Essence of Azeroth is the lore-critical World of Warcraft podcast hosted by Will Harrison, a former columnist with 15 years in the industry and bylines in Bitmob, Polygon, The Escapist, The Austin American-Statesman, and more. Go see pictures of his four cats over on BlueSky.
Minutes before sitting down to write this, I was standing on the stairs, asking my wife which games were my favorite in 2025. As it turns out, when you’re no longer fully plugged into the zeitgeist of our industry, you somewhat lose the ability to fully remember what you have and haven’t played.
Besides Umamusume, of course. We’ll get to that.
- Pictured: Me and the pile of indie games I stuffed into my cheeks like Oguri Cap.
Also, March of this year might as well be a billion years ago when it comes to remembering. Yet, here I am: Thinking about the year that was and what games pulled me out of my permanent World of Warcraft hole. Truth be told, 2025 is the year that I somewhat shirked the AAA experience and stuffed myself full of indie titles and more personal works.
Stuffed, like the video game version of foie gras.
With that mental image in mind, here’s my top five games of 2025 and a few honorable mentions to spare.
5. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- I love sad mimes and bread. It’s basically the perfect game.
I’m not going to be saying anything unique or original about Claire Baguette: Exposition 33.
….
…. Oh. You’re still here. I thought that was enough.
Okay, fine. The problem and positive with everyone’s favorite sparkling turn-based RPG is its adherence to the tropes of its genre, for better and worse. The world of Clair Obscur is beautiful, cloying, wondrous, and on a rail at the worst of times.
Maybe I’m getting old, but its rampant difficult spikes when it comes to parry timing took a lot of the wind out of my sails. Even so, Clair Obscur made me cry in a year where the larger realm of games struggled to leave me feeling anything.
I’m not sure I’ll ever go back to its haunting world, but Clair Obscur sits with me, nonetheless.
4. World of Warcraft’s Housing
If you thought I could get away with writing a list when I am one of the top voices in World of Warcraft podcasting, then you had another thing coming. Truth is, the new housing mode (which doesn’t officially even come out until the launch of the game’s next expansion, Midnight, in 2026) is the best thing added to WoW since 2016’s Legion and the Class Hall campaigns.
Housing in World of Warcraft has been long-requested and never even sniffed at until recently. Why? Expectations, most likely. Other MMORPGs have added housing before, and with varied results. At best, you get a place you only ever visit out of obligation; at worst, you get a real-life housing crisis like in Final Fantasy 14.
- Don’t ask. You don’t want to know.
Somehow, World of Warcraft threaded the needle to make something meaningful and in-character while also giving players an absolute killer set of tools to build. From floating houses to miniature models, arcades, and everything in between, the housing feature has been out less than a month and is already a standout feature in the game.
By no means am I a fan of Blizzard’s continued shoving of microtransactions up my digital colon, but that is the world (of Warcraft) that we live in.
Now, leave me alone as I make a foot altar in my Shadow Priest’s house, so as to impress Mommy Xal’Atath.
3. Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Look: My brain makes weird associations when it is drunk.
A haiku:
- Bug Game is real good.
- Hard? Yes, but so are our lives.
- Get good at Bug Game.
2. Lumines Arise
Tetris Effect felt like a religious experience at a time when I was trapped inside my house with nothing to do but worry if I was going to catch a killer virus. That alone will forever endear that game to me. So goes my surprise to find that Lumines Arise is, in essence, a sequel to that game, but in a worse puzzling experience.
Now, don’t get me wrong. That is not me saying “Lumines is bad!”. It is not. I have played the franchise since it first appeared on my launch PSP, and I discovered the horrors of what rhythm games do to my brain.
However, it’s simply not Tetris. But what is, really?
If the worst thing I can say about Lumines Arise is that it isn’t Tetris, then I think things are going pretty well. Come for the amazing visuals, crisp sound, and trippy experience without requiring a potential jail sentence for illegal substances.
Stay for the realization that you’re terrible at Lumines and just like putting the pretty shapes together.
Honorable Mentions
Umamusume: Pretty Derby
Look: I know horse racing is evil. I know gambling is ruining our youth. But… Waifus.
I wouldn’t have 60 hours on the Steam version alone of Umamusume (don’t even ask about the playtime on my phone) otherwise. What’s amazing is that my wife says the problem with the breakout mobile hit of the year is that it “isn’t weird enough.” Take that however you will.
But… This game came out four years ago. I do have standards. Sigh. So, on the mentions it goes.
Blue Prince
A game I liked less and less the more I played. A strong start, with an engaging mystery and fascinating design that loses luster the more you poke and prod and grow increasingly stymied. The ending also didn’t do it any favors with me.
Ball x Pit
Love balls. Balls are great. You know what I don’t like? Resource management in between the balls sessions. I get that you need ‘something’ to do in between runs, but the village management puts a wet blanket on what was an otherwise addictive game.
PowerWash Simulator 2
This game needed two things to get onto my main list for 2025: More realistic water and more cats. It could provide neither. And thus, I am here with only moderately real-looking water and not nearly enough cats to pet. Guess I’ll just have to stick with the four I have in my house.
1. Hades II
- Do I strongly dislike the ending? Yes.
- Do I think Chronos is a far weaker Big Bad with worse motivations? Also, yes.
- Am I salty that you can’t romance Icarus? Absolutely.
And yet, more Hades II is still better than anything else this year had to offer. This was a game I continued to play for another 200 hours, even after having it since the first day of Early Access. Everything about the game just ‘clicks’ in the way that made the first Hades a transcendent experience.
The combat, the dialog, the aesthetic. All of it just works in a way that feels ethereal–like smoke caught in your hands. The fact that we got a second game that comes pretty damn close to its predecessor is an absolute miracle.
I don’t like to stick developers to one franchise forever, but… I will say that if I ever find a magic lamp, my third wish will be asking for Hades sequels until the heat death of the planet.
So… You know, another three years or so?
Happy 2025. Let’s make the next one better than the last.