2025 was a busy year. It was also a year of transitions for me. I finished grad school late last year and secured a new job. With a new role and responsibilities to learn, loan payments I could no longer ignore, and kids’ activities to navigate, I wasn’t sure I would have much time for gaming in 2025. Yet, looking back at my play history for the year, I managed to complete a lot of RPGs. I played a handful of new releases and made a significant dent in my personal RPG backlog.
I may well remember 2025 as the year I fell back in love with JRPGs and handheld consoles. I had to be more creative in getting my gaming in with my new time restraints. As a result, my Steam Deck (which had gathered dust in 2024) became my best friend. I also hung out more with my Nintendo Switch and even fired up my long-forgotten 3DS. Gosh darn it, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed playing on a handheld system and how well JRPGs are suited to on-the-go play.
Here are some of my best RPG experiences and takeaways from 2025…
Best 2025 Game: Dispatch
Not a full-fledged RPG, but I had a great time with this comedic, superhero adventure. I’m an admitted Breaking Bad fanatic, so any project involving Aaron Paul is going to pique my interest. I am not typically drawn to narrative-driven adventure titles and the like, but I am always intrigued by content set in a superhero setting. Dispatch was the perfect blend of comedy, character development, and well… dispatch simulator.
It does go a bit far with some of its sexual content and language, but I appreciated being given the option to turn it off. I played through the game a second time with my teenage daughter, and I didn’t feel that censoring any of the adult content hurt the story. The fact that I finished the entire episodic campaign in under 10 hours was a bonus. It was a perfect handheld game for me. My playthrough’s ending also left the door open for more future content, and I would love to explore Dispatch’s world again.
Best Backlog Game: The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
This is a game I’ve had on my “want-to-play” list for years now. Getting into the Trails universe just felt so daunting. I wasn’t going to compromise and skip the Sky series and go straight into the Cold Steel games either. If I was going to do this, I was going to do it right, by golly.
Enter the aforementioned Steam Deck. Oh, ye holy grail of PC portability, praise be to Gabe! I’m sorry, where was I? Ah, yes, the Steam Deck. The deck gave me the option to play The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky on the go. It took months to complete, playing in short chunks as time allowed, but I finished it. I loved the combat. I loved the cast of characters like Estelle, Scherazard, and Olivier. At the end, I felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that I hadn’t gotten from a JRPG in a long time. It didn’t feel like a slog. It felt like I had just scratched the surface of a much deeper universe.
After the credits rolled, I dove into Trails in the Sky SC immediately and am nearing completion. It is a lofty goal to complete every game in the series (especially with remakes already being released), but for now, it feels worth it to me. I hope by the end of 2026, I have more praise to give the series.
Best Remake/Remastered Game: Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars
I couldn’t decide between this collection and the first Trails game as my top backlog title this year. So I cheated and put it in a separate category.
Suikoden has been on my backlog for much longer than Trails, and it remained one of the most glaring omissions in my RPG play history. For years, I let not being able to easily play the game on modern hardware be my excuse. Well, I guess Konami got tired of my excuses and graced us with this mouthful of a remastered collection. I breezed through the first Suikoden game in less than two weeks, and admittedly, I was unimpressed. The real joy came with Suikoden II.
I no longer have to nod and pretend I know what other gamers are talking about when they discuss the greatness that is Suikoden II. Even as someone experiencing it for the first time in 2025, it still rocks. Luca Blight deserves to be mentioned alongside Kefka Palazzo or Sephiroth when discussing memorable JRPG villains. I honestly regret allowing myself to stay in the dark when it comes to Suikoden II for so long. It really is a great game.
I made the choice to get the game for Nintendo Switch, and Suikoden II became my “play everywhere game.” On the sidelines during kids’ sporting events, lunch breaks at work, in bed, on the exercise bike at the gym. It was all Suikoden, all the time for the better part of a month for me, and I loved every minute of it.
I do want to give honorable mentions to the The Outer Worlds 2 and Deltarune Chapters 3 & 4. I enjoyed my time playing both of them this year. Unfortunately, I can’t speak to a certain game that has swept most GOTY awards, as I didn’t get around to playing it. Perhaps in a future personal list, I can give it kudos.
