It hasn’t been a good year, overall. Speak to anyone, and they’ll likely tell you a tale of woe. The video games industry has suffered more than most, with the year plagued by corporate-led layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations. But even against this backdrop, so many fantastic video games still released.
They provided a sense of escapism and hope, a salve for world news and economic downturn. I played so many video games – for review and personal interest – that inspired me, encouraged me, and made me fall in love over and over again.
What follows is a list of all the video games I played and loved this year. This isn’t a comprehensive ‘Game of the Year’ list – although that’s on the way too. Rather, it’s a list of games I played and loved for many reasons, that made my 2025 brighter and more memorable.
From mysteries starring duck detectives to nostalgic mini-game collections, these are all the best video games I played in 2025, in no particular order.
My favourite video games of 2025 – quick links
The Drifter
The Drifter is an incredible, Aussie-made point-and-click adventure game that combines cool Aussie vibes with classic sci-fi and horror, in ways that keep you on your toes. It’s also worth noting how gorgeous this game is, with lovely, fluid animation and a real, unique sense of style – and that its puzzles are so wonderfully logical, and flow so well to accompany a lush story. The Drifter rules. Play The Drifter.
Promise Mascot Agency
Promise Mascot Agency was one of the stranger titles I played this year – and I loved it so, so much. In it, you take the role of a disgraced mafia enforcer who’s exiled to a strange island where kooky, down-on-their-luck mascots live – giant toes, magical cats, and sentient tofu. What follows is a moreish exploration adventure complete with management elements, collect-a-thon gameplay, and so many weird little quirks that all flow together.
Atomfall
Atomfall was unfairly compared to Fallout on its debut, for its first-person exploration and adventure mechanics – but beyond elements of its aesthetic, it’s not really like Fallout at all.
It’s actually a very well-designed and sharply-paced narrative mystery game where you’re tasked with making your way through a post-apocalyptic world, following one clue at a time. There’s just enough weirdness in the adventure – from odd voices down the telephone wires to cult-like factions – for it to be entirely memorable and compelling.
South of Midnight
South of Midnight deserved more love this year. What a beautiful, impactful game, with such an array of novel ideas. In this adventure you play as Hazel, a young girl who learns she’s destined to be a magical Weaver, following the events of a catastrophic flood in her hometown.
This is not only a vast and imaginative fantasy adventure, it’s also a lush coming of age story, all about growing up and untangling – then re-embracing – the bonds of family.
It’s a shame that South of Midnight hasn’t appeared in more lists of the best video games of the year so far.
Is This Seat Taken?
Is This Seat Taken? absolutely ticked my brain throughout its entire runtime. This is a relatively light-touch puzzler, but does so much with its premise: you must sort and place picky people into various locations, paying attention to their needs and desires.
Is This Seat Taken? demands your attention and care, with each puzzle being a Tetris-like challenge to complete. If you’re looking for new puzzle video games with just the right amount of challenge, pick this one up.
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a video games sequel that was a long time coming. I first played the original Fantasy Life on Nintendo 3DS in 2012, and it was a formative experience.
It was delightful to see this major, larger-scale sequel release this year, and that it was just so good. Every part of the original game is represented and expanded here, for an adventure that is bright, whimsical, and enthralling through dozens of hours.
Spilled!
Spilled! made such an impression on me, with such a small runtime. It’s short, sharp, and snappy, and while it leaves you wanting more, that’s only because of how brilliant its gameplay is.
You play as a tiny little boat attempting to clean up an ocean spill, moving forward through various locations, cleaning as you roam. It’s a bit like a video games version of colouring in – the more you fill in, the cleaner your ocean becomes. There is a wonderful message here about caring for the environment, but there’s also the opportunity to relax, wind down, and experience a cosy adventure.
Expelled!
From one exclamation mark to the next, Expelled! was another game I absolutely loved this year. This is a point-and-click mystery game where you slowly uncover the heart of a major conundrum. You play as Verity Amersham, a young girl who’s accused of pushing a fellow student out of a school window.
What follows is a sharply-paced quest to prove your innocence, as various pieces of the story come to light. While you may end up expelled as you travel through the plot, time-looping mechanics allow you to try again and again to prove your innocence, until the full picture becomes clear in wildly satisfying fashion.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger
There’ve been countless Digimon video games released over the years, with some of them being grander than others. Digimon Story: Time Stranger might be the grandest of all, with this surprisingly big budget game inviting you into a sweeping story charting all corners of the Digital World.
