Branching Path: James Galizio’s Top 10 Games of 2025

2025 wasn’t quite the year I expected when it came to game releases; usually I can figure out a thesis for what games I ended up playing, and which became my favorites, but this go around I don’t exactly know if I can fully square that circle besides some usual suspects. What also didn’t help matters is that there were absolutely some games that I’d hoped to get to by the end of the year that completely passed me by; games like Digimon Story: Time Stranger, among others. Maybe I can blame how much time I spent raiding in Final Fantasy XIV this year; but I still ended up playing a ton, so I don’t know how well that excuse lands. Especially since that was my same excuse last year… oops!

Much like last year, I’ve got a list of my 10 “runner-up” games I finished this year, my main list, and then a list of 10 games that could have ended up on this list – if only I’d had the time to finish them. Shockingly enough, a few of the games that I’d intended to play last year I got around to this year – so maybe there’s hope that in a few years time I could re-evaluate how things stand. That’s not what we’ll be doing today, though. With no further ado:

Ten Games That Didn’t Quite Make My Top Ten, But Rule Anyway (In no specific order)

Monster Hunter Wilds – If you’d have asked me at the end of last year, I was certain Wilds was going to be my Game of the Year for 2025, but a host of technical issues – even on literal top-of-the-line hardware – and a number of core issues with the gameplay loop, as well as a dearth of endgame content at launch, meant I’m heading into 2026 with fingers crossed that the eventual expansion can help right the ship – but I’m by no means counting on that with any degree of certainty.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – I enjoyed Expedition 33 a great, great deal – but over time a lot of those feelings have grown diminished a tad. Part of it has to do with story spoilers I’d rather not go into; part of it is everything surrounding the GenAI usage. It’s still an incredible RPG, and I completely understand how it has received its flowers.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time – It’s a damn shame that Level-5 is obsessed with GenAI, because it absolutely has overshadowed what has been an incredible year of releases for the company, and a total return to form. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is an excellent game that somehow manages to make every disparate part work, which I didn’t expect in a million years.

Dear me, I was… – It’s rare that I play a game that doesn’t even last a full hour that sticks with me as much as this one. Arc System Works made it their goal this year to start releasing games that aren’t just the Fighting Games the company has been known for; while I don’t want to ruin the surprise for what this game is actually about, if this is any indication for the future of the company, things are in very good hands.

Time Flies – What do you do with the time life has given you? How does the place you were born impact those prospects? Time Flies isn’t just a game about those questions, but the idea of trying to squeeze every item on your bucket list within the very short lifespan of a fly is both an engaging and introspective experience that leaves you questioning what you’re doing with your own life, even after the credits roll.

Hades 2 – I loved everything about Hades 2 that wasn’t the story. Maybe things would have been different if I hadn’t finished the game before Supergiant rewrote the ending; but what’s done is done. If you loved Hades’s gameplay, Hades 2 is a massive improvement, and undoubtedly is one of the best games of 2025. If you’re lucky enough to haven’t played it yet, don’t hesitate to give it a shot. I just wish I had waited a little bit longer before I did.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A – This almost made it on my main list, but the DLC actively made me enjoy the game worse – if I were to re-review the game, I’d probably give it an 8. Mega Dimension is a massive slog and it’s honestly shocking that they released it in the state they did.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment – Age of Imprisonment is an excellent Zelda game, but what holds it back from my main list is how it feels a bit underwhelming as a Musou title. It’s still a title I heartily recommend to anyone who owns a Switch 2, but I just wish there were some missions that more actively felt like I was playing a Warriors title.

Ys X: Proud Nordics – While I enjoyed Ys X when it first dropped in Japan in 2023, I felt it ended up an uneven experience when all was said and done. This currently Switch 2-exclusive re-release with a rather unfortunate subtitle does a lot to improve matters, but it still doesn’t quite match the heights of Ys VIII. Can we get an Ys IX re-release next?

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance – Between Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi, 2025 lived up to Koei Tecmo’s moniker of it being “The Year of the Ninja”; and while I did enjoy my time with Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, I didn’t finish it. Shinobi was a great action platformer with light metroidvania elements, but it just didn’t quite crack the top 10.

