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Hello! Your masked, pro wrestling friend, Evil Uno, has returned to talk a bunch about video games once again.
Was 2025 one of the best years for games? I think so! When making this list, I had to cut at least a dozen games that could have easily made a GOTY list any other year. Dispatch, The Alters, Arc Raiders, Ball x Pit, Absolum, Ghost Of Yōtei, Monster Train 2, Deltarune, The Drifter, Metroid Prime 4, Fortnite: Simpsons… it was a wild year. I decided to cut it all down to ten games though, since I’m writing this the day after it was due on a plane back from England, while my phone has 11% of juice left. That’s the Evil Uno way, baby.
The Roottrees Are Dead
This was one of the very first games I played in 2025, and it had a lasting impression on me. It’s a deductive puzzle game where you search through a late 90s internet database to recreate the Rootrees’ family tree. I’m a BIG fan of puzzle games in general, but particularly liked the depth of information there was to parse through, as well as navigating the “throwback” style interfaces. At the time, I didn’t think I’d enjoy any game more than this. I was wrong (what a year).
Look Outside
Look Outside didn’t click with me at first. In fact, it wasn’t until they released the 2.0 update that I decided to dive deeper into it. I’m glad I did because I ended up spending so much time playing this game. What at first seems like a straightforward, turn-based, survival RPG, slowly reveals itself to be something much bigger: a surprisingly expansive game with a variety of optional party members, hilarious enemy interactions, and some of the most grotesque/beautiful pixel art I’ve seen in a game. It was so good and worth replaying multiple times to see the multiple endings.
The Séance of Blake Manor
I was fortunate enough to give a demo of this a shot at Gamescom 2025 and immediately added it to my wishlist. The game tasks you with finding out what happened to Evelyn Deane, who was last seen at the Blake Manor, a remote hotel in late 19th century Ireland, which is about to host a séance. You roam the halls, look for clues of her stay, question the employees and guests, and attempt to confront them with what you’ve found to catch them in lies. It’s essentially a gothic detective game with a bunch of eccentric weirdos, and I loved every second of it.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
I will admit I didn’t really like the original Death Stranding, but something just clicked for me with Death Stranding 2. Yes, it’s a bunch of clunky walking from one point to another. Yes, it’s still filled with some of the dumbest characters in video games. And yes, the plot is absolute nonsense. Yet, I could not stop playing.
I spent nearly 100 hours delivering packages and building roads between my settlements. I found the walks relaxing. Just me, a tower of packages on my back, and my tunes. The ridiculously named characters were suddenly endearing to me. I even loved the plot, which lead to some of the best-looking cutscenes this year and culminated in one of the most ridiculous final fights I’ve ever played. It has a certain je ne sais quoi that made me keep coming back. This is a STUPID game, but it’s MY stupid game.
Megabonk
I know it’s a faux pas to describe games this way, but Vampire Survivors + Risk Of Rain 2 = Megabonk. It scratched every itch that both those games scratched. The runs are quick, the soundtrack rips, there’s a constant trickle of things to unlock, and it plays so smoothly on the Steam Deck. I hope we see a DLC drop soon because I am RAVENOUS for more Megabonk.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
This is the only game on my list I haven’t finished yet. After 40+ hours with the game, I can say with confidence that it is one of the best games of this year and one of the very best Metroidvania games to ever be made. It’s a GREAT game.
But also, fuck Silksong. Ughhhhhh. No game has ever made me this mad before. It is so much more challenging than the original.
The new main character, Hornet, does not play like The Knight. If you try to play this game like its predecessor, it will make quick work of you. The new tools and battle styles are not just additions to the core gameplay, but ones that feel essential to master. Every second in this game, you’re on the edge of your seat. Run-of-the-mill enemies can easily overwhelm you, leading you to dash into environmental hazards. The platforming often has to be picture-perfect for you to pull off. And the bosses? I’ve died upwards of 50 times to some of them. It’s a game that, quite frankly, has humbled me and made me realize I’m not nearly as good at games as I thought I was.
Evil Uno does love a challenge, though, making my time with Hollow Knight Silksong some of the most well-spent of this year. And yes, I will return and beat it someday.
Donkey Kong Bananza
Whatever way Silksong made me feel, Donkey Kong Bananza made me feel the opposite. It’s an absolute joy to play. Donkey Kong is back in a brand new adventure, and little Evil Uno is so happy about it. It feels like a return to my childhood when I was obsessed with DK (including the godawful TV show).
The true star of this game is its destructible environment. It feels so damn good to be DK and punch your way through a mountain, revealing bananas and objects hidden in every little nook of the world. Grabbing a chunk of gold, tossing it against terrain, and watching it blow everything up never stops being fun. Just don’t ask me the science behind it. Music is top tier, including the return of a few classic tracks. Levels are diverse, colorful, and plentiful. It even features updated 2D style puzzle platforming levels reminiscent of the SNES days (Nintendo, take these levels and make a new Country game, please). It’s filled with an incredible amount of fan service that will leave a long-time fan happy.
Hades II
Incredible sequel. SuperGiant Games has yet to make a bad game. While I may not love the plot as much as Hades 1, I was so happy to revisit its world and its systems. The two different pathways, wearable gear, supporting pets, and hexes, are all welcome additions. It is just as polished as ever, with new lore being your reward for each loop. It’s addictive as hell, and I am still chopping away at the post-ending content. I cannot wait to see what SuperGiant does next.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
I won’t be the only one talking about this game and so I’m going to make this as short as I can (this has nothing to do with my phone being at 4%, I swear).
Expedition 33 is special. Its soundtrack is like no other game’s. At times it’s melancholic, others it’s filled with electric guitar and makes you feel like you have nitrogen in your veins. The story is batshit crazy, and at the same time, it will tug at your heartstrings. It doesn’t beat you over the head with the lore, slowly unraveling it in the main story or allowing you to further your understanding through side-quests and memory logs. The characters feel like real people and are beautifully voice-acted. And like real people, sometimes you love them, sometimes you hate them, and sometimes you’re not sure what to feel.
What I think is its strongest point though, is its combat. Turn-based RPGs are a dime a dozen, and gameplay can quickly turn tedious. Clair Obscur solves that grind by making parries and dodges necessary to combat. When an enemy attacks you with a combination, you MUST learn their patterns to properly avoid damage and counter attack. It makes every single battle challenging and gives you the chance to tackle enemies you could typically never beat so early in a game, turning them into a true test of your reflexes and rhythm. There’s also a system where you aim and shoot at weakpoints on characters that adds an extra layer of difficulty to each fight. On top of that, every character has a vast array of skills and abilities to learn, allowing you to tailor your party to your preferences and create combat synergies amongst its members.
It’s likely Game Of The Year for 90% of video games journalists and is easily the game I’ve recommended the most in 2025.
Blue Prince
I saved this one for last because no 2025 game had Evil Uno more obsessed than Blue Prince.
Blue Prince is definitely not for everyone. You play as a young boy whose grandfather has recently passed, and now you must travel through the family mansion to reach Room 46, a hidden room that, once entered, will give you your inheritance. The game is full of incredibly complex, multilayered puzzles that would be challenging enough to solve on their own. But what makes Blue Prince so unique (and so difficult) is that the mansion’s layout is never the same. In fact, you must draft each room one at a time from a hand of blueprints that are randomized each time you enter a doorway. Each room has its own set of puzzles, and eventually you realize that everything you look at is a puzzle. It’s a puzzle within a puzzle within another puzzle and so on and so forth. Puzzles all the way down, really.
It’s also a game that’s very hard to talk about without spoiling anything. I spent 100-hours peeling the layers of this onion, carefully detailing each room in a notebook, scribbling my theories, drawing maps, and trying to piece it all together. My notebook looked like the ramblings of a madman. I had dreams about it when I wasn’t playing. I was constantly texting others my theories while we were both playing. “Did you get here yet? What do you think this means? What’s beyond Door 46?” Few games in my lifetime have ever made me feel this way. It’s my Game Of The Year.