We’ve seen quite the lineup of games in 2022, but here are some that the whole family will have fun playing! Sometimes you just need some quality time, and whether that is a movie night, board game night, or videogame night is up to you. If that sounds like something you and your family members need, you’ve come to the right place, as we are crowning our Best Family Game 2022.
This year brought some great contenders with popular characters like Kirby, franchises like Star Wars, and party games anyone will enjoy. The winner for Best Family Game 2022 was a tough choice, but some pulled ahead of the rest!
Here are the nominees for Best Family Game 2022:
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Writer: Jordan Biodri
Console: Nintendo Switch
Score: 7
Price: $79.99
I’ve mentioned in my writing that Kirby’s Super Star was one of my most played games on the SNES, but saying that is a bit of an understatement. Kirby’s Super Star was probably my all-time favourite game growing up, second maybe to Golden Sun on the GBA. While I had played Kirby’s Dream Land on the Game Boy when I was much younger—the look, feel, and scope of Super Star made it a Kirby game with no equal.
Where Kirby and the Forgotten Land really stands out is in its visuals and sound design. Simply put, the game is absolutely gorgeous, both on and off the dock. Each area is bursting with details, and a copious amount of colour that really shines in HD, and especially on the Switch OLED. The minimalistic designs also allow for a lot of clarity, especially in handheld mode, where there were several times I was convinced the Switch was outputting in 1080p. While it’s not totally seamless—there are some pretty noticeable frame-drops for far away enemies or objects—the game maintains a look and feel that constantly kept me engaged and wanting to see what the next level looked like.
Splatoon 3
Writer: Jordan Biodri
Console: Nintendo Switch
Score: 7.5
Price: $76.00
When Splatoon first landed on the Wii U back in 2015, I genuinely couldn’t believe what I was playing. The landscape for online multiplayer had been so dominated by first-person shooters like Halo and Call of Duty, and suddenly here comes Nintendo to completely reinvent the genre with a colourful, creative shooter that redefined the parameters of victory to make it less focused on straight-up kills; but rather, teamwork, coordination, and coverage.
Splatoon 3 has an absolutely BANGING soundtrack, now shifting from the poppy soundtracks of the originals to something more punk rock influenced to suit the game’s chaotic setting—outside the story mode, which still has a weird, almost Earthbound-esk soundtrack.
The Jackbox Party Pack Vol. 9
Writer: Chris De Hoog
Console: Nintendo Switch
Score: 8
Price: $39.99
At a gathering five years ago, I was first introduced to the idea of Jackbox: a series of mini-party games where each contestant uses their personal smartphone to participate. It seemed like a neat idea, and (for obvious reasons) it reminded me of the You Don’t Know Jack demos I’d once played on PlayStation.
Jackbox Party Pack Vol. 9 continues to improve the option toolset. The ability to filter out America-centric content is an asset for Canucks and others, while profanity filters let you customize just how far you want to descend into Cards Against Humanity-esque irreverence. Better still, these options are saved, and retained as you swap mini-games and even when you relaunch the software altogether.
Escape Academy
Writer: Dayna Eileen
Console: Xbox Series X
Score: 8.5
Price: $22.79
Escape Academy isn’t just a series of escape rooms. The game follows a storyline that, though very basic, gives you some purpose as a player. You head into what you think is a regular escape room, but when you come out, something seems wrong. After a few more challenges, After a few more challenges, you find yourself off to the academy! Dialogue throughout the game can be campy, but it was able to give me a few chuckles here and there.
The game went above and beyond my expectations, especially regarding the price point. If you are a fan of puzzles or looking for something to do on family game nights, Escape Academy might just be the game for you.
Grab a bowl of popcorn, curl up with your favourite people and start a family game night with 2022’s best lineup of family games, I guarantee it’ll be a blast!
WINNER: Best Family Game 2022 LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Writer: Chris De Hoog
Console: PlayStation 5
Score: 8
Price: $58.95
Like the movies it reinterprets, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is all about bridging the gap between both kids and the adults they will become and adults and the children they once were. There is laughter and sorrow, hope and defeat, heroics and villainy… and also, maybe you turn your lightsaber into a baguette.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga can be a pretty quick experience if you blast through at top speed, but if you take the time to savour it and hunt down even a fraction of the insane number of collectibles—Kyber Bricks, Datacards, characters, mission challenges, minikits, etc—it can offer a galaxy full of achievement.
