Category: Video Games

Top 10 Favorite Video Games I Played in 2022

~ Kapodaco ~ 2 Comments

Lookie here! I haven’t done one of these types of posts in a little while. Now that I am out of games journalism, I’m free to sort of peruse my way through whatever I care to try out at any given time. Even so, I didn’t play too many games this year—a little over twenty was the final count. Even so, there were more than enough titles played that I think are worth shouting out. And because content is content, this at-one-point-yearly list shall see life anew.

Disclaimer: Please note that this is not a traditional “Top 10 Best Video Games of [Year]” list. Rather, this is a list of the best video games I played in 2022, as in it did not have to be released this calendar year to make it, only that I had to have finished (a majority of) it in 2022.

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Dudunsparce Is Pokémon’s Greatest Joke

~ Kapodaco ~ 1 Comment

There comes a time in most players’ lives when a fellow connoisseur of gaming will inevitably ask you: “What is your favorite pokémon?” How can you not have one? Everyone’s at least heard of Pokémon, if not invested several years of their lives playing through the franchise’s long list of titles. As common as it is to have people proclaim that Charizard or Pikachu or the various evolutions of Eevee as their favorite, mine is a little more benign.

Dunsparce, my favorite pokémon ever, got an evolution in the latest generation of games in the franchise, Scarlet & Violet. Having learned this, I immediately grew very concerned. Yet my fear was short-lived—Dudunsparce is not only a great new creature to discover, but its existence cements Game Freak as a comedy powerhouse that will stop at nothing to amuse itself by dashing the hopes of fans everywhere.

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Twitch Streamer Shoutout: An Ode to lunriilu

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As a short precursor, my past experience with this particular streamer came when they were streaming under a different name. Shortly before Autumn this year, she decided to completely revamp her entire channel to become a Vtuber, deleting all of her past clips, broadcasts, and anything else that may reveal her physical appearance. Going forward, I will detail my experiences primarily with their prior identity, but note that such is no longer the case, at least in appearance.

Earlier in the year, I played quite a bit of Kirby and the Forgotten Land. I quite liked the game, considering it among my favorites, if not the favorite of mine from the franchise. As such, I lingered within the game category on Twitch, finding anyone that could provide some fun background noise with it. I ended up finding that and quite a bit more.

Introducing (now known as) lunriilu. (← Link to her Twitch channel.)

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Twitch Streamer Shoutout: An Ode to Mondo16bit

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The events that shape my history on Twitch have begun to slow. Since making a home on the site back in late 2020, I’ve sort of exhausted the positive effects of connecting with people as my life begun to turn inward. Though the decline was inevitable, I still carried on with my habit of searching game categories and picking out streamers that looked interesting to me.

August of 2022. Soon I would turn 29, yet my life was slowly dwindling as my jobhunt continued fruitless. On a whim, I felt the urge to discover, so I went down the Super Mario Sunshine rabbit hole. It’s had good results in the past. A face would greet me then, one with a sort of simplistic filter that highlighted the shades and color of the human head. Triggering a “This person has some semblance of knowledge on how to stream,” sensation, I dove in.

Introducing Mondo16bit. (← Link to his Twitch channel.)

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Twitch Streamer Shoutout: An Ode to MollyNotTheDrug

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The prior entry was a substantial step back from current times. With today’s subject, we’re at the very least within the current year. Ironically enough, how I stumbled upon this streamer and the one linked prior was the same: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. (Might be one of my favorite games to watch.)

Mid-July. It’s been several months since I became unemployed and desperately searching for something to ease the bleeding of my finances. Discouraged from the lack of opportunities, I again turn to Twitch to find something entertaining to distract me from my pessimism. Usually, avatars are more likely to pull me in to a stream, but there was a particular whimsy to one streamer’s name that had me hooked just from the absurdity of it.

Introducing MollyNotTheDrug. (← Link to her Twitch channel.)

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Twitch Streamer Shoutout: An Ode to CraftyKaname

~ Kapodaco ~ 1 Comment

Let’s go back in time. Not too far, but just enough to make one think that it could have felt like yesterday: August of 2021. Just over a year ago, I did what I occasionally like to do while on Twitch and browsed game categories to see who might be playing some of my favorites. It’s a tad more commonplace nowadays, but seeing a blue-haired anime girl with a flashy smile was certainly more rare to me than random-meme-image-number-8945. I gave it a click.

T’was rough. Clearly had a time and a half trying to get everything situated, the model was a little janky, and the overlay was sort of a bleach for the eyes. Despite this, the host was cheerful and almost naively energetic, a youthful innocence and endearment that had left my soul for some decade or so. I immediately assumed she was a child. (Still not entirely convinced she isn’t.) As a sort of shrug that conveyed a laissez-faire attitude, just before disaster, I clicked the “follow” button.

Introducing CraftyKaname. (← Link to her Twitch channel.)

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Thoughts on In Stars And Time (Steam Next Fest Demo)

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It truly is the era of quirky RPG games… and farming sims… and 2D collectathon platformers… Y’know, there is a lot from every type of genre if you think about it. Anyway, I came across this latest RPG adventure by chance while going through the #SteamNextFest tag on Twitter. In Stars And Time, as its title would suggest, has a lot to do with stars (the characters) and time (time-loop antics). Immediately taking to the expressive art style of the game, I decided to give the demo a go.

It truly is the era of… no, I won’t make the time-loop joke in text.

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Thoughts on Cassette Beasts (Steam Next Fest Demo)

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It did not take much convincing from Cassette Beasts for me to be completely all-in on its synopsis. A turn-based RPG game where you explore a 2.5D world of monsters that you can collect and fuse? I’ve been wanting that in a mainline Pokémon title for years! All the better that the pixel artistry and promise of intense character customization drive home the uniquely expressive part of great RPG games.

Though I had no specific ranking for which game demos I was most excited for, this was one I was very intrigued by. Will it live up to the promise that its trailer showcased?

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Thoughts on Vernal Edge (Steam Next Fest Demo)

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Story time: Back in 2020, I was a games journalist for KeenGamer. One day in June, I decided, “Hey, I like giving some publicity to indie games. Let’s write a post on games I think are worth checking out on Kickstarter!” So I did. Among the games in that article was none other than Vernal Edge, which is, assuming you read the title, the subject of today’s post.

What was the point of that information? Just to showcase that I’ve known of this game’s existence for a couple years now. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m finally able to try it out for myself in demo form.

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Thoughts on Dewdrop Dynasty (Steam Next Fest Demo)

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Prior to learning of the existence of Dewdrop Dynasty, I would have never imagined a scenario in which you play as a bee with a gun would fit well into the search-action (metroidvania) genre. Thankfully, the game’s demo has given me hope in a future in which the world’s worst insect carrying America’s most debated-upon tool can prove to be a fun venture. Have I mentioned that I despise bees?

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