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My game of the year 2022 is the Steam Deck

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You think I'm joking? I'm not. Okay, okay. It's not a game but I'll get to that in a moment. The Steam Deck has transformed everything about gaming for me.

At the risk of people pointing out how I'm repeating myself, and how I've likely said all this before in various places: yes I probably have but I'm going to bore you with it again because I can.

The freedom the Steam Deck affords is just a constant reminder of how I hate being sat at my desk for most of the day, the feeling of being shackled to it sets in quite quickly if I start up a game on my actual desktop PC now. I would much rather unhook my Steam Deck from the charger, and go be a potato on the sofa with it. There's just something about the feeling of being that much more connected to the gaming experience too when you have it all there in your hands. I'm certain I'm not alone in that feeling either.

Valve had a great year with it too and I'm ridiculously excited for what 2023 brings.

What's my actual game of the year for 2022 though? Well, this might surprise and even shock you but it's Vampire Su…just kidding. It's actually not the very good Vampire Survivors. While it has sucked away many hours from me, and again it is very good, it's not my game of the year.

Despite many good games released across this year, and a lot of high profile releases too, I ended up being sucked in by something small. The majority of my time actually gaming now being on a Steam Deck either handheld or docked in various rooms, can easily be part of the why on this too.

My GOTY for 2022 is: Brotato.

Similar in many ways to Vampire Survivors, but I honestly like Brotato so much more. Brotato is a frantic top-down arena shooter roguelite set in a small arena (although certain characters can change the arena size). You pick a character from a growing list, each with their own pros and cons, and run around as a potato shooting at everything else that moves. 

When you level up you choose from various power-ups and pick from multiple weapon types that you also get to upgrade. It becomes absolute madness once you get a good few waves into it and that's also what I love about it, the timed waves let you know clearly how long you've got left until you get a breather again. Your characters changing visually based on your weapons is a thoroughly nice touch too, some of them really make me laugh.

Here's a previous video I did on it:

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Love it. Madness.

Over to you: what's your GOTY 2022?

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KLAPTV Dec 20, 2022
I agree with everything you've said in the article. Brotato is so much fun!

For me the Deck really made me relax with World of Warcraft on the couch. Past-15-yr-old-me would FAINT if they knew I'd be running dungeons on the couch, the toilet, in bed..

The whole portability of having a PC in my hands still blows me away. I play on my Deck every single day since April and I'm a guy in his 30s with a pretty sick gaming rig.

It is hands down the most excited I've ever been, and after launch still am, for a device, ever.


Honourable mentions:
Darktide
Noita
Rimworld Biotech
RedWyvern Dec 20, 2022
My game of the year 2022 is Okami, as I played it for the first time this year.
With a fixed inputs community layout and some simple setting changes it plays perfectly, the trackpads and the Deck's screen suit the game incredibly well.

Though I suppose I could count the new Steam Input configurator as my 2022 released "game" of the year, for how it lets me control games and other programs in whichever way I please.
A somewhat extreme example of this is Vintage Story, which after making a complex layout for it on Steam Deck plays better there than with M+KB.

If we're calling Linux Distro's games too, Garuda Linux is my pick.
Expected to hate it will the over the top G4M3R default aesthetic and OS tweaks I was uncertain about, but after giving it a chance on my main desktop earlier this year, it became my preferred distro.
Though I've also read the rules and don't plan to start a distro fight here, nor will I give my favourite an absurd amount of praise for things other distros do as well too.

But I don't have an actual game released in 2022 which I would call my favourite, I mostly play older games or am active on Steam Discussions, Discord and YouTube on my Deck.
Pengling Dec 20, 2022
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My game of the year was actually released in 2021 and ended on December 1st of this year - it was the incredibly short-lived free-to-play side-game Super Bomberman R Online (not to be confused with Super Bomberman R, which was a 64-player battle-royale Bomberman game. Luckily, it turned out to have been a feature-test for upcoming full paid sequel Super Bomberman R 2, so its features will be rolled into that next year.

They never kicked anyone out of R Online for using Proton, either, which makes me hopeful that we'll see R 2 end up Steam Deck Verified with no problems.


Last edited by Pengling on 21 December 2022 at 12:01 am UTC
scaine Dec 21, 2022
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GOTY is always tough. Best game I played for the first time this year is Monster Train, with an honourable mention to Aliens Fireteam Elite.

But the best game that actually came out this year is probably Stolen Realm. Multiple honourable memtions to Brotato, Trials of Fire, Soulstone Survivors, Spellbook Demonslayers and Wandering Village.
Avikarr Dec 21, 2022
For me, the best game of the year is Hades. I refused to try this game, because it was for me some mainstream, almost AAA game, and even the fact that I am HUGE fan of rogue-likes, did not help in this case. Well, then I thought to mysellf... I'll try it eventually. And daaamn, this game is f**ing masterpiece action rogue-like! The story, graphics, MUSIC, gameplay, replayability, main character, the story, the story and the story. And it works without issues on Linux (Proton of course) out of the box. I want to beat myself to death, for not trying it earlier xD Heh. Silly me.


Last edited by Avikarr on 21 December 2022 at 12:51 am UTC
DriftMonkey Dec 21, 2022
Gotta be Chained Echoes for me!
NoSt Dec 21, 2022
Mine actually IS Vampire Survivors. I've spent so many hours battling the hordes, unlocking all the achievements and secrets.
Another strong contender is Persona 5 Royal. But I prefer not to judge the game until I've finished it, and I'm still less than halfway through it. Still, I'm thoroughly enjoying it as it has pretty much everything a good JRPG should have.
richgkav Dec 21, 2022
My GOTY is Valheim. Yeah it came out in 2021 but I only got into it this year. What a time sink but it's also respectful of your time by having save anywhere. Its also my favourite chillout game as the tree cutting mechanic is very relaxing.

2nd GOTY is the Steamdeck lol. I love it and want to marry it.
chickenb00 Dec 21, 2022
Steam Deck is a bold GOTY, and I'll join you in that assessment as my GOTY as well!
But I'll also pick a GAME GOTY, and the one from 2022 for me was probably Elden Ring overall, though Tunic and Stray and Quake Arcane Dimensions and HL Entropy Zero 2 and FF7 Remake and Eastward all deserve the top nomination.
Akien Dec 23, 2022
I'm also picking Brotato as my GOTY. I've played over 30h of it on Steam Deck and I still have so many builds to try out, I come back to it once in a while for a couple hours of cozy gaming.
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