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In the outdated days of 2024, online game time with my children concerned the three of us sitting on the sofa, taking part in by way of an journey collectively. Maybe a Kirby recreation, maybe a Zelda.
That modified in 2025, as my twins’ tastes primarily cut up—from one another and from me. I began loads of video games with one or each of them final 12 months, however we went our separate gaming methods a good quantity. Then, proper on the finish of 2025, we discovered some new video games to play collectively.
You’ll see all of that beneath, as I roll out my newest checklist of the entire video video games I performed over the previous 12 months.
Nearly each January since 2007, I’ve typed out a tower of titles that I attempted prior to now 12 months. As at all times, I’m together with video games I performed all through, such because the PS5 open-world journey Ghost of Yotei, which lasted me 63 1/2 hours. And I included video games I merely sampled, resembling Shrink Rooms, a PC puzzle recreation that solely saved my consideration for a couple of minutes. You gained’t see many retro titles on my checklist. I largely play new video games annually, and I’m lucky to have the ability to entry most new releases at no cost, as a part of my work masking the beat.
When I made my checklist for 2024, I added an necessary new class: the video games I performed with my children. That hadn’t been a factor till not too long ago. Now, as you’ll see, gaming with the twins is a giant a part of my gaming life, and it tremendously influences whether or not video games resonate with me.
For now, the checklist of what I performed continues to be largely the youngsters’ checklist, too. There have been a small variety of video games that they performed in 2025 that I didn’t contact… my nine-year-old daughter liked Snake.io on her iPad. She performs the downloadable app model provided through Netflix. Her sports-obsessed twin brother not too long ago found an online model of the pixel-art soccer recreation Retro Bowl for his iPad browser. (I rapidly grabbed the Switch model to shift him to a platform the place I’ve a greater deal with on gaming parental controls.)
But most of what they performed in 2025 are video games I a minimum of began with them, usually in my hope that we’d uncover one thing glorious collectively.
What follows is the checklist of what we performed, adopted by some lists of the video games I performed alone and—lastly—my 9* prime video games of 2025.
Anno 117: Pax Romana (Xbox Series) – I believed my children may be occupied with a method recreation, one thing the place they might lay out a city and construct it up. My daughter was not on this; my son cared about it for about an hour however misplaced persistence with the tutorial missions we tried collectively. I’ll return to this one for myself, however it simply wasn’t for them.
Baby Steps (PS5) – Whoops. I knew this recreation was a bodily comedy by which you clumsily attempt to stroll. The twins appeared into that a part of it. But the dreamy surroundings and the slacker major character did nothing for them. (I like open-world video games and buddies have informed me this has an awesome world, so I suppose I’ll be going again.)
Boggle Party (Netflix TV + tablets/telephones) – I’m right here to report that Netflix’s revamped gaming course is successful in my home. One evening, as the youngsters’ Christmas break from third grade started, my spouse and I made a decision we’d all play a recreation collectively. Our recreation nights generally contain board video games resembling Sorry, Ticket to Ride or Monopoly, generally the drawing recreation Telestrations, and generally the online game Vampire Survivors. What else might we play? I remembered writing about Netflix’s latest launch of get together video games meant to be performed through a TV, with tablets or telephones used as linked controllers. We might strive that! First drawback: Despite Netflix claiming that “most newer TV devices will support games,” neither of our TVs’ Netflix apps run video games. But the Netflix web site working on my spouse’s laptop computer did. So we loaded its gaming tab, pointed the cameras of our telephones and tablets at a QR code on the laptop computer display and have been swiftly taking part in get together video games resembling Boggle. It labored nice!
Civilization VII (PC) – Before making an attempt Anno with my children, I attempted Civ VII. The recreation taught them the phrase “civilization,” however my daughter bailed first. My son and I dropped the sport shortly thereafter, as the sport’s unintuitive user-interface put us each off.
