JJWeatherman's Games of 2025 -- With Feeling!

It’s been quite the year. I’d like to make sure I document some thoughts as we head into 2026, in which we’ll be Immediately bombarded with many more video game delights, I’m sure. Resident Evil 9 is now technically out next month, y’all.

This isn’t going to be a typical GOTY list, as I only find myself really wanting to talk about a few different games. Anyway, here goes.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Yeah, this is my game of the year. Just like everyone else. And you know why? Because it earned it! I didn’t know anything about this game pre-release. I heard good things, and decided to give it a go early on via GamePass. I didn’t stick with it because GamePass allows that type of seat-of-your-pants behavior—dropping things on a whim, telling yourself you’ll come back to it when in reality that’s unlikely to happen. Anyway, I really did find it interesting throughout the opening bit. I left off initially after the gomage, however I somehow didn’t play like five minutes more to see the island cutscene. If I had, maybe I would have been undeniably hooked in that first go. Anyway, I thought the animations felt wonky, and the combat was a bit confusing, so I left it.

Well, I came back to it after many months and hearing all the praise, this time on PS5. I’d bought a PS5 Pro in the meantime, and had basically given up on Xbox, cancelled my GamePass sub, etc. Anyway, I came back to Expedition 33 on the PS5, and this time wanted to give it an honest go. This time I got to the island cut scene, I witnessed all the death and destruction. I watched Gustave almost kill himself. I was hooked in and it never really let up from there. Despite the fact that I don’t love every aspect of this game it more than makes up for its faults with its many shocking plot reveals and emotional gut punches.

You know why Clair Obscur is so good? It’s because it makes you feel. At the end of the day, I did a lot of organizing and reorganizing of a top 10 list for myself, and despite the other quite good experiences I had with other games this year, this one just called back to me each time I tried to move other games above it. It just didn’t feel right to do so. I couldn’t in good conscience tell myself that the music in Clair Obscur didn’t fill me up with all of the emotions each time I listen to certain tracks. I can’t lie and say I didn’t watch music videos of the tracks over and over on YouTube either. I can’t pretend like I didn’t grind enemies at the end of the game before heading to the final encounter just to give myself an excuse to be in this world and experience the combat encounters over and over. I can’t just set aside the fact that my mind felt as if it were exploding towards the end of the game when a lot of the larger reveals were playing out. I just can’t deny it. It’s like this unassailable and universal truth that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the game of 2025. I’ll hear someone out who may have another opinion on the matter, and sure I can respect it if that’s the case, but for me there’s just no question about it when I really press myself. It’s surprising, and not at all how I would have imagined feeling about this JRPG-inspired French project when 2025 started, but I can’t lie to myself and place any other game in this top spot that was already so thoroughly earned. Hey, I did all I could to demand evidence of my feelings, and in this case, all the evidence is just there, man. This game evoked feelings stronger than I was able to get from any other experience this year, and that’s just the truth. That’s what I find myself valuing, and that’s what holds the most sway at this point in my life. Fair play, Clair Obscur.

SILENT HILL f

Alright, so this was the game that I thought I wanted to be my GOTY. I loved this experience, truth-be-told. I’ve played some past entries in the Silent Hill series, but it hasn’t always been my thing the way it is for some. I fell off of the 2 remake, for example. But the setting and characters, the fantastical world design as things go askew, and the moments of sheer panic I experienced when watching some of these cutscenes, I don’t even know what to say. Again, very well could have been my GOTY in a different year, and I thought for a good while that I wanted it there, but it would have been for the wrong reasons.

Regardless, I absolutely love everything Silent Hill f is doing with its storytelling and vibes. I’m still working on playing through to see all of the endings, but I have a decent idea of the extent of the story, and I can’t wait to see the “true” endings and have that all come together.

I might just be finding myself in the Silent Hill Sicko Zone at this point, because I feel like this game set me up to want to play every new release as soon as possible, and I’ll definitely be giving some other Silent Hill games an honest shot. Silent Hill 2 Remake is first on my list to go back to—not that I disliked that game, but I just hit a point where I lost steam and failed to go back to it. I’m now motivated to see it through—that is after I see all of these endings for f!

Cyberpunk 2077 & Phantom Liberty

Hey, I just want to give a real shout-out to Cyberpunk. This is a game I never made the time for prior to 2025. Well, I can thank the Switch 2 and its relative lack of launch games for finally getting me into Cyberpunk. The fact that it became one of my absolute favorite experiences of the year surprised me, but man I’m just glad to have been so surprised. I just didn't expect to be hooked in as hard as I was for so long.

I’ll say this game isn’t necessarily anything I’d call perfect by any means, but the aspects that it nails, it does so in a way that’s so satisfying and impressive. Cyberpunk made me remember why I liked The Witcher series so much—CD Projekt is just so good at building these worlds, y’all. I also have a soft spot for first person games that incorporate methods of parkour—I loved Dying Light mostly for that reason, after all. Cyberpunk just gives the player so many options, and as a result it becomes so easy to get lost in the world for hours. Falling into a world in that way isn’t something easily achieved for me at this point in my life, so when a game can still make it happen, it stands out immediately.

And hey, all things considered, it runs pretty okay on Switch 2! That's just impressive.

Other Games I Enjoyed This Year In No Particular Order

• Avowed

• Donkey Kong Bananza

• Tony Hawk 3+4

• Hades II

• Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

• Ghost of Yotei

• Blue Prince

• NBA 2K26

Epilogue

Appreciations to all the devs that made the games that released in 2025 possible. Video games just continue to capture our imaginations, and it’s just getting more and more impressive with the way games are evolving and are continuing to push the limits of tech, cinematic storytelling, music, and in every other way this medium has continued to grow.

I have a few ideas heading into this next year that will hopefully help immerse me further into a ton of new games that I wouldn’t normally find myself exploring, and I’m going to try to turn that into a series of posts here on Giant Bomb as a way to chronicle it. So look out for that if you want.

Lastly, on the subject of Giant Bomb:

Hey, I just want to say that the state of the website right now is an absolute delight, and a real miracle given how everything has gone down over the past year. Appreciations to Chuck, truly, for making sure this little corner of the internet continues to live. I’d even argue that it’s not only living, it’s got the foundation to be able to thrive, and what the future holds seems to be super exciting.

Thank you to all the staff who keep this silly website kicking year after year. It’s exciting to witness now that it's fully independent, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say we appreciate all you do.

Oh hey, it’s 2026 now.

- JJ