This year, I played 35 new releases, but I spent a lot of time with things that I didn’t think I would like. There were plenty of games I gave a shot that ended up just not being for me (sorry Dragon’s Dogma 2,) but there are currently three games in my top ten that I was sure I wouldn’t get much out of when I booted them up for the first time.
If you’re taking the time to read my list (or the rest of TheGamer’s, which you can find here), I implore you to play something new in 2025 even if you’re certain it won’t be your thing. Who knows? You might just be wrong and discover how good Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is. Or maybe you’ll be proven right, again, I totally called it with Dragon’s Dogma.
10
Marvel Rivals
Is this weird to put on a top ten list since it only came out like a week ago? Probably, but it’s taking up the entirety of my gaming time in December, so I think Marvel Rivals is doing something right. It’s astounding how capturing the appeal of Overwatch is as simple as just doing exactly what Overwatch was doing eight years ago (we’re all old, trust me, I know) without any of the over-tuning that Blizzard ended up doing to ruin its cash cow.
It’s still to be seen if Marvel Rivals will withstand the test of time – Overwatch certainly did not for me – but I’m having fun with it right now which just so happens to be when I’m writing this list. If you’re an Iron Fist main, you’re going to Hell.
9
Silent Hill 2 (the new one)
I had Silent Hill 2 as my most anticipated game of the year going into 2024, but not because I was expecting it to be good. I was hotly anticipating the Silent Hill 2 remake because I have a sick fascination with car wreck games–games that are disasters that I can’t help but over-analyze in YouTube videos.
To my surprise, Silent Hill 2 is an extremely thoughtful retelling of the original game (an already thoughtful exploration of pain and self-sabotage.) I don’t know if it’s a remake that adds anything essential that was missing from the original game, but it certainly gets the mood right and I believe that Luke Roberts as James is the best performance of the year.
8
1000xResist
There were several games this year that got better the more time I spent away from them. 1000xResist is a meditation on, well, a lot of things, but despite being a sci-fi game with some Christopher Nolan-worthy ideas, the sections that resonated the most with me had nothing to do with replicants or time travel or any of that highbrow stuff.
They were the small, self-reflective moments about motherhood and how we often see our biggest flaws passed down from our parents who got them from their own parents. I’m still working on unpacking it all and how it applies to my own life.
7
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a tower defense action tactics game that–no wait, for real, stop scrolling away it’s really good! This was one of the games I tried that I knew I wouldn’t like but turned out to be completely into. It’s a really great example of what kinds of cool mechanical ideas can be created when you let a large studio like Capcom work on something smaller scale that isn’t related to one of its mega franchises.
Despite the fact that they couldn’t be any more different, Kunitsu-Gami reminds me of HiFi Rush in that regard. More things like this! More new ideas from triple-A studios! I want games to get weirder!
6
Balatro
I think I would put Balatro higher on this list if I was any good at math. Unfortunately, my real-world knowledge (or rather lack thereof) of the order of operations and how exponents work means that I can’t even comprehend the high-level Balatro runs that I’ve seen making the rounds on Twitter, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t have a fun time with it.
That’s one of the things I like most about Balatro, the high-level endless runs are all well and good for people who understand the deeper ‘programming’ that you can do with the various Jokers to exploit the system using math, but for big stupid idiots like me, I can just be satisfied knowing that the one in four Wheel of Fortune card is a total scam.
5
Animal Well
The less you know about Animal Well, the better time you’re going to have. It’s a puzzle platformer that’s got a depth to it that’s completely hidden to anyone who isn’t looking for it. It’s a game that you have to really want to dig deep to even begin to understand what the puzzles are asking of you since a lot of them aren’t apparent unless you’re thinking far out of the box.
I mean, one puzzle literally prints something out of your physical printer (if you have one, I suppose,) but you might not ever know it’s that deep if you only play games to roll credits. If you’re going to try Animal Well, don’t rush through it, give it the time it deserves.
4
Mouthwashing
Mouthwashing is the best-written game of the year. It takes a tried and true premise (a small cast of characters stranded in a spaceship without hope of being rescued) and tells a mature story about the pain we inflict on each other and how action and often inaction can be the catalyst for the complete dissolution of relationships.
The real story is told through implication and inference in a way that needs to be dissected to be understood while also threading the fine needle of not being convoluted. It took me about two hours to finish and once it was over I sat in silence with my mouth agape for what felt like two more.
3
Persona 3 Reload
To be entirely honest, Metaphor: ReFantazio just didn’t do it for me and I can’t really place my finger on why. As much as I was let down by that, I was able to take comfort in the fact that earlier in the year, Atlus had already fed me a different delightfully tasty 80-hour JRPG in Persona 3 Reload.
While I wish it might have reworked some of the problems that were present in previous versions of Persona 3 (like the fact that there gets to be a point in the game when there’s literally nothing to do at night), it feels like an excellent way for newer fans to experience a more classic entry in the Persona series. I haven’t stopped listening to the revamped soundtrack since the game came out, I think it has some of the best confidant storylines in the entire series and a knockout ending that really drives the point of the entire game home.
2
Helldivers 2
Every match of Helldivers 2 feels like it’s the climactic ending of a different video game. It’s designed to feel like every single thing is going wrong at every single moment and that the only way out is to find a bomb big enough to wipe you and the legion of bugs or mechs endlessly beating you down off the map. And it’s glorious.
I have never laughed more playing games with my friends and even though our sessions have slowed down in frequency some, it’s still a game that, whenever I revisit, I understand what makes it so special. Helldivers 2 is all about making huge mistakes and bailing yourself out of them by making even bigger mistakes with even bigger bombs.
1
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
My favorite kinds of games are the ones that expect a player’s undivided attention, and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes requires just that. It’s a puzzle game that encourages you to play with a pen and paper and, honestly, I don’t know how anyone could finish this thing without it. The chilling atmosphere and droning soundtrack raise all the hair on my body every time I complete a puzzle and the faceless, suit-wearing man shows up to give another bit of eyebrow-raising advice. While I won’t spoil it for you here, the final puzzle of the game is one of the best ending sequences in any game I might have ever played.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes essentially looks at the player directly through the screen and says, “You got all that? Okay, time to prove it.” I can’t recommend this game enough for anyone who’s interested in taking logical deduction seriously. It sits up on a high pedestal in my mind next to Return of the Obra Dinn, a puzzle game by which all other games in the genre will be judged. The only critique I have for the game is that it has an ending at all and isn’t just an endless string of high-quality puzzles that I can spend the rest of my life solving.