Welcome to my top games of 2025 list. This selection is not exclusive to games released in 2025, rather it encompasses the games I played this past year that I want to recognize.

We start off with the Honorable Accolades, where my honorable mentions are awarded fun accolades. Clever mashup of words, I know. Each accolade has a short description, are quite silly, and I really enjoy creating them. A few friends and I do our own annual game awards “show”, so we tend to ham it up for laughs.

We end with my top five of the year, each with a short summary of why it deserves to be there.

Honorable Accolades

 “Promise Ring” – DOUBLE WINNER: Metaphor: Refantazio // Avowed

I swear I’ll commit to finishing these games someday in the future. I’ve put roughly 30-40 hours into each and genuinely love both of them, yet kept getting distracted by other amazing games. It’s not you, it’s me. Truly. You’re amazing. I’m just like, really busy. I swear. Wait for me, I beg of you.

“Ventriloquist” – Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

I have a theory that anyone who has seen a Star Wars or Indiana Jones movie has tried to do a Harrison Ford impression at least once. And failed miserably at it. How can anyone channel that suave gruff nonchalance that Harrison Ford effortlessly radiates?

Through witchcraft. Or by being an extremely talented voice actor like Troy Baker. It’s impossible to relay how genuinely impressive his performance is. Just… Holy crap. Without his voice, this game wouldn’t have felt as true-to-form. The game itself is great, but hearing an Indy voice that good makes you the player feel like you’re really playing as Indy. Immersion, baby!

If I could do the same quality of impression, there’s a high chance I wouldn’t be able to stop talking like that. My wife would either love it or roll a boulder at me.

“It was just a hookup” – Dragon’s Dogma II

This past Spring, my wife went on a trip for a few days. I bought Dragon’s Dogma II while my wife was away for those few days. I crushed Dragon’s Dogma II nonstop for those few days. I haven’t played Dragon’s Dogma II since those few days.

My uninhibited desire to become a Magick Archer took over. Time and space didn’t exist. Only Dragon’s Dogma II. I unlocked the class, rocked a ton of foes with my sweet new abilities, and walked away.

“How was your weekend?” my wife asked when she returned home.

“Awesome, I did nothing but play Dragon’s Dogma II.”

“That sounds cool.”

It was. But that supreme display of sloth left me feeling kind of dirty. I introduced cardio workouts to my routine after that weekend.

 “It feels so good to be bad” – Baldur’s Gate III

For my second playthrough of BG3, I made a Drow Dark Urge oathbreaker paladin lady who absolutely fucks shit up, both physically and socially. I wanted to go full-on evil on this run, and MAN is it a blast…..Aside from the few moments where you truly feel like a colossus of sentient dung.

Occasional self-loathing aside, this journey showed me a side of the game that I couldn’t experience previously. It was like having a favorite coin and only admiring one side of it, then discovering that its other side is just as worthy of admiration. I had so much fun that I wrote a whole article about it.

“This enjoyment is brought to you by Sony PlayStation” – Astro Bot

I’ve barely scratched the surface of this game, or else it might be higher on this list. From what I’ve played, it’s just straight up fun. It feels like the devs’ main goal was just “game-feel”. Everything feels good. Everything looks good. Sounds good. It adds up to more than good. It’s great. Now I want cereal. Where was I?

Oh yeah — It’s excellent, once you filter out the ham-fisted Sony state-sponsored branding and subliminal messaging.

 “The DLOA award” (AKA the “Dickload of Appetizers award”) – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

I understand that the crass phrase “dickload of appetizers” isn’t in everyone’s lexicon, so allow me to explain. Over a decade ago, my friends and I would consistently order a bunch of appetizers whenever we ordered takeout, the phrase was said once and it stuck. Now how does this relate to FF7 Rebirth?

Well, appetizers are great! They’re small and tasty and get you all primed up for the entrée! But what if instead, you had like 60 appetizers before your entrée? No? You wouldn’t want that? You’d get too full and tired to enjoy the main dish?!

NUH-UH. YOU’RE WRONG. YOU WOULDN’T GET FULL. KEEP EATING AND RACE THESE CHOCOBOS FOR TWELVE HOURS!! Oh you’re done eating? RING RING, IT’S CHADLEY!!!

In all seriousness I loved this game. Final Fantasy 7 is my all-time favorite FF entry and was a formative experience for me. There was just a bit too much fluff in Rebirth for my taste. Others may argue there’s not enough. That’s totally fair. Experience is subjective.

Rebirth more or less emulates disc two of the original three-disc game, and to be fair it is during this disc that the world really opens up and has a ton of off-the-rails content. So it makes sense that this iteration would take that theme of openness and crank it up to 11. Overall I do believe Rebirth did an excellent job translating an old PS1 game into modern AAA beauty.