10) Katamari Damacy: Rolling Live

Two new mainline Katamari Damacy games released this year, and here I am actively saying that the one exclusive to Apple Arcade was the better of the two. I’m saying this because I am correct, and Once Upon a Katamari was just ok while Rolling Live felt like something like a lost 3rd PS2 game; not quite as good as We Love, but good nonetheless. It also has probably the best soundtrack of the series in a very long time, and some fascinating ideas for levels – cleaning out the bath house is inspired, as is the level where you’re rolling up all the light sticks for a concert until your Katamari is one giant neon blob. Hopefully this one gets a port to other platforms in 2026?

9) Lumines Arise

Speaking of giant neon blobs; Lumines Arise was the best VR game I’ve played this year, even if most people won’t play this in VR. I’ve always wanted to get into Lumines, I’ve made attempts in the past, but this revival from the same team that made The Tetris Effect was exactly what I needed. It’s crazy how this incredible album came with a free video game – complete with some absolutely gorgeous visuals for each stage, from dancing iguanas, to eggs that hatch into birds flying all across your screen, to train crossing signs. If you at all enjoyed The Tetris Effect, give this one a shot, especially if you have a VR headset. 

8) Look Outside

This was the latest addition to my list, and I’ve said all I need to say about it for our best of 2025 feature. Look Outside is an RPG that everyone should at least give a try, because it’s truly one of the singular best games of the year.

7) Silent Hill f

The moment that it was confirmed that Ryukishi07, of When They Cry fame, was writing for Silent Hill f – I knew there was a decent chance it would be one of the best games of the year it released in, and I was right. I’d never played a Silent Hill prior to this; I was a GameCube kid growing up, and by the time I’d got a PlayStation 3 the series’ heyday had already come and gone. I’ve been meaning to get into the series – and more horror games in general since Alan Wake II a few years back, honestly – and Silent Hill f felt like one of the best places to start. Sure the combat wasn’t great, and the multiple playthroughs got a bit grating over time, but the true ending still stuck the landing well enough to cement it as one of my favorite games of the year.

6) Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter

Much like with Look Outside, I’ve already said everything I want to about Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter earlier this year; despite some legitimate issues with the new translation, this is probably one of the best remakes I’ve ever played in terms of how lovingly it recreates the feeling of playing the original. It’s almost good enough to make me ok with the follow-up to Trails Beyond the Horizon not releasing until 2027 at the earliest. Almost.

5) Kirby Air Riders

Kirby Air Ride was probably the singular game I put the most time into on GameCube as a kid, and I’d never even dreamt we’d get a follow-up; let alone one that so thoroughly washes the original. Kirby Air Riders is a dream come true, comes packed with so much content, and the new City Trial is a glorious mess. I’d almost considered putting this in my top slot – as with any of the other games in my top 5. More than everything else, this was the singular best game I played on my shiny new Nintendo Switch 2 this year; as strong a start as any for a console platform.

4) Lies of P: Overture

Yet again, another game I’ve already written about! Lies of P: Overture is an incredible DLC to an already great game, and cements Round8 as a studio to keep an eye on for the future. We might not have Bloodborne on PC – officially, anyway – but we do have the next best thing. I’m in day-1 for whatever is coming from the team next.

3) Peak

It’s Peak.

“Friendslop” was the genre that best represented 2025, and despite the negative connotations of the term they’ve been some of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had this year with friends. Of them all, Peak has consistently been the best. One of my most memorable gaming moments of the year was the one time I somehow found my way to the end of a level well before my friends and had an intimate meeting with the Hat Man, and then a one-way trip all the way back down the mountain – screaming all the way. Classic.

2) Hollow Knight: Silksong

An incredible follow-up in every sense of the word; while I loved the original Hollow Knight, Silksong feels like an evolution in all the right ways to make it the better game – at least for me. I greatly appreciated the more overt focus on the story this go around, and I love that Hornet is given plenty of opportunity to show her own character.

