Best and Worst RPG of 2022 (Votes tallied!)

[mediocrepoet]

I'm curious what you feel were the single best and worst RPGs that you played from 2022 and why you would say that about them.

Maybe you loved a particular tactics RPG or some shitty visual novel with stats and want everyone to know about it. Or, maybe you hated the same, and want to shit on other Codexers' tastes.

Please make a post with one pick for best and one pick for worst game and your reasons why. I'll compile the results later, depending on interest in this topic, because my inner autist needs food.

There's no other criteria than it's actually an RPG of some stripe released between January 1 and December 31, 2022 on PC and that you loved/hated it.

EDIT: As Lady Error rightly points out, I'm looking for games you actually played. What is your best and worst experience of 2022's releases. If you only played one or two games, but feel like contributing, just talk about that. This is more out of interest about people's actual tastes in games than assigning numbers to a variety of things that may not have ever been touched.

EDIT 2: Now that the official poll has concluded and I think most/all people who are interested in saying their piece have done so, I'll wrap this up and take the results in a few days time (February 20th, North American time).

EDIT 3: I have compiled the results here if you would like to check them out.

EDIT 4: The overall summary of themes in opinions expressed about the games voted on can be found here.

 

[Lady Error]

Worst RPG? There are too many to count. Maybe you should specify “worst of the ones you played“.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Best: Elden Ring. Mainly because there's no competition, but there's no denying that the legacy dungeons are of very high quality, and the build variety is on par with Dark Souls 2 as the best in the Souls series.

Worst: Elden Ring. The open world is extremely boring and formulaic. I had to take two months-long breaks in order to finish the whole thing. It's like that bit in Matilda where Mrs Trunchbull makes the kid eat an entire cake.

 

[Bester]

I launched Knights of the Chalice 2 and never got out of the menu. The tedium and the boredom already sets in before the game even starts. I guess this is the worst RPG of the year.
Of course there's also Pentiment, which I've downloaded but then never even launched, dreading the anachronistic californian catlady fanfic writing. So maybe that's even worse than the worst.
There's also King Arthur that I downloaded, but only managed to watch some gameplay on youtube, because it sounds generic and so what's the point?

Of course Elden Ring I played 170+ hours. Not a bad game, but gets kinda samey after 80 hours.

The pure RPGs are absolutely dead.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Best: Elden Ring
This game captured my attention in a way that nothing has in years. Playing blind through its fairly epic journey and seeing the sites and exploring kept a sense of adventure that most games don't manage to reach. The combat was good and the game accommodated build variety and the use of items that could be used to approach situations differently, insofar as an action RPG with Souls combat can be approached differently. It allowed for mounted combat, different magic styles, as well as close or mid-ranged combat, stealth, and so on. It also had more NPCs that actually had dialogue and questlines than other Souls games and felt more like an actual RPG than prior Souls games had to me, which is why I would actually include it as an "actual" RPG rather than just a Souls RPG-lite action game experience.
The game may not appeal to storyfags who want to have romances and talk about their feelings with whatever thirst trap the dev made accompany you, but for just finding your way in a hostile land, Elden Ring delivers a great adventure.

Worst: Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga
I had high hopes for this. Yes, it's a love letter to tactics JRPGs and it almost delivers. It kind of reminds me of Warsong (Langrisser). Unfortunately, the story is retarded and the gameplay lacks any challenge even at the hardest difficulty if you're at all experienced with tactics RPGs. It was completely milquetoast, the definition of banal, shit, boring. I don't even hate it, it was completely forgettable.

 

[Dadd]

I didn't play RPGs from 2022

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

RPGs suck

 

[Zombra]

I ..... don't think I played any new CRPGs last year.

 

[Dadd]

Elden Rang is an actioon game with RPG elements

 

[ItsChon]

Best is Knights of the Chalice 2, and I don't play shit games long enough to be able to differentiate which one is the "worst".

EDIT: I would love for the people who played KotC 2 and Elden Ring to compare them and explain why Elden Shit is the better RPG.

