I can try to claim that the reason I am making this blog post about the games I've played in 2025 is because this year has had an abnormal amount of great games that came out or something, but the real reason is because this is my blog and I want to be self-indulgent and talk about things I like and if you clicked into this you have opted into my ramblings[1]. I also want to get another post out about music in 2025 before the end of the year, too.
The way I think about games is I split them into two categories, time sink games and finite games. Time sink games are the ones where there's no specific end goal in mind when playing them. Some games are fuzzy but most of these are pretty obvious, a competitive game has no real ending or a roguelike is something you just keep playing until you feel like moving on. I love time sink games and they are definitely what I spend most of my time with. It's to the point that I usually have trouble finishing finite games because I always just feel like playing a few ranked matches with my free time rather than playing more of whichever finite game I'm currently playing. I'll pick and and drop finite games practically randomly, so I hardly finish them.
This year I have made a slight effort to try to be better about playing and actually finishing finite games. In 2024, I started keeping track of all the games (and all other media) I play, so I can see that I did end up I finishing more games this year (16) compared to last year (4). And uh, I started writing that sentence before looking up the actual numbers, and uh, wow? Like I just said "slight" effort but no, that is a big of a difference. I have accepted that I start way more games than I finish (and am okay with that), but I guess 2025 was actually a reasonable effort by me, and 2024 was frankly embarrassing. The first game in 2024 I finished was on January 1st, so that's really a 2023 game, and the other three games were in February, February, and April. I did not roll credits on a game (excluding randomizers, which are time sink games) for eight months. I'm glad I started writing all these down because that's wild to look back at.
For 2025, I ended up playing 18 time sink games (ranging anywhere from one play session to hundreds of hours) and playing 28 finite games. Finishing 16/28 is also something that surprises me now that I look at it. I have a friend who teases me for starting way more games than I finish, especially because I am obsessed with the dopamine I get from multiplayer competitive games. Like I will occasionally take a break from fighting games just to kinda give myself a mental reset, but last time he was quick to point out that I started playing quite a bit of the ADV ladder on Pokemon Showdown during that break. With my track record, I'll take a ~60% completion rate.
The back half of this post is going to be me talking about normal games I really enjoyed, but I do want to talk about the time sink games I put the most effort and time into, or just wanna talk about in some way.
Rivals of Aether 2
I was very deeply invested in this game from its release in October 2024 into the first half of 2025. Obviously, I put a lot of time into fighting games in general, but this one was maybe the most focused, intentional effort I've ever put into a fighting game. It was something that I would constantly be thinking about even when out and about in my day. I think it was around June maybe, but I kinda just completely stopped playing the game. This had nothing to do with not liking the game, but it just felt like I didn't want to invest myself in that way anymore. A big part of this was not really vibing with the Smash scene whenever I did go to events. The subtle ways that the FGC and the Smash scene are different really make me feel out of place when I went to Rivals events. I did end up signing up for this game for Frosty next year, so I think I will start playing it again.
Street Fighter 6
SF6 is a good game that I really like and mostly don't really agree with the common complaints about the game (except for Mai, I hate her) and I enjoy the process of trying to get better at. In fact, my Rivals grind helped me refine my approach to improvement in SF6. However, me playing this game was never going to last. My true love are tag fighters and 2XKO is out and Tokon is on the horizon. June 2023 to August 2025 was a good run but I think this chapter is done.
Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond
I am not very good at them, but I really love card games. As time goes on, the urge to play one increases until I cave and play whatever is flavor of the month. I had played the previous Shadowverse just a bit so I was okay with trying this one, and I had a few friends also playing. I had my issues with WB's gameplay, but the real reason I stopped playing is that this game is just a full on Cygames gacha and I get so annoyed when a game tries forcing me into their loops and reward structures. I put up with it for a month or so but a pretty boring meta was enough to tip the scales that I uninstalled. At some point I might need to grow up and start playing a physical card game with real people, but we'll see.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Defeat Ganon Classic Kakariko Route Speedruns
This is a game I always wanted to speedrun (as it is a speedgame that I watch a ton of) but I never wanted to mod a Wii or learn any of the current routes. When they created the Kak Route category (basically playing the game without using any strats found after 2015, I looked more into running on emulator and set it up. This is a really iconic and nostalgic route while also being a very nice length for a run for me, so it was a lot of fun finally learning the game. I actually never finished a run here, but it is one I will get back to. Speedruns are like card games where the urge for them increases over time, so it's only a matter of time.
