All the Games I played in 2025 (1-10)

By: Joe Gullo

2025 has come to a close and it was an extremely successful year for games. Titles like Clair Obscur Expedition 33, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Ghost of Yotei all brought considerable excitement to the community while the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 burst onto the scene with a host of signature titles for Nintendo fans.

With 2025 wrapped up I thought it would be a good time for me to go through the games I played last year with some brief thoughts. This will not be a ranking and will include lots of games released prior to this year that I finally got around to playing. I’ll post the list 10 at a time in 3 sections so it isn’t too big. The majority of these games were played on PS5 with a handful on the Nintendo Switch. Enjoy!

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Hades
Hades 2
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Metaphor: Refantazio
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Borderlands 4
Ghost of Yotei
Split Fiction
Black Myth: Wukong
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Marvel Rivals
Diablo 4
Returnal
Risk of Rain 2
Baldur’s Gate 3
Mortal Kombat 1
Astro’s Playroom
Astro Bot
Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel
Devil May Cry 5
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black
Final Fantasy 7 Remake
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (Ongoing)
Jojo’s All Star Battle R
Ravenswatch
Hollow Knight: Silksong (Ongoing)
Spider-Man 2

1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

2025’s Game of the Year nominees were all very well received but Expedition 33 was the clear front-runner and cleaned up the awards. This was well deserved, and the recent addition of Verso’s Drafts gave me an excuse to see again why I was so enamored by this game.

I have always enjoyed Turn-based RPG’s and the combat in this game is some of the best I’ve ever played. It is tight, engaging, and varied, while being supported by some of the best visuals and music in gaming history. The characters are all interesting and fleshed out and the voice actors all did an amazing job (especially Esquie). Expedition 33 also tells a very compelling story that kept me hooked and even had me tearing up a few times.

While I adored the game, I felt like there were some things that could have been done differently. While I understand the decision to remove a mini-map and consistent fast-travel (in the spirit of adventure) I sometimes found myself frustrated by the absence of these options. I also felt like while the Picto/Lumina system was interesting and fun it wasn’t super intuitive, and I could see how it might be difficult for some players. I also would have liked to see a bit more investment into the relationship system and found the absence of a side quest for Sciel to be a bit disappointing.

Despite these minor complaints I still feel like Expedition 33 is one of the greatest games I’ve ever played and has been deservedly lauded for its artistry, story, and excellent gameplay. This is a game I will probably keep coming back to for a long time and I can’t wait to see what Sandfall Interactive comes up with next.

2. Hades

Prior to this year I had played a handful of roguelites and really enjoyed them. Specifically, Balatro, TMNT Splintered Fate, and Slay the Spire, all made me interested in the genre. Lots of other roguelites will show up on this list, but Hades and its sequel stand above the rest as two of the most addictive, slick games available on the market.

Hades differentiates itself from other roguelites by offering a pretty engaging story and a variety of quirky characters on your journey to escape from hell. The relationship system is fun and gives an exciting reason to go back for another run beyond just the combat… but the combat is so freaking good that it still takes a backseat. It is fast, satisfying, and challenging without ever feeling too oppressive and gives the player a lot of freedom with its diversity of weapons, aspects, and boons to choose from. Along with this awesome combat and great relationship system the art style, soundtrack, and enemy designs are all nice to look at.

I don’t really have any complaints about Hades and would strongly recommend it to anybody who likes action games regardless of your experience with the roguelite genre. If you do already like roguelites and haven’t played this one yet for some reason, do it now!

3. Hades 2

Unlike movies, video games often improve with their sequels. Horizon: Forbidden West, Mass Effect 2, and this year‘s Death Stranding 2: on the Beach are all examples of this. However, I would say it’s pretty rare that the first game is unequivocally the best game in its genre. Hades 2 takes everything from the original game and turns it up to 11 resulting in the best roguelite ever and a contender for the best indie game ever made.

