Runners-Up

Dune: Awakening Dunc: Awakening

Votes: 4
Website | OpenCritic: 81 (79% recommend) | Discuss
Steam
Show 1 Review

#11

Atomfall

Votes: 4
Website | OpenCritic: 75 (64% recommend)
Steam | Other Stores
Show 1 Review

#10

Reviews of Dune: Awakening:

Fysi

The sleeper has awakened

Great sandbox game that falls off hard when you approach the end game, but still got a good 50 or so hours out of it. Also thopters are great fun.

Reviews of Atomfall:

Canuckovitch

Almost everything about it felt jank and half-baked. Enjoyed it once I learned to let go and accept cheesing enemies via chokepoints long enough to get proper weapons. Happy that an indie(ish?) AA effort produced something with memorable character and attracted some success!

Type Help

Votes: 4
Website
Free on Itch.io | Remaster on Steam
Show 4 Reviews

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Troy Baker and the Lauded Impersonation

Votes: 5
Website | OpenCritic: 87 (94% recommend)
Steam | Xbox

Reviews of Type Help:

Self Critical Automaton

Played this with my partner. Loved the metafictional element where new information recasts characters and the situation in your own mind. Very cleverly constructed, pushes the new 'deduction game' genre forward- wait, what do you mean Her Story was published ten years ago? Fine. The' extant' genre.

velleic

This one reached my top pick by being the most "perfectly formed" of the five. Hardly a word is wasted in this investigation. The best reveals, tension, and pacing of the year, and its text-based nature actually makes it more immersive in clever ways. And it makes working out who was where when fun.

Noel

Recommended to me by Marsh, this lovely little Twine-like is an information game par excellence. Solve the unsolvable mysteries of deaths at Galley House, and experience revelation!

IFcoltransG

I'm scrounging here — we all know if I had time to play games this year this would have been Silksong. But the parts of Type Help I played convinced me that it's an intricate mystery that I want to untangle in future.

Avowed Lizardman Murder Simulator 2025 Xaurips Are People, Too!

Votes: 5
Website | OpenCritic: 80 (82% recommend)
Steam | Games Pass | Other Stores
Show 3 Reviews

Donkey Kong Bananza Gosh, Paul Canavan Loves It!

Votes: 6
Website | OpenCritic: 99 (90% recommend)
Nintendo Store

Reviews of Avowed:

Kane

Avowed's exceptional central story—of speaking to and coming to understand a terrifyingly powerful but childlike being, and cautiously trying to steer it towards responsible godhood—wants to be my GOTY, but it sadly shares space with a penultimate act that Obsidian clearly ran out of money to finish.

Tyen

I was awowed, actually.

Cordeos

Cool art, loved the bright world, being a caster was pretty fun!

Baldur's Gate 3

Helldivers 2

Votes: 7
Website | OpenCritic: 83 (91% recommend) | Discuss
Steam
Show 5 Reviews

Reviews of Baldur's Gate 3:

tjhowse

It's like a whole bookcase of interlinked choose-your-own-adventure games, Just ridiculous. So much fun.

Reviews of Helldivers 2:

Tyen

A joy to play in the moment. A real bother of a game to play long term. While it burned bright for the first 2/3rds of the year it continues to iterate in a cycle of making odd choices and not ever sticking the landing. I enjoy it a great deal to play with the C&C team.

Gwathdring

My multiplayer game of the year--displacing past favorites Arma III, Vermintide and Overwatch as my most played this year. Much like its predecessor, it has the best and funniest implementations of friendly fire in anything going and it's a rollicking good space-shooter.

mrwonko

Finding a regular party for this probably contributed a lot to my enjoyment, but it's also just really good shooting. This seems to be superseding Destiny 2 for me.

FiatLuce

A worthy successor to the original! I'm always down for another good co-op game to solo, and this is no exception.

Bollox

Get gibbed with your friends into one big warm limb pile.

Tactical Breach Wizards

Votes: 7
Website | OpenCritic: 86 (100% recommend) | Discuss
Steam
Show 3 Reviews

Monster Hunter Wilds

Votes: 7
Website | OpenCritic: 89 (95% recommend) | Discuss
Steam | Other Stores
Show 3 Reviews

Reviews of Tactical Breach Wizards:

CannedLizard

Tom F is the last person who should be allowed to write like this. In fact, I want to go back in time and make him a script doctor for Rise of Skywalker, because somehow only he can manage the “they fly now” kind of snark and make it warm, hilarious, and genuine.

Bollox

Sequel? Tshirts? Energy Drinks? Thanks!

Canuckovitch

The epitome of information-rich tactical/puzzle design, and wittily written too!

Reviews of Monster Hunter Wilds:

velleic

Oh yeah, I did play this, didn't I? Well it's more Monster Hunter. Wilds has some really cool weapon changes and monsters, and it can look fantastic when it wants to. Wish they'd not keep trying to shoehorn in the story though. The pacing also somehow lead to a lacking multiplayer experience.

