2025 was an excellent year for new RPGs, adventure games, and borderline RPGs, but by coincidence, most of the new games I played this year were remakes, sequels, or spinoffs of my past Game of the Year winners. Let’s talk about it:
Missed Connections:
Avowed, Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Dispatch, Ghost of Yotei, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, et al.
I’m excited to play all of the above outstanding RPGs, adventure games, and action games… eventually. There are always too many games and never enough time.
I Should’ve Played This Years Ago – Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
This year, I finally hacked through both the Endwalker and Dawntrail expansions to Final Fantasy XIV, investing a few hundred hours into Eorzea after a five-year personal hiatus. Dawntrail is pretty good; Endwalker might be the best Final Fantasy game of the last twenty-five years. I wish I paid more attention when Endwalker won RPGFan’s RPG of the Year in 2021.
A Promising Prequel to My Favorite 2023 Game That’s Too Long for Me to Finish Before Writing This Article – Octopath Traveler 0
Octopath Traveler 0 rises above its origin as a console adaptation of a mobile game and is, by all accounts, excellent. I adore Octopath Traveler II, but was reluctant to play a gacha RPG, so OT0 seems like a perfect fit. Why didn’t I get to it? Octopath Traveler 0 released on December 4th, and reportedly takes eighty-plus hours to finish. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Maybe in 2026.
Now then, here are my (ranked) feelings on seven 2025 RPGs:
7. A Charming Remake of a Game From the Year I Was Born – Dragon Quest I HD-2D Remake
The Dragon Quest remake is pretty and quite playable, which I can’t necessarily say of the original. But since the original is nearly 40 years old, I’ll give it grace. Best of all, this remake made me excited to replay Dragon Quest II, a scenario I thought impossible.
6. An Uneven Successor to My Favorite 2022 Game – Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Pokémon Legends: Arceus dropped players into a vast wilderness and made the act of throwing a Pokéball more fun than it’s ever been; Legends Z-A takes another approach by packing a single city full of Pokémon. LZA has great characters, intense battles, and serviceable Pokémon catching, but loses something along the way. How much you love LZA depends on what part of the Pokémon experience you value most.
5. A Good Remaster of a Remaster – Tales of Graces f
Tales of Graces began life on the Wii; then received the f port for PS3; and in 2025, the f version got a remaster. But no matter what level of Matroyshka doll you use to experience Tales of Graces, it’s a colorful, competent action RPG with combat that’s particularly brisk and fun. I’m glad it’s free from its PS3-shaped prison.
4. An Amusing Spinoff of My Favorite 2024 Game – Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Yakuza fans haven’t had a full game co-starring fan-favorite Goro Majima in a decade, but Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is here to rectify that. This pirate adventure repurposes the entire Honolulu map from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, adds several islands and seascapes, and delivers a drama loaded with buried treasure, pirate ship battles, and friends old and new. LADPYIH isn’t a full-sail Like a Dragon sequel, but it’s a fun time.
3. The 2025 Edition of My Favorite 2021 Game – Monster Hunter: Wilds
When MonHun is good, they’re some of the best videogames you can play. The diversity and beauty of the movesets, monsters, and environments, coupled with action-packed cooperative multiplayer, made Monster Hunter(s) World and Rise two of my favorite games of the last decade. Wilds… isn’t as good as either of those, but it was enough to get me pumped about hunting again, because even “just OK” Monster Hunter is better than most other videogames. (Nothing but respect for Seikrets, Ajarakan, and Rey Dau, though.)
2. A Faithful Remake of My Favorite 1997 Game – Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
I’ve been a Final Fantasy Tactics obsessive for my entire adult life, and I finally have a version to recommend to others without caveats. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles has few mechanical differences from the original but runs smoothly (which I can’t say about older versions), brings a handful of accessibility improvements, and sports an expanded script and voiced dialog that enhance the experience. I can hardly ask for more out of a remake of one of my all-time favorites.
1. A Superb Sequel to My Favorite 2020 Game – Hades II
When I consider the new games I’ve played over the last year, Hades II is the one I want to revisit the most. It makes the original Hades feel less unique, and the story doesn’t end how I would’ve preferred, but those are my only complaints. I love the new characters, weapons, boons, dialogue, boss fights, and stages so much that I’m tempted to dive back in almost daily. Hades II is my favorite new game of the year, even if it’s awfully similar to my favorite game of five years ago. So mote it be.
