We've reached the quarter-finals of our Game of the Year bracket, but you'd be forgiven for thinking the final had come early — one of the favourites will be going home tomorrow, but will it be Elden Ring or Vampire Survivors?
The TrueAchievements Game of the Year bracket returns for 2022, with 32 more challengers competing for your votes throughout December. Yes, we also expect to see Elden Ring do quite well here, but last year saw a few upsets on the way to the finals, so there are bound to be some more exciting clashes along the way! Following feedback from last year's bracket, we've made a few changes for the 2022 edition. While the top games were still picked using TA user ratings, we've opted for more traditional seeding this time around, at least for the first 28 of the 32 games in contention — the final four slots in the last two rounds were reserved for a few of December's releases so folks had a chance to play them before voting, with replacements eagerly waiting in the wings should any of the December releases turn out to not be deserving of a place on this list. Sure enough, some did change — both The Callisto Protocol and Need for Speed Unbound failed to hit the great user scores of some of the reserve games, meaning Infernax and MLB The Show 22 got to step in as the next highest seeds by TA user score.
In addition, we've made the decision to disqualify remakes and remasters from the running this year based on feedback on many of the rounds last year. We've also left out anything that launched into beta or early access (sorry, MultiVersus) and anything that arrived late on Xbox in 2022 having released in a previous year on other platforms, although games that hit full 1.0 release this year are considered to be 2022 releases so a few such games have found their way onto the shortlist. As a result, this year's bracket runs a varied spread of triple-A heavy hitters, indie darlings, some of the best games on Game Pass, and everything between, so be sure to root for your favourites! Scroll down to see the full bracket for the opening round and for the poll itself, and let us know in the comments why you've backed your chosen game. And don't worry, we're also running our more traditional Game of the Year event if you'd rather just get involved with some voting there — this format just happened to be a lot of fun last year, so we're glad to be running it again as an alternative, and it'll be interesting to compare results at the end of it all. May the best game win!
Elden Ring
THE NEW FANTASY ACTION RPG.
Rise, Tarnished, and be guided by grace to brandish the power of the Elden Ring and become an Elden Lord in the Lands Between.
• A Vast World Full of Excitement
A vast world where open fields with a variety of situations and huge dungeons with complex and three-dimensional designs are seamlessly connected. As you explore, the joy of discovering unknown and overwhelming threats await you, leading to a high sense of accomplishment.
• Create your Own Character
In addition to customizing the appearance of your character, you can freely combine the weapons, armor, and magic that you equip. You can develop your character according to your play style, such as increasing your muscle strength to become a strong warrior, or mastering magic.
• An Epic Drama Born from a Myth
A multilayered story told in fragments. An epic drama in which the various thoughts of the characters intersect in the Lands Between.
• Unique Online Play that Loosely Connects You to Others
In addition to multiplayer, where you can directly connect with other players and travel together, the game supports a unique asynchronous online element that allows you to feel the presence of others.
ELDEN RING
THE NEW FANTASY ACTION RPG.
Rise, Tarnished, and be guided by grace to brandish the power of the Elden Ring and become an Elden Lord in the Lands Between.
Vampire Survivors
Vampire Survivors is a time survival game with minimalistic gameplay and roguelite elements. There's no place where to hide, all you can do is try to survive a cursed night and get as much gold as possible for the next survivor, before Death inevitably puts an end to your struggles.
Vampire Survivors
Vampire Survivors is a time survival game with minimalistic gameplay and roguelite elements.
Game of the Year 2022 voting round 25: Elden Ring vs. Vampire Survivors
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Elden Ring
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Vampire Survivors
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