thatHITBOX Game of the Year 2022

Plus a couple of honourable mentions.

By Jonathan Garrett
30/12/22

After what turned into a surprisingly varied year, in spite of numerous high profile delays, thatHITBOX’s Game of the Year 2022 has been decided: Rumbleverse. This certainly wasn’t a title we expected to come out on top, but there have been a number of factors that elevated it for us.

For one thing, despite the intense learning curve and less than intuitive controls, when Rumbleverse clicked, it felt incredibly satisfying. It’s a game that rewards experimentation of approach, and is enhanced by a brilliantly balanced duos mode. Playing with friends is a welcome mess of unintentional friendly fire (that mercifully doesn’t cause any damage) and moments of slapstick hilarity.

There’s also an ever expanding arsenal of weapons, abilities and mechanics that keeps the game fresh in a way that doesn’t overwhelm. The cadence of seasonal updates allows the meta to settle, and avoids the tendency for other live service games to constantly feel the need to add or remove elements at a breakneck pace.

We had a huge amount of fun playing Rainbow Six: Extraction this year, and it definitely led to some memorable moments on stream. Sifu was a lovely surprise, and a great showcase for the DualSense’s feature set. The Last of Us Part 1 is incredible, but it’s the second remake of a 2013 era title, so we felt happy to nominate without giving it the final prize. The Callisto Protocol is also more than worthy of a nod, but the inherent jolliness of Rumbleverse pipped it to the post.

A couple of other honourable mentions: Splatoon 3. They made it so you could play with friends with minimal ball ache. A huge step up from Nintendo, despite the online bar still being very low. Sniper Elite 5 was also a big surprise, and a fantastic addition to Game Pass. But for 2022, Rumbleverse has secured our GOTY.