tekniklr's top 10 games of 2025

1. 

   Eternal Strands

   A fun adventure game with monster battles reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus.

   Played: February 11 - February 16 on PlayStation
2. 

   Avowed

   Like Outer Worlds 2, this game was a ton of fun but fell apart a bit at the end. But the world was interesting, and the gameplay was fun.

   Played: February 16 - February 27 on Xbox
3. 

   Assassin’s Creed Shadows

   I'm exhausted with all of the feudal Japan games coming out these days, but this was fun despite that.

   Played: March 22 - April 15 on PlayStation
4. 

   Blue Prince

   Combining the map building from the Betrayal at House on the Hill board game with puzzle solving, this game made it fun to take notes that look like a murderboard.

   Played: April 15 - April 22 on PlayStation
5. 

   The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

   The story in Oblivion is much better than Skyrim's, but the exploration is much less fun.

   In Skyrim, every cave had some sort of hook - a story, or an interesting item; and usually a shortcut back to the beginning once you've finished searching. Not so in Oblivion- there are dozens of (procedurally generated?) caves and dungeons, but most of them are devoid of anything interesting. And once you've ventured several floors down through twisty corridors of nothing much except repetitive battles, you have to walk all the way back out. At least the Clairvoyance spell exists so you don't get lost on the way out.

   Despite that, this is still the closest thing to the Skyrim experience to come out this year, and you know I love Skyrim more than is reasonable.

   Played: April 22 - May 18 on PlayStation
6. 

   DOOM: The Dark Ages

   I didn't know I needed a Warhammer/Lovecraft playground (with better Warhammer and Lovecraft vibes than most actual Warhammer and Lovecraft games I've played) to rip and tear through, but I did.

   Played: May 18 - July 10 on PlayStation
7. 

   Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

   One of the best RPGs I've ever played, and I've played a few.

   The story had enough twists to remain interesting throughout, and the music is some of the best I've heard since Nier: Automata

   Played: May 28 - June 4 on PlayStation
8. 

   Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

   I'm a huge sucker for the Xenoblade Chronicles series - the environments in these games are so interesting and expansive and it will forever be a mystery to me how Monolith makes them run so beautifully on Switch (1!) hardware.

   Played: June 8 - July 9 on Switch
9. 

   DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH

   Took the concepts from the first game, and improved on each and every one of them. An actual joy to build every road, and five star every prepper.

   Played: July 10 - August 9 on PlayStation
10. 

    Mario Kart World

    It's fine, but it's pretty meh after Mario Kart 8, which was near perfect- Mario Kart World doesn't add anything new that improves the formula.

    Played: July 26 on Switch 2