Branching Path: Josh Torres’ High 10 Video games of 2025

My favourite video games of 2025 caught me a bit off-guard. There had been a handful of releases I assumed I’d find yourself loving, however they missed the mark for me in sudden methods. The sport that really exemplified this for me was Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition as a result of I liked the unique launch on Wii U, but the Definitive Edition disillusioned me after I put over 120 hours into it. Other releases that I had excessive hopes for, similar to Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii and Monster Hunter Wilds, didn’t shake out effectively for me both.

Instead, there have been many new video games that weren’t from a longtime IP and/or collection I wasn’t acquainted with that I found in 2025. I’ve all the time liked the sensation of randomly going right into a sport with an unbiased, untainted perspective with no preconceptions or expectations for it and ending up loving it. It’s why I strive to not feverishly search up others’ opinions for a lot of video games I need to play. Maybe this isn’t the place I must be sharing that.

As all the time, I’ve grown more and more egocentric with these private finish of the 12 months wrap-ups. Here are a number of Honorable Mentions that I need to shout out earlier than entering into my high 10; the Honorable Mentions haven’t any ranked order to them.

Honorable Mentions

• Dear me, I used to be… – Taisuke Kanasaki’s latest sport is a brief, however significant expertise that tells an emotional story with no voicelines. It’s capable of convey a message on a common scale by way of the lifetime of a lady and her relation to artwork.
  
• Earthion – Yuzo Koshiro passionately talked concerning the improvement of this sport for a very long time, and I felt like I’d be betraying that man if I didn’t get it. Thankfully, Ancient’s latest shmup is fantastic, responsive, and exquisite.
  
• Trails within the Sky 1st Chapter – I’m a bit cautious of Nihon Falcom’s prior remake efforts with the Trails collection by way of the Evolution remakes years in the past. 1st Chapter is a a lot, significantly better remake comparatively, although the subpar localization in comparison with its authentic model does harm the legacy of its preliminary English launch a bit. Still, I can’t wait to see how Trails within the Sky 2nd Chapter will depict many scenes and crossing my fingers that Trails within the Sky the third will get a full remake as effectively.
  
• Fate/hole ataraxia Remastered – Absolutely thrilled that certainly one of my favourite Type-Moon visible novels lastly bought an official English launch. I even want it over Fate/keep evening, however totally ending that title is required to understand what Fate/hole ataraxia does as a sequel. This was so cool to see this 12 months.
  
• Super Robot Wars Y – While I proceed to not be the most important fan of the general visible route of the trendy Super Robot Wars video games, the animation updates to Wing Gundam Zero (Endless Waltz model) to rejoice Gundam Wing’s thirtieth anniversary had been completely stellar on this title. There had been loads of different components I appreciated that made SRW Y a stable entry total.
  
• Duet Night Abyss – This launched on the finish of October and I’m fairly positive I nearly have 300 hours sunk into it. I hope this ultimately turns into a greater sport; I can’t advocate it in good religion except your mind is wired in a really particular approach. I’d write about this sport ultimately, however I’m nonetheless questioning how imply I need to be in it.
  
• Kara no Shoujo / The Shell trilogy (consists of The Shell Part I: Inferno, The Shell Part II: Purgatorio, & The Shell Part III: Paradiso) – This visible novel trilogy by Innocent Grey has been advisable to me for a lot of, a few years. I lastly began them initially of December, and am at present studying Part III. I can see why individuals name it a masterpiece, although I’ll warn you with intensive content material warnings that these video games are stuffed with excessive content material since you examine ugly, graphic crime scenes typically and plenty of sequences that eloquently element how the assassin carried out their deed to the sufferer. It’s purposeful and doesn’t lavish within the extremity of its content material; I ultimately need to do an in depth write-up of my expertise as a result of there’s a lot I need to discuss.

10) Road to Empress I

I’m all the time down for an entertaining FMV sport, particularly when it’s equally as enjoyable to undergo with spectators. I gave Road to Empress I a whirl when it launched, and was instantly hooked after I found the quantity of lifeless dangerous ends I’d be ceaselessly working into. There’s a sure artistry to Road to Empress I that I admire. The ensemble manages to strike a becoming tonal stability in how critical or light-hearted their efficiency must be on any given scene. FMV video games typically ceaselessly take me out of the expertise due to their proverbial wink and nod to the participant; in the meantime, Road to Empress I actually immersed my pals and I all through my playthrough. Also, the manufacturing worth within the excessive constancy of its outfits and stage designs had been excellent; I can’t anticipate the sequel in a number of months.

9) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

You’ve most likely learn concerning the professionals and cons of this sport to dying many instances over all through 2025. There’s not a lot I can meaningfully add, however I do need to posit an optimistic perspective on the ripples that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 could trigger for many individuals. I perceive the frustration of seeing conversations between less-versed of us that basically haven’t dabbled in turn-based RPGs and them expressing how this sport “solved” / “fixed” / and so forth. the style for them.

My optimistic hope is that Expedition 33 opens the door for individuals to provide different turn-based RPGs a whirl. There can be issues about their expertise with Expedition 33 that they favored and disliked; I’m constructive that vitality from taking part in Expedition 33, whether or not they accomplished it or not, will go away them curious to check out different video games. If you come throughout this, earnestly hear them out and make the most of their momentary willingness to advocate them one thing that hopefully resonates with them positively. 

8) Digimon Story: Time Stranger

The Digimon franchise made an actual comeback for me in 2025. Digimon Story: Time Stranger had a fairly prolonged improvement cycle, however the wait ended up being price it. There are so many charming points about Time Stranger that make it harking back to a PlayStation 2 period sport throughout its JRPG golden period. Of course, it’s not with out its flaws however its versatile Digivolution mechanics and vibrant, energetic rendition of the Digital World: Iliad made it a blast to play by way of.

It additionally reinvigorated my curiosity in Digimon, so I gave that new Digimon Beatbreak TV anime a shot and it’s been an absolute pleasure to comply with weekly. I’ve been watching it with a good friend who has by no means interacted with the Digimon collection previous to Beatbreak they usually’ve been having fun with all of it the identical. Digimon actually had been the champions of 2025.

7) Sektori

Sektori is the only sport on my favourite 2025 sport lineup that has the superpower of creating me lock-in from 0 to 10 in a matter of seconds. This sport calls for your full consideration if you wish to achieve success, since trying away for even a cut up second may spell your demise. You could have heard it described as a mixture between Geometry Wars with a Gradius-esque power-up system. 

My appreciation for this sport didn’t fairly click on into place till I discovered it was from former Housemarque developer Kimmo Lahtinen. I used to be completely in love with Super Stardust HD again within the day, and Lahtinen even served as programming lead over its PSP port Super Stardust Portable. They additionally labored on Resogun as effectively, which was stellar. I feel that lineage linked loads of dots of why Sektori clicked so arduous for me.

6) Absolum

If you’ve adopted me for a bit, you recognize that I worth management responsiveness loads in relation to video games – irrespective of the style. Absolum was one of many strongest beat ‘em up games this year, and I attribute much of my love for it to how sublime it felt to play. Its punchy sound design in combat and freeform combo system also factor into my appreciation of Absolum. Plus, all its playable characters are a ton of fun to experiment with.

I can also just go on and on about its incredible animation all-around, gorgeous backgrounds, wonderful tunes, and a myriad of other small details. My only significant complaint was that it wrapped up too quickly, though it seems there’ll be a future content material replace coming to it. I’m able to dive again in as soon as it has extra stuff to do.

5) Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road

I beforehand did an intensive write-up summarizing this sport’s grueling improvement cycle, and the way it really ended up being definitely worth the lengthy wait. While I used to be conscious of the Inazuma Eleven collection, I by no means performed certainly one of them till Victory Road. The single-player Story Mode has a few of the greatest moments in video video games this 12 months. There’s additionally an intensive Chronicle Mode that gives an abridged retelling of each single Inazuma Eleven sport and anime, which might take many, many hours to get by way of.

Level-5 continues to be regularly including extra to it over the subsequent few months, together with an absolute plethora of patches addressing bugfixes and participant suggestions. In phrases of scope and sheer scale of its whole mission lifespan, Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road is arguably essentially the most formidable mission on this listing. I think about there have been numerous miracles behind-the-scenes that led to the place the sport is now.

4) Ball x Pit

An unconventionally unholy amalgamation of Breakout-ish mechanics and Vampire Survivors-esque development. Ball x Pit is a title that feels like a nightmare on paper, but by some means it comes collectively fairly harmoniously. I noticed the builders share the evolution of this game’s development and the quite a few prototypes it went by way of; sport improvement is an unimaginable factor to see unfold.

