Exploring the Best New PC Games of 2022 and Beyond: A Deep Dive
Remember that feeling of anticipation, staring at game magazines or watching trailers for upcoming titles? It’s a joy that never truly fades, especially when a year is absolutely packed with incredible releases. 2022, as highlighted in the video above, was precisely one such year for PC gamers, delivering a staggering array of experiences both familiar and groundbreaking. From highly anticipated sequels to innovative new IPs, the landscape of new PC games offered something for everyone, often pushing the boundaries of what we thought possible on our rigs.
The sheer volume of quality titles makes keeping track a challenge, yet it’s a delightful problem to have. Let’s delve into some of the most exciting PC games of 2022, expanding on the video’s excellent overview and exploring why these titles captivated, or continue to captivate, the gaming world.
Diverse Worlds and Unforgettable Journeys: Top PC Games 2022 Offered
The year truly showcased the incredible versatility of the PC gaming platform. We saw everything from gritty action RPGs to strategic masterclasses and deeply emotional narrative adventures. Each game brought its own unique flavor, ensuring players could find their next obsession.
Innovative Action RPGs and Soulslikes
A prime example of innovation came with **Soulstice**. This title promised a fresh take on the ‘Soulslike’ genre, blending the challenging combat of Dark Souls with the fast-paced, character-swapping dynamics reminiscent of Nier: Automata. The unique mechanic of managing two sisters, one focusing on offense and the other on defense and healing, presented a compelling strategic layer. It was fascinating to see a game attempt to weave such a revenge-driven narrative into a mechanically deep combat system, promising both visual flair and substantive gameplay.
Another game that grabbed immediate attention was **Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin**. Helmed by Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja, renowned for their brutal action combat in titles like Ninja Gaiden and Nioh, this game boldly reimagined the very first Final Fantasy. Instead of a traditional turn-based approach, it delivered an action RPG that was, by developer accounts, a “brutal take” on the series. With its March 18th release, it offered a dark, intense narrative and combat experience that fans of challenging action games surely appreciated, proving that even classic franchises can evolve dramatically.
Deep Narratives and Psychological Thrillers
**Martha Is Dead** transported players to a haunting 1944 Italy, a setting rarely explored in psychological thrillers. As the twin sister investigating Martha’s traumatic death, players were plunged into a world of loss, mystery, and stunning, yet somber, graphics. The inclusion of authentic Italian dialogue significantly enhanced its immersive and unsettling atmosphere, demonstrating a commitment to historical and emotional realism that few games achieve.
For fans of story-driven adventures, **Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals** was a welcome return. Building upon the original’s acclaimed linear but choice-driven narrative and fantastic graphics, this sequel promised more of the unique dialogue-based gameplay that defined its predecessor. Taking place five years after the first game, it revisited the compelling blend of supernatural mystery and character interaction that made the original a cult classic. The return to Riley’s hometown, embroiled in new, mysterious occurrences, was a highly anticipated event for its dedicated fanbase.
Survival, Crafting, and Colony Building Adventures
**Nightingale**, revealed at the Game Awards, immediately stood out with its truly bizarre and unique world. This survival-crafting game went beyond typical genre tropes, allowing players to build entire towns and then defend them against an array of genuinely strange and often grotesque creatures. The promise of building sprawling settlements and confronting such outlandish threats made it one of the most intriguing entries in the new PC games roster, offering a fresh take on player agency and world interaction.
**Palworld** also offered a wild genre mashup, combining open-world multiplayer survival crafting with elements of Pokémon and a shooter. While its monster-catching aesthetic might evoke familiar feelings, its survival, crafting, and active combat mechanics truly differentiated it. The action appeared more dynamic than traditional monster-hunting games, giving it definite potential to be more than just the sum of its seemingly disparate parts.
Strategy and Tactical Masterpieces
Real-time strategy (RTS) aficionados had plenty to cheer about, with titles like **Homeworld 3** making a grand return. A sequel almost two decades in the making since Homeworld 2 in 2003, this game aimed to thoroughly update the beloved series’ aesthetics and mechanics. Its extensive solo campaign and significantly upgraded graphics promised a truly immersive and challenging experience for both long-time fans and newcomers to space fleet command, expected in Q4.
**Company of Heroes 3** further solidified the RTS lineup, setting its intense World War II battles in the evocative Italian and North African theaters. The game introduced interesting new mechanics and significantly improved its terrain and structure destruction systems, adding a visceral layer to strategic gameplay. This update to a classic series showed how historical RTS games could evolve while maintaining their core appeal.