Y2Ken

It's easy for doubts to seep in with all the negativity, and the PC performance should be better. But when I'm playing Wilds it's the best base-game MH experience yet. I just really hope they're able to deliver the expansion it needs to truly complete it.

ZeroFA

A pretty solid running of the Monster Hunter franchise. It's significantly easier than World and Rise due to gentler learning curve. It makes a good entry point for anyone wanting to try Monster Hunter. If your computer can handle it.

Hades II

Votes: 14
Website | OpenCritic: 95 (98% recommend) | Discuss
Steam | Epic Store | Nintendo
Show 5 Reviews

Reviews of Hades II:

Another game that is similar to the previous entry in the series, and initially I thought I wouldn't get on with it because of that, but then I blinked and I spent 50 hours with it. It's more hades, but with some nice tweaks, and fun new options. How can I not love it?

Fiyenyaa

Would have been my GOTY if not for KCD2: no-one oozes vibes like Supergiant games, and combined with a superb combat system that makes you feel on top of the world when you start to master it.

InkBusy

Boring pick but it really as sensationally good as promised. Makes playing the original feel oddly quaint (much like MT2). A great culmination of everything that Supergiant is good at. Deserves its enormous fanbase.

Beamto

It's a fantastic example of a sequel. Does everything the base game does and more. Also everyone is super hot. Did I mention that?

ZeroFA

A solid sequel with refined gameplay. It has better gameplay mechanics than the original, but I wished the story was more engaging and thoughtful than the first.

The Best Games of 2025

#10

Satisfactory Adequate Suitable Gratifying Fair Sufficient Acceptable Decent A-OK Perfectly Fine

Game of the Year Votes: 2
Runner-Up Votes: 1
Reviews: 1 | Discuss
Website
OpenCritic: 91
Steam | Epic

Fysi

No idea why it took me so long to get to Satisfactory, but the Urfactory must grow. Power outages and sloshing haunt my nightmares.

Ball x Pit

Game of the Year Votes: 2
Runner-Up Votes: 2
Website
OpenCritic: 94
Steam | Nintendo

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

Game of the Year Votes: 2
Runner-Up Votes: 2
Reviews: 2
Website
OpenCritic: 89
Steam | GOG | Epic

Fiyenyaa

KCD was a game I wasn't hugely expecting to enjoy, having played the first one for a while but not gelling with it properly. It's a triumph of inhabiting a world with a really grounded sense of body and place, but without the uberjank that often comes with games of a similar ilk.

Evan

An RPG about taking baths, saving up for nice clothes, and killing a cow in the middle of the night to cover yourself in blood in order to pass an intimidation check. The mechanics place you in a society, elegantly and intuitively, and are complimented by a beautiful world and a charming cast.

Assassin's Creed Shadows

Game of the Year Votes: 2
Runner-Up Votes: 2
Reviews: 2
Website
OpenCritic: 82
Steam | Ubisoft

Cordeos

A very pretty map to wander around and stab people on.

Lacero

Absolutely gorgeous game. Every time I fire it up I'm met with some incredible moonlit temple, or lakeside vista, filled with dozens of mooks to silently knock off.

1000xResist

Game of the Year Votes: 2
Runner-Up Votes: 2
Reviews: 3
Website
OpenCritic: 90
Steam

CannedLizard

Devastating. The art style is simple enough that you get lulled into thinking you’ve seen all of its tricks, but every episode/chapter brings new surprises. Possibly the game that has left me breathless or made me gasp more than any other.

Punishèd Noyb

This game manages to draw together so many different themes so elegantly it's unbelievable. One of the most affecting experiences I've ever had, although admittedly for pretty personal reasons.

Self Critical Automaton

Not quite enough game in it to be my game of the year. Also, I got to tailor my own ending out of the widest array of possible choices, which felt underwhelming. Being presented with the unavoidable consequences of my actions might not have.

Dispatch

Game of the Year Votes: 2
Runner-Up Votes: 9
Reviews: 3
Website
OpenCritic: 87
Steam | Nintendo | PlayStation

Kane

Dispatch is a triumphant leap forward for Telltale's formula, better than it's ever been, with sharper writing, direction, and animation, and the divisive puzzles jettisoned in favour of a truly fantastic dispatching game. It's funny, charming, and uncynical, and I hope to hell Season 2 comes soon.

Finally the promise of Telltale games has produced an honest-to-god good game that makes 0 compromises in terms of gameplay or writing. I binged this like I would binge a good tv show, and I don't regret it. Made me laugh more than any game this year.

Beamto

Do you want to watch a cool and funny, endearing superhero workplace story that asks you to choose things and play a fun mini-game? Of course you do, silly! Also everyone is super hot. Did I mention that?