Dead Man’s Party: A Knives Out Game (Netflix TV + tablets/telephones) – A social deduction recreation that flopped with my children. A bit too complicated.
Donkey Kong Bananza (Switch 2) – My daughter liked Super Mario Odyssey however her curiosity on this recreation was minimal (she was briefly excited to see Pauline; much less enthused that you just couldn’t play as her). After a few conspicuously timed bouts of nausea, I additionally decided that the sport was giving my son movement illness (apparently, this is a thing), so we shelved it.
Drag x Drive (Switch 2) – My son loves this recreation. And I now find it irresistible, too, even when I can barely wield its controls properly. It’s a motion-controlled wheelchair basketball recreation that breaks fashionable sports activities online game conventions by….simply letting you play a online game sport and never throwing gambling-in-training digital card packs and different distractions at you. It additionally has some neat design touches. Games are set in “parks” the place as much as 12 gamers can hang around, play three-on-three video games, conduct brief races, tackle solo challenges—with all of that motion seen within the park, irrespective of which particular exercise you’re taking part in. Bonus element: My children have been intrigued to study that wheelchair basketball is an actual sport and have been curious if everybody can play it, which I believed was a stunning query.
Eternal Strands (PS5) – Shockingly glorious, distressingly missed. Here’s a recreation that mixes the giant-slaying of Shadow of the Colossus with spell-crafting, destructible environments and a spirited fantasy story. Aside from a gradual opening couple of hours, Eternal Strands is well probably the greatest action-adventure video games I’ve performed in years. My son and I traded the controller, slaying giants. We had a fabulous time.
Goodnight Universe (PS5) – Would they take care of a recreation that allows you to play from the attitude of a child? Apparently not.
Is This Seat Taken? (Switch) – Briefly, I believed this puzzle recreation could be a permanent hit for my daughter, who loves association video games resembling A Little To The Left and Unpacking. She dug it for some time, however it didn’t stick.
Jurassic World Evolution (PS5) – Another failure in my quest to discover a technique recreation that both of them would love.
Kirby Air Riders (Switch 2) – My son and I had some laughs at this recreation’s absurdly frenetic motion.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Star-Crossed World (Switch 2) – Forgotten Land on the unique Switch was the primary recreation my children and I performed by way of collectively, again in the summertime of 2022. Three years later, would they care to check out an enlargement? I attempted; historical past did not repeat.
Lego Party (PS5) – The board recreation mode in Mario Party, which is essentially random and unfair, makes them offended. So did this re-skinned model.
Lego Voyagers (PS5) – A co-op Lego journey that didn’t click on
Mario Kart World (Switch 2) – The twins have performed Mario Kart World’s elimination-style knockout tour mode a bunch of instances, and my son generally drives round within the open world, however the recreation isn’t sticking the best way Mario Kart 8 Deluxe did. And they’re often selecting the outdated recreation again as much as race one another in that.
MLB The Show 25 (PS5) – My son’s obsession, although I’m more and more suspicious of the grind of its digital seasons. We’ve averted the microtransactions.
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour (Switch 2) – There is a mini-game on this that’s principally Twister for your fingers. It was a winner.
Party Crashers (Netflix TV + tablets/telephones) – Another social deduction sofa co-op recreation from Netflix. This was successful. The twins liked making an attempt to determine which sneaky participant was crashing the get together.
Pictionary: Game Night (Netflix TV + tablets/telephones) – Another Netflix sofa co-op success!
Power Wash Simulator 2 (PS5) – The children liked cleansing issues collectively—in a online game, a minimum of.
Pokémon Legends Z-A (Switch 2) – No Pokémon recreation has caught with the youngsters but. My son appears into this one, for now.
Roadcraft (PS5) – For every week right here, every week there, my son and I might get into paving some digital roads. Then we might drop the sport for months, solely to rediscover it.
Split Fiction (PS5) – The solely recreation in 2025 that they performed collectively from begin to end.
