[[Favorites of 2025]] I dunno why I do these reflections in my GOTY list, given how the structure of this site has changed. There’s probably a better place to put them now, but it almost feels like tradition at this point, so I guess I'll keep it going. Anyways, this was probably the worst year of my life, more or less? It’s hard to quantify, but I can’t think of another year that was as hard on me mentally. I’ve already discussed it elsewhere here, so I won’t litigate it again, but yikes! That being said, I’m lucky to have survived it, which I can attribute to my mom and my friends (and also my therapist, shout outs to her). I hesitate to say “2026 finna be my year” because I’m almost certain I'll end up [[myyear.png|like this]] again. But I’m determined to at least make it *better* than this year. Get some agency back, get real creative, ~~get a little revenge as a treat.~~ But! That’s neither here nor there. Interestingly enough — and much like how life went for me — this year’s games were a mix of low lows and high highs. What I loved from 2025’s releases, I *really* loved. What I didn’t love may as well not have existed. It’s to the point where I’m including a lot of games that didn’t even come out this year, and even still, including some repeats on top of that. That’s kind of a bummer! But it’s also fine. Again like my personal life, not every year can be a series of wall-to-wall bangers. Anyways, that’s enough yapping preamble. Here are my favorite games of 2025. --- ## [[Glory of Hercules IV]]  > [!Quote] A Quote from [[Mint]] in the Locker Room > “That mfer Kazushige Nojima. He boomed me again.” My first game of the year being an [[Super Nintendo|SNES]] game from 1994 is kind of an indicator of where this year went, but I digress. **Glory of Hercules IV**, had it come out in America, would have been a sleeper hit similar to [[Lufia II]]. It’s extremely ambitious for a game of its era, letting you take on the appearance of 100 different bodies that are basically all different classes. Each one has different skills and weapon proficiencies that can be level, and some still have overworld abilities. Turn into a dog, and you can yap with other animals. Take on the form of a woman’s lost son, and you can traumatize her. Cool! The plot is tragic in that signature Nojima sort of way, and I felt hollow finishing it the same way I do after I wrap up a good book. It’s not perfect by any means — it’s still a [[JRPG]] from 1994, mind you — but I loved pretty much every minute I spent with **GoHIV**. ## [[Earthbound]]  I did it everyone, I did it, I played the **Citizen Kane** of JRPGs, you don’t get to be mad at me. After dozens of false starts, I finally ripped through Earthbound at the start of 2025. It deserves all the praise it gets, more or less. Like **GoHIV** I needed an emulator to help me along the way, and I may have cheated a little, but that’s fine. Especially because **Earthbound** is like 80% vibes anyways. It’s unique not only in the way it takes conventional JRPG mechanics and gets weird with them, but also the way it approaches its storytelling — particularly the last battle. I also can’t get over how impressive the epilogue is. I'm glad I can say I finally finished **Earthbound**. It was worth all the false starts. That said, I still think I like [[Mother 3]] just a *tiiiny* bit more. Sorry! :3 ## [[Pokemon Crystal Clear]]  I played [[I Never Stopped Loving Pokemon|a ton of great Pokemon Romhacks]] this year, to the point they’d easily fill have the list if I wasn’t careful. So I had to only pick one, and I went with **Pokemon Crystal Clear**. I don’t know if **Crystal Clear** is even my *favorite* romhack of 2025. That honor might go to [[Pokemon ROWE]], **Pokemon Lazarus**, or even **Heart & Soul**. But it’s definitely the one that got me to recognize the potential of these romhacks compared to the stuff **Game Freak** has been putting out since time immemorial. An open world version of **Pokemon Crystal** is already impressive as is. But add to that 20 different starters, a customizable trainer, and more QoL and side-quests than you could shake a farfetch'd's leek at, and you have something truly special on your hands. I can easily see it being a yearly tradition for me to play this or **ROWE** at this point. Anyways, in summation: ![[My Games of the Year 2025-1766248965111.png]] ## [[REPO]]  I mentioned that I wouldn't have survived 2025 without my friends, and **REPO** is kind of indicative of that. At its core it's extremely simple: get stuff in scary places and put