Games of 2022 To Look Out For
It looks like 2022 is set to be a busy year for gaming, with plenty of releases including much-anticipated sequels, new IPs (Intellectual Properties) and standout exclusives.
It seems that there will be a game for everyone this year, regardless of your console choice or what genre you’re interested in. Below is a list of games I believe are worth looking out for this year.
Horizon Forbidden West
Date: 18 February 2022
Console: PS4/PS5
Developed by Guerrilla Games and a sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn (2017), Horizon Forbidden West sees players return to the post-apocalypse world established in the first game. Set around 3040, players will play as Aloy (Ashley Burch) as she explores an area known as the Forbidden West, which we know as the US states of Utah, California and Nevada.
In the world of Horizon, humanity has regressed to several hunter-gatherer tribes with some limited technologies, living in forests and ruins of the old world, while giant robotic animals and dinosaurs prowl the world. While the plot has not been fully explained, we know that it revolves around Aloy investigating a plague sweeping across the land.
Players should expect fast combat with a variety of weapons against multiple unique enemies, all the while exploring a vast open-world with unique biomes and well-known locations, like the ruins of San Francisco.
God of War Ragnarök
Date: 2022 (Exact date unknown)
Console: PS4/PS5
God of War Ragnarök is the ninth game in the God of War franchise, and the second since the franchise received a soft reboot in 2018 and moved the franchise from Greek mythology to Norse.
As a sequel to 2018’s God of War, Ragnarök picks up three years later and once again follows Kratos and his son Atreus as they explore the nine realms of Norse mythology as Ragnarök, the Norse end of the world begins. Ragnarök was indicated to have begun at the end of the last game when Kratos killed the Norse god Baldur.
Trailers for the game have shown us much of the game including traversing the world by dog sledge, exploring settlements and interacting with returning characters including Freya, a former ally now turned enemy.
Two new characters include Thor, God of Thunder, looking for revenge on Kratos for killing his two sons and Týr, the Norse God of War, who was believed to be dead in the previous game.
God of War Ragnarök was originally meant to come out in 2021; however, the ongoing pandemic and health issues with the game’s lead, Christopher Judge, caused the game to be delayed.
Ragnarök has been hotly anticipated by the gaming community since before it was announced, winning the Most Wanted Game Award 2020 at the Golden Joystick Awards.
God of War, 2018, was my first time playing a God of War game and Ragnarök is my most anticipated game of 2022. I am especially looking forward to seeing how Ragnarök will expand on the previous game’s ending where we see that Atreus’s mother was the last giant, and had wanted to name her son Loki, a mural of Atreus standing over a dead Kratos, a point discussed a lot in the franchise is sons killing their fathers, and both Kratos and Atreus being confronted by Thor at their home.
Untitled Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel
Date: 2022 (Exact date unknown)
Console: Nintendo Switch
After the incredible success of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild many people would have expected a sequel. However, when it was announced with a teaser trailer at E3 2019 many of us were shocked and overjoyed.
There is little known of this untitled sequel at the moment, only that it will follow a brand-new story and implement new gameplay elements but at the same time make use of the same world as the first.
While we currently have little information on the game, new trailers have shown some new elements of gameplay and seem to imply a darker tone when compared to the original.
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Breath of the Wild was the first Zelda game I ever played and the entire reason I bought a Switch, and I am looking forward to this sequel. The Legend of Zelda was a franchise that I had little opportunity or interest in playing but when I saw the first promotional videos for Breath of the Wild, I became captivated by the world, story and art style. Once the story had ended and we saw Link and Zelda go off on their next adventure I immediately wanted to see where their story would go next.
Total War Warhammer 3
Date: 17 February 2022
Console: PC
This is the newest game in Creative Assembly’s Total War Franchise and the third and final set in the Warhammer fantasy world.
Like previous Total War games, Warhammer 3 will be a mix of turn-based strategy where players upgrade their cities and move their armies and real-time strategy for battles.
Warhammer 3 will have nine lords to play as at launch spread across three factions, Kislev (Medieval Russia), Grand Cathy (Imperial China) and the four Chaos Gods, plus two more lords and a new faction, the Ogre Kingdoms as a pre-order incentive.
Out of all the games on this list, Warhammer 3 is expected to be the most supported post-launch. The previous two Total War Warhammer games were supported long after release with new units, lords, factions and gameplay changes released through patches, DLC and FLC.
We also know that like Warhammer 2, Warhammer 3 will receive a massive update shortly after release combining the maps and factions of the previous games giving players a massive map and with over fifty lords to choose from.
The tabletop Warhammer franchise was something I had an interest in but stopped playing due to not knowing anyone who played, and also the high monetary cost. When Total War Warhammer was announced my interest in the deep rich lore peaked (I have been listening to a lot of 40K lore videos on YouTube recently).
Over the past two years, I have come to greatly enjoy the Total War Warhammer games and am looking forward to jumping into this new game. I am greatly looking forward to destroying the world as the Daemons of Khorne or Nurgle or saving it as Grand Cathy and their Dragon leaders.
Starfield
Date: 11th November
Console: PC/Xbox Series X/Xbox Series S
Bethesda’s first new Intellectual Property in over twenty years, Starfield has been described as Skyrim in space.
Taking place in 2310, twenty years after an event known as the Colony Wars, an uneasy peace is observed by multiple factions in an area expanding out from our solar system, fifty light-years or so.
In Starfield players will fully design their character including gender, appearance and name, like previous Bethesda games, and in a first for the developer their pronouns. Your player is a member of a group known as the Constellation, a faction of space explorers.
The game has been in development since 2015 and has been in a playable state since 2018; despite this, we still know very little of the gameplay, story or setting.
Starfield will be Bethesda Game Studios’ first game to be released since its parent company ZeniMax Media was purchased by Xbox Game Studios. This means that Starfield will most likely be an exclusive for the PC and Xbox only, so PlayStation players shouldn’t expect to get their hands on it. This is a shame for a lot of people, myself included. I have been a fan of Bethesda games since Oblivion and I am disappointed that I won’t get the chance to play it. I have a PS5 and I don’t see myself getting an Xbox just to play one game
Other games coming out this year, but ones I won’t go into detail about are:
· Elden Ring (25 February 2022. PC/Xbox Series X/Xbox Series S/PS4/PS5)
· Splatoon 3 (Exact date unknown. Nintendo Switch)
· Life is Strange Remastered Collection (1 February 2022. Switch/PlayStation/Xbox/PC/Stadia)
· Star Trek: Resurgence (Exact date unknown. Xbox Series X/Xbox Series S/PS4/PS5)
Personally, my most anticipated game is God of War Ragnarök, with Star Trek: Resurgence and Horizon Forbidden West as close seconds.
From this shortlist, we can see that 2022 is going to be a massive year for new game releases and that we as gamers are going to be spoiled for choice, especially next month.
