My 2025 Video Game List

For the most part, 2025 was still very much a year of recovery for me. I was fortunate enough to be able to play plenty of games this year, mostly out of necessity because I needed something to do as I continued to recover from burnout.

In terms of games, I played a variety of genres, as I do every year. Did I enjoy everything equally? Absolutely not. I definitely played a couple of disappointments this year, unfortunately. I usually end up finishing games, unless I really don’t like them, because I want to give them a fair chance. That means I sometimes spend too much time on something that one could consider time wasted.

But despite that, I think it’s a good thing, too. It encourages some discipline, and it helps me appreciate the great games by having various points of comparison. And sometimes, I even end up enjoying what most people consider mediocre games.

So, this year has been a mixed bag, but hey, that’s been life for me for the last few years. That’s sometimes how life is, I reckon. Anyway, this post is about video games, obviously. So, let’s talk video games.

As always I’m here to break down my favorite picks of the year. If you’re here for the first time – this is a list of games I completed this year, not a list of games that released this year. Keep that in mind.

Previous Editions 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015

Wow, it’s been over ten years of me doing these posts now. Time flies! It’s also been about five years since I started doing these more comprehensive write-ups, and I think that’s pretty cool.

Okay, enough chatter. Without further ado, here’s this year’s list:

---

Cyberpunk 2077

Played on PC. Released in 2020.

“A happy ending? Not in this town, not for people like us.”

Well, what can one say about this one?

Starting out as V and exploring Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 in its current form sort of felt like stepping into an alternate world. It’s remarkable how immersive the world feels.

Since I never played it before Phantom Liberty (the expansion), I never got to experience the busted version of the game that existed prior. I believe that to be a good thing.

Choosing Cyberpunk as my #1 pick was literally the easiest thing I’ve done in years. It’s not even close. My experience with this game was remarkable. I think it’s one of the best games I’ve ever played.

Night City is as much of a main character as the protagonist, since this huge metropolis is the center stage of the game’s unique setting.

After the first act of the game, Johnny Silverhand (played by Keanu Reeves) plays a significant role in this story. Both Reeves and various other actors give phenomenal performances for an incredibly cinematic experience.

The year is 2077. Similar to the setting of Deus Ex, augmentations and neural interfaces are pretty common, and our protagonist, V, is looking to make it big in the city. His first task? Pull a heist, and steal some experimental technology from one of the biggest corporations in town: Arasaka.

As it turns out, the tech they are trying to steal happens to be capable of holding a sort of synthetic copy of one’s consciousness within, and a mishap causes the tech to bleed into V’s life… and that has certain consequences.

I won’t say more; the game’s main story is incredible. And that’s just the main story. There’s also a lot of excellent side content, and then there’s Phantom Liberty, which adds a whole new section to the game, elevating it beyond its already incredible scope by even impacting the original ending of the game.

V is the protagonist of the game. You can choose to play as a male or as a female protagonist. As you play one of the opening chapters of this game, you begin V’s story as a nomad, streetkid or corpo. This immediately sets the tone, as choosing a lifepath provides a nice starting point.

After the expansion released and the many rounds of bugfixing were done, the game was in a much different place compared to launch.

I certainly expect to play through the game again at some point, hopefully this time as a female protagonist. But then again, I sometimes say that I will replay a game and never get around to it.

Perhaps I’ll revisit this before the developer releases next Cyberpunk game, which I am very interested in after this particular experience.

When this game released, it was a technical disaster. It was so bad that Sony refunded people for the PS4 version of the game in what was (at the time) an unprecedented turn of events. Thankfully, CD Projekt did continue to work on the game, and with Phantom Liberty one could argue we have something resembling the game that was originally promised to us, many years ago.

Cyberpunk 2077 is not for the faint of heart, however, because no one… and I do mean no one… gets a “good” ending in the Cyberpunk setting. And you know what? That makes the tone of the game quite unique.

It’s gritty and dark at times, but also quite beautiful.

There is simply no way that any of the other games I played this year come close to how immersed I was when I was exploring Night City as V, and that’s a good thing.

---

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

Played on PC. Released in 2021.

“No more shall man have wings to bear him to paradise.
Henceforth, he shall walk.”

When you’ve spent as many hours playing a single video game as I have with Final Fantasy XIV, you’re sort of along for the ride if you’re a couple of expansions deep.

