Branching Path: Josh Torres’ Top 10 Games of 2025

My favorite games of 2025 caught me a bit off-guard. There were a handful of releases I thought I’d end up loving, but they missed the mark for me in unexpected ways. The game that truly exemplified this for me was Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition because I loved the original release on Wii U, yet the Definitive Edition disappointed me after I put over 120 hours into it. Other releases that I had high hopes for, such as Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii and Monster Hunter Wilds, didn’t shake out well for me either.

Instead, there were many new games that weren’t from an established IP and/or series I wasn’t familiar with that I discovered in 2025. I’ve always loved the feeling of randomly going into a game with an unbiased, untainted perspective with no preconceptions or expectations for it and ending up loving it. It’s why I try not to feverishly search up others’ opinions for many games I want to play. Maybe this isn’t the place I should be sharing that.

As always, I’ve grown increasingly selfish with these personal end of the year wrap-ups. Here are a few Honorable Mentions that I want to shout out before getting into my top 10; the Honorable Mentions have no ranked order to them.

Honorable Mentions

• Dear me, I was… - Taisuke Kanasaki’s newest game is a short, but meaningful experience that tells an emotional tale with no voicelines. It’s able to convey a message on a universal scale through the life of a woman and her relation to art.
   
• Earthion - Yuzo Koshiro passionately talked about the development of this game for a long time, and I felt like I’d be betraying that man if I didn’t get it. Thankfully, Ancient’s newest shmup is wonderful, responsive, and beautiful.
   
• Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter - I’m a bit wary of Nihon Falcom’s prior remake efforts with the Trails series via the Evolution remakes years ago. 1st Chapter is a much, much better remake relatively, though the subpar localization compared to its original version does damage the legacy of its initial English release a bit. Still, I can’t wait to see how Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter will depict many scenes and crossing my fingers that Trails in the Sky the 3rd gets a full remake as well.
   
• Fate/hollow ataraxia Remastered - Absolutely thrilled that one of my favorite Type-Moon visual novels finally got an official English release. I even prefer it over Fate/stay night, but fully finishing that title is required to appreciate what Fate/hollow ataraxia does as a sequel. This was so cool to see this year.
   
• Super Robot Wars Y - While I continue to not be the biggest fan of the overall visual direction of the modern Super Robot Wars games, the animation updates to Wing Gundam Zero (Endless Waltz version) to celebrate Gundam Wing’s 30th anniversary were absolutely stellar in this title. There were a lot of other factors I appreciated that made SRW Y a solid entry overall.
   
• Duet Night Abyss - This launched at the end of October and I’m pretty sure I almost have 300 hours sunk into it. I hope this eventually becomes a better game; I can’t recommend it in good faith unless your brain is wired in a very specific way. I might write about this game eventually, but I’m still wondering how mean I want to be in it.
   
• Kara no Shoujo / The Shell trilogy (consists of The Shell Part I: Inferno, The Shell Part II: Purgatorio, & The Shell Part III: Paradiso) - This visual novel trilogy by Innocent Grey has been recommended to me for many, many years. I finally started them at the beginning of December, and am currently reading Part III. I can see why people call it a masterpiece, though I will warn you with extensive content warnings that these games are filled with extreme content because you investigate gruesome, graphic crime scenes often and many sequences that eloquently detail how the murderer carried out their deed to the victim. It’s purposeful and doesn’t lavish in the extremity of its content; I eventually want to do a detailed write-up of my experience because there’s so much I want to talk about.

10) Road to Empress I

I’m always down for an entertaining FMV game, especially when it’s equally as fun to go through with spectators. I gave Road to Empress I a whirl when it launched, and was immediately hooked when I discovered the amount of dead bad ends I’d be frequently running into. There’s a certain artistry to Road to Empress I that I appreciate. The ensemble manages to strike a fitting tonal balance in how serious or light-hearted their performance should be on any given scene. FMV games sometimes frequently take me out of the experience because of their proverbial wink and nod to the player; meanwhile, Road to Empress I really immersed my friends and I throughout my playthrough. Also, the production value in the high fidelity of its outfits and stage designs were outstanding; I can’t wait for the sequel in a few months.

9) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

You’ve probably read about the pros and cons of this game to death many times over throughout 2025. There’s not much I can meaningfully add, but I do want to posit an optimistic perspective on the ripples that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 may cause for many people. I understand the frustration of seeing conversations between less-versed folks that really haven’t dabbled in turn-based RPGs and them expressing how this game “solved” / “fixed” / etc. the genre for them.

My optimistic hope is that Expedition 33 opens the door for people to give other turn-based RPGs a whirl. There will be things about their experience with Expedition 33 that they liked and disliked; I’m positive that energy from playing Expedition 33, whether they completed it or not, will leave them curious to try out other games. If you come across this, earnestly hear them out and utilize their momentary willingness to recommend them something that hopefully resonates with them positively. 

8) Digimon Story: Time Stranger

The Digimon franchise made a real comeback for me in 2025. Digimon Story: Time Stranger had a pretty lengthy development cycle, but the wait ended up being worth it. There are so many charming aspects about Time Stranger that make it reminiscent of a PlayStation 2 era game during its JRPG golden era. Of course, it’s not without its flaws but its versatile Digivolution mechanics and vibrant, lively rendition of the Digital World: Iliad made it a blast to play through.

It also reinvigorated my interest in Digimon, so I gave that new Digimon Beatbreak TV anime a shot and it’s been an absolute joy to follow weekly. I’ve been watching it with a friend who has never interacted with the Digimon series prior to Beatbreak and they’ve been enjoying it all the same. Digimon really were the champions of 2025.

7) Sektori

Sektori is the single game on my favorite 2025 game lineup that has the superpower of making me lock-in from 0 to 10 in a matter of seconds. This game demands your full attention if you want to be successful, since looking away for even a split second could spell your demise. You may have heard it described as a mix between Geometry Wars with a Gradius-esque power-up system. 

My appreciation for this game didn’t quite click into place until I learned it was from former Housemarque developer Kimmo Lahtinen. I was absolutely in love with Super Stardust HD back in the day, and Lahtinen even served as programming lead over its PSP port Super Stardust Portable. They also worked on Resogun as well, which was stellar. I think that lineage connected a lot of dots of why Sektori clicked so hard for me.

6) Absolum

If you’ve followed me for a bit, you know that I value control responsiveness a lot when it comes to games – no matter the genre. Absolum was one of the strongest beat ‘em up games this year, and I attribute much of my love for it to how sublime it felt to play. Its punchy sound design in combat and freeform combo system also factor into my appreciation of Absolum. Plus, all its playable characters are a ton of fun to experiment with.

I can also just go on and on about its incredible animation all-around, gorgeous backgrounds, wonderful tunes, and a myriad of other small details. My only significant complaint was that it wrapped up too quickly, though it seems there’ll be a future content update coming to it. I’m ready to dive back in once it has more stuff to do.

5) Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road

I previously did an extensive write-up summarizing this game’s grueling development cycle, and how it actually ended up being worth the long wait. While I was aware of the Inazuma Eleven series, I never played one of them until Victory Road. The single-player Story Mode has some of the best moments in video games this year. There’s also an extensive Chronicle Mode that provides an abridged retelling of every single Inazuma Eleven game and anime, which can take many, many hours to get through.

Level-5 is still continually adding more to it over the next few months, along with an absolute plethora of patches addressing bugfixes and player feedback. In terms of scope and sheer scale of its entire project lifespan, Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road is arguably the most ambitious project on this list. I imagine there were countless miracles behind-the-scenes that led to where the game is now.

4) Ball x Pit

An unconventionally unholy amalgamation of Breakout-ish mechanics and Vampire Survivors-esque progression. Ball x Pit is a title that sounds like a nightmare on paper, yet somehow it comes together quite harmoniously. I saw the developers share the evolution of this game’s development and the numerous prototypes it went through; game development is an incredible thing to see unfold.

It took a few hours for Ball x Pit to click with me but once it did, dear god was I hooked. The numerous unlockable characters and power-ups really help keep the experience fresh. There was even a character that made the entire game turn-based and while that may not have been the most thrilling experience to me, I appreciated that it was included, nonetheless. I admire the confidence that Ball x Pit exudes.

3) Popucom

A buddy and I occasionally seek out new games that require co-op to play through. There were a few in 2025 that we checked out, such as Split Fiction and Lego Voyagers. We played Popucom after those, and we were both blown away at what we experienced. Popucom comes from Arknights studio Hypergryph; I’m surprised that Popucom wasn’t more popular this year. It is easily one of the most captivating, innovative co-op games I’ve ever played.

You and another player go through numerous linear stages, and each player is assigned two colors that they can switch between instantaneously. Enemies, and other stage mechanics, are often associated with a color, so the designated player with the matching color are the only ones that can either damage the opponent or engage with the stage mechanic. For instance, a rotating pillar that has yellow lasers spewing out of it can only be blocked with a player’s yellow barrier tool.

Despite its cartoony aesthetic, Popucom has some of the most fleshed out co-op interactions that creatively intertwine both players’ co-dependency on one another. Its bosses are very cool as well, because enemies work on match-3 Puzzle Bobble rules. Many bosses are structured like a balloon artist’s creation, and their animations dynamically change as different parts of them pop via players’ attacks. I strongly urge more people to play this game as soon as possible.

2) Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time

Another Level-5 game that I extensively wrote up about on my own. Although its development history wasn’t as long as Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road’s journey, it still suffered through its own share of challenges. I went into Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time under similar circumstances to Victory Road; I knew of the Fantasy Life games, but I never got around to playing them.

This was a perfect game to relax to, when I started to feel a bit burnt out from numerous other obligations throughout the year. It is a game that is mechanically simple, yet deep enough to spend countless hours on thoughtlessly. Fantasy Life i is a bit of a dangerous game if you have other pressing matters to attend to, since it’s easy to fire it up and burn 6-7+ hours in the blink of an eye. I unfortunately carry the “Love to Grind Multiple Interconnected Job Classes” gene, so Fantasy Life i scratched that itch hard. It recently got a big free content update that I should check out sometime.

1) Dynasty Warriors: Origins

The Dynasty Warriors series is near and dear to my heart. I’ve been a lifelong fan ever since I booted up the PlayStation 2 disc that had the Dynasty Warriors 3 demo on it. Of course, the series has been up and down over the years but it was looking very dire after the disastrous release of Dynasty Warriors 9; many fans and I believed that Dynasty Warriors was crossing the River Styx after that entry. Omega Force and Koei Tecmo were fairly silent on the Dynasty Warriors series in recent years as they embarked on producing Musou spinoffs for other franchises.

Lo and behold, Omega Force dared to let me, and the entire Dynasty Warriors fanbase, dream again. Dynasty Warriors: Origins is an incredible reimagining of the series as it restructured the game to deliver a more narratively intimate story experience. I can understand the disappointment from those that wanted a more traditional Dynasty Warriors experience, especially the severe playable character roster cuts and lack of Free Mode that made prior mainline entries more pick up and play friendly.

I see Origins as a new separate foundation apart from the mainline series; it seeks a new, fresh beginning with a baseline that actually feels like it was designed for this generation’s hardware in mind. The ocean of bodies on-screen in Origins is absolutely mind-blowing at times and the reworked weapon movesets/abilities allow for different weapon types to carry their own mechanical gimmick. If this game failed, I truly think that the Dynasty Warriors series would’ve met its demise, so Origins’ success is something that means a lot to me.

This new reinvigoration of the series has an interesting wave of momentum going into 2026; Origins will be receiving a substantial DLC expansion that carry “what-if” campaign scenarios from other factions aside from the primary Wei, Wu, and Shu camps. Plus, Dynasty Warriors 3 Complete Edition Remastered is remaking a universally beloved entry and I am crossing my fingers very hard that they do not mess up one of my favorite games of all time. It’s a good time to be a Dynasty Warriors fan and I’ll never pass up the opportunity to praise it when it’s rightfully deserved.