I played a wide range of games in 2025, with only a few new releases making the cut and many older games being picked up for the first time or revisited. With the absolute huge backlog of amazing games out there, it is pretty easy to wait a bit and grab whatever sparks interest once it goes on sale. I tend to get in the mood for a certain type of game and during that, play a bunch of different games in the same genre. Throughout the year I gravitated toward ARPGs, RPGs, Strategy, Shooters, Roguelikes, and MMORPGs.
Overall a great year for gaming. I find my backlog growing every time GoG or Steam has a sale. Luckily creating this website has given me some additional incentive to try new games and bounce around a little more. In 2026 I look forward to getting into some more CRPGs, especially the Shadowrun games I recently bought. There will most likely be some replays as well — Cyberpunk 2077 keeps catching my interest again and I often catch myself thinking about Baldurs Gate 3. The Steam machine pricing should also be revealed at the start of the year, fingers crossed that the RAM and GPU situation doesn't price that piece of hardware out of reach.
Some of these titles were only played briefly whenever a certain mood hit, while some are staples — always installed and regularly fired up. Below is a list of the games from the year in alphabetical order with some thoughts on each.
Amid Evil
I got hooked on Boomer Shooters near the end of 2025, and while looking for new games I came across Amid Evil. This is a really great game that captures the fun of Quake and mixes it with the fantasy of Heretic. Snappy gameplay and satisfying weapons make for a good time.
Civilization 5
Every year I get a craving for some good old 4X strategy. The newer Civilization games don't interest me, so I go back to number 5. This game has tons of depth but can still be really fun with a surface level of understanding. I never stick with it long, but a couple of several-hundred-turn games will fulfill my craving until next time.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
One of the few games I picked up right when it came out. I've always loved JRPGs and was immediately drawn to this based on its art direction and twisted world. In many areas, this was THE game of 2025 — winning many awards and a great example of what a small team of passionate developers can produce.
Daggerfall Unity
Earlier in the year I loaded up a heavily modded version of Daggerfall and got really into it for a period of time. Despite some of the repetitive content and restrictions from being an older title, Daggerfall still has some great world and character building available to those who want to develop a deep head canon for who their character is and what is motivating them.
Diablo I
With the DevilutionX port, Diablo I is a joy to play on modern hardware. I consider this game to be closer to a Roguelike than an ARPG these days — Diablo I is focused on the journey across 16 levels, using what you find along the way to triumph over evil. A really fun game to fire up and see how far you can get with whatever drops.
Diablo II Resurrected
Diablo 2 is one of the games that is always installed on my desktop. I can go long periods without playing, but it is a staple — a comfort game — and possibly my favorite ARPG ever. I have been working on maxing out each character and completing my Grail: the collection of each unique item in the game, as long term goals that keep me coming back.
Doom 2016
Before I went down the Boomer Shooter rabbit hole, the newer Doom games got my attention. I played Doom 2016 a few different times over the year, reinstalling and starting new playthroughs. This is a really satisfying game when you just want to blow up some monsters. Very reasonably priced these days and runs well on Steam Deck too.
Doom: The Dark Ages
A great example of how waiting to purchase a game can be a benefit. When The Dark Ages came out early in the year it was a full-priced title around $80 — I picked it up near the end of the year for half the cost. It's a good game, but a divisive one for the Doom series. I didn't find the mech or dragon levels to be very interesting, but did really enjoy the combat and some of the more open, freeform levels. Worth the sale price, but it doesn't live up to the greatness that 2016 established.
Dread Delusion
A very cool PS1-style RPG-lite. The world and visuals are great, but the experience is let down by a weak combat system and surface-level RPG mechanics. Overall worth the price for the experience and a great game for the Steam Deck.
Everquest — Project Quarm and Project 1999
I've never played modern Everquest but have lots of nostalgia for the Kunark and Velious era. I play on a few unofficial time-locked servers — Project Quarm and Project 1999. Quarm is more focused on quality of life features, while Project 1999 is a somewhat faithful recreation of what the game was in the early 2000s. Both servers have agreements with Daybreak Games that allows them to operate, which is pretty unique in the realm of private servers.
Grim Dawn
A fantastic ARPG heavily inspired by Diablo 2. Grim Dawn takes a different approach where the focus is on the leveling journey rather than rushing to max level before the game "starts." Great content with another expansion coming in 2026 — worth picking up.