While the story of Hades 2 isn’t necessarily an improvement on its predecessor it gives us a new protagonist to follow, and she brings many of her own companions. Just like in the first game interacting with these characters and gaining their keepsakes is a treat. It was also fun after playing the first game to see the progression of past characters and more world-building in the Hades universe.

Just like the original, the combat is addictive and flawless. It adds new features that make it more complicated and interesting with a variety of new god boons to try out and new systems like the Tarot cards, and Companions. The progression in the game is excellent and allows you to feel the growth run to run while still providing ample challenge and a great difficulty curve. The addition of a second path is also much appreciated and makes gameplay more varied than in the first game.

Hades 2 is one of the best sequels in any medium and it is really unlucky it came out in a year with Expedition 33 as it probably would have won game of the year last year (Assuming the Last of Us 2 didn’t get involved). I can’t wait for it to release on PlayStation and hope to God that they make a Hades 3 or anything else with combat this good before too long.

4. Yakuza: Like A Dragon

Yakuza: Like a Dragon and its sequel were two of the most surprising games I played this year. I knew they were acclaimed and I have always enjoyed JRPGs, but I had never played a game in the Yakuza series aside from a bit on the PS2 a long time ago. I was shocked by how much fun I had with this game and how much of a grip it had on me. It packages one of the most satisfying gameplay loops ever with a great melodramatic story, too many minigames to count, and some of the most hilarious scenarios I have encountered in gaming.

The center of the game is its protagonist Ichiban Kasuga who is probably the most compelling protagonist I can remember in games. Kasuga is a bit of a lovable loser with a heart of gold who initially endears himself to us through his good-nature and slapstick humor. Underneath this facade however is a surprisingly thoughtful, badass, and emotionally affective character brought to life through a wonderful performance by Kazuhiro Nakaya. He is joined by an eclectic cast of characters who have fleshed out backstories and constantly develop over the course of the game. These characters make the dramatic and comedic moments consistently entertaining and I never grew tired of watching them interact with each other.

So aside from a nice story and great characters what makes Like a Dragon so great? The game is extremely dense and full of things to do keeping the experience fresh throughout. The combat doesn’t break too much from JRPG conventions and is nothing to write home about, but it is consistently fun and aside from a few difficulty spikes has a nice curve. The main quest is melodramatic and over the top, but it is never too much due to the insertion of whacky moments that break up the drama. These side stories send you all around Yokohama and have you interacting with Yakuza cosplaying as babies, a spunky Crawfish friend, and numerous other memorable characters. One story might have you trying to help a terminally ill child find meaning in life, while the next asks you to help a scientist create a comically huge Roomba as an alternative to street sweepers.

All of this results in Like a Dragon having an incredibly interesting loop with each session feeling unique and full of choice. You can have lots of combat, lots of side stories, or lots of golf if you wish. I was very motivated to explore all of these options and was consistently rewarded for doing so.

In general, I have very few complaints about this game and most of them were addressed in the sequel. The build-crafting and combat are not especially fleshed out and sometimes you can enter a prolonged section where you cannot save. The game also has lots of cutscenes which are entertaining but can be drawn out and especially at the beginning of the game it can feel more like watching a drama than an interactive experience. There are also some crushing difficulty spikes that can appear with little warning but usually I was able to get through these after a few attempts (Looking at you Goro Majima and Taiga Saejima).

All in all, these complaints don’t detract too much from the gaming experience and when the story, characters, and world are so rich and full of life it’s hard to complain too much. For anyone who loves JRPGs, melodrama, comedy in games, or just having fun, this is an easy game to recommend.

5. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

The sequel to Like a Dragon improves on its predecessor with improved combat, better RPG mechanics, and new characters to add to your party and interact with. It also brings in an interesting dual protagonist system in which some of the story has you following Ichiban Kasuga in Hawaii while the other half follows Kazuma Kiryu in Japan. While I preferred the story of the first game, I still found this one to have an undeniable charm that delivered many of the same highs and lows.

