Welcome to the mirror universe blog series companion to our 2025 Game of the Year episode, inspired by one listener’s question over on our very awesome Discord.
Read every post in the series via this handy tag!
Following our GOTY episode last year, I published a post on my personal blog that blended both my indie and AAA favourites into a single top ten list. I felt like it painted a more accurate picture of the games that meant a lot to me in 2024, so I’ve decided to do it again.
Yes, I know that’s not what everyone else is doing, but I also built this site, so no one can stop me. If they try, I’ll simply change the HTML, or whatever.
#10. The Séance of Blake Manor
More of a traditional point and click adventure than the Obra Dinn-esque deduction game I went in expecting, The Séance of Blake Manor is nonetheless a deeply compelling mystery with a killer sense of atmosphere.
I gobbled this up over a single weekend and had an amazing time skulking around its creaking corridors, breathing in its oppressive gloom. What a thing.
#9. FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time
I don’t think Fantasy Life I is a good game. Its story is nonsense, its characters are paper-thin, and its soundtrack is genuinely fucking heinous.
But despite these (quite substantial!) marks against it, I found Fantasy Life I to be utterly captivating. I think a lot of its appeal has to do with how intentionally it feels like a sequel to the 3DS original. From its thousands of snackable objectives that can be completed in a handful of minutes to its lower-fidelity presentation, Level 5 has created something that felt like a bit of a trend in 2025: a game scaled appropriately based on team size and creative vision.
This is a wild blend of Diablo, Animal Crossing, and Old School Runescape, and while none of its constituent parts equal the quality of the sources it takes blatant inspiration from, they somehow combine into a cohesive whole. Alongside this is an optional open world to explore, a proc-gen dungeon that can be refreshed at any point, and a roguelike mode that was recently released for free.
It’s a staggering achievement, and based on its persistent position in the Switch charts since launch, proof that the AA market is capable of delivering experiences that people actually want to play.
More games like this, please!
#8. Monster Hunter Wilds
I can’t think of another game that has soured in the mouths of its playerbase as quickly or as substantially as Monster Hunter Wilds did in the first half of 2025. I understand why, of course. Even as a more casual fan of the series, I missed the rough edges and idiosyncratic systems that made previous MonHunts so beloved.
Still, I had such a wonderful time conquering Wild’s menagerie of enormous bastards, carving off their skin to make elaborate dresses and ridiculous swords. Admittedly, I haven’t gone back since I rolled credits, but the second its inevitable expansion pack drops, I’ll be sharpening my charge blade once again.
A rare CAPCOM stumble, then, but it speaks to the quality of their recent releases that even a lesser CAPCOM game is still better than most other AAAs.
#7. Skin Deep
Out of everything I’ve included on this list, Skin Deep is by far the most underrated. The sole aim of this miniature immersive sim is to introduce you to the genre’s sillier side that most folks don’t have the skills (or the confidence?) to access in games such as Deus Ex or Dishonored. Skin Deep is about rescuing cats on space ships by tearing the heads off space pirates before jettisoning them out of an airlock, but it’s also about encouraging playful experimentation via a slim yet considered set of systems. It doesn’t want you to save scum your way through the game in order to achieve a no-kill run. Instead, it wants you to throw banana peels and soap, and stuff the heads of unsuspecting pirates into toilet bowls.
If you love the idea of immersive sims, but have always found them too intimidating, do yourself a favour and give Skin Deep a try. It’s extraordinary stuff.
#6. Ghost of Yōtei
A few hours into Ghost Of Yōtei, I wrote it off as AAA slop. Junk food. Lacking nutrition.
As I sat watching the credits roll some 47 hours later, I wouldn’t say I regretted that quickfire assessment. Sucker Punch’s open-world sequel is not – to be blunt – anything special.
Despite this, Atsu’s journey of revenge is almost impossible to put down. Combat is snappy and vicious. Its plot is predictable yet compelling. Again, this is a game that is scaled appropriately: something that feels enormous but can be conquered in its entirety in less than 50 hours.
I had grown tired of Sony’s open-world adventures. Or so I thought. I had one more of them in me, I suppose.
But no more after this. Please.
