Hello everyone. Hope you have all had a good week, and if you've been celebrating the holidays, have had a chance to unwind and enjoy. Its the last Sunday of the year so let's use this thread to talk about what games we played in 2025, our favorites, least favorites pleasant surprises etc.
Games I played that released this year:
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Elden Ring: Nightreign: This is probably my GOTY, but I didn't play too many games that released in 2025. Anyway, I think a lot of people were rightfully skeptical about Elden Ring Fortnite edition but it's an incredibly fun co-op game. I haven't tried the Deep of Night Mode or the DLC, but thats something I am thinking of picking up when I return home from my holiday vacation
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The Outer Worlds 2: the gameplay is markedly better than the first game, once again proving any movement system in any video game just needs a double jump. A lot of people complained about the lack of skill points you get from leveling up, but I thought it wasnt that big of an issue. One aspect I think they knocked it out the park was with the in game radio stations, they were absolutely fantastic and once i turned them on i never once turned them off. The one area I think it comes up way short of the first game is the companion characters: they simply do not match the energy of the ones from the first game. I look forward to the promised expansions.
-Becoming Saint: i picked this up because I saw Northernlion play it and I thought it looked interesting, but unfortunately there was little meat on its bones. The game bills itself as a rouge-like but there is very little variation between playthroughs. Also the devs suffered a huge aura loss in my eyes when I checked the steam reviews and they were replying to every single review. I liked the art style though. 5.5/10
Stronghold Crusader Definative Edition: 97 Year Old Game Studio Still Makes Crossbowmen The Old Fashioned Way. Stronghold crusder is one of my favorite childhood games (it taught me how the economy works). I actually didn't even know they were releasing a remaster of it until I saw that you could buy it bundled with Becoming Saint. Its the good kind of remaster: fixes longstanding bugs and actually ads some content to the game. I have worked my way through the co-op trail with my brother the past few months and we are eagerly awaiting fresh missions to be added to it.
Games I played this year that releases prior to 2025:
-Balatro: crack cocaine
-Dark Souls 1 and 3: i replayed 1 for the hell of it but I did a SL1 playthrough of 3. Very challenging, very rewarding
-Fallout 4: I began 2025 with a brutal, soul crushing period of unemployment and job hunting. To keep my spirits as low as possible, I did a playthrough of FO4 on survival difficulty. Extremely brutal in the early game, I ending up immediately siding with the Brotherhood so I could get access to vertibird transport early. Became the perfect mixture of fun and challenge once I got good armor and put in enough perks so I didn't die in 1 bullet
LA Noire: my comfort game tbh, shame they had to burn through hundreds of University graduates to make it
Rome Total War: still whips
Mass Effect 1 and 2: Playing Outer Worlds 2 made me want to play more space games, so I fired up the legendary edition for my second playthrough of the trilogy. My first playthrough I did male paragon shepherd, so this time I'm doing female renegade shepherd. They really tried to make the paragon/renegade dichotomy akin to good cop/loose cannon but full renegade means you swing between asshole and psychopath. The conversation you have with Anderson and Udina at the end of ME1 after letting the council die floored me with the renegade dialogue options; you and Udina basically become Darth Vader and Palpatine. Anyway, I will start ME3 when I get back from vacation
Hope everyone has had at least a tolerable 2025, and here's to maybe a better year in 2026!
This year has been another year where I've played less games/spent less time playing.
Games I played for the first time this year
Megabonk- My most played game in 2025. A bit like Vampire Survivors, but in 3D. Less content/maps, but still got super addicted for a while. Still have characters, challenges, and difficulties to unlock, but just play occasionally now.
Clair Obscur- Good game and I liked it well enough. Not sure it really grabbed me as much as some of the past GOTY winners like Elden Ring. Haven't finished it.
Strange Antiquities- Someone recommended this and its kinda fun, kinda frustrating lol. Its a bit of a puzzle game where you have to figure out what occult objects your shop customers want based on how they describe it. Close to the end game, but got a bit much trying to track all of the inventory.
The First Bezerker: Khazan-Crunchy soulslike combat, with meh story. Got a bit frustrated at on point and just stopped playing. Might return to this one periodically like I do with another game on this list.
Hades II- Did quite a bit of playing during early access. Then I wanted to see things more fleshed out ( Lots of missing character and item designs). Started a new game when the full version was released aaaaand... I really haven't gotten as into it as much I had with the first Hades. Its not even that I don't like it, but I've just had a hard time sticking with most games I've played this year.
Satisfactory- Had a blast for a few weeks. then got back to focusing on Clair Obscur and the BF6 beta.
Red Dead Redemption- Had played 2 a bit a couple of years ago. Never played the original. Kinda fun, but travel started to feel like a bit of a pain in the ass even with the fast travel options. Story is compelling enough that I'll probably get back into it when I'm in the mood.
Ace Attorney Investigations- Never realized that Edgeworth had his own spinoff series, but I got pretty far into this one. Lots of fun, cute sprite designs and lost of the same hijinks as the mainline series. Got pretty far into this one, but still haven't finished it (as you all can see this is a running theme for me this year).
Night Runner/Xtreme Racer- Similar racing games. You go around challenging drivers to races on Tokyo highways. Racing games don't hold my attention as much as they used to. If I had to pick between the two Xtreme Racer would probably be the one I'd pick back up. Night Runner is pretty neat and I like the sensation of velocity that you get, but finding racing spots felt like more of a chore than it should be, at least much more so than Xtreme Racer.
Games that I came back to in 2025
Balatro- Originally got it on Steam and mostly played it on my Steam Deck, but carrying it gets kinda tiring. Ended up getting it on mobile and its become my ~~addiction~~ commute time waster.
Dark Souls- Played it on and off for years, but this was the first time I really got into it. Got better at parrying. Discovered the wonders of big bonk and no armor. Finally beat the boss I had been stuck on for years and then got to the next and got frustrated all over again lol. Will probably come back to it sooner rather than later though.
Elden Ring- Got though one playthrough the year it released. Loved it back then (put in nearly 200 hours). Tried coming back to it with a new build to get into the DLC and it just didn't hit quite the same. Muddled in the early game for a bit before dropping it. I might comeback to it at some point, but I've held of on getting the DLC since I'm not really feeling it at the moment.
Sekiro-Like DS1, played it on and off over the years and couldn't stick with it. Similarly got much better at parrying, made some progress and I'm stuck again and wavering on whether or not I really want to put in more hours.
Yakuza 3 Got in a few more hours, but couldn't get into it at the time. Kiwami 3 was recently announced and now I'm wondering if I should just wait for it or just finish this play through. I'm still very much in the early game.