Games of the Year 2022: Cult of the Lamb

Cult of the Lamb was surprisingly gripping.  It's a cute/horrifying roguelike with town building elements.  There's a lot going on with it and I'm not quite sure if that description does it justice.

There are almost two distinct games in Cult of the Lamb, but they each inform the other.

One of these two elements is a top-down action roguelike experience with semi-randomly generated maps and levels.  The combat is solid and no one run ever overstays it's welcome.

The second main element is a town building (cult building) game that is both cute and disturbing.  Everything is presented in a cutesy aesthetic but it's dealing with real cult-like ideologies and behaviors.  The discrepancy between the two is one of the compelling parts of the game.  In this second piece of the game, you're recruiting followers, getting resources, and building out your town amenities.

If Cult of the Lamb had leaned too hard one way or another, I'm not sure I would have liked it as much.  But, it seemed to strike the perfect balance to hook me and give me that "one more turn" feeling.  I finished the whole game over the course of the first weekend it came out.

Cult of the Lamb lands in the lower part of my top ten for now, right above Neon White and below Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition:

1. Elden Ring
2. FFXIV Endwalker
3. Citizen Sleeper
4. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
5. Horizon Forbidden West
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
7. Pokémon Legends: Arceus
8. Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
9. Cult of the Lamb
10. Neon White
11. Halo Infinite
12. Vampire Survivors
13. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
14. Cyberpunk 2077
15. Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
16. Triangle Strategy
17. Mario Strikers: Battle League
18. Multiversus Pre-Season
19. Stray
20. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
21. Nobody Saves the World
22. Unpacking
23. Total War: Warhammer 3
24. Tunic

I'm really surprised to put this more than half way up my list but I enjoyed my time with it a lot.  I kind of doubt it will stay in the top ten by the end of the year, but chances are good it will still be in the top half of the list.

Games of the Year 2022: Multiversus Pre-Season

Multiversus is what happens when you take the core gameplay of Smash Bros, give it a slight twist, and then set it in a world of Warner Brothers characters instead of Nintendo characters.  I've been surprised by how much fun I've had with it.

I'm calling this my rating of the "pre-season" since I joined when it was in late closed beta and have been playing fairly consistently through open beta too.  The game just went into "season 1" but I actually think I'm going to take that as an opportunity to take a break from it.

The core gameplay here is good but could use a little more refining.  I also wish matchmaking was more even since I've had lots of matches where I just get steamrolled and feel like I can do nothing.  But that's kind of a general fighting game thing, not necessarily specific to this game.

The part I'm really interested in is seeing how they support this game over time.  If they treat it like a Fortnite style live-service game, it could get super interesting as time goes on.  Especially if they continually add new characters, stages, and modes to play around with.

If you're a fan of Smash Bros, I can easily recommend checking out Multiversus.  It's free to play and it scratches the same core itch.

For me, it's landing a little lower on my list.  I've had a good time with it, but competitive multiplayer wears on me after awhile.  If this had a full single player mode built out I would be ranking it higher, but for this "pre-season" it's landing down near Mario Strikers.

1. Elden Ring
2. FFXIV Endwalker
3. Citizen Sleeper
4. The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe
5. Horizon Forbidden West
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
7. Pokémon Legends: Arceus
8. Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition
9. Neon White
10. Halo Infinite
11. Vampire Survivors
12. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
13. Cyberpunk 2077
14. Forza Horizon 5 Hot Wheels DLC
15. Triangle Strategy
16. Mario Strikers: Battle League
17. Multiversus Pre-Season
18. Stray
19. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
20. Nobody Saves the World
21. Unpacking
22. Total War: Warhammer 3
23. Tunic

Being in the lower half, it will probably get pushed down the list a bit more as the year continues.