Top 10 best video games of 2022

Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, the shortage of Xbox series et PlayStation 5, in parallel with that of advanced PC components, are currently preventing the video game of tomorrow from entering every home.

The first games do not seem to take full advantage of the possibilities offered by the new technologies in place, and we hope to be more dazzled next year by the graphic prowess of games on PC and consoles. Technique is obviously not everything: we can also count on the creativity of developers around the world to make an ever more popular and unifying medium shine. Here is a selection of the most anticipated video games of 2021.

Back 4 Blood

Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

Expected release date: June 22, 2021

Since the release of the second episode in 2009, Valve has fallen asleep on the Left 4 Dead license. Since then, the cooperative shooter with zombie sauce has been lost in the limbo of licensing with OVERKILL's The Walking Dead and World War Z for successes – playful, critical or public – quite diverse. Wracked by the whirlwind Evolve whose concept failed to hide the weakness of the content (and the opportunism of its economic model), Turtle Rock Studios returns to its first love with Back 4 Blood.

A Left 4 Dead 3 which does not say its name, but whose concept remains almost unchanged: four players go from point A to point B by knocking out piles of zombies and special infected in their path, not without drop some badass one-liners along the way. Some new features are on the program, such as the possibility of aiming with your weapons in iron-sight (2021, we tell you!), a still very mysterious hub system and the eternal plus: different zombies, heroes, weapons, of levels… The arcade feeling of the fights and the exuberance specific to Turtle Rock games should be back on June 22, 2021, and we are waiting for that with great impatience!

In the best case : 2009 all over again, we relaunch the "last one, before going to bed"

In the worst case : we have fun for a weekend and a few evenings, and we put it at the bottom of our Steam list, next to L4D2 so we don't forget it.

Hasty conclusion: sleepless nights with friends out of 10

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2

Plateformes : PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, 2021

Planned release date: late 2021

It's not a new license, but the rather distant release of its first part (2004) authorizes us to place it in this category. The first feedback from the press and its visibly chaotic development call for caution. However, the sequel to the cult vampiric RPG retains our favor thanks to its unstoppable concept: relevant multiple choices in a deep scenario, a well-balanced infiltration/action mix in addition to a dark and deleterious Victorian atmosphere skillfully distilled in modern environments.

Paradox Interactive should logically have its game tested by the press during the course of the year: the opportunity to particularly monitor its finish and its fights (the major flaws of the first part), or even to ensure that the release window rather remote is tenable.

In the best case : GOTY 2021.

In the worst case : the game is broken on all sides, and our hopes drowned in a pool of blood undrinkable.

Hasty conclusion: interview with a vampire road sign out of 10

Deathloop

Platforms: PC, PS5

Expected release date: May 21, 2021

Bethesda's first game under the Microsoft fold will be
finally… a PlayStation 5 exclusive! Well, that's not quite
correct, since the takeover of Zenimax (for 7,5 billion dollars) should only come into effect in the second quarter of the 2021-2022 fiscal year, but the anecdote is too good to bother with boring facts financial.

Deathloop, from Lyon from Arkane Studios, will nevertheless honor its year of exclusivity at Sony, in parallel with its release on PC, before integrating Microsoft's Game Pass. The iconoclastic FPS promises colorful confrontations, a tortuous level design, an incredible atmosphere coupled with a strong artistic direction as Arkane (Dishonored, Prey 2017) masters them so well in addition to a curious concept, which intends to blur the lines between single and multiplayer game. The bottle doesn't matter, as long as you're drunk.

In the best case : And if I chain that power up with that gun, can I kill those three enemies in less than two seconds? Oh yeah, that works too!

In the worst case : gunfights are a little soft, full infiltration impossible, and human players toxic. The loop is unbuckled, in short.

Hasty conclusion: F5-F9 out of 10

GhostWire: Tokyo

Platforms: PC, PS5

Expected release date: 2021

The Japanese studio Tango Gameworks is also concerned
by the acquisition of Zenimax by Microsoft, recorded last September. Like its big brother Deathloop, GhostWire: Tokyo will keep its promise of exclusivity on PlayStation 5 before coming home to Xbox Series in 2022.

Legend Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil 1 and 4, God Hand, Vanquish, The Evil Within) is the Executive Producer of this punchy, melee-oriented horror FPS. If the first-person view has never been the best playground for close-combat, we especially expect the game for its mystical atmosphere and its mind-blowing spectral creatures.

In the best case : we train ourselves to make fire or energy balls spring from our hands in front of a mirror, like thirty years ago after Dragon Ball.

In the worst case : drunk, he believed that a Japanese studio could release a quality first-person jittery action game.

Hasty conclusion: weird out of 10

Hood : Outlaws & Legends

Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|SExpected release date: May 10, 2021

On behalf of Focus Interactive, Sumo Digital transposes
Payday 2's medieval multiplayer heist concept, and it's kinda sexy. We swap the emblematic masks dear to Overkill Software for animal skins, bows and halberds, but the idea remains the same: thwart the enemy's defenses to steal a good from him as discreetly as possible, and transform all this little world in pâté for dragon once the alarm is given.

If the follow-up is as exemplary as Payday, the robberies as varied and clever and the action as furious, we could have the perfect aperitif while waiting for Back 4 Blood and the sea serpent Payday 3, whose development has been in limbo for its announcement in 2016.

In the best case : Lord of the Rings meets Ocean's Eleven

In the worst case : hey but i think they added new heists to Payday 2!

Hasty conclusion: between 6 and 8 out of 10

The Medium

Platforms: PC, Xbox X/SExpected release date: January 28, 2021

The hyperactive Poles of Bloober Team (Layers of Fear, Observer, Blair Witch) are at the helm of this new little horrific madness à la Silent Hill, from which they also hire the services of the official sound designer Akira Yamaoka. In The Medium, Marianne walks through two simultaneously rendered real-time worlds in search of answers, in what feels like a rather classic atmospheric adventure game in the background.

Inspired by the work of visual artist Zdzisław Beksiński, the world of spirits is tortured and organic for a plunge into the mystical that we hope will be dizzying. Be careful not to expect too much from one of the first big Xbox exclusives: The Medium was announced in 2012, and the project could not be carried out given the technological resources available at the time. We bet that Bloober Team will also have been able to dust off the gameplay of its game.

In the best case : Poland, it hits you.

In the worst case : five hours of polite boredom, 2012 wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Hasty conclusion: cold sweats out of 10

Kena : Bridge of Spirits

Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5

Expected release date: early 2021

A small revelation from the Future of Gaming conference organized by Sony last June, Kena brings together all the ingredients of a good little feel good family game: an intrepid young heroine, cute little creatures, impressive magical powers, a colorful and mysterious universe lined with a seductive accomplishment.

The game takes up the age-old action/adventure/platform tune and embellishes it with an extra touch of soul after only a few gameplay sequences. We will judge the entire game on the variety of its gameplay, the interest of its quest(s) and the inventiveness of its universe, but almost all the lights are green for the moment!

In the best case : the PS5 holds its Zelda!

In the worst case : the PS5 holds its Kya: Dark Lineage…

Hasty conclusion: shit out of 10

crimson desert (CP) – End 2021

Platform: PCExpected release date: end of 2021

Between Skyrim, Assassin's Creed, God of War, Dark Souls, Lair (we can ride a dragon), Monster Hunter and Stronghold (we can besiege fortresses), we are close to indigestion of concepts and mechanics, and we wonder how Pearl Abyss is going to manage to fit all of this into a single game. If we add that Crimson Desert was originally an MMO, which has become a cooperative action/adventure game in an open world, this playful potpourri rather cause for concern.

But with a valiant heart nothing is impossible; the pretty panoramas and the muscular gameplay are sufficiently eye-catching to make us interested in the next title from the developers of the amazing Black Desert Online.

In the best case : Crimson Desert imposes its fun and generous open world, and the exemplary follow-up of the developers ensures excellent longevity.

In the worst case : Wanting to do everything, Crimson Desert does not offer anything really original or striking, and falls irremediably into oblivion. Who remembers Too Human?

Hasty conclusion: pushed back to 2022 out of 10

humankind

Platforms: PC, StadiaScheduled release date: April 22, 2021

After Endless Space and Endless Legend, the Ile-de-France residents of Amplitude are tackling Civilization with a new enticing 4X. Humankind invites you to create your own civilization and evolve it over time while changing factions with each era. Construction, morale of the people, diplomacy, trade, combat: you are the supreme leader of this people whose influences will multiply over time for results that we hope will be consistent and varied. As usual with the SEGA studio, the development is transparent, the progress concrete and the follow-up very serious. Ideal for players who like to think of themselves as gods.

In the best case : the game is very good, well finished and offers hundreds of hours of squinting at little tables full of information.

In the worst case : the game is good, well finished, and provides hundreds of hours of squinting at small, information-packed boards.

Hasty conclusion: 8 out of 10 (by Nerces)

Hogwarts Legacy: Hogwarts Legacy

Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|SExpected release date: 2021

Warner has only released three Harry Potter games in almost ten years: two on mobile and one on Kinect. Far from the hyperactivity of Electronic Arts (11 games between 2001 and 2011), the media giant caresses fans in the direction of the hair with Hogwarts Legacy, which follows the eventful course of a sorcerer's apprentice created and embodied by the player in the 1800s. An open-world adventure role-playing game filled with spells, potions, monsters, lessons and exams, fully modeled Hogwarts school, every possible nod to the universe of JK Rowling …

The Avalanche studio seems to have all the confidence of Warner after the three Disney Infinity, which is a rather good sign for this large-scale project intended to shine the Harry Potter license, still so powerful among young adults and even beyond.

