Critter Kitchen - I played this at my regular Ladies+ Table Meet-Up and I think we played it at least 3 times this year. Each time, all at different player counts, and each time it was a blast!
FlipToons - I played this a LOT on BGA before I played at the table. I was worried it might be a bit too fiddly in person, but once everyone knows the flow of the game, it moves quickly. A bit of strategy, a bit of luck - which apparently is my favorite place to play. (and I have the mini-expansion but have not played with it yet!)
The Hobbit: There & Back Again - I've posted about this game SO MUCH since I bought it in October - it is in my top plays of the year! I won't type more here, just go read all the other posts/love letters I have written to this game.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowshp of the Ring: The Trick-Taking Game - So TECHNICALLY this came out in 2024, but it was December 2024 so I barely got to play it until 2025. In fact, it might have been a Happy New Year present to myself LOL. I love the IP and I love co-op...I'm awful at trick-taking though. But I have enjoyed every game I have played of this, which is good because you have to replay a lot if you want to win a chapter. But the games are quick, the artwork gorgeous and if you love the characters and movies, you can amuse yourself easily by quoting things over and over.
Moon Colony Bloodbath - I played this at PAX East and immediately wanted to buy this game. It feels like you're playing a Fallout Shelter/Vault.
Essentially you spend a round or two trying to build an engine with some minor inconveniences...and then those become major problems, showing up each round as the deck of cards is reshuffled, with malfunctioning robots and colony emergencies getting shuffled right back in. Last Colony Standing wins (though apparently you can also win if everyone makes it to the end of the year but...yeah that's not going to happen).
It starts out so idyllic as you set up your colony on the moon, growing food, building places for your colonists to live...and then one of the robots breaks down...and takes a few colonists with it. But not worries, a new batch has arrived and...oh...oh dear, we should have calibrated those doors better...look, if we destroy this building we can just rehome the 3 colonists that survived...
Vantage - There are a lot of big feelings about this game in the board game community. Is it a great game? Is it the best game? Is it really a board game? **shrug** I may not know art, but I know what I like.
I have played with friends and solo and I find it to be a fun time IF you're willing to lean into the storytelling aspect - roleplaying your lost survivors narrating their adventure to the rest of the crew or (if you're like me) talking to yourself in character as you stumble around the alien world. I think this is why many of the rave reviews I have read come from families with older children who find it easier to engage with that part of the game, the narrative, than worrying about if they are playing "correctly". The co-op nature of sharing the dice and supporting each other on the adventure, even if (in the story of the game) you're just talking via comms.