Did video games thrive or nosedive in ’25? Come to the… hive and see what… jived?

#10 – The Roottrees are Dead

If deductive reasoning and solving mysteries are your bag, look no further. Our setup here is that the Roottrees, a family of billionaire candy moguls, are suddenly killed in a plane crash. With no direct heirs surviving, the work of figuring out where all of the Roottree’s wealth is to be distributed will now begin.

You’re some sort of private investigator who has apparently decided to do all of their sleuthing without ever leaving your house. The year is 1998, and the concept of Facebook stalking is over a decade away from being conceived. Undeterred by this fact that you would probably have no way of knowing this anyway, you forge ahead using the power of public databases on the late-90s internet to research your way to your goal. And like any good mystery, there’s scandal to be uncovered along the way.

There’s not a lot of bells and whistles to write home about here, the interface is very basic and the pace of the game is what you could probably best describe as “best enjoyed with a cup of tea or coffee on-hand”, but if you want a good mentally stimulating mystery to chip away at over the course of a few nights, you won’t find many better out there than The Roottrees Are Dead.

#9 – Donkey Kong Bananza

Perhaps one of the more questionable gaming decisions I made in 2025 was to upgrade my Switch to a Switch 2. To say that Nintendo haven’t really made a compelling case for people to upgrade would be a pretty big understatement, but at least Donkey Kong Bananza came along to at least give me one thing to point to in justifying my purchase.

Coming from the team behind Super Mario Odyssey, a lot of the pedigree of that game is on show here, setting you loose in a variety of different worlds where you can quickly get around from one goal to the next without really having to break stride. The big difference here being DK’s ability to smash the absolute shit out of the environment, often in ways that the designers clearly intended for, but almost equally as often in a way that seemingly bypasses the intended puzzle associated with the golden banana you’ve just accidentally stumbled into. Yet somehow it doesn’t ever feel like you’ve cheated yourself out of experiencing the game “correctly”. For the most part it’s fun to just switch your brain off for a bit and wreck the world in the pursuit of DK’s precious golden bananas, while the local denizens just kind of smile and nod like this is just normal for them.

I don’t think I’d go so far as to say you need to get a Switch 2 so you can play Donkey Kong Bananza, but if you do happen to find yourself with a Switch 2, this is probably the number one thing to put on your purchase list.

#8 – Monster Train 2

Back in 2020, the original Monster Train came along, into what one could charitably describe as the fairly well-established roguelike deckbuilder category. On first glance, it was not an attention grabber – generic sounding name, with visuals that wouldn’t look out of place in phone game shovelware. I don’t even remember what led me to try it in the first place, but once I did, I quickly realised this game was far more than it appeared to be on the surface. On top of that, it had one of the most banger soundtracks of any game I’d ever played, let alone for a roguelike deckbuilder.

Five years later and coming hot off the failure of their other game, Inkbound, developers Shiny Shoe have gone back to what they’re apparently good at and put out Monster Train 2. With five new playable factions (and a sixth due to be added soon through DLC) and a range of other mechanical tweaks (such as room and equipment cards), this is exactly one of those sequels that doesn’t try to completely re-invent a successful formula, but iterates heavily enough that it makes it hard to go back to the original. The only thing I would say is that the new metal-heavy music perhaps doesn’t reach the same heights of the original, it is still a fantastic soundtrack in its own right, and genuinely leads me to wonder how the composer (Jordan Chin) isn’t getting called up to do music for more games.

If you never gave the original Monster Train a look and you’re up for a challenging, well-designed deck builder while you wait for Slay The Spire 2 to come out, Monster Train 2 is one I would strongly recommend.

#7 – Ghost of Yōtei

It was kind of weird when at the start of the year Assassin’s Creed: Shadows came out, and it seemed like a game that Ubisoft was trying really, really hard to just rip off Ghost of Tsushima with, only for the sequel of Ghost of Tsushima to come out a few months later, and have a whole bunch of weirdly specific story setup points that are basically the same across both games. Sengoku period Japan, a young girl having her family murdered in front of her by a group of mask-wearing samurai, said young girl grows up, develops her sword skills and seeks revenge on each of the family-murdering samurai. Also a bunch of people boycotted both games for vague “wokeness” complaints, but that’s probably true of half the games that come out these days.

Needless to say if you’ve jumped ahead and skim-read my whole list already, despite the similarities, Ghost of Yōtei was a better game than Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, so that’s where I’ll stop comparing the two. What makes Ghost of Yōtei a great game is a lot of what made Ghost of Tsushima great – fun and challenging combat encounters, beautiful scenic vistas to ride through, and compelling characters. Erika Ishii does a standout job as the face and voice of the game’s protagonist, Atsu, especially commendable since I’d only ever really seen them in comedy roles prior to this.

If you finished watching Shōgun and think you’re up for some more Sengoku period samurai drama, put Ghost of Yōtei on your list. And if you’re still looking for more after that, then (and only then) give Assassin’s Creed: Shadows a look, I guess.

