Honestly, Yotei should’ve been lower. I get that the game was popular, Atsu’s a great character, and the gameplay is fantastic. That said, the story just wasn’t up to the Sony first party standard and it harbored a “been there, done that” feel that I couldn’t shake, even when I was enjoying the game. It’s a weird game because it just had so much potential to be more than what it is. I am still baffled that Sony was ok with Ronin, AC Shadows, and Yotei coming out in such quick succession with such similar themes.
@UltimateOtaku91 It’s definitely going to be Silksong that misses out. Pushsquare wasn’t as warm to the game as, say, NintendoLife. Silksong’s had a very bizarre reception this year, if you ask me. The “it’s too hard” movement was a thing that surrounded the game after the hubris lifted and the whole “Hollow Knight’s not even one of the best Metroidvanias” movement came in full force. Outside Clair Obscur and maybe Dispatch, honestly, it sort of feels like most games received a hammer to their hype immediately after release practically since Doom released.
Given how things have been, I’m guessing Pushsquare will give us 4) Split Fiction, 3) Ghost of Yotei, 2) Death Stranding 2, 1) Clair Obscur. I’m hoping to be wrong and at least one publication gives Death Stranding 2 the nod, but I’m not delusional. I could see Split Fiction being above Yotei too for editiorial reasons, but I think Yotei’s probably got a stronger popular vote.
As far as Dispatch goes, I didn’t play it. Not a fan of superheroes, but I love that ex-Telltale staff are having success. Happy to cheer those people on from the bleachers and hope their next game isn’t a superhero thing, so I’ll buy it. I know that’s a bit lame, but after Spider-Man 2, I sort of realized I just can’t really get interested in superhero stuff even if it’s well made.
I think the game is pretty neat. I don’t really “get” it, but I’ve also not played enough of it for me to feel like I have a concrete opinion of the game. I’ve got it on PS5 and Steamdeck and so far, I think it’s interesting. It feels really well done, just haven’t played enough of it. I’m planning on it being one of my core games in January since the release slate next month is literally empty for me outside maybe Cassette Boy.
I have two more Christmases this weekend to do, so probably not much of anything. I’m feeling ok with the amount of 2025 games I’ve beaten to compile my year end list now, so there’s that. And because of that, I’ve sort of drifted towards playing through comfort food in the form of NES games. Little Nemo, Little Samson, Bucky O’Hare, Whomp ‘Em, Wallstreet Kid, Princess Tomato, and Mitsune Ga Tooru are ideas for what I might finish next. Beat Adventure Island 2, Kung Fu, and Friday the 13th over Christmas Eve/Day. Wallstreet Kid might be my first choice since I failed at it miserably on Christmas Day.
Glad to see Shinobi get some love in here. Never thought 2025 would be the year ninjas came back in style, but it’s a good thing. I’ve probably got to get Lumines Arise at some point.
I sort of think that things like Dreams of Another deserved a shout, even if the game wasn’t any good. It did have an interesting art style far better than its gameplay. And then there’s Sword of the Sea, which is vibrant, fresh, and lush as an indelible rush of a game. As subtle as it was too, I’d say Blue Prince deserves a bit more discussion about its art direction. It’s all simple, but elegant and unique. It has a penchant for subverting the mundanity of its subjects, in the twisting and shifting of rooms.
Personally, I think E33 is overrated in the art department, as it feels very Souls-y to me. It has a painterly inspiration, sure, but it felt very familiar to me with how games have started looking the last couple years. Remember how in the PS3/360 era, it felt like every game sort of had the same color palette to it? I sort of feel like this generation is having the same thing with Souls-ish with a splash of color. It deserves to be in the top 4 for some of the French riffs on that, but just don’t agree with it winning.
The last quarter of Death Stranding 2 though… that was the most memorable couple hours in gaming this generation for me. Utterly entrancing and fantastic.
I don’t believe them. They feel bad it was caught, but, if it wasn’t, they’d have left it as is.
The witch hunt for AI is ridiculous, but I also get both sides of the argument. Still, they’re likely only changing course because they were chastised, just like Larian was.
