Hello and welcome, it's that time of year again, and I am here to look back and reflect on every video game I played this year. It has been quite the year, I ended up playing more games than I initially thought, so I have much to talk about. In fact, I have so much to say that I decided to separate this list into not two, but three parts. So, without further ado, please enjoy my ranking of the 14 games I played this year, in order of least favorite to favorite:
But first, a quick heads up and info dump for the newcomers. This is not a list of my favorite games I played that released in 2025, but a list of my favorite games played in 2025, regardless of when the game originally released. This means the list has games from all over the place on it, but, that's how I'm doing it, it's my list.
Additionally, while I separated this list into three parts to give me more space to say things, it also works nice thematically. Each of the three parts contains games that have a particular theme. The theme of this part, part 1, is: games that I dropped. These are the games that left me so uninterested and bored that I couldn't bother to keep playing them, and dropped them after more than 10 hours. Here we go!
The first game on this list is the same game that was last place on my 2024 list. Why then, you might ask, am I still playing Genshin Impact? Well, the answer is simple: socializing. One of my best friends is still very deep into Genshin, so it offers something for us to talk about. So, for this year I played through the latest region storyline: Natlan. You might remember that last year, I was disappointed with the storyline of the previous region: Fontaine. Was Natlan any better?
....not really. No matter how much I try, I just can't get invested in Genshin these days. The main storyline doesn't interest me, characters don't feel fresh, and instead feel like copies of previous characters, and the gameplay just doesn't excite me anymore.
If I had to list some positives however, I would say that I came to like some of the Natlan cast. Mualani, Citlali, and Mavuika in particular left a strong impression on me. They were great and had some fun moments, and I enjoyed getting to know and spend time with them.
However, I do think that, at last, this is the end of my time with Genshin. It has now been two regions that didn't do a lot for me, and thus the discussions with my friend haven't been the most fun. With that social element no longer motivating me to continue playing, I think I'm (hopefully) done. Its new region is releasing, and the developers are taking a page out of the Honkai Star Rail developer playbook, by making the new storyline egregiously long. This is incredibly off putting to me, I don't want to spend huge amounts of time on these games, this is why I haven't returned to Star Rail despite loving its Penacony region. With Genshin following suit and requiring much more time for players wanting to catch up on its story, I can safely step away from this game. It has been a long time coming, but I think I am finally ready to let it go. I still remember the first 2-2.5 years I was into it fondly, but at last, here's to Genshin Impact, may I never touch it again.
Ah Bravely Default, one of the most divisive games I've played. There were things I loved about it, leading to an incredibly positive review of the first half of the game (listed here), and there were things I despised about it, with the second half ruining all affection I had for the title. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I avoided Bravely Second, and skipped out on Bravely Default II...until now. This year, I decided to finally give the series another shot. They are somewhat beloved after all. I do like my classic JRPGs, and there were things I loved about the first title. Surely, if the second half of the sequel isn't as bad as the first game, I will come to enjoy this a lot?
....sadly that is incorrect. There was much that disappointed me about Bravely Default II, but perhaps the largest and most surprising, was the battle system. The battle system was my favorite part of the first game, I would even call it my favorite battle system of a turn based game. Despite this, while playing through Default II, I grew quite bored of it rather quickly. Why this is I am unsure, but I have a theory. Bravely Default II doesn't really change the battle system from the first game, it's basically the same. So, in the same way that Tears of the Kingdom was partly ruined because it used the exact same combat system as its predecessor: Breath of the Wild, meaning players that had completed Breath of the Wild already knew exactly what to do to win every battle, the same happened here. Because I could still remember the battle system from the first game and all the right ways to play it, I immediately knew what to do in Default II, and nothing about the battles really surprised me going forward. It was very predictable.
This has convinced me that the battle system of Bravely Default is actually not my favorite, because if it was, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. However, the battle system becomes quite easy to exploit, and repetitive when using the same over powered strategies to win over and over, especially when it feels like that is the only way to win. There simply wasn't a lot of variety to keep combat engaging, and this saddened me. Perhaps now I would call my favorite battle system those of the Octopath Traveler games, because after spending nearly 200 hours across both Octopath 1 and 2, I never found its battle system boring.
My main issue with the battle system, that being that it's fundamentally the same as the first game, is also my main issue with Bravely Default II as a whole. The look of the game is very similar to the first, the class system functions nearly the same, the means of traversal are similar. Most disappointing of all, the story and main characters nearly feel like carbon copies of the first game. First, you have the mysterious protagonist who has lost his memories and is a generally nice guy. Second, you have the heroine who is introverted and generally kind. Finally, the third and fourth party members are a guy that is charismatic, a jokester, and a bit of a jerk, and a girl who is strong, with strict morals, and keeps the guy in his place. The story is once again about crystals, exploring the world to find them, and stopping bad guys who are comically evil and responsible for everything happening in the plot.