Blue Prince (It's A Pun)

Game of the Year Votes: 4
Runner-Up Votes: 14
Reviews: 9
Website
OpenCritic: 90
Steam | Mac App Store | PlayStation | Xbox

InkBusy

As a puzzler, it's formalistically severe, imaginative, accessible, both welcoming and distancing at the same time. As deep as you want it to be, and was such an unbelievably fun experience playing alongside friends (streamed over discord) that it replaced our weekly BG3 session for months.

Morgan, but watch out

As a resident roguelike hater, Blue Prince charmed me to let my guard down, and they tricked me into taking notes and putting up with the room placing mechanics. It's good enough that despite it being the most anti-morgan game in the world, I still absolutely loved and respected it like crazy.

velleic

Spare-time consuming roguelike mystlike has some great puzzles, and surprisingly complex drafting strategy, with seemingly endless metapuzzle layers for the real puzzle sickos. The downside is that an "endless" game really ends when you get frustrated or bored with it.

Y2Ken

An incredible construction that keeps surprising you the deeper it gets. The result is an increasingly intricate web of puzzles that you can pull out of any time it gets too much - but the continual layers of narrative intrigue it unravels means you'll never want to.

tjhowse

My favourite puzzle game since The Witness. Recursively nested mysteries-within-mysteries, soured slightly by a RNG-powered tile-laying macro-game.

Beamto

It's like Blueprints! Get it?! But if you want the rest of the review you need to stay in my ever changing house...

Evan

Like putting the experience of finding something cool in the woods in a bottle with a combination lock on the cap.

Fysi

I've never felt so stupid and smart at the same time.

Avagad

Incredible puzzle game, interesting way of presenting it

ARC Raiders

Game of the Year Votes: 5
Runner-Up Votes: 8
Reviews: 1
Website
OpenCritic: 87
Steam | Epic Store | Other Stores

Fiyenyaa

A wonderfully accessible extraction shooter with plenty of depth still available, only marred by stupid pointless AI usage.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Game of the Year Votes: 8
Runner-Up Votes: 14
Reviews: 6
Website
OpenCritic: 92
Steam | Epic Store | Other Stores

ZeroFA

Easily the best turn based RPG of 2025 with a compelling story filled with hidden motifs, a beautiful and haunting soundtrack inserted into whimsical fantasy world. Tons of accessibility options to cater to your game play preferences and experience.

Evan

I'm so impressed with how the outlandish setting and heightened tone are brought down to earth by the characters. The writing is so earnest and empathetic yet self-aware and funny.

Punishèd Noyb

I love a game that makes a huge narrative swing and this game takes several. Bonus points for actually landing them in the end too.

Fysi

points at all the GOTYs E33 has won

Y2Ken

I don't need to say too much about this because everyone else has done, but yeah, it's really trés bien.

Genuinely loved these characters, and I've had the soundtrack on frequent rotation. Feels like it came out of nowhere, firing on all cylinders.

Hollow Knight: Silksong 🕛🕧🕐🕜🕑🕝 🕒🕞🕓🕟🕔🕠 🕕🕡🕖🕢🕗🕣 🕘🕤🕙🕥🕚🕦

Game of the Year Votes: 17
Runner-Up Votes: 5
Reviews: 9
Website
OpenCritic: 91
Steam | GOG | Humble Store

My only regret over silksong is that I don't get to meme about it never coming out anymore. Joking aside, just an incredible metroidvania, fantastic boss fights, amazing world, awesome new systems, 11/10 no notes. Probably not just my GOTY but in my all-time top 5. PLAY IT

mrwonko

I still haven't gotten to the true ending—it gets very difficult—but it has an amazing sense of discovery and a great protagonist and world. It even got me to do some casual speedrunning, with an official run on speedrun.com. I can't wait to start a new game for the DLC.

Y2Ken

Sublime from top to bottom. Team Cherry took the time they needed and learned the right lessons from their first game to make a sequel that's better in just about every way. Oozes love and care from every orifice.

ZeroFA

Eight years of development led to a refinement of the original Hollow Knight. Its difficulty caters to those who have relentlessly mastered Hollow Knight and wanted more out of it. There's much to explore and discover in the city of Pharloom.

Gameplay, music, art, characters; every aspect essentially perfect. But it is undeniably hard, and I can understand not wanting to put in the work to overcome it. So worth it, though. Also, it's enormous for a metroidvania.

InkBusy

Speaking of deserving its enormous fanbase, I'd almost put this to #1 if not for the brilliance Blue Prince. As someone who thought the first game was good not great, Silksong is legitimately excellent, and somehow features one of the year's best narratives, crazy as that sounds.

Noel

The greatest sequel to one of the greatest games ever made. Shaw! Hadeena! Fren... fuck Groal for real tho

Avagad

What is there to be said other than people wanted more Hollow Knight and Team Cherry went above and beyond.

Beamto

It exists. It actually exists. A fantastic sequel, that tough, but follows on from the difficulty of the original. It's gorgeous and beautiful and full'a bugs.