I won’t go into the story too much, but this edition follows Kasuga to Hawaii in search of his estranged mother. Initially alone, he is thrust into a world of Hawaiian gangs, corrupt cops, and a mysterious cult. This sets the scene for another fun adventure which has Kasuga navigating these difficulties alongside some new allies who fit right into the party.

Infinite Wealth has all of the same pluses of the first game but also brings in a genuinely compelling combat system that is a cut above most JRPG or regular turn-based combat. It uses the same Job system from before in place of character classes. This system is more streamlined than in the first game and it allows for further customization of characters and playstyles. There are also no notable difficulty spikes or sections which warrant grinding EXP, so the experience is a pretty smooth ride all the way through.

I don’t have any complaints about Infinite Wealth and think that despite its positive critical reception it is still not being viewed as the masterpiece it is. I can’t wait to spend more time in this world and with these characters in the future and I highly recommend these two games to anyone who is looking for a series to get lost in for a while.

6. Metaphor: Refantazio

Many people picked this one for game of the year last year, so I was excited to try it out for myself. I loved Persona 5, and this game was on my list for a long time, but I waited for a sale while I was playing other things. I found that despite similar gameplay it really set itself apart from its Persona pedigree and created a very unique world that I was excited to dive into.

The greatest strengths of Metaphor are its characters, story and the Archetype system which is its version of RPG classes. The world is characterized by intense racial division and a caste system of sorts which doesn’t shy away from abhorrent moments. Seeing the way the characters struggle (or don’t) against this injustice is relatable and gives the fantastical story a grounded nature. The companions in the story endear themselves to us through deeply personal stories that might have you go from helping a friend mourn the loss of his son to helping another with a housing project for homeless refugees. It is very engaging and thought-provoking throughout.

The rich narrative is complemented by a fun combat system based around Archetypes. There are 46 archetypes to choose from, and you can mix and match them very flexibly to function differently in combat. The game doesn’t do anything too removed from typical conventions of the genre but is still fun to play through. Returning from Persona is the bond system which strengthens as you spend time with different characters and is unique and fun to explore.

Sadly, the combat can sometimes get a bit grindy and it is easy to get under-leveled requiring you to backtrack in order to progress. While there is a degree of exploration in the world this is mostly contained in different HUB areas, and the dungeons are not particularly interesting so don’t expect an open-world game with that much exploration. There are also lots of cutscenes which are very well done but can sometimes be a bit drawn out.

Despite these drawbacks Metaphor: Refantazio brings a rich world full of lovable (or despicable) characters and improves on the combat foundation set by Persona. I can see why this game was a contender for Game of the Year last year and I think that for fans of JRPGs there is a lot to like about this one. It is also one of the only games I played this year that has a coherent political message that is necessary to think about and its commentary on tyranny, racism, and collective action is consistently inspiring. Give it a try if you’ve got 60 hours to kill.

7. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Insomniac Games is one of the most successful developers in the gaming world today. Despite a relatively small catalogue of games, they have been consistently able to produce fun, gripping titles with a good blend of action, adventure, and humor. I played Ratchet & Clank (2016) a few years ago and really loved it so when I got my hands on the PS5 the sequel was one of the games I was most looking forward to playing. It delivered all that I wanted and more through its fast-paced action and Pixar-like story, and it may be the best E10+ game available that isn’t made by Nintendo.

Ratchet & Clank is an adventure series which is characterized by lots of whacky guns, fun platforming, and wholesome stories which are great for children (and adults.) This edition brought in a multiversal plot which was a good vessel for the story and brought some fun gameplay twists with dimensional rifts that had me rapidly jumping between worlds as I shot through levels.