I’ve spent hundreds of hours roaming the world of Eorzea. When I started the Heavensward expansion a couple of years ago it was also a nice form of therapy for me, as it kept me busy when life had me down for a while as I mourned the loss of a long relationship. It was my escape during turbulent times. It was great.

But I did not want to burn myself out on the game, so I slowly made my way through the content of the main story, and got through the various expansions.

So, Final Fantasy XIV has been a personal favorite of mine for years now, but I had not finished the main story of the so-called “first story arc” yet. That one had come to a conclusion in 2021, with the release of the aptly-named Endwalker.

I’ve heard of more cases where people who felt unhappy about their lives found some solace in Final Fantasy XIV. It’s a beautiful thing. I don’t think it’s strange to say that this game has literally saved lives.

(In the meantime, a new expansion has already arrived, but it does start a new story, and this is probably where I stop playing the MMO for the time being.)

Endwalker ends the story arc that began with A Realm Reborn, a decade earlier. As you play through the various expansions, the threat to the realm seems to keep increasing, until it becomes readily apparent that the world is on the edge of an apocalypse of sorts.

As the Hero of Light (and Darkness, at this point) it’s up to you and the Scions (again) to make sure Eorzea is not devastated by this new threat. In other words, it’s the usual JRPG climax plot where the world is threatened and it’s up to you to ensure things go to plan.

It took me a little over a 800 hours of gameplay to get to where I am right now, and this total game time is spread over about 7 years. That is… uh, a lot of game time.

As you progress through the main quest, you visit fantastical worlds and defeat legendary characters, and you will finally get answers to questions you may have had since you started playing the game all the way back in A Realm Reborn…

Most importantly, though, Endwalker ties up a ten-year long story in an MMO, which is quite remarkable. And it does it well, although it does not reach the same heights as the previous expansion, Shadowbringers.

The latest expansion has received some mixed reviews, which (I think) is understandable because the heroes are now starting out on a brand new adventure, in a brand new place. You have to get invested again!

I will eventually continue my Final Fantasy XIV adventure, but it won’t be right away. For now, I think I need a little bit of a break. There’s so many other things to play!

---

Dispatch

Played on PC. Released in 2025.

Dispatch certainly took the internet by storm this year, and for a good reason. It’s a damn good game. It was also signal-boosted by various well-known internet personalities, which may have helped, too.

This episodic game was created by veterans from Telltale Games, who formed AdHoc Studio. They created a remarkable episodic superhero workplace comedy game that feels like a TV show, but also has some fun gameplay.

In this game, you follow Robert, a superhero dispatcher. He used to be Mecha Man, a superhero himself, but his suit was destroyed. Now he’s been recruited by another super hero to help out with the dispatching of heroes… or so it seems.

It’s actually up to him to lead a team of reformed supervillains and get them working together to deal with all sorts of issues. That is, obviously, easier said than done…

Dispatch features the production quality of those old Telltale games, but it also features incredible voice talent, including the likes of Aaron Paul, of Breaking Bad fame and the Critical Role folks. Quality stuff, really.

I have fond memories of the various Telltale Games, which would also have episodic updates. Generally, though, it would take about 1-3 months between episodes. Having weekly updates was a lot smarter.

The gameplay in Dispatch mainly consists of some interactive video segments, and also a fun dispatching mini game. The latter is where this “game” shines. (It’s definitely a game, but expect something more like an interactive Netflix show.)

The game was updated with new episodes on a weekly basis, making for an engaging week-by-week cycle of speculation and anticipation as new episodes were added. It was a lot of fun to be part of this cycle.

Unlike most of my top picks, this one is actually a fairly short experience, but it was so memorable and fun that I figured I’d put it as my #3.

Decisions in this game carry over to subsequent episodes, which means there’s at least enough replay value to play through the game again while making different decisions.

That’s about all I have to say about it. You should probably go play it, it’s not expensive and it’s also damn hilarious. (It’s also not for kids, keep that in mind. There’s a lot of colorful… language use present all throughout.)

---

Stellar Blade

Played on PS5. Released in 2024.

Stellar Blade is heavily inspired by NieR Automata, that much is certain. It ran well technically, played well, had good environment design, good boss fights… just a shame it was a bit lacking in the story department.

The plot is relatively simple: you play as EVE, a humanoid-looking robot dispatched to deal with monster threats (“naytibas”) on what remains of Earth.