Honourable Mentions

Strong contenders that just didn't make it into the top 20.
(Click underlined items to see reviews.)

Monster Train 2

Step aside Hades 2, Ball X Pit and others, this was the best roguelite to come out in 2025. I played this more than the original monster train, and I'm hungry for more (when the DLC comes out this year!).

Beamto

I never really enjoyed Monster Train all that well, but this game invaded my brain. It's got good numbers, and good things that change those numbers.

InkBusy

An improvement on the original in every measure. Holds up as the most confident competitor for Slay's throne. Superb endgame, which I think is a persistent problem with RL deckbuilders. Synergies are brilliant to discover. Plays perfectly on the go.

Split Fiction

Odsy Wrenn

In a gamer+non-gamer household, this was the best co-op experience in years. Was also wild how seen we each felt by the characters we chose. Looking forward to replaying as the opposite roles in 2026!

Canuckovitch

Simply some of the best co-op design I've played. Designed from the ground up for it, and mixing it up constantly. Great time playing through it with my kid.

The Roottrees are Dead

velleic

Expansive expansion of an excellent idea - roaming the 90's internet as the Genealogy Genie is absorbing and presents some extremely well-structured information-gathering puzzles. Of all my picks, it's this one which made its story-world feel the most real.

Gwathdring

Probably my second favorite puzzle game of the year, coming out ahead of the Golden Idol series for sprawling deductive mystery puzzles. I haven't had this much fun solving a case since Obra Dinn. It's also bright and funny and fun, as well, instead of grizzly and horrible--refreshing in a mystery.

Abiotic Factor

Punishèd Noyb

I've never gotten along with FromSoft games, but my friend that I played this with says that Abiotic managed to create the same sense of discovery through its complex exploration and intricate lore tidbits. Also it's just a great Half-Life survival game. A little something for everyone.

Battlefield 6

Cyberpunk 2077

mrwonko

As it seemed sufficiently patched, I finally started playing this in August. I'm tired of looter shooters with randomized gun stats, but everything else was pretty much what I wanted from it. I only put it on hold because Silksong released.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

FiatLuce

I really dig it ;) I like the push and pull between mining for stuff and fighting in the open quite a bit.

I Am Your Beast

Self Critical Automaton

breathe in. Run jump kill slide jump slide kill run kill dive slide kill throw jump kill kill slide kill kill kill kill kill breathe out. radio conversation. breathe in.

Mario Kart World

Noel

I am a sucker for Mario Kart and always have been. Although I don't love all of the in-between phases of the races, the game itself really captured me and was a blast to play both alone and with friends. The core track design was stellar as well.

Peak

Morgan, but watch out

The unparalleled best of the Co-Op Online Multiplayer Proximity-Voice-Em-Ups in recent years. Equal parts funny, tense, deep, and a great way to hang. If we're calling it friendslop, I am the friendpig rolling around in the friendsty eating it up from the friendtrough

Skin Deep

tjhowse

A completely lovely stealth ImSim with cute cuboid cats. In space. Blow off a man's entire head and flush it down a toilet. Why not?

Canuckovitch

Heat Signature in 3D would probably be enough. The commitment to the ImSim systems, combined with Blendo's signature sophisticated silliness puts it far up the list! Only real criticism: Could have used a little more variety in mixing up mission / environment conditions as it got a bit repetitive.

Two Point Museum

Warframe

Age of Wonders 4

Jammy

You can be a rat, which intrigues me.

Alan Wake II

Balatro

Odsy Wrenn

As an enjoyer of roguelikes and a victim of incrementals, a run-based number go up game is the perfect solution. I never felt like I was wasting my time in a Balatro run, and with any lucky will never touch a clicker again.

Caves of Qud

Citizen Sleeper

IFcoltransG

Immersive tabletop-inspired story game about a decaying metallic body and the space station friends who help you survive. The game felt calm and had a great soundtrack.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

Yes it is very similar to citizen sleeper 1 but citizen sleeper 1 made me cry and so did this game, and that has to mean something. I think games like these are not just good, they are important.

Dave the Diver

tjhowse

The sushi restaurant and fishing loop is a solid foundation for a series of fun stories. Too bad about the boss fights.

Dominions 6 - Rise of the Pantokrator

ELDEN RING

mrwonko

I still haven't beaten the DLC boss, but Nightreign inspired me to start a new character and put another 100+ hours into this.

Elden Ring Nightreign

mrwonko

The constant time pressure isn't really to my liking, but I still played it for 120h and had a great time. Then I felt I'd rather start a new Elden Ring character.

Europa Universalis V

Lacero

I admit I stopped playing due to deep misgivings about how colonialism is handled and the awful UI. But, the ten hours or so I spent learning the game system was a lovely time, pondering how things worked together and planning a course for my nation to grow. I fully intend to be back in 18 patches

Evan

A big beautiful mess.