it in a transport, then get it back to your truck before monsters kill you. But even then, it has a bit more depth to it then, say, something like **Lethal Company**. It also has a much more charming aesthetic, which is where the enjoyment with my friends has been. **REPO** is a riot. Getting killed by a racist old man with a shotgun should not be as gut-splitting as it is in this game. Nor should using a rubber hammer to destroy your buddies and becoming King of the Losers. And yet. What’s interesting about this game is that I don’t think we’ve ever gotten past the fourth or fifth level? But it doesn’t really matter. The emergent scenarios are what make it so fun and engaging, leading to some of my fondest moments of 2025. ## [[Clair Obscur - Expedition 33]]  I dunno, do I really gotta say anything for this one? If I had to pick a second-favorite game of the year, it'd probably be **Expedition 33**, even if I'm tired of all the “““discourse””” surrounding it. It's hard having good taste, especially when the reasons I like something are completely separate from what it's being praised for. I like **E33** because it has cool combat and fantastic music and a compelling story. That doesn’t make it the savior of JRPGs, but it does make it a good one. If anything, the biggest issue this game has is how unbearably goddamn French it is. 🤢 ## [[Fantasy Life i - The Girl Who Steals Time]]  [[Level 5]] has been having a rough go of it. **Megaton Musashi W - Wired** was a sign of life, but also an acquired taste for sickos who love **Phantasy Star Online** and **Gundam Breaker**. Thankfully, this year was proof that they still got the sauce. The first game from them on this list, **The Girl Who Steals Time**, is aptly named. Because it stole 100 hours from me in a frighteningly short period of time. As a game, it is the epitome of [[Goopy Goblin Gamer Brain|goop]], creating a perfectly crafted[^1] loop where each mechanic feeds into the next. Mine for ore as a Miner, refine it into a greatsword as a Blacksmith, then use it as a Mercenary. Create furniture to decorate your island, farm for ingredients then cook it as a chef. It’s just a good-ass, video-game-ass-video-game. And it’s getting major content updates that are free. Just thinking about it makes me want to redownload it and do it all over again. If you want some numbers to go up, then get **Fantasy Life i**. ## [[Rune Factory - Guardians of Azuma]]  After the disaster that was **Rune Factory 5**, I approached **Guardians of Azuma** with some trepidation. Would the team at [[Marvelous]] make the same mistakes again? I was relieved that the answer to that question was a resounding no. **Azuma** doesn’t play like a traditional, numbered **Rune Factory**. Farming can barely have a part to play in your day-to-day activities, thanks to a system where the villages you oversee automate the task for you. This turns it into a management sim more than a farming one. But that hands-off approach is balanced by the game’s simple, satisfying combat and relationship building. That’s the game's biggest focus, with you usually going between events with a cool cast of characters and dungeon crawling for materials, upgrades and skill points. It's kind of funny the game came out so close to **Fantasy Life i**, given their similarities. But that makes the cast of **RF:GoA** shine even further. There are tons of characters you can befriend and romance, all of whom are at least somewhat interesting. And the game has a cool system where, rather than rolling a new file for a new romance, you can canonically split the timeline and go marry them in another one instead. I’m surprised nothing like that has been done before in this time of game, it’s pretty cool. Also you can be gay! 10/10. ## [[Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo]]  We need more **Zelda**-likes, especially now that [[Nintendo]] seems hell-bent on not doing anything with the genre they effectively invented. Enter Pipistrello, a bat with a yo-yo and a dream to take that twink’s ~~green hat~~ crown. And frankly, he succeeds with aplomb. **The Cursed Yoyo** feels like an unearthed [[Game Boy Advance]] title that’s been dusted off and polished to a fine sheen. Its use of puzzles is as strong as any 2D **Zelda** you’ve played, striking the perfect balance of getting you to scratch your head for a bit before getting that sweet “a-ha!” moment when things click. Its urban setting is super unique as well. Exploring the city for rewards and upgrades never got boring, and it has a plethora of