Well, it’s December again, and it was another great year in gaming, with many games published across all genres and art styles. Looking back, I can’t say whether I’ve played more or fewer titles than last year. Here are my best games of 2025 in no particular order.
Strange Antiquities
Strange Antiquities is a welcome return to the moody town of Undermere from the world of Strange Horticulture. It is what you would like from a cozy game for Autumn – strange artefacts, quirky characters, a moody soundtrack, a cat you can pet, and of course, an overarching mystery to solve. I hope this is not the last we see of Undermere.
Hades 2
Hades 2 is the long-awaited and rightfully acclaimed sequel to Hades. It also has the honor of being featured twice on my Best games of the year list – last year as an early access title and this year as a full release. Hades 2 is a rogue-lite dungeon crawler, steeped in Greek myths and legends. Its full release has a lot more content than last year’s early access version, with the story finally complete.
Wanderstop
Wanderstop was one of the games I reviewed quite early in the year, but it stayed with me. It was a combination of my favorite things ever – tea and books, set in a magical forest, but it also featured unforgettable characters, actual character growth, humor, and really gorgeous visuals. If you like tea, magical farming, and lovely, cozy fantasy, you will probably love Wanderstop as much as I did.
Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile
I love adventure games, and I am a great fan of Microid’s Agatha Christie adaptations. This year’s Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile was another solid entry in the series of modern reimagining of the detective tales of Hercule Poirot. I liked the game for its intuitive controls, seamless gameplay with lots of hints, and a 1970s reimagining of the classic storyline, with a few plot twists thrown in to satisfy and surprise even devout fans of the original novel.
The Roottrees are Dead
The Roottrees are Dead was one of the first games I played in 2025, and I enjoyed it so much that I still check regularly to see if the developer has announced another project. (They have, it’s another puzzle game, coming out in 2026). The Roottrees are Dead is a great puzzle game and a great detective point-and-click game. There is a lot of reading to do, a lot of lore, and deductions to be made. The visuals and world-building are great. The soundtrack is excellent. In short, it is a game out of the Golden era of adventure games.
Final Thoughts
This is the part where I usually make my gaming resolution for next year. This year, I’ve decided that I’ll do no such thing. I’ll play as much as I want (in the free time I have). I’ll play whatever I want: older games and newer titles, and I’ll try new genres and abandon old ones. I’ll install and uninstall games to my heart’s content, and if something becomes unplayable on newer laptops, I’ll wait for the remaster! And despite my big backlog, I still can’t help but await with bated breath all those beautiful adventures yet to come.
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