Hey I'm here to dox my year in review.
View attachment 4094496
Most played clocked in at 260 hours for New Horizons this year, Dragon Quest Builders 2 taking up 89 hours and Mario Kart pulling up the rear with 83 hours. Honorable mentions include Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and Grandia HD Collection. I can pretty much recommend all of these games; they're varied and entertaining and if you enjoy what they offer you can definitely sink a ton of time into them.
As far as my game of the year for 2022 on the Nintendo Switch, I'm probably going to go with Kirby and the Forgotten Land. I actually finished that game 100%, which I rarely do. But Kirby games are deceptively easy and you end up getting hooked because "I can do this it's just Kirby" and then you're spending late nights grinding levels to get a stupid gem and trying not to get your shit pushed in on the super secret final boss.
I also want to mention two multiplats that I played this year but which are not Switch exclusives: Dragon Quest Builders 2 is spectacular and I can't recommend it enough. You should play the first DQ Builders game because it is good and also because DQ Builders 2 makes so many improvements that it is hard to go back to the first and really enjoy it. So yeah, the DQ Builders games should be on your list. And also I want to throw some points at Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. That was a really cute and well-built game. But making quality games is what Level-5 do best.