2025 Gaming Wrap-Up Awards at Better Lete Than Never

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THE PREMISE

In January of this year, I did a two-part retrospective of 2024, where I pondered the backlog as a wizard ponders their orb and then delved into how the past year had changed my relationship with my hobbies, and the time I spend on them.

In the blink of an eye, another year is now coming to a close has come to a close. A big 2025 resolution of mine was to complete more games, and I did!

So let's look back at this past year and highlight some of the best and most brilliant experiences I've had.

THE AWARDS

I'm holding my own silly awards ceremony. Dress code is free-for-all melee. That means games can come from any release date, not just 2025. The only rule is that I have to have played the bulk of the game, and beaten the game, in 2025--with the exception of the multiplayer award and the Sapling award whose entire point is that I'm not done with it yet! Let's dive in!

Burning the Midnight Oil - the game that made me lose the most sleep

πŸ† Winner: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma (PC, 2025)

My June 2025 belonged to Rune Factory. I'd consider myself a series fan, but Guardians of Azuma was also the game that really brought me back after Oceans / Tides of Destiny. Azuma itself? It hooked me!

Rune Factory games, similar to Harvest Moon, are based on a day and calendar system that effectively beats a drum for you to match pace with. The cadence of Azuma in particular was exactly what I needed to stick with the game in a season of life where I was incredibly busy. "Just one more day, or even one more half-day" was the theme each time I was about to put the game down for the night, and what kept me booting it up the next time I had spare time after work.

Azuma has a main story that takes front-and-center stage. It's an RPG with heavy plot focus, and that made the passing of in-game time feel compelling and meaningful. Something as simple as "let's talk about our plans at the izakaya later tonight" helped tie the story to the practicalities of the in-game time system, and gave a soft push for me to find other ways to occupy my time in Azuma--the myth-vibrant Japan-inspired world--with its bevy of life-sim systems.

Good rhythm. Intriguing story. Complementary systems. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma kept me awake, burning the midnight oil consistently to get more of its goodness. I have no regrets staying up late for more.

πŸ… Honorable Mention: Mario's Picross (GB, 1995)

Mario's Picross hits the hi-hat at a quicker tempo. "One more puzzle!" I declare, and then hunker down to solve maybe two or three. Or four. This awesome little Game Boy game was the perfect bite-sized companion to Autumn of 2025. A puzzle before bed, or maybe on a Sunday as I brew my coffee. The level select, showing a grid that slowly fills out with checkmarks as you complete more puzzles, kept me going. And going.

Best with Friends - favorite game to play with others

πŸ† Winner: PEAK (PC, 2025)

Allow me to add my voice to the chorus raving about how last year's Steam smash hit, PEAK, is a laugh-out-loud good time with friends. This climb up the thing simulator mixes proximity voice chat, silly physics, and strategically imprecise controls as a recipe for plentiful "you had to be there" stories with your friends.

One thing I like about PEAK is that players are generally incentivized to stick together. Together, scouts (players) have more flexibility for item combinations, protecting each other from environmental threats, and simply pulling each other up from ledges where alone you might be short just a tiny bit of stamina. It addresses my pet peeve with prox chat games in which you have to split up and be far away from each other. What's the point of getting the gang together to play separately, mics muted?

No, PEAK is staunchly cooperative. You're oftentimes close enough to your buddies to literally hold hands, and the conversation can keep flowing thanks to it. PEAK is absolutely best with friends.

πŸ… Honorable Mention: Gensou SkyDrift (Switch, 2019)

Gensou SkyDrift is a decidedly unserious game in which Touhou characters ride each other like hoverboards and can swap positions mid-race a la Mario Kart: Double Dash!! It is, unfortunately, also a little rough around the edges when it comes to control, physics, and visuals, and rather bare in terms of content.

But that doesn't matter with its couch splitscreen, an open-minded friend, and a couple glasses of liquor. Gensou SkyDrift ascends to an unpredictable approximation of a party kart racer, with the wacky item shenanigans of a Mario Kart but some rather intricate technical demands like, perhaps, a Crash Team Racing. Its demands can easily become frustrating solo, but are good-natured close calls and laughable snafus with a friend.

If you pick up Gensou SkyDrift, try it out with a friend at least once. It'll likely be a good time.

Biggest Surprise - game that most strongly exceeded my expectations

πŸ† Winner: Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind (SNES, 1993)

I'll be honest, I started Bubsy as part of a joking bet with a friend. And then, I played through it all and kind of liked it.

Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind is a playable 90s cartoon and its authentically lively style and remarkable lack of "coolitude" and cynicism was, honestly, refreshing. Its massive maps were fun to traverse and explore, and even Bubsy himself felt great to control and move around.

When I booted up Bubsy, I was expecting a frustrating but passable mascot platformer. I got that, but with an extra little spark of fun that makes me reflect on the time I spent with the game fondly. More fondly than I ever considered possible.

Bubsy far exceeded my expectations, and I genuinely look forward to enjoying more in Bubsy II.

Onions Have Layers - game with the most unexpected depth

πŸ† Winner: Vampire Survivors (PC, 2022)

"Oh my gosh, it just keeps going." Vampire Survivors was discover after discovery. The game I had played in the first hour and the game it is now after 58 of them are dramatically, startlingly different.

