The 11 most anticipated video games of 2022

The Pokémon franchise has shifted between a frankly staggering array of genres over the last 25 years, running the gamut from traditional monster-catching RPGs to photography simulators to pinball games. But it’s rarely, if ever, indulged in the world of action gaming. That’s set to change with the release of Arceus, which will see players run around a semi-open world, catching various pocket monsters by the tried-and-tested method of hurling magical balls at them; the only difference is that now would-be Masters will actually take control of their own creatures in order to have them beat the hell out of their soon-to-be friends. [William Hughes]

A new release from From Software’s Hidetaka Miyazaki—whose Dark Souls continues to revolutionize gaming more than a decade after its release—would already be noteworthy. But Elden Ring also combines a story co-written by George “Was I Supposed To Be Working On Something Else?” R.R. Martin, as well as a renewed focus on a wider open world, making this potentially From’s most expansive and beautiful undead apocalypse to date. Even with a few reservations after , we’re genuinely excited to dive back in and see what Miyazaki and Martin have in store for their Tarnished heroes. [William Hughes]

Relentless pursuit has served as the organizing principle for some of the best horror games in any era, from Halloween on the Atari 2600 to Alien: Isolation. Choo-Choo Charles claims a special place in this venerable tradition by pitting you against a highly unusual antagonist: not a movie killer, xenomorph, or vengeful spirit, but a gloriously creepy spider-train stalking you across an island while you gather resources to upgrade your own vehicle’s firepower and turn the tables on the tenacious beast. It’s a fascinating jumble of ideas (the game looks like an open-world locomotive sim with Mad Max overtones) and a leap in scope compared to Two Star’s previous efforts (eerie lo-fi adventures like My Beautiful Paper Smile). But don’t be surprised if this gets pushed back from its early 2022 stated release or gets published under a different title—one that perhaps does not explicitly reference a character from Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. [Alexander Chatziioannou]

The original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games are wonderfully indifferent (if not actively hostile) toward their player. This doesn’t manifest in masochistic platforming sections or brutally tough enemies, but in the creation of an atmosphere so thick with dread and laced with myriad ways to die that even the air of the digital world itself sometimes wants its characters killed. It’s been 13 years since the most recent S.T.A.L.K.E.R. release, and in that time the video game mainstream has only become more risk averse—less willing to make blockbusters out of sideways Tarkovsky adaptations where survival hinges as much on scavenging irradiated kolbasa as it does on avoiding enemy factions. A sequel that maintains the spirit of the original games, centering again on hard-fought camaraderie and desperate victories in a deteriorating hell-world, would be more than welcome right about now. [Reid McCarter]

A new title from Bethesda Game Studios is always going to be a big deal, especially since the last proper sequel in one of its main franchises . But Starfield has the potential to be even more of a big deal than Skyrim or any Fallout sequel: It’s the studio’s first completely new game in 25 years, its first step into relatively hard sci-fi (as opposed to the retro future kitsch of Fallout), and its first release after getting what is almost certainly a blank check from new owner Microsoft. It might still be a slightly janky, bug-filled mess like every other Bethesda game has been at launch, but for now we can still bask in the excitement of its seemingly limitless potential. [Sam Barsanti]

Since our current pandemic is seemingly never-ending and full of surprises, it makes sense that A Plague Tale: Innocence (2019) did not spell the end of sibling duo Amicia and Hugo’s struggles. Even though A Plague Tale: Innocence ends with the rats (and therefore the plague, referred to as “the Bite”) being eradicated from the city thanks to little Hugo’s powers, the swarms of diseased rodentia are back for A Plague Tale: Requiem. Most of the franchise’s tethering to historical reality was already thrown out the window when the first game revealed the narrative cause of the 14th century’s Great Mortality (no spoilers!), so we’ll have to shed our pedantic tendencies and surrender to gleeful anticipation of the really well-done, gorgeous world Asobo Studio has created. The immersive music, touching human relationships, and downright fun mechanics of the previous installment bump A Plague Tale: Requiem high up on the list for 2022. Just no more dogs dying, please. [Liz Arcury]

GhostWire: Tokyo takes place in a Japanese metropolis deserted except for a range of spectral creeps remixed from folklore into gibbering, shrieking enemies ready to be dispatched by a player character armed with some kind of spiritual exorcist powers. The strength of this urban paranormal aesthetic—and the inherent promise of its spell-weaving, first-person combat a creator of nü-Doom’s frenetic gunfights—is enticing enough on its own. But the range of ghosts dreamed up by the game’s creators is even more compelling. Its trailers give us ghosts of headless school kids, ghosts with no faces where their faces ought to be, ghosts with big fangs, flying ghosts with long black hair, and little ghosts in yellow raincoats. In summary, there appear to be so, so many ghosts to see in GhostWire, and getting acquainted with this menagerie of otherworldly ghouls is an exciting prospect. [Reid McCarter]

, it did so with minimal expectations, reviving a franchise buried under years of hyper-masculine posturing and comical fixations on blood and grunting. Its forthcoming sequel has much higher expectations to live up to, serving as a follow-up to a genuinely touching story of fatherhood and loss that also managed to be a damn fine action game. Can Kratos and his son (“Boy!”) manage to keep the revival’s blend of subtlety and brutality intact? [William Hughes]

A distinctly Eastern European starkness sets The Invincible immediately apart from the vast majority of space-themed games. Its introverted tone and subdued aesthetic recalls Solaris rather than the usual pool of Star Wars and anime inspirations. Not a single explosion is shown, nor a gunshot heard, in the 108 seconds of a stunning, cryptic teaser trailer. The sickly ochre palette of the Regis III surface hints at threats more insidious than space monsters or militaristic aliens, and the exquisite lo-fi gadgetry evokes an austere mid-20th century retro-futurism. The Tarkovsky connection holds on another level, too: like the legendary Russian director, Starward Industries (a studio staffed primarily by former CD Projekt Red employees) is adapting a novel from Polish sci-fi master Stanislaw Lem for its debut. Meaning, we should expect existential revelations and philosophical musings about the role of humanity in a vast, incomprehensible universe in addition to those breathtaking vistas. [Alexander Chatziioannou]

It’s kind of rare for Nintendo to ever do direct, narrative-driven sequels to any of its games, but The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild wasn’t just any Nintendo game. It was the game that carried the Nintendo Switch at launch, proving the console/handheld hybrid’s viability as a platform, and it also just might be one of the best things Nintendo has ever stamped that red racetrack logo onto. We still know very little about the Breath Of The Wild sequel, including its title, but what we have seen—with what looks like time shenanigans and portal-hopping—hints at another fascinating shift from what we’ve come to expect from the Zelda series. [Sam Barsanti]

Games allow us the privilege of across genres, swinging around with kitties in our backpacks as Miles Morales, and even riding a giant kitty around Viking-era England as Eivor. This year, we will be able to be the kitty. Stray, developed by BlueTwelve Studio, is a third-person adventure game set in a futuristic cyberpunk city—one that does not seem to consist of many living creatures save for our hero protagonist ginger cat. We steer the realistic cat through streets and obstacles, and their adorable little backpack/harness affords much greater use than undeniable cuteness; it is a device that allows the cat to power a drone through the urban wasteland and identify objects, talk to robot NPCs, and more. Stray seems to boast exciting third-person mechanics that will be new to players thanks to the naturalism of the cat’s movements, allowing for what will ideally be a really fun immersion into the unique physics felines are known for. [Liz Arcury]