Top 6 games (I first played) of 2025
As I continue to wrap up the year just gone, it's time to focus the attention to the games I played in 2025. As per usual, because I'm not actually a super-active gamer when it comes to experiencing everything brand new, the amount of 2025 games I played "fresh" wasn't exactly staggering - therefore, as per last year, the list below features my six favourite games that were brand new experiences to me this year, even if they weren't strictly speaking released in 2025. And top 6 instead of top 5? Well that's just a habit that's stuck with my gaming lists so I'll continue with it for the fun of it.
But here they are, the six games I had the best time with in 2025.
6. Outcast: A New Beginning (2024)
I wrote a fairly long post about the long-in-coming sequel to the 1999 cult classic Outcast (one of the greatest games of all time, per yours truly) earlier this year when I finally played it, and my opinion hasn’t really changed since. You could just go and read through that post! But summa summarum, while the game does lack in certain areas in its attempt to bring out a more modern open world experience while at the same time trying to appease both newcomers and veterans, it was simply good to be back in Adelpha again. I don’t play many open world games but clearly the way to go about winning my heart is to just plonk it into a familiar context, and I enjoyed spending time in this world once more. The core mechanics are rock solid, especially the movement which is actually a pure joy and truly the unexpected highlight of the game, as the jetpack allows for a wide variety of tricks to make simple traversal from one end to the other fun.
A New Beginning won’t become the kind of experience I’d look to replay every couple of years like the original game, but it is a heck of a lot better than something that was stuck in development limbo for literal decades (with plenty of cancellations in-between) has the right to be.
5. Avowed (2025)
Another game which I have already put some thoughts down on earlier this year, but as the year has passed and the game has largely left the memory of everyone else (not even the briefest considerations among the GOTY candidates anywhere), I've been reflecting on it a little more with time. I'm still not entirely certain about Obsidian's current obsession with trying to make their equivalent of a modern Bethesda-esque RPG experience (I guess they just want a breadwinner of their own? Which, fair enough), but as far as these lightweight hack-and-stat experiences go, Avowed did ultimately leave a little mark on me. A huge part of it is owed to the world itself: I'm really fascinated by the realm of Eora that the Pillars of Eternity games (and Avowed) take place in thanks to how it deals with the metaphysical and divine aspects of the mandatory fantasy lore, and Avowed adds a couple of interesting thought experiments to further deepen that aspect. As per Obsidian, that filters right down to the game experience in itself. The writing is excellent and particularly towards the end presents itself with some excellent questions with no genuine answers that the player has to weigh on their own merit; at surface level it's the usual 'big choices matter' ad speak you come to expect from RPGs, but as usual with Obsidian the options genuinely do make you think.
The gameplay itself is comfortably safe action romping with a limited set of customisation (though I understand the subsequent patches have tweaked the skill trees slightly to allow for some more branching options) done pleasantly well, but the writing adds that extra level that makes me care about traveling from area to area and to see if there's another interesting little side story or plot point round the corner. Whilst I wish we had a proper Pillars of Eternity game instead of this, Avowed does do a good job in integrating Obsidian's ambitions into something a little less investment-mandating and it was a lovely little escape early this year that kept me in its grasp even when a (now fixed) bug almost destroyed my progression.
(still waiting for the mod that turns everyone into wolves, called Awoowed. Modders, you're welcome for the idea)
4. Blue Prince (2025)
Blue Prince isn't without its flaws that ultimately, for most, end up starting to irritate different people at different speeds as you dig into the game further, but what an excellent idea it is and certainly the first 15-20 hours spent with it were easily among the most delightful gaming experiences this year. The idea of a rogue-lite endless run-a-thon mixed with a puzzle game that teases and expects you to pay attention to potential meta-level problem solving is a wonderfully bright lightbulb that happened to lit up in someone's head, and playing the game is consistently rewarding. Unless the RNG really hates you there's almost always something you encounter that will benefit you in later runs or encourage you to experiment with new possibilities to see if they do in fact take you somewhere - and when those experiments bear fruit and the new opportunities reveal themselves, it's fantastic. I didn't have it in me to go quite all-in on Blue Prince's ultimate hyper-level puzzles and to reach the final ending, but for a good month it felt like the most refreshing and the most unique addition into the very well-crowded roguelite market in ages, and that feeling of discovery propels it to be one of the year's key games for me.
