My gaming year in review - Computer games
I'm going to do this post a bit differently from the ttrpg one. Due to the fact that I can play computer games without having to schedule them with three or more other working adults, I played a lot more computer games than ttrpgs this year - and I'm not going to talk about all of them in detail here, just a couple of sentences I guess. I do have a plan of moving all my game reviews (which are mostly on Steam right now) somewhere cleaner in the future, so let's see how that works out.
For now, here's the list. I'm not going to link everything since, I don't know, computer game stores are kind of standardized and weird. You can probably find them without too much effort.
PS5 Games
- Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is still Ratchet and Clank and still very fun to play, with some cool new characters and stories. I laughed quite a bit with the Mr. Fungi upgrade.
- Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero should have just been called Budokai Tenkaichi 4 and it did deliver in the fights. Doing the alternate timelines in the story mode was a bit weird with the hidden conditions and the eventual "if you fought Jeice instead of Burter in Namek literally nothing would change".
- Digimon Story: Time Stranger sparks very complicated feelings in my heart and I'll probably dedicate a whole blogpost to it when I finish it. Do I hate the UI and the grindyness? Yes, a lot. Do forget about it and scream like a child when I see a Dodomon bouncing around? Very often.
Switch 2 Games
- Mario Kart World is fun in a Mario Kart way from the couple hours I got to play with it. Shame I'll never actually buy the damn thing because I believe games shouldn't cost more than a week's worth of meals. The straight highways between tracks are a bit weird, but having all the wonky playable characters does put a smile on my face1.
Switch Games
- I played a bit of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate again, it had been a long time. What a sluggish game, I wish it didn't have the baked-in input delay because I really do love playing as a lot of the new characters.
- I played a lot less Splatoon 3 than last year. A bit of real life getting in the way, but also I think I'm just no longer enjoying it that much. The only online versus shooter game I've ever played - and my most played Switch game - might finally have time to rest.
PC Games
- As with last year, I still haven't finished Baldur's Gate 3. Scheduling issues with my multiplayer friends, truly an impeccable emulation of ttrpgs.
- Jusant was the first game I played in 2025 and I still think about it fondly every now and then. Very tightly designed and also amazing vibes.
- Got Straftat to play with a friend and was instantly reminded of why I don't play shooters, especially with a mouse and keyboard. I did have fun, but I don't think I won more than what, 5 matches in two hours of playtime?
- Beetle Ninja was the first earthboundy game I played in a while. Impeccable atmosphere and pixel art, but the combat was a bit tiring.
- Fell is just like, an hour of pretty decent platforming for free. Can't really go wrong with it.
- Finally got around to playing Okami HD. Probably one of the highlights of my gaming year, very Zelda-shaped mechanically and just gorgeous aesthetically, even it keeps flashing your with the hmmm rather problematic Rising Sun Flag.
- Peak is great and one of the most interesting releases of the year for me. I loved the idea of two game dev studios getting together and doing kind of a game jam to just get a fun game out there. I also like how it didn't just use the low-hanging jumpscare fruit that a lot of multiplayer games capitalize on to get streamer engagement these days.
- Barony was fun for the couple times I played it, very old school D&D dungeon crawling vibes, but not a game I would play unless invited to.
- After passionate requests from a friend, I gave Dustforce a second chance and I'm happy I did. It's a really pretty and unique platformer. Waaay too hard for me to finish it though.
- After arduous attempts, we managed to finish a run of Unrailed 2: Back on Track. I think it's as fun of a game as the first one, with new systems and mechanics that are different but, in all honesty, don't feel like strictly better ones. The game is still in early access and has room to grow in my imo.
- Öoo is a fucking gem and if you decide to play anything out of my list, this might be the best choice. It's a masterclass in puzzle-platforming design and it sounds and looks amazing.
- I got the Sonic Adventure 2 port as a gift some time ago and finally played it. Not as fun as when I was young but still a very good game, shame the port kept constantly crashing and speeding up. On flavor, I guess.
- Inmost is an interesting game, it's kind of a horror and trauma non-linear narrative with some puzzle and action platforming. I'm not sure I understood the whole story, but I did think it was neat.
- Hollow Knight Silksong will likely get a huge post here someday. I liked it more than the original, even if it is a bit too long.
- Elechead is by the same creators of Öoo and it's also a very neat puzzle platformer.
- I decided on a whim to play Deep Rock Galactic again, doing the Elite Deep Dive weekly with a friend. This is another game that I'll probably dedicate an entire post to one of these days, but I still think it's one of the best co-op shooter experiences out there.
- The Big Catch: Tacklebox is a demo to what I think is the only game I am actively waiting for the release - and for some reason it's just huge. Plays great, looks great, sounds great, and the fish that run around really crack me up.
Now what?
I'm still on my "avoid buying games unless extremely necessary" policy, with 40-ish unplayed games in my possession, yearning to fulfill their purpose. Once I'm done with Digimon (and you will hear about it in this very here blog), I'll probably try something less rpg-shaped, like Control, Mosa Lina or Sifu. I've also been thinking about trying to setup my Nintendo DS to play GBA Pokémon romhacks (I've got my eye on Pokémon Lazarus), since I hate playing them on my phone. Here's to even more fun games next year!
anb
Why did they get the Cataquacks out of the Sunshine mines but not the Strollin' Stus? I guess Cataquacks did appear in Galaxy or Galaxy 2...↩