General and Gaming > General

A Year in Review - 2025

<< < (3/3)

dhaabi:
Previous Year in Review Summaries: 2023, 2024

Favorite 2025 Release: Mario Kart World
To my surprise, Mario Kart World was a lot of fun. I've experienced the Mario Kart franchise to some degree over the years, but I've never once been particularly interested or captivated by them, whereas I felt quite engrossed with this specific title for some time despite being limited to single-player play. The act of being able to explore so freely throughout the game's interconnected world and finding hidden collectibles and besting challenges brings this spin-off racing game much closer to the main series's (particularly its 3D titles) roots.

Least Favorite 2025 Release: Formless Star
Fortunately, none of the eight games I played (only seven to completion) in 2025 are bad games, so awarding Formless Star to this slot is being done simply by it being the weakest among the options. Formless Star is a simple game that sets out what it wants to achieve, but I find the games it competes against for this slot to be more engaging.

Favorite Game Played in 2025: Cuphead
After several years of having the means to play through Cuphead and simply not doing it, I decided to finally play through it this year. And after much anticipation, I wasn't let down by it in any significant way. As a shoot-'em-up focusing on two different sub-genres (run and gun and horizontally scrolling) which I'm considerably inexperienced in both, Cuphead tested my ability as someone who plays games alongside my patience in failure, which the latter came often. Several bosses in particular were exceptionally challenging to me, but the game is designed in such a way that every failure feels deserved, and the relationship between failure and accomplishment is well-balanced. Once finally being able to overcome these challenges, there was always a great sense of accomplishment felt. One day I'll get around to buying the physical copy of the game which includes the DLC and be challenges all over again.

Least Favorite Game Played in 2025: Chibi-Robo! Photo Finder
Despite it being infamous for being a bad game, I decided to briefly try out Chibi-Robo! Photo Finder. Not only is the gameplay loop incredibly dull, but the 3DS system's hardware limitations regarding its built-in camera significantly worsens an already bad gaming experience.

Favorite Gaming Moment in 2025: A Dark Room
By sheer chance, I discovered A Dark Room and became totally engrossed by it. Despite the game's limited text-based presentation and slow build-up, it really felt like the exact game I needed to play in that moment. I spent nearly all day playing it which, looking back, feels like the longest I've played a game in one single sitting in so many years.

Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2025: Sharing
It may be strange to list something like this, but I'm really glad I reached out to telly to lend out several Silent Hill games. Even when gaming was more of an in-person activity years ago, it was a rather solitary experience for me during that time. I never had anyone to talk to about games, and I certainly wasn't playing games with others or lending or borrowing them. So this small act felt nostalgic in a way for something I've never really experienced before, and it gave the opportunity for my collection to be something more for a while.

Of the games I played throughout 2025, here are some other personal categories:

Best Art Direction: Sable
Best Handheld: OlliOlli
Best Narrative: Lisa: Definitive Edition
Best Score and Music: Lisa: Definitive Edition
Best Storytelling: P.T.
Best World Design: Mario Kart World
Most Challenging: Cuphead
Most Innovative: Balatro
Most Thought-Provoking: Silent Hill 2 (2024)
Newest Game Played: Silent Hill f (September 25, 2025)
Oldest Game Played: Super Mario Kart (September 1, 1992)

ssj4yamgeta:
Favorite 2025 Release: Haven't played it yet (I usually wait a year to buy a new game because it's cheaper), but I really like what I've seen of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

Least Favorite 2025 Release: By far, Assassin's Creed: Shadows. The epitome of AAA modern audience slop.

Favorite Game Played in 2025: Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. With over 130 playable characters in the base game, this is what a franchise fighter should be.

Least Favorite Game Played in 2025: Tomb Raider 1. "Tank controls" and "Platformer" should never be in the same sentence. Combine that with a JRPG-style save point system and you've got a nightmare. The prospect of replaying it on PS4 without the Evercade's save state feature honestly terrifies me. Thank goodness the sequel is so much better.

Favorite Gaming Moment in 2025: Playing Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero on the Namek stage, casually firing a kamehameha at an enemy directly below me, and finding out that doing so actually destroys the planet like it would canonically. It amazed me that they actually put that in the game.

Proudest Collection Accomplishment of 2025: Reaching my goal of purchasing both a PS5 Pro and an Evercade VS-R in 2025. The PS5 Pro in particular feels like a bookend to my console gaming "career", as it is the last mainstream traditional console I will ever buy unless the industry radically changes.

alligo:

Favorite 2025 Release: Rebirth on PC

Least Favorite 2025 Release: Silent Hill F

Favorite Game Played in 2025: I don't know if I can put more than one, but : Bakeru, Star Ocean Second Story, Trails 1st Chapter...

Least Favorite Game Played in 2025: Sonic Supershit, awful game.

Sleeper Hit of 2025: NG Ragebound

Favorite Gaming Moment in 2025: The theater scene in Trails 1st made me laugh.

Mention special :

Cronos New Dawn
Yakuza Gaiden
Lost Judgment
Sonic X Shadow Generations

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page