Maybe it’s the purist in me, or that I have less time to game than I did as a kid… but there was just too much extra. And too much Chadley. For the love of the Lifestream, Chadley, please stop calling me.

 “ANOTHER!” – TRIPLE WINNER: Ghost of Yotei // Spider-Man 2 (2023) // Oblivion Remastered

These three games receive the “ANOTHER!” award since after completing their predecessors I wanted to yell this line like Thor, throwing down an empty mug of coffee in demand of another tasty brew. After a few years, I got another! And another! And another! I loved them all, and they taste very similar to their predecessors.

I don’t give this accolade as a diss, nor to detract from the quality of these three. Ghost and Spider-Man 2 certainly vary in storyline and available abilities from their ancestors, and deserve extremely high praise for their narrative design, cinematic and art direction, acting, and gameplay. And I was consumed by Oblivion Remastered for an entire month.

I spent many hours playing each of these games’ predecessors. Hell, I got the platinum trophy in both Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man. How happy I was to have more!

These sequels are certainly some of the best games I’ve played this year. But when December rolled around and I was contemplating my Top 5… I also kind of forgot that I played them this year. How could that be possible with such great games?

I realized it was because they didn’t provide as much of a unique or memorable experience that stuck in my head. Maybe that’s not the most fair judgement criteria, but it’s what I got.

Now I forget a lot of things. All the time. Every day. It’s only human to not remember every single game played in a year. But with the many insanely strong releases and experiences I had this year, it was enough to knock these off my Top 5.

If I was making a “Top 8” list, these three would be on it.

Top 5

#5: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II gave me the same feeling that Halo 2 gave me back in the day. You’re the one dude who has the skill and grit to pull your brothers-in-arms together to overcome preposterous odds and determine the fate of billions. And you just happen to be a super-space-soldier in the military.

My slumbering inner teenager circa 2005 awoke, expecting Mountain Dew Game Fuel and Cool Ranch Doritos.

Space Marine II excels in illustrating the sheer scale of the ongoing conflict. The skyboxes are EPIC and are hard at work. Thousands of creatures soar through the skies and space above, lasers rain from orbit, nearby armies battle the endless waves of enemies cresting over the distant hills. The side-ops team relays urgent status updates to you on their mission, as your success hinges on theirs.

Mechanically the game is great as well. I loved the gunplay and combat. Movement is appropriately weighty and smooth. The Dualsense PS5 controller makes it even more satisfying; each gun feeling distinct in your hand, each heavy step reverberating through you.

I’ve still yet to scratch the surface on the Operation missions, which run parallel to the main campaign. Yet even playing only the main campaign left a strong enough impression on me to land in my top 5.

#4: Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles

I’m a lifelong Final Fantasy fan. FF7 was my introduction to the series, and I ate ‘em up from there like a starving Malboro. The original Tactics meant a lot to me as a young gamer. Still does as an adult. This new version exists somewhere between a remake and remaster, and only improves upon the original.

FFT:TIC doesn’t take new creative liberties with the original story. Game mechanics aren’t changed. Instead, previous menus and systems are polished and tweaked for better quality of life. Plus you can fast-forward battles finally!

And I cannot say this enough or stress how important this is; the newly-added voice acting is phenomenal. This one new creative channel floods the game with new life, giving emotion and depth to every single character from no-name thieves to main party members. The performances delivered by all of the voice actors are impeccable.

For more of my thoughts on this game, check out SUPERJUMP’s 2025 Games of the Year.

#3: Lords of the Fallen (2023)

There are a few constants when I create a Top 5 list for any given year. For example, I must include a Souls-like game on my list. Because I friggin’ love Dark Souls and games that achieve that particular flavor.

And boyyyy does this game have all the right Dark Souls flavor.

Hexworks immensely improved upon the original 2014 LOTF’s PAINFULLY slow combat. I was stoked to try the OG in 2014, and quit after an hour.

But now — Oooohoohoo it’s quick. Smooth. Impactful. Fun. There’s good variety in builds. Cool weapons and armor.

Like many successful Souls-likes, the environment is the real star of the game. Especially since there’s a mechanic where you can switch anytime between the current realm and the “Umbral” realm that looks you applied a filter to the land titled “Lovecraftian winter”. It’s gorgeous and terrifying.

Plus the multiplayer was still pretty active, where I had a fun time repeatedly schooling invaders on what happens when you go up against a longtime Souls vet. And occasionally I got severely humbled.