Sunderfolk (PS5) – A tactical role-playing recreation with telephones/tablets used as controllers; we’ve had a number of good classes however it hasn’t actually caught.
Super Mario Party Jamboree + Jamboree TV (Switch 2) – The 2024 Switch model’s rhythm video games had entertained them. The Switch 2 enlargement did nothing for them.
Survival Kids (Switch 2) – A co-op third-person low-hassle survival recreation that we have been capable of GameShare with a neighbor for our solely multi-system native co-op gaming session of the 12 months.
Time Flies (Switch) – A comedy recreation about what a fly can do throughout its brief life; some grown-up themes in there, for what it’s price.
To a T (PS5) – They dug Katamari Damacy, however there was simply an excessive amount of story on this small-town journey and never sufficient foolish gameplay to hook them.
Two Point Museum (PS5) – One of two technique video games that clicked with them this 12 months. Turns out that designing a cartoony museum is fairly enjoyable.
While Waiting (Switch) – A recreation about ready. It made them snort.
Abiotic Factor (Xbox Series) – A sci-fi survival crafting recreation that intrigued me however that I didn’t give a lot time to.
Absolum (Switch) – A trendy-looking 2D motion recreation that I need to play extra of; if solely there hadn’t been so a lot of them in 2025.
The Alters (PS5) – One of my 2025 favorites. Part base-building, half cleaning soap opera that includes a person and his many clones.
Ambrosia Sky (PC) – Metroid Prime + Power Wash Simulator, a very good combo that succumbed to my want to play older Metroid Primes and a brand new Power Wash.
And Roger (PC) – Lovely minimalist recreation I shouldn’t spoil.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows (PS5) – Another Ubisoft rollercoaster expertise: nice first impression, then it drags, then it finishes robust. Shadows is greatest performed with key user interface options ignored or turned off. Playing that means reveals a masterfully crafted world by which you, as an murderer, should truly use in-world clues to search out and kill your targets.
Avowed (Xbox Series) – For some cause I made a decision to set fight to “hard,” which made fight tedious, and I’ve refused to vary it again, assured I’ll turn into highly effective sufficient quickly. Just bought to the sport’s third map.
Ball x Pit (Xbox Series) – A pleasant time-sink that I feel was making enjoyable of my obsession with taking part in it. I can respect that.
Battlefield 6 (PS5) – Multiplayer FPSes aren’t for me, however generally they’ve campaigns that seize me. Not this one.
Blue Prince (PC) – Over 100 hours performed, as I looked for the forty sixth room in a 45-room mansion after which sought additional secrets and techniques past. Can hardly consider this recreation is actual. Still haven’t solved the web page of numbers I retrieved from a vault.
Chillin By the Fire (Switch) – An unique Switch 2 recreation about making campfires? I can’t resist bizarre stuff like this.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Xbox Series) – Played previous the prologue of many individuals’s Game of the Year. Will play extra!
Clues by Sam (PC) – Online logic recreation about true and false statements. Neat!
Consume Me (PC) – A private recreation informed by way of WarioWare-style challenges. Need to play extra.
Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion III (PC) – A comedy survival match-3 recreation, however I didn’t discover it humorous.
Cronos The New Dawn (PS5) – Dead Space was nice. Was this extra Dead Space? I used to be looking for out, however there have been different video games to play, so I’m nonetheless undecided.
Dawnfolk (PC) – Simplified tile-by-tile kingdom-building. Nice recreation.
Death Standing 2 (PS5) – Only performed the primary quarter-hour to verify the sport’s intro credit (for a mission). Then saved making an attempt to refuse to tackle the mission that Fragile needed to assign to my mountain-climbing hero. Alas, it was a false selection and I nonetheless had extra DS1 to play, anyway.
Demonschool (PC) – Tried the intro of this ways recreation, however there was an excessive amount of else to play.