We share a personal GotY, Rob. Hopefully the rest of the Pushsquare staff has such brilliant taste.
Also, to call E33 the most “overindulged game of the generation” is perhaps the best and most succinct way to describe the game. Well said!
Agree with your thoughts on Yotei too. It’s in some ways the best Sucker Punch game, but also sort of painfully disappointing for the narrative. It let its good characters down a bit.
Delightful twist! Thanks for keeping us on our toes, Pushsquare!
Totally expected this one far higher in the list, but I think it’s totally fair for this one to be #8. It’s a very niche game. Everyone I know that’s a hardcore gamer has bought the game, but no one finished it. Seems like a lot of people dropped the game when Expedition 33 came out and never went back after completing that one, at least in my circle.
As a side note: now that I think about it too, sort of incredible that there’s three games my entire group bought this year. Last year, there was but one game that got my entire group minus one person (there’s always that one FF7 hater, isn’t there?).
It’s an incredible achievement, but it’s such an obtuse game that I’ll admit I didn’t enjoy it (made me realize I need things to be a bit more… Bethesda dumb… with this genre perhaps), but I’m also simultaneously so glad it exists for the people that did love it.
@DennisReynolds I’d say it’s like an Ori and the Will of the Wisps type of sequel. It doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it refines what made the original so strong, just by adding more flexibility to the gameplay and progression. Silksong, however, is far more customizable than even Ori and the Will of the Wisps. As far as I’m concerned, Ori and the Hollow Knight games are the Castlevania and Metroid of the current era.
Truly glad the genre is still doing as strong as it is, given how so many genres from the NES/SNES have vanished.
@DennisReynolds You could say that about any game though. Same videos will exist for Clair Obscur too. And they’ll probably come in the first half of next year. It’ll be all the people farming clicks for trashing Metroid Prime 4.
For me, Silksong was sort of perfect. It was very obviously a sequel that started as an expansion, but its larger and more expansive and open version of the original Hollow Knight, in my opinion. It might have been the most fun game I’ve played this year. I typically play about 5-10 metroidvanias a year and it’s my favorite one I’ve played since probably Metroid Dread. I think, if it didn’t have the Hollow Knight connection, it probably would’ve found similar success to Nine Sols, which still did pretty well for itself.
@DennisReynolds Totally disagree. Silksong’s a bonafide classic. One of the best games I’ve ever played. I don’t think it got enough credit for what it was. Feels like the “it’s too hard” movement sort of killed the game’s momentum and it deserved better than that.
@SeaDaVie That would be the most rational list, so I hope you’re wrong! I’m rooting for some twists to the GotY narrative. Just saying, but Pushsquare issued 3 10/10 reviews this year and none of them were Expedition 33. It seemed that Baldur’s Gate 3 was a lock in 2023, but Spider Man 2 ended up winning. Also, Rebirth was one of the most popular games by the public last year, but it was quite low in the top 10, and that’s just the last two years, so you never know what might happen here.
The Alters is an interesting twist in itself. I… only played it for approximately 30 minutes and never returned back to it. The curse of Gamepass before cancelling my subscription, I suppose. I remember feeling like I’d like it more on PC and just didn’t go back. I think I should go back perhaps!
I miss the consistent Astro Bot updates. If that was how live service games worked, Astro Bot would’ve been IT for me and my family. Love the Christmas level. The game literally never missed a single beat. Everything it did was premium gaming.
Delta’s sort of a boring pick. It’s a bit too faithful a remake. After the FF7s and REmakes of the world, I sort of want something else out of remakes nowadays, personally. But hey, if you’ve never played MGS3, there’s no excuse now!
Can’t wait to see your top 10 list and the variety in the rest of the personal lists. It’s going to be probably the most interesting and divisive year in a long while for these. Let’s all be on our best behavior in the comments section 😂
@Max_the_German I dunno, man. I love these lists. Sure, there’s negativity, but it’s fun to post a year end list and I genuinely look forward to see what the team here thinks every year. Pushsquare does GotY better than most publications. Given how divisive this year has been, it’s going to be fun to see where the GotY coverage goes.
