Whatkilledjeff's Top 10 of 2025
Let me correct your backlog.
Like losing my v-card, posting a “Top 10 of 2025” article at this point is better late than never, right? Listen, I’m just as confused as you are about not finishing, but here we are just staring at each other awkwardly. Regardless, every time I boot up my Playstation, my dashboard lights up with temptations from the previous year, not hot new releases. It's kinda what I imagine Las Vegas to be, a blast from the past that starts to feel like home the more you play… with less sex appeal… more sex appeal…? Who knows. I’m not elegant enough to get into a discussion about video game booba so instead, please enjoy my slightly tardy, slightly hubris-filled critique of last year's offering.
Despite the delay of the monumental Grand Theft Auto VI that would have propelled 2025 into the history books, the sheer amount of quality releases made it a standout in and of itself. If you weren’t able to find a title that resonated with you, I have bad news. It’s time to hang up the sticks.
I’m sorry in advance for my crude and distasteful writing. No.. no I’m not. Strap in, let’s go for a ride I like to call “The Correct Answer”.
Bonus: SchoolBoy Runaway
“Okay. Okay… I’m thinking email INTO alcohol cabinet INTO laptop INTO key INTO closet???”
“Wait. What if.. hear me out, doorbell INTO meat INTO doghouse INTO hose???”
“Yessss. YES! INTO text message INTO sleeping pills INTO doorbell INTO car INTO pantry INTO light on INTO bathroom INTO side table!!! YESSS!!!”
If you are lucky enough to have a handful of friends that you may or may not bond over the Instagram hotdog algorithm with, then this game and its absurdity is for your group. Friendslop is now a household genre but Schoolboy Runaway can’t be defined by such simplicity. Open your mind and let it flow through you. Go in blind, you cowards.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
We spend a lot of time discussing mechanics, gameplay, characters, narrative, graphics, blah- blah-blah; but rarely do we have the opportunity to dive into the fusion of mediums. DS2 takes you places outside video games. It shows you the real world but twists it and shapes it. You may see your favorite actor drinking your favorite soda singing your favorite song, but he’s 3 inches tall, hangs from your belt loop and is a ventriloquist dummy. Having a cast of Norman Reedus, George Miller, Elle Fanning and so many more who not only voice their characters but, once again, are facial scanned and placed into the game feels weird at first, but then you start to see the differences these performances make. The back and forth between characters feels more real than ever before. You buy into the Kool-aide. You drink the sauce. I hope Kojima will always strive to daze and confuse, and I will patiently wait for my Mads Mikkelson Polar game.
Dispatch
Man am I tired of superheroes… Marvel, The Boys, My Hero Acedemia, Invincible, whatever the fuck Sandman is. I just don’t care anymore. It all feels like a chore to choke down just to stay in the loop. So how the hell did Dispatch, a game about misfit villains forced to be superheroes while meeting for coffee and donuts in the break room, make my list? Turns out I’m pretty basic. Give me Aaron Paul, a handful of dick jokes and two romantic options featuring a blond bombshell and a brooding brunette, and I’m a happy little cuck. Just don’t tell anyone I cried BITCH!
The First Berserker: Khazan
FromSoftware might have to put the fries in the bag. Did I say that right? I promise that phrase was relevant when I started writing this 7 months ago. Okay, let me try again. Developer Neople knows ball? These South Korean devs are reaching new heights, evolving FromSoft’s tried and true dodge and attack formula into a beautiful ballet of connecting combos, active defending, environmental strategy and optimal fight theorycrafting. It actually fucks with my head that more Souls-like fans aren’t acknowledging this game or, at the very least, its gameplay. Khazan asks its players to keep a blistering pace in its boss fights and then rewards you with combo openings that would make Final Fantasy 16 blush with envy. No other game in 2025 had me lock in harder than Khazan. Well, maybe I shouldn’t speak too soon. We’re still at number 8.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
I misunderstood what Hollow Knight and the subsequent Hollow Knight: Silksong were. I thought they were Metroidvanias whose obnoxious and overly complicated maps just weren't for me. Oh look, a wall, better smack it! Oh another wall, let me hit this one too! OHH NOW I’LL HIT THE CEILING! Little did I know a cool 90 hours later, Silksong’s true identity would penetrate my thick skull. This is not a game that is meant to be beaten and put down. This is a game that beats YOU… and beats you and beats you and beats you.. Until you finally realize it’s okay. It’s okay to slow down. Maybe stop even. Look around. Be proud of how far you’ve made it. Remember why you play games. Collect a few things, hell maybe even talk to some NPCs. There will always be a challenge, an achievement or a goal to come back to. Cherish the experience and slow burn this one. “Eira!”