After you arrive on Earth, EVE and her robot allies are easily dispatched by one such “alpha naytiba”… and thankfully, you are rescued by a man named Adam, who takes you to on of the last cities of humanity.

After this, you’re tasked to investigate various alpha naytiba threats, which are very strong creatures who threaten the safety of the city and what remains of humanity.

In terms of story it feels vastly inferior to the likes of NieR Automata – which was also marketed heavily via the “sexy android lady” angle, which honestly did this game a bit of a disservice, I reckon. I think it might be easy to dismiss this game for its blatant sexual marketing and miss a great hack-and-slash game.

Games tend to have lots of collectables; this game has unique unlockable outfits as rewards. It’s actually pretty cool. I suppose it is also part of the “sexy marketing”, but they also could have just sold the costumes as DLC. Good decisions!

No, fighting the big bad monsters is fun (and a bit difficult too, as you get the hang of the combat system). And I had a lot of fun. Not all games need a deep plot. Hell, Dark Souls games don’t have a plot either; and they are lauded for their deep lore.

Like the Souls games, you will be able to learn more about the story by reading journal entries, item descriptions etc. but the cinematic story left me feeling a tad disappointed as I thought it was a bit underdeveloped.

It’s not a coincidence that the protagonist is called EVE and her companion is called Adam. There’s also some other bits in this game that are a bit on the nose. In particular the name of the monsters, “naytiba”, is a bastardization of “native”, which may be a hint to their true identity…

But the good news is that the game director has acknowledged this criticism and it’s likely something they will address in the already-announced sequel. If you want to try this, there’s a free demo available that you can try. (It convinced me that this game has the required depth in the combat system that I like in action games.)

---

Tokyo Xanadu eX+

Played on PC. Released in 2017.

If there’s ever a franchise that I’ve been wanting to play, it’s Falcom’s Trails series. But since starting such a series is a bit of a daunting experience, I decided I needed to play something else.

After some rumination, I decided that my first Falcom title would be this one. Xanadu is probably the least popular Falcom franchise and has only really one modern game, so I knew I couldn’t go wrong with this one.

Supposedly, all of the Trails (and Ys) games are better than this, so Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is an excellent baseline Falcom experience.

And you know what? I feel as though that’s pretty much the case. If this is the worst a modern Falcom game has to offer, it’s still pretty damn good!

---

Look. I’ve read that this game is sometimes compared to Persona.

Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is, in fact, nothing like Persona. It’s a real-time action game set in a modern setting with a group of youngsters. There’s some strange phenomena happening, and the kids have these special powers to investigate and defeat these demon-like creatures in this parallel space…

Hmm. Okay, I can see why people are making the comparison. The setting, characters and plot might be enough to draw comparisons to Persona, but, let’s be frank: a Persona game this is not.

It’s quite different in terms of genre (this is an action game; not turn-based), but also in terms of production quality. The budget of this game was clearly far smaller.

Keep in mind, this was also originally a game for the PS Vita! You can tell this is the case, though, as the environments are constrained, the combat is simple, the presentation is very basic…

Honestly, you might think it’s rather bland and basic as you play through the introductory chapters of the game. This game was made around the same time Trails’ Cold Steel games were being made.

I originally picked this one up many years ago, but I never got around to it. There were too many incredible games to play, so playing this in 2025 was actually rather nostalgic, as the game is set in a world about a decade prior, roughly ~2015 or so. So some things feel like a blast from the past.

The same engine was used in those games, but the game was eventually enhanced and ported to PC and console. (Some additional “side” chapters were added, as well as a new ending with a new final boss. I understand it’s a decent chunk of extra post-game content compared to the original.)

So, depending on your expectations going into the game – you may find that Tokyo Xanadu is a game with enough charm and a likeable cast of characters, and enjoyable (but basic) combat.

I enjoyed the depth of the world building, too. You can talk to many NPCs, each with their own quirks. There’s even a feature that updates character profiles of each of these characters as you talk to them more. It definitely makes the setting feel more authentic.

I should note that an updated localization was created for the Switch re-release in 2024, and you can patch the PC version to use it. Supposedly, it significantly improved the quality of the translation. I never played it without the new localization, so I can’t speak on this topic, but the story seemed properly translated.

