Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

I went back and forth between which 2025 masterpiece to rank higher, but I didn't have a long time to make a choice and I ended up with Silksong as the lower-ranking one here. It's only been a couple weeks but I'm already unsure about how I feel about that. This game is absolutely incredible. It's just incredible. And it's everything great about videogames, in terms of the kinds of experiences they can give to both the players and the developers. Team Cherry took their sweet time working on this, and they did that because they were simply enjoying making their passion project without any external concerns. This is just how it should be.

Sure, I had my gripes with this game. I didn't like how often it throws you into a "fight several waves of enemies" arena situation, and I was really annoyed at how arbitrary and non-communicated the pathway to the true ending is (especially with how depressing the bad ending is). But outside of those relatively small gripes, this was a masterpiece that gripped me for 50-ish hours with an increasingly compelling story and lore, and increasingly fun gameplay and combat, just like its predecessor did.

At some points I found myself so immersed in this world that it reduced me to tears, and that's not even necessarily in a story segment - I would just be exploring the world and it'd hit me so hard, how far the kingdom of Pharloom had fallen, how much its citizens had suffered, how much loss they've all experienced and just how much I wished to help them heal from all this tragedy. Maybe it was having more settlements and places of safety, maybe it was having a few great characters like Sherma and Shakra, but unlike the kingdom of Hallownest in the first game, this time it felt like there was still something there to save, and that made it all the more desperate to see Hornet's mission through.

Ultimately, the true ending was absolutely incredible, and genuinely blew my mind. I'm really glad I got to play through Silksong, it was well worth the wait. Thank you, Team Cherry.

Top 50 >>

Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

Well, there it is. Expedition 33 is the game that kept me from finishing this list until well into December, as I rushed to finish it in time - and ultimately, based on this ranking, it made that wait worth it as it's standing as my 2025 game of the year. I'm not sure how that title will hold up in the future, because there were some really amazing games this year - most notably Silksong - but Clair Obscur absolutely blew me away and kinda had to be the highest-ranked one this time.

Just listening to some of its music while writing this brought me right back to the amazing times I had playing this. If there's one opinion I'm sure is not changing, is that this is the best soundtrack of the year, and it's crazy to think it was all written by one young guy and his guitar. Lorien Testard was a gamer just like all of us, and now he gets to play at the TGA big stage and whatnot... Not gonna lie, I envy him lol.

Beyond the music, obviously this blew me away with its incredible storyline, bolstered by some of the strongest cinematography, voice acting, and mo-cap I've seen in any videogame. The narrative went so deep, with so many plot twists, it was almost a completely unrecognizable plot by the end compared to the start. I don't know that all of those twists were personally to my liking, but I cannot argue that they weren't very well-written. And while the ending impacted me really heavily, I must agree with our @UnderwaterFunktown in that some things could've been handled a little better.

And on one last grievance, I do need to say, as someone who despises genAI and its implications for modern-day society, I find it concerning that Sandfall admitted to using it during the development of Expedition 33 and gets away with it (and with tons of awards) because people just turn a blind eye when the game is good enough. Sure, the final assets in-game are all hand-made, but I wonder how much of it was reworked from artificial prompts. Some areas and backgrounds, and especially some of the color palettes, kinda give me an uncanny sense that I associate with AI stuff, but who knows, maybe that's placebo. In any case, that technology goes against a lot of Clair Obscur's entire point, so I'd hope they'd refrain from using that crap and pushing it forward, but unfortunately we know that won't happen.

Anyway, this post was a bit of a rollercoaster ride, but so was the game, yeah? I definitely need more time to process my feelings on it, but for now, through its ups and downs, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is just an incredible work that blew me away in so many ways.

For those who come after.

Top 50 >>

Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

Opening up my top 10 for this year is none other than Breath of the Wild (again!). This means no new games broke into it, but I see that more as a consequence of how late I played 2025's best games without proper time to process them, and of course, also a consequence of how many great games there are as a whole - as exemplified by this absolute masterpiece being "only" tenth place!

Breath of the Wild's been a weird one for me in that I've found it hard to revisit, because no second or third or fourth playthrough can ever come close to the magic of that first time around Hyrule. However, even if it was almost 9 years ago (god, what? 9?? Jeez...), that first playthrough lives on and will always live on in my memory as one of the greatest experiences of my life. Not even just gaming experiences, experiences, period.