Between that and the sheer scope of the game, I’m frankly a bit shocked that it *only* took 7 years to develop this; because you sure as hell can feel every day that Team Cherry spent on this. A masterpiece in every sense.

1) Angeline Era

Angeline Era is a game that was developed for Nihon Falcom sickos like me. Inspired, in the team’s own words, by games like Ys I, Ys: Oath in Felghana, and a number of other unnamed titles I can trace the game’s mechanics backwards towards. Yet it’s so much more than its inspirations, a game fully confident in its own ideas, and its own takes on what has been done before; having to “search” for the entrances to levels by noticing conspicuous spots on the overworld is a touch of genius, and all the little ways that the team plays with your own expectations lends the entire game a playfulness that fits perfectly with the game’s Fae-filled world.

I hesitate to say too much about the game’s story, but Tets Kinoshta’s journey is a fascinating allegory for the intersectionality of his faith, his ethnicity, and his own lived background. Angeline Era is not a Christian video game, despite its explicit subject matter. Yet, at its core, it is a game about faith – of what you choose to put your faith in.

Ten Games That Could’ve Been On My Top 10, And It Physically Pains Me That I Didn’t Play Them

Just like last year, there were at least 10 games that I wanted to play – or finish – this year that I just wasn’t able to fully get around to, and narrowing things down was actually pretty difficult this go around. Maybe I’ll finish more than just a handful of these in 2026; though truthfully I’m not holding my breath.

• The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy – It’s crazy that a game I put 50+ hours into I didn’t play enough of it to feel like I could drop it on my main list; I beat the prologue, and a number of routes, but I have yet to see the “truth” ending, let alone the ending locked behind story locks. Maybe I’ll get around to that in the new year.
• Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake – I (basically) finished Dragon Quest I, and started Dragon Quest II, but I just didn’t have enough time to finish it in time for the new year. Once again, this is one I sincerely hope I can get around to in the new year; and, hey, I did end up finishing Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, so maybe that’s a good sign that’ll happen again!
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II – I started this up and played about 20 hours as a bit of catch-up for the RPG of the Year deliberations, but I wasn’t able to finish it. That all being said, I very much liked what I played, and I could have seen it ending up on my full list if I’d managed to finish it.
• Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist – I’d loved Ender Lilies, and I know I’ll end up enjoying this whenever I get to it. I do believe it will happen eventually, but no promises that will be in 2026. Hopefully it won’t take too long.
• Split Fiction – I loved It Takes Two, and I fully intended to play this follow-up – I just never got around to it, and everyone I knew that did want to play it, ended up doing so with someone else. No clue when I’ll be getting to this one with that all considered, sadly.
• Baby Steps – I played a few hours of this earlier in the year, realized I wanted to play the full game on stream, and haven’t picked it up again since. Definitely quite enjoyed what I played, and there was absolutely a chance it would have ended up on my list.
• The Midnight Walk – This looked like a delightful game, especially for VR. I wanted to play it several times during the year, but I just never quite got around to it; maybe next year.
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger – One of these days I will finish a Digimon RPG. That day is not today, but sometime in the future; I sincerely hope 2026 will be that year. I’ve loved what I played, but it just released at a bad time for me.
• Sektori – I absolutely loved what I played of this, but I haven’t actually cleared a run yet, and so not only is my list marred by its absence, but also my shame at as of yet being unable to do so.
• Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road – In my defense; I am an American. I have enough to be ashamed of this year, but also I don’t know much about Football (Soccer). What I played at Tokyo Game Show got me interested, and I’ll maybe get around to it eventually, but as of now it’s yet another game that I might have ended up enjoying enough to put on my list.

Like every year, 2025 was a massive year for game releases – and 2026 looks like it will be no different. I’ll be struggling with catching up with my backlog while attempting to keep up with the upcoming new releases – and the only silver lining is that I’m already caught up with Falcom releases. On the flip side, there’s a new Final Fantasy XIV raid tier dropping next week, and an Ultimate raid in the months ahead. I’ll need all the luck I can to keep up; best of luck in 2026, everyone. Why did I agree to play through every 2022 Square Enix release this year.