My Top 10 Games of 2025

Happy New Year, everyone! My final week of 2025 included gaming, browsing many people’s GOTY lists, and a growing food coma that will only be solved by playing cozy games. I have played so many releases this year that making a Top 20 list was a significant challenge, let alone a Top 10.

Everyone keeps track of what games they think of more fondly than others, and I have made a public list of my favorite games every year since 2015.

I keep a spreadsheet of every game I play each year, whether I buy the game outright or receive a review copy. I also only count games released in the given year or previous Early Access games that hit 1.0 in 2025. I limit the latter when I can. Anyway, let’s kick things off!

10) Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon (Steam Deck Verified)

After a long time in development and a couple of years in Early Access, Tainted Grail hit the big 1.0 this year. It has its jank and suffers slightly from the modest resources of an indie team pursuing a bigger vision, but this is one of the most interesting RPGs on the market. Very few studios have the gall to pull off the kind of non-linear open world RPG that Bethesda was so well known for, let alone a small indie team.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon puts together a fantastic setting with some refreshing mechanics. It is buggy and struggles with some late-game quality issues, but this is an impressive package from the folks at Questline that is worth your time.

9) Sultan’s Game (Steam Deck Playable)

Sultan’s Game is absolutely fabulous. It is a strategy RPG where you must survive the whims of a cruel ruler by playing what feels like Yu-Gi-Oh Season Zero with all the death dialed up to ten. It’s a mix of visual novel, management, and survival gameplay that sounds like it could never work, but it really drew me in. There are even roguelike elements with a ton of unlocks for future playthroughs, bringing a torrent of replayability to the table.

It is one of the most unique games of 2025 and continues to improve with every update. Sultan’s Game is even a great experience on the Steam Deck now, thanks to interface scaling.

8) Date Everything! (Steam Deck Verified)

Like a few games on this list, I’ve grown to love games of a genre I don’t play often. Date Everything! features over 100 fully voiced characters to befriend and get to know, with some fiercely creative worldbuilding. More of a sandbox than anything else, Date Everything is something truly special. I never expected to enjoy a dating sim so much, but here we are. Worth checking out even if you have only the faintest interest, and worth experimenting with to get a feel for the game outright. Clever and deeply enjoyable, I do not envy anyone trying to 100% complete this insane game.

Is it better than Slay the Princess and Scarlet Hollow? Perhaps. I have yet to complete the game due to the amount of interactivity and content available, but Date Everything! is up there with the best.

7) Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (Steam Deck Verified)

After my relative disappointment with Rune Factory 5, I was hoping for Guardians of Azuma to bring things back. Despite my mild expectations, I’ve been enjoying Guardians of Azuma a lot more than I expected. This side-grade in the series has brought more emphasis to the action RPG side of things, with prominent, sprawling locations to explore, a ton of enemy monsters to fight, and surprisingly solid combat.

The farming and townbuilding mechanics are all in here, and while the characters range in quality with every JRPG cliche under the sun, there is a solid farming RPG with plenty to be excited about. I’m surprised by how much I like it, though I haven’t completed the game yet. These titles are made to last, after all! The mechanics aren’t the deepest or most complex, but it’s been a tasty snack of my favorite genres mashed together.

6) Cyber Knights: Flashpoint (Steam Deck Verified)

A lot of games left Early Access this year, and you might notice Hades II’s omission from my Top 10. The only reason I don’t have the sequel in my Top 10 is simple: time. I haven’t put much time into Hades II since it left Early Access, as I have been juggling more projects, so I had to go with what I’ve invested more time into. That is Cyber Knights Flashpoint.

One of my favorite Early Access games hit the big 1.0 this year, and it’s still fantastic. This cyberpunk turn-based RPG is packed with character, content, and deep systems, and it is a lot of fun exploring all the mechanics. Build a crack team of mercenaries to carry out heists for many fixers throughout the game’s world, taking advantage of the excellent mission design system and many different storylines. It can be a little inconsistent at times and occasionally suffers from Xcom percentage bullshit syndrome, but this is a great experience. Trese Brothers is one of my favorite game developers, supporting their games for years with frequent content drops. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is a great RPG, and the atmosphere alone is worth your attention.

