Game Of The Year 2025
2025 was one of the weirdest times in gaming history. It saw AAA publishers buckle under the insane restrictions and DEI practices to the point consumers finally pushed back. "Enough was enough" was the catchphrase of gamers everywhere. Indies grew to a point that most people started just calling the larger games AA games, and indies literally just mean "not published by the 5 big gaming publishers".
Personally, I was caught off gaurd by the deludge of games that for the first time in my life, I wasn't able to keep up with. With several big life things happening, I just couldn't play games and streaming at the end of the year took a big back seat. Gaming is my main hobby and not playing many of the year's biggest games for the first time ever was so odd to me. So, you won't see Metroid Prime 4 or Borderlands 4 or Clair Obscure Expedition 33 or Silksong. I just didn't have the time.
But I will talk about games that I loved and played and finished. Because that's what Game of the Year to us is, a celebration and look back at the year we had with games, and which ones made an impact on us, and left a lasting imprint. So, without further ado, here is my Top 10 Games of 2025
10. MegaBonk
Coming out of nowhere, this little indie title that is basically Vampire Survivors in 3D was such a joyful timesink. I couldn’t be more happy with how much time I ended up playing the game for.
Playing in short 30 minute bursts and always working towards some new unlock, be it a new character or weapons or upgrade, each run felt new and exciting thanks to a bit of the procedurally generated level design.
9. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4
Another remake, yes, and while it wasn’t made by Vicarious Visions, the developers of the first Tony Hawk 1+2 back in 2020, Iron Galaxy didn’t screw it up. Nothing crazy, it just did what it needed to do, and it gets bonus points for bringing back Bam Margera (thanks to the birdman himself)
8. Deadpool VR
Marvel seems like a juggernaut that won’t stop, and I think we’re all sick of pretty much everything they do. However, they do occasionally have one project that has enough hands off approach that it somehow works. This year it's Deadpool, voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, doing a darn fine job of Ryan Reynold’s Deadpool.
Being able to see Mojo and Spiral and Omega Red up close and personal was a childhood dream come true. Sure some of the dialog is either too obnoxious and raunchy (as it is Deadpool’s shtick), but for the majority of the game, its a really well built melee and shooter combo that utilizes the immersive nature of VR. Also, seeing Ghost Rider in VR is just rad!
7. RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business
Teyon is quietly reviving the 80’s with their love letters to some of the best action movies ever made. Staying true to Robocop, Murphy walks, threatens and obliterates any lawbreaker to the fullest extent of the law. Unfinished Business apparently started out as DLC and expanded into its own stand alone game.
While Lewis is on the sidelines, getting to play as pre-rebuilt Alex Murphy is super cool, and taking a setting and location out of The Raid or the 2012 Dredd movie, Robocop scales a complex to rid the city of more vermin.
6. Ninja Gaiden: RageBound/ Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
2025 was the “Year of the Ninja” as we got 3 Ninja Gaiden games (1 being a remaster of Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma, also Ninja Gaiden 4, and then a throwback Ninja Gaiden side scroller with RageBound. Ragebound doesn’t do anything new, but is just a solid well made side scrolling game we just don’t get anymore, and that deserves to be recognized.
We also got a new Shinobi game, an exploratory platformer in a beautiful hand drawn artstyle that brings back a retro revival.
5. Donkey Kong Bananza
A Donkey Kong game that kinda came out of nowhere and still baffles me that it turned out that good. It takes the formula of 3D Mario platforming and puts Donkey Kong in the main role. It also adds a new layer with the terraforming mechanic that allows a lot of exploring and hidden items and locations.
If I had more time, I probably would have 100%ed this game, and it would be higher on my list if it wasn’t for the ending. The rocket ride to the surface is the perfect culmination of epic boss fight and nostalgia. Yet ruins it all for a 4th boss fight and kills the entire momentum. I’ve never been more angry on stream than the final section.
4. Dispatch
While light on the actual gameplay, and nearly a mostly interactive TV show, Dispatch shows how the Telltale games still can be relevant and enjoyable. With a breakout voice cast, lead by Jessie Pinkman himself, Aaron Paul; Dispatch shows super heroes can still be enjoyable even in the midst of the fatigue of nearly 20 years of constant bombardment.
While the story doesn’t have any massive twists, other than the fact that the vast majority of players somehow picked Invisiagal to romance instead of Blonde Blazer (I know, right?!)It's still intriguing and has plenty of edge of the seat moments and cliffhanger episode endings that perfectly capture the “just one more” episode nature to it all. It also helps that the real gameplay part where you dispatch your team of rag-tag ex-villains trying to do right, is actually a real great balance and fun to play!
3. Oblivion Remaster
Remasters are a dime a dozen nowadays, but every once in a while, we get one that not only needs to happen, but actively makes the game so much more enjoyable. Oblivion came out near the launch window of the Xbox 360 and I dumped 90 hours into it, but never finished it due to a gamebreaking bug.
All these years later, I not only get to experience the game again, but in higher fidelity, but also in Virtual Reality, thanks to the UEVR mod. Playing Oblivion in VR was a dream come true. While the vibrancy of the green hills of Cyrodill are a bit duller than they should be, the models of the characters are upgraded to a much more accurate representation. It almost seems wrong to have an older game look this good.
2. The Midnight Walk
Take a darkly somber tale, sprinkle in some Tim Burton design and wrap it up in a claymation and you have The Midnight Walk. A smaller game that seemed like it was developed for me specifically. It spoke to me in a way very few games do. Those of us that somehow are drawn to the weird and awkward, but appreciate the more human emotional storytelling that balances out the oddities that usually encompass games of this nature.
The claymation not only works, but having it in VR all but guaranteed I was going to love the game. And I did, I found myself thinking about it at least once a month throughout the year after I finished it. Just being so happy that a game like it existed in this world, and in virtual reality.
1. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
The Zelda series (especially Breath Of The Wild & Tears Of The Kingdom) hold a special place in my heart. I find them to be the embodiment of what the Zelda series truly is. Adventure. Hyrule Warriors started off as a weird spin-off, but with the second game basically created a Breath Of The Wild Gaiden (Gaiden being Japanese for “Side Story”).
This is what more game franchises should do, allow their existing IP to be utilized in new and exciting directions by different developers. When every game now takes 6-7 years to make; Why not allow them to transfer over to different genres to continue to keep the games in the zeitgeist and public interest? Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment gives us the full B plot of Tears of the Kingdom, showcasing Zelda’s time traveling back to the early days of the Hyrule. Getting much more backstory and development with not just King Raru but a ton of other very fun and interesting characters.