2022 may have been a slow year for big AAA video game releases, but it was a great year for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo itself released a bunch of excellent games (including two great Pokémon titles), third-party developers ported some phenomenal RPGs, and indies launched some of my sleeper hits of the year.

Yes, it’s a bummer that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was delayed to May 2023. But if you’re looking for some games to play in the meantime, here are some of my favorite Switch games from 2022.

I’m an awful liar, but in Card Shark, I can pretend I can cheat at cards. You’ll pull off the tricks themselves in a variety of different ways: some have you glance at an opponent’s hand while pouring wine, while others ask you to shuffle the cards in a certain way to give your partner an advantage. The tricks all serve a story with some exciting turns, and by the end of the game, you’ll actually feel like you’re a master of the cards.

My colleague Andrew Webster wrote that indie game Neon White “turns you into a demon-hunting speedrunner,” and I don’t think I can come up with a more concise description. In Neon White, you’ll…