This adventure harkens back to the classic Digimon World days, and particularly Digimon World 3, which certainly made me very, very happy, and nostalgic.
Tamagotchi Plaza
Tamagotchi Plaza was not one of the best-received video games of 2025 – except in my heart. When this title was first revealed, I found myself incredibly emotional, because I never thought a sequel to the classic Nintendo DS Tamagotchi Connection Corner Shop games would be possible.
Why would it be? After more than a decade away, the franchise had largely been forgotten. But not by me! And seemingly not by Bandai Namco, either – which was wonderful to realise.
Tamagotchi Plaza arrived mid-year as a bouncy mini-game collection inspired directly by the Corner Shop games, and I had an absolute blast playing through each and every stage.
Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping
Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping is just delightful in every way. You play as the titular Duck Detective, fresh off his adventures in one of the best video games of 2024 – The Secret Salami – journeying to a campsite where strange happenings are taking place. Across a few hours, you’ll work towards solving a funny, quirky mystery by interviewing strange characters, and making so-called ‘deducktions’ about their motives. Long may the Duck Detective series continue.
Dying Light: The Beast
Forgive me, Dying Light. I wasn’t familiar with your game. This year, on a whim, I picked up Dying Light: The Beast – and every waking moment since, I’ve been thinking about it. This is a loud, action-heavy zombie adventure where you play as a half-zombie anti-hero looking to uncover the mysteries of his new abilities, and to save humans in need.
It’s really a shameless power fantasy, and it’s all the better for it. With your weird half-zombie powers, you’ll plow through undead hordes, all while completing moreish story quests, which play out a wonderful, trope-filled story. Even when Dying Light: The Beast leans into established, unsurprising story beats, it’s a lot of fun.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A
After years away, I was craving a brand new Pokemon experience. In Pokemon Legends: Z-A, I got exactly what I asked for, and plenty more besides. Taking a different track from other Pokemon video games, this is a more siloed adventure, where you travel through a city facing a major problem: Pokemon everywhere are Mega Evolving, unleashing devastating power.
To help folks in need of aid, you must travel through Lumiose City and defeat these Pokemon, using your own well-curated roster of Pokemon friends. With this tight story, and new gameplay mechanics like Wild Zones for catching Pokemon and Battle Zones for facing trainers, Pokemon Legends: Z-A presents a reinvention of the Pokemon formula – and I appreciated everything it did differently.
The Horror at Highrook
The Horror at Highrook is a supernatural horror adventure that takes the ‘haunted mansion’ trope and transforms it with unique card play mechanics. While there’s plenty of familiar tropes here, what’s so compelling about this game is how it allows you to explore and investigate them.
You’re corralling a team of investigators here, entering a haunted mansion to solve its core mysteries, with the twist being that you control all of their actions, locations, and needs by placing cards onto a board game-like map.
Placing certain cards and heroes together will unlock new clues to solving the central mystery, until you’re facing off against ghosts, ghoulies, and other monsters in a bold endgame. It’s rare that video games surprise me, but The Horror at Highrook did just that.
Letters to Arralla
Letters to Arralla is one of those video games that just makes you smile. In it, you play as a young turnip who ventures to an Aussie-inspired island to embark on a cosy, relaxing week of delivering mail. You may use clues found on each letter or parcel to figure out where to deliver this mail, or open it up to discover the secrets of each island resident.
Whatever you choose to do, Letters to Arralla remains a kind, endearing video games experience. As you spend time in this world, you’ll get to know each island resident very well, while learning lessons about life, living, and friendship.
Borderlands 4
Borderlands 4 was a significant redemption for the rest of the Borderlands video games franchise, following the disappointment of the lacklustre Borderlands 3. With more colourful worlds, a more memorable story hook, and a menagerie of protagonist Vault Hunters who absolutely rule, it was a game that reminded me exactly how much I’ve always loved Borderlands.
It’s big and loud and ultra-confident in itself, hauling you along its story with creative beats and moreish run-and-gun gameplay. It’s not the best of the video games franchise – that honour still belongs to Borderlands 2 and Tales from the Borderlands – but I had a fantastic time shooting my way through this adventure.
