This is an unusual topic for me – I’m not usually one for the “end of year retrospective” type of post. But 2025 has been astonishingly rich in great video games. In particular, this year even the “mainstream” has been flooded with games that I’ve liked. You can see this just by contrasting how my playlist overlapped with The Game Awards nominees last year (2 total, and they’re both way down there) to this year (10 total, including 4 of the 6 Game of the Year nominees). And there are several other nominees for this year that I still plan to get around to.

Part of this has to do with the release of the Switch 2, since that’s where I played 3 of the GotY nominees, but it’s also a tribute to the massive strength of indie releases this year. Seriously, the second half of 2025 was just one indie smash after another, and I am still trying to catch up.

With all these great games, I can’t resist talking about them. But I don’t want to do a ranking or rating post, nor do I want to give a superficial overview of the sort you can find anywhere on the internet. Instead, I want to talk about my personal interactions with the games. Some of that will sound like critique and praise, but I will be focusing on details that are likely different from what other reviews have focused on. None of these comments should be taken as definitive takes on the game. Your mileage will almost certainly vary.

With that said, let’s dig into the games. I’m going to start with the biggest names of the year (that I played) and end with some of my faves that slipped under other people’s radars. I’ll also mention a few that are still in my “to be played” list, just in case you’re tempted to recommend them to me.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

I would be remiss to start with anything else except the game that won pretty much all the awards. This game captured everyone’s imagination, and everyone either loves it or resents that it took attention away from their personal favorite. I can certainly understand the love, as it has a lot going for it. But while I am not a hater, my own experience was a little more nuanced.

The game starts off incredibly strong – cool gameplay, excellent style, and an amazing story setup that gut punches you immediately. From a writing perspective, the cracks start to appear towards the end of Act 2. Characters keep ignoring facts they’ve been shown and told about what’s going on, and this leads to a series of revelations that are just not surprising to the player in the way the story seems to want. Even the truly surprising twist as to the role of the Paintress was undermined for me because it came in the middle of a pile of “revelations” that I had already discovered been told flat out.

Act 3 is when it really goes off the rails, in more ways than one. This is when you are finally granted complete open-world access to the whole game, but while there are some story tidbits here, the main function of this act is to provide the JRPG-style endgame grind to make you powerful enough that the final fights are trivial. But the worst part is that the story’s final chapters commit a cardinal sin of plot development: they lower the stakes. Dramatically. Not to zero, sure, but enough that I just wanted to end the game rather than drag it on, and I didn’t really place much significance on the consequences of the ending I chose. The gameplay was still good, but the story’s conclusion did not live up to its incredible premise.

Hollow Knight: Silksong

I never finished the original Hollow Knight, but I am working very hard to finish Silksong. (I’m currently on the High Halls gauntlet – IYKYK.) I’m not sure if I am in a different place than I was when I tried to play the first one, but Silksong has just felt more inviting to me at every point.

I feel like it eases you into the “you won’t always have a map” concept more gradually than HK did, and that was always a point of frustration for me. The boss fights – even some of the most challenging – feel more fun to me, and I’ve been more willing to bash my head against them for hours or even days. There’s a certain amount of gameplay customization that feels good to me, and that’s probably part of it too.

The environmental storytelling for Silksong is also much stronger. There’s an immediate goal and purpose, and I have felt more connected to Hornet as a main character, as well as to all of the side characters. (Especially Sherma, my perfect boy.) With all of these things together, Silksong really makes me want to finish the game. And I will…soon.

Hades II

I have enjoyed so much of what Supergiant has done, and they’ve really refined their gameplay and storytelling techniques over their release history. Hades was very much the culmination of their particular approach to roguelites, and the only thing that could have made it better is…more Hades. Luckily, that’s what Hades II is, and I love it.

The game definitely has its differences from the first installment, and some of the criticisms I’ve seen revolve around those differences. The character of Melinoë is not the same as Zagreus. She’s more settled in her identity and purpose than he was, and is more willing to have fun instead of brooding. I’ve seen some people take this as a lessening of conflict, and some of the events as a lessening of her agency as compared to her brother, but I definitely did not see it that way. Part of the problem is that where so many people have complained about the “ending,” they are completely mistaken in thinking that the story has ended at that point. Which…do they not understand how these games work?

For those of you familiar with Supergiant Games in general or Hades in particular, you’ll know what I mean when I say that I have finished most of Hades II, but eventually I’m probably going to finish some more.

Donkey Kong Bananza

The summer rush for the Switch 2 was mostly focused on the hardware, so the release discussion revolved around Mario Kart World. I do enjoy MKW, but I waited to get my Switch 2 with Donkey Kong Bananza, because I wanted to experience a more solo-oriented game.

Bananza is pretty great all around. In terms of gameplay, it kept reminding me of the one Minion in Despicable Me 2 who charges in to help put out the Gru’s desk fire wielding two axes, but who ends up just tearing through the desk and wall without stopping. That’s what it feels like to be DK smashing through the terrain in Bananza. It’s very satisfying.

The characters are fun and well-animated, from DK and Pauline through the villains, side characters, and the various Kong family cameos. And the game is HUGE. I did not expect it to be as big as it was. There is a lot of game here, and I very much enjoyed it.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

If you know me, you know I’ve been waiting for this game for YEARS. Metroid is hands-down my favorite video game franchise, and it’s been seeing a bit of a resurgence recently. Dread was great, the Prime 1 remaster was excellent, and I was very much looking forward to another first-person Metroid. I am generally pleased with the outcome; Beyond is a solid entry in the Prime series. It has a few odd gameplay choices (crystal gathering?), but overall there’s a lot of good Metroid here. Not quite as much backtracking as some games in the franchise, but a few really excellent traversal moments and a lot of really beautiful settings (especially Volt Forge). I also like the elemental shot implementations.