#6 – Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

With the unexpected success of Vampire Survivors a few years ago, it wasn’t going to take long before we started seeing a bunch of Survivors-likes hitting the market, and 2025 saw a couple of more high profile examples finally leave early access. Soulstone Survivors was the first of these that I played, and if you’re looking for more games in this vein, that’s a very good one too. For me though, Deep Rock Galactic Survivor was the real standout game of this genre for the year.

Where this game separates itself from the Survivors-like crowd is in the elements that they’ve managed to integrate from the original Deep Rock Galactic. This is the most evident in the gameplay focus being on mining out levels for resources and experience, on top of the expected part where you’re being swarmed from all directions by hundreds of enemies at once.

One thing that you might consider as a strike against this game is that there are just the four character classes (compared to what you might be used to in other Survivors-likes that will often feature 20+ different playable characters), but if you’re like me you would see this as a positive because it feels like a more manageable number characters to be able to master. There’s still plenty of upgrade trees to work through, and special level objectives to tick off, so there’s no shortage of goals to chase whether you’re settling in to play this game for a couple of hours at a time, or just looking to jump in for one quick 15-20 minute run.

#5 – Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked

Having already said buying a Switch 2 was a questionable decision in 2025, the truth is the questionability of that purchase pales in comparison to the decision to buy a PSVR2 in 2024. Since then, this particular piece of hardware has primarily been a very expensive means to play Walkabout Minigolf (which I’ll at least say is an amazing game that’s almost worth buying a VR headset specifically to play). But now finally I can say there’s a new game that makes me want to go through the hassle of setting up the room to play in VR, and it is by means of one of the most abhorrently named video games of all time – Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked (or DxD&D:BM for short, if you prefer). 

Now, I will caveat this right up front by saying that if you’re coming to this game hoping for it to be more D&D than Demeo, then you’re probably going to be disappointed, as it is definitely more Demeo with a D&D coat of paint. Even to the point that when you’re rolling to attack, you’re using a d12 rather than a d20. But if you haven’t fainted on the spot after reading that revelation, stay with me, because DxD&D:BM really is a whole lot of fun.

Theoretically you can play this game without owning a VR device, but honestly I’m not sure if you’d want to. So much of the enjoyment of this game comes from the immersive and tactile feeling you can only get while playing it in VR, in being able to stand over a virtual table with the game laid out in front of you in the form of a diorama, while using your hands to physically pick up your character pieces and move them around the board, all of which is greatly enhanced when playing with friends online (assuming they too are crazy enough to own a VR headset).

The original Demeo was already a decent game, but adding the D&D licence has added a pleasingly familiar feel to it, and the addition of more guided story missions only enhances the product further. I’m hoping that they plan to add more campaigns to what’s currently included, and if they do I’ll certainly be continuing to play DxD&D:BM well into 2026.

#4 – Blue Prince

A genuinely hard game to categorise, but Blue Prince was an early release in 2025 that quickly established itself as a game that I knew would feature high up in my games of the year. The setting reminds me a little bit of The Witness or Myst, giving the same feeling of isolation in a world that otherwise feels like it’s been lived in and abandoned.

You are introduced to the game as the sole heir to a manor named Mt Holly, with the condition that you will only fully inherit the deed to the property if you can locate and enter the estate’s 46th room. You begin each day at the front entrance to the manor, with three closed doors leading out from the foyer. As you explore you’ll be presented with three new randomly chosen blueprints (Blue Prince, get it?) for rooms to enter each time you open a new door, until you eventually run out time or box yourself into a dead end. At this point, you’ll turn in for the night and awake the following day to find that the manor has completely reset, ready to be built out from the beginning all over again.

Finding the hidden 46th room will provide an engrossing enough challenge to get several hours of enjoyment out of Blue Prince, but for those who still want another mystery to solve, there are tonnes and tonnes of hidden details and mysteries to unravel once you’ve finished your first successful run through to the end of the manor.

If you do decide to give this game a go, you’ll probably want to commit to sticking with it at least until you find the 46th room, as a lot of the puzzle solving will rely on you remembering steps you’ve taken on recent run-throughs. But even if you just chip away with one or two in-game days at a time, you’ll get plenty of enjoyment out of unravelling the mysteries of Mt Holly.

#3 – Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Six years ago I felt like I had to get on my soapbox and defend the original Death Stranding, or maybe more accurately defend my own decision to call it the second-best game of 2019. This was of course the original release of Death Stranding, before the release of the Director’s Cut which added a number of quality-of-life features to the game to make it less punishing of an experience. Unsurprisingly, all of those improvements have made their way into Death Stranding 2, and people seem to be happier for it. I would perhaps argue that things have gone too far in this direction, and the sense of isolation that permeated so much of my playthrough of Death Stranding back in 2019 has been somewhat lost, as the world of Death Stranding 2 is now flooded with buildings and equipment from other players that can often trivialise what would have been long and arduous journeys through the wilderness in its predecessor. 

