Top 5 Games (that I played) of 2025

I played just over a dozen different games in 2025 and the time I spent with each game ranged from an hour to over 100 hours. There are so many games I wish I could’ve played this year and would likely have ended up on this list if I had, but having a baby transition to a toddler this year and other responsibilities really set the bar low for the breadth of games I experienced this year. I also found myself still wanting to do what I usually want to do when I play games: dive as deep as I can on games I can borderline obsess over. Especially when friends of mine are equally as obsessed, there is no stopping my drive to complete the next quest, finish my next run, or destroy the next boss in front of me during my free time. I think that's more or less my theme this year: obsession. In a year that felt wildly inconsistent for reasons political, professional, and personal, having the games I played be a constant was a relief for me. I was also unexpectedly gifted my two most anticipated games of the last five years in September in Silksong and Hades II, so it was a given that I would dedicate myself to these two games for the remainder of 2025. But I obsessed over Blue Prince earlier in the year too, despite coming away from that game feeling 50/50 on it. I think I seek out experiences that I can sink into for long stretches that also feel hand-crafted. All the games I spent significant time in this year feel lovingly made to me in their attention to detail, quality of game design, and killer art direction, writing, or music. (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024),m My Top Game-Adjacent Things of 2025 Intro Midwest Gaming Classic Body Honorable Mentions