The big weakness of this one is the story. It’s more of a stepping off point, with sparse details, a new world, and a nemesis who feels like he’s just getting started. I didn’t mind the GF Troops as much as other people seem to, although they’re mostly 1-dimensional. Like many of the elements of Prime 4, I felt like they were less annoying than comparable moments in Prime 3. Plus, the boss fights in this game were significantly less tedious than many of the Prime 3 fights, and I didn’t have to use motion controls, which makes them MUCH better.

I would put this game above Prime 3, but not quite as good as 1 or 2. (I’m one of the rare people who actually loves Prime 2.) So yeah, it’s a solid Metroid, which makes it one of my favorite games of the year by default. Now give me my Prime 2 remaster!

Dispatch

I miss the early days of Telltale, when they were focused on being the spiritual successor of 90s era LucasArts. The writing of Dispatch brought that feeling back for me, but with significantly better animation. It really feels like playing a short animated series, and while there are some odd bits of worldbuilding, the characters are engaging enough to make me overlook that.

One interesting aspect of a story game like this is the discourse surrounding the different experiences that players have of the story based on their choices. Without dipping too hard into spoilers, there’s definitely an assumption that people are choosing one or the other of the two obvious romance options. But I managed a more nuanced path where I didn’t end up with either one, and I appreciate the game for allowing more variations in its outcomes.

Dispatch came out too late to get much attention on the awards circuit, and that has gotten some fans riled up. I don’t really care about awards – I’d rather just move on to a season 2.

Blue Prince

In a year full of surprises, this was a big one. Like last year’s Animal Well, this is an indie puzzler that is astonishingly deep. As you keep digging further into the many layers of puzzles hidden in the game, it becomes clear that this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime accomplishments by a designer who has put a ridiculous amount of thought and effort into this single game.

The most common complaint you will find about this game was not one that I shared, and I think that’s because my text and adventure game background set my expectations differently from those of a more modern audience. People complained that they the randomness made it difficult to focus on a particular puzzle, but for me it was clear that that was the point. You are supposed to approach each iteration being open to whatever puzzles reveal themselves to you on that run. You can try to steer, but you can’t force it. There are enough puzzles that you should always have something to work on. You just have to be willing to take whatever comes.

And take lots of notes. I have more screenshots of this game than of any other game I have played in my entire life.

One interesting thing about this game is that you can kind of choose when you’re ready to end. There are definitely multiple “You did it!” points, and while I don’t think most people will stop at the first one, I would be curious to know how far in people were willing to go. I’m probably never going to the very end myself, and I am happy with my stopping point.

Wanderstop

This is a game that only Davey Wreden could have written, and it is a game that Davey Wreden clearly needed to write. In contrast to his esoteric and angst-ridden Beginner’s Guide, Wanderstop is a game that takes care to provide space and reflection to heal from burnout, imposter syndrome, and many other self-destructive attitudes common to creators. If you are an artist or are close to artists of any kind, I recommend this game. It is a game that soothes, but not in a condescending or detached way. It looks straight at trauma and struggle and allows for all kinds of responses. It simply says, “Yes, that sucks. How about a cup of tea?”

The writing of this game is amazing, right up to the meta-commentary of the achievements, but you have to let it wash over you. As with Wreden’s other work, you have to realize that you’re not going to experience this the same way you might experience any other cozy game. It’s a game that you really need to listen to.

Little Rocket Lab

I very much enjoy the cozy, laid-back gameplay of Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley, but what if instead of farming or fishing…the main loop was about factory building? Well, you’d have an instant #1 wishlist from me, and this game did just that. I demoed a bunch of games during Steam Next Fest (including Wanderstop and Dispatch), but this one was so perfectly designed for me that I had to get it immediately on release. I was even happier about that decision when I found out that bigots were whining in the Steam forums about the “woke” cast of characters (especially the assistant librarian wearing a hijab), and that the studio basically told them to refund their purchase and never play their games again.

This game is adorable and surprisingly deep in terms of the automation. It starts off simple but gets complex pretty quickly. But the characters and graphics are just so perfect, and yes, you can play with the dog.

Other Mentions

I could definitely go on. These were far from the only games I played this year. Satisfactory came out of early access, and I’ve played a ton of that. Civ VII dropped in February, and of course I’ve played quite a bit of that. (Yes, it has its flaws, but I enjoy every Civ iteration for what it brings.) Emberward is still in early access, but it’s easily my favorite tower defense game ever. The second Duck Detective game came out, and those are just fun point-and-click mysteries with a great sense of humor.

I also caught up on things I had missed previously. Notable recommendations that I can share are Elsinore (a time-looping retelling of Hamlet from Ophelia’s perspective), Inscryption (a game within a story within a game that is definitely not the simple card-battler it appears to be at first), and 1000xResist (an incredibly powerful narrative game that…well you just have to experience yourself).

Then there are a couple important games that came out this year that are still on my to-be-played list. I will get around to them at some point, but as you can see, there just hasn’t been time. The first is South of Midnight, because I am excited about the story and the development team. And the other is Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, because I want to see what Don’t Nod is doing with narrative games these days.

Obviously there are plenty of big games that I’m not playing, either because I don’t have an appropriate console or because it’s not my preferred play style. You can try to recommend things to me, but if it’s a well-known game then I’ve probably already considered it. I’m much more interested in the obscure things you’ve found this year. Feel free to inundate me with those.