Factorio: Space Age

heretic

I've picked up Factorio on and off, but the Space Age expansion is the pinnacle. The new planets really freshen up the gameplay, this will suck you in and you may never come out...

Hollow Knight

Gwathdring

I finally finished Hollow Knight this year, inspired by the release of Silksong. It's quite good, isn't it? The music is lovely, the animations are enchanting, and for me at least it was exactly the right amount of hard. Except the secret bastard you can fight right after the final boss. Fuck that.

Minecraft

IFcoltransG

Microsoft aside, the game continues to hold up.

Cordeos

Still my GOAT, still releasing great new content. Loving all the new wild stuff I've built in the last year.

Mouthwashing

CannedLizard

I’m not usually a horror person in any medium, but I decided to give this a chance. It had me hooked from the very first “I hope this hurts.” And then it did hurt. So many things this game does right, but the one I want to highlight is how well it does the “error” effect between scenes.

Nine Sols

Noita

Path of Exile 2

Ringwraith

A front-row seat of how a videogame gets made through iterating what does and doesn't work. Even with its very in-progress state it gives you enough recommendations to combine skills in effective ways and is a lot harder to make something that is bad. Be a werewolf with pack of wolves? You can!

Promise Mascot Agency

Rematch

Avagad

Multiplayer game of the year

R.E.P.O.

RoadCraft

Strange Antiquities

The Séance of Blake Manor

malkav11

A beautiful, immersive and satisfying privacy invasion simulator, with an extensive creepy mansion and grounds to explore and many occult weirdoes to snoop around and ultimately save from their own crises.

Umamusume: Pretty Derby

Avagad

This game has a very specific loop probability based roguelike gameplay loop that's really fun and I've not seen anywhere else.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

Lacero

The owlcat formula has its problems, and they're always too long by half, but there's enough story depth to really sell what is a very silly setting.

Special Consideration

Wonderful games recommended by just one member of the community.
Titles in bold were that member's Game of the Year!
(Click underlined items to see reviews.)

Aeon Trespass: Odyssey

malkav11

I've voted for this in previous years but it really is the best boardgame I've ever played. An astonishingly deep, thoughtful, well written and endlessly varied game of heroism against horrifying foes, with a tech tree, equipment crafting, secrets, and a story of incredible scope and richness.

BallisticNG

Consume Me

CannedLizard

Imperfect, but that’s the point. Wario Ware as a coming of age story. Min-max your way through your late teens. Full of heart, charm, innovation, and somehow underrated despite winning a big award (probably suffering due to winning it an awkward amount of time before the release date)

Deadlock

Death Stranding

Bollox

Fools my body into making me feel excruciating foot and back pain.

Diablo IV

DROD: The City Beneath

Dr. Khelzor

DROD subscribes to the Zerg rush school of puzzle design which skirts the line between tedious and kafkaesque, but somehow has enough charm to pull it off as a kind of fun prank. Introduces an unkillable queueing type enemy and then drops a hundred of them to get in your way. Respect.

Dune: Imperium

Eternal Strands

Hardspace: Shipbreaker

FiatLuce

What a joy this game gives to tearing old spaceships apart! It really does a good job of teaching you its systems, and doesn't end up too complicated. At the same time, it gives you enough scope for choosing your methodology that you can really feel ownership of your breaking technique.

Jusant

Lingo

Gwathdring

Nothing got stuck in my brain quite like this game. My partner even joined in. Lingo 1 and 2 are about even for me--both are incredible, addictive puzzle games that had me mapping non-euclidean spaces with pen and paper while parsing fiendish wordplay. It's also quite funny.

Metaphor: ReFantazio

Rift of the NecroDancer

Odsy Wrenn

Crypt of the NecroDancer is my all-time #1 game and I was very prepared to bounce off this follow-up because I am not a rhythm game player, despite what 40% of my picks this year may imply. But the demo hooked me last year, and the game proper is even more amazing. Dance pad play also recommended!

RoboCop: Rogue City

Tyen

A true love letter to the movies. It has a real sense of community and humanity between the Ultra Violence you deliver as RoboCop when someone has Violated the Law. Its story bridged the gap between the second and third film in a fulfilling way.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Takuna

An incredible return to form in terms of twisted, interconnected world design, second only to Dark Souls. Stealth and acrobatic traversal are a surprisingly perfect addition for FROM to add to their recipe, and it's clear why the combat system has become so influential.

Shady Knight

Khayri

Incredibly tight movement and combat systems that are overwhelming to learn at first, but once you get the hang of them you'll have a blast.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak

Ringwraith

The Not-France story of a slightly shady fixer with a tone that doesn't shy away from tackling white supremacy on the side turned out great. It absolutely knows how to throw the right emotional punches for its story and how to follow-through. Tricky to recommend starting here being 11 games deep.