Despelote (PC) – A ravishing, brief recreation about life and soccer.
Doom the Dark Ages (Xbox Series) – Finally, a Doom recreation with in depth cutscenes and a big supporting solid. Only performed the primary stage. Not positive if I’ll return.
The Electrifying Incident (PC) – A puzzle recreation spin-off of the unbelievable log-rolling puzzle recreation A Monster’s Expedition, however the core mechanics didn’t hook me.
Ender Magnolia: Bloom within the Mist (Switch) – A trendy-looking 2D motion recreation that I need to play extra of; if solely there hadn’t been so a lot of them in 2025.
Forestrike (PC) – A 2D martial arts recreation with a perplexing core mechanic: The recreation requires you to play every troublesome combat twice—first throughout an imagined preparatory part after which once more to execute it. Many gamers, myself included, have puzzled if perfecting a run in the course of the apply part, ought to simply let you skip it in the course of the “real” part.
Ghost of Yotei (PS5) – Loved it, even when too many PlayStation protagonists now really feel like they’re preventing the identical battle.
Hades II (PC) – Fun, attention-grabbing, however I couldn’t shake the sensation that I wanted its builders had made one thing brand-new, quite than their first sequel.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: Order of Giants (Xbox Series) – I believed the principle recreation, launched in late 2024, was nice and all however a religious successor to my beloved Metroid Primes. A disgrace that the 2025 enlargement felt so inessential, a center chapter that I haven’t bothered to finish.
Kaizen: A Factory Story (PC) – Finally, a Zachtronics recreation that had some ranges I might full, even when it resulted in some skilled gamers mocking my burger-creation methods!
Keeper (Xbox Series) – A beautiful dream world of a recreation a few strolling lighthouse. Need to play extra.
Koira (PC) – A children recreation I attempted with out the youngsters (don’t inform them!)
Ligo (PC) – A 2D platformer by which each climb or leap is actually its personal puzzle. Neat, however powerful, leaving me a little bit too depending on trial and error.
Little Rocket Lab (Xbox Series) – An assembly-line automation recreation with a narrative. Not my form of factor, it seems.
Look Outside (PC) – A turn-based horror recreation a few constructing stuffed with monsters.
Many Nights a Whisper (PC) – I badly needed to love this brief recreation impressed by the unimaginable lighting of the Olympic torch in 1992. I a minimum of respect it.
Megabonk (PC) – Did I take pleasure in this recreation—a 3D Vampire Survivors, kind of—or was I simply succumbing to a lust for numbers going up?
Merge Maestro (cell) – Tried this cell sensation; didn’t take care of it.
Mo.Co (cell) – Another Supercell interview prep recreation. Badgers you to pay lower than the opposite video games, so it most likely gained’t final.
Monster Hunter Wilds (PS5) – People love this Capcom collection. I’ve by no means gotten into it. So I attempted this one and was baffled. Then, it seems, gamers turned on Wilds as properly, sending Capcom into injury management mode. Guess I picked the unsuitable one.
Monster Train 2 (Xbox Series) – A enjoyable recreation about fight selections on a fight-filled prepare.
News Tower (PC) – A masterful administration recreation about publishing a weekly newspaper within the U.S. throughout the total decade of the Nineteen Thirties. So, so good.
Ninja Gaiden 4 (Xbox Series) – Winner of 2025’s Most Overzealous Use of Yellow Paint Award
No, I’m Not a Human (PC) – Papers Please, however with alien invaders.
Nubby’s Number Factory (PC) – Another comedic numbers-go-up recreation, however I’m extra of a Ball x Pit man, thanks very a lot.
Nurikabe World (PC) – Minesweeper, however with islands and rivers. The most chill recreation I loved in 2025. (And thanks, John Walker for the advice; subscribe to Buried Treasure after which impress your mates with video games they didn’t know existed!)
Once Upon a Katamari (PS5) – Turns out that the Katamari collection simply wanted time journey.