I'm simplifying things, but I constantly felt like I was playing a refined version of the first game instead of a sequel that builds up and progresses what the first game did. You would think that because it had been so long since I played the first Bravely Default, that I wouldn't mind. But I did, because I already didn't like the story and characters of the first game, and knowing that the ones here would be just as bad killed my motivation to continue playing.
So, around the 15-20 hour mark, I chose to stop. Battles weren't exciting, the story and characters hadn't grabbed me, and the world wasn't satisfying to explore. I suppose then, this is the end of my time with the Bravely Default games, because if two games left me with a sour taste, I doubt the others would be much better. Perhaps that is a silver lining, because it gives me more time to focus on other JRPGs like the Octopath Traveler series, which hey, just got a new installment in Octopath Traveler 0. Look forward to a review of that sometime in 2026!
In my 2024 favorite games list, I ended by saying that I wanted to go out of my comfort zone and play games that were not Nintendo games, and not JRPGs. Did I do that? Yes, I played three games this year that fall under that category. It is exciting playing games outside your comfort zone. You can discover things that you didn't know you'd love, and broaden your gaming horizons by playing new types of art. Hades was outside of my comfort zone, though not totally unfamiliar to me. I had played and loved the developer's first game: Bastion, and had played and dropped their second game Transistor. So surely this was going to be a hit yeah, especially with how popular, beloved, and critically acclaimed Hades is?
...unfortunately. sometimes going out of your comfort zone leads to discovering that some games aren't for you, and are reminded why you like your comfort zone. Hades is another Transistor for me. I had a lot of problems with it, and most of them can be boiled down to one simple thing: Hades is a rougelike. It's actually the first rougelike I've played, the only thing close to it are rougelike modes that exist in gacha games I've played. They follow a simple structure: you progress through a linear path over and over and over. However, rather than feeling repetitive, power ups, random elements, and different builds allow you to customize and change up how you navigate every attempt through the maze that is the main game. They are known for being addicting, as fans can spend hours lost in them, constantly tempted to try just one more run and see how far they can get.
I have to be honest, I don't think the rougelike genre is for me. I'm the kind of gamer that loves novelty. I love change, I love shaking things up for the sake of it, I don't like doing the same thing over and over. I tend to be more critical of sequels that don't differentiate themselves from their predecessor: see my critical thoughts on Bravely Default II, Octopath Traveler II, Tears of the Kingdom, etc. I don't like doing the same thing over and over, I need change to make things feel fresh constantly.
Hades unfortunately did not do enough to make runs feel fresh, and while I was having a great time with it for the first couple of runs, by the time I was hitting 10-15 runs, I was growing bored. There are little things to differentiate runs sure: sometimes the bosses are slightly different, you fight enemies in different orders, the power ups you run into vary, the weapon you use varies, etc. However, this was not enough for me. The bosses and enemies hardly change to warrant replaying through them over 10 times. There are only 6 weapons, so after 6 runs you are playing the game the same way every time, and the power ups you get are largely determined by randomness. Whether you get a good build or not comes down to the luck of the draw, which doesn't inspire me to want to do more runs.
I am told however, that if you continue playing long enough, you unlock the ability to change up the weapons, adding variety. You will also unlock the ability to have more of a say in what power ups and builds you get. These are nice, but nothing turns me off a game more than being told "Don't worry, the game becomes good at the 20 hour mark." While playing Hades, I constantly felt like I was frustratingly limited, like I had ropes tying me up, and as I progressed, those ropes would slowly start to untangle, and maybe, just maybe, if I put in enough time, I would have as much fun and freedom as many other games let me have at the beginning.
Notice how I reused the same image, but look, it isn't, there are little differences, so it's fine, right????
It's not fine
The concept of doing the same thing over and over baffled me, because I just couldn't enjoy it after a while. I spoke with a friend that loves Hades about this, and he said that going through runs over and over was satisfying because he got a little bit further each time, and because the little changes to his build and weapons were enough for him. I could see that, I could see the type of player that loves overcoming difficult challenges, like those that the play the Dark Souls games, as enjoying Hades and finding that satisfying. But for me personally, as someone that often avoids difficult games like Bloodborne and Eldin Ring, I didn't find the gameplay loop satisfying. I don't like doing the same thing over and over, and I don't like that if I want to play through World 3, I have to replay Worlds 1 and 2 every single time. That is just not fun.
