That title is more literal than you might think. Cheese, a slice of pizza propped against the joystick, with one of those infinite weekend afternoons ahead of you. The campaign is swollen with all sorts of vintage TMNT throwbacks, which will cement you back at your happy place: standing in the corner of a Chuck E.

You and a gaggle of friends churn through a legion of identical, purple-clad ninjas, without ever fearing a trip to the change machine again. Shredder’s Revenge is a full-throated tribute to the twilight of the arcade era, when beat-’em-ups reigned supreme. But in 2022, millennials finally had the chance to enact their revenge. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle arcade games that paneled barbershops and bowling alleys were notoriously difficult, designed specifically to separate you from your allowance by the time you hit the second level. If you are a child of the ’90s, you likely once fantasized about a world with unlimited quarters. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One) There was always something fascinating on the horizon this year, and while gamers weren’t swallowed up by a white-hot Zeitgeist, the hobby never ceases to blow our minds.ġ0. Our top-ten list for 2022 contains ’90s-worshipping arcade throwbacks, wooly economic simulators, eldritch dungeon crawls, and ultra-high-concept RPGs.

Instead, we received a constant trickle of eccentric, offbeat projects that seemed destined to appeal, unapologetically, to a very specific type of video-game fetishist. It’s hard to squabble with that point as you take stock of the cycle 2022 did not contain a marquee installment to a galactic franchise - Starfield, Final Fantasy XVI, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom are each earmarked for 2023. Overall sales have swooned since 2021, which analysts have chalked up to both regression from the COVID boom and the lack of a central, needle-moving blockbuster on the release schedule.

Photo-Illustration: Rowena Lloyd and Susanna Hayward Photos: Courtesy of Finji, Annapurna Interactive, Nintendo and FromSoftware Inc.įrom a purely financial perspective, 2022 was a down year for video games.

Top pc games for 2017