accessibility options to make the game as tough or easy as you’d like. Probably the most overlooked game of 2025. ## [[Absolum]]  Let Guard Crush Games cook. As I said in the linked post: > A beat-em-up crossed with a roguelike is the kind of thing that makes so much sense when you hear about it that you’re shocked it hasn’t existed up to this point. So true, thanks me. I could yap about the game’s pitch-perfect mechanical feel for hours, and already have, so I’ll add a bit more: I think the best part of **Absolum** is that it *ends*. I got 16 addictive hours out of the game, got the true ending, and happily shelved it. I’m glad the game has been successful, and it seems like more content is coming that I’ll certainly check out. But too many roguelikes just feel like they require hundreds of hours to feel like you’ve “completed” them. I’m happy **Absolum** bucks that trend. A satisfying game, start-to-finish. ## [[Ghost of Yotei]]  Yeah I’m as shocked to find this game on my list as you are, if you know anything about how I feel towards **Ghost of Tsushima**. I didn’t *hate* this game’s predecessor, but I found its praise vastly overblown. **Ghost of Yotei** basically fixes every issue I had with it, though. A less eye-roll inducing story is a great start, but **Yotei** couples it with more engaging exploration and less repetitive side-content. It’s all together a much more polished experience. But when I write it all out like that, this actually becomes far less surprising. Sucker Punch has kind of made that their whole thing. **Sly Cooper 2** is **Sly Cooper** but better, and **Infamous 2** is just **Infamous** but better. The ending left me a little deflated, but that doesn’t take away from the dozens of enjoyable hours I spent vibing out in **Yotei**. If you only allowed yourself one needlessly large open world game in 2025 — and you should, there are too many of these things — you could do far worse. ## [[Ball x Pit]]  Half [[Vampire Survivors]], half idle game, **Ball x Pit** is perfect for people like me. Specifically, people who, sometimes, are way too tired after a long day of work and want to just colors and lights flash in front of them while feeling they’ve made some progress. I wouldn’t say this game has much in the way of mechanical depth compared to others in its genre, but damn if it isn’t satisfying in an almost **Balatro** sort of way. Once you figure out the good ball evolutions and start stacking them together, it’s hard not to feel a good blast of serotonin as things explode on screen. I also appreciate how different each character played, from one that could stack damage when balls bounce against his shield, to one that made balls fly down from the top of the screen. And much like **Absolum**, **Ball x Pit** just ends after a certain point. I’m not kidding, that’s always gonna get bonus points in my book. Nominated for my chillest game of 2025. ## [[Mega Man Star Force|The Mega Man Star Force Trilogy]]  I finished this trilogy after replaying [[Mega Man Battle Network 3]] and **6** this summer, which is why they announced a collection right after I did so. I accept thanks in the donation box to the left of me. Jokes aside, I always stayed away from **Star Force** as a kid because people seemed pretty sour on it. It would only be much later that I’d learn to stop listening to people about video games. **Star Force** slaps. It’s just as good as **Batle Network**, and frankly, its third game might be my favorite from *both* series. I love the endearing, cheesy-yet-relatable story and the dynamic between Geo and Omega. The combat is less strategic than **Battle Network**’s, but it’s still fun, focusing on twitch-based action combined with deck usage. I’m excited for the collection, and will buy it just to show my support. I hope people give **Star Force** a second chance in 2026, because there’s a lot to love. ## [[Wild Arms 2]]  If I had to choose between a polished game that does nothing interesting, and an extremely flawed game that shoots for the moon, I'd pick the latter every single time. No game has this been more true for me this year than **Wild Arms 2**. It’s kind of a mess, thanks in no small part to its dodgy English translation. It doesn’t do much to shake up the **JRPG** as a genre from a mechanical perspective either. But what it does do is meditate on the concept of heroism in a way that’s extremely impressive for a game from 1999. Is it a put-on performance, one’s lineage, or the sacrifices you make? Does being a hero mean nothing without the support of