Going on three years in a row it’s felt like each has bested the last in the “is this the new best year in gaming?”. Guess it’s fitting then that 2025 went ahead and wiped the floor and set a new recent and all time standard with so many incredible titles.
We saw the release of the Switch 2 and several major impressive AAA releases, followed by critical domination from indie and AA studio titles. Negative trends in the gaming industry also continued with plenty of controversy this year, be it the ever growing reach of AI into the artistic space, and the unfortunate continued push of shady industry standards from layoffs to scrapped studios. You can also tell it was a wild year when we even saw Silksong finally release, which means the end of the world can’t be too far behind.
It was frankly, a year for me too. But despite an exciting but near endless gauntlet of personal and professional events I had going on, not to mention the growing panic at the state of the world we live in, I’m impressed with how many games I was able to get to. As a 36 year old who feels the aches more every day, and whose attention span wanes and general tiredness grows exponentially, I was just happy with how many of the games I played this year helped me recapture my love of gaming. And it’s always refreshing when my time I invest in games reinforces why I continue to explore them as a hobby and artistic medium.
That being said, there’s some heavy hitters I didn’t have time to check out this year. So let me just announce those before I start a flamewar in the comments section when they don’t appear in the main list.
Our Yet To Play List
Death Stranding 2, Ghosts of Yotei, Dispatch, Kingdom Come Deliverence 2, Split Fiction, Silent Hill F, Sword of the Sea, Metroid Prime 4, (the list goes on)
With that out of the way, let’s talk about flying stars and a really fast hamster who’s friends with a puffy pink ball.
10. Kirby Air Riders, Nintendo
Considering this sequel arrived over 20 years after the original, Kirby Air Riders is clearly something Masahiro Sakurai had always dreamed of making. Like its predecessor, this racing title prides itself on mechanical minimalism- at least from a button input stand point. Your vehicle naturally accelerates and it’s up to you to simply break around turns, hit the same button eat up or take out smaller enemies for speed boosts, and push back and forth on the joystick for a spin dash to send fellow racers flying into Planet Popstar’s stratosphere.
But Kirby Air Riders is anything but a basic racer. With wild customization options between vehicle and character combinations, the amount of torque, speed, power, turn radius, and general make flying car go vroom options really lets players find their own unique way to enter into a race. And while the three classic modes of Air Ride, Top Ride, and City Trial also return, the depth to really tweak your vehicle make for so many different ways to approach the game.
The tracks are gorgeous, and any given road might have you careening around hairpin turns in an active spaceship factory, weaving through a split ocean ala Moses, or just cruising through the games charming adventure mode and its many environments and colorful characters. The game’s musical tracks also hit with as much fervor with pulsing beats that could feature anything from a cheerful singer, pounding metal guitar, or more traditional Japanese string instruments.
All in all, Kirby Air Riders is chaotic in the best possible way, where it gives the player their own way to approach the mayhem. It will also probably be the game from 2025 I return to the most consistently for years to come.
9. Blue Prince, Dogubomb
Do you like escape rooms? Wait no that’s not the right question. Do you like 46 escape rooms? Blue Prince asks this question, as it puts players in the shoes of a young man who’s been bequeathed his great uncle’s massive constantly changing mansion. That is if you can find that illusive 46th room.
Over-thinkers and puzzle enjoyers alike rejoiced at the discovery of this rogue-like puzzle game that has players starting each day in the foyer of said mansion, and building randomly assigned rooms off doors to discover the many many MANY small details needed to solve this rubix cube of a residence.
Frankly as of writing this, I have yet to actually discover that 46th room myself, but my wife and I already have pages of real life notes about facts we’ve learned. The more basic information includes the charting of a letter puzzle between two unique paintings for every square of the manor. Other notes cover the specific locations of a unique mountain triple triangle. Even more include the game’s deeper information about the character’s mother, past crimes and disappearances, and other details I won’t get into here for those who have yet to explore this game for themselves.
It is also highly possible once we fully complete Blue Prince I’ll hold it in significantly higher regard than it is now. But even in the midst of uncovering all of Mount Holly’s secrets, it’s clear this is one of the most detailed puzzle games ever created.
8. Mario Kart World, Nintendo
If I had a nickel for every racing game I played this year where you could drive a vehicle with a real looking animal I’d have two nickels. Unfortunately folks who wanted to purchase Mario Kart World would need quite a few more nickels as its $80 price tag sent shock waves across the industry and consumers alike.
But once you get past the sticker shock, the 9th major installment in the Mario Kart series moves away from tight turned racing to the feel of the All-American road trip. And because of this change, it’s frankly one of my favorite entries into the series.