#5. Wanderstop
As I mentioned on the podcast, I understand why Wanderstop didn’t land with the impact you’d expect from the latest project by the creators of The Stanley Parable and Gone Home.
Marketed initially as a counter of sorts to the rising tide of “cozy” indie games, Wanderstop actually has little to say about the sub-genre as a whole. Instead, this is a game about personal burnout and the damage we can inflict on ourselves in the pursuit of perceived success. It’s a gut punch of a game who’s blows will only land if you’re able to relate to the specific feelings and struggles it depicts.
For me, playing Wanderstop was genuinely life changing. Since playing it, I have re-evaluated by relationship with work, scaling back personal projects and establishing stricter boundaries with my day job.
I now spend more time doing nothing, which of all the lessons this wonderful game hopes to impart, feels like the most important.
#4. Split Fiction
Is this the best co-op game ever created? It’s up there, for sure. Few games feel this generous, this exciting, this full of joy. Nothing else this year made me shriek with delight like Split Fiction, pointing at the screen like a child as something unexpected occurred not once, not twice, but consistently throughout its 15 hour run time.
It helps, of course, that this cannot be experienced without another player by your side (preferably, anyway). Hazelight make games designed to be shared, and there’s a particular skill to achieving that, I think. The ability to craft something that generates conversation, jokes, and laughter. In this sense, Split Fiction is their biggest achievement to date.
Awful story, though. Just absolute dog shit.
#3. Hades 2
I’ve spoken about Hades 2 a lot on the podcast these last few weeks, so I won’t repeat myself too much here. TL;DR: Hades 2 is more hades, which instantly makes it one of the finest roguelikes ever created.
However, as I’ve been reading a bunch of game of the year lists over the last few weeks – most of which place Hades 2 towards the top of their rankings – I’m struck by just how little an impact the game has had. It feels like no one is talking about it, despite it being lauded across the board. It’s indictive, I think, of a wider cultural trend, where even excellent sequels to popular franchises struggle to stick in the collective consciousness for longer than a few days.
It’s a shame, because Hades 2 absolutely slaps.
#2. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
The only thing more boring than reading about Expedition 33 in a game of the year list is reading about why someone who doesn’t usually like turn based RPGs has placed it in their game of the year list.
So I’ll do neither. You either know why it’s good, and agree with its position here, or are stick to death of people banging on about it. Either way, I wish you all the best.
#1. Promise Mascot Agency
Part management sim, part collectathon, Promise Mascot Agency defies categorisation in the best possible way. This game about an exiled Yakuza and his sentient mascot partner is a true original, and easily the best game of 2025.
No one else is making games scaled in this particular way! This is a PlayStation 2-ass video game (complimentary) that respects your time, providing you with a perfectly-paced adventure in less than 20 hours.
Charming, heartfelt, compulsive, and hilarious, Promise Mascot Agency is something very special indeed.
Pinky for life.
Honorable mentions
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
Consider this my number 11. Citizen Sleeper 2 is a rich and literary journey through a small corner of the universe that – like the original – focuses on the humans who scrape by between the stars. Exceptional.
Dispatch
The Telltale formula is dead. Long live the Telltale formula! I assumed I was done with subversive superhero media, but Dispatch has something that others don’t: heart.
The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
After abandoning my initial playthrough in 2023, I was drawn back to Tears Of The Kingdom thanks to its luxurious Switch 2 upgrade. 4k and 60fps is genuinely transformative, elevating the game from something I was fond of to something I adored. In my head this doesn’t really count as a game released in 2025, but if it did, it would be my number one.
Donkey Kong Bananza
I thought the monkey game was fine. It’s far from the killer app the Switch 2 needed, and it’s not even the best platformer created by Nintendo that released this year. That award, obviously, goes to…
Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2
As controversial as these remasters may be, it doesn’t change the fact that this pair of platformers are two of the finest video games ever made. Essential for any Switch owners who have yet to experience the joy of flinging an Italian tradesman through the cosmos.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4
I know this series was ruined because Activision made 100 of them over the span of a decade and they lost their appeal as a result, but I think Microsoft should try that tactic again, just in case. I’d like to play one of these a year. Cheers.
BALL x PIT
An action roguelike that didn’t overstay it’s welcome while also commentating on the genre via its late game unlockables. Great stuff.
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