It is that time of year again friends where we share all of our favorites from the year that has been! In 2022 I had the chance to go to Gen Con for the first time and really enjoyed the experience. Hanging with friends at all the different conventions, going on trips and vacations with other friends who game, playing with locals and as always playing with my family at home has let me see and try a lot of amazing games. In fact, as of 12-29-22 I have played 63 games that were released in 2022 along with so many others. Although I did not get a chance to play all the games that come out in a year I am confident to rate the ones I have played and present to you today my 2022 Top 10 games!
These are the games that really hit me, all in very different ways but all in ways that meant a lot to me. Some of them in the style and substance, some on theme and mechanics but all of them in the experiences at the table with other gamers just like you! From the beginning our motto has always been “The Games We Like with the People We Love” and that will never change. So without further adieu, here are my top 10 games of 2022 and winners of our elite title “Gaming with Sidekicks Top Shelf Game!”
#10 Weather Machine
Weather Machine is the newest in a line of spectacular games from the mind of Vital Lacerda and the artwork of Ian O’Toole. This game features some of the best parts of their other games and plays in a thinky yet smooth style. I love the storyline in this one and the game just clicks in all the right places to make it another hit from our friends at Eagle-Gryphon Games. Happy to add another Lacerda to my collection and can’t wait to see what comes next from them!
#9 Three Sisters
Roll and Write Games are always a good choice but for the best one I have played in quite some time you have to look to Motor City Gameworks and 25th Century Games for Three Sisters. Pinchback and Riddle are a design team that will always have my attention and this game is no different. Grow all the plants, learn to farm and cultivate your fields and come out on top as the best farmer! While not as heavy as a game like Hadrian’s Wall or Twilight Inscription, this is on the harder, thinky side of Roll and Writes and rewards the well-thought moves through the game. A top game for the year and in my collection!
#8 Planet Unknown
Adam’s Apple Games struck gold with this “more than just a polyomino” polyomino tile-laying game. The game is smooth and gives you some fun decisions as you terraform your planet but the best part is the numerous asymmetrical boards and planets that give you a new experience each game. Add in the S.U.S.A.N. spinner in the middle for the tiles and you have a game experience that is hard to beat!
#7 Mosaic: A Story of Civilization
Forbidden Games and designed Glenn Drove gave us one of the best civilization games of the year in Mosaic. This game gives you all the parts of a civ game you could want in a tight, streamlined package with straightforward choices and decisions that make even a rookie to this style of game find things they will enjoy. Mosaic in all of its deluxe nature is a monster of a box and one that is bound to get to my table well into the next year and beyond!
#6 Ark Nova
When it comes to games with zoo animals, most are on the lighter side. But this year we saw the introduction of one of the best I have played in quite some time and definitely one of the heaviest-Ark Nova. Here you are cultivating your perfect zoo, finding the best animals to go in enclosures to complete your collection. Will you score enough points to end up in the positive? That is a real dilemma for players especially the first time through! Ark Nova made for an enjoyable, thoughtful polyomino and card management game that will continue to be high on my list.
#5 Akropolis
Akropolis was the game that I watched a quick demo at Origins 2022 for, looked at the team at Hachette showing it off and said “I need to buy this right now”. What a great and easy to learn and hard to master game that will keep you guessing on the right way to lay out your city. The tiles stack, the points multiply and you are deep into this game trying to find ways to maximize and capitalize on your builds. There is so much to love and little to say in a negative way here-Akropolis is a great family-weight game that will be challenging to anyone who sits down at your table as well.
#4 Wonderland’s War
Sometimes a game has too much “extra”-too many minis, too many bits and parts and it feels like maybe you don’t need all of it. Wonderland’s War is the rare exception-this game is produced to the nines and it all fits so well for the game. Look at the box art to begin with-it’s inviting and mesmerizing all at the same time to jump into this crazy Wonderland. The bag building and combat combination is so perfect, I can’t imagine this being done any better than the team at Druid City Games was able to accomplish. Every character is so wonderful illustrated and brought to life, all the well-crafted minis and the deluxe chips are beautiful and the game gives us exactly what we want-player interaction, suspense and the thrill of a push your luck game that always delivers. Wonderland’s War is the game I wanted it to be and I could not be any more impressed with this one from top to bottom!
#3 Green Team Wins
My hardest decision on my list for the best of 2022 is Green Team Wins. If you know me, you know this is the game that has encompassed so much of my life the last few years. I have loved playing the prototype, the finished game and have played it with so many different people and friends. There is little about this game I don’t love. The way it brings a group together, the questions and the discussion that can linger for a long time after a game and the design that is so 90’s it bleeds radical.
For the best experiences I have ever had around a table with people in a fun, engaging and social way Green Team Wins is tops for that period. Of all time. As a party game, it is my #1 of all time. It falls to my 3 spot for the year as a game that I really loved and will never say no to playing but as a party game there are a few other games that pulled ahead of it for me. But do not be mislead-Nathan and the team at 25th Century Games have made an absolute gem in this game that EVERYONE needs to own!
#2 Foundations of Rome
I didn’t want to like this game. The size, the cost, the limited availability of it after the Kickstarter campaign all made me think twice. Then I played it. And played it again. And like almost all of the games that Emerson Matsuuchi has designed, I fell in love immediately. This game is a piece of art on the table and Arcane Wonders did it some justice in the production. You cannot look away from this one-it is going to capture your attention and your love. The pieces are wonderful-each building made with such care and detail that it literally pops up and off the table. Everyone I have introduced this to has loved it and wanted to play again. And again.
The kicker with this one-although the game looks complex it is actually one of the easier games to learn and play. I can teach this in 5 mins and you are ready to go. Foundations of Rome is going to have a permanent position in my Kallax, literally taking a whole cube for itself!
#1 Lacrimosa
It is rare that a game makes me move outside of the game to learn more about the subject. I didn’t do planetary research, look more into farming or Rome, or read Alice’s adventures following some of the other games on this list. But my #1 of 2022 sucked me into a storyline that I just couldn’t get enough of. Lacrimosa from Devir Games is the story of Mozart and his last requiem, the Lacrimosa. The song was started on his death bed and he never finished it. But others came along and helped to complete his work postmortem. The song is about grief, death and what happens in the afterlife. The story of his wife looking for help, the music completion and the life of Mozart is a wonderful adventure to follow. And Lacrimosa throws you directly into that story in a way that is so elegant, so beautiful and so honoring to it all that it feels unparalleled to anything I have played before.
When I play Lacrimosa I feel like I am in the middle of the story, watching Mozart travel through Europe, learning what I can with him and seeing his growth as an artist. At the same time we learn how the other musicians helped his wife complete his last work. Finally, from a game perspective this is a deck building/card management and resource management game that rewards thoughtful planning and gameplay.
It is both smooth and challenging, learning into classic euro game style and giving the players multiple meaningful decisions throughout. I cannot recommend this enough to anyone who loves the theme or wants to play an engaging euro that will sweep you right into the story and give you a challenge until the end. Lacrimosa takes my top title for 2022 and will be high on my list for a long time.
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