Similarly, **Total War: Warhammer 3** delivered on its promise of epic fantasy strategy. While retaining the series’ signature turn-based strategy and real-time tactics, it introduced a wealth of new content and a campaign widely regarded as superior to its predecessor. This entry ensured that the Total War series continued its legacy of grand-scale conflict and strategic depth.
Remakes and Revivals of Beloved Franchises
For those longing for a return to classic horror, the **Dead Space Remake** was a monumental announcement. Developed by Motive, the expectation was a complete overhaul of the terrifying original, renowned for its narrative horror and engaging combat against grotesque Necromorphs. The potential for a modern rendition of such a beloved title, which still holds up incredibly well today, sparked immense excitement among fans eager to revisit the desolate Ishimura.
The arrival of **God of War** on Windows in January was nothing short of a triumph. This critically acclaimed title, which reinvented Kratos as an older, more nuanced father figure, showcased a brutal yet emotionally resonant narrative. Its transition to PC allowed a whole new audience to experience its fantastic story and visceral combat, solidifying its place as a must-play title.
**The Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection** brought the cinematic action-adventure prowess of Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy to PC. These games are celebrated for their incredible set pieces, wild stories, and engaging third-person action. Making them available on PC meant that more players could experience some of the most thrilling and visually stunning adventures in recent gaming history.
Exciting New IPs and Unique Concepts
Beyond sequels and remakes, several entirely new intellectual properties captured imaginations. **Plan 8**, an exosuit MMO shooter from Pearl Abyss (known for Black Desert Online), hinted at a Warframe-like experience with high-production values. Under the art direction of Soon Ki Lee, this venture into the shooter genre by a studio known for stunning visuals created significant buzz.
**Stray**, often dubbed “the open-world cat game,” presented a truly unique premise. Players assumed the role of a cat in a world devoid of humans, populated instead by robots, on a quest to reunite with its family. This adventure game combined puzzle-solving with delightful cat-oriented traversal and a touching narrative, proving that novel concepts can still thrive in the gaming world.
Another fascinating new entry was **Atomic Heart**, a first-person shooter with action RPG elements set in an alternate 1955 Soviet Union. Its distinctive Bioshock-esque feel, combined with a wild plot involving robots, AI, and organic tissue merging, promised a truly unique and visually striking experience. The idea of a Soviet Union defeating Nazi Germany early due to advanced robotics, only for things to go wildly out of control, presented a compelling backdrop for intense gameplay.
Massive Open Worlds and Fantasy Escapes
**Elden Ring**, a colossal achievement by FromSoftware, arguably set a new benchmark for open-world games. Its blend of challenging Dark Souls combat with an expansive, mysterious, and truly explorable world offered an unparalleled sense of discovery. Released early in the year, it quickly became a strong contender for Game of the Year, proving that an open world can be both vast and meaningfully engaging, much like Breath of the Wild did for its genre.
Bethesda’s next epic, **Starfield**, promised to bring their signature open-world RPG gameplay—akin to Fallout and Elder Scrolls—into a completely new environment: space. The anticipation for exploring countless planets, engaging in space combat, and forging a unique story in a vast sci-fi universe was immense. Despite some trepidation about the continued use of the Creation Engine, the prospect of a sprawling space odyssey had gamers ready for its November 11th landing.
**Hogwarts Legacy** offered fans a chance to live out their wizarding world fantasies as a student at Hogwarts in the late 1800s. This action RPG promised not just classes, but quests to defeat various magical adversaries, allowing players to carve out their own legacy within the beloved universe. The chance to explore iconic locations and shape a unique wizarding journey was a major draw for many.
The Thrill of Competition and Cooperative Play
**The King of Fighters 15** continued a long-running and highly regarded fighting game series, marking its first appearance on Unreal Engine. This shift to a new engine allowed the game to maintain its tight, team-based gameplay while delivering enhanced visuals and smoother performance. It reinforced the series’ reputation for delivering top-tier competitive fighting action.
**Warhammer 40,000: Darktide** brought the cooperative, wave-based combat of Vermintide into the grimdark future of Warhammer 40,000. This four-player co-op experience, while similar in concept, promised a more ranged-focused combat system fitting the futuristic setting, offering a fresh challenge for fans of cooperative shooters.
These titles, alongside many others like **Dying Light 2: Stay Human**, with its phenomenal parkour mechanics, and **Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands**, which infused Borderlands’ humor into a fantasy setting, represent just a fraction of the incredible new PC games released in 2022. Each offered unique gameplay loops, captivating stories, or innovative features that left a lasting impression on the gaming community. Whether you sought intense action, deep strategy, or expansive worlds to explore, 2022 was a landmark year for PC gaming.