Does that make it a worse game? Not exactly. Does it make me feel like some of the meaning that Kojima was probably trying to convey in the first game has been lost? Maybe. But what I will say in favour of Death Stranding 2, is that the story is a hell of a lot more coherent and the characters a lot more empathetic than they ever were in the first game. That isn’t to say that it all makes sense, far from it. There are still plenty of moments of cringe-worthy and/or incomprehensible dialogue where characters talk matter-of-factly about things that make absolutely no sense at all, but these moments are fewer and further between in the sequel, and there are far more genuinely compelling character moments than the first game ever had.

Perhaps the biggest standout in this regard is Death Stranding’s main antagonist, Higgs, who I honestly could not even remember what his deal was in the first game (even watching story recaps barely helped). But between then and the sequel, with the addition of some frankly phenomenal character acting from Troy Baker (who seemed to be really revelling in the absurdity of the character this time around), Higgs has been elevated into a genuinely chilling villain with an extremely satisfying showdown to finish the game with.

I should probably also make a point that this game looks absolutely incredible. If you’ve got a PS5 Pro, you’re really in for a treat. There was one moment that I can honestly describe as the single most visually stunning scene I’ve ever witnessed first-hand in a video game.

Anyway, if you gave the first Death Stranding a go but bounced off of it because it was too much of a punish to play, but you thought maybe there was more there you would have liked to see, then you might be perfectly suited to just reading a story recap of the first game and jumping straight ahead to Death Stranding 2. And if you still don’t like it, then I’m pretty confident in saying these games are definitely not for you.

#2 – Hades II

(Minor spoilers for this game below if you are intending to play it)

I had a bit of a funny relationship with the first Hades. I had played it from when it was in early access, but it never really clicked for me. It was only after it was showered with multiple game of the year awards that I decided to make myself give it a real go and stick with it until I could see what the hype was for. Long story short, I eventually got there. Hades II, however, did not take anywhere near as long to get its hooks in me.

In recent years I have been making an effort not to play games in early access, even if I think they look amazing already. My logic being that anything that’s playable in early access will only improve further by the time it is finally given a 1.0 release, and I’ll be able to experience all of that the first time I get to play it. In the case of Hades II, I am extremely glad that I did exactly this.

On its surface, it might look like Supergiant Games have just gone with a “more of the same” approach with Hades II, but once you’ve started it doesn’t take long to realise all the ways that playing as Zagreus’ sister Melinoë (and all of the new weapons she comes with) feels both familiar and brand new all at the same time. In a similar vein, the boons you receive from the gods of Olympus bring back familiar mechanics, while adding several new ones to the mix. This is all great, but the real “oh shit” moment comes several hours into the game, when you realise that there is a whole other overworld path to travel, with its own completely unique locales and bosses to fight through. It’s at this point that Hades II announces itself – it’s not just more of the same with some new mechanics, it’s literally twice the game the original Hades ever was. 

It was genuinely a close call for whether Hades II was going to be my game of the year for 2025, and I think I flip-flopped about a dozen times on it. In the end I’ve put it second, but I really need to stress that it is a standout game from the year just gone, and is definitely a game you should seek out regardless of whether you played the original or not.

Game of the Year 2025:
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

If you’ve read any other game of the year lists for 2025, you’ll probably be pretty unsurprised to find this at the top of my own list. But in my case, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 came from seemingly nowhere as a game that I had no awareness of at all before its release. But once I got my hands on it, it took very little time to grab me and didn’t let go until I had seen the end credits. 

As a game, Clair Obscur serves as something of a modern love letter to JRPGs that the developers no doubt grew up playing. There’s even an overworld map to run around that would feel right at home in earlier Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest games, a feature that seemed to fall out of favour around the PlayStation 2 era. One of the great standout gameplay features of this game is the combat encounters, combining the clean interface and controls of the Persona series, and adding in real-time dodge and parry mechanics that anyone who’s played any of the Super Mario RPGs would be immediately familiar with.

The visual style of the game is undoubtedly as unique as it is gorgeous, and the voice acting is top notch from all contributors (as a side note, I don’t know who Jennifer English’s manager is, but they probably deserve a raise having landed her major roles as Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3, and now as Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, two runaway game of the year successes in the space of two years). As a story, this is definitely one of the most unique and, quite honestly, beautifully told narratives I’ve ever seen told in any medium, let alone video games.There are no less than four real gut-punch moments in the story that have stuck with me long after I had made it to the end, each spaced out with seemingly deliberate evenness at the beginning of the game, and at the end of each of the game’s three acts. And in all honesty, each one feels like it gets harder each time, until you are presented with a final choice before the ending, where I can’t say with any certainty there’s an obvious right decision to be made.

I didn’t have it on my bingo card for 2025 that I’d be sitting here saying that a previously unknown French developer would have released one of the single greatest JRPGs of all time, but here we are. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is well and truly deserving of all the plaudits it has received this year, and while it definitely doesn’t wrap up in a way that suggests the possibility of a sequel, I will eagerly anticipate the next project from its developers.

That’s it for 2025’s list! Stay tuned to see Tim and Shay’s lists, as well as our collective Deadpan Cooperative Game of the Year!