I don't normally like to speak for everyone, but I'm definitely onto something when I say that 2025 was definitely the year. For better or for worse, it was 365 days that were sure to happen. At least we got some really great games out of the deal.
I probably spent too much time gaming this year, both for work and for fun. From museum sims to silly games to go-kart racers to RPGs, I've indulged myself in an unadulterated buffet that I'm not the least bit ashamed of.
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy
As someone who has long been in love with the Danganronpa series, I was incredibly excited about the concept of taking a scrappy gang of high schoolers and throwing them into a life-and-death military tactics situation.
In real life they wouldn't let me, but thanks to The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy I got my fill anyway. I just wouldn't recommend it if you don't like the weird anime story twists that are iconic to Danganronpa – there's a lot of it.
Titan Quest 2
Earlier this year I started playing World of Warcraft and created a weekly ritual with my boyfriend. But to satisfy my thirst for questing between play sessions on what we've come to call WoW Sundays, I dove headfirst into another in-depth story with Titan Quest 2.
I spent hours fighting all manner of creatures and criminals, finding my share of rare loot, and taking on so many side quests that I almost forgot to finish the main game. It also keeps getting updates and you can bet I'll be playing them all.
Center for Dissolving Urban Myths
My first taste of Urban Myth Dissolution Center came from a demo on the show floor at PAX West in 2024, and that strangely pungent nibble stayed in my mouth until the full launch of the full horror visual novel earlier this year.
My con schedule was packed, but then I flew home and couldn't shake the director's shadow. I loved the idea of using social media to solve supernatural mysteries, and the eerie pixel style of the game, bathed in a bluish gray outside of the bright red blood soaked every screen, was a statement every time.
Hell is us
Another game whose demo left me swooning I spent weeks pondering Hell is the darkly gorgeous adventure Us after I picked it up back in May. The story follows a man searching for answers to what happened to his original parents during a brutally realistic civil war, tasked with fighting alongside monsters whose jittery movements and hollow bodies still haunt me months later.
When taking inspiration from a subject as dark and serious as a real-life Civil War, you need a great deal of respect to create an enjoyable game, both because of that reality and in spite of it. Hell is Us delivered in spades.
Two point museum
Sinking my teeth into a game that allows me to build and customize a collection is always satisfying, as someone who grew up playing Animal Crossing on a mission to acquire every piece of clothing and every piece of furniture, Two Point Museum was right up my alley.
I loved both previous Two Point titles, and the third followed neatly in line, delivering a curated game filled to the brim with the same zany humor. I've spent hours decorating my halls with all sorts of special themes – history, hydro and ghosts, oh yeah! – and I still find myself wanting to go back and polish my displays again.
AI: The Somnium Files – No Sleep For Kaname Date
I love escape rooms, I love anime ridiculousness, I love mystery stories, and I love when they make me think outside the box. That's why I love AI: The Somnium Files – No Sleep for Kaname Date.
Dead Take
Sometimes when you think a genre is almost dead, it comes back with a vengeance thanks to a single title. Dead Take turned FMV gaming on its head this year with a brutal look at the dark side of Hollywood.
Neil Newbon and Ben Starr steal the show with their performances, while the atmosphere is filled with suffocating darkness no matter where you are in the mansion. The puzzles were also interesting and I may have screamed a few times but I didn't have to thanks to the jumping. I never felt comfortable playing this game and I loved it.
Raidou Remastered: The Mystery Of The Soulless Army
The only new Persona game we got this year was a gacha title, but Atlus didn't hold back and give us another full-sized port of Shin Megami Tensei with Raida Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army. You're a supernatural detective in an alternate history version of Taisho-era Japan, and it's up to you and your demons to find out why the timeline has gone awry.
The real-time combat was very different from the turn-based gameplay I'm used to as a huge Persona fan, but I fell in love with it almost immediately. It required more quick thinking and adaptability than I'm used to with titles in the series, serving as something of a rapid fire test. Sometimes I can be a little too focused on Persona, but Raidou Remastered made me appreciate the other games in the SMT family again.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
If you tell me you didn't have the theme song for this ultra-fun cartoon racing title stuck in your head for weeks, then I hope you read it to the tune of said song when I tell you: you're a liar.
Date everything!
“If you like it so much, why don't you just marry it?” You've got to be kidding me silly – you can't get married in this game, but my god it still does its namesake – you really can date anything!
Every few years a game comes out that is so perfectly up my alley that I fixate on it forever, and this year it was Date Everything!, the debut title from Sassy Chap Games. The only thing I love more than a dating sim is a stupid dating sim, and as someone who spent hours on Dream Daddy and Hatoful Boyfriend way back when, throwing dozens of voice actors from shows and games I love into a genre I adore is guaranteed to be a slam dunk for me.
All 100 pieces of furniture in your hot, hot house feel distinctly unique from each other, and I spent the summer playing it through a few times to get three different endings for each one. I spoke to Sassy Chaps several times during their development – once right after they were announced and once right before launch – and as if you couldn't tell from the teasers and trailers for my Game of the Year, chatting with them confirmed that the only thing that isn't just sleaze and giggles in this fancy dating sim is heart.
- Released
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June 17, 2025
- ESRB
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For adults 17+ / drug reference, partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language
- Developers
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Sassy Chap games
