2025 sure was a year, wasn’t it? Fortunately, there were a bunch of video games, and nobody is ever mad about video games. I always say people who play games are a beacon of sane and rational discussion and nothing illustrated this more than the Switch 2 pricing being revealed, getting a bunch of “This is IT! Gamers won’t put up with these high prices anymore! NINTENDO IS DOOMED!” articles and buzz, and then…the Switch 2 sold over 10 million units as of September. Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 won a bunch of awards, was an indie darling, and then… had its awards revoked because it used GenAI, though that had been known since launch. Console sales and video game sales are massively down year-over-year (making the Switch 2 that much more impressive), and I could talk about why, but ehhh, everyone knows politics have nothing to do with video games, so who knows? We have all learned nothing…but, fortunately, you have my objectively correct opinions on 2025’s video games to reflect on. Here are 10 things I played in 2025.
10. My “Game We All Played in December and January And Promptly Forgot About” Award: Marvel Rivals
Ever since Blizzard screwed up Overwatch, I’ve been looking for a new Overwatch because I need funny memes to spam and decent team vs. team combat. Marvel Rivals seemed like a promising contender to take the pre-Blizzard-screwing-it-up crown from Overwatch, and I played a lot of it in December and January, but consistent issues with matchmaking and team composition and, frankly, not caring about Marvel that much meant I washed out after December and January and never thought about it again. A 1-year look at Steamcharts agrees with me. But for a month or two, it was a lot of fun, one of those games you play at release and maybe remember every now and then.
9. My “I Am Counting This As 2025 Since It Came Out In December 2024” Award: Path of Exile 2
Path of Exile is one of the great Action RPGs, and Path of Exile 2 is pretty good and adds a ton of classes, polish, and experience. It’s a great-looking game, a lot of fun, and Grinding Gear has a history of actually supporting their games rather than pulling the plug after a few months…but, of course, like every other game that has come out recently, they added dodge-rolling. I just don’t care about dodge rolling. I am not Fred Durst; rolling, rolling, rolling isn’t that fun to me. Otherwise, it’s an exceptional ARPG experience.
8. My Annual “This Was Like A Bad Drug Experience” Award: Moroi
I gave it a 3 out of 5, which feels fair, and it felt like a drug-induced hallucination. To be clear, this isn’t the fun kind of drug and hallucination where you discover inner peace and have a chat with God. This is the weird Eastern European kind of drug where your arm rots and falls off after you take it. It’s got exploration and puzzles and more (sigh) dodge rolling ARPG combat, but the real reason to play is the bonkers vibes, which I described as “How much do you like wandering around exploring, say, talking to skeletons and solving cryptic puzzles while unsettling ambient music plays, like Brian Eno is having a bad trip.” I admire a good commitment to the aesthetic, and Moroi has that in spades.
7. My “Worth Maybe 10-20 Hours of Your Time” Award: Dune: Awakening
As has been the case for almost 20 years, Funcom is very good at making a game that lasts 10-20 hours before it trails off into a sad, squeaky fart. Dune: Awakening is really cool when you’re just getting into the world, exploring the alt-Dune storyline, and setting up your base…but you eventually run out of stuff to do that’s interesting and the barebones loop of “keep grinding materials to build stuff and pay taxes (everyone loves paying taxes in games!) to keep your base going” is like slamming into a wall, along with their flailing around to figure out how to implement Player vs. Player. On the other hand, the various factions all have radio stations with cool music and content, and vibing around Arrakis, dodging sandworms with my tunes blaring, was a fantastic time… for about 10-20 hours.
6. My “It Had No Right To Be This Good” Award: Monster Train 2
The whole Monster Train…thing shouldn’t work, like you have this train and there are a bunch of levels and monsters march across, but…it does. Monster Train 2 took that formula and added a ton of stuff. It’s magnificent and turned me into a ranting maniac. And I love anything that turns me into a ranting maniac.
5. My “Most Interesting Game or Art Project or Whatever This Is” Award: Blippo+
Is it a game? Is it an art project? Is it a fever dream I had doped up on Nyquil while I was sick in the 90s? Whatever it is, Blippo+ is one hell of a weird experience, providing the classic vibe of channel surfing 90s cable…but on another planet. As someone who enjoys narrative experiences, it was fascinating, and I enjoyed the slowly unrolling storytelling displayed in the weird cable shows. There’s also an incredible commitment to the bit in casting, makeup, outfits, look, and feel, which I admire.
4. My “Most Not-What-I-Expected” Award: Umamusume: Pretty Derby
Unlike many, I am not a big anime person, and I am not a furry, so “anime horse girl game” was not on my radar. But I am a degenerate that appreciates classic forms of gambling, so “horse racing” did get my attention, and I do love a good management game. More than anything, peer pressure gets to me. Despite my D.A.R.E pledge, I am eventually going to take the drugs, because drugs are cool and fun, much like the anime horse girl horse racing game, which has an excellent loop of training your anime horse girls for the mean and cruel world of horse racing. None of it is especially deep (this isn’t Out of the Park Baseball or Football Manager). Still, it is satisfyingly grindy, and the characterization and writing are frequently hilarious. It’s quick enough to play, you can get through a run, then frown and complain, and send a sweet, innocent anime horse girl that loves you to the glue factory for inadequate states.
3. My Most Anticipated Award: Soulframe
Last time I played Warframe, I appreciated it, but I didn’t get that far into it (more on that in a minute). I respect the talent, and I happened to be looking for something new to waste away my precious hours in my limited lifetime. Soulframe promised the Digital Extremes formula of bonkers story, incomprehensible interface, and “I have no idea what is going on, but this is amazing,” but in a more medieval fantasy-style package, which sounded fascinating. Also, nobody does combat better. Soulframe is exactly that, a vaguely Celtic-flavored fantasy world that, for the first time, actually felt like I was exploring a completely alien, magical fantasy world and figuring out what the hell is going on. I still have no idea what is going on. The official, formal release is still “Coming Soon,” so it’s still very early, but…it makes no damn sense. Compels me, though. It also got me back into Warframe.
2. The “I Unexpectedly Got Back Into This Because of Soulframe And I Forgot How Much It Rules” Award: Warframe
I’d last played Warframe a couple of years ago, when I put 24 hours into it and, apparently, didn’t even finish the tutorial quest arc because I was screwing around doing other stuff. My dip into Soulframe made me go “Yeah, actually, Warframe was pretty cool, I should check that out again.” While I was getting reacquainted, I bumbled into a quest…something about this chick that had created a timeloop prison she was trapped in, there was a kid and a figurine she had to assemble, she had to fight her way out, at one point I possessed a dragon or something…and I think it was all a metaphor for emotional trauma. It was one of the most engrossing things I have ever played in a video game, an amazing story, and I still have no idea what was going on. If you ever wanted to bounce around like a maniac, shoot a million guns, keep discovering a billion game modes and systems, and have that feeling of “I have no idea what is happening, but this is amazing, Warframe is undefeated.
1. My GOTY: Master of Command
Master of Command is the game I have been looking for all my life, a wargame that brings roguelike randomness to muskets and bayonets. I can spin up a campaign and frown intensely at my dudes over and over again as we march around Europe…and it’s never the same campaign. Amazing. The post-launch support keeps making tweaks, adding units, and making genuine improvements, too, like the Holy Roman Empire that came out not too long ago. If they come out with an American Civil War version of some kind, I may never leave my desk again.
