The 2022 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Awards Nominees for Gaming

December 21, 2022, 4:57pm

2022 has been a bit all over the place when it comes to video games. At the start of the year, it was expected that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Hogwarts Legacy, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Starfield would all arrive before December had come to an end. Sadly, all of these titles and numerous others ended up getting punted back to 2023 or beyond, which left 2022 feeling sparse and inconsistent.

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Despite these disappointing delays, 2022 still had more than enough to keep video game fans busy. Elden Ring proved to be a cultural phenomenon when it dropped in the early months of the year, God of War Ragnarok ended up meeting lofty expectations from PlayStation fans, and Stray came out of nowhere to prove that games centered entirely around kitty cats could be enjoyable. 2022 may not have gone as expected, but it still brought with it a number of bangers that kept Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC players alike engrossed.

With that in mind, here are the games that we found to be the best of 2022 when it comes to our Golden Issue Awards for gaming. Be sure to check back in on ComicBook.com later in the month as we’ll reveal the winners at that time.

Best Tabletop Game

Video games might be our primary focus here at ComicBook.com, but tabletop games still grab our attention each year as well. With so many new tabletop games flooding the market, it’s often hard to keep up with everything that is available. Still, here are the five that stood out to us the most in 2022.

3000 Scoundrels
Betrayal at House on the Hill (3rd Edition)
Dungeons, Dice & Danger
Return to the Dark Tower
Star Wars Villainous

Best Ongoing Game

New releases might get the most attention in any given year, but as we’ve come to see over the past decade, video games have longer lifespans than ever before. To that end, here are the titles that we thought continued to receive the best ongoing support in 2022.

Destiny 2 (Bungie)
Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
Genshin Impact (miHoYo)
Marvel Snap (Second Dinner Studios)

Best Multiplayer Game

Multiplayer games are a dime a dozen in the free-to-play era, but 2022 had more variety in the space than we’ve seen in quite some time. Between a popular new card game, a new asymmetrical horror experience, and some sequels to beloved classics, 2022 packed quite a punch for those that like to play games with friends.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward)
Evil Dead: The Game (Saber Interactive)
Marvel Snap (Second Dinner Studios)
Splatoon 3 (Nintendo)
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games)

Best Narrative-Driven Game

Best Narrative-Driven Game is a new category for the Golden Issue Awards this year. Rather than continuing to lump all single-player titles together and pitting them against one another, we wanted to highlight the games that featured stellar storytelling, writing, and world-building within the gaming medium.

A Plague Tale: Requiem (Asobo Studio)
God of War Ragnarok (Santa Monica Studio)
Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games)
Stray (BlueTwelve Studio)
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Monolith Soft)

Game of the Year

Even with 2022 being a bit disappointing for new releases, it was still incredibly hard to select the nominees for our most prestigious award, Game of the Year. After pitting titles from every genre and platform against one another, though, five games ended up rising above the rest to be considered the best of the best for this year.