you live in is a beautifully-built-up place that is a joy to explore every nook and cranny of, but then the missions that take you elsewhere are anywhere from decent to overly short and unenjoyable. The ending is also so… abrupt! Mankind Divided nonetheless slightly edges Human Revolution for me for its improved controls and its colour palette not just being orange, brown and orangey brown.
23. Frequency (+ HM)
Shares a place with Amplitude, upgrading from 2021 Honourable Mentions thanks to its ever-fun gameplay and increasingly-nostalgic 2000s setlist.
22. Spyro: Reignited Trilogy (- 17)
A trilogy as good as ever, I replayed Year of the Dragon this year, once again to 117%, and am excited to revisit the original and Gateway to Glimmer at some point.
21. Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 (- 15)
I’ve replayed several of the Tony Hawk franchise in the past few months thanks to strong PS2 emulation on Steam Deck and can attest to how much they hold up. THPS4 is a little wobblier than I remember, but Underground (save for a few dud missions) is brilliant with a compelling story, Underground 2 is a fabulous all-rounder with Jackass nostalgia, American Wasteland is great if short and easy entry, and THPS3 is a tight classic entry. It’s heart-breaking that Activision have thrown Vicarious Visions into the depressing Warzone fire and killed off any chance of a 3+4 remaster.
20. Uncharted 4 (+ 28)
2022 saw a PS5 version of Uncharted 4 and Uncharted Lost Legacy released at a decent price, so I took the excuse to play 4 again, and Lost Legacy for the first time. Great choice, beautiful games. Lost Legacy can be considered a joint placing here, only losing honours to 4 for the shorter length - but both games are worth anyone’s time.
19. Ape Escape 3 (- 11)
Ape Escape 3 is an amazing game, and it makes me sad that the series has been treated by Sony in reverse order - the original has a native PS5 port with a platinum trophy and everything, Ape Escape 2 a more bare-bones PS2 edition for PS4, while the phenomenal third entry is just stuck on PS2. It deserves so much more.
18. Bully (- 5)
Oh, how the mighty falls again. I still love Bully, but it’s definitely getting long in the tooth these days. Rockstar, please. Remaster it. And not in the GTA Definitive Edition way.
17. LittleBigPlanet (* NEW ENTRY)
This is one I can’t believe I overlooked last year. LittleBigPlanet, particularly the original, holds some strong memories for me. It was the first game I truly played online with friends, coming out soon after I got broadband internet, and was one I spent a lot of time creating levels and experiments in. LBP2 expanded the original impressively, as did LBP3 - although I didn’t play that one nearly as much.
16. Burnout Revenge (+ 26 Burnout Paradise)
Burnout Revenge and Burnout Paradise remain interchangeable for me, the former being the zenith of the series’ linear combat racing and the latter a fantastic explorable world ripe for hours of enjoyment. I swap Paradise with Revenge this year thanks to Steam Deck’s strong PS2 emulation meaning I can now retire my Xbox 360 disc for solo sessions of Revenge.
15. Far Cry 6 (+ 30 Far Cry 5)
Far Cry sees a boost with the 2022 instalment, which I found to be an improvement over the fifth game thanks to its larger, livelier world, its removal of the weird forced story progression events, and Giancarlo Esposito being expectedly phenomenal.
14. Mashed: Fully Loaded (+ 22)
Strong as ever, and continuously enjoyable thanks to a PC port that, while a little rough, is still playable, and can be played online over Parsec.
13. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (- 7)
The Professor Layton series remains a cherished one. It was this year I discovered that the original trilogy is on mobile, with some excellent ports - these have been a lovely way to kick off replays, and I hope they can port the prequel trilogy as well in time.
12. The Witness (+ 13)
Remarkably replayable for a game with set visual puzzles.
11. Hitman III (+ 12)
There’s been little motion in Hitman III, but it stays extremely strong for me purely thanks to the accessibility of the entire World of Assassination within it - it is only with that that I rank it so highly. The third game has a few really strong levels, my favourites being the Berghain-inspired underground nightclub and the testing facility in the rainy Chongqing night, but it’s the added availability of levels like Sapienza and Miami that make this total package strong.
10. A Hat in Time (* NEW ENTRY)
I can’t believe I skipped over this in my 2021 list. A Hat in Time is a stunning 3D platformer, and with co-op multiplayer and some excellent additional levels via DLC, it only goes from strength to strength.
9. Tearaway Unfolded (+ 10)
High up on my “to play again” list, Tearaway Unfolded remains underappreciated. If you have a PS4, PS5 or PS Vita, I beg you to play Tearaway or Tearaway Unfolded if you haven’t.
8. BioShock Infinite (+ 9)
I’ve wiped away the debt twice and I’ll do it again, dammit.
7. The Outer Worlds (+ 8)
I’ve played through The Outer Worlds a third time this year, and it keeps going from strength to strength. Cannot wait for the sequel - all I need it to be is the original with new (outer) worlds, a few screws tightened, and maybe a little more variation in the choices to increase replayability, since I’ve had three different TOW1 endings now and they always end in the same way and same place.
6. Super Mario odyssey (= 6)
I’ve not played this game in a while, but my enjoyment of videos of speedrunners, modders and deep-dives means Super Mario Odyssey is as fresh as ever on my mind over 5 years since it first launched.
5. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (- 4)
Remains a game I wish I could experience fresh - I think I could still map every level out off by heart. Rift Apart is likely to be one I revisit sooner rather than later… probably to 100% again. If it comes out on PC in 2023, that’ll be my in.
4. Pokémon Violet (+ 24 Pokémon Shield)
For the first time, Pokémon has a clear singular favourite game for me… and a clear second favourite too in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Violet is everything I ever dreamt of - an explorable, massive open world with a ton to do, and so much to collect. Shininess being visible in the wild (a change from Shield) guarantees that Pokémon Violet will occupy me for many, many hours beyond the story conclusion.
I wish it ran better, but that doesn’t detract from how into Pokémon Violet I am.
3. Fallout 4 (- 2)
Remains my favourite action RPG… for now. Bring on Starfield, I guess.
2. Watch Dogs 2 (+ 3)
A fifth (yes) playthrough of Watch Dogs 2 edges it above Fallout 4 this year. I just can’t seem to get tired of its formula - I’m in absolute love with the way you can complete almost every mission by holing Marcus up somewhere outside of any active threat and using remote gadgetry, false APBs and gang attacks, and little droppable grenades to complete everything second-hand. It’s everything Watch Dogs 1 promised to be, and everything I wish Watch Dogs Legion had still been - the sequel’s total removal of APBs and skewing of drone mechanics destroyed what keeps me coming back to its predecessor.
1. Tombi (= 1)
It’s a firm #1 place for Tombi, a game I can always kick open and finish in a few playthroughs. My 2021 list's entry for it says it all.