This was a hefty year for me and video games. Probably because everything around us is crumbling and terrible and video games were one of the easier disassociation techniques.
Now the "as always disclaimer" is that these are not games that came out in 2025, just games I played in 2025. I don't have the time to stay up to date on all the newest games. (God damned adult job)
Here's what we've looked at so far
5. Star Wars Outlaws
- Hardware: PlayStation 5
- Release Year: 2024
Star Wars Outlaws is the game I've wanted for decades. Instead of redoing the, "down on your luck, lost, aimless, citizen to Jedi pipeline," you're just a dirtbag with a heart of gold. No lightsaber needed. This is the Han Solo game, although much less charismatic. But that's good. That makes all the trouble feel believable.
You get to travel at high speeds across planets on speeder bikes. You get to infiltrate Imperial Star Destroyers. You get to make business deals in shady cantinas. You get to play one of three gangs off of each other, each giving you a benefit or punishment.
This was an Ubisoft checklist game, but it didn't feel bogged down like some of the more recent Assassin's Creeds have. Many of the checkmarks were behind puzzles or stealth instead of simply climbing a thing.
4. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- Hardware: Steam Deck
- Release Year: 2015
The amount of options you have to take on even a simple checkpoint. Snipe from far away. Shoot down the power lines to knock out the lights and then go choke them out. Full fire fight. Call in a helicopter strike.
I played this on release on the PlayStation 4 and got to about 81% complete. I had maybe half a dozen side missions and maybe as many S rank missions needed to finish it. And at some point, I stopped playing. I don't remember it happening, but it did.
I came into my fresh play knowing some things I didn't about my original playthrough. I upgraded things more efficiently. I ignored things like D-Walker that I knew I wouldn't use. I bought four FOBs, one of the only ways to get higher level gear. I played the online events.
I'm currently sitting at 92% complete. Slightly farther than I was the first time, but much better equipped to actually complete the game in full. Now, if I could only capture a god damned honey badger to finish out the animal capture list.
3. Rogue Legacy
- Hardware: Steam Deck
- Release Year: 2013
I bought it on a whim, it sat in the backlog for years, and then I installed it when I was looking for bite-sized games I could install on the Steam Deck. And for over a year, this was THE bite sized game, even knocking Vampire Survivors out of that list.
Jumping in, playing for 15 minutes, seeing number go up, maybe you fight one of the bosses, upgrade a little, pick a new child with new attributes, oh no, this one is upside down child, now you have to overcome backwards controls. Every run was different from the perspective of the map, how your character handled, which path you'd go on, what you would focus on.
Even though it was one castle with the same 5-6 bosses to beat, every single run was different.
2. Stardew Valley
- Hardware: Steam Deck
- Release Year: 2016
I'd start reading the absolutely psychotic efficient run guides and fall off thinking, "I need to start over anyway, let's take a break."
This time I went into the game with a different philosophy. I was going to play this game as if we didn't have the internet. (It helped that I was flying for six hours without internet when I started the game.)
Year 1 turned to year 2, thousands of money turned into hundreds of thousands of money. This was meditation. This was happiness. I'd just escape to my farm for a few hours and forget the horrors of the real world.
I got far enough to where curiosity took over. I'd see a racoon in the woods and want to know what it's deal was. Sometimes, it was just a racoon. But sometimes it was a secret store.
Stardew Valley seems like an infinite game. I don't see a world where I just completely stop. I'm sure there will be some gaps here and there, but the warmth of petting my various animals every morning before snatching up their milk is just too pure.
1. Arcade Paradise
- Hardware: Steam Deck
- Release Year: 2022
Arcade Paradise starts with a college dropout with no prospects taking over the family laundry mat. Your father leaves you occasional voicemails checking in on how things are going, if you are keeping the place clean, and the machines running.
But you discover some arcade machines in the back. And you fix them up. And soon, you start making money on the machines. You buy more machines. You expand the arcade. All the while, you're making sure the coin returns in the laundry mat are cleaned out. Making sure the toilet isn't backing up.
I was addicted and had to finish this game. Did I mention that every arcade machine you buy are playable takes on some of the most important arcade games of all time? You have an asteroids clone, a Pac Man rip off, air hockey, each machine with it's own popularity rating that goes up and down based on how often you play it and what games are near it.
And the story is relatively light, but perfect for what you need. Most the time, you want to be left alone to your virtual chores so you can play the daily tasks. Sometimes, you need the next story beat to propel you forward.
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