If you’re going into this with great expectations, I suspect you will be disappointed. If you temper your expectations and expect a really good PS Vita era game with the usual JRPG tropes, a good cast and a modern setting… you may actually enjoy the game like I did. I enjoyed it enough to finish it.

I also played…

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Played on PC. Released in 2024.

I wasn’t even going to play this one. But I needed to know… what they did to Solas (who is one of my all-time favorite characters) so I decided to play this.

After having started the game with fairly negative first impressions, The Veilguard has certainly grown a little on me, but after finishing it earlier this year, I do think it (unfortunately) ended up being bland by committee.

While I do still believe it to be a mediocre Dragon Age game (especially in the character writing department), it certainly got better as I continued to play. I sort of did most of the side activities that were on offer, so it wasn’t that bad? In terms of gameplay, that is. It was polished, simple, and relatively enjoyable.

My least favorite part of the game has to do with the fact that the game is wholly disconnected from your own personal Dragon Age history. In fact, for the majority of the game it doesn’t even feel like a Dragon Age game. Why?

The world state, as it was called in Inquisition, barely mattered. Because no locations from previous games are visited, this sort of feels like a sort of weird spin-off from the main games with a confused tone.

I played this one for Solas, and they gave him a proper send-off. A shame that this great game barely qualified as a Dragon Age title.

ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN

Played on PC. Released in 2025.

It took me about fifteen hours or so for this faster, co-op incarnation of ELDEN RING made sense to me, and before it clicked. Once it did, I played it until completion and had a good time.

I now still have a DLC to finish, but my co-op buddy that I play this game with is usually quite busy as of late, so that’ll be for next year.

My only complaint about this game is that it feels a little bit too fast for my liking. I prefer the slower and intentional speed of the Soulslike single-player games.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Played on Nintendo Switch. Released in 2023.

I did not expect to enjoy my second outing after not clicking with Breath of the Wild, but somehow the new mechanics actually clicked and the additions to the game convinced me that it was good.

Enjoying this one even made me revisit the previous game (Breath of the Wild) for a bit, to see what had changed. That was pretty cool.

Deponia Trilogy

Played on PC. Released in 2016.

Deponia is a point-and-click puzzle game. Well, it’s actually three games in one. The Deponia games do have an interesting setting and fun cast of characters, with the protagonist being the most unlikable asshole you’ve ever met.

The trilogy consists of three separate games that all form a greater narrative that was… a fun romp? A pretty enjoyable series, with a protagonist you will love to dislike. There’s a sequel (“Doomsday”) but I might not get to it right away.

Persona 3: The Answer (DLC)

Played on PS5. Released in 2024.

I’m sorry to say that you can probably skip this one, unless you really want… effectively more floors all taking place in a single, repetitive dungeon.

The Answer always had a bit of a reputation of being way less enjoyable than the main game because it lacked the social sim element of the base game. This remake of The Answer was very faithful to the original and as such, does not really come with anything besides a new dungeon and some story.

I does provide you a little bit of closure, so maybe it’s worth playing it for that. The dungeon could have been a little bit shorter, and I would have probably had more fun, to be honest.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Played on PC. Released in 2024.

A fun romp slaying hordes of a Chaos. I’ve got little else to say about this one. It was… fine? Not really my thing.

I played the first one last year (while heavily medicated), and I remember it being fine then, too. Maybe I do need to play some co-op with my friends, since I didn’t actually touch the horde mode yet.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

Played on PC. Released in 2025.

I played a lot of this; Oblivion was one of my most played games when I was a child. However, I cannot, in good conscience, nominate this for GOTY.

While Oblivion has received a modern overhaul, its systems remain old and janky, and this version has major performance issues.

A fun nostalgic experience, though let’s be honest: there are certainly way better games. Playing this made me want to play Skyrim again, and I don’t have time for that. I do hope that they can fix the technical issues eventually.

Starfield: Shattered Space (DLC)

Played on PC. Released in 2024.

Wow. Good thing I got this expansion for free with my copy of the game, or I would have been really, really disappointed.

While there is some cool content here, I must say that this expansion really did not deliver. We’d heard about the epic, hidden homeworld of the Va’ruun, and what we got was… less than I’d imagined.

A disappointment. Easily the worst first-party DLC this studio has made?

Anno 1800

Played on PC. Released in 2019.

I did not play enough of this to give it GOTY status, but it is a really good game. I enjoyed my time settling islands and working my way through the story section. I also played one full scenario of Anno 2205, but this is the more complex game.

