I don't really do the whole hype thing—let's be real, 2021 was a bit of a wet blanket for gaming. Yeah, some decent games dropped, but all in all the year felt like a diet version of what we were promised. Now that we're in 2026 and I look back, I stand by it: 2021 was not a banger, and 2022 absolutely was. In fact, 2022 was the kind of stacked year that still echoes now. A great year has to be above average, right? So by definition, not all years can be great. 2021 simply wasn't. 2022? It was the real deal.
Why? Same reason 2021 felt so light: the pandemic. Delays from 2020 and 2021 piled up and then, boom, 2022 got the motherlode. If you look at The Game Awards, the shift is wild. In 2020, the GOTY nominees were The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Hades, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Doom Eternal. That's an absurd lineup on its own—Genshin Impact, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Persona 5 Royal, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, and Half-Life: Alyx didn't even make the cut. That's how deep that year was.
Then 2021 rolled around and the GOTY race felt like slim pickings by comparison. It Takes Two won against Deathloop, Resident Evil Village, Metroid Dread, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Psychonauts 2. I'm not saying those are bad games—It Takes Two is a gem, and Metroid Dread slaps—but the overall catalogue wasn't as substantial. Personal preference always plays a part in something subjective like this, but the depth just wasn't there.
But the real kicker came from the Most Anticipated category, which is basically a crystal ball for the next year. At the end of 2020, four of the nominees—God of War, Horizon, Elden Ring, and BOTW 2—returned in 2021. Halo Infinite missed the cut for the 2021 ceremony because of its December release date. So out of all the games we collectively said would make the biggest impression at The Game Awards the next year, only Resident Evil Village even featured. And it won a single award. I mean, come on. That's not a stacked year, that's a drought with one thunderstorm.
2022 flipped the script. Sure, we still might not have gotten Zelda—and let's not pretend that wasn't another delay waiting to happen—but God of War, Horizon, and Elden Ring actually showed up. They were joined by Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad, Hogwarts Legacy, Ghostwire: Tokyo, Silksong, Sonic Frontiers, Saints Row, Sifu, Avatar, and a bunch of other fantastic games we hadn't even heard of yet. Some of those obviously got bumped, but with many already pushed back from 2021, and with the pandemic hopefully in the rearview (don't make me jinx it), the delay cycle started to feel normal again instead of the endless spate of delays we saw at the end of 2020 and throughout 2021.
The first few months of the year are usually pretty quiet for games—January and February are basically the gaming equivalent of a lazy Sunday. But in 2022? Nope. Even with the likes of Saints Row jumping out of the early window, we were getting:
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🏹 Horizon Forbidden West
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🧙♀️ Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
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🏎️ Gran Turismo 7
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🥋 Sifu
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🐾 Pokemon Legends: Arceus
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🧟 Dying Light 2
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💍 Elden Ring (yes, the 'tiny little obscure' one)
That's not a quiet start; that's a statement of intent.
And indies? 2021 leaned on them hard, with Chicory, Sable, The Artful Escape, Solar Ash, and TheGamer's game of the year The Forgotten City carrying the torch. 2022 didn't abandon that energy. Sony bringing out God of War and Horizon a few months apart doesn't have any impact on the tons of interesting indie titles that were in development and ready to join the party. If anything, 2022 was a buffet: triple-A heavy hitters on one side, indie darlings on the other.
Looking back from 2026, I can say 2021's loss really was 2022's gain. I wrote at the time that I'd probably still disagree with whatever won GOTY, and wouldn't you know it, I did—but at least the field was stacked. That's all you can ask for. In a year this loaded, there was no excuse for 'there's nothing to play.' Now, as we sit in 2026 with another batch of releases, I still think 2022 set a high bar. Not every year can be great, but 2022 proved that when the stars align—and the delays finally stop—gaming can feel like the best hobby on the planet.