Thief: The Black Parade

heretic

Incredible that Thief: The Black Parade is a fan made campaign, it is so highly produced it could be a standalone game, new cutscenes, voice acting, new gameplay features and amazing levels, can't believe I missed to play this earlier!

Tiny Bunny

Absolum

ZeroFA

The story is a bit vague, but the core gameplay is a refined beat-em-up full of personal expression taking the best from past games like Shadow over Mystara and Streets of Rage.

Abyssus

AI: The Somnium Files

Ringwraith

You too for the discount price of £3 can get strangely endeared to the complete goofball detective protagonist whilst also wanting to push him down the stairs. Frequently commits to something so stupid it wraps back around to funny. Oh, and a murder to solve with the AI in your eye going into dreams

Arco

CannedLizard

Feels like the kind of game that’s so good that you want to apologize for the choice of pixel art (and, quite frankly, the writing sometimes). It feels rare to encounter gameplay that feels so fresh and vital.

Arma 3

Tyen

My evergreen and the the game I dedicated last year to working on. The sessions hosted by the Peanut Community Arma group are the highlight of every week.

Astro Bot

Atomic Heart

Axiom Verge

Baby Steps

Evan

A hilarious, infuriating, sad, beautiful game about coming of age and processing trauma. No other game made me feel so much this year.

Ballionaire

Carnival

malkav11

Impeccably crafted lo-fi pixel art cosmic/folk horror adventuring, with an unusual fascist-occupied Venetian setting. Its predecessor Abscission is also excellent but I only have so many votes and this was the better of the two.

Cataclismo

Cat God Ranch

Celeste

Conquest of Elysium 5

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

Deadzone: Rogue

Death Howl

A soulslike (but not roguelike) deckbuilder. Pretty gnarly aesthetic, and it's a touch grindy, but it almost feels like it needs to be to match the protagonist's journey, which is capped in not quite the way I expected. Interesting gameplay; each zone needs a new deck strategy.

Deep Rock Galactic

Cordeos

Still my favorite 4 player coop game. Loved the last season and excited about the next season.

Defenders Quest 2: Mists of Ruin

Tyen

Defenders Quest 1 came out during the indie boom of the 2010s and was a fantastically made and interesting take on tower defense. The sequel took many years to come out due to a number of factors - but happily the same polish and care was put into this one too.

Deltarune: Chapters 3&4

Morgan, but watch out

Toby Fox loves doing this thing where he reminds me that he is better at comedy than I ever will be and I fall for it every fucking time.

Despelote

Devil May Cry 4

Diablo II: Resurrected

Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred

Fysi

THINGS GO BOOM BIG NUMBERS EXPLOSIONS BRRRRRR

The game that hits the ADHD of my brain hard

Digimon Story: Time Stranger

Disco Elysium

Dishonored 2

Dogpile

Dome Keeper

Doom: The Dark Ages

Canuckovitch

Yeah it's probably not as good as the last two. For a series that never needed or wanted Lore, it's now drowning in it. Great job the remixed combat system. Had great fun throughout, and it managed a boss fight against two bosses that was surprisingly enjoyable. Shame about the mech and dragon bits.

Dota 2

Dragon Age: Origins

Dwarf Fortress

Fiyenyaa

This game is a perrenial favourite of mine: depth beyond comprehension means endless replay value.

Elsinore

Gwathdring

Elsinore is a fascinating temporal puzzle, a well written visual novel and a surprisingly rich commentary companion to Hamlet. It treads some familiar ground about the nature of agency in games and stories, but it treads it well and confidently, reminding me of the also excellent Save the Date.

ENA: Dream BBQ

Bollox

Have you played it? It's FREE. On STEAM.

Endless Sky

IFcoltransG

What this game lacks in creative vision, it makes up for in mobile-friendliness.

Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream

Europa Universalis IV

Factorio

Self Critical Automaton

When I heard that the Space Age expansion was going to change a lot of underlying systems in the base game, I locked it to version 1.1.110. I was set on finishing a game with the same awkward pipe flow simulation I'd been wrestling with for over a decade, and I finally launched that damn rocket.

Fallout 3

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time

Fast Fusion

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Forza Horizon 5

Ghost of Tsushima

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

God of War Ragnarök

Grime

FiatLuce

Now here's a souls game I can play. I should really seek out more 2D soulslikes, as they feel much more comprehensible to me. Regardless, this is a beautiful and deeply weird game that I'm sorry I didn't play earlier.

Hades

Bollox

Fuckn snorted this.

Half-Life: Alyx

Heaven's Vault

Hexcells Infinite

Takuna

Supplanted Super Hexagon as my go-to stimming game.

Hitman: Freelancer

Noel

If you have only played the story modes of Hitman 2016, you're missing out - Freelancer is the roguelike mode of mercing randos. The challenges laid out in this mode increased my map knowledge and given me a lot of joy in learning the crazy ins and outs of one of the best imsims ever made.