It was that good.

It's fallen a few positions on the ranking over the years because of how much that magic has been lost in replays, but that first time, every passing second of this videogame found new ways to blow my mind. I was in love with its every mechanic, with its every challenge, I was invested in the story, I was in love with its quiet soundscape and with how much it ramped up when in need of epic music. I was in love with every blade of grass on this huge world of Hyrule and wanted nothing more than to see all of it. It's understandable that the magic waned in subsequent playthroughs, because so much of the magic of this game was just bearing witness.

I don't know how I feel about the future of the Zelda franchise given the direction it's taken since Breath of the Wild's overwhelming success, but Breath of the Wild itself has no blame in that. This game is a timeless masterpiece worth every bit of the hype.

Top 50 >>

Of course, I let myself fall behind again, all the way till the end of the year. Posting all of this on the 31st is silly, but hey, I'm trying my best here! I'll be going to bed and hopefully I'll have time to make more of these posts in the afternoon before the New Year's celebrations kick in. Making more posts requires more games getting guessed though, so here's my final round of hints:

#9 - This was held as the magnum opus of the genre it popularized for decades by most people, some still see it as "the one".
Extra hint - You have to defeat 4 monstrous aliens to gain entrance to the final boss area, whose entrance is very near the start of the game.

#6 - The game that, for many, replaced #9 as the magnum opus of this genre, and broke it into the mainstream.
Extra hint - You have to defeat 3 sleeping bugs to gain entrance to the final boss area, whose entrance is very near the start of the game.

Extra extra hint - The genre #9 and #6 are both part of is named after two franchises that popularized it - one involving spaceships and exploding planets, the other involving castles and vampires.

#5 - One of the most influential JRPG's of all time, and one that really likes red.

#4 - The origin story of one of gaming's most infamously convoluted timelines.

#3 - This may be a controversial opinion, but I much prefer this game's take on the Japanese goddess of the Sun than her more usual humanoid form.

#2 - Also part of #9's and #6's genre, but this one features a little spirit and young owl lost in a forest far from home.

#1
Tonight we ride straight into the fire!!
Are you ready to GO? GO? GO?
We'll make our stand, don't give a damn!
This is our time to go from Zero to Hero!!

If it wasn't the final day I would probably give other people some time to guess but since it is:

9) Super Metroid

8) Hollow Knight

5) Gotta be Persona 5, nice spot for it

4) Skyward Sword?

3) Okami, I don't think liking dogs is controversial

2) Ori and the Will of the Wisps

1)

Guessed by @drbunnig 

Lloyd, don’t die before I do.

Other than praising its incredible characters and amazing story, it’s hard to write about what makes Tales of Symphonia so special. It has that same hard-to-describe quality that makes it hard not to love Ghibli films or Avatar the Last Airbender, a kind of genuineness and atmosphere than few other games can match, maybe a few Zelda titles but that’s about it, and the story here is so much grander than anything in the Zelda series. It’s a shame the game didn’t gather as big a following initially because admittedly it can be a hard game to get into 20 years later, it takes a while for the story to really dig its claws into you. I liked it at first when I initially played it but there was a certain section that blew me away and which I still consider one of the greatest turnarounds in a game. After that I was hooked until the finish and afterwards, immediately starting a new game plus. The last time I played the game (on PS3, which as we’ve established, I used long after the PS4 had released) I had originally intended to play a few hours a day, but then my PC broke down and had to be sent to repair and since it was during vacation I ended up once again binging the game and loving it just about as much as I remember. Yeah, it’s a special game, I don’t play it as often as others but it will probably forever be my favourite adventure with some of my favourite characters and music, and it all started with an absolutely exceptional opening sequence:

We made it to the final day and with that concludes probably my most extensive list yet! Lot of newcomers actually though the top remains cemented in stone

Have a happy New Year everyone! I will be back in the new one

A bit late for hints? Maybe, I'll post my answers later today even if I don't get any guesses:

#9: In this game, a previous enemy has decided to take a job as a cameraman instead of flinging spiny things at the main character. - Guessed by drbunnig

#8: 1v1 Lost Temple

#7: Dim dim da, da da dim dim da. Guess by Mnementh

#6: Often derided nowadays for its very blocky characters, this game is responsible for my entry into the world of Playstation. - Guessed by mZuzek

#5: 3 pendants, 7 maidens, 1 pig - Guessed by mZuzek

#4: "Your right hand comes off?" - Guessed by drbunnig

#3: This game was recently remastered (to much acclaim) and even more recently got a sequel (with a mixed reception). - Guessed by drbunnig

#2:  4 out of the 7 playable characters of this game don't use their real names.