I bounced off of VS at first. I thought I knew what it was about: a dopamine dispenser in which you gradually power up to screen-filling, blinding proportions. And it sort of is that, yes, but it's also so much more. Part of the genius of Vampire Survivors is how simply you engage with its controls despite everything going on in the background, and in the calculations in your head. Sure, walk around in circles with the joystick and occasionally select a menu option with the A button. The actions are straightforward and easy to understand, but VS plays with that through its incredibly open-ended structure.

Do you want to walk through a level and find its exit? Construct new weapon evolutions or test weird synergies? Unlock new mechanics via in-world pickups or optional missions? Maybe rush to build a setup that can stand toe-to-toe with the Reaper himself?

Each game of Vampire Survivors asks you to pick one, or two, or a bunch of different objectives, and tosses a whole toybox of tools on the table for you. The game, the metagame, is figuring out how to build each solution that gets you where you want to go. It can become an idle screen-flashing simulator or a harrowing HP-loss counter-based avoidance game, and the key to any of those paths sits with your choices, and your knowledge of the game's mechanics to effectively make those choices.

VS has a lot of layers, and discovering each one is incredible fun.

Sapling - game I want to return to most

πŸ† Winner: Resident Evil HD Remaster (aka REmake, PC, 2015)

I am absolutely certain that REmake is a masterpiece. The five or so hours I've spent with it have aligned with the game's respected reputation. The atmosphere is appropriately frightening and tense, backed up by the very real threat of deadly zombie enemies. The tank controls are easy to pick up even today, and combat feels nuanced and consequential.

However, I am miserably bad at this game. Frequent deaths punctuate an almost constant feeling of either being lost or cursing myself for forgetting what goes where. Now might be the time to really utilize the game's excellent color-coded map, and perhaps even reference a walkthrough when I get really stuck. And this is the part where I tearfully say, "I've already been doing that." My difficulties persist nonetheless.

The moments when REmake clicks for me are wonderful, allowing me to feel that satisfying experience of gradually unraveling a tightly-wound puzzle. But right now, I'm not a capable enough player for those moments to be much more than rarities. I hope and pray for a day where I can more thoroughly enjoy REmake as the genre-defining survival horror title I know it is.

I Cried Playing This One - game that made me cry

πŸ† Winner: A Short Hike (PC, 2019)

I played A Short Hike in the latter part of 2025, during a time when I was busy and burnt out. It was the perfect game for me at that time. Gentle and forgiving in its essence, A Short Hike meets you where you are. As I described it elsewhere, it is a game that becomes what you make of it. Sometimes upbeat and lighthearted, other times downtempo and contemplative--the journey you and the main character Claire go on is full-bodied and rich.

I won't go into specifics. This is a game, and a story, that becomes special because of how you play it. It was an experience that I connected with deeply, and one I'm incredibly glad I had.

πŸ… Honorable Mention: BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light (PC, 2021)

BLUE REFLECTION is a series near and dear to me. The 2021 game Second Light marks the last of the series that remained for me to play through, lending it some bittersweet weight.

The story of Second Light is personal, and interpersonal. It's all about friendship: about loving, caring for, and protecting others. The cast of characters is its main character, in a sense, and every side cutscene and unvoiced conversation still felt purposeful and valuable to the world of Second Light and--importantly--to those who inhabit it.

Second Light has its limitations and missteps, its moments of "told, not shown" and story sequence breaks. But it's heartfelt and genuine, letting players step into the shoes of main character Ao by living through each little moment and memory with her friends alongside her. By the time credits roll, you're left with a deep care for Second Light's cast of quirky characters, and I would consider that a resounding success of a story.

πŸŽ† THE TOP FIVE OF 2025

Here's my overall favorite five games I beat in 2025. It was rather hard to narrow it down, and if you were to ask me again at any time, the list would probably change. But I gotta commit, at least for the purposes of this snapshot in time.

  • Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
  • BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light
  • Vampire Survivors
  • A Short Hike
  • Katamari Damacy REROLL

Wait, what?

THE LAST-MINUTE ADDITION

πŸ† Winner: Katamari Damacy REROLL (PC, 2018)

So of course I had to beat REROLL while prepping up my 2025 honors. I'm no stranger to Katamari Damacy, having owned an original PS2 copy way back in the day. And REROLL has done an excellent job of capturing that same magic in a modern port that runs smoothly and without issue.

But, look, Katamari Damacy is incredible. There's nothing out there like it. I have to give it a mention, even a short one, for being such a unique and uplifting game. You already know Katamari Damacy's good. It's short, funny, and accessible. Let me do my part in urging you to give it a try yourself, if you have not already.

THE CONCLUSION

By my count, I beat or re-beat 43(-ish) games in 2025 across all consoles and platforms. The predominant theme of this past year was indie games on Steam, and I'm glad to have experienced such a wide spread of different unique titles by a diverse set of different devs.

Let me keep this short. In 2026, I want to play more. Complete more. Write more. Post more.

The backlog is infinite. Life's busy, games are fun, the sun keeps turning. So let's enjoy the ride.

-Lete