This year, I joined RPGFan. It’s been a dream come true. Wild that the me of years ago, who casually read this site and loved its features and reviews immensely, would someday contribute to it in a meaningful way. With that said, it’s now my distinct pleasure to present a very objective list of the 5 best games of this year, according to me:
Tom’s Top 5 of ’25
5. Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo (Developed by Pocket Trap)
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is the world’s first “yoyovania,” and boy, what a genre debut it is! It’s a top-down platformer set in a sprawling Metroidvanian metropolis, where everywhere you explore and everything you interact with in its world is done with a yoyo. Combat, puzzle-solving, and traversal: all of it is centred around using your yoyo to gain the edge on your foes in fun and inventive ways, with some truly excellent level design and exceptional puzzle design, all wrapped up in a gorgeous artstyle that perfectly emulates the aesthetics of the Nintendo Game Boy Advance.
4. Blue Prince (Developed by Dogubomb)
Blue Prince is a puzzle game that resulted from eight years of work by developer Dogubomb, led by Tonda Ros, and it shows. Immaculately designed and structured, with layers upon layers of secrets and strategies within the walls of the Mount Holly Estate. It’s absolutely one of those games that you can put 100+ hours into and not even see half of what the game has to offer you. Truly one of the all-time great puzzle games, and a perfect desert island game.
3. Split Fiction (Developed by Hazelight Studios)
Josef Fares and his immensely talented team at Hazelight Studios have done it yet again with Split Fiction, a masterpiece of co-op game design, and a new benchmark for couch co-op/splitscreen gaming experiences. Split Fiction truly takes It Takes Two’s mission statement of “every level, a new mechanic” and goes the distance with it, introducing entire new worlds and stories within each of its levels, thanks to its story-hopping premise. I’m so grateful that Hazelight has made it their mission to really bring back couch co-op games.
2. Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved (Developed by Armonica)
Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved beautifully recaptures the specific feeling I had playing the Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk DS games in my teens under the covers during cold winter nights, and being so engrossed in their mystery narratives, of trying not to fall asleep so I could stay up and see what happened next. Seriously, my award for Best Art Direction in a game this year unequivocally goes to Detective Instinct for perfectly emulating that DS mystery game look and feel. That’s to say nothing of the rest of the game too, which narratively, thematically, and musically lives up to the pantheon of its inspirations, and then some
1. Promise Mascot Agency (Developed by Kaizen Game Works)
To paraphrase my own review: Promise Mascot Agency is that weird Japanese PS2 game you picked up on a whim in 2004 because it had an interesting cover and the description on the back caught your eye, and it turned out to be one of your favorite games of all time. It’s an utterly gonzo, relentlessly charming, and wonderfully irreverent driving-management-sim-visual-novel with an excellent story, writing, characters, and music, and is far and away the best game I played this year. Of course, much of that is also thanks to To-Fu, a timid, sentient block of tofu with a bite taken out of him, who is an absolute sweetie and by far the best character of the year.
Honorable Mentions
Poco (Developed by Whalefall)
Poco is a truly delightful li’l point-and-click adventure game where you play as a tiny clown exploring a tiny clown world, trying to build up the confidence to be able to impress the Clowncil and be accepted into the towering circus in the sky. If that all sounds silly and whimsical, that’s very much what Poco is. It’s fun, funny, cheeky, and ever-so-sweet, with the titular lead clown being a certified cutie and one of my favourite characters of the year. Best of all? IT’S FREE!
to a T (Developed by uvula)
to a T is a very silly, very cute, and very funny ode to disabled kids from superstar game developer Keita Takahashi, creator of Katamari Damacy. It’s a slice-of-life comedy game with an episodic Saturday morning cartoon feel about a teen (who you can customize and name) stuck in a T-pose, going about their daily life with the help of their adorable dog and loving mother. Takahashi has said that this game didn’t sell very well, so please, if you have enjoyed the Katamari games even a little bit, I highly recommend picking this up as it’s very much cut from the same wacky cloth, with an equally fun soundtrack to listen to.
Wanderstop (Developed by Ivy Road)
Ever been burnt out? Do you like cozy games? Do you hate cozy games? If you answered yes to even one of these questions, then Wanderstop is for you. It uses the principles and framework of a cozy game to tell a compelling, genuinely sweet and funny story about an arena fighter who’s unsure of what she wants to do and who she wants to be, and how the answer to those quandries may lie in brewing tea in the middle of the forest. Frankly, even if that premise isn’t for you, Wanderstop is still well worth your attention. It’s a unique game that uses familiar gameplay elements to say something meaningful in a way that’s genuinely impressive.
Skin Deep (Developed by Blendo Games)
What if an immersive sim first-person shooter set in space took place entirely in a world that runs on Looney Tunes logic? That’s the elevator pitch for Skin Deep, a game where you rescue talking cats from space pirates you can defeat by throwing whatever you can get your hands on, jettisoning them into space, and making them slip on banana peels. I can assure you, it’s every bit as ridiculous and glorious as that sounds.
Despelote (Developed by Julián Cordero)
I don’t like football. However, that’s certainly not a prerequisite to enjoying Despelote, a narrative adventure game that takes place in a snapshot of time: Ecuador during the 2002 World Cup. Through the eyes of eight-year-old, football-obsessed Julián, you see how much the sport means to his family, his friends, his country, and himself, rendered in a stunning sepia-toned dot matrix art style with simple pencil sketch caricatures of the townspeople. Like I said, you don’t need to be a football fan to enjoy this game, as it does an excellent job of showing you just why people love “the beautiful game” so deeply.
