Covid took a step back out of the spotlight in 2022 but front and center was the economy as the Federal Reserve raised rates at a record breaking pace and the stock market slipped into a deep bear.
As It Was by Harry Styles was the top billboard song this year and the highest grossing moves of 2022 were Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic World: Dominion, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The Houston Astros won the World Series in 2022 and Argentina beat France in the 2022 World Cup Final.
Throughout all of this; I managed to play and complete 63 total games. 18 of the games were text adventures, 2 of the games were graphic adventures, and the other 43 games were role-playing games. I created a blog post on each and every game that I played and here is the full chronological listing of blog posts to date.
Games that proved the most challenging this past year and chewed up a lot of playing time? Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn, Ring of Darkness, Dungeons of Daggorath, and Ultima III: Exodus.
My favorite games of the 63 games that I played are likely the same four games listed above but I’d like to add Zork II to the bunch as well as I highly enjoyed the second offering in that series.
The games that I experienced in 2022 were quite the eclectic bunch as developers still dealt with hardware limitations while striving to translate table-top role-playing into the best damn game experience that they could.
I look through the list of games to come and I want to point out that many of them become bigger in scope and will require more playing time to complete. In these early years many of these games did not have save game settings and were meant to be played in a single setting of 2 to 4 hours. That is not the case as we move forward in time and even now in 2022 open world role-playing games have become immense in size and require 100+ hours to complete. Some gamers have even complained in 2022 of burnout and asking for a mix of shorter games that don’t require so much time commitment. Oh how the industry has changed.
Moving forward I will continue to focus the majority of my time on role-playing games and striving to complete them in the order in which they were published. I am still working through the role-playing games published in 1983. I still reserve the right to go back and play text adventures and possibly even platform games from these early eras and when I do you can bet that I’ll be writing about my experience. I am currently playing Karkoth’s Keep and still incredibly stuck in Scott Adam’s Savage Island Part II. Really Scott? lol
I have also been slowly updating the site’s game database. I try to add at least four to six titles a day. I’m not trying to compete with MobyGames or any other database; this is a labor of love for me and a hobby. I will continue to add games to the database each and every day except when traveling or on vacation.
We have the holiday fast approaching now and then I’ll be taking a much needed break and spending a week in Florida after Christmas. I will be exercising, enjoying the beach, and doing a lot of reading.
Speaking of reading; I am also an avid reader. My favorite genre is fantasy which should come as no surprise. I am sure that readers of this blog; also interested in fantasy and adventure games; are probably fans of the fantasy genre as well.
I spent much of this year finishing Robert Jordan’s wonderful Wheel of Time series. It is a massive 15 book series that Robert Jordan started in 1990 and the last book was finally published in 2013. Starting this series is quite a commitment as each book runs roughly 800-1000 pages but it is worth it.
I’ve also been rereading Robin Hobbs most excellent books in the Realm of the Elderlings series. I completed the Farseer Trilogy and the Liveship Traders Trilogy. It is the second time I’ve read these books and I liked them even better the second time through. Robin Hobbs is my favorite author by far and these are my favorite books. The character of Fitz is probably my favorite literary character of all time and I can’t recommend these books enough. Assassin’s Apprentice is the first book in the series.
When I get back from vacation I plan on getting back to Karkoth’s Keep to start the new year as well as tackle Scott Adam’s Savage Island Part II again. I’m not going to place any kind of pressure on myself to finish X amount of games as this journey is a labor of love and I want to continue to enjoy the process and not place too many restrictions on myself.
I want to thank you, dear reader, for reading the blog and taking this journey with me. If I had a wish for 2023 it would be that I’d like to see more discourse and discussion on the various games that I’m blogging about. I’d like to hear your opinion and your voice. Please also don’t hesitate to spread the word. I want to wish you and your loved ones a very happy and safe holiday.
Thank you and I’ll see you next year…
I always wondered if Wheel of Time was worth my time. I don’t read as much as I did as a kid.
It IS a big time investment. I read at LEAST 30 minutes a day (at least in bed as it helps me sleep) and it took me about 1.5 years to get through the entire series. Now that it is behind me; was it worth it? Yes it was one of the best series on such a grand scale I have read that I did not tire of. I have NOT seen the TV adaptation from Amazon but I’ve heard they have butchered it completely already so if you are thinking about reading the series I’d stay away from the show.