I really like seeing Arc Raiders as a GotY. While I still don’t feel I’ve gotten enough time with the game to evaluate it accurately, it is such a unique game and should be an example for what future multiplayer games could be. Great list!
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s list, as I expect we’ll be seeing a lot of unique picks, and I really can’t even guess how the top 10 will go for Pushsquare, which is always fun.
Happy to see Blue Prince won the award. I know this is a dumb reason for it, but Blue Prince simply didn’t get enough credit for being what it was this year. I enjoyed it far more than E33. Happy to see other games get some well deserved praise.
Just beat Metroid Prime 4. Fantastic game. Time to finally compile that personal year end list.
Onto some assorted oldies like The Sims 1, SimCity 3000, Adventure Island 2, Rampage Universal Tour, Half Life, etc, whatever I feel the random urge to play the rest of the year.
I’m down for more Dave the Diver. Loved it so much on PS+ I bought it. I remember it sort of carried the first half of 2024 for me when I felt like I was in a deep gaming drought following the completion of Rebirth.
Affordability is a hoax in the US, you know? So I’m sure this is a dollar store Christmas for a lot of families. There wasn’t any substantial deals this year either, so there wasn’t much incentive to buy consoles or accessories. I’d imagine the resale market might’ve been thriving this year though.
For me, I got my son a Portal and myself a Steamdeck, so we contributed a little bit, I suppose, but this was also the first year where we bought a game for my daughter for the Switch, but no games for my son or myself, so it’s sort of an odd year in total for our gaming spend.
It feels like the Game Awards have been around a lot longer than that. Didn’t they used to have celebrity hosts or am I fever dreaming another timeline?
Regardless, good for Geoff. The show’s always a fun spectacle, and one of the few instances where I feel like gaming unifies as a culture for a second, even though there’s disagreements on who wins the awards. After all, we all just want to see game trailers and imagine a deeper, more robust backlog.
@PuppetMaster I always feel like Megaman is bigger than it is, I suppose. 2 million copies is sort of small when you compare it to Resident Evil and some of the big sellers these days. I mean, Silksong’s at 7 mil this year, Clair Obscur hit 5 mil, etc. The Blue Bomber feels more iconic than those tiny sales numbers.
The game’s fantastic for what it is. My son went back and started it a couple weeks ago and honestly… I was sort of impressed all over again with the game. It’s no Red Dead Redemption 2, but it is still quite impressive. I’m not sure if it’s been the lull of massive releases the last two years or what, but I felt like maybe I underrated the game at release.
@3DixieKong I can see what you’re saying and I sort of agree with it, but for me, the feeling of the game feels more Megaman to me. It’s esoteric, I know, but that’s just me. It could be because Battle Network and such is an alternate timeline and the logic of my brain just separates the two even if it doesn’t need to.
Self-published games are indies. Clair Obscur is a AA. Its simple.
Like Dave the Diver before it, I wouldn’t qualify it as an indie and the award should’ve gone to Silksong or Hades, and more authentic indies should’ve been nominated. After all, the award should exist to give lesser known games exposure. The E33 victory lap did a disservice to gaming as a whole this year by cheapening the value of other games for the sake of praising a game that had the fortune of releasing in a year that didn’t have a TLOU 2 or Elden Ring, etc to compete against.
@PuppetMaster exactly my sentiments. I always felt like this series and Battle Network felt like they weren’t exactly Megaman. It’s not that they’re necessarily bad games, just that they look and feel off to me, which is probably because they were trying to make Mario a Pokemon game to use a blunt analogy.
I’m not the biggest fan of the ZX series either, but I’d argue that at least they had the proper DNA still present.
I wonder if Capcom is aware of how important Legends is to the fanbase. I get the feeling it didn’t sell as much as we’d imagine.
@Porco Surely they’re doing something with the Legends games! I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re just waiting for 2027 to go all out on Megaman’s anniversary with a Legends collection with the new game.