The futuristic aspect of 2205, and the gameplay depth and mechanical systems in 1800 were pretty enjoyable. I did not sample much of the DLC, and if I have some time I probably will, down the line.

I can see myself wasting a lot more time on this, so I should be careful!

Final Fantasy XIV: The Rising Tide

Played on PS5. Released in 2024.

After the disappointment that was the base game, I ended up playing all of the extra content for Final Fantasy XVI and this DLC was more of the same, honestly. Although the expansion with Leviathan had a few cool moments, this extra content suffered from the same issues the base game did.

The first expansion just felt like filler, and with the second expansion I hated that acquiring Leviathan had no impact on the ending of the main game. In retrospect, I probably wasted my time on this, seeing as it felt like a chore.

Undertale

Played on PC. Released in 2015.

I finally played this modern classic. Oh boy, when did this release? Time goes by too fast. I don’t need to tell you that Undertale is a good game, do I?

Go play it. I won’t spoil it for you. It’s a game and an experience in one.

Heh heh.

Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!

Played on PC. Released in 2018.

I got into catching ’em all big time. My last Pocket Monster game was Moon, and I never did get around to playing Ultra Sun on my 3DS.

While fun, I did not enjoy the “catch” mechanic similar to Pokemon GO. I prefer the traditional gameplay system where you fight wild Pokemon to catch them. I also played Yellow Edition on my 3DS, which is the first game in the series, because I figured it’d be fun to play both at the same time.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Played on PC. Released in 2018.

It took me far too long to make it through this one. I started this one in 2023 and I ended up putting the game on hold after the first few hours until 2024.

Then, burnout kicked my ass and I was finally able to play it at the beginning of the year. A great game, no doubt, but perhaps a bit too huge in its scope, and requires you do devote time to it if you wish to complete it.

A shorter Assassin’s Creed game is probably a better one. (I know that Valhalla is next chronologically, and that is suffers from this issue even more. Oh, boy.)

BLUE REFLECTION & SECOND LIGHT

Played on PC. Released in 2017 & 2021.

Ah, these. They’re from Gust, the same company responsible for the Atelier games, which I have historically somewhat enjoyed.

I played both Blue Reflection games, and they are perfectly okay JRPGs with perhaps a little bit too much fanservice. The original game was sort of basic and quite bland, so the sequel certainly upped the production value.

I still think that you’re better off playing the Atelier games. They’re better than this, unless you like the school setting and the school girls, which… uh… doesn’t make for great fanservice unless you are really into weeb culture or Japanese?

I guess they were okay, but I notice I’m getting too old to enjoy these weeb games. I’m becoming a grumpy old man, disconnected from the youth… oh no!

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy

Played on Nintendo 3DS. Released in 2013.

After having the Layton games on my backlog for many, many years, I finally finished all of the games, this one being the final game in the series.

By the time you get to this game you’ve probably seen most of the different types of puzzles that these games offer, so I can’t say I really loved this one, but that has nothing to do with the quality of the game. As always, a Layton game remains a solid puzzle game, if that’s your cup of tea.

SCARLET NEXUS

Played on PC. Released in 2021.

This action role-playing game released back in 2021, and I thought it had an interesting demo back then. I decided to buy the game eventually, and it’s been on my backlog ever since.

Unfortunately, I don’t have that many good things to say about this one after completing it: the combat is fun, but some of the sections are too repetitive. The story is often confusing, and by the time it makes sense you’re many hours into the game. (You also need to play the game twice to get the full story.)

SCARLET NEXUS also had too many anime tropes and one-dimensional characters for me to properly enjoy the party members, too. A miss for me, but I think there was some potential for this game and I know some people really seemed to enjoy it.

What’s Next

Now that I’m doing better and launched my business in October, I will likely have less time to play video games next year, as I will be committing more time to work and to various other personal things.

All I know is that I definitely will be playing Metaphor: ReFantazio and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the winner of many game awards this year.

In the meantime, I’ve finally started playing The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC… and now that’s a retro game! (I decided that I was not going to play the remake because I wasn’t willing to wait for the second chapter to be released.)

I’m sure to have a write-up about that next year.

Besides that, I’m also really looking forward to the next Fire Emblem game, which was announced this year. I hope it actually releases next year and isn’t delayed, as is quite common these days.