Hey guys, its that time of the year again where I throw awards at all the games I played this year. The only rule is that I have to have played this game in 2025.

Best Action Game

- 007 Agent Under Fire

Honorable Mention: Nightfire (Console)

I put those two games in the same category as they have a mix of excellent FPS, Driving, and Rail Gun Sections. I prefer Agent Under Fire for having more engaging levels and better rewards including the Golden Gun. Both games have an amazing atmosphere.

Best Action-Adventure Game

- Yakuza Kiwami 2

I no-lifed this game so fucking hard because the minigames are amazing and the ragdolls in combat is fucking hilarious. Its telling that I have so many videos of glitches and funny shit from Y2.

Best Turn-Based RPG

- Metaphor Re: Fantazio

I have my criticisms about the story & how it feels safe at times but Metaphor has an interesting world and the major Easter egg is easily the best part of the game. Its a very, very solid game with some great characters + stellar art direction.

Honorable Mention: Raging Bytes

This is Hitpoint's final game and the work they did to help turn resident evil into a JRPG is amazing. I felt creeped out, hopeless at times, and wanted to keep going just to see how fucked things got.

Best Action RPG

- Cat Quest 3

This game is a top-down wind waker but with its own catty charm full of stupid animal related puns. I LOVED the open world so much here as it was fun sailing around to explore all the islands and 100% the game. If you loved Wind Waker, this game is for you.

Best FPS

- Bioshock Trilogy

I replayed those games again and the world building is so good here with how much detail the game added to the city of Rapture to make it feel lived in. Its shame that infinite fumbled the bag with how scaredy-cat the devs were about tacking political themes when they built Columbia to specifically trash Americanism.

Best Live Service

- Killing Floor 2

This was a choice between BF6, KF2, and BO6. Since BF6 and BO6 are using AI slop in their games, KF2 takes the prize here. I loved the additional detail for the weapons and killing hordes of zeds is fun as hell. Its a shame that the maps don't carry the vibe of KF1 and their creepy maps (KF_Wolf still lives rent free in my head)

Best Stealth Game

- Dishonoured: Death of the Outsider

This is a short and sweet DLC to Dishonored 2 that actually lets you go apeshit without caring about morality and its all the better for it. I loved exploring the cities and looting everything that isnt nailed down while trying to do all the side quests and contracts. Billie works well as a voiced protagonist and it felt good to put the series to rest with the ending.

Best Racing Game

- Mario Kart World

There’s a lot that Mario Kart: World executes poorly, but the tracks make up for it such as the Japanese-inspred River Rapids track and the Mario Bros-inspired one. It seems like Nintendo is trying to fix some of the issues and once their open-world stuff is in shape, I might actually give it the credit it deserves. For now, it only snagged this award because I already used Mario Kart 64 for another and MotoGP is still just sportsball slop.

Best Platformer

- Super Castlevania IV

I went on a Castlevania binge for December so playing all those NES and GBC Castlevania games actually made me appreciate the massive step-up Super Castlevania IV is. Being able to whip in all 8 directions, enemies that explode, beautiful graphics, etc. This is truly a breath of fresh air from the NES games.

Best Roguelike / Roguelite

- Overrouge

I went into expecting to be dissaponted and quit but this game surprised me with how it actually gives you permanent progression which makes you stronger for future runs. The gacha system is perfect and the story is charming with a protagonist whose interactions with all of the other characters are memorable.

Best Simulation or Management Game

- House Flipper 2

This game (while lacking the liminal charm of the first), improves so much on the past game with voice acting, an actual story, and varied locales. It even features a level creator so you have more houses to unfuck. So much content in this game that's just ripe for you to chill out.

Best Narrative Adventure

- Road 96

All jokes aside, this game has a nice mix of heartwarming moments but still keeps you tense and on-edge with choices that matter. Making a cast full of flawed characters works well as you have everyone who seems like a hero but then they do something that makes you say "why would you do that?". There's a lot of shocking moments and they're done well.

Best Survival-Horror

- resident evil 4

Recency bias, eh? Well this game needs no introduction. You explode zombie heads, Kill bugs that erupt from heads, fight off flying right hands, and getting out of the way of villagers who want to play Bingo. Boredon will not kill you here.

Best Indie Game

- Sayonara Wild Hearts

The music may have not been my taste but the light show and beats are so good that it feels like you're being pulled along for the flow in a surreal world. Each of the enemies you fight in each arc actually delivers their own style to help shake up the light show.

Best Multiplayer

- [No contest]

Choices were Black Ops 6 or BF6 and both of then are glucking the AI slop juice so no awards are given.

Best Nintendo 64 Game

- Mario Kart 64

The best part was going back to the game and realizing there was a mirror mode. This game revolutionized Kart Racing for the third dimension and it says a lot when several of the tracks here are carried over into future titles.

Best Super Nintendo Game

- Dragon Quest 3

I played this in preparation for the HD-2D remake and I got to clear out the bonus dungeon. I liked how beautiful the game looks and how polished it was compared to the NES version. This was my first real DQ game I played and beat and it still plays well.

Best Game Boy / Game Boy Colour Game

- Dragon Quest 1 & 2

This one was a shoo in as i didn't like those GBC castlevania games and I was able to knock off DQ 1 & 2 off my bucket list.

Best NES Game

- Castlevania II: Simon's Quest

For being the black sheep of the castlevania series, i actually liked it for how different it is to the point that its memorable. Its like Zelda II where its janky and weird but it works so well in establishing series staples.

Best Remake or Remaster

- Mafia 1: Definitive Edition

I loved how well-acted the game is and how more combat-focused the game is compared to the GTA series where the changes let the gun-play shine. It felt like a proper third person shooter and the story was just so gripping down to the end complete with a postgame.

Honorable Mention: The Last of Us: Part 1 Remastered

I know that this game gets so many remakes and shit but this Part 1 is actually a worthwhile remaster as it brings over several gameplay improvements from Part 2 including weapon upgrades. The worldbuilding is so good that I loved looking for notes and journals just for the storytelling itself.

Best Vibe

- Rollerdrome

The art direction is so well-done here with the cell-shaded style showing off a brutal rollerskating competition set in the backdrop of a dystopian society. I wish we got more of the first person sections to explore the retro-futuristic world in detail.

And like last year, i played some real ass stinkers that deserve their own list

Most Disappointing Game

- Turok Rage Wars

I was happy to finally knock this game off my bucket list but then I got into the details, realizing that Rage Wars has so many weapons that got nerfed so hard for the sake of balance with too many underpowered weapons or weapons that use too much ammo. Its just... ok.

Helldivers 2 would be here as it feels like i'm playing an Open Combat mission from MW2023 with allies killing emeies for you, you dying in one hit, or strategem spam. Its just not that fun. Thankfully, I could only spare a few hours.

Worst Game

- Saints Row 2022

I wasted so much time I cant get back into this fucking game. Such boring open world sections, such a nonsensical story, such garbage everything. Fuck this soy-ass game. Oh, and so so so many glitches including one where i suddenly started swimming in mid-air in the middle of a desert.

And finally,

The BEST game I played in 2025 is.....

- Yakuza Kiwami 2

Followed by resident evil 4 & Metaphor Re: Fantazio

And thats it for 2025. See you in 2026 (if im still alive by then haha)