2XKO
I don't have much to say about this one yet, but as it is my current time sink game (and likely will be for the next while), it feels like I should mention it. Game is fun, but has problems, but is pretty okay for a first version, but we don't know if Riot will do a good job with it going forward, but also the local scene for it is cool. The last one is the important one for me right now, so I'll keep playing.
Before I do the grandiose "Top Games of 2025" section, I think I'll also talk about some finite games I have some assorted, short thoughts about, too.
I replayed Cave Story for the first time in years and the game is really just as much of a masterpiece as I remember it. I got my save file up to hell, but I still need to do finish that part but it is kinda miserable. 1000xResist was a beautiful narrative but also I think the most impressive part about it is that it changes how you are told the story in such interesting and varied ways. Baldur's Gate 3 was a game I knew I wouldn't finish, but after playing some other RPGs this year, I realized how much I actually didn't care for that game. I'm also not really a cozy game player, but Wanderstop is so much more interesting with its narrative and gameplay, it really makes the other games feel so bland. Final Fantasy Tactics is a game I've been very slowly playing throughout the year. My heart still belongs to FFTA but yeah, okay, I get it, I get why the FFT fans hate on FFTA. And Aeruta almost made it onto the final shortlist but I think I'll try to avoid recency bias with that one. I think if you want a fun game-y game, it's very worth it.
Anyway onto the ones I liked the most.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Were you about to ask why an old game is in my top games of 2025? You noticed I talked about non-2025 games already, right? It's new to me, so it counts.
I keep talking about the charge meters for certain genres that build over time, where I feel the urge to play a game in that genre as time goes on. Metroidvanias are more of a traditional cooldown, where I play one and feel content for a while before I really wanna spend time on another one. The genre is fun enough, but not in and of itself a huge draw for me. "I'm much more of a classic Castlevania fan", is usually how I put it.
If every game was as good as SotN, I don't think I would say that. SotN was always a "I should get around to that one" game and I finally pulled the trigger at the start of this year. And like, it's actually just as good as its reputation is says it is, which is a crazy bar to clear. I feel like there's not too much to say because all the stuff that's really good about it is known, just like a stellar game in all regards. Any time I play or even look at a metroidvania now, all I think is "this isn't as good as SotN."
The one thing that I wasn't expecting but stuck out to me was how well spaced the fast travel is. I think it might be too spaced out for some people's tastes these days, but I think they are soft and weak-willed. It makes you engage with the castle map and really familiarize yourself with it, in a game where knowledge of the castle is rewarded with the second half of the game. In contrast, I also played BLADECHIMERA this year, which is a metroidvania where you can teleport to any square on the map at any point. It was my least favorite thing about that game and led to some truly lame play patterns (constantly teleporting back and forth to a save point any time any progress is made). SotN just perfectly lands in such a good sweetspot that I've never felt in any other metroidvania.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
This is another one that is like, if you wanna hear what's good about it you probably have already, and if not you can find any number of reviews about this game from people who can articulate its strengths better than me. But I can at least talk my experience with it.
When the first buzz about this game popped up, the early glowing reviews and hype from games media, something didn't smell right. I think all we had before was a trailer and then all of a sudden we had people pushing narratives of "look at what this brand new indie studio was able to do" and "we finally have a new turn-based JRPG". I looked into it more and saw that the game had a film adaptation confirmed months before the game's release and was like "okay yeah, this is an industry plant game." Maybe the game was good, but its praises felt forced.
The path from that point into playing the game myself caught me off guard. A friend of mine played through the game and loved it, and he's the biggest JRPG snob I know. In particular, he talked about the game's story with a reverence that I hadn't heard him talk with any other game before, and that was enough to make me curious. JPRGs are a genre I've always wanted to enjoy, but a combination of battle systems I don't love combined with 50+ hour completion times almost always results in me dropping a game. But I always wish I could experience the grandiose stories that these games often have. Hearing my friend specifically praise the story made me interested. I had watched him play a bit of the game, and the battle system did seem interesting, and the dodge/parry based defense would definitely be good for keeping my attention long term. And then allegedly the game was only 30 hours long, so it seemed like maybe this could be a rare JRPG that I could actually finish.
