the best games i played in 2025
it’s always tough to find something meaningful to say at the start of these. like, “wow! it’s been a fantastic year for games! i’m so impressed with the quality of releases that came out this year, and picking my favorite was so tough” is a little cliche, and not necessarily accurate, given that i played all of 6 singleplayer games from 2025 in the year 2025.
because i played so few games from the year (as per usual), it’s easier to widdle down the 60 games i DID play this year into a top 10-ish list. take anything being on this list as a recommendation - the 15 games here are the top 25% of games i finished this year. everything here is extremely, extremely good at worst.
one more quick note: when i say i didn’t play a lot from this year, i meant it. notable exclusions from 2025 that i missed will include expedition 33, hades ii (which i purchased on the last week of 2025), silksong (i haven’t played hollow knight yet), and most other large AAA releases from the year. since i am not made of money, it’s easier for me to pick up slightly cheaper and older games, whether it be on steam or physically. the only big AAA games i played from this year were donkey kong: bananza, pokemon legends z-a and kirby air riders. outside of that, it was indie stuff. tl;dr: don’t expect a ton of major, current-year games to be on here.
alright! that’s enough preamble. here’s the 10 best games i played this year (plus some honorable mentions).
honorable mentions
brazilian drug dealer 3: i opened a portal to hell in the favela trying to revive mit aia i need to close it
angecritter on backloggd said it best: brazilian drug dealer 3 is an unrestrained vision of the artist, in this case being developer/online personality joeveno. it’s chaotic and messy, but that chaos is exhilarating. the bootleg look and feel is baked into the fabric of the game, but oftentimes, it’s calculated. levels make sense, navigation is usually intuitive, it’s as mechanically sound as any game in the quake engine. for all of the clutter this game appears to be, enemies are visually distinct in the funniest ways imaginable.
and the music… well, i think it’s great, but yeah, it’s a little much.
mice tea
of all the things i expected to put in a list like this, an adult furry visual novel was decidedly in another stratosphere, but here we are.
mice tea is a surprisingly poignant tale about struggling with gender identity and self-expression. the whole transformation thing is odd, and off-putting for some, but it’s a genuinely incredible work on embracing one’s true self and accepting other people, flaws and all. through whichever route you take, every character intentionally and visibly improves as a person, using the weird magical tea as a vessel to genuinely reflect on who they are. you can skip every single 18+ scene in this game (and there’s even an option to do so) and it would still be a lovely story, and i think that’s the mark for a good adult game.
dusk
now away from that pussy visual novel shit. it’s time for REAL, RAW, TRUE, COLD-BLOODED AMERICAN SHOOTING AGAINST DEMONS!
god, i love dusk. it’s an extremely simple modern boomer-shooter, but man, does everything here feel polished to a T. it’s fast, it’s snappy, it’s got a ton of various guns and enemies, the stage design is tight, i really don’t think there’s a ton wrong here. it’s just a kickass, fun as hell fps. hell yeah.
stardew valley
when i open up my silly little farming game, i expect a cute, cozy little time. and, in some respects, stardew valley is chill. in others… man, you’re on the GRIND. crops go out of season, then you plant more, then you go to one of many festivals, then go to the mines, then then go check the traveling cart once a week, then go marry a twink; life’s tough in stardew valley. it does make for a hell of a game, though. blasting through the community center and getting married is a blast, going to the various festivals is a ton of fun, and evolving your home and farm is a great time.
also, as a fun side note, this is my brother’s game of choice. 2200 hours of farming. gotta respect the dedication.
professor layton and the unwound future
i’ve never been a huge professor layton guy. the puzzles are always pretty fun, and they always look and sound fantastic, but i tend to struggle with the narrative and characters, layton especially. what unwound future does well is bring the titular professor layton further down to earth.
layton struggles, he faces far more adversity, and genuinely seems to not know the answer at every turn. there’s just enough weird shit going on to feel reasonable, without going too far to feel completely fantastical. there’s far more raw emotional weight, because layton goes through a genuinely heartbreaking set of events that seem to earnestly affect the way he behaves.
in other words, it’s the first layton game where the titular professor layton feels fallible. to me, that’s when the series is at its best.
