Samoa Joe is the reigning AEW World Champion and one-third of the reigning AEW World Trios Champions. He will be defending the AEW World Championship in a fatal four-way match on December 27 in Chicago, live on Pay-Per-View, but he took a moment to share his 2025 gaming yearbook with you.
Here’s how my year in gaming shook out.
Happy New Year.
Marvel Rivals & Path of Exile 2
2025 came in roaring with two late releasing 2024 Online behemoths. Path of Exile 2 gets almost everything right when it comes to the ARPG “feels”. A lot like how Call of Duty has that magical audio-visual mix that makes its hit markers feel so satisfying, Path of Exile hits that same sweet spot with its visuals and combat interactions. Toss in a ton of enemy variety, and fun bosses, and it's a game that stays in rotation and well worth the precious drive space in the battle to bloat games bigger and bigger.
In 2024, my friends and I would play Overwatch. We would play it when we were deciding what we were going to play that night. Sometimes we couldn’t agree on what to play, so we would just keep playing Overwatch. Now we play Marvel Rivals instead. I mean, that’s really kinda all there is to say.
Warriors: Abyss
I have an admittedily irrational love of ‘Warriors” Games. They are often mindless mass murdering two-button slogs that offer little more than the sheer unbridled joy of being able to kick a small town’s population worth of Ass in a sitting. Then they paired it with a decent rogue-like structure and a bunch of pretty colors and explosions. What I’m trying to say is sometimes it doesn’t take much to amuse me.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Do you like fun? Do you like me? Do you like Musubi? If you answered no to any of these questions, stop reading and buy a puppy immediately so I know you have some joy in your life.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
What a perfect monster. I’ll save you all the raves you already have heard and just say I hope this game inspires a lot of studios to similar heights.
Kiborg
Overlooked and underappreciated, this became my default Steam Deck go to. Arkham Asylum combat meets body-morphing, cybernetic-frankensteining. Kiborg is a fun, simple to get into, rogue-like, beat 'em up, that’s worth a look.
Battlefield 6
What a rebound. This has reclaimed the top shooter spot with the crew. Fun modes, amazing destruction. I’m really hoping it’s not all just a drug-fueled magical shared illusion. I mean, who would want that as an FPS Military shooter?
Dispatch
The writing is so good in Dispatch I would watch the video game as a weekly show. What a great experience Top to Bottom. I could easily see this becoming a streaming channel thing somewhere down the line. Really pushed the Choose Your Own Adventure motif to a new level. Bravo to all involved.
ARC Raiders
I never thought one of the most fun gaming experiences I would ever have would start with someone screaming, “Hey, don’t be a dick!” This was shouted at me on a hillside by an unaffiliated raider, and for once in my online life, I pocketed my dickishness and my new compatriot and I gathered other like-minded random raiders and had a hell of a Ferro rifle firing squad ready to take down a Queen. We did so, we split the loot amicably and extracted like gentlemen. Afterwards, I drank scotch and told my wife I think I believe in America again.
Happy Holidays to you all. Wishing you a fruitful and Happy New Year.
Tenderly I remain,
Samoa Joe