Bryant Francis’ prime 10 video games of the 12 months

I spent far an excessive amount of time this 12 months writing in regards to the enterprise and manufacturing of video video games. That left me with far much less time to dwell on the fun of creativity in recreation growth. I purpose to right that with this listing.

My picks for 2025 are essentially the most narrative-heavy alternatives I’ve picked in the previous few years. As ever, I’m interested in video games with splendidly dense techniques however via a whim of circumstance, essentially the most impactful video games I performed this 12 months had been largely made doable by groups that—no less than on some degree—valued the work of writers and narrative designers (given my side projects, there could also be some bias at play).

Does our trade worth them sufficient? The 2025 GDC State of the Industry Report indicated that these builders are among the many almost certainly to have been laid off in the previous few years. In the again halls of recreation conferences I hear tales of studios grumbling on the time wanted to make narrative content material, recreation administrators tossing out years of labor on the drop of the hat, and executives declaring that AI-driven NPCs will likely be extra immersive than something a human may craft. 

All employees within the recreation trade must be equally valued, however in the present day I elevate a toast to all my fellow writers deep within the trenches and everybody who makes nice storytelling doable. 

Related:Diego Arguello’s prime 10 video games of the 12 months – 2025 Wrap-Up

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 made me really feel like a child once more. Not out of nostalgia, however as a result of it gloriously embodies the whole lot that made me fall in love with video video games.

Its story is over-the-top and operatic, crammed with superb characters. Its turn-based strategic play rewards experimenting with character builds. Its fight is juicy and makes advanced parrying techniques enjoyable. 

But extra importantly? It feels as new now as role-playing video games like Tales of Symphonia and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance did again then. Sandfall’s choice to anchor the sport’s visuals and music within the aesthetics of 20^th century French artwork—however with inspiration drawn from Studio Ghibli to Spongebob Squarepants—made even acquainted interactive moments really feel exceptional.

When I take into consideration Clair Obscur, I take into consideration love. The love poured into the sport, the love felt by the characters, and the adore it attracts in from the participant. 

I’m not notably keen on puzzle video games, however Blue Prince lured me in with its run-based metaprogression and ominous, deliberate environment. The depth of its design and storytelling is staggering—to make it to the “final room” within the mansion is to solely dip your toes into the shallows of an ocean of feelings and mind teasers. 

Related:Game Developer’s prime 10 video games of the 12 months – 2025 Wrap-Up

Beneath the mind teasers and hidden clues is a world drowning in loss and trauma—a household’s story of ache and politics drip-fed via notes buried in randomly showing rooms and the haunting whispers of an animatronic fortune teller. It’s a story informed via the method of fixing puzzles, itself changing into a puzzle that your mind kinds out when you sleep.

This recreation is really particular, the product of somebody experimenting with bodily house, the participant’s consideration span, and the politics and social dynamics of a rich household of an alternate Earth. A momentous achievement—a recreation that may go down for the ages.

News Tower (Sparrow Night/Twin Sails Interactive)

News Tower is a pleasant shock! I spotted it had its claws in me after I informed my partner (a fellow journalist) “Hang on a second, I need to get this story in by deadline!” Journalism is not a subject tackled usually in video games—really it is more and more an underexplored subject throughout all media—and most depictions do not introduce the participant to the nuances of the occupation.

Not solely does News Tower do exactly that, it additionally hides a posh simulation system worthy of Frostpunk. It juggles fictionalized and real-world historic occasions to maintain gamers on their toes in regards to the form of paper they need to run. Sure, I’ll have an goal to print crime tales this week, however maintain up—an opportunity to cowl the debut of Universal’s Frankenstein appeared! How may I not need to run that?

Related:Are these the 100 most influential video games of all time? ft. Tanya Short – Game Developer Podcast Ep. 62

In one other “I bothered my spouse so much they wanted to play the game” second, I turned to them and with a deadpan voice declared “the Lindbergh Baby event just dropped.” 

“You can’t just say things like that!” They declared. But I may. And greater than that, I may put it on the entrance web page. 

Supergiant Games’ second dip into the effectively of Greek mythology was a improbable first expertise on the Nintendo Switch 2. I relished the possibility to slash at Satyrs, Wastels, and Pinheads in a quest to construct essentially the most disgusting and damaged builds that will let me approach waste to Cronos and the tyrannical Typhon.

Once once more, Supergiant constructed a fight system so intelligent it lured me into tuning the issue greater and better till my fingers cramped. Once once more the jams of Darren Korb despatched shivers down my backbone. And to my biggest delight, as soon as once more did Supergiant reimagine the Greek Pantheon as a mesmerizing (and generally attractive) forged of characters that I needed to consistently study extra about.

It’s the characters I preserve coming again to after I take into consideration Hades II. Encountering every new god, shade, and demigod was a reward for breaking the backs of hordes of monsters. Truly, an journey like Hades 2 is not in regards to the (unusually retconned) vacation spot, it is in regards to the folks you meet alongside the way in which.