Haven’t had a chance to play the demo just yet, but I’m looking forward to trying it. Not sure what platform I’ll be purchasing this one on yet. This was the best looking game to me at the original PS5 Showcase, but if it’s on a cartridge for Switch 2, that might be the route I go with it if performance is comparable. I expect I’m going to preorder this one.
1. Control 2
2. Pragmata
3. Resident Evil 9
4. Mina the Hollower
5. Halo on PlayStation 5 for the sheer novelty of it
Outside that, we’ll see what Xbox games come over to PS5 because Fable is exciting too. I’m looking forward to Bubsy 4D, of all things. GTA6 might be #6 for me, but I’m not sure about it. I’ve got a weird feeling about this next GTA game and I can’t quite describe it. Tomb Raider’s up there too, and maybe 007. I’m not 100% sold on the Bond game, but I’m contemplating. I feel the same about Dawnwalker.
I’m going to try to reduce my gaming to buying 1-2 games a month and next year looks like a good year to do that, with a AAA and indie balanced per month possibly.
Halo, Gears, Forza Horizon, Fable, and most likely Clockwork Revolution and State of Decay
I mean, I don’t like Marvel, so I get your point of view if you like that, but, for me, Fable alone is more interesting than the total PS first party line-up next year and I’m definitely buying Halo… on PS5 for the novelty of it. If Intergalactic was a 2026 title, that’d be a different story.
Support games that do something different. If we don’t throw our support into unique games with unique ideas now, the industry will continue to siphon into games they care more about engagement than fun. We’re at a dangerous point in gaming history where every day the executives of gaming companies are looking for safer games with more monetization for the benefit of their shareholders. I get that To a T may not be for everyone, but neither are a lot of games. Sometimes games do need support and exposure and unfortunately that’s not being given to games such as this.
For what it’s worth, To a T was one of my favorite games this year. I preferred it even to the latest Katamari game too. It’s a unique game with a fantastic soundtrack and I do hope that Takahashi’s able to get a lifeline, so he’s able to continue creating his own idiosyncratic vision of gaming. We need these kinds of unique voices. Also, the game is great for kids as well. My 8 year old was able to beat the game no problem and my 4 year old loves to watch it.
@Marquez I’m just hoping for diversity from Pushsquare. I trust the staff here. Lol. And I know Nintendo Life’s going to be forced to deliberate between Bananza and Silksong, which is much more to my personal taste!
The sad thing is I won’t be able to escape E33 this holiday season either thanks to the Dorito Pope. As a resident gamer of the family, I’m going to be asked about this game A LOT in the very near future because of the coverage the game gets.
The most lethal one would’ve been “Take a shot every time you’re bewildered by something.” Man, I would’ve been toasted by Megaman getting a sequel, only for it to be a 2027 announcement!
@lazarus11 Yeah, I sort of get the vibe that that’s how a lot of people are feeling about the game. The constant hype cycle for it has certainly made my friends sour on it. I don’t think I’ve ever quite seen a game get SO MUCH continuous coverage. Not even Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate 3 (to use modern examples) got this level of coverage and both of those games seemed bigger, culturally.
I get the vibe that E33 was a lot of people’s first JRPG.
@Marquez it’s not the most professional thing, of course, but I’m sure there’s a lot of people that feel jilted about the Game Awards this year, so I can understand their viewpoint. I know my watching party was rolling eyes at all the awards Expedition 33 got. We’d all played E33 and we all liked it, but even those amongst us that liked it most were starting to get snarky about the game winning so much. Glad we didn’t make E33 wins a drinking game because we contemplated it. We also contemplated making gatcha trailers a drinking game though. Lol.
I don’t remember my group getting like that when TLOU, Part 2 won everything though, and we were a bit divisive on that game. Got to be honest, if the hype train didn’t sit solely in E33 station, it would’ve been interesting to see what else would’ve won things.
@Marquez Edited the word, must’ve misspelled it elsewhere too!
I honestly don’t want E33 to do badly. I just want to see other games have success. I liked the game when it launched, but I thought it was a bit more average than most others, I suppose. There’s no rewarding exploration, there’s the whole tossing a new antagonist faction toward the end without developing them at all thing, there’s the definite burn out on parrying towards the end of the game type of thing for me, of course, but realistically I’m tired of the continuous hype cycle the game has received this year. I get that some people really love the game. I do. But it just feels like everywhere you turn, there’s been an E33 story basically exalting the game and I’m just a little spent on it. Could be PTSD from the time I went to the grocery store wearing a Final Fantasy shirt and someone wearing an E33 shirt randomly started talking to me, telling me how much better E33 is than FF when I completely disagree with that. Again, I liked the game, but I’m oversaturated with it, and I also feel it’s not very nice to “celebrate the industry” by giving it all the awards when there’s a decent amount of games this year that deserve awards. I didn’t even like KCD2, but to say it’s not the best RPG this year? To not credit Silksong as indie game of the year (let’s be real, if E33 is an indie, you might as well lob Death Stranding up there as an indie)? I’m droning, but I’m just ready for another year where there’s discussion instead of a single game being practically groomed into winning all awards.
And thank you for checking out the rest of my list. I try at year end to get notice out toward lesser known titles that I’d enjoyed throughout the year. Hope there’s a hidden gem you enjoy in my list! There’s plenty of fantastic games to recommend this year. There’s been well over 20 games on the 7/10+ spectrum for me that I’ve played, which is a pretty solid year, in my opinion.
Probably a mix of Metroid Prime 4, Öoo, Level Devil, maybe Arc Raiders as I race to complete games just in time for a year end list. I’ve got Seance of Blake Manor to fire up too, but I’m not certain if I’ll squeeze that one in for end of year or not. I’m prioritizing Prime 4 and loving it.
Also, maybe SimCity 3000. On a whim, I played it a bit last night and it’s sort of deeply relaxing. I’m going to try my best NOT to play anything else retro as well, but it’s sort of comfort food this time of the year.
Comments 4,067
Re: Game of the Year: #4 - Ghost of Yotei
Honestly, Yotei should’ve been lower. I get that the game was popular, Atsu’s a great character, and the gameplay is fantastic. That said, the story just wasn’t up to the Sony first party standard and it harbored a “been there, done that” feel that I couldn’t shake, even when I was enjoying the game. It’s a weird game because it just had so much potential to be more than what it is. I am still baffled that Sony was ok with Ronin, AC Shadows, and Yotei coming out in such quick succession with such similar themes.
Re: Game of the Year: Best PS5 Story Game of 2025
@Balaam_ January 1st we all get to stop hearing about E33 finally. I agree with you, but it’s almost over.
Re: Game of the Year: #5 - Dispatch
@UltimateOtaku91 It’s definitely going to be Silksong that misses out. Pushsquare wasn’t as warm to the game as, say, NintendoLife. Silksong’s had a very bizarre reception this year, if you ask me. The “it’s too hard” movement was a thing that surrounded the game after the hubris lifted and the whole “Hollow Knight’s not even one of the best Metroidvanias” movement came in full force. Outside Clair Obscur and maybe Dispatch, honestly, it sort of feels like most games received a hammer to their hype immediately after release practically since Doom released.
Given how things have been, I’m guessing Pushsquare will give us 4) Split Fiction, 3) Ghost of Yotei, 2) Death Stranding 2, 1) Clair Obscur. I’m hoping to be wrong and at least one publication gives Death Stranding 2 the nod, but I’m not delusional. I could see Split Fiction being above Yotei too for editiorial reasons, but I think Yotei’s probably got a stronger popular vote.
As far as Dispatch goes, I didn’t play it. Not a fan of superheroes, but I love that ex-Telltale staff are having success. Happy to cheer those people on from the bleachers and hope their next game isn’t a superhero thing, so I’ll buy it. I know that’s a bit lame, but after Spider-Man 2, I sort of realized I just can’t really get interested in superhero stuff even if it’s well made.