3. Split Fiction (2025)
I don't think we - my partner and I - will ever replay Split Fiction but the week it entertained us will live with us for a long time. Split Fiction is a little more linear than Hazelight's previous co-op delight It Takes Two (and I do wish there was a little more to do in its levels than just follow the plot path), but it makes up for it with its sheer thrills. After an admittedly slow start with cliché characters (a Hazelight tradition, by the looks of it - though they get better once they get their initial crankiness resolved), Split Fiction grows into a rollercoaster of action where incredible visuals meet engaging and fun high-speed action, constantly switching its approach and never staying still for so long that things would get ordinary. The grand finale is one of the best moments in gaming in all of 2025: an utterly insane feat of technical, visual and design prowess that left us stunned as we played through it glued to our seats (if you know you're never going to play it, the last 25 minutes are here.
As with It Takes Two, whilst Split Fiction can be played solo it really grows into its own when you play it with someone else - and if possible, I would especially recommend it as a shared couch experience. Very few co-op games feel like true shared experiences in a manner that Hazelight has made their M.O., and Split Fiction is an exciting example of the possibilities of games designed for two players from the very beginning.
2. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2020)
There was a time during this year when it was clear to me that Yakuza: Like a Dragon was going to be my favourite gaming experience of the year even though it was released a whole half a decade ago, but then things took an unexpected turn. And by that, I mean an enforced grinding section that came out of nowhere (after so much of the game had so wonderfully avoided that worst of JRPG traits) and without warning towards the end of a mini-dungeon. It completely killed my enthusiasm to continue and everything I hear about the length of that grind from other people is doing nothing but making me less interested to continue.
And that's immensely frustrating because until then, Like a Dragon was an incredible experience. It's my first entry to the world of the Yakuza games after observing them from a distance with increasing curiosity, and it took little time for me to understand why people love these games as I started playing. The magical realism of the setting, the unbelievable madness that everyone treats with a po-faced duh, that's just everyday Japan attitude, and the sheer fun that the world, the characters and the gameplay come together to emphasise time and time again... it's all just so wonderful. The game's key asset is its giant heart and soul that beats the life into it, making you fall in love with these eccentric characters and genuinely caring about their success, whether it's their personal issues, the ever-growing threat of the political corruption sweeping Japan that acts as the fantasy darkness descending over the kingdom, or how well your confectionery company is going to do in the next quarterly shareholder meeting (the business management side game could easily be a game unto itself and I love it).
Maybe one day my journey with Ichiban and his friends will continue, once I get over my mental block of dealing with the grind wall. I look forward to that day. Like a Dragon was a real piece of bright sunshine in a dark year.
1. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (2025)
It wasn't meant to be like this. I didn't intend for 2025's key Sonic game to be my number one game of the year - just because it's got a hedgehog on it doesn't mean a game is guaranteed to be my GotY pick, even if this is now the second year in a row it's happened.
But, if we are being honest, if there's one game that has been the defining timesink of this year for me, it's this one - and I have other people to thank for it. CrossWorlds is a fantastic game in itself, it's a true sequel to the Sega & Sonic Racing Transformed i.e. the greatest racer ever, and one that quite frankly threatens to steal its throne very comfortably (jury's still a little out on it). It's a phenomenally polished experience full of love, dedication and celebration to what makes not just a great racing game, but a great Sonic racing game in how it picks up influences and ideas from all over the series' history to present a plethora of exciting courses, brilliant music and fantastic fan-delighting character interactions in form of its genuinely really fun rival system (and how a single moment of rival chatter sparked a whole new alternative fanon for Silver that's spread like wildfire). It is, without a doubt, a fantastic game - even if not fault-free in its balancing.
But what makes it the game of the year 2025 is the people I played it with. I took steps in 2025 to integrate myself back into the active Sonic communities and particularly the UK fans - engaging in forums, traveling to a convention and joining group chats. It soon became a regular affair for a good few months to get a game group going every weekend, hanging out virtually and chatting about things as we raced and raced and raced across countless other people across the web doing the same thing with their friend groups. Personal memes were born, silly interactions I now chuckle at in retrospect were had, moments of triumph and failure were shared. It's been a real joy to simply log on with friends and acquaintances to do few races in CrossWorlds and then suddenly discover the last 3-4 hours have vanished. It has been good for the soul.
And throughout those hours upon hours of repeating the same tracks over and over again, CrossWorlds has remained as fresh as it ever has been. It still fills me with excitement and pure fun every single time I start it, with or without other people in tow.