All The Video Video games I Began However Did Not End In 2025

If the commenters of this web site and in addition the Defector Twitch chat are to be believed, I’ve many issues, however there’s one which haunts me each single day: I’m horrible at ending video video games. Just a completely canine shit completionist, that is what I’m. I performed a whole lot of video games in 2025, thanks each to how I’m as an individual and in addition The Backlog, which compelled me to energy by way of video games after I felt the itch to begin one thing else. I’m pleased with that effort: I completed each Backlog recreation however one, which was so common that I merely couldn’t power myself to spend any extra hours on it; that recreation is on the checklist beneath.

Aside from the video games I completed for The Backlog, although, I solely completed one recreation all yr. That recreation was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, winner of a ton of end-of-year awards and topic of excruciating discourse. (I additionally wrote about that recreation, and I will not fake the attract of an entire weblog wasn’t an enormous a part of me ending it; it was additionally only a actually good recreation). Other than that, although, by a tough tally of my libraries on my Switch, PS5, and PC, I began 26 video games this yr that I didn’t end.

This is unhealthy! I’ve spent a whole bunch if not 1000’s of {dollars} on video video games this yr—in my protection, most of those video games had been both low cost to start with or on sale for underneath $20—and there are much more video games than the 26 beneath that I purchased and by no means even put in. There are many causes for why I finished a recreation earlier than reaching the top credit. For some, I simply misplaced curiosity, both resulting from turning into so overpowered that it felt like I used to be going by way of the motions (Tactics Ogre: Reborn) or simply as a result of the sport peaked early (Fire Emblem: Engage). For others, I simply stink at enjoying the sport (Hades, Hades II, Hollow Knight, Elden Ring). And for an unlucky batch of video games, I simply ended up getting distracted by World of Warcraft, as I typically do (Disco Elysium playthrough quantity, like, seven was going nicely till a brand new WoW season got here out).

What all of those have in frequent is that I misplaced momentum. I can not actually play a number of story-based video games directly, and so I would like to have the ability to maintain my momentum going with out getting FOMO for another recreation—typically, that FOMO comes simply from seeing a random social media submit a few recreation and considering “Ooh, I need to play that now!” (Rogue Trader, The Hundred Line)—if I’ve any prayer of ending. As you’ll be able to see, I fail at this horribly virtually each single time.

This is to not say that I didn’t have enjoyable gaming this yr, between incomplete runs and work obligations. I feel I loved gaming extra this yr than I had in any since 2020, partly resulting from getting a SteamDeck final December, which made couch-gaming much more possible, and partly as a result of I feel I managed to steadiness my gaming hours with my, uh, watching-almost-all-of-Survivor hours. It felt like a pleasant steadiness, and I performed some nice video games, however man. I actually want I had been capable of end a number of of the video games beneath.

Speaking of, this checklist might have been even longer if not for some commonsense guidelines I laid down for myself. To qualify, a recreation needed to fulfill three standards:

1. It has to have some type of concrete ending, so video games like Europa Universalis V and Teamfight Tactics, two video games I performed for a whole bunch of hours this yr, don’t rely.
2. I’ve to have by no means completed the sport, even in earlier years; I won’t have completed my 2025 save of Final Fantasy IX, however that is my favourite recreation of all time, and I’ve completed it dozens of instances.
3. I needed to have performed the sport in query for no less than 4 hours. Why 4 hours? I do not know, I simply felt prefer it. This solely actually disqualified Persona 3 Reload (enjoying proper now, 102 minutes performed) and Heavy Rain (it was on sale, depart me alone, 37 minutes performed).

With all that in thoughts, this is the checklist, ranked so as of how a lot I loved them:

1. Baldur’s Gate 3
2. Disco Elysium
3. Elden Ring
4. Divinity: Original Sin 2
5. Hades II
6. Hollow Knight
7. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
8. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
9. Tactics Ogre: Reborn
10. Hades
11. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
12. Path of Exile 2
13. The Hundred Line -Last Defense
14. Unicorn Overlord
15. Blue Prince
16. Norco
17. Trails within the Sky 1st Chapter (Remake)
18. The Legend of Heroes: Trails within the Sky
19. Granblue Fantasy: Relink
20. Fire Emblem: Engage
21. LIVE A LIVE
22. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
23. Red Dead Redemption 2
24. Marvel’s Midnight Suns
25. Monster Hunter Wilds
26. Getting my pockets emptied out by yet one more Steam sale of video games I’ll by no means end
27. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla