These are the top five games reviewed by L.C. Lupus throughout 2022. This list only includes the games specifically reviewed by him, and as he usually reviews indies, don’t expect Elden Ring or God of War Ragnarök. Maybe you’ll even find a few games that you’d like to check out too.

5. The Knight Witch

The Knight Witch is a metroidvania, bullet hell, shoot-em-up with full flight-based movement in which you fight through hordes of inventive enemies, and some rather tough bosses, as you try to save the remnants of the planet from a technological evil that threatens to plunge the entire world into a global environmental catastrophe yet again.

In addition, the world is great to explore, has a load of characters who have more depth than you may initially expect, and it offers some interesting choices between telling the truth, which keeps you weaker, or employing dishonesty, which rewards you. The Knight Witch is ultimately a game filled with hope in the face of a world that appears to be running out of hope. It’s also simply satisfying to play and has the kind of 2D flying combat that has been somewhat neglected since Owlboy.

4. Beacon Pines

Beacon Pines is a narrative game that focuses on a strange town, a la Twin Peaks, but instead of trying to solve a murder, you play as a kid as you try to figure out what’s happening in this town in the lead up to a big festival that all the adults seem to be excited about. Your characters are adorable little anthropomorphic animal characters, and their overall design should be enough to make you want to play without any additional convincing!

Other than that, Beacon Pines has a very interesting time mechanic in which you can die in a variety of ways and have to restart from some other timeline. You unlock timelines by completing various tasks in other timelines, and this non-linear presentation is a great gimmick even if the game is still ultimately a linear narrative. However, it’s something different, and something different is something worth celebrating.

3. Lil Gator Game

Lil Gator Game is an open-world, mini-game oriented experience in which you play as a cute little alligator kid and must run around a big island while trying to recruit as many other kids as possible. You need to recruit these other kids because how else are you supposed to play an imaginary game that involves turning the local park into a fortress made of cardboard, crafting paper, and confetti?

The game also has some poignant moments in its conclusion as it is ultimately a game about nostalgia and the desire to never grow up. Your little alligator kid wants to play their imaginary game forever, and they want their big sister to play with them. Sadly, she’s busy with adult stuff, like college, and doesn’t want to play. This leads to you running around and doing as many tasks for other kids as possible to try and make your imaginary game as awesome as it can possibly be so your sister will put down her laptop and play!

2. Endling – Extinction is Forever

Endling – Extinction is Forever is a game with a message. This is a game that wants you to understand a few things about the plight of non-human animals in our world. The world of Endling – Extinction is Forever presents us with a dystopian nightmare in which humans have successfully destroyed the environment and have rendered most of the animals extinct. You are, considering the name of the game, the final fox in the world. However, you have some kids, and those kids need to be looked after.

The game tasks you with trying to teach your youngsters how to hunt, survive, and seek shelter in the world, and as you play, there are various instances in which you can teach your youngsters something important, such as how to climb higher or dig for food. The game is showing you, the player, that the life of an animal in the wild is a difficult one, but that it is not all hopeless. In addition, we even explored the ways in which Endling – Extinction is Forever puts you into the mind of an animal. This game received far less attention than it deserved, and it would have been the number one game of the year for this particular reviewer, but then another game came out.

1. Thymesia

Thymesia is a game that is trying to compete with Bloodbourne. It has a similar overall combat style with its focus on speed over blocking, and it has difficult enemies and elaborate bosses that will stomp you into the ground if you’re not on your toes. However, even though Thymesia is in the soulsbourne tradition of games, it will take some getting used to as it has a very specific combat system that is unique to it.

Enemies need to be hit with two types of weapons to damage them. One type of weapon only wounds them and the other does permanent damage once the wound has been inflicted. It’s a system that takes some getting used to, and it can be immensely frustrating at first while you’re getting used to the various systems that the game has to throw at you. However, once you get used to it, Thymesia is a great non-From Software soulsbourne that captures much of the aggressive, frantic combat of a game like Bloodbourne. Except that this game is actually on PC!
 

What do you think of these picks? What were your best games of the year? Drop them in the comments!
 

Justin van Huyssteen (@LC_Lupus)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed