New Game Plus is an Argentine independent games media outlet. They're like Giant Bomb for Argentina, except waaaay more handsome.
2025 has been an amazing year for video games; we all know that. Incredible indie games, big new hits in the multiplayer space, developers who escaped the grip of big publishers making titles that dominated the awards season, and dream releases we never even thought were going to come out. But we are not going to talk about any of those games.
To celebrate Giant Bomb’s well-deserved independence, we would like to make a list of games that we’ve been playing and streaming all year because we, as well, are an independent outlet.
New Game Plus was founded more than three years ago, and it’s 100% backed by its community. We are very grateful for not having to answer to the whims of any corporation or idiotic higher-ups. This means we can basically stream and play whatever we want, which is probably not the best strategy to grow on YouTube or Twitch, but it’s the most authentic thing we could do. For more than 17 years, the GB crew has taught us to go with our gut and not give a crap what the algorithm or any KPI says.
So without further ado, here’s a list of games that are not necessarily the best of 2025, but we had a blast streaming and playing just because we wanted to.
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TCG Card Shop Simulator
Sometimes you skip certain experiences because, at first glance, it’s hard to see past their plain meme value. Luckily, good judgment occasionally takes a day off, and that’s when you accidentally stumble upon a diamond in the rough. TCG Card Shop Simulator is yet another job sim built on reused assets, the kind that floods digital storefronts every year. But this one has heart, a handful of genuinely smart ideas, and a steady update schedule that keeps adding content while actively listening to community feedback. On top of that, a very dedicated modding scene fills in the gaps left by the base experience, turning it into one of our community’s favorite games of the year.
Thanks to the creators in the Nexus Mods community, we took this 2024 release and turned it into a weekly series where hundreds of people pass through a Pokémon Card Shop that just keeps failing upwards. A bit of accidental role-play with NPCs, countless hours debating where to place a single table, and suddenly the chat is completely unhinged, obsessed with one simple question: will that red-haired NPC girl, the one who once walked out with our heart along with her change and bag of Pokemon Funko Pops, ever come back?
Fortnite
At this point, putting Fortnite on a list like this might sound like the easy way out. But our philosophy when streaming it couldn’t be further from the professional mindset: to hell with playing games as if we all were elite pro players. We don’t think that represents the average player’s reality. And that’s exactly what we are: average players.
We even developed our own (patent-pending) way of playing Fortnite, challenging ourselves to complete as many side quests and secondary goals as possible, almost entirely avoiding the main conflict — without ever hiding. It’s a bit like that explosion scene in The Naked Gun: the island is going up in flames while we’re fishing, sightseeing, or trying to set a personal best lap time in a golf cart. Fortnite is only a Battle Royale if you choose to play it strictly as one.
This year, we also dove into our own Fortnite Creator Profile, letting us design private experiences. Sometimes that means heated skirmishes with our audience on fully packed islands. Other times, we play matches where only a handful of players hide across the entire map, turning every encounter into a slow, tense ordeal. Or perhaps, we’ll decide in chat that everyone has to target a single player, turning the Battle Royale into a full-on manhunt.
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It’s not that we have bad taste. It’s not just nostalgia either. It’s a little bit of both — and somehow neither. There are bad games we revisit just to laugh at them, others that work as a lens to analyze where the industry was at a given moment, and some that you just had to be there for.
As the audience for gaming content keeps growing, many players skipped the trenches that those of us with a few more gray hairs went through. Streaming full playthroughs of games like Resistance, Dante’s Inferno, or Mirror’s Edge works as a history lesson that’s enjoyable not only for the memories, but for the reactions of viewers who — at least on this side of the world — had only ever heard about them.
No, over ten years later, Watch Dogs didn’t magically become a better game, but showing people the origin and cultural weight behind the phrase “Aiden Pearce’s iconic cap” is almost as fun as watching a kid learn for the first time that Darth Vader is Luke’s father. Some would say skipping the extraction shooter of the month to stream a Sonic ’06 longplay is a waste of time or an algorithmic suicide. We prefer to think of it as a countercultural statement.
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eFootball PES 2021 / ISS ‘97 Mod
What if I told you that the best football game nowadays is a complete modification of a Konami game released in 2020, made by a group of Spanish modders? Given the current state of EAFC, eFootball, and UFL, it probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise, but it’s still pretty remarkable how much sports games have regressed this generation. That’s precisely why every week we didn’t pick up the joystick to open card packages in EA FC Ultimate Team but instead had a blast playing Master League with teams, kits, and stadiums from 1997 in a microtransaction free and 100% singleplayer mode.
We even created our own storylines with the help of our community, becoming globetrotting coaches trying to win tournaments in the Argentinian, Japan or British leagues. Completely unknown players that suddenly become immortal heroes, the most controversial refereeing you’ve ever seen in the virtual world, and some of the most embarrassing losses Argentina’s National Team has ever suffered.
This mod is an incredible love letter to 90s football that transforms PES 2021 and makes really great tweaks to its gameplay. This is the most believable version of the beautiful game in its less spectacular form. Every match is a rough, gritty, and difficult battle with just a couple of goals, which makes every time you score way more thrilling and satisfying. Players don’t feel like robots skating around the pitch; this is real football.
Bloodborne
It is still baffling how we’ve never gotten a remake, remaster, or (at the very least) a next-gen patch for one of the best games of all time. Even with all its ragged edges, its miserable 30fps, and minimal draw distance, Bloodborne remains a fucking masterpiece. Streaming it in 2025 is still an absolute blast with some of the best duels and boss fights the studio has ever created. I had never finished the base game nor its DLC, so I had the perfect excuse to return to Yharnam, which remains one of the most intriguing, engaging, and enthralling locations available on PlayStation. The level design hits incredibly hard, the mythology behind Hunter’s Dream is fascinating, and the architecture is beautiful and horrifying at the same time. There’s not much else I can say about a game that celebrated its 10th anniversary and is considered by many as the greatest in the genre. So here’s to ten more years without getting a remaster because the nightmare swirls and churns unending.
V.I.P. Starring Pamela Anderson
We may not have Blight Club at New Game Plus, but we are not immune to horrible games, especially those that were a failed TV show tie-in. V.I.P. Starring Pamela Anderson for the PlayStation 1 and 2, however, is both the single greatest piece of interactive media to ever grace this earth and a complete trainwreck which barely justifies its existence at the same time. Playing through it is a bizarre acid trip that puts you in the shoes of some of the least memorable characters you’ve ever seen. The whole game is a series of quicktime events that unchain action-packed sequences like Pamela Anderson throwing a big ass tyre in a car chase through Beverly Hills, a sniping duel at the LA Convention Center (RIP E3), and the worst homage imaginable to the Matrix. This game rules. It also sucks. But that’s life, and sometimes you just need the most ridiculous PS2 game starring one of the biggest icons of the 90s to forget the current hellscape we currently live in.
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Randel’s Quest
The fine folks at LCB Game Studio from Argentina are cooking up something special. Randel’s Quest takes Wordle, roguelike elements, some slot machinery love, and turn-based combat in a way that makes it compelling and impossible to drop once you get in. It’s still in the works, but our community loves to take a big gamble with us, no matter what, to a degree that the studio is developing tools to play together alongside our audience on Twitch. What else can you ask for?
No, I’m not a Human
This is not the kind of game you want to pick up and play on a Sunday afternoon for sure, but it will make your stream quite interesting once you make peace with its somber proposal: there’s something going on outside your house, everyone is turning into creepy monsters, and it's up to you to decide who gets in and who doesn’t. With tons of endings that reflect your decision making, it was a game that we played tirelessly with our audience and one of the most beloved ones of 2025.
Tiny Bookshop
Probably a game that is all about running a bookshop crammed in a van is not the most exciting thing when it comes to streaming. But let’s just say that, as it happens with book covers -pun intended- looks can be deceiving. Because beneath the cozy atmosphere lies a game that will keep you running among anxious clients, who will require you to point out the best literature they can get based on a couple of facts about themselves. At first, you are just making guesses, but once you get the hang of it, Tiny Bookshop becomes an outstanding experience that our audience and we enjoyed like no other. Heck, we work, we learn, and we have some fun!
We hope this hodgepodge of a list fuels you with the right amount of curiosity to try something different. If you are a struggling streamer or someone who is just starting in this almost impossible but fantastic endeavor, these games are proof that the most important thing you can do is find your own voice and not chase trends. Maybe that weird, obscure PS2 game is the one that your audience actually wants to see.