Ooo (PC) – The solely recreation on this checklist that has a title that appears like its major character.
The Outer Worlds 2 (Xbox Series) – 16 hours in, I spotted I’d botched a “flaw” on this sci-fi role-playing recreation. I took on a shortcoming that compelled me to unfold out my expertise factors, however I then unfold them too broadly, condemning myself to a run of mediocre achievement. I discovered an older save at 9 hours in that’d permit me to course-correct, however I’ve but to decide to replaying from there.
Patapon 1 + 2 (PS5) – I loved the transportable originals of this 2D rhythm-battle recreation. Didn’t actually crave a remaster.
Promise Mascot Agency (PC) – Tried this not too long ago. Utterly baffled. But folks find it irresistible, so I ought to play extra?
Rematch (Xbox Series) – Played it simply sufficient to know that the sports activities gamer in my family would probably find it irresistible. But he doesn’t want one other obsession simply but.
The Seance of Blake Manor (PC) – Word is that this recreation is what would occur if you happen to took my favourite characteristic from my favourite recreation and made it a recreation itself. The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask featured a “Bombers’ Notebook” that allow you to observe the curious actions of the sport’s solid of side-characters, throughout a 72 hour interval, difficult you to determine their actions, perceive their lives and resolve some mysteries. Of course I’m going to play this extra!
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (Switch) – A trendy-looking 2D motion recreation that I need to play extra of; if solely there hadn’t been so a lot of them in 2025.
Shrink Rooms (PC) – Puzzle recreation set within the equal of the Star Wars Death Star trash compactor.
Shujinkou (PC) – It’s a dialogue-heavy role-playing recreation that doubles as a Japanese tutor. Neat thought, however not for me.
Silk Song (Switch) – I’m about 5 hours in, however then I went nuts taking part in the Ghost Of… video games and haven’t but gone again.
South of Midnight (Xbox Series) – Thank goodness somebody bankrolled an action-adventure recreation set within the Louisiana bayou. Just haven’t made the time but to play extra
Spooky Express (cell) – They might have known as this one “monster train” if the title wasn’t taken. A slick puzzle recreation about transporting vampires, zombies, folks and extra, with deftly made puzzles that ship quite a few eureka moments. One of my favorites of the 12 months.
Star Birds (PC) – A sci-fi mining/technique recreation from the makers of Dorfromantik. It didn’t play nice on Steam Deck, however feels meant for a conveyable expertise. It’s solely in early entry, and the builders say Steam Deck controls are on their to-do checklist.
Strange Jigsaws (PC) – An enchanting, odd jigsaw recreation that—the theme of this checklist—I must carve out a while to finish.
Black Mirror: Thronglets (cell) – An odd little Netflix-backed recreation a few digital pet simulator that seemingly turns into self-aware.
Tiny Bookshop (PC) – As described within the title, a recreation about managing a small bookshop, which was merely high-quality and nice till I spotted that the books you get to advocate to your needy, digital patrons are actual books. The intersection of video video games and literature feels so uncommon that this mixture proved to be one of many best-feeling video games I performed this 12 months. I simply liked the way it activated the ebook a part of my mind.
Towa and the Guardians (Switch) – Hades, however not Hades, in a 12 months I wasn’t even positive I needed extra Hades.
Trash Goblin (PC) – Partially a Picross 3D-style recreation about chipping away at block-encrusted junk, partially a recreation about shining that junk up and promoting it. Lovely stuff.
Wall World 2 (PC) – I had excessive hopes, however I knew it was a foul signal after I noticed that one of many key additions to the unique recreation’s system have been going to be horizontally-aligned ranges. The neatest thing about wall world is that it’s set on a wall! Come on.
Xenotilt (Xbox Series) – Extremely sophisticated pinball. I barely understood what was taking place, however I didn’t thoughts.
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.gamefile.news/p/2025-video-games-played
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us