Heroes of Might and Magic III
I love the look of this game, even if I am kind of rubbish at it. I regularly load up Heroes to play through a campaign or a scenario and always enjoy traipsing around a map collecting resources and artifacts. Another comfort game that runs on almost any hardware.
Heretic
Another game I stuck with when trying out Boomer Shooters near the end of the year. There is something about the fantasy world of Heretic that really draws me in — the idea of using magic in a shooter setting is really appealing. Throughout 2026 I hope to explore more of these types of games.
Last Epoch
An interesting ARPG that takes inspiration from Path of Exile and the Diablo series. I've always liked Last Epoch for its inventive crafting system and the ability to make a somewhat viable endgame build without following a guide. There always seems to be new content to explore when I load it up and the leveling process is smooth.
Loop Hero
Loop Hero hooked me for a couple of weeks. The journey of unlocking new cards and building up your town over many runs is really satisfying — part of what I love about Roguelikes. My attention falls off when I'm near the end of the progression curve and need to really refine my strategies, but I was hooked for a good 15 hours.
Megabonk
The hype got to me with this one. After hearing about it from podcasts, reading about it online and having friends recommend it, I took the plunge — and much like Loop Hero, got totally sucked in. Megabonk is simple, stupid and very addictive, especially during that progression phase where new weapons and characters are being regularly unlocked. Definitely a game I will revisit when it gets more content.
Morrowind
After diving into Daggerfall, I spent some time with the OpenMW engine and put together a heavily modded playthrough of Morrowind. I've never actually finished this game and tend to lose interest somewhere in the middle, but it's another great sandbox for world and character building.
No Man's Sky
This game didn't get a ton of my time over the course of the year, with only about 10 hours spent. However it is a game you can keep coming back to. The developers have spent years first bringing the game up to an acceptable standard and then far surpassing that, with regular updates all for free. This is the type of game development that should be supported.
Oblivion Remastered
Another game I had to pick up as soon as it dropped. I have really fond memories of Oblivion but had a tough time going back to it — something about modded Oblivion just didn't look right to me. So when the remaster dropped I picked it up on day one and had a blast. Another game that will go into the rotation for when I am craving a Bethesda RPG, without needing to download and configure hundreds of mods first.
Old School Runescape
This is less of a game I play and more of a hobby in itself. I've been playing OSRS since 2021, and in that time have made three characters in the game. In 2025 I started my second ironman and have built a pretty decent account over the course of the year. Much of OSRS is measured in hundreds of hours — this MMORPG is just built different. Luckily lots of content can be done on a second monitor.
Path of Exile
I tried Path of Exile 2 in late 2024 and couldn't get into it. For now I still go back to the original POE for a season or two each year, to enjoy creating a zoomy build that blows up the screen with a couple of button presses. POE is a great mindless ARPG, especially when following a guide, that can deliver lots of dopamine on a map-to-map basis.
Session: Skate Sim
In an effort to find something modern that was more Skate 3 and less Tony Hawk, I came across Session. It's a pretty good sim game with a focus on realistic skateboarding. There is some discourse around the developers not focusing their efforts where the community would like, but for a few sessions here and there this is a good time.
Skald: Against the Black Priory
A very cool retro-inspired RPG with a great Lovecraftian story and some fun CRT filters. I didn't make it all the way through but look forward to another playthrough. The developer even released a series of mod tools for creating new adventures that should produce some great community content.
Two Point Museum
In the late 90s Bullfrog developed Theme Park and Theme Hospital. Two Point Museum is a spiritual successor. Packed with charm and funny little interactions, this is a lovingly crafted game where you set up and manage your own museum. With a bunch of DLC available there is a type of museum for just about anyone.
Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader
The lore of Warhammer has always really interested me. While actually playing the tabletop version hasn't been my thing, Rogue Trader provides a great mechanism to dive into the insanity of the 40K world, all built on a very capable CRPG base.
Warhammer 40k: Boltgun
Staying with the 40K theme but from a different angle. Boltgun is still steeped in the craziness of 40K but with more focus on Doom-like monster arenas — jumping around while blowing up heretics with your boltgun. Chunky pixels and all, this game is fun nonetheless.
World of Warcraft
I've played WoW off and on since release and usually come back for the newest expansion. I got pulled back in this year during the tail-end of Legion Remix, and started again with about 40 days to go in that event. The boosted experience rates and crazy power levels helped me level a couple of new characters, try tanking for the first time, and grab a ton of new transmog and mounts. It is still a great game and there is always something to collect or some achievement to work toward.