Amusingly when I did finish it, I had spent 55 hours on the game. Other than Tears of the Kingdom, I cannot remember when was the last time I spent 55 hours on a finite game. Admittedly, a large amount of that was me spending way too much time fighting guys who were too strong for me, but if I just got a liiiiittle bit better at dodging I could win the fight. It would be a 20 minute fight and any mistake was death, but that's what ended up being really fun for me, in the same it felt to practice a speedrun. The game is just extremely good in so many ways, and I was not expecting to come out of this year loving a JRPG this much.
I guess that's what it takes for me to play a JRPG. I'll see you guys again in seven years.
despelote
The funny thing about writing about despelote is that this game is the reason I started this blog. I played the game and I was so moved that I wanted to organize my thoughts and share them. I thought about maybe making a medium post but around that same time I saw someone post about zonelets. I realized I could just be someone who had a blog. And now after seven months I'm finally writing about despelote.
despelote is a semi-autobiographical game where you play as Julian, an eight year old boy growing up in Ecuador in specifically 2002, the first time the country qualified for the FIFA World Cup. It has really pretty and unique artstyle, combining a duotone dithering shader for the environment with childlike hand-drawn drawings for things of interest, like people, a few objects, and of course, a soccer ball. You play through short snippets of Julian's life: playing soccer during recess, going around with his mom on errands, or being dragged to a wedding he doesn't want to go to. Every adult is telling Julian how important Ecuador's miracle run to qualify is, but Julian just wants to play with his friends.
I was nine years old in 2002. I was playing soccer during recess, going around with my mom on errands, and being dragged to weddings I didn't want to go to. My brother and dad were extremely excited about the World Cup, but I was too young to want to sit through a game. There were plenty of differences between two kids growing up in the US and Ecuador, but I felt so much kinship with Julian. I have never felt more connected to a video game protagonist before, even 23 years removed.
The game didn't let it stop there. There are individual scenes that felt so familiar to me even though they are from someone else's perspective. There's a moment in the game where your mom drops you off at a park but tells you to not leave that spot. Just wait here, she'll be back in two hours. You look down at your watch, and time is stagnant. Definitely can't sit here doing nothing for two hours. So you wander away and find some of the neighborhood kids with a ball, and you start playing. You make sure to keep checking your watch. It's been forty minutes, you can play some more. Check again, wait, it's already been an hour and a half? That was fast, you need to head back soon so your mom doesn't find out you left the spot. But you should be good to play a bit more, just gotta make sure to not get carried away...
I feel like it was lifted from my life. I had plenty of times where I forgot to check my watch and came home too late after playing with the kids in my neighborhood.
I don't think I'm a particularly sentimental or nostalgic person. I have fond memories but I don't find myself reminiscing over those moments very often, and I'm not someone who yearns for the days of childhood innocence. But despelote had me thinking about these experiences Julian and I shared. Not in a way that I was longing for them, but marveling at the similarities of being a kid despite thousands of miles of distance. I am a big sports fan in part because I love how it creates sense of community and comradery among strangers. It makes me happy that even the memories of being a kid on the periphery of sports can also create that connection.
The game has a few other moments that I think will resonate with people that I didn't talk about, some of it not specific to playing sports. The game is short, around 90 minutes to play through, and I think it has a really introspective ending that's really beautiful. It's the one game on this list that I will explicitly say "you should play it."
After all that, I don't think I have too many specific concluding thoughts about my 2025 year in video games. I spent the whole year kinda going back and forth on whether I liked Clair Obscur or despelote more, but I think after writing this I know despelote means more to me. I also happened to land on a good mix of new, old, and really old games, and I hope next year is as fruitful. If you have any thoughts on anything here I'd be down to talk about it, I have a lot I could yap about, especially if you end up playing despelote.
[1] thank you thank you thank you for reading my stuff. attention is an incredibly valuable resource and that you spend any of it on me means the world to me ;_;