I don't have time to make gifs for them all, but here's every game I finished for the first time in 2025!
To make up for the lack of gifs I will very briefly rate them all, from worst (ish) to best (ish). I'm only counting games I played for a meaningful amount of time.
Under the cut since I think there's like 20+? Anyway will try to keep them brief but that probably won't pan out.
Disclaimer 1: I wrote all these after 10pm over the course of like 3 days, so expect very little in the way of coherence. I also don't feel like editing it, so expect a lot of repetition and typos.
Disclaimer 2: My rating system is weird; any game I was able to finish, or that I consider to function as a video game, I give a minimum score of around a 5.0. Less than 5.0 is only for games I consider to be functionally flawed, like Pokemon Scarlet/Violet.
Disclaimer 3: Please don't take any of this too seriously, and please understand how hyperbole works. If I complain about a game winning several awards for a single mechanic, I don't literally mean that's why I think it won all the awards.
Digimon Survive (6.4/10)
I have more rights than anyone in the world to complain about this game; I have played the story from start to finish 6 times on 2 platforms for over 200 hours because I wanted to have every modern Digimon game's Platinum trophy.
The core of the game was excellent and could have been my favorite game of all time, but every aspect of the execution was totally botched, except the UI design and art direction which were generally really pretty.
The combat was barebones, boring, and uninspired, which is a major miss since most tactical RPG's suffer from needing to have characters that all abide by the same set of rules. The story was meaningless, with only a few real highlights over the entire thing. There was a lot of potential, but none of it was realized in the end.
Soul Hackers 2 (6.8)
Again, if this was your first game, especially your first Atlus game, you would think this was the best game ever, but unfortunately, I have again played Personas 2 - 5, in particular 5.
Soul Hackers 2 uses almost the EXACT same battle system, and the only story that this team seems to want to tell; the usual beats of mankind being indolent and secretly wishing for their own demise, or whatever. It's explored fairly competently, but has no thoughts on this concept that has not been offered by the same development team several times over the course of 20+ years.
With that said, the game being about adults is a nice twist; the characters are generally the best part of the game, and I wish I could see them in a more interesting story.
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow (7.8)
This is the first game on the list that isn't trying to pretend it has a super deep story to tell; ironic since what story is there, is pretty engaging, if simple.
I played the whole Dominus Trilogy in like 3 or 4 weeks, so my experience with these blurs together a little, but they were all very fun, competent, and generally well designed 2D action platformers. I liked this one the least simply because gameplay wise it felt like it was the least innovative, but of course, no need to fix what isn't broken.
Also, I never played the first game, so not sure if that matters.
Granblue Fantasy (7.9)
A ten year old gacha game, and it shows. The UI and presentation is archaic, with the worst UX I've ever seen in a game. The fact that it's web based means it is constantly loading, and the lack of auto features mean that you're expected to spend hours on this game every day.
And there's simply not enough to keep that interest going; battles are incredibly tedious, currency is a slog to obtain (except for during festivals and events, where they are SUPER easy to get), and there's so many characters and such dense story that starting this game now would be like trying to understand the history of the world with your starting point as the creation of NFTs.
Maybe if you kept up with this game for the whole decade, it would be more manageable, but it's simply too shallow for me. I rate it pretty high because, in fairness, the game knows this, and tries its best to be accessible to new players, and it is to a point, but it doesn't last.
Legend of Dragoon (7.9, Tentative)
At time of writing I'm still playing this game, and I'm having a good time with it more or less. It's basically just classic Final Fantasy 7, but worse. But since FF7 is such an incredible game, that still makes it pretty good.
The main (only?) difference is that it has the QTE JRPG combat that Clair Obscur won 9 awards for, albeit a much worse version. I only highlight this to demonstrate that, contrary to a lot of reviews that I've seen, this kind of input in turn based games is not an improvement by default. Obviously Expedition 33 had a much more refined version with parries and all that, but turning a JRPG into Guitar Hero is not an objective improvement. Speaking of which...
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (8.0, Tentative)
I literally just started this game; the narrative is very good so far, but the combat has major red flags. Putting aside public perception as I spoke about above, the fact that the entire game hinges on your skill at Guitar Hero really rubs me the wrong way.
In a turn based RPG, if you fail a boss, you level up, change tactics, or change builds. None of this matters in this game; essentially everything comes down to timing dodges or parries. Do them right and you take no damage, mistime them (or time them properly, but still fail them somehow), and you get OHKO'd with basically no in between outside of boss fights. Simply making it more like Sea of Stars would have fixed this game, because again, the narrative is extremely high quality even in the first 3 hours. The 8.0 score is almost entirely for the story and narrative design so far.
Also, everyone's heads are WAY too big. Why.
Indika (8.0)
This game is indescribable. It's a very simple game; you could think of it as a 3D visual novel with a 3D world you move around and solve puzzles in. It has a very thought provoking story, and is also utterly insane. I love it a lot, but would have liked if it took more time to explore its own story.
