April 2022 is coming to a close, and while it might not have been as jam-packed with AAA releases as the January through March has been this year, that doesn’t mean there weren’t some top-tier games to play through in your downtime. So, it’s time to bid April farewell and take a look at the best games the month brought us.
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Best Games of April 2022
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is quite possibly the best LEGO game you can play right now, and packs in some serious value for its price tag. It covers all nine of the ‘episode’ movies, including the most recent trilogy and even opens things up a little bit with open-world/ sandbox areas where you can find collectibles and take on little side quests of sorts.
The gameplay is simple enough for younger players and those less experienced with games to enjoy, and while experienced players may find it simplistic, there’s a charm to watching these iconic pop-culture characters bumbling around your screen, throwing bricks together to create a new item to help them on their quest, or just watching iconic set-pieces from the franchise play out in blocky glory.
Pack in the fact that its co-op multiplayer has over 300 playable characters and has all of that classic Traveler’s Tales humor that we’ve come to know and love from the LEGO games, and you’ve got a must-play for fans of the series and Star Wars fans alike.
Teardown
Best Games of April 2022
The genius of a heist isn’t just about the execution, it’s all about the meticulous planning that goes into it. The part that movies and TV shows always tend to gloss over in some kind of flashy montage, as the heistees(?) go about doing each stage of the intricate plan. Teardown is a game all about heists, allowing you to… tear down every facet of its voxel world with vehicles or explosives so you can steal whatever your shady clients have asked for.
With 40 missions in its campaign, challenges to put your heist planning skills to the test, 17 tools to make use of and extensive mod support via Steam Workshop, Teardown is a fantastic and unique PC game. I’d say the only drawback would be the lack of multiplayer, but there’s a mod for that, showing just how dedicated the community is around supporting the game itself.
Nintendo Switch Sports
Best Games of April 2022
Nobody really expected Nintendo to announced Nintendo Switch Sports — a successor to Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort — but hey, we’re not complaining. The incredibly family-friendly take on a wide variety of sports has made its way to the hybrid system and offers some seriously fun multiplayer action both in terms of local and online multiplayer.
While its offline, single-player offering feels a little shallow in terms of progression, challenge and other such features to keep you playing, there’s no refuting that Nintendo Switch Sports is generally just great fun when playing with others. Plus, with a golf update coming sometime in the future (though no official release date has been shared at the time of publishing this post), there should be at least one or two sports that appeal to everyone.
Is this a missed opportunity for an epic blockbuster of sports to outdo even the extensive offering shown in Wii Sports Resort? Yes, but now we’re in the era of free content updates from Nintendo for its first-party titles — as Animal Crossing: New Horizons is testament to — there’s always a chance the game will get better and better.