I’m cramming each of Obsidian Entertainment’s wonderful role-playing video games into one slot as a result of I frankly cannot choose which one compelled me extra. 

Avowed inspired meditation on destiny, id, and authority. The Outer Worlds 2 launched me to a batch of companions whose journeys I discovered extra relatable, being so rooted within the dysfunction of our actual world.

So I picked them each. Because whereas Obsidian once more turned out a pair of narratively wonderful tales (nothing new for the corporate), it is the technical polish on traversal and fight that certain each video games collectively. 

The firm as soon as recognized for ambitious-but-buggy releases has developed its manufacturing practices in order that it now can launch video games that mix the most effective of many gameplay kinds. Smashing bugs, taking pictures weapons, detonating explosives—neglect the mysteries and sidequests, I needed to maintain taking part in as a result of the sound of pistols, rifles, and lightning bolts was like sweet throughout each video games.

Dispatch (Adhoc Studios/Critical Role)

I’m typically leery of superhero tales which are “mature” riffs on the DC/Marvel dynamic, however Adhoc Studios received me over. Dispatch is an accomplishment for the fashionable recreation growth age, a recreation made by a studio of proficient storytellers who may solely execute their imaginative and prescient with the assistance of exterior collaborators, combating for his or her lives in a enterprise setting skeptical about narrative-first titles.

They succeeded as a result of their imaginative and prescient of a down-and-out superhero struggling to search out himself in a chaotic world is such a beautiful match for the medium. Player character Robert Robertson III captures the frustration of feeling like your life is unstable and you may’t determine the way you match amongst the folks round you. The titular “dispatch” system is not a gimmick—it is a good bite-sized technique recreation to offer you a breather on the sport’s story. 

It’s infuriating that Adhoc was put via the wringer getting this recreation made. May its excellent high quality be a bullhorn for the sport trade: gamers love sturdy interactive tales. Help groups make nice ones—cease telling themselves to carry again or compromise on what makes their tales particular.

Back To The Dawn (Metal Head Games/Spiral Up Games)

I noticed Back To The Dawn in a GameDiscoverCo publication mentioning shock Steam hits—this one fueled by a Chinese viewers. I checked it out. And it was magnificent?

Few within the Western recreation growth world in all probability performed this one, so I urge you to hunt it out. Metal Head Games cooked up a recreation that blends simulation and linear narrative, as gamers tackle the function of a journalist or undercover cop racing to flee from jail in a gritty, Zootopia-inspired world crammed with a pulpy forged of characters.

I love the sport not only for its construction—a hard and fast month-long occasion cycle with particular occasions that the participant can affect—but additionally its tone. Prison break tales may be exploitative, both subjecting characters to horrific violence or casting prisoners as irredeemable villains. At their worst, they sand over the perimeters of a real-world devastating system that ruins lives and sometimes fails to enact justice.

Back To The Dawn is pulpy however laden with depth. Characters can swap from pleasant to ferocious on a dime. It simulates violence with out glorifying abuse or rewarding the participant’s basest instincts. It’s a recreation the place kindness and collaboration performs as a lot a task as subterfuge and blackmail. That’s not a straightforward tone to strike—and that it got here via even in localization speaks to how thoughtful the builders had been in regards to the difficulties of jail life.

Demonschool (Necrosoft Games/Ysbyrd Games)

Disclaimer: Necrosoft founder Brandon Sheffield is a former Game Developer contributor and pal of the location.

I need extra video games like Demonschool. That’s not simply because I need colourful turn-based RPGs with devilish fight techniques and big skeletons (although hey, for those who’ve obtained one, deliver em on). It’s as a result of I need extra video games that so completely ooze with their creators’ standpoint and sense of favor.

We spoke with director Brandon Sheffield final 12 months about how the tastes of the Necrosoft staff affect the whole lot—its visuals, the fight, even the in-game evaluations of actual cult basic movies. This recreation advantages from its makers being keen to wander out on this planet, discover bizarre influences, and convey them again right into a turn-based techniques expertise

Doing so proves one thing that Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles director Kazutoyo Maehiro introduced up in a latest dialog with Game Developer: techniques video games with a large forged of characters are a template for nice storytelling. To have Demonschool launch in the identical 12 months as a remake of Final Fantasy Tactics solely proves his level.

All proper this one is partly about nostalgia.

From ages 14 via 17, the soundscape of a Metroid Prime recreation was recurrently buzzing away someplace in my home. Hearing these sound results once more triggered not only a return to a supposedly easier time, but additionally a sensation of depth and being overwhelmed by the enormity of a useless science fiction world. 

I believed that feeling was misplaced—and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond introduced it again.

It helps that Retro did not abandon many stable design rules of the early 2000s video games. Combat is usually extra of a puzzle than a check of ability. Save stations are (largely) religiously enforced. And when the chatty Federation troopers aren’t round, the sport builds temper by encouraging gamers to assume via puzzles themselves. 

The many “a-ha!” moments I’ve felt are nonetheless so distinctive to Metroid’s morph balls, missiles, and mysteries. What a pleasure to really feel 14 once more.