2025 was a great year for gaming—at least for me. According to my Steam Replay 2025, I played 74 games on Steam, and 63% of those were new releases. This list isn’t comprehensive or objective, so take it for what it is. These are only games I personally played, and I’ll admit I may have missed a few gems released this year. If you don’t see a game you think should be here, don’t attack me—just point it out and suggest it. Maybe I just haven’t played it yet.
Anyway, here are my top 10 games of 2025!
Alfenwylm’s Top 10 Games of 2025
10. NBA 2k26
Yes, I know. What the hell is a sports video game doing in a top 10 list of games in 2025? Even worse, a 2K game!?
Hold up just a second. I’ve always loved sports video games. I grew up on sports games on the PlayStation Portable, like Virtua Tennis, Fight Night, and NBA 2K13.
While I do enjoy the physicality of sports, I think people need to realize that all sports video games are, well, still sports. There are players interacting, going head-to-head for a win. By nature, they’re competitive—but whether you value that competitiveness more or the fun, interactive side of it is totally up to you.
For this year’s NBA 2K, I think they improved a lot from last year in several ways: a more cinematic story experience in MyCareer with Out of Bounds, more grounded dribbling, improved tempo shooting, and overall a simpler online experience.
It’s not a perfect game, and there are still moments where online play can be frustrating, but I find it more enjoyable than last year.
There are many ways people play NBA 2K: MyTeam, MyNBA, MyGM, Play Now (Quick Play), and even a full WNBA experience. You can build fantasy teams, jump into quick matches with real-life rosters, or roleplay as an NBA player or team manager. Personally, the so-called “sports RPG experience” is where it’s at for me, and NBA 2K has almost always delivered—this year included—but with a much more improved experience than before.
I truly just had to place this in my top 10 games of 2025 because it is the game Steam recorded as my most played and I can’t even tell you how disappointed I was in finding out I have really been addicted to this game for the past few months.
9. Pokémon Legends: Z-A
I haven’t been hooked by the new Pokémon games in the past few years, and a lot of them disappointed me more than I ever expected. Pokémon Legends: Z-A is still a long way from scratching the addiction I once had playing Pokémon FireRed on my GameBoy Advance as a kid, but it was a pleasantly surprising and fun experience.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A improves the interactivity and how dynamic the experience feels compared to Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Scarlet & Violet really disappointed me back then with how it was marketed as this highly immersive experience, only to completely fail at delivering the level of detail needed to even call it remotely immersive. I was excited about being able to walk around freely with your Pokémon in an open world, but the combat experience was honestly embarrassingly bad.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus, while I didn’t play it extensively, gave me a much more streamlined and enjoyable experience with an incredibly interesting story.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A, being a sequel, was enticing for my partner, and she enjoyed it just as much as I did—though I personally really hated that the setting shifted to a more modern city.
The story progression was pretty hit-or-miss for me, and the quest design felt pretty lacklustre overall.
I honestly think the bar is low for Pokémon games at this point, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A mostly just surprised me.
8. Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
A game that I was aware of prior to its release, had a pretty low expectations for, and was pleasantly suprised at was Wuchang: Fallen Feathers. Might be a bit offensive but I was expecting to experience the same game as Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty when I started Wuchang: Fallen Feathers.
The first thought in my mind when I started the game was that it felt very Soulslike in its basic movement and combat. Wuchang, your character, is pretty weak at the start and you can only really do a limited number of basic movements and actions before you run out of stamina—and to be fair, you only need that much to complete the early sections.
Then, progressing the game, it becomes much more apparent that it is a Soulslike. Gameplay is mainly focused on your skills as a player, but there are movement and combat abilities that can help make things easier.
Story progression is linear, and there are tons of missable side characters, stories, and quests just like a typical FromSoft game.
All of the enemies and characters I encountered were very interesting and unique, and I deeply respect that from the developers.
A lot of people had issues with its performance, but it didn’t seem like it was that serious where people stopped playing it. I really enjoyed Wuchang: Fallen Feathers and was able to replay it a couple of times before it got old for me, which is a compliment since I don’t really replay games at all.
7. METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER
I am a big Metal Gear Solid fan—let’s get that out of the way immediately. Before playing Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, I had already played and finished Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation 1, Metal Gear Solid 2 on PC, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on PC, and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (and Portable Ops Plus) on PlayStation Portable. Once the remaster was announced, I knew I would play it almost immediately after it was released.
The original version was already revolutionary on release, with multiple combat and survival elements involved in the gameplay.
Konami and Kojima maximized the full capabilities of the PlayStation controller, but in doing so, they made a very clunky mess of the controls—the worst being how aiming and shooting worked.
With the remaster, the very first thing that’s noticeable is that the controls are now modernized and much better. I remember almost having a brain aneurysm trying to figure out the buttons and button combinations in the original version of the game.
Surprisingly, the remake was very faithful to the original, with no major changes to the general gameplay, progression, or story. Some may find this boring, but that faithfulness is exactly what I appreciated about it.
6. Dispatch
Dispatch is a beloved game that I got to play early on when there was a demo out in June of 2025, around 3 months before its release. It is a narrative episodic game with both choice-based and simulation gameplay. It’s a weird mix, but it works and I love both aspects of it.
The game works similarly to the classic Telltale games where there is a story and every now and then you would make a choice that determines the outcome of events.Somewhere in an episode, you will have to play a management simulation game where you have to place heroes appropriately to crises. The catch in the simulation part is that you only have a limited number of heroes and there is always a new crisis popping up every minute or so.