#1: She's been waiting for 100 years, she won't mind if I check out what's over that mountain, and down that river, oh is that an enemy camp? I might be able to upgrade my armor if I get more of that, what was I doing again? Guessed by Mnementh

For anyone interested, I dropped my list in the official thread. Sorry, I had not the time to participate more this year. But thanks for keeping it alive!

Also some honorable mentions (the mentioned platforms are the versions I played, most are available on more). I hope there is something new for you to discover in my list or these mentions.

Barony (2015, Linux)

Barony is an actual rogue like, meaning it is like the 1980s game Rogue. Except with 3D first person voxel graphic instead of ...text. But the other things are like Rogue. The dungeon levels are randomly generated, you have permadeath and start all over after death, there a lot of crazy items and spells and NPCs. The effects can be wild. In one run I was afflicted with blindness, but could play on - just with a black screen. This means I could find possibly a solution to my affliction, although I took the more likely route and died. The game support up to four player co-op. Also it is receiving meaningful updates for many years now. It just might be the new nethack with endless replayability.

website, trailer

9 Kings (2025, Windows)

9 Kings is a simple game: upgrade your kingdom, build an army and fight other kings. This becomes increasingly difficult with each step. The battle is mostly an autobattler, you play by upgrading your kingdom. And there are crazy combination that help you survive. For instance one unit called soldiers will get stronger with higher numbers. Meaning each single of the soldiers will be stronger if there are more of them - and there will be more of them. Add to this the upgrade farm, which adds units to neighboring fields each turn and you get a fear-inducing troop. There are many such crazy combinations.

Steam, trailer

Doom: The Dark Ages (2025, Xbox Series)

This years Doom was not everyones cup of tea. But for me the fast paced gameplay of the most recent entries was not the greatest and so I enjoyed a somewhat slowe, more deliberate approach. This is supported by the sound effects and the general feel. Every action feels heavy with a certain satisfying oomph — and I like that. That is supported by the cool weapons which include a lot more melee. The ranged weapons also all sound heavy and impactful. The shield is great to support a gameplay which is slower, yet still puts you in the middle of the battlefield. And it has a chainsaw built in! I couldn't care less about the weird story, but that didn't distract too much from the gameplay and the levels look all sufficiently for a game called Dark Ages.

Wikipedia

Luck be a Landlord (2023, Linux)

Luck be a Landlord is like a deckbuilder game - but instead of adding cards you add symbols to a slot machine. You need to make the money for your landlord in just a few spins, so invest in good symbols to add. This is not just simply of a symbol adding a certain amount of money to pay your rent, they actually have combos if certain symbols end up in adjacent or in the same row or something like this. Additionally you have upgrades outside of symbols. And soon you earn thousands of coins with one spin, instead of ten.

Steam, review

BallxPit (2025, Xbox Series)

BallxPit is using the Survivors formula, but applies it to brick breaker games like Arkanoid or Breakout. Instead of a paddle you have a character, shooting the balls in a direction you determine. Most bricks (aka enemies) need multiple hits to break and you lose health if they reach the bottom of the screen, until your health is depleted. Each level has 3 bosses. If you beat a level with enough characters you unlock more. There are a lot of different balls for you to use, with differing abilities that can be used for combos and also balls can be fused for new balls with combined effects. There is a high number of characters with different abilities. All this combined with an good pixel-art-style (as you would expect from a Devolver game). This is definitely worth some fun, although not the best use of the survivors formula (which for me still is 20 minutes till dawn, which is in my TOP 50). But it is worth checking out if you like the survivor style gameplay.

Steam, trailer

#7: Clair Obscur

#6: Tomb Raider?

#1: Breath of the Wild