A look at the year 2025 shows: Gamers haven’t had it this good in a long time. The selection for Game of the Year is going to be really, really tricky.
The gaming industry has been in a deep crisis for several years. There are repeated reports of mass layoffs, major AAA titles flop catastrophically upon release, and we “gamers” have been lucky in recent years if we even got a single, really good game that was entirely free of “bullshit” microtransactions.
But 2025 was different. Because we got three phenomenal games, and a fourth is on the verge of launching. What stands out: Only one of them is a major AAA production; the rest come from smaller studios.
Expedition 33 will definitely be the Game of the Year 2025 … or?
When the game “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” was released at the end of April this year, I was pretty much instantly sure: This is the Game of the Year, there’s no doubt about it. The story about the painter who literally eradicates a significant portion of the population every year, combined with the phenomenal combat system, brought everything a modern RPG in the JRPG style needed.
I played Expedition 33 multiple times in a row, lost myself in the story and the action-packed combat system, and only stopped when I had truly earned all the achievements. The emotional storyline of the game resonated with me for several weeks afterwards, and the grand soundtrack is a permanent guest on my playlist. Nothing else could compare, no matter how hard one would try.
At least that’s what I thought.
Donkey Kong and Silksong make everyone happy
Then the Switch 2 was released, I first got lost in retro games before the world of “Donkey Kong Bananza” captivated me. The childish graphic style initially put me off, but then I thought: Why not? The last time I played a Donkey Kong was on the SNES, and that was in the last millennium.
Well, what can I say? It took less than 10 minutes for Bananza to capture me as well. Regardless of what one might think of Nintendo right now due to curious patent incidents, the game is just unbelievably good. It is pure, unfiltered fun, no matter how young or old you are. I enjoyed smashing through the various levels and collecting golden bananas as if it were the most important thing in life. Donkey Kong Bananza is one of those rare video games that can be incredibly fun, whether you are 6 or 60 years old.
But that wasn’t the end of it. A few days ago, Hollow Knight Silksong was released, which impacted so hard that even the shop servers of different platforms went down. To my shame, I must admit that I haven’t tried Silksong yet. But I just rely on the statements from colleagues or the general gaming community: Hollow Knight Silksong seems to be everything one would expect from a good game. A game that took its time for development and was only released when it was truly finished.
Hades II will be the 4th game in the fight for the throne
But even that is not the end, because in a few days another hit is on the horizon – at least if you have even the slightest interest in the “roguelite” genre. Hades II will finally transition from Early Access to the release version and will be released on September 25. The game builds on the strengths of its predecessor, which even belongs to one of the very few games that has reached the “God Tier” on Steam.
Sure, a final evaluation of Hades II is not possible yet, and at least theoretically, the game could still take a nosedive at the last moment. But if we look at the opinions of those who have already played Early Access, that seems nearly impossible. They seem to have done everything right, both in terms of story and mechanics and improvements.
No matter who will ultimately win the “Game of the Year” award, one group has definitely won: the players. Because 2025 has produced so many strong games as we haven’t seen in a long time.
And who knows: Maybe some of the larger publishers and developers will take a cue from hits like Expedition 33 or Silksong. Because they have impressively demonstrated this year that even with smaller teams, true masterpieces can be created that can carve out more than just a niche in the gaming market.
This month alone has many more good games to offer – some of which should not be overlooked between the big releases.