Another great thing about Dispatch is that the voice cast is packed with great actors such as Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad, Laura Bailey from Critical Role, Erin Yvette from The Telltale’s Walking Dead, and even YouTubers like MoistCr1TiKaL and jacksepticeye.
Admittedly, the story is pretty simple and, the consequences of choosing one action over the other isn’t that “punishing,” but it’s a nice feel-good story.
5. Crown Gambit
Crown Gambit is a deck-building RPG set in a fantasy medieval world where your characters have to save themselves and the kingdom.
I find the game to be incredibly unique with its deck-building mechanics and combat, which is set in an arena but plays out a bit like chess, but with cards. It’s a bit confusing, I know, but just watch some of the gameplay in my video.
The main story is incredibly political, and the lore is insanely deep, with tons of supporting text you can always read in the game’s journal entries. Even in between cutscenes, you can click on certain highlighted words and find information on related characters, events, or places tied to them.
Think of it like Final Fantasy XVI’s Active Time Lore mechanic, where you can pause during a cutscene to see what’s going on with the characters and other relevant details.
The characters in Crown Gambit are very likeable and charming in their own way, but the best part of it all is the art style. I honestly can’t put into words how insanely beautiful this game is, so please check it out.
4. Monster Hunter: Wilds
Yes, I know Monster Hunter: Wilds is insanely unoptimized, but this game is incredibly addictive.
After getting back into the world of Monster Hunter when I played Monster Hunter: World back in 2021, I was really excited when they announced Monster Hunter: Wilds.
Before Monster Hunter: Wilds, I played Dragon’s Dogma 2, and from that experience I knew they were going to cook something really special with Monster Hunter: Wilds—and they did.
The semi-open world experience and interconnected regions were awesome to experience. The changing environment and weather are also new and refreshing additions. Combat became much smoother and more fluid than its predecessor, and they minimized the reliance on the Clutch Claw by a lot.
Again, it is incredibly unoptimized, and that is my biggest gripe—especially since it means a lot of people don’t get to play it or even try it at all.
3. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Do I even need to explain why Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is on my list? Okay, sure. I guess.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is such a miracle home run for Sandfall Interactive. Their first game led to them sweeping multiple—if not all—awards at shows, even the prestigious The Game Awards. More than that, its incredible soundtrack allowed their artists to have musical performances and even concerts.
Gameplay-wise, the turn-based system is still fairly standard, but what they mixed in is the parry mechanic, which allows for a more “active” mindset when playing a genre like this.
Aside from combat, its biggest selling points are definitely the writing, storytelling, and acting.
From the great minds behind the writing such as Jennifer Svedberg-Yen and Guillaume Broche, to artists like Nicholas Maxson-Francombe and Lorien Testard, and finally to actors such as Jennifer English and Ben Starr, the game is a masterpiece—something clearly reflected by the people behind it.
2. Silent Hill F
Ever since I played Alan Wake 2, I’ve really gained a newfound appreciation for horror games. More than just the fear and tension, I really love the stories that come with them, often tying everything together and creating an investigative experience through mysteries caused by the supernatural or wonders of science. Silent Hill f’s mystery comes from the latter.
Silent Hill f isn’t just scary for the sake of horror, nor does it ground itself in reality merely for consistency with the Silent Hill franchise.
I feel there is great care in the writing of Silent Hill f, incredibly portraying the realities of women in 1960s Japan. I’m not an expert in Japanese history, but I’d like to believe that the concepts, customs, and experiences portrayed in the game are fairly accurate.
Not only does it explore the customs of that time and place, but it also ensures that Hinako Shimizu, the protagonist, is fleshed out beyond just being a “vessel” of a Japanese woman—which is funny as I wrote it here because this is core to the game’s main story.
Hinako is also an interesting character who can stand as a protagonist on her own, with her thoughts, feelings, and responses to her experiences resonating beyond the setting of Silent Hill f. The game also carefully explores other characters in an intricate way.
The storytelling concept of an “Unreliable Narrator” is embedded not only in the cutscenes but also in gameplay with the New Game Plus system. Additionally, more of the story and lore elements are tied to gameplay, such as the use of old weapons and tools, repairing, and making offerings at shrines as a way to level up Hinako.
All in all, I truly hold Silent Hill f in high regard.
1. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Oh boy. Until now, I haven’t been able to write a Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 review because whenever I start a draft, it always feels incomprehensible and way too favorable to the game—it’s not fair at all. That’s how much I truly love this game.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 feels like the pinnacle of the modern RPG at the moment.
The game offers a living, breathing world for players to immerse themselves in for hours, days, weeks, months, or even years. The main story is fairly long but incredibly gripping, the characters are charming in many ways, and the gameplay has too much depth to explain concisely—and I say this in a good way.
Let’s breeze through the RPG mechanics. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has tons of immersive simulation elements. Not only can you shape Henry to your own desires and preferences, but your actions may also affect how the world and its NPCs interact with you.
The world is packed with NPCs and activities, often distracting players from finishing the main story. All quests offer different ways to solve or progress, and there is almost always a payoff in choosing one path over another, which encourages saving and replaying to experience things differently.
I know these mechanics may seem basic or familiar, but Warhorse Studios polished them and elevated player agency to another level.
Of course, there are things to criticize, but storytelling, quest design, characters, and world design are definitely not on that list. Combat, however, can be hit-or-miss, causing some newcomers to leave the game early—though many eventually return and find joy in it.
Anyway, I don’t want to make this too long, so let’s leave it at that. Maybe one day I’ll write a full-on review, or perhaps just an appreciation article, because I doubt I can ever be entirely fair when writing about Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.
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