by Jon Yelenic
Gaming can be an expensive hobby. It asks a lot, both of your spare cash and time — two rare commodities that one rarely mines in abundance simultaneously. In a nutshell, my 2025 proved an expensive and busy year, leaving much less time for gaming as I would have liked, especially as it pertained to new releases.
Considering my limited playtime this year, what would normally be a top ten list has been shortened to a top five. The sample size may be smaller, but I am very grateful to have been able to sink my available time into these titles throughout the preceding twelve months.
5. Dispatch — PC, PlayStation 5
Certainly not a breath of fresh air, but more of a familiar, sweet scent. Dispatch developer AdHoc Studio carries the torch of Telltale, which is ostensibly still alive — whether its thriving or on life support is anyone’s guess — into the present with a workplace comedy that still has the same secret sauce you’ll find in The Walking Dead, Batman, and The Wolf Among Us.
Like these other games, Dispatch gets inside your head, encouraging you to overthink things so that every choice, no matter how inconsequential it actually turns out to be, feels impossible. Buying into this game’s world, choosing Robert’s comfort while managing his discomfort, penning his story — that’s the Dispatch experience, and man, it was a good one.
4. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound — Multiplatform
Ninja Gaiden is back — four words that I had felt would come true sooner or later for some years now, whether it be prophecy or blind faith. But for it to return not only in the 3D realm, but also on the 2D plane, was quite the pleasant surprise. Ragebound’s sprite work is sublime, and it handles like a dream. The game is fairly simple to pick up, chock full of replay value, and most importantly brutal to master — I wouldn’t have it any other way. God, how I’ve missed you, Ninja Gaiden.
3. Hades II — PC, Switch 2, Switch
Hades II follows up its 2020 smash-hit predecessor without skipping a beat. It’s bigger, deeper, and — perhaps most impressively — avoids feeling like more of the same. Does it feel familiar when stacked up to the first game? Yes, but there are so many new discoveries to be had that I couldn’t help but be sold on what the game was offering.
Whether it’s simply clearing a run, unlocking aspects, or acquiring favor with any one of the game’s delightfully written NPCs, there will always be another reason to to carry out just one more run in Hades II. I can only imagine how many more await me in the new year.
2. Donkey Kong Bananza — Switch 2
Nintendo was unquestionably one of the stars of 2025 as it pertained to games. The Switch 2 was released, Mario Kart World launched with it, a sequel to Kirby Air Ride hit the market, and Metroid Prime 4 finally rolled out onto store shelves after incubating for the better part of a decade. However, if you ask me, the highlight of Nintendo’s year was none of these. Rather, it’s Donkey Kong Bananza.
Bananza is as much about how you play it as it is about overcoming its challenges. Its strongest similarity to Super Mario Odyssey, also developed by the same team, is its focus on player expression through movement. But its biggest difference is how you move. Mario jumps on and around things; Donkey Kong, big boy that he is, breaks through them. The game is designed to be broken, a theme evident from frame one that’s reinforced every time you dig through the ground, punch through a wall, tear out a chunk of rock to whip at a foe, or bust a boss’ head on your way to the next layer.
It was a great joy breaking through every one of the malleable worlds on display, all the while uncovering even more satisfying methods of destruction on the way toward the core. Mastering your ruinous movement in Bananza can feel just as rewarding as fulfilling any one of the game’s more explicitly stated goals — a sign of a truly great platformer if there ever was one.
1. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach — PS5
Hideo Kojima strikes again, and if you ask me, he’s struck gold. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a wonderful experience. Marvelous to look at; satisfyingly to play. It’s a fascinating game that evoked varying degrees of zen, dread, consternation, warmth, and excitement — among many more feelings — in my 110 hours spent with it.
While not the greatest yarn that Kojima has ever spun, I personally found DS2’s narrative among the most interesting he’s constructed. The game is demonstrably more focused on getting its metaphorical points across than it is in literalizing its fictional world; there may even be a built-in disdain for a literal reading, as I interpreted it. The themes and ideas on display resonated rather strongly with me, inspiring regular contemplation on them throughout the second half of the year.
This approach will naturally prove divisive depending on who is playing the game, but it worked fantastically for me, especially because Kojima took this apparent deemphasis on crafting a bulletproof literal reading to institute a widespread Rule of Cool throughout the game. There are multiple boss fights against a Legally Distinct Solid Snake; Higgs is a cyborg ninja rocker boy who is also the Joker for some reason; you can beat the crap out of slavers with pizza-themed karate moves; the list could go on forever. Why are such elements present? Because they rule, and the game rocks ever so harder due to their presence.
Death Stranding 2 is simply a very cool video game, and I think it’s a miracle that this can be said about a game that is primarily focused on supplying people with the necessities they need to not just live, but thrive, in a cruel world. Then again, there’s not much cooler than that.