It’s been a great year for gamers. Whether you’ve yearned for new franchises, stellar remasters, predictably enjoyable sequels, or some quirky genre-blending indie titles, 2025 scratched many an itch. As for me, I played through precious little of my 2025 backlog, but here’s what I can say with certainty:
My GOTY: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
What can I say that hasn’t been said already? There are many reasons why Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 swept The Game Awards. For me, it’s the music first, the story second, and it being a turn-based RPG in 2025 third.
My High Replay Value Pick: Hades II
I loved Hades. That game got me through the pandemic. When the sequel hit early access in 2024, however, I held off as long as I could because I knew, when I sank my teeth into it, I wanted access to all its content. I’m glad I waited. While Hades II didn’t redefine the Supergiant formula, it made great strides in combat, balance, and pacing the larger story more evenly with individual character affection. I put more hours into this game than into all the others on my list combined. What a great experience!
My Favorite Remake: Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
I think this was a close toss-up against Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake. While the DQ pair was a true remake with tons of new content, I still found myself more impressed and enthralled by Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. Honestly, the voice acting alone did it for me. The restored content was a great bonus as well.
My semi-disappointing, but still worthwhile, sequel of 2025: Pokémon Legends: Z-A
I was shocked by how much I enjoyed Pokémon Legends: Arceus back in 2022. It was a breath of fresh air for a franchise faltering under the weight of its expectations. Obviously, this gave me great hope for its spiritual successor, Pokémon Legends: Z-A. While I don’t think this game lived up to its predecessor, I suspect this had a lot to do with the setting. The intentional choice to limit the entire game to Lumiose City, never allowing players to revisit other parts of the Kalos region, is something I both understand (from the developer’s perspective) and dislike (from the player’s perspective).
In any case, while it wasn’t an amazing game, I think Legends: Z-A was still a fun romp through Lumiose City, and a great opportunity to lean heavily into Mega Evolutions and the legendary Zygarde.