One final complaint, the dialogue. I had heard so many great things about the dialogue in Hades. Oh there's so much of it, and it changes with each run, amazing! Like my feelings on the game in general, I thought it was pretty cool at first, okay, the dialogue is different, nice. However, I soon found the dialogue uninteresting and not worth reading. Sure characters don't say the same thing, but actually, they do, just with different words. Instead of saying "oh darn you lost, better luck next time," they say "oh you were beaten by this one boss, they are tough, but don't give up." They are using different words, but fundamentally, they're saying the exact same thing of feeling bad for your loss and wishing you the best in the next run. So much of the dialogue is saying the same thing but with different words, which I found rather boring. I can't help but feel that all the time and effort that went into the dialogue was a bit of a waste. Why did so much effort go into changing the words characters say if they're still saying the same thing? I would have preferred characters say the same thing, and have all that time and effort go into designing more weapons or more variety for the runs of the game.
Okay, I'm being negative, but that's because, unlike the other games in this writeup, Hades was the one I went into with high expectations, it was the one I was assured would be awesome and I would love it. So I can't help but feel disappointed that I didn't enjoy it.
Nevertheless, I would be remiss to say I did not enjoy parts of it. As I said, the first couple of runs were quite fun. The bosses were a formidable challenge, and beating them for the first time felt incredibly satisfying. The music in the game was also really good, I frequently found myself in awe at how good the boss music was. The combat system is generally fun too, and it's exciting to play, even if you are fighting the same enemies and bosses over and over.
Hades is my first rougelike, and it might also be my last. I am not the sort of player that finds overcoming difficult and repetitive challenges satisfying, so Hades did not click with me. The first 5-10 hours were good fun, but after that, my enjoyment drifted away. It pains me to say that despite loving Bastion to death, I now have mixed feelings of more supergiant games than I do positive feelings. I would love to enjoy their games more, but if they keep making rougelikes, I am staying far away from them.
The final game on part one of this list is Lufia II. Wait, what the heck is that? Well my friend, I'm glad you asked. Lufia II is an old game, a Super Nintendo JRPG from the mid 1990s. It has a small community that stands by this game. So why did I play it?
Well, 2025 was the 10th anniversary of Undertale, one of my favorite video games. For the occasion, a remarkable 10th anniversary stream was aired over the course of two days thanks to fangamer. As part of the streams, the creator of Undertale, Toby Fox, offered much lore and background for the creation of Undertale. He frequently mentioned games that inspired it: Earthbound, Cave Story, Breath of Fire, etc. One game that he mentioned was Lufia II. This wasn't the first time I had heard of it. I first learned about it on resetera, the video game forum I frequent, in a thread discussing RPGs with great dungeons. Lufia II was frequently mentioned, alongside Golden Sun as examples of RPGs with excellent dungeons to get lost in.
If you know me, you know that I love the Golden Sun games. I love the emphasis they place on exploring their worlds and using out of battle abilities to solve puzzles and uncover secrets in dungeons, towns, and more. As I've grown older, I've realized that this kind of RPG, one that emphasizes exploration and environmental interaction, is actually quite rare. They're almost a lost art of JRPGs, making it hard to find games like Golden Sun these days. So, when I learned that Lufia II was similar, and even played a part in inspiring Undertale, I knew I had to check it out. So I did, this year I played Lufia II for the first time.
Similar to Hades, I really enjoyed Lufia II for the first couple of hours. It really felt like I was playing a new Golden Sun game. It was set in that classic JRPG fantasy setting that I love, with familiar characters and stories that you'd expect in the idyllic world of the 1990s. The enemies were of a classic Dragon Quest inspired template, the writing was fun, and man, the dungeons were fantastic. The fans were not kidding, Lufia II's dungeons are excellecnt. The puzzles were interesting to figure out, you gained more out of battle abilities as you progressed, allowing for more complex puzzles, and the introduction of a mechanic I'd never seen in how you avoid and navigate enemies in dungeons led to fresh and satisfying gameplay. The music was also great, it took me back to old JRPGs I've enjoyed, and I was loving it.
However, by the 15 hour mark, I was starting to grow bored of the game. It had all the staples of old games for the time, including one unfortunate trait: being repetitive. It did not take long for me to notice that the game follows a simple formula: you enter a new town, learn there is trouble, venture to a nearby dungeon, fight the boss, solve the trouble, return to the town, receive thanks, and are told to progress through a cave to the next part of the overworld, where the next town is. This formula is rinsed and repeated something like 6 times by the time I had enough of it. The battle system also got pretty boring and straightforward after a while, and while I was enjoying the dungeons, they just weren't as well fleshed out and satisfying to solve as those of the Golden Sun games. While the game was similar to Golden Sun, after a while I realized it's a much worse version of those games.
So at that point, I decided to drop it. It was a fun trip into the past, remembering what old games were like, and if anything, it made me want to find more games like it and Golden Sun. However, the repetition and predictability of the game was really getting to me, so I decided it wasn't worth more time, and that I should instead seek out other games. However, I wouldn't mind going back and completing it at some point, it was fun.
That is it for part 1. Thank you so much for reading this, and please look forward to part 2, in which I discuss the games that I actually completed this year.
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