others? Maybe it’s just the person you look up to most. Maybe a hero can’t exist at all without something to fight against. It’s a heavy game with heavy themes, and if it had a better translation I think it’d be looked at with the same fondness as **Final Fantasy VII** and the rest of the [[PlayStation]] classics. If you don’t mind a flawed experience, I say give it a chance. There’s a lot to love. ## [[Inazuma Eleven - Victory Road]]  If **Fantasy Life i** was the appetizer, then **Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road** is a damn four-course meal. My cousins have kept me abreast of this game’s existence for so long that they’ve both started and finished college before its release. I promised them I would get it when it finally came out, and so I did. I figured I’d enjoy it at least a bit. I did not expect it to likely be my favorite game of 2025, even beating out **Expedition 33**. **Victory Road** is a game that is dripping with passion, which is easy to see when you find out how much content is stuffed inside of it. The idea of a **JRPG**-styled football game might make you raise an eyebrow at first, but that's exactly what this game is, and it’s fantastic at what it does. The story is that typical sports anime good-good, and building your teams to do ridiculous shots that spawn dragons and shoot the ball into the goal net like a meteor from the heavens never gets old. It’s not a perfect game by any means, especially because it’s a little too easy than I’d like. But it’s easy to overlook that slight issue after saving the world from aliens by feeling the spirit of sokkah flow through me. Best $70 I spent this year, easy. ## [[Donkey Kong Bananza]]  We don’t really get 3D platformers of this AAA scale anymore, so regardless of my beef with **Nintendo**, **Bananza** gets on the list. It doesn’t have the movement depth of something like **Galaxy** or **Odyssey**, but that’s made up for with its satisfying mechanics and charming story. Breaking shit never got old, and Nintendo managed to find lots of ways to keep it interesting as I progressed. Pauline is a treat and the finale is fantastic. It’s not the best game I played this year, but I stand by **Bananza** being *a* perfect game, in the sense that it does everything it needs to perfectly, while recognizing what makes games so fun and amazing as a medium. ## [[Ninja Gaiden 4]]  [[Platinum Games]] ain’t dead yet. After a string of Ls, they finally came back swinging with **Ninja Gaiden 4**. They understood the assignment perfectly, capturing what makes **Ninja Gaiden** great while still making it a bit more accessible and modernizing it for new folk. I’m happy enough with my Hero playthrough, but I can’t wait to see what **Ninja Gaiden** Sickos come up with as they master the intricacies of this game. This is the shot in the arm **Platinum** needed, and I hope they keep it going with whatever they work on next. ## **Lost Soul Aside**  This game is *terrible*. Truly awful. But it’s on this list because watching Al lose his life force playing it made me extremely happy. So 7/7 game actually. --- ## Honorable Mentions - **Final Fantasy Tactics — The Ivalice Chronicles** - **Wander Stars** - **Cladun 3** - **Borderlands 4** - **Hades II** --- ## Biggest Disappointments ### Monster Hunter Wilds I like **Monster Hunter** because I get to have fun with my friends. It is impossible for me to play **Wilds** with my friends because its optimization is so dogshit. And now the most recent “optimization” update has also made it crash instantly on boot despite me having a state-of-the-art 2025 rig. This game makes me so mad now I can’t stand it any more. ### Mario Kart World I didn’t know it was possible to make a bad **Mario Kart** game. Shout out Nintendo for proving me wrong. I got this game for free and I still want my money back. ### Dispatch It would take me actual years to explain how bad this game is, so I won’t. I will simply try my best to not judge every person I come across that says the writing is good. ### Berserk B.I.T.S Not a good idle game and not a **Battle Network** game. Why do you even exist, man. ## Games that would probably be on the list if I finished them by time of writing - [[Angeline Era]] - [[Skate Story]] - **Promise Mascot Agency** - **Kingdoms of the Dump** - **Aeruta** --- And that’s that. 3,213 words about video games. Very normal to do this, I think. If you managed to get through this, thanks for reading, check out my other [[Favorites of 2025]], and may 2026 be kinder to all of us. Mint out. [^1]: heh