A film star, a priest, and Grasp Chief stroll right into a bar…

The 12 months is coming to a detailed, and so it’s time to look again at what 2022 held, notably for Xbox followers. Microsoft had a seemingly quiet 12 months, however this 12 months’s nominees for Destructoid’s best-in-class Xbox video games spoke volumes.

As a reminder, our awards season right here at Destructoid runs December-to-December. So whereas Halo Infinite wasn’t eligible final 12 months, it’s this 12 months, and it’s probably higher off for it. Whereas 343 Industries’ FPS struggled proper out of the gate, a sequence of updates have been steadily turning the narrative round. The latest Forge beta and quality-of-life enhancements are beginning to make Infinite really feel a bit extra like what people may need hoped for at launch, and so it’s price noting that.

Obsidian wound up being the standard-bearer for Microsoft’s first-party efforts in 2022, with not one however two video games making our nominations. The primary, Grounded, launched out of Early Entry, and people on the website who checked it out actually dug Obsidian’s tackle co-op survival in a yard world. Pentiment, in the meantime, is a ardour mission with some stellar artwork, route, and writing. It captures life within the sixteenth century by an exhilarating, emotional story of artwork and legacy.

In fact, Xbox lately isn’t simply in regards to the first-party choices. Xbox Recreation Cross had some stellar video games arrive on the service, and the remainder of our listing reveals that, as they’ve all been on Xbox Recreation Cross this 12 months. We begin with No person Saves the World, an early 2022 hit from Guacamelee developer Drinkbox that we dug and didn’t wish to see fall out of our collective recollection come GOTY season. It’s colourful, ingenious, and its transformations are a blast to combine and match.

Tunic barely wants an introduction, because it appeared to seize many hearts and minds over the previous couple of years. Beneath a cute motion sport was a FEZ-like puzzle ready to be solved. I additionally identical to a sport that has a guide in it, okay?

The newest from Sam Barlow and the Half Mermaid crew, Immortality, is likely one of the extra progressive video games on this listing. The best way it turned racking and reeling footage, such as you have been utilizing an previous movie machine, to inform a spooky and resonant story about creation and artwork has caught with me, months after I rolled credit. It’s additionally, in my humble opinion, a sport you completely should play utilizing a controller.

The various, many rodents of A Plague Story: Requiem shut out our Xbox poll. It’s a stunning, emotional journey, and as our evaluation particulars, it reveals how Asobo Studio has discovered a powerful beat on this story of two beleaguered siblings. Try the official poll beneath, and are available again later this month to see who takes the highest prize.

Listed below are the nominees for Destructoid’s Finest Xbox Recreation of 2022:

• Grounded
• Halo Infinite
• No person Saves the World
• Pentiment
• Tunic
• Immortality
• A Plague Story: Requiem