Races have 24 contestants speeding between courses across a vast colorful landscape. Like Air Riders there’s a lot of emphasis on chaos with all sorts of nuke style weapons or sniper shells deploying simultaneously at any given moment. This especially shines in new modes like Knockout where the four players in the last four places are eliminated in every lap.
But unlike Air Riders however, the general vibe of Mario Kart World is far more about going on cruise control and kicking back with a nice relaxing Sunday drive.
It’s new open world has plenty of fun short form challenges, though naysayers have argued there could (and should for that $80 price tag) be a fuller story mode. I on the other hand felt really calm and content while casually cruising around taking in the game’s gorgeous attention to details.
And those chill drives were made immensely more relaxing by the game’s stunning soundtrack that remixes hundreds of classic Marioverse tunes. Musical tracks like a bossa nova seaside rendition of the Yoshi’s Story theme, the thrilling bluegrass harmonica blazing cover of Cool Cool Mountain, or the just pure freedom I felt from the easy listening acoustic sitar in the Fossil Falls cover, truly captured that sense of discovery and being on the open road.
Sure there are elements from past Mario Kart games that are missing here, but what Mario Kart World brings that’s fresh left me just as happy and occasionally nostalgically teary on so many different occasions.
7. Elden Ring Nightreign, From Software 
Move over Fortnite, there’s a new storm circle game in town. And if anyone would’ve thought the follow up sentence to that declaration would be, FromSoftware took Elden Ring and dropped it into a survive the storm format, I think a lot of folks would’ve given a thousand yard stare.
Elden Ring Nightreign however revolutionizes this formula in a fabulous multiplayer spinoff that tasks teams in tackling a 3 day journey to level up, fight progressively more intense enemies, and search for elemental weapons and other upgrades, all in the effort to vanquish a final third night boss.
Map designs are really what make the flow of Nightreign work so well, with a vast variety of enemy encampments guarding specific key drops, as well as its castle, mountain, swamp, and other more specialized routes offering teams moment to moment decisions on how to chart the best path to maximize XP and defeat the most bosses.
Also its more stock characters like Guardian, Wylder, Duchess, and Raider (my personal favorite), do give slightly less individual customization, but end up balancing build types, adding more power to each individual role. It feels like anyone and everyone is a valid build to pursue.
Add in additional DLC maps, bosses, and even characters, and Nightreign is arguably the best multiplayer experience of 2025, and certainly the most unique.
6. Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo
Well first note is that it’s really cool they brought back the phrase “oh banana”. Oh yeah and along with that, they essentially revolutionized what a 3D smash up game could be?
Donkey Kong Bananza is DK’s first title in too long, and his first 3D entry since the 64 era. Maybe that’s why so much of this game feels like an incredible work in progress.
The main mechanic of bashing and smashing your way through any of the many colorful worlds gives this sense of limitless possibilities. Need to get through a gate for a Banandium Gem? Sure you could bring a key, form a path underneath, or sing at it with Pauline. But for the real silverbacks out there, you could just climb to the other side and punch through half a mountain and, boom, banana time.
Sometimes this level of game breaking feels like you’re discovering endless possibilities on how to traverse the landscape or grab collectables. Other times that game breaking feels, well, like you’re just kinda breaking the game.
Some of the strongest highlights actually are the smaller challenge rooms that have you tactically analyzing how to take out an array of difficult enemies in a 30 second time limit, or using DK’s incredibly vast move set to jump, climb, and surf to a finish line. And in some of these limitations the game feels at its best because of the honed skills and particular paths. That being said, being able to completely ignore a mission because you found someway to utilize a piece of the environment to make an un-makeable jump can feel equally incredible. It’s confusing because while there is still plenty of Mario Odyssey creative DNA here, some of that limitlessness can sometimes feel like a lack of polish in both good and bad ways.
Donkey Kong Bananza ends up feeling like a hyperflawed masterpiece that is figuratively and literally breaking new ground. But at its highest highs like the delightful transformations, the absolute bangers Pauline sings to cause said transformations, and a stunningly fun final act, it’s hard not to just bust through to the planet core with the biggest banana eating grin on your face.
5. Hades 2, Supergiant Games 
Hades 2 took a near flawless title and gave us a lot of the same high tuned quick paced combat. Oh and those boons that go off like a Hydrogen bomb are back too.
Melinoe can choose from a collection of weapons and upgrades (just like in 1) but the card set up feels somehow even more user friendly, being able to mix, match, and grow abilities from more damage, to extra coins, to death defiances and beyond. Also the addition of the incantation and prophecy systems add some other ways to upgrade and seek out growth for that next run.
The most unique change in Hades 2 however is its story. Where the original had the goal of get out of hell, with some slight branches near the end, Hades 2 has a much more epic feel to its war-torn and conquered world. Melinoe’s objective is still defeat Chronos and win back hell, but she’s more a player in a grander scheme. The addition of climbing to Olympus is also a major change (with several cool new mechanics), that also adds to that deeper level of what’s at stake, and a richer array of decisions and perspectives to history, family, love, hate, and more.
