Best Adventure Game of 2022 - Article
by Lee Mehr , posted on 13 January 2023 / 3,046 Views
In some ways, 2022 felt like a mini-renaissance for the adventure genre. The final third of the year kept point-n-click adventure fans well-fed with revivals like Return to Monkey Island, new IPs like The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow, and more, while more choice-focused ones were scattered throughout the year, such as Pentiment and The Quarry. Games from old and new studios made it through our preliminary voting list, impressing the VGC community and critics alike. Now, after two layers of filtering, we’ve reached the final four contestants.
The Shortlist:
AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES – nirvanA Initiative
Return to Monkey Island
Pentiment
Stray
The Runner-Up:
Return to Monkey Island
Discounting the remasters, this series had been dormant since TellTale’s story in 2009. Virtually nobody could’ve anticipated the day when Ron Gilbert (director/writer of the first two Monkey Island titles) would return to make a brand-new adventure. Yet, here we are! There was some initial blowback to Return’s art direction (which got ugly); regardless of where one fell on that aspect, Terrible Toybox has received more consistent praise for its storytelling and game design. Should this be the last we've seen of Threepwood (hopefully it's not!), it’s great to see him end on a high note.
The Winner:
Stray
The cat game wins it all! BlueTwelve Studios isn’t among the first to make an animal-centered game, yet it somehow feels fresh here. Why? Well, with the exception of Untitled Goose Game, it doesn’t seem like many of these games expand beyond their main gimmick. By transplanting a typical adventure/platformer template through a cat’s eyes, interfacing with the world feels different. You’re still engaging with the post-apocalyptic world as a would-be hero/heroine – assisting NPCs, repairing damaged arrays, navigating through dangerous hazards, etc. – but you still have time to scratch up the carpet or knock over delicate items. Combine these elements with a nice story and impressive production values, and it’s no surprise to see why many people think Stray is the cat’s pajamas.
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Pentiment deserved better here, at least a runner-up, sadly there just aren't all that many Xbox fans on this site. Pentiment is actually 6th place in overall GOTY tracking right now, it has won 4 different website's GOTY awards, compared to 5 for Horizon: Forbidden West, 7 for Xenoblade 3, 7 for Immortality, 90 for GoW Ragnarok, and 372 for Elden Ring.
Yeah unfortunately I think it really suffered from being a PC/Xbox-only title when it came to community voting.
Stray was solid, I have to play Return to Monkey Island one of these days, I was a big fan of the first few games in the series.
My personal pick would have been Somnium Files, but while I haven't really played Stray much, Monkey Island was really good
The first AI game is an absolute must play. The second one seems to be just as good.
Imo Stray should not have won this. Its not even a proper Adventure game. Return to Monkey Island FTW!!!. and Pentiment should of defo got winner or runner up with Monkey Island Returns taking the other spot.
And of course the best adventure is not an adventure game…
Well deserved Kitty Kats Winner Dinnah
Uhm, sorry but just no... Stray is a cute little game, that looks gorgeous and has a really interesting setting, but it is too light on actual gameplay to be considered the best adventure game of 2022. I actually argued that it's a pity they didn't opt for making a classic point and click adventure with that premise, but I do understand their need to cater to a more mainstream audience for better sales.
So what's your best adventure game of 2022?
not a good year for adventure games
That was really not the best year for Adventure games uh