The most striking things about this game were the smoothness of the gunplay and the visuals. The game looks bright and charming and the particle effects of guns as well as the designs of the backgrounds stood out particularly well. The gunplay is top notch, and I never got sick of upgrading my weapons and unlocking new perks. The story is not groundbreaking but is fun with some emotional beats and light humor that is nice to see. It really feels like playing through a Pixar game while keeping things original and the characters are all comically earnest in a way that makes rooting for them inevitable.

Overall if you are looking for a fun game which will brighten your day with an uplifting story while still challenging you through its combat and puzzles, I can’t recommend Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart enough. I am really looking forward to the next installment in the series and while there hasn’t been any news on it so far, I am sure Insomniac already has something in the works. I just hope we don’t have to wait for the PlayStation 6 to play it!

8. Borderlands 4

After the lighting in a bottle that was Borderlands 2 and the overwhelming disappointment of Borderlands 3, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Borderlands 4. After playing through it I was very impressed with the game and while I don’t think it is quite as good as the second edition I still feel like it is a pretty excellent looter-shooter that improved greatly on Borderlands 3 and brought in some new tweaks to gameplay that brought meaningful changes.

Just like in past games the sheer amount of shooting and looting on display in this game is absurd. The number of guns and enemies is staggering and while the formula can get a bit stale there is so much variation in the ways that you can fight and solve problems that it never gets boring. This game brought a lot of changes to mobility and the addition of jetpacks, grappling hooks, and vehicles makes combat encounters fast paced-and fluid. At the same time the game opted to transition into an open-world model which feels easy to traverse and get around and I always found myself excited to find new collectibles or guns.

The story of Borderlands 4 is nothing to write home about. However, it did have some surprising twists and fun supporting characters. All of the playable vault hunters are well voice acted and their build-crafting allows them to function very differently depending on where you allocate your skill points. I spent most of as Amon (A Viking-like character with lots of Viking-like weapons) but I also enjoyed the other characters and felt like they all had something to offer to players.

The game has some notable faults, but I did play through the game in August and there have been lots of patches post-launch so hopefully they have been buffed out over time. I had consistent dips in performance after about two hours of playtime which sometimes caused quests to crash, guns to not shoot, or abrupt slowdowns in framerate and function. This is especially frustrating with the handful of missions that have you delivering capsules across the map and are not at all fun to have to replay because the game didn’t work. I also felt like the inventory management was a bit clunky and took lots of time to sift through when I wasn’t just junking everything.

Despite these issues Borderlands 4 is still a really fun experience that is great to play with friends. I am hopeful that with the amount of support that is being given to the game post-launch it may yet be able to eclipse Borderlands 2 as the best game in its genre. Its tempo, gunplay and progression are all rewarding and addicting while its open world is genuinely fun to explore. It more than delivered the hype and is a great game for fans of the genre.

9. Ghost of Yotei

I finished playing Ghost of Yotei in September and ever since I have wished I could play it for the first time again. The “Onryo” part of me has disappeared and so has my blissful time exploring (violently) in the Hokkaido countryside. Similar to its predecessor Ghost of Tsushima, Yotei is a game that pulls you in and doesn’t let you go with its beauty, impeccable gameplay loop, and superb combat. It is an incredible experience of a game that should be regarded as one of the greatest open-world games of all time.

Ghost of Yotei‘s story may be a bit played out with its melodramatic revenge epic emulating countless other stories. However, it still delivers emotional moments and character development for its array of characters. Atsu is a compelling protagonist and her foes, comrades, and people she meets along the way are consistently entertaining and brought to life through great voice acting. Three of the antagonists in particular had surprising character development that made them feel fleshed out with unique motivations. It might not move too far away from the conventions of a Samurai revenge story, but it is certainly interesting enough to keep people engaged for its 50+ hours of content.

