---
title: 'My Top 3 Games of 2025'
pubDate: '2025-12-20'
tags: ['Gaming']
---

2025 has been a tough year Due to losing my job back in June, I haven’t spent nearly as much money on gaming as I have in past years. As such, I spent most of 2025 replaying old favorites, or finally finishing games that have been sitting in my backlog for ages.

So, my top 3 list this year is going to be very skewed towards early 2025, as the only post-June release I’ve even got to play was Hades II. So yes, from what I’ve seen, if I’d been able to pick up Ghost of Yōtei, it would have probably made this list.

## Hades II

I’m not a big rogue-like fan, but I did enjoy the original Hades back in 2020 (despite not actually finishing it), so I was very excited for the sequel. Unlike many rogue-likes that I've played, Hades has a very nice sense of progression, and Hades II expands on that in fun and interesting ways.

In my gaming journal, I had a hard time identifying what really grabbed me about this game that led me to actually finish it. But, upon further reflection, I think it's a combination of the more interesting progression system, and the fact that there were two paths to follow – a path down to Tarturus, and another up to Mount Olympus. This added enough gameplay variety that, when I was bored with o path, I'd just switch to trying to make progress in another.

I also enjoyed the concrete goals, outside of the main objective of defeating Chronos, via "prophecies". It made me feel like I was accomplishing things even when failing runs, and they continue to keep me invested in playing even though I've finished the main story. 

## Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obcur, in many ways, feels like the natural evolution Final Fantasy could have taken in another universe where they stuck with turn-based combat. Though visually, and in terms of story, it's very much its own thing. 

To say this game has ruined turn-based JRPG style games for me is far from an understatement. Each party memeber not only has their own set of skills, they also have unique mechanics that make each feel very distinct, and makes combat strategy far more interesting than just picking a character's best skill for a given situation. Maelle is probably my favorite, with her stances that are applied by using certain moves – usually alongside some otehr condition – and apply different effects, like, "Deal 50% more damage, but take 50% more damage". 

I liked pretty much all the characters, which is a rarity for me. Generally there's one or two characters I cannot stand, but they're all so likable, and you come to care about all their stories, which makes a certain choice at the end of the game very heartbreaking. 

My favorite character overall though is Esquie, who serves as this game's equivient of the classic Final Fantasy airship. He's sometimes sad, rad, or even bad. But never mad. 

## Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

Ok, this choice is a bit of a cheat, as this is a re-release of a game that I played when it originally launched on the Wii U back in 2015. But my other options for “games I played that released in 2025" were Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, neither of which I enjoyed as much.

The main draw for this game, unlike the other Xenoblade games, is not the main story. What I think makes this game so great is the focus on exploration and getting to know the characters, party members _and_ NPCs, through the various side quests on offer. It really makes you feel like you're all survivors on a dangerous alien planet, just trying to stay alive.

My only complaint is that the extra story content added in this new version of the game is pretty lackluster. Similar to the additional content in the remake of the original Xenoblade Chronicles that came out a few years ago, I just didn't find it all that compelling.
