I played fewer titles to completion this year than usual, but I played more than twice as many as usual thanks to the glorious bounty that is UFO 50. Going to call that one a wash. I think this wasn’t a quantity of games year, this was a quality of games year, so here’s my picks.

Best Indie: Incredibly strong list of games this year between Animal Well, Balatro, The Plucky Squire and UFO 50 (as well as many others I didn’t play), but of these only Balatro ascended to the level of forever-game.

Best Nintendo: I usually pick out a Best Nintendo because they typically publish enough games over the course of the year that they warrant their own category, but no, not this year. Echoes of Wisdom was real good but not something I’d consider a best anything. Nintendo slept pretty hard this year, presumably for very good reasons we will find out about imminently.

Best Games I Didn’t Play: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Metaphor: Refantazio. Maybe in Q1 2025, January is pretty dead… but Marvel Rivals demands my undivided attention.

Best Overall: I would be kidding myself if I said anything other than Balatro. It’s a new forever-game. If I need to kill 20 minutes or if I need to kill 20 hours, Balatro will be there for me.

What I’m looking forward to in 2025:

  • Switch 2 with Metroid Prime 4 as a Launch Title (Carryover from last year)
  • Silksong (Carryover from the last like 3 years)
  • Avowed
  • Doom: The Dark Ages
  • Hades 2 exiting early access
  • Hyper Light Breaker and Slay the Spire 2 entering early access
  • Ghost of Yotei
  • Skate Story
  • Mina the Hollower
  • New PC Build that can more easily drive two 4k monitors and a 4k OLED TV
  • Comedy Option GTA VI, which will almost certainly get pushed to 2026