Doom: Dark Ages
2025 was the year of the roguelike for me, with Slay the Spire and Returnal dominating much of my playtime. Here's what I played, with an asterisk denoting a title played to completion.
Vampire Survivors*
God of War: Ragnarok*
Spider-man 2*
Disco Elysium*
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remaster
Doom Dark Ages*
Returnal*
Hades*
Slay the Spire*
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle*
Batman Arkham Knight
Carrion
Mullet Madjack*
South of Midnight*
Battlefield 6
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Sixteen titles in total, with eleven finished (I'll definitely finish Clair Obscur). Here are the categories:
Best Indie Classic That I Never Played: Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is an amazing role playing game with an incredible setting and a mastery of political theory that is frankly astonishing for a video game. Estonian novelist Robert Kurvitz adapted his tabletop setting for the game, and the run-down world of Revachol is sad and brimming with mystery, just like its alcoholic protagonist. You can play Henry as an incorrigible fuck-up who embraces capitalist hustle culture, or you can have him pull his life back together and become a card-carrying communist. There are several in-between options, and the game is beckoning to me for another replay. By far and away the best-written video game I've ever played.
Best Game Actually Released in 2025: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
A French JRPG in the spirit of Final Fantasy, but with dodging and parry mechanics cribbed from Dark Souls, Clair Obscur developers Kepler hit the ball out of the park on their first try. The combat is great, the world is amazing, and the graphics utilize Unreal Engine 5 without bringing your computer to its knees. Were it not for a second Slay the Spire addiction, I would've finished Clair Obscur this year. Still, I've played it 33 hours and counting, and I'll definitely see it through.
Best Game That Everyone Forgot About: South of Midnight
South of Midnight really flew under the radar. A Game Pass title, it takes place in a mythical South and follows Hazel, a young woman who discovers her powers to mend the trauma of the past, as she tries to find her mother after her house is carried away in a flood. The music is great, featuring a bluesy narration that varies from somber to showtune sometimes in the same song, and the visuals really stand out, as do the creatures. The only thing that stops South of Midnight from becoming a classic is its perfunctory gameplay, which is never that interesting. Still, I think it's a shame that such a striking and unique game seems to have just disappeared from the public consciousness.
Best Playstation Single-Player Port: Returnal
God of War: Ragnarok is a great sequel, and so is Spider-Man 2, but Returnal was my favorite experience from Sony this year. Housemarque successfully combine bullet-hell mechanics, rouge-like progression, and an interesting story to create a memorable title that I replayed several times. You'll have to, because Returnal is fucking hard, to the point where I actually save-scummed for my initial win. The H.R. Giger influenced world design is also top-notch. I'm definitely going to play Saros when it comes out.
My Favorite Game of the Year: Slay the Spire
Slay the Spire is one of my favorite games of all time. I finally played this classic this year, and spent well over 162 hours and counting trying to beat the Heart. I've beaten act 3 with all four characters, and destroyed the Heart with the Silent and the Ironclad, but another playthrough always beckons. A mix of strategy, luck, and skill, Slay the Spire is just incredibly addictive. It was my first deck builder and proof that sometimes it pays off to try genres you've never played before.
Honorable Mention: Doom Dark Ages
Doom Dark Ages is metal as hell and successfully remixes the formula from Doom Eternal by adding a shield, a parry mechanic, and slowing down the gameplay to a more manageable flow. However, despite being a great first person shooter, it is the weakest of the reboot trilogy. It lacks the grindhouse horror atmosphere of 2016's Doom and its gameplay is never as engrossing as Eternal. Still, it's a fantastic shooter with some great moments, and it runs great on every platform while looking sick, which is quite the achievement in 2025, which had some real stinkers from a technical perspective (I'm looking at you, Oblivion Remastered. Also you, Spider-man 2, stop hiding in a corner). I really hope id does a multiplayer focused reboot of Quake utilizing some of the gameplay mechanics from their newer Doom games.
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