PS5 wins games console of the year in the Creative Bloq Awards 2022

Elden Ring met the hype and expectation when it finally released earlier this year. FromSoftware’s spiky game design and tough challenge was placed upon a vast open world and this changed our experience of sandbox game design. Approachable but challenging, epic but personal, Elden Ring remains a game like no other. The creative, gothic visual design remains a draw too. A stunning game.

Elden Ring features in our guide to the best PS5 games (opens in new tab).

Playing F1 22 in VR is entirely optional but you can play the entire game in VR, on PC, using some of the leading headsets, including Oculus and Vive. It proves a refreshing and intense addition to the long-running racing series modes and brings to life the power and speed of F1. EA has really embraced VR in the last two years, beginning with the excellent Star Wars Rogue Squadron. Experiences like F1 prove how F1 can and should be integrated into gaming.

These are the best VR headsets (opens in new tab).

The HORI Fighting Commander Octa has been designed specifically for 2D fighting games, and it shows. The controller comes with a 10ft cable to ensure no lag and microswitch buttons ensure every punch and kick lands as intended. Uniquely the R1 and R2 buttons are moved to the face of the controller to emulate the six-button design of classic 2D brawlers. For its specialised purpose, this controller impressed our judges.

Read our guide to the best PS5 controllers (opens in new tab).

This new AMD gaming PC offers incredible power all squeezed into a neat and stylised curved casing. Alienware’s Aurora Ryzen Edition proved ferocious speed and performance needn’t look like a big, ugly box of bits. 1080p and 4K? Easy. Approachable setup and issue-solving? That’s here too, courtesy of Alienware Command Center and suite of apps. If you’re looking for a gaming PC that looks as good as it performs, our judges recommend the Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition.

Read our AMD Ryzen 3950x review (opens in new tab).

The best monitor for games was a tough category with many new and interesting displays heading our way, but our judges voted the ROG Swift PG32UQX the best screen for gamers of the last 12 months. Superb colour and image quality, including a mini-LED backlight with a quantum dot film that offers stunning contrast levels, ensures this is one of the best screens of the last 12 months perhaps even ever. 

Read our reviews of the best gaming monitors (opens in new tab).

The Quarry is the latest game from horror and narrative game pros Supermassive Games, and it takes everything the team learned from previous games to a new level. This game is all about its UX and UI, with players asked to react to events on screen with button prompts, stick pushes and exploration of the environment and clues. 

Our judges loved the attention to detail, which stretched to aged VHS cassette icons and the kind of scratchy visual overlays that results in corrupted analog storage – UI for narrative purpose, love it.

Read our reviews of the best Xbox Series X games (opens in new tab).

The Nacon RIG 800 Pro HX wins best gaming headphone, and it’s well-deserved. These are essentially a rebrand of the excellent Plantronics headphones and feature the same attention to detail, including cosy padded ear cups, adjustable straps and positioning, and 30ft wireless connectivity. The neat recharge stand just adds that extra bit of class to, as does the inclusion of Dolby Atmos for 3D audio. 

Read our reviews of the best wireless headphones (opens in new tab).