Now you’ll have to excuse me, I have a hot date with Nemesis at the crossroads.
4. Look Outside, FrankieSmileShow
Whatever you do, you probably shouldn’t listen to the title of this game, and instead listen to that eye in the crack in the wall encouraging you to not look outside.
Shout out to a good friend who introduced me to this indie sleeper before the end of the year, which is about an apocalyptic event happening outside protagonist Sam’s apartment building. Players can have Sam stay inside his own apartment playing video games, snacking here and there, and not letting anyone inside. Or for the brave (or resource deprived) players, they will more than likely start to explore the other rooms and floors of their building to unveil the horrors that the outside has birthed.
Blending play styles of an rpg like Earthbound, survival horror elements of Resident Evil, and some of the resource and party management of Oregon Trail, players find themselves beset upon by an army of Lovecraftian amalgamations who are all rendered in a hideously beautiful pixel art style. Enemy types and designs cover a vast variety of fears, from the insect turned basement dwelling members of the community, to amorphous body horrors like an entire hallway made of gums and teeth, or an ex-combat landlord who’s entire flat has been turned into a personification of his PTSD.
For those thinking this sounds quite grotesque and scary, you’re on the money. But Look Outside doesn’t just dwell on the horrors, as some of these horrors become beloved and endearing party members. One example of this has Sam choosing to give up his arm to save a small distorted rat infant instead of sacrificing it to a wall monster. Players who choose to protect the creature will uncover numerous wholesome moments of raising the baby.
Similarly creepy yet sweet, NPCs like the Jason Voorhees coded Hellen, are given moments of tenderness and kindness, like when the youngest and un-mutated child party member draws her a colorful new mask with a piece of school paper and her crayons. Hellen dawns this mask for the rest of the game.
The game’s various endings also reflect these variations of the grotesque of the unknown and the comforts and kindnesses of humanity, ranging from human annihilation, to specific monsters acting to preserve and protect mankind. But whatever path you choose, Look Outside is a haunting yet poignant look at Lovecraftian stylings that deserved to be higher on a lot of gamer’s radars this year.
3. Claire Obscure: Expedition 33, Sandfall Interactive
Arguably the crowned genre defining gaming masterpiece of the year, Expedition 33 is a brilliant story about the depths of grief and the lengths we go to deal with or escape it. It’s also a game where you can wear fun French mime attire while the soundtrack blasts sick techno combat music which includes a wailing sax solo that feels pulled straight from Clarence Clemons of the E-Street Band.
And it constantly succeeds because of this marriage of its motifs of grief and art.
Yes this world was set into the turmoil with the arrival of the Gommage, an event in which the world’s most visible god subtracts a giant number in the sky by one, erasing any whose age is above that number. Yes this world ends up being a painting brought to life by a family bathed in a history of horrific tragedy and sorrow.
But also this world is also just that. A painting. It’s fantastical art, with all its odd wonders such as an airborne sea where whales swim in the sky. It has delightful magical beings like the childlike balloon of a demi-god Esquie, who can carry and spew up wine to the party members’ collective delight. Through grief this world of Lumiere lives on in its fantastical elements. Yet it is also through grief that this world can unintentionally instigate its own demise as well as the party seeks to destroy that which they believe to be sinister. Grief and art go hand in hand.
Less fantastical and reflective but equally important is that mechanically, Expedition 33 perfects the turn based reaction combat of industry giants like Paper Mario. It’s parry and dodge mechanics alone allow players to recognize patterns and fully research enemies, which ultimately only builds appreciation for the artistic quality of the beings around them. The game’s condition stacking also provides depth that has players planning on how to maximize a major attack two to ten steps ahead. Moves as simple as Sciel using her cards to trap an enemy before she uses Harvest is a great two hitter. But others like building an enemies elemental damages with Lune or moving Maelle through a variety of fighting stances for a killing blow allow for such creativity on how you’ll tackle any given enemy.
There have been industry comparisons to revolutionary titles like Majora’s Mask, and similarly as Expedition 33 has swept awards season, many predict this artistic gem will be studied for decades to come. Yet hand in hand with art comes grief once more.
I’m writing this only two days after the controversial reveal that unfortunately Expedition 33’s studio did use AI in smaller capacities on earlier models or internal usage. And who’s yet to know what this will mean for the proliferation of AI use on more artistic endeavors in gaming. I can see the excuses from studios coming in, seeing as “if the game who swept the Game Awards used it, we can use it with wreckless abandon right?”.