5) Two Point Museum (Steam Deck Verified)

We’re in the top five now, and I am continuing this year’s trend of games that surprised me with Two Point Museum. While I loved Two Point Hospital, the Campus installment was a little disappointing. I was a little wary of this third installment from Two Point Studios, but I was curious to see how the developers would handle it. Museum not only redeemed the studio in my eyes, but also became the best game in the franchise. The amount of content can be a bit overwhelming as more and more mechanics get introduced, but I was seriously impressed by how deep the gameplay goes in this management sim. There is a lot of content, the DLCs have been exceptional value, and Two Point Studios have done a great job with post-launch support. It’s clear they have learned important lessons from Campus, and Two Point Museum might be the biggest surprise for me in 2025.

4) Promise Mascot Agency (Steam Deck Verified)

Promise Mascot Agency breathes bonkers and revels in it. Developed by the same folks behind Paradise Killer, their new title is a bizarre management sim that supports a dying mascot business as it seeks to redeem a yakuza bodyguard fallen from grace. This game is hilarious with some wonderful characters, and while it might look ridiculous, it is one of the most impressive games in its class. There is a lot to micromanage, especially as the game gets more complex, but Promise Mascot Agency has both heart and meat on the bones. I wish you could move around the world without using the little truck, but it’s just a minor nitpick, aside from some repetitive minigames. The game oozes charm and is the right mix of utterly insane and captivating, which was just what I needed.

3) The Alters (Steam Deck Verified)

Trying to rank my top three games of the year was extremely challenging, and it might be the hardest decision I’ve had to make during these annual events. All three differ in their design philosophy, making them nearly impossible to compare. This is a good thing because it shows just how much variety there is. But I had to do some rankings, because what better way to get people talking? Number three on my list this year is The Alters.

By far the most unique and refreshing game I have played in 2025, The Alters oozes creativity in its survival-based building gameplay. By using clones of yourself, you have to juggle horrific environments, mental turmoil, and the deadly alien sun to survive, bringing back a vital resource to Earth. Jan Polski voiced every version of himself, and the characterization in this game is off the charts.

I am sad that The Alters only takes third place, because it deserves more. The Alters might lack the overall package of Expedition 33 or the amazing open medieval world of KCD2, but it delivers great game mechanics, punishing survival, and a fascinating story.

2) Kingdom Come Deliverance II (Steam Deck Playable)

Picking between these two titans of 2025 is a bloodbath. Both Kingdom Come Deliverance II and Expedition 33 are exceptional games with very different designs. Comparing them feels like judging a trifle against a sausage roll. They’re both completely different games, and I’ve had fun reading all the discourse online about which one deserves it more.

Anyway, Kingdom Come Deliverance II takes my number 2 spot, and it improves upon the original game in every way. After KCD1 launched the messy way it did, it was refreshing to see how Warhorse Studios has learned some of the lessons from the original. The grittiness of the medieval world is refreshing, with one of the best open worlds I’ve seen in a long time. The survival mechanics almost give it a life simulation of sorts, and the expanded region greatly improves on the original. I did struggle a bit with the opening hours, and the second, far superior region is held off until a decent portion of the game. While I still think the Savior Snapps save mechanic is dumb, it isn’t a deal breaker. With more polish than before and some solid expansions, this is an excellent game.

1) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Steam Deck Playable)

Damn. What more can we say about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that hasn’t already been said? It’s unfortunate to see so much JRPG discourse run around online when more people need to appreciate how good Expedition 33 is. The creativity in worldbuilding and lore is exceptional, and I love the characters. The moment-to-moment gameplay and exploration is overall solid, although a lot of cheese and occasional difficulty spikes might make the reaction mechanics frustrating for some players. I have terrible reaction times with my fibromyalgia, and so it took a while for me to adjust to the parrying mechanics.

The gap between Expedition 33, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and The Alters was razor-thin. I might prefer Kingdom Come Deliverance’s world and game mechanics overall, but Expedition 33’s emotional impact is a sight to behold with everything working in tandem. It’s also an original IP, which puts it ahead of a sequel in my eyes. You can reasonably call this a three-way tie and not be wrong, but hand on heart, I had to ultimately give my Game of the Year nod to Expedition 33. Predictable, I know!