2022 has turned out to be a fairly exciting year for video games. The announcement of long-anticipated titles like Street Fighter 6, a Resident Evil 4 remake, Saints Row and the remake of The Last of Us has given gamers a lot to look forward to. While the temptation to look ahead is certainly there, there's already been a ton of massive releases in the first half of the year. More specifically, however, Steam has seen quite a few surprise hits on its online platform.
While games like Vampire Survivors and V Rising have exploded in popularity, some may be surprised to hear that there are five games that were released this year on Steam that have far better reviews. The online third-party tool SteamDB has its own algorithm that provides a more accurate idea of what the highest-rated games on Steam actually are. While a couple of these titles are certainly well-known releases, a vast majority of the highest-rated games are actually some impressive hit indie games.
Patrick's Parabox Is a Unique Puzzle Game
For those who enjoyed puzzle titles like Baba is You and Superliminal, Patrick's Parabox is the mind-bending abstract puzzle game to check out. Players are tasked with solving a series of puzzles by navigating through a box-based maze. The twist is explained on the game's store page with the sentence, "It's boxes all the way down." In other words, there are smaller pieces within the box-shaped maze that players will have to push around in order to reach the level's end goal.
Steam reviews of the game praise how the puzzles are designed in a way that rewards creative thinking while still providing a significant challenge. It ramps up the difficulty the further players get by mixing mechanics that were introduced earlier in the game. Patrick's Parabox can certainly be a challenging puzzle game, but the unique concept, appealing visual style and rewarding puzzles absolutely make this game worth checking out.
Wobbledogs Is Physics-Based Fun
The fourth highest-rated Steam game of 2022 is a bit more of a recent breakthrough hit, but it's still one that deserves the praise. Wobbledogs is a pet simulator where players raise and manage a wide variety of dogs, which can take on an array of unique mutations. These dogs also happen to have fully simulated physics, which gets even better when taking into account that they have some pretty unique body shapes.
The calm and chill nature of Wobbledogs is likely what's gotten it so much praise, and the Steam reviews are full of people recounting stories of their time with their wobbly dogs. These reviews not only speak to the game's sense of humor and wacky nature, but also to how it genuinely succeeds as a pet simulator. The variety that Wobbledogs offers lets each user have their own unique experiences with their strange and wonderful physics-based dogs.
Teardown Is a Destructive Dream Come True
Similar to Wobbledogs, Teardown stands out thanks to its unique approach to video game physics. Teardown is a heist game where players are tasked with breaking into various locations and performing specific tasks. Players usually only have 60 seconds to finish the tasks once they start, but there's a twist that really helps Teardown stand out. Every level is fully destructible in such a way that could give the classic Red Faction: Guerrilla a run for its money.
The physics-based destruction can happen thanks to the game's voxel graphics and some true technical wizardry. Players can blow entire buildings up into chunks of physics-simulated debris and hardly drop frames. That alone would likely be enough to get many to check out Teardown, but there's also an entire game built around this feature. The game's main story mode is designed around players destroying the environment to better complete each level's puzzles.
Dorfromantik Is a Relaxing City-Building Experience
Unique art styles have tied together many of the highest-rated Steam games of 2022. While realism seems to define many modern AAA titles, indie games like Dorfromantik have found their own artistic identities. Dorfromantik is a city-builder that tasks players with piecing together a village using hex tiles. Each tile is procedurally generated and includes not only buildings but also parts of the landscape, like trees and water.
Dorfromantik is a city-builder that almost doubles as an art tool. It's not a 4X strategy game, but there's still plenty of thought that goes into constructing the landscape. Reviews of the game focus on just how relaxing it can be, though that doesn't mean the game isn't challenging. Players who want to build the biggest and best village will have to put thought into every tile they place and complete side-quests that come from unique building tiles.
God Of War's PC Port Is in a League of Its Own
God of War's 2022 PC port is, so far, the highest-rated game to release on Steam in 2022. There's already a lot of discourse about why 2018's God of War is an absolute thrill to play, but a good game doesn't always mean a good port. There have been countless terrible ports of amazing games over the years, especially games that were ported to the PC. With a huge variety of GPUs and CPUs on the market, it can be difficult to ensure a game will run flawlessly with every possible combination of hardware.
God of War was certainly not a bad port. In fact, part of the reason why it has so many positive reviews comes down to people wanting to see Sony put more PlayStation exclusives on Steam. God of War hit Steam this year with new PC-focused features, such as NVIDIA DLSS support and enhanced graphical options. One of the best linear RPGs released in recent years has a stellar PC port that some consider to be the definitive way to experience God of War.