Castlevania Portrait of Ruin (8.2)
I really enjoyed the dual protagonists, it shook up the formula in a good way. I'm gonna be honest I don't remember enough of this game to fully explain my rating; I think that, while I said that story doesn't matter as much for these games, the fact that this particular story felt a bit inconsequential might be part of why.
I also remember getting totally lost/stumped/frustrated a lot, I think? Possibly having to do with how random the true ending felt to obtain. Not sure but overall, had fun with it.
Castlevania Order of Ecclesia (8.3)
This one is technically a replay, but it's been like 10 years so I'm including it.
My first Castlevania game, so there's some bias there, but I think the presentation, story, and general flow of the game were at its peak for the series here (I replayed it this year). The 2 endings are very logically executed as well, and I like Shanoa's design a lot.
I think I once again just didn't quite fully vibe with the story even if it's the most properly executed Castlevania story I've played so far, but not a huge deal really.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger (8.4)
One of the more recent games on the list, I generally enjoyed the game overall. It definitely shows that it was in development for like 8+ years, but not as much as you might think. The experience is polished, the visuals are pretty good, and it definitely understands why people would play a Digimon game for the most part.
In particular, this is the ONLY monster game I've played where you can truly use any monster you want, without making the entire base game extremely easy as a result. Like, in any Pokemon game made after 2013, you can use literally whoever you want in your party; the games from then on are made for small infants to beat easily. In this game, you can use whoever you want, but you have to train weaker Digimon more, which is the essence of this genre of game. They should have made the Digimon more unique, but I understand their approach.
The story is atrocious, in ways that are hard to concisely explain. The setup is nice and promises a lot, but the payoff feels like it was intended to appeal to extremely young children with attention issues. Nothing matters after the halfway mark, and while there are some clever plot elements, they aren't very logically woven into the broader story.
Jak II (8.4)
Not nostalgia; I played this for the first time this year. Very complicated relationship with this game; the gameplay is of course a little dated, but not that dated. The story is very good, and the foreshadowing in the story is among the best I've ever seen in fiction, at all.
Which is a shame because the game is simply INCREDIBLY annoying. I kept pointing out that this game was basically a Soulslike, in the worst of ways. Checkpoints were basically nonexistent, and so dying meant redoing super lengthy segments of the game, but while preserving how much of your power gauge you used. Drove me absolutely insane, and I can kind of appreciate the intent of this design for an older game, but I still hated it.
Gravity Rush (8.6)
We're officially in the territory of "games I loved"; Gravity Rush has one of the most fun, unique, and well executed gameplay premises ever. Never before and probably never again will I play a game where you can navigate to literally any 3D point in space.
It's held back by a botched narrative ending, and overly simplistic combat, but it's still an absolute blast and sets up its sequel well.
Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist (8.6)
I played and loved Ender Lilies last year, primarily for the aesthetic, and the sequel lives up to it. You may find it odd given I've spoken about Soulslikes with a lot of venom until now, and yet we have one this high in the list; I think these games kind of make the formula work by not being as ridiculous with how much repetition you have to do upon death, and you not really losing any progress in terms of collection.
I think they may have received feedback about Ender Lilies being too tough, and so they made this game a bit easier; to me, they very slightly went too far in the other direction, but it only really is noticeable very late game. I appreciate every other change they've made, particularly in expanding the narrative, and hope there's another sequel soon.
Jak 3 (8.8)
Jak 3 fixes all of Jak 2's issues, and I appreciate that a lot. They went a bit too far in the other direction again, but not so much that it's a real problem. I do think that maybe they were banking on a Jak 4 and realized late in development they wouldn't get one or something though, as the story is a bit rushed and lacking the quality of the previous game, but it didn't make me want to crush bricks with my fists so I'll take it.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (9.0)
This was probably the best 2D Metroidvania I've ever played; not sure how much of that is because of the setting, but that aside; the levels are fun, the story is actually really engaging for its simplicity, and most of all, the controls are super tight, with lots of room for fun interactions in combat.
The fact that the player character uses dual swords aids in this, as in addition to the controls feeling tight and the actions being varied, they all just look super awesome and fancy. It's almost like a 2D fighting game, but with Metroidvania level design. Great stuff, losing points only because a couple sections were more annoying than they should've been.
Blue Prince (9.0)
The most interesting game on the list. I didn't actually play most of this game; I left it to my best friend, because it is not at all my kind of game. And yet, despite that, I can easily recognize the quality of it.
I'm not super into puzzles, but this game has layers and layers of puzzles, such that any time you think "wait, is this supposed to be..." you're probably onto something. There's secrets upon secrets that are all expertly hidden, and the roguelite elements, while perhaps a bit dependent on luck, form a solid core, supporting a "just one more run" mentality that makes the game very addicting.
I only give this game a 9/10 because it's not for me (and again, there's a bit too much luck and repetition for me). If you like puzzles and have a lot of free time, it's probably a 10/10 for you.
Ghost of Yotei (9.1)
Ghost of Tsushima is one of my favorite games of all time, simply for its excellent combat mechanics that are somehow both incredibly simple and extremely well executed. The stealth mechanics left a lot to be desired, but it's not really a big deal, although it does kind of mess with the narrative a little.
