The 10 Most Anticipated Games of 2022

With games, release dates have long been more of a suggestion than a firm commitment. You know how every big movie of the last two years has been pushed back multiple times due to Covid? Games have always been like that. Delays are a constant, expected part of the game development cycle, and something all players have long gotten used to. I wouldn’t be surprised if half the games on the list below don’t actually come out in 2022, and not just the ones that don’t have an official release date yet. (Yes, I’m talking about Starfield. I’d legitimately be shocked if that makes its November release date.) So you should always take lists like this with a massive grain of salt. We know some of the games that are expected to come out this year, but many of those will get bumped to 2023 or beyond; meanwhile, many exciting and excellent games that will rank high in our 2022 year-end list aren’t even on our radar yet, and probably won’t be until they’re actually out. That’s how this whole thing goes. Our list of the most anticipated games of 2022 isn’t in any way an authoritative preview; it’s merely a snapshot of what we think, to our best knowledge as of Jan. 6, 2022, will be some pretty good games coming out this year.

Elden Ring

Release Date: Feb. 25, 2022
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4

The long-awaited collaboration between From Software (the studio behind the Dark Souls franchise) and Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin is finally coming out in February. We played a little bit of Elden Ring during a “closed network test” last year, and the similarities between it and Dark Souls are unmistakable: the combat is weighty and deliberate; the way you collect and lose the game’s currency resembles the souls system; and if you attack somebody you shouldn’t, like that merchant I tried to roll early in the test, you’re basically screwed, as that pissed off NPC will just kill you dead anytime you get near it. I didn’t see a lot of Elden Ring’s world, but early on in the test there was a great reveal moment of the game world’s landscape that almost felt like Breath of the Wild more than a Souls game—like it was pulling the curtain apart and letting you see the massive space you were about to adventure through. And then I died, like, 50 times right after that. The appeal of this team-up between two fantasy masters is that perhaps Martin will be able to graft a slightly less oblique story than what From’s games are typically known for; we’ll see how well that works out when Elden Ring comes out in February.

Horizon Forbidden West

Release Date: Feb. 18, 2022
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4

I remember sitting in an E3 demo of Horizon Zero Dawn in 2016 and feeling singularly unmoved by almost everything about it. Everything about the post-apocalyptic action game seemed uninspired and overly familiar, and the lackluster track record of its developers, who were behind the Killzone series, didn’t really help. Our initial review for Paste reflected some of my concerns, and so I never bothered to play it myself. As the years passed, though, Horizon’s stature started to grow; even our critic came to like it more than her original review indicated. I’m finally giving Zero Dawn a shot in advance of its upcoming sequel, and I can confirm that it’s an exciting game so far. Horizon Forbidden West should be out in the middle of February—one week before Elden Ring—and I’m far more interested in this one than I was Zero Dawn when it came out.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2

Release Date: TBA
Platforms: Switch

Will Breath of the Wild 2 actually come out in 2022? We have no idea. That’s Nintendo’s current goal, but they’ve never been shy about delaying games in hopes of getting them just right. The follow-up to one of the greatest and most influential games ever made is the rare Zelda that’s a true sequel, picking up on the same Hyrule and the same versions of Link and Zelda that we met when the Switch launched five years ago. The original struck a perfect balance between action, mystery, and exploration; it’s a true epic that lets you dictate the pace, never pushing or cajoling you into any specific direction, and content to let its story gradually unravel for you at your own time. I can’t imagine the sequel will feel as ground-breaking as the original, but I also have no doubt that it’ll be as fun and fascinating to play as the first one. Hopefully Breath of the Wild 2 comes out in 2022, and if not, well, I’ll be doing another one of these columns this time a year from now, and will have no problem writing about this one for a third year in a row.

Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals

Release Date: TBA
Platforms: Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC

It’s been several years since the release of Oxenfree, an adventure game that was inspired equally by YA lit and mystery series like Lost. Most of its designers have returned to work on the sequel, Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals, which more deeply explores the core mystery of the original. Its characters, slightly older than the original’s high school students, are researching unexplained phenomena in a town near the island setting of the first game, and come into contact with a forbidding group of masked cultists who are deliberately trying to open the same kind of temporal rip that threatened Oxenfree’s characters. The first game was a well-written adventure with legitimate emotional depth, and hopefully the sequel can carry on that tradition.