Isles of Sea and Sky

malkav11

I genuinely never thought I would be this into a Sokoban-style puzzle game, having always cordially hated Sokoban. But the puzzles are clever, the aesthetics strong, and the "Metroidvania" construction lets you continually feel a sense of accomplishment, progression and discovery.

Jump Space

Jurassic World Evolution 3

Keep Driving

Keeper

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Self Critical Automaton

A small handful of egregious anachronisms stuck out, but overall the dedication to historicity was a delight. As a medieval history hobbyist, it was pleasant to see correctly cramped castle staterooms for once. Games that take me 100 hours to finish always leave me hating them a little, though.

Kirby Air Riders

Leaf's Odyssey

Dr. Khelzor

From premier DROD youtuber Alex Diener. DROD inspired, but with the edges sanded off. A good concentration of proper puzzles. +1 for ferret. In place of a story it ends with a graph of how long each level took. I'm not sure I'd call this a bold artistic choice, but it left an impression.

Lies of P: Overture

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Lucky Hunter

Lumines Arise

Mafia: Definitive Edition

Mafia: The Old Country

Magic: The Gathering Arena

Dr. Khelzor

This continues to be my major gaming time-sink. 2025 is the year MtG jumped the shark and became Fortnite, and for reasons beyond me Areana had to settle for bootleg Spider-Man. The swing to that particular roundabout is they added Vintage Cube, the most rewardingly do-your-homework type format.

Marvel Rivals

Morgan, but watch out

Though some of the art direction and character/cosmetic designs grate on me like I'm a piece of parmesan, I have welcomed the feelings 2016 Overwatch brought back into my heart, a feeling I thought I had lost forever. "What if they made a hero shooter that wasn't dogshit" and the mad bastards did it

Marvel's Spider-Man 2

MechWarrior 5: Clans

MechWarrior Online

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Midnight Murder Club

Misericorde Volume Two: White Wool & Snow

Mundaun

malkav11

Incredible hand-drawn art and a lovely mountainside tale of deals with the devil and dark family inheritances, delivered with maximum style and imagination.

Necesse

Jammy

Build a town and enlist your citizens to do dungeons with you.

NieR:Automata

Nioh 2

No, I'm not a Human

Old School RuneScape

Jammy

Sailing is a bad skill because you just do the same things over and over, unlike the rest of the game.

Old Skies

Öoo

Short and sweet; a platform puzzler that has you feeling very clever every 5-10 minutes, and caps out at maybe 2 hours.

Patrick's Parabox

Odsy Wrenn

A gorgeously simple concept that builds intricately on the implications of the basic mechanic. Unfortunately, like Baba Is You before it, it sits incomplete, waiting for my brain to get better at cracking its more complex mysteries.

Persona 5 Royal

heretic

Persona 5 is the first Persona game I play, the art, design and soundtrack are all great - I finally got to live out my Japanese high school fantasy through this game. It is not a short game though so come prepared!

Pikmin 4

Pinfeather

Pokémon GO

Takuna

Once you push past the abusive money-squeezing, it's still a lot of fun, and is responsible for probably 50% of my exercise this year. I also finally started using a third-party app to match with other players to participate in raids, so my goal of catching 'em all has become much more achievable!

Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Cordeos

The Legends series is probably going to be my only pokemon games going forward, they just get rid of so much of what I dislike about the mainline games. Having it all set in a city was also very cool.

PowerWash Simulator 2

Noel

Fwsh fwsh fwsh. Fwsh fwshhhhhhh fwsh.

Project: Gorgon

Project Zomboid

Quasimorph

Racket Pinball

Railway Empire 2

Rain World

Rain World: Downpour

heretic

Rain World is a hard game to get to grips with and the difficulty will likely throw people off, but there is a real gem to be revealed should you stick with it (I fully admit to save scumming or using dev tools to get past harder sections). Nevertheless the art, music and design is out of this world

Red Dead Redemption 2

Morgan, but watch out

Late to this one, but it's a masterclass of prequel writing and some of the best character work I've seen in this AAA type of game. Despite being full of AAA guff I don't respect, there is so much heart here. An "Older brother" game in a sea of "Sad Dad" games, Arthur Morgan I will always love you

Replicat

Reus 2

Reverse: 1999

Ringwraith

The history nerds and artists are still writing really cool magical 20th C fiction. Art so good they're replicating canvas texture and excess paint from brushstrokes. Still lots of people talking in their own langauges. Has a talking squirrel commanding a squad of penguins. Cursed with gacha.

Rise of Industry 2

Kane

A superb business management sim by way of TTD-alikes and factory-builders, RoI 2 has oodles of very deep production chains, a pitch-perfect 80s capitalist style, and a bangin' synth soundtrack, but launched very buggy. With those issues mostly solved, I'm eager to resume my 111 hour campaign save.

Risk of Rain Returns

FiatLuce

An old standby. 2D RoR has been a favorite of mine since I first picked it up, and I just keep coming back to it. Just the right blend of arcane and weird, but achievable.