So how to evaluate the game? Shouldn’t its own artists be celebrated, despite the despair many of us felt when we received the news of studio executives making these decisions? It’s themes ring a bit too frustratingly true even outside it’s painted propositions. But why not honor the story-tellers and artists who strived to preserve the truth the game’s story delivers. So long as we remember to fight the studios seeking to remove humanity from art. For the artists who come after Expedition 33.
2. Hollow Knight Silksong, Team Cherry
And on the other end of the spectrum, despite an astronomical wait, Team Cherry proved what a team of artists can do when they’re properly funded and allowed to build at their own pace without studio interference or the looming threat of AI use.
Hollow Knight Silksong is yet another crowning industry masterpiece to release this year, and with each backdrop depicting the crumbling yet vibrant world of Pharloom, you see that hard fought 7 year path to absolute perfection. Environments from a decayed dried up ocean world, to the oppressive seedy oily under-workings of an equally religiously slimy city, all feel as though they’ve been lived in by ancestors, and lived in again so many times past that to their current inhabitants.
It’s an oppressive world visually, but it’s difficulty is equally oppressive. Hornet will die time and time again. Run backs can range from frustrating to flat our insidiously unfair. Many enemies are threatening, and many bosses initially feel impossible to overcome. But for those who patiently explore, there are tools, skills, and entirely new play styles that can be uncovered. And for those who persist, those boss patterns and impossible fights turn into thrilling encounters that are far more rewarding and exciting by the end.
There’s plenty to also say on the game’s incredible score, as well as its reflections on apocalyptic religion, motherhood, and faith. Its characters reflect many of these themes. There’s the innocent and unbreakable Sherma, a small bug who eventually discovers the lies of the heads of his religion, but clings to his faith despite the terrors. There’s the flea circus that has players seeking out small fluffy friendly bugs that woof with glee upon being rescued, and rewards them (unlike in the original Hollow Knight) with a sanctuary of joy in the face of extinction with all your little furry friends. There’s Shakra who steadfastly seeks her mentor, only to in the end become the protector and mentor of others.
Hollow Knight’s lore was fascinating, but Silksong finds ways to focus on not just the errors and horrors of the past, but ways to build beyond. And that makes those hard fights worth it in the end. Seeking Act 3 and saving Lace are efforts not to just end the danger, but to fix Pharloom for the friends you’ve saved along the way.
1. Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4 
Putting two parts of a game yet to be fully finished at the top of any GOTY list is probably controversial. Saying Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4 is the best game of 2025 when Silksong and Expedition 33 came out is more likely to be interpreted as lunacy at best, heresy at worst. But my fellow lovers of games, I can’t bet against Toby Fox considering that Deltarune in its current state is shaping up to be one of the greatest games of all time.
Deltarune Chapter 3 starts as a fun jaunt through a game show that blends old school NES Zelda with a number of goofy rhythm and combat based mini games. It’s as charming as Chapter 2, it’s semi-silly villain is a deranged forgotten tv that got thrown out. It’s got bops for days with TV World blasting during a hilarious yet exciting escape sequence that has almost every character you’ve met following your party like a cartoony jailbreak. But Chapter 3 also starts laying some key foundation to just how dark and eerie the next installment is going to be, and the fading or dangerous nature of the Dark World and its inhabitants.
Deltarune Chapter 4 then puts everything we’ve seen into a desperate perspective. Dealing directly with darkness in the shadow of religious histories and prophecies, Kris, Susie, and Ralsei must navigate the haunting halls of a cathedral, and shit hits the fan in every considerable way.
We spend more time in pursuit of the BBEG who summons a titan who seeks to break through to the real world. Susie discovers and vows to stop a prophecy we the player never actually see. Ralsei copes with the fact his friends care for him despite him fully knowing he exists as a shadowy figment of the real world. Oh yeah, and Jackenstein, a boss that blends Pacman and survival horror, is the best boss of the year.
Toby’s soundtrack is somehow one of his best as well, with songs like Dark Sanctuary, Fireplace, Guardian, and all capped off with Neverending Night.
Toby’s artistry is also arguably at its best, as the full ramifications of Kris being under direct control of the player start to come to fullest light. Earlier chapters had already been playing with the main motifs of control and reality, but a specific sequence in Noelle’s house display how Deltarune solidifies these motifs in haunting at best, horrifying at worst ways. That is to say if you felt bad for doing the genocide route in Undertale, taking similar actions here gives the player some of the most heinous choices they could make another being do against their will.
Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4 are steeped in joyous moments and eerie foreboding prophecy for those seeking to do good in its world, and horrific consequences and nightmares for those who seek to push the boundaries and play god. While Toby still needs to land the finish, these episodes have solidified its place for now as one of the greatest indie games ever made.
Honorable Mentions:
Citizen Sleeper 2, Date Everything, Doom The Dark Ages, PEAK
