Microsoft’s collection of Xbox studios has been growing and growing, and the success of Game Pass means larger audiences for its signature titles. What have been 2022’s best, though? It’s a tougher question, but we did our best. Here’s our pick for Xbox Game of the Year 2022.
These awards represent the consensus of the Siliconera staff. For more of the year’s award selections, check out our Game of the Year 2022 archive.
Winner: Pentiment
While it may seem at first like a departure for developer Obsidian Entertainment, Pentiment proves to have all the narrative focus and world-building we’ve come to love from the studio. It presents itself in a different way, sure, but one with a compelling art style and a room for customization that really helps players feel like a part of the story.
Tunic
It was a long time coming, but Tunic‘s action-adventure gameplay made us think of another of 2022’s hot releases. It gives you the freedom to explore in your own way, without the handholding of most modern experiences. Oh, and did we mention that it’s darn cute? Because it is.
Two Point Campus
This follow-up to Two Point Hospital moves the action from medicine to academia. The whimsical approach tends to work better here, we think, than the more serious subject matter of its predecessor, and Campus benefits from moving into a more original, modern approach than the spiritual-successor Hospital. The game’s inclusion in Game Pass certainly didn’t hurt, but what earns Two Point Campus a nod here the most? Just how naturally it controls on a console. That’s always been hard to accomplish, and here it focuses a lot of the interface and makes it easier to play without dumbing down the game itself.
What are your Xbox Game of the Year 2022 selections? Let us know in the comments! And stay tuned for more of Siliconera’s GotY 2022 awards.