It took a number of hours for Ball x Pit to click on with me however as soon as it did, pricey god was I hooked. The quite a few unlockable characters and power-ups actually assist maintain the expertise recent. There was even a personality that made the complete sport turn-based and whereas that will not have been essentially the most thrilling expertise to me, I appreciated that it was included, nonetheless. I love the arrogance that Ball x Pit exudes.

3) Popucom

A buddy and I often hunt down new video games that require co-op to play by way of. There had been a number of in 2025 that we checked out, similar to Split Fiction and Lego Voyagers. We performed Popucom after these, and we had been each blown away at what we skilled. Popucom comes from Arknights studio Hypergryph; I’m stunned that Popucom wasn’t extra fashionable this 12 months. It is definitely probably the most fascinating, modern co-op video games I’ve ever performed.

You and one other participant undergo quite a few linear phases, and every participant is assigned two colours that they will change between instantaneously. Enemies, and different stage mechanics, are sometimes related to a shade, so the designated participant with the matching shade are the one ones that may both harm the opponent or interact with the stage mechanic. For occasion, a rotating pillar that has yellow lasers spewing out of it will possibly solely be blocked with a participant’s yellow barrier instrument.

Despite its cartoony aesthetic, Popucom has a few of the most fleshed out co-op interactions that creatively intertwine each gamers’ co-dependency on each other. Its bosses are very cool as effectively, as a result of enemies work on match-3 Puzzle Bobble guidelines. Many bosses are structured like a balloon artist’s creation, and their animations dynamically change as completely different elements of them pop by way of gamers’ assaults. I strongly urge extra individuals to play this sport as quickly as attainable.

2) Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time

Another Level-5 sport that I extensively wrote up about by myself. Although its improvement historical past wasn’t so long as Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road’s journey, it nonetheless suffered by way of its personal share of challenges. I went into Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time underneath related circumstances to Victory Road; I knew of the Fantasy Life video games, however I by no means bought round to taking part in them.

This was an ideal sport to chill out to, after I began to really feel a bit burnt out from quite a few different obligations all year long. It is a sport that’s mechanically easy, but deep sufficient to spend numerous hours on thoughtlessly. Fantasy Life i is a little bit of a harmful sport when you’ve got different urgent issues to take care of, because it’s simple to fireside it up and burn 6-7+ hours within the blink of a watch. I sadly carry the “Love to Grind Multiple Interconnected Job Classes” gene, so Fantasy Life i scratched that itch arduous. It lately bought an enormous free content material replace that I ought to take a look at someday.

1) Dynasty Warriors: Origins

The Dynasty Warriors collection is close to and pricey to my coronary heart. I’ve been a lifelong fan ever since I booted up the PlayStation 2 disc that had the Dynasty Warriors 3 demo on it. Of course, the collection has been up and down over time but it surely was trying very dire after the disastrous launch of Dynasty Warriors 9; many followers and I believed that Dynasty Warriors was crossing the River Styx after that entry. Omega Force and Koei Tecmo had been pretty silent on the Dynasty Warriors collection in recent times as they launched into producing Musou spinoffs for different franchises.

Lo and behold, Omega Force dared to let me, and the complete Dynasty Warriors fanbase, dream once more. Dynasty Warriors: Origins is an unimaginable reimagining of the collection because it restructured the sport to ship a extra narratively intimate story expertise. I can perceive the frustration from people who wished a extra conventional Dynasty Warriors expertise, particularly the extreme playable character roster cuts and lack of Free Mode that made prior mainline entries extra choose up and play pleasant.

I see Origins as a brand new separate basis aside from the mainline collection; it seeks a brand new, recent starting with a baseline that truly feels prefer it was designed for this era’s {hardware} in thoughts. The ocean of our bodies on-screen in Origins is totally mind-blowing at instances and the reworked weapon movesets/talents enable for various weapon sorts to hold their very own mechanical gimmick. If this sport failed, I really assume that the Dynasty Warriors collection would’ve met its demise, so Origins’ success is one thing which means loads to me.

This new reinvigoration of the collection has an attention-grabbing wave of momentum going into 2026; Origins can be receiving a considerable DLC enlargement that carry “what-if” marketing campaign eventualities from different factions except for the first Wei, Wu, and Shu camps. Plus, Dynasty Warriors 3 Complete Edition Remastered is remaking a universally beloved entry and I’m crossing my fingers very arduous that they don’t mess up certainly one of my favourite video games of all time. It’s a very good time to be a Dynasty Warriors fan and I’ll by no means go up the chance to reward it when it’s rightfully deserved.