I say this only because Ghost of Yotei is largely the same game, but with some enhancements. And that is exactly what I wanted from the game; more weapon variety, more quest variety, a more personal story, it all works very well.
The two issues with this game are a) the game things you're an idiot, and b) they needlessly tampered with the parry timings.
The game refuses to let you do things on your own, with constant directions to quest points, forcing you to discover things rather than letting you happen across them yourself, etc. Puzzles are also incredibly basic, which is extra annoying when they're supposed to be the unsolvable machinations of a brilliant mastermind.
The parry timing adjustment seems to be a deliberate choice to make the game harder, which I wouldn't mind on its own, but they didn't update the indicators to account for this. The result is that when a parry indicator plays, you have to either immediately press the button, or wait up to 2 full seconds before pressing the button, with very little room for error. The parry indicator actively makes it harder to parry; I could parry much better without it.
I'm not great at these games, to be fair, but I had to reduce the difficulty for all but one of the bosses. Still fun, though.
As Dusk Falls (9.2)
An extremely powerful interactive style visual novel kind of game. The art style is gorgeous, and it's basically like flipping through a comic book, but with interactive elements where you can choose paths and determine, more or less, how certain story paths unfold.
I loved this game because it's one of the few games that advertises choices mattering, that actually has your choices matter, be the outcomes big or small. There's different endings and the story plays out fairly logically regardless of your choices for the most part.
I think that the game could have still committed a bit more, but my main issues are the fact that it is clearly unfinished. Like, the story advertises itself as being a story told across 30 years, but only 20 years pass in the game. It also ends on a massive cliffhanger, so I'm pretty sure there was more, but I guess we'll never know.
*****TOP 5*****:
The Quintessential Quintuplets - Five Memories Spent With You (9.4)
Indulge me on this.
It's basically just a romance visual novel that lets players change the ending of the base series to their will. I promise it's not super weird, but it does of course require you to know the universe.
Once you do, it's a very good visual novel that's short and sweet with a fun story that knows its characters very well; I had to play through this game 12 times and it never really got old. Each route is totally unique past a certain point, so one could argue it's several short visual novels in one.
I only take away from the score because I would have liked to see a bit "more" in general, both in terms of length and depth, and because the "true ending" route is just simply bad. That aside though, there is basically no real change I would make to this game, hence the score.
It Takes Two (9.5)
I didn't play co op games growing up as much as I wanted to, but It Takes Two nonetheless brings me back. It's a really fun co op game, and has so many different level mechanics that it literally never gets old. It's also a good runtime for such a simple game, so I was pretty satisfied by the whole experience and definitely recommend it, however, you do need at least one friend, which while obviously intentional, I do have to subtract a bit from as I dislike games that you can't enjoy alone.
Gravity Rush 2 (9.6)
The top 3 games are officially in the territory of "I wish I could mind wipe myself and play this game over and over".
Gravity Rush 2 is just phenomenal fun, with a unique and deep story, interesting presentation, but more importantly, stupendously fun gameplay. Like I said in the first iteration, literally no game has gameplay like this, and they have fixed almost everything from the original. Combat is much more in depth, the story finishes, gameplay is more varied, etc.
The issues I have with this game are incredibly minor, boiling down to like "a few side missions were annoying", and that's basically it. I would kill for a Gravity Rush 3, but unlike a lot of games, it also has a really solid ending, so it is what it is.
Unicorn Overlord (9.7)
In the same way that Blue Prince was a dream for puzzle lovers, Unicorn Overlord is a dream for tactical RPG lovers (who also like JRPGS/anime), and this time, I am very much the target audience.
Unicorn Overlord is probably not for you, but it was probably the most influential game I played this year, distilling almost everything I love about this kind of game. The tactical gameplay is incredibly refined, with careful unit building and crafting group compositions being the core of the game. There's a dizzying amount of possibilities in this regard and it feels super rewarding to play.
There's also a lot of side content that is simple and effective, with support conversations between characters, overworld exploration, lots of lore, etc. This game is truly just "what if Fire Emblem was good".
Some people criticize the story, and while it's not super deep or anything, it makes really solid use of a simple premise, and is a very good example of how a simple story doesn't mean a bad story. My only real issue with the game is how stupid a lot of the female character designs can be, but that's really about it.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (9.8)
When Atlus actually tries, apparently, they succeed. Or maybe, as this and the last game shows, it's just Vanillaware specifically?
Anyway this game is almost perfect. The story is incredibly rich and deep, and chiefly, is told in a super interesting and challenging way. It's essentially a mystery visual novel, told in a very immersive and interactive fashion.
Everyone hated the combat sections, and I did indeed subtract a couple points because they could be more fleshed out, but honestly, I thought they were extremely fun and just wished there was more of it.
Anyway, that's it! This was a phenomenal year for games, honestly I'm kinda worried because I don't think anything I'm interested in is coming out in 2026? I guess I'll know by the end of February or so for sure, but I'm still catching up on a lot that I missed so I don't mind.
