The Top Games of 2025 as Told by Chris “CJ” Johnston

Chris is Product Manager at Enhance and hosts the Player One Podcast.

In gaming terms, I don’t think 2025 could have been better. A downright crazy amount of games came out that I looked forward to, desperately wanted to play, and then had to put on the backlog because some other awesome game came out. So many video games, so little time. For those who say, “Ehhhhh, [year] was better”—what are you on about? Every month of 2025 was positively packed with amazing games in all genres, on all platforms, for every type of gamer. Even as the industry struggles through a transition period and the outcome of how all this shakes out isn’t completely clear, we got some all-time bangers. I didn’t even get to play all the games I wanted to play this year.

So now I present to you TWO top fives for 2025. One—games that I saw to the end (or nearly, plus a bonus game). And a second bonus top five of games that I started but are now on the backlog. I can’t wait to get back to them. Maybe in 2026. OK, onto the list!

5. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

I am a Sea of Thieves sicko. And I love the recent weirdness of the Like A Dragon/Yakuza series. So this is like chocolate and peanut butter coming together for me—pirates, but also batshit crazy Japanese mafia shit. 

Regardless of how realistic any of the plotlines were (NOT VERY), everything here is truly captivating. Amnesiac yakuza Goro Majima finds himself the upstanding captain of a pirate crew and battles opposing criminal pirates. Amongst a plethora of minigames and side missions, we got “Masaru’s Love Journey,” a live-action setpiece where one of the main characters speed dates multiple eligible Japanese ladies that may be one of the STRANGEST sections ever in a Like A Dragon game. (I haven’t played them all, so I’m just speculating, but it is wild.) Both the individual and pirate-ship combat are a lot of fun too. 

The whole package was a nice side dish to the mainline Like A Dragon series…which reminds me, I haven’t even finished Infinite Wealth!

4. Silent Hill f

One of my blind spots in gaming is Silent Hill. I like Resident Evil and survival horror, but I never got into Silent Hill. But the setting, tone, and style of Silent Hill f brought me in. 

Hinako is way braver than I ever would be. If my town were taken over by a red plant-like things that fill the air with spores, I’d be in a fetal position on the floor toot suite. The sense of dread built here as you venture through the game and meet Hinako’s friends and family (and their resentments), everything just washes over you. I know it’s probably a series staple, but I also appreciated the map in this game a whole lot. That it crosses things out and makes little notations—more games should do that. Why don’t they do that? Plus, it’s just a beautiful game graphically, and the music is ethereal. Just a lovely game all around.

3. Donkey Kong Bananza 

It’s been a long time since I’ve liked a Donkey Kong game. I wasn’t into the DKC games after the first one. The Retro Studios incarnations were all right, but I was hoping Nintendo would take ol’ DK back into the fold and make something on par with Mario Odyssey with the fun and charm of the old arcade DK artwork. And they did it! The destructible world stuff is great, and the exploration never got old to me. I feel like I could go back to this even now and have a ton of fun with the post-game content.

2. Dispatch

The ghost of Telltale has returned (via Adhoc Studios), with a great game in tow. Dispatch truly captivated me in a way no other single game in 2025 did. I cared about the characters; all of them. I enjoyed the dispatching-heroes minigame a lot. Plus, that party scene—it felt like such a fun victory. Here you were thrown in with these “loser” heroes, you made it work, and the party scene is the first showing that this team is gonna make it after all. After that point, I put Bershy’s “Radio” on repeat on streaming for at least a couple of days after. Such a beautiful scene and proof that video games can make you more invested in the characters and stories of what otherwise would still be a pretty damn good TV show.

1. Wanderstop

This game came at the right time for me. Ostensibly, it’s about Alta, a badass female warrior at the top of her game, who has a personal crisis when she faces multiple losses in battle for the first time. She goes on a journey to get her mojo back, but lands in a strange place where Boro, a big, bald guy who owns a tea shop, encourages her to slow down instead, and make some tea. The game that unfolds is about finding your purpose later in life, dealing with a big life change, finding joy in the little things, helping people who need help, and also identifying when YOU need help. These themes struck a huge chord with me personally this year as I dealt with a major life change (divorce, and living on my own for the first time in 15 years). Throughout this year, I’d regularly go back to thinking about Wanderstop and its absolutely amazing writing, cozy gameplay, lovely visual design, fantastic music, and authenticity. I don’t know how much this game is going to come up during most other GOTY discussions, but it baffles me that so many people missed this one. Go play it!

S. Lumines Arise

And now the wildcard, an “S” rank above the rest—Lumines Arise, a game that I worked on cuz I work with Enhance. I don’t ever like putting games I’ve worked on on my GOTY lists because that’s so pandering. But I do really mean it when I say this game was very important to me. The kinds of games Enhance makes that elicit raw emotions while playing are some of my favorites (even before I started working there). It’s a puzzle game that’s misunderstood by a lot of people, but when it clicks, and the music, visuals, haptics, etc. are all firing and making you feel your feelings—it’s magical. If you’ve not played it or don’t get it, I’d really encourage you to give it a try. Prepare for a learning curve, but if gamers can deal with the Souls games, they surely can figure this one out.

Anyway, enough with the advertising already! Here are the top five games of the year that I played a little bit of and really liked but threw on the backlog because something else I wanted to play more came out.

5. Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Loved the setting, the combat’s fun. Still kinda felt like other AC games, where I got overwhelmed by so much to do and just stopped playing. But I still liked it!

4. Wildgate

Absolutely beautiful game. Amazing space combat. Great PVP action. But it relies so much on a “crew,” and it’s so PVP-focused that I didn’t end up playing it much. I wanted to, though. If there was a way to enjoy it PVE (which I hear they have added in a recent update), I would’ve gotten all my Sea of Thieves friends into it. I fear this is a great multiplayer game that under any other circumstances should’ve been a big hit.

3. The Outer Worlds 2

Retro-future aesthetics where technology promises a lot and delivers almost nothing of value is so my jam. Plus, the tone and humor of this are right on-brand for me. But there were too many other things on my plate that I just didn’t get to it.

2. Clair Obscur Expedition 33

Beautiful. Emotional. Parry and timing-driven. I loved what I played of this, which was a handful of hours. Met all the main characters and started exploring the map. I played enough to know that this was gonna get the GOTY nod from a lot of people.

1. Ghost of Yōtei

Sucker Punch has a fantastic game here. It’s an open-world game, but there’s such a sense of discovery and feeling in control of where you’re going, what you’re doing, what you’re focusing on. It’s a triumph of open-world design. And there were so many games coming out around this time that I just couldn’t get completely stuck into it. Atsu is a great protagonist; her journey and story are well-told. There were just too many games to play, so this fell into my backlog. But it’s the one that I most want to get back to.