10
milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk
for a short visual novel to stand out in an impactful way, to me, there needs to be some defining element. one thing that truly exceeded my expectations in a way i wasn’t expecting. in milk outside a bag of milk, it’s the endings.
each ending is a similarly creepy nightmare that your main character experiences, all in this distorted world she calls home. you could be climbing a dark tower in an abstract void, or running in an endless field of grass, plagued by some indiscernible creature. every one is different in its actual content, but have a recurring theme.
loneliness.
this game, as well as its (rather underwhelming) prequel, are meditations on a young woman’s complete lack of interaction with the outside world. milk outside a bag left me with a one-of-a-kind mix of emotions: pity for the young girl whose self-conscious you inhabit, fear from witnessing her terrifying dreams, and - most prominently - self-doubt that you’re doing the right thing at every turn. i wouldn’t call this game a must-play or anything like that, but if these short-and-sweet visual novels are your thing, it’s tough to get better.
9
shadow generations
i’ve never been the biggest 3d sonic guy. my preference has always leaned towards the series’ 2d counterparts, sonic mania and sonic 3 & knuckles being my personal favorites. that’s not to say i don’t like 3d sonic, i just don’t gravitate towards it as easily as the 2d games.
the sonic x shadow generations bundle is the biggest exception to that rule i’ve seen in a while. sonic generations is great, and shadow generations is exceptional. it’s exactly what i want from a modern 3d sonic game: short but substantial stages, all designed well, with a couple of extremely fun new mechanics alongside it. you slowly build shadow’s kit throughout the game, and each ability is not only a blast to use, but also provides so many new opportunities for weirder stage design and awesome skips. the music is bomb as usual, everything looks great, like… i can’t ask for much more.
8
kirby super star ultra
i mean, c’mon. it’s a classic.
kirby super star ultra is a varied, fun mix of kirby stylings, which flow together wonderfully. there’s your simple subgames like spring breeze mixed in with the total overhauls to the kirby formula in the great cave offensive. each subgame is different, but each also feels authentically kirby. they’re all just long enough to explore whatever idea it wanted to, without dragging out its relatively simple premise.
what’s most impressive to me, though, is how each subgame flows together. the game intersperses simple minigame-like subgames like gourmet race with more substantial chunks like milky way wishes, yet playing each in a row never feels disjointed or off-putting. it leads to this incredible mix of exhilaration and calm that no other kirby game can really reach, and it’s by far the most unique game in a series filled with unique games.
7
donkey kong bananza
nintendo’s always been masterful at creating sets of smaller, more contained worlds to explore. at first, it was out of hardware limitations, but over the years, they’ve mastered the art of creating these dense, beautiful landscapes for you to explore.
at times, donkey kong bananza feels like a victory lap. it feels like nintendo’s flexing their true mastery of this 3d platforming niche. every single area of this game feels fresh, filled to the brim with challenges, hidden bits to explore, characters to interact with, collectibles to acquire. donkey kong’s ability to dig through most objects only opens the door further, leading to secrets never-before-seen. there’s 2d challenges, it’s a masterwork on how to create this style of game, and feels much more like the switch 2’s launch title than mario kart world ever will.
6
kirby air riders
pure dopamine. kirby air riders feels like crack. playing this game’s story mode feels like repeatedly dumping buckets of joy directly onto my temporal lobe.
no other racing game feels anything close to like this. you’d think the one button gameplay style would hold the game back, but all it does is allow for some absurd customization. every vehicle you can use fundamentally changes how you approach a race in a way i’ve never seen. some send you speeding down the track at the speed of sound, but also force you to start steering seven miles before the turn. one fully stops at every turn; a gameplay style i despise, but respect. some do more damage, encouraging a more aggressive playstyle, and some basically make you fly forever, if that’s your thing.
each track is designed to support every and all playstyles, whatever you prefer. and with every other racer also using their own style, it creates this extremely interesting dynamic where everyone is playing their own game. you could try to attack someone, and they could just… stop, and turn faster than you. others will fly over you. others will be playing as aggressively as you are. it’s this ridiculous formula that creates the most engaging moment-to-moment races i’ve ever seen.
honestly, i couldn’t really care less about the game’s story, even after getting the true ending. i’m sure it’s interesting, but it’s nowhere near as fun as everything around it. i promise this is a compliment.
5
detective instinct: farewell, my beloved
the first visual novels to hit it big in the west (or at least, some of the first) were mystery games from the DS era. ace attorney, professor layton, and - most importantly for this game’s history - hotel dusk were all decent sellers outside of japan. it’s an era defined by its limitations; the DS wasn’t a monster graphically or audially, so games had to find unique ways to navigate exploring an area and finding evidence.
detective instinct takes that style of game, with its pixelated character designs, diorama-like locations and tighter narratives, and pushes it to its limits. it’s a combination of separate elements from a variety of different games, alongside some unique qualities of its own, to create a game that feels fresh and distinct without neglecting its forefathers. it’s funny, with a great mystery, fantastic character interactions, and enough of those “a-ha!” moments to feel satisfying to run through. a really, really fun game.
if you only want to count games from this year into your game of the year conversations, this would qualify as my Game of the Year.