 

[Dadd]

Allegedly KotC2 was available before 2022 for some people

 

[mediocrepoet]

Allegedly KotC2 was available before 2022 for some people

Release date on Steam says March 2022, so... good enough.

 

[Humbaba]

Best: Wrathfinder Enhanced Edition

Worst: Anything else

 

[mediocrepoet]

Best: Wrathfinder Enhanced Edition

Worst: Anything else

Wrath is from 2021. Otherwise I'd go with that too.

 

[Humbaba]

Best: Wrathfinder Enhanced Edition

Worst: Anything else

Wrath is from 2021. Otherwise I'd go with that too.

Yes but Wrath EE is from 22. Counts.

 

[Dadd]

Best: Wrathfinder Enhanced Edition

Worst: Anything else

Wrath is from 2021. Otherwise I'd go with that too.

Yes but Wrath EE is from 22. Counts.

Good enough

 

[Mortmal]

I launched Knights of the Chalice 2 and never got out of the menu. The tedium and the boredom already sets in before the game even starts. I guess this is the worst RPG of the year.
Of course there's also Pentiment, which I've downloaded but then never even launched, dreading the anachronistic californian catlady fanfic writing. So maybe that's even worse than the worst.
There's also King Arthur that I downloaded, but only managed to watch some gameplay on youtube, because it sounds generic and so what's the point?

Of course Elden Ring I played 170+ hours. Not a bad game, but gets kinda samey after 80 hours.

The pure RPGs are absolutely dead.

KOTC2 tedium ? Soul draining, balls crushing experience at release ok. But tedium? Hell no its anything but banal shit boring. Some codexers should try to make a module for it instead.

 

[Vlajdermen]

Super Lesbian Animal RPG

 

[Dadd]

I want to know what the second best RPG of 2022 is for people who chose Elden Ring as the best

 

[Falksi]

I didn't play many and haven't played Elden Ring yet either, but around 40 hours into Persona 5 Royal and I'm thriving on it. One of the very few modern games which actually 1) feels modern, 2) is good. Definitely the stand-out game of the year so far to me.

As for worst, I only played a mate's copy for a few hours but God of War Ragnarock was fucking bollocks. Dire clunky combat and companions which nagged you more than a Yorkshire housewife on the rag. Hated it.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

I ..... don't think I played any new CRPGs last year.

 

[Alex]

Best is Knights of the Chalice 2, and I don't play shit games long enough to be able to differentiate which one is the "worst".

EDIT: I would love for the people who played KotC 2 and Elden Ring to compare them and explain why Elden Shit is the better RPG.

They could start by explaining why they think elden ring is an RPG.

 

[Harthwain]

The best: King Arthur: Knight's Quest.

- It has great atmoshpere in general: it has noble knights, ruthless knights, a grimdark take on Arthurian legend, Christianity vs Old Faith and good art direction.
- It's a very good tactical game with RPG elements and original mechanics (Action and Movement Points, Armour and Health, etc.).
- It can be quite challenging.
- Thanks to 4 alignments there is some replayability value and there is an Endgame if you wish to keep playing.

So I'd say it's pretty good.

I don't have the worst RPG of 2022, because I didn't play any other RPG that year (Greedfall was released in 2019 and I bought it on sale) and I do try to avoid buying bad games (including RPGs).

They could start by explaining why they think elden ring is an RPG.

It has combat, obviously.

Edit: Fixed the year typo.

 

[Zombra]

Dang! Tyranicon making me feel all guilty for neglecting to mention Memoirs of a Battle Brothel because it's not on my Completed Games list! It's not usual of me to enjoy a ride without finishing.

That's it. Memoirs is the best 2022 RPG release I played and everyone should buy it.

 

[undecaf]

I wish I had a clue what happened last year in this regard.
I kinda wish I had a bone to pick with some louzy excuse of a codestring.
Then again, my bloodpressure’s doing fine and I’m in a good mood so… I suppose it’s all for the better.