The most praised part of Ghost of Yotei has almost certainly been the beauty of its visual design which is mostly showcased through its beautiful backgrounds and fluid, cinema-like combat. Environments are vibrant and full of life, begging to be explored while never feeling too big of repetitive. This feeling is accentuated by a very-natural gameplay loop in which, aided by various animals, humans, and past memories you are able to stumble across multiple activities and progression points without feeling like you are deviating too much from the story. It took me at least 45 hours before I felt like I was going out of my way to backtrack to find things I’d missed. This is largely due to a perfect fast-travel system as well as an excellent feature wherein talking to nearly any NPC will yield information for a new target, fox shrine, or wolf den to help you progress. This is a world that feels lived-in and rewards players for engaging with its countless substories.

Ghost of Yotei is not without faults but I was surprised by how many people called it a formulaic open-world game. It follows some conventions with its quests and has traversal that is very similar to its predecessor and games like Assassins Creed. At the same time, it brings in fresh features with its NPC interactions, multiple weapons to use, and an amazing reconstruction of 17th century Hokkaido. Performance was excellent and aside from one or two funny bugs with jumping and climbing around the map I didn’t have any issues. It helps that the autosaving in this game is so generous that I never had to backtrack more than a few seconds.

While I don’t believe that Ghost of Yotei was the best game of the year (That honor belongs to Expedition 33) it is still one of the best games I’ve ever played. The story is gripping and a joy to watch unfold with intense, fast-paced combat, and one of the most beautiful worlds created in any medium. I can’t wait to try out some of the features which have been added post launch allowing me to dive back into the world and explore even more. This is a game I’d recommend for anybody who enjoys open-world games, Samurai stories, or looking at pretty things.

10. Split Fiction

Hazelight Studios quickly became the king of co-op games with the release of its second project It Takes Two in 2021. The studios debut title A Way Out was a fun prison escape that was great to experience with a friend but It Takes Two took the gaming world by storm and showed that there is still a place for great couch co-op games in the modern world. It’s interesting story, dynamic platforming, and co-op mechanics were all inventive and felt unique from anything else I had ever played before. With Split Fiction Hazelight proved that this was not a fluke and improved even more on the formula. This game is mind-boggling in its creativity and visual dynamism, and I think in the future most of us will be surprised that It Takes Two was the Hazelight project that got the most love from critics.

Split Fiction‘s plot follows two authors, Mio Hudson, and Zoe Foster, who specialize in science fiction, and fantasy respectively. When the AI machine that is supposed to bring their stories to life has some malfunctions, they are thrust into the various stories that they have written over the years and have to fight through them in order to escape. The stories themselves do not exactly have plot ramifications aside from helping the authors appreciate their opposite genres. However, the variety of stories are a vessel for a masterful hodgepodge of video game genres. There are 3rd person shooter levels, pinball-themed levels, isometric action game levels, and numerous others that are inspired by some of the greatest games of all time. This is an everything game that will have players from all types of gaming backgrounds excited to see what comes next.

Similar to It Takes Two, Split Fiction is best thought of as a co-op focused platforming game. The platforming is smooth and tight, and every level requires consistent communication with your teammate in order to help each other progress. The inventive ways in which you cooperate with that teammate are always exciting and consistently had us giggling as we figured out the solution to a problem. All of the levels are fun and unique, but the last section is an unparalleled two hours of gaming. It smashes together so many fun ideas and I was awestruck at the use of space, color, and perspective used in it. Despite the incredible graphical feats of games like Ghost of Yotei, or Expedition 33 this was the most visually pleasing sequence I saw this year.

Overall, Split Fiction is a really fun gaming experience that was consistently challenging and never frustrating for me to work through. I could not get enough of it and can (not so proudly) admit that I played through the entire game in one day. It wasn’t my favorite game of the year, but I can’t think of any others that had me feeling so consistently gleeful and excited to see what was next. I am very excited for the next game from Hazelight and I hope that more studios invest in the idea that co-op can be the driving factor of great games. I will never forget my experience with Split Fiction, and I hope everybody else who wants to gets the chance to try it out themselves.

JoeGames