4
return of the obra dinn
i think lucas pope might be a genius.
easily one of the best puzzle games i’ve ever played. obra dinn hands you nothing but a time-warping clock, a book, and some dead bodies. going back in time and slowly piecing each piece of information together is a challenge like no other i’ve seen in a video game. it’s a domino effect; some deaths are easy to guess, which opens up more information about the ones that aren’t. scouring the ship to find a smidge of new information feels worthwhile, because when you’re right, that information is confirmed quickly. sometimes you’re just missing a single piece, and it’s extremely satisfying to find that piece and keep the journey going.
to me, return of the obra dinn is a medium-defining game. it’s a game that takes the interactivity of the medium and dials it up to 11, leaving the player with a wholly unique feeling when it’s all said and done.
3
undertale
anyone who’s anyone knows about undertale. it sold 80 quadrillion copies, bought back a wave of tumblr fiends from the woodworks, and stamped just about the largest legacy a game can implant on pop culture.
it’s pretty incredible, then, that undertale doesn’t feel like a cop-out or a popularity grab. it’s still a genuinely heartfelt, extremely cringy at times (affectionate), well-written and well-paced story that cuts no corners. all of the monsters you interact with can be treated with respect; you can get out of any battle by just… de-escalating the situation, and the game rewards you should you decide that philosophy works better for you. it sounds cliche now, but not a lot of games had that kind of option a decade ago, and none had the kind of plot flexibility that undertale provides. none that i know of, at least.
it’s obviously great. you know that. duh.
2
persona 3 reload
i’m not really the biggest persona fan. i haven’t played the fourth game, or 5 royal, not because i think they’re bad games, but because i just can’t convince myself to sit down for 70-something hours and do it.
i played persona 3 reload over the summer, when i genuinely HAD 70-something hours to just play games. i did not regret it.
an absolutely fantastic game. every social link i did (with one major exception) genuinely enhanced my perception of the characters around me, while fleshing out the island the game takes place on. every small character interaction in this game, every after-school cutscene where a character is just having a good time out in the common space, they all feel so real. to me, that’s when the game is at its best: when the topic of all the supernatural shit is behind the characters, and they just have to stay in the moment.
i think that’s what atlus has mastered over the years: the art of creating real, human moments in the midst of some supernatural fuckery. the weird crap pulls you in, the emotions keep you. persona 3 reload is no exception to that rule.
1
ace attorney investigations 2: prosecutor’s gambit
man.
the first ace attorney investigations is extremely flawed; its characters stand out the least of any ace attorney subseries - though kay and lang are both fantastic in their own right - and the overarching mystery the game spent so long hinting towards is wholly uninteresting. usually, that would mean that my expectations would be low going into its sequel, but… ace attorney investigations 2 has a reputation. its fan translation is one of the best of any game, full stop, and many touted it as the best game in the series even before its english translation was official. so, to be fully honest, i was extremely excited to play investigations 2.
the game lived up to my expectations and more.
easily the most in-depth in its theming, ace attorney investigations 2: prosecutor’s gambit is one of the most poignant tales of legacy and living up to those long gone. main man miles edgeworth is constantly surrounded by reminders of his past, and the mix of choices and circumstances that led him to his position of power. the corruption of his predecessors and mentors looms heavy over him through each action he takes through the game. on the contrary, eustace winner is a shining benefactor of that corruption; cradled, cocky, and confident that he’s always one step ahead, whilst constantly being two steps behind.
even the side characters grapple with the struggles of parenthood and family long lost. judge verity gavelle is a new mother, adopting a child movie star while balancing being eustace’s guiding light as her day job. lang worries that his family’s legacy may be laid to waste, and cuts his crew out of his life to work on his own. it’s really impressive how the writers were able to weave so many similar storylines together without everything feeling muddled.
it’s good. really, really, extremely good.
looking forward
i don’t know what the next year has in store for me. i’m excited to see what lands on my top 10 list next year, because my guess is it’ll be pretty drastically different. i spent a lot of this year branching out in my gaming habits, picking up stuff i usually would’ve turned down. long RPGs, strange puzzlers, farming games, weird visual novels. maybe i’ll finally play a horror game that’s actually scary. maybe i’ll finally play persona 4 golden, like my friend’s been bugging me to.
maybe i’ll do that. maybe i won’t. i guess that’s the way of life.