In the best case : “Wingardium Leviosa”! Fans are in a trance and create wizards on a loop to explore – and fact check – every corner of Hogwarts. Three DLCs are released per year, including one centered on Quidditch.

In the worst case : another sloppy license game, nothing very alarming in short.

Hasty conclusion: Dog Dog Edit / 10

Next in ideas

The year 2021 will certainly not be limited to this handful of promising new licenses. The sequels strategically occupy the release calendar, as usual.

Thus, it is difficult to overlook Hitman 3 after two high-flying episodes signed IO Interactive, especially since the Danes will assassinate the competition from January 20th. Switch RPG enthusiasts can keep an eye out for Bravely default 2, which will be released a week later to follow the two episodes already available on 3DS, before Shin Megami Tensei V et NEO: The World Ends With You damn him the pawn later in the year.

On the pan-pan-boom-boom side, Ubisoft is attacking the banana republics with Far Cry 6 (but still nothing political, don't worry!), Microsoft is playing big with Halo Infinite and Warner kills Batman in Gotham Knights. The quota of big crazy arcade steamers will be provided by Babylon's Fall, No More Heroes 3, chivalry 2 or even Shadow Warrior 3.

To put on the face cheerfully, we put a coin on 2 Windjammers et Guilty gear strive. For its part, Capcom should satisfy thrill-seekers with Resident Evil 8: Village.

But also a lot of new things to discover

We will obviously keep an eye on Hollow Knight: Silksong after a first episode of anthology, but also on the intriguing Stray, where you embody a cat in sublime cyberpunk settings.

On the side of oddities from elsewhere, the FPS Russian foutraque Atomic Heart and the very strange alien life simulation The Eternal Cylinder, developed by the Chileans of the ACE Team (Zeno Clash, Rock of Ages), arise there.

Microsoft and Sony will fight for exclusivity, the first with the independent adventure game 12 Minutes and its intriguing time loop in an apartment seen from above, the second with the roguelite shooter Returnal, from the very reliable Finnish studio Housemarque. Microsoft has Scorn and its repugnant organic settings, Sony will offer Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart and its incredibly smooth transitions between multiple universes.

Nintendo will trump them anyway on the sales side with Monster Hunter: Rise on Nintendo Switch, building on the success of the World episode released in 2018 on other media.

According to IGN, The Ascent is the hidden son of Diablo and Judge Dredd, so why not check it out when it releases later this year. We won't miss On the other hand Weird west under no circumstances, since it is Raphaël Colantonio's first game since leaving Arkane: an immersive-sim in three-quarter view in a particularly dark and tortured far-west universe, at Devolver Digital.

Those who wish to give Josef Fares a chance will certainly be interested in It Takes Two, his new cooperative game after the excellent Brother: A Tale of Two Sons and the less excellent A Way Out.

Infiltration with Lord of the Ring: Gollum, Japanese RPG that beats with Scarlet nexus, stylish exploration with Sand, vampires in the far west in evil west, a horrific walking sim with Martha is dead, hack'n slash posed in co-op with Kingdom of Night, galactic shooter with Chorus and adventure/action choupi with Eastward… There will be something for everyone in 2021.

Doubt is allowed

Skull & Bones : announced too long ago, Ubisoft's pirate game seems to have lost its bearings and been stranded on the most dangerous reefs in the known world: those of oblivion.

N : Amazon Games Studios' bombastic MMO seems like a gigantic, bloated holdall that the American giant's millions will struggle to make look like a delicacy. World of War almost.

Outriders : the People Can Fly shooter comes out on February 2, 2021. It doesn't look terrible at all, but at least we won't have to wait long to check our intuition.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Quarantine : Ubisoft is riding on the deserved success of Rainbow Six Siege with what looks like a big Call of Duty Zombie mode, but with even less combat sensations. Why the hell do creatures have spikes on their backs? Why does the scenery destruction mechanic seem so anecdotal in a three-player cooperative arcade game when it makes all the salt of tactical versus confrontations? Too many questions, only one answer: check out GTFO and Deep Rock Galactic if the genre interests you.

They probably won't be released in 2021, but we're still talking about them for SEO

Horizon forbidden west : if Forbidden West is coming out this year, it's because it will have a strong taste of a camouflaged extension at full price, like Miles Morales. We therefore logically hope that it will not be released this year.

God of war ragnarok : we haven't seen anything of the game yet, and Santa Monica Studios likes to take its time. Circulate, there's nothing to see from the next God of War in 2021 except for a new teaser at E3. Probably a close-up of Kratos, and his billions of hate polygons.

Diablo IV : working hard on a mobile Diablo that everyone is cutting but which will be a hit, Blizzard will not be in a hurry for the next canonical episode of its hack'n slash. Appointment is made in 2022… for the first screenshots.

Zelda Breath of the Wild 2 : Nintendo is in no hurry, its console is still a hit despite defective controllers and a rather sparse agenda. Big N will draw his Zelda in an emergency, so not right away.