I’m aware there’s a decent amount of hate out there for this game, to which I wonder, why? Too derivative? Doesn’t meet personal expectations? Level design is a bit confusing? I’ll give you that last one. I didn’t play it upon release, so maybe it was in rough shape outta the gates and in dire need of patches.

All I know is that in its current state, the devs baked a damn tasty cake. It’s up to you whether you want to eat it. If you don’t want it, then don’t eat it and don’t insult the baker for trying. Meanwhile I’ll be eagerly awaiting seconds.

// Interlude //

It was too damn hard choosing a 1^st and 2^nd spot this year. Both of these games deserve 1^st place.

But PJ, it’s your own list. What’s stopping you from giving two 1^st place spots as your own editorial rebellion against societal convention? Some laws must be broken when they no longer serve the public at large – or just you – since you’re the one writing this list.

The laws are made by the powerful, and I am the almighty of my own little blog. I can do it, but then what would stop me from giving three top spots? Would doing so detract from the significance of such a placement?

This is a small snippet of what’s gone through my brain as I debated these placements and procrastinated with ultimately meaningless hypothetical debates.

// Interlude ends //

#2: Hades II

Here we are. I’m giving Hades II my #2 spot. Supergiant Games of course cranks out another banger, and it consumed a majority of my gaming hours. They did a great job of building upon its predecessor – continuing the story, developing characters even further, creating a straight-up fire soundtrack that is destined to top my annual Spotify Wrapped AGAIN, offering you new weapons / abilities / customizations / companions, the list goes ON and all of it is excellent.

Hades II gives you much more of what made Hades great, and it is a continuously satisfying experience. I rolled credits, but haven’t reached the “end end” of the game just yet. At least I don’t think I have…? I don’t like spoilers, so I’ll find out eventually.

On a seemingly irrelevant side note, it makes me excited to play Elden Ring again because I’m going to make Melinoё in it just as I did with Zagreus. In my Zagreus-ER run I only used weapon types that were available to Zagreus (sword, bow, spear, fist, etc.), and plan to do the same with Melinoё.

Oh and it’s absolutely essential that you go into your game settings and lower the ER music volume to zero, and then load up Spotify and play Darren Korb’s Hades OST. It’s frankly incredible how well Hades’ music can sync up well with the gameplay of Elden Ring. Sooo yeah, expect Elden Ring (and likely Hades II again) somewhere on my 2026 list. Okay tangent over.

Also I interviewed Darren Korb recently, and he’s an awesome person.

#1: Hollow Knight: Silksong  

I’m not sure where to begin anymore in describing how much I love this game.

I wrote about it for a “Now Playing” piece on SUPERJUMP during my playthrough. I wrote about how it made me feel for SUPERJUMP’s annual Games of the Year article.

Allow me to join in on the chorus of other games writers singing about their love of this incredible game, in the couple ways I haven’t done before.

Let’s carol about its world and level design. Beautiful artwork and sound design distinguishes each biome that cleverly connects and conceals alternate pathways to reach your goal. The thrill of finding a fake wall leading to a hidden area or new pathway never got old over the course of my 70+ hours. Want more on that aspect? Check out Game Maker’s Toolkit’s Boss Keys video.

Next verse we’ll chant about the overt religious themes that compose Silksong’s narrative. Silken threads bind and blind, the gears of the holy Citadel winding, grinding the masses over bells chiming. Faith fuels many, some view the fueled as fools — tools to respool the holy loom.

It caught me off guard how deeply religious Silksong’s themes are. It propels you to consider that the concept of faith being tested not only applies to religion, but also to faith in yourself and your purpose. In leadership and in a population. Faith doesn’t need to be tethered to religion or the divine. It’s something we can instill in each other, and cultivate in ourselves. It’s truly touching.

And if you want a truly awesome analysis of Silksong’s religious themes, check out Jacob Geller’s wonderfully named video “Silksong and the Biblical Apocalypse”.

I can go on, but I’ve reached the end of my journey here. I’ve summited the high-minded peaks of faith and plunged into the emotional abyss. It’s time to rest.

End Note:

“WHERE IS CLAIR OBSCUR: EXPEDITION 33?!” you may be telepathically shouting at me from wherever you are in the world.

I hear you. It would’ve been on here had I played it in 2025.

I got it for Christmas from my lovely wife, and I became a machine that turned my free time into time playing E33. I did chores and thought of E33. I coached swimming and thought of E33. I hummed its music as I washed dishes. Glimpses of act 1’s final cutscene flashed in my mind as I tried to fall asleep. I finished it a couple weeks ago and it’s still all I can think about.

It’s safe to say E33 will assume the role of Goliath on my 2026 list. I don’t think there’s going to be a metaphorical David to knock it down from the top spot.