Runescape

Takuna

It made up almost 100% of my PC gaming playtime this year so I suppose I have to add it. I think the spell is broken for now though. For now.

Shadow Empire

Sifu

heretic

Sifu is hard as nails and I was trying a no-death run, didn't manage but enjoyed getting to grips with the game. Beautiful art and great soundtrack, fighting games not really being my forte I still came to love this game.

Silent Hill f

Slice & Dice

Sniper Elite 5

Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Songs of Syx

Lacero

Thousands upon thousands of individual people in a perhaps overly constrained city builder.

Sons of the Forest

s.p.l.i.t

Spooky Express

Star Birds

Stardew Valley

Fiyenyaa

Not because of me playing this so much as my wonderful partner finding the joy of video games through this game this year after many years of not having played them <3

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Kane

I'm late to this one, but finally bought it after Andor rekindled my interest in Star Wars. A fun Metroidvania, with loads to explore and collect, unambitious but confident writing, a charming cast, and enjoyable combat, Fallen Order's optimistic tone feels more Original Trilogy than any modern SW.

Star Wars Outlaws

Stationeers

Lacero

It has the ideal gas law! It's ridiculous. You can write assembly code in a terrible editor to automate gas filtering. You can over fill a pipe so when the sun comes out the heat expansion shatters it and blows up half your base.

SteamWorld Heist II

Stellaris

Strange Jigsaws

velleic

You won't believe how strange these jigsaws can get. No really, you won't.

Strange Puzzles

SULFUR

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance

Terraria

Jammy

If minecraft is for the creative people, why does this game have so much more furniture

The Alters

The Barnacle Goose Experiment

IFcoltransG

I returned to this idle game for some reason. It's tactile and bodily. Sometimes it feels messy and chaotic. I like finding new recipes, then learning a way to mass produce them.

The Case of the Golden Idol

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley

The Drifter

I haven't got a lot of patience for point-n-clicks (I think Monkey Island's banana-metronome-waterfall puzzle has permanently scarred me), but this one had the hooks in immediately. Extremely Australian.

The First Berserker: Khazan

InkBusy

Best Souls bosses in a non-Souls game. Maybe that doesn't sound like enough for praise, but it's an incredible achievement IMHO. Felt rightfully thrilling to conquer (especially before the early nerfy update), a decent fantasy yarn starring CLIVE, and offers plenty of potential for future entries.

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy

Y2Ken

A game that's far too ambitious for its own good, and yet somehow manages to pull it off for the most part. I'm staggered by how completely different it ends up being depending on your choices, to the point where it's quite literally a dozen-plus unique stories in one that all tie back together.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II

Ringwraith

The eh plot is merely a means to have the characters still be excellent. Contains the romance dynamic of the most doomed thing ever and someone trying to reignite an old one but rebuffed by insecurity. A character's nickname for someone is "Blade Lady" and another one is "Other Blade Lady".

The Rise of the Golden Idol

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4

Total War: Pharaoh

UFO 50

Unbeatable

Odsy Wrenn

This game starts with minimal sound and white input prompts on a black screen. Many others have done the same. No other has made me sob uncontrollably during this intro section. And then again during the opening credits sequence, and again during the ending credits. Wonky movement, beautiful game.

Unpacking

Khayri

Short, super sweet, heartwarming, and a surprisingly aspirational story. If I were 10 years younger and you asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would've said "I want to be like the woman you play as in Unpacking"

Until Then

Va11-Ha11a

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2

Kane

The short shrift Bloodlines 2 got from critics this year was really undeserved. Even if you don't vibe with the combat (I did, though I think it's very build-dependent), the journey of its noir vampire detective and the intertwined conspiracy plot stand tall alongside this year's best games writing.

Vintage Story

Jammy

Imagine is minecraft was balls hard and terrifying.

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Wario Land 3

Dr. Khelzor

Mario is a 1x1 guy that transforms into a 1x2 guy, Wario is a 2x2 guy that transforms into a 2x2 guy having a bad time. This informs the design of their respective games. WL3 has a Foddy-like respect for the players time. What it does respect is the cost of a GB Color game circa 2000.

Wario Land 4

Dr. Khelzor

Got a chance to play this on the Switch 2 Game Boy Andvance virtual console, I'd say "they don't make 'em like this any more" but I haven't played Pizza Tower yet. Unlike Wario Land 3, this is a game which respects your time, like they added some sort of "blast processing" to the GBA.

Wednesdays

Withering Rooms

Xenotilt: Hostile Pinball Action

tjhowse

QUICK BALL LIGHTS SPRITES FLASH BUMPER PADDLE SCORE BONUS PIXELS SEXY ROBOT LADY OCTOPUS LIGHTNING LASER BEAM MULTIBALL SCORE MODE MISSION POP RAMP DOUBLE BONUS UNLOCK.