With the recent announcement that Horizon: Forbidden West has been pushed to 2022, next year suddenly looks to be a mammoth year for video games, perhaps rivaling 2017. While it’s obviously WAY too early to think about the possible 2022 Game of the Year, the Horizon news provides a fun opportunity to speculate.

Nintendo certainly has some big contenders for the coveted award. While unconfirmed by Nintendo, the sequel to Breath of the Wild will likely be released in 2022, five years after the 2017 Game of the Year. Certainly the pandemic affected the game’s release, but there’s something fitting about the next Zelda game releasing in the same year as the new Horizon game, just as it did before.

Another big game from Nintendo that could contend for the award is Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Fans have long dreamed of a truly open world Pokémon game; the latest trailer…