Ghost of Yotei
Ahh yes, the open world samurai revenge plot comfy completionist game. While Yotei’s gameplay and setting didn’t reach my expectations, its style, narrative and map loop kept me chasing its platinum. It’s almost an insult to have this so high on my list when I truly can’t think of a single friend to recommend Yotei to. This was my cooldown game. I could kick my feet up, pretend to be the badass girl boss from Killbill, realize I’m a pussy, and promptly continue to the next map marker. Throw in a lo-fi hip-hop soundtrack that lets me slo-mo slaughter my enemies, a handful of surprisingly deep side quests and a superb armor transmog system, and you somehow slip into my top 10.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Have to submit your expense report by midnight? Doesn’t care. In the honeymoon phase of a new relationship? Still doesn’t care. 7 months late on an article and worried your friends will never look at you the same ever again? No care given, get fucked! KCD2 will squeeze every waking minute it can from your life, immersing you in its gambling, alchemy, archery, thieving and whatever you do when you play dress up as a noble… and I absolutely love it for that. This is a Bohemian buddy cop fantasy game and somehow, one day, I will purchase all of Kuttenberg.
Doom: The Dark Ages
I have never, in my roughly 32 years of gaming, experienced an adrenaline rush like Doom: The Dark Ages. When I say adrenaline rush, I don’t mean “Wowee, that sure was excitin’ Pa!” or “Jinkees, that ghost really got me spooked!”. I mean HEAVY HELLSPAWN METAL PUMPED INTO MY SYNAPSES PROPELLING MY CHAIN SHIELD INTO THE FAT TITTIES OF MY NEXT VICTIM BATHING IN ITS SHOTGUN GARNISHED VISCERA IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET ME HARD ANY MORE kind of adrenaline rush. I left play sessions exhausted, physically taxed. emotionally numbed. Ears ringing. Veins vascular… You get the point. Thank you I.D Software, and kiss my ass Microsoft.
Hades II
I think at some point in most folks’ elementary schooling they researched the Greek gods. You learn plenty of cool things like power over the elements and fights among family members. The one thing I don’t remember any of the history books mentioning is a leopard print banana hammock slingin a small chipmunk. Hades II’s interpretation of the pantheon’s personalities and their relationships had me questioning why my own love life isn’t this easy… and well… sexy. Maybe I should invest in that hot tub and some bath salts. Aside from undressing my favorite love interests (yes plural), I GUESS I should mention the 6 wholly unique weapons Hades II lets you enjoy. These damn things and the builds they birth completely flip the script on what you think the traditional fantasy staff/axe/dagger archetypes can be and it is wildly addictive. Play sessions quickly evolved from “I’ll play a couple runs” to “Well, I guess I’ll just play until my Switch dies”; and then quietly prayed for it to charge faster in its dock. I am not quite one of those people that claim Hades II is a perfect game; but I tip my cap to those that do.
Arc Raiders
Okay, I need you guys to stay with me here. This might be a stretch. Arc Raiders is my Breath of the Wild. No, nooo, no, come back, come back, chill, chill! Still here? Good. The sense of discovery, adventure and community shocked me when Arc Raiders launched in late 2025. I was expecting to get a sweaty 3v3 third-person shooter; instead I got a choose your own adventure RPG. Looking to load into an unfamiliar map to progress through the main story quest or push leaderboard trials? Dive into solo queue and maybe make some friends along the way. Want to take down a Bastion to upgrade your crafting table or go Wolfpack blueprint hunting? Grab your trigger shy friend and queue duos. Want to get into the previously mentioned PvP sweatfest? You got Stella Montis in any format. The Arc Raiders community had an unfathomable way of self-regulating itself that no matter what you were looking to do, you had a chance to achieve it while keeping you on your toes and checking your six. Not to mention NPC enemy behavior that was so good that it actually had me defending the use of AI in video game development. While its time in the spotlight may have been brief, it shined hella bright.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
This paragraph has stayed blank the longest. How can I convince readers of Expedition 33’s brilliance? How can I praise a game that has seemed to have outgrown its praise? A tough, maybe impossible task. E33 is probably the only game in recent memory that has profoundly impacted my life. It changed the way that I view mourning and loss. It gave me a new perspective on my own role in relation to family and friends. When I think about the “bad ending” that I chose as my cannon ending, I cry. Like actually cry. Not me writing this article and trying to describe or exaggerate how sad something made me.. Real crying.. Tears. Hell, I'm crying right now.. About 5 years ago, I went through an event that left me grieving for a very long time. I think people around me, to this day, probably contribute some of my professional and social decisions to "he's still not over it”. E33’s ending hit so incredibly close to that experience that it felt like Sandfall Interactive was reaching out a hand specifically to me and telling me it's okay Jeff, but it's time to come back. Please come back to us.
Emotions aside, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 reminds me there are always limits to push, stories to tell, and people to help. Some things aren’t done for personal gain, pleasure or fame. They’re done for those who come after.
Cheers,
Jeff