Re: Game of the Year: #6 - ARC Raiders
I think the game is pretty neat. I don’t really “get” it, but I’ve also not played enough of it for me to feel like I have a concrete opinion of the game. I’ve got it on PS5 and Steamdeck and so far, I think it’s interesting. It feels really well done, just haven’t played enough of it. I’m planning on it being one of my core games in January since the release slate next month is literally empty for me outside maybe Cassette Boy.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 613
I have two more Christmases this weekend to do, so probably not much of anything. I’m feeling ok with the amount of 2025 games I’ve beaten to compile my year end list now, so there’s that. And because of that, I’ve sort of drifted towards playing through comfort food in the form of NES games. Little Nemo, Little Samson, Bucky O’Hare, Whomp ‘Em, Wallstreet Kid, Princess Tomato, and Mitsune Ga Tooru are ideas for what I might finish next. Beat Adventure Island 2, Kung Fu, and Friday the 13th over Christmas Eve/Day. Wallstreet Kid might be my first choice since I failed at it miserably on Christmas Day.
Re: Game of the Year: Best PS5 RPG of 2025
I’m still contemplating whether or not I want to play The Outer Worlds 2.
I didn’t really enjoy KCD2, but it is the right answer here. Personally, I’d say Fantasy Life is a better rpg than E33 too.
Re: Game of the Year: Stephen's Top 5 PS5 Games of 2025
Glad to see Shinobi get some love in here. Never thought 2025 would be the year ninjas came back in style, but it’s a good thing. I’ve probably got to get Lumines Arise at some point.
Re: Game of the Year: #7 - Lumines Arise
Another twist. Thank you for subverting expectations. Death Stranding 2 actually has a chance! I’m so excited to see where things go.
Re: Game of the Year: Best PS5 Art Direction of 2025
I sort of think that things like Dreams of Another deserved a shout, even if the game wasn’t any good. It did have an interesting art style far better than its gameplay. And then there’s Sword of the Sea, which is vibrant, fresh, and lush as an indelible rush of a game. As subtle as it was too, I’d say Blue Prince deserves a bit more discussion about its art direction. It’s all simple, but elegant and unique. It has a penchant for subverting the mundanity of its subjects, in the twisting and shifting of rooms.
Personally, I think E33 is overrated in the art department, as it feels very Souls-y to me. It has a painterly inspiration, sure, but it felt very familiar to me with how games have started looking the last couple years. Remember how in the PS3/360 era, it felt like every game sort of had the same color palette to it? I sort of feel like this generation is having the same thing with Souls-ish with a splash of color. It deserves to be in the top 4 for some of the French riffs on that, but just don’t agree with it winning.
The last quarter of Death Stranding 2 though… that was the most memorable couple hours in gaming this generation for me. Utterly entrancing and fantastic.
Re: 'Everything Will Be Made by Humans': Expedition 33 Dev Says No More AI After Post-Awards Heat
I don’t believe them. They feel bad it was caught, but, if it wasn’t, they’d have left it as is.
The witch hunt for AI is ridiculous, but I also get both sides of the argument. Still, they’re likely only changing course because they were chastised, just like Larian was.
Re: Game of the Year: Robert's Top 5 PS5 Games of 2025
We share a personal GotY, Rob. Hopefully the rest of the Pushsquare staff has such brilliant taste.
Also, to call E33 the most “overindulged game of the generation” is perhaps the best and most succinct way to describe the game. Well said!
Agree with your thoughts on Yotei too. It’s in some ways the best Sucker Punch game, but also sort of painfully disappointing for the narrative. It let its good characters down a bit.
Re: Game of the Year: #8 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Delightful twist! Thanks for keeping us on our toes, Pushsquare!
Totally expected this one far higher in the list, but I think it’s totally fair for this one to be #8. It’s a very niche game. Everyone I know that’s a hardcore gamer has bought the game, but no one finished it. Seems like a lot of people dropped the game when Expedition 33 came out and never went back after completing that one, at least in my circle.
As a side note: now that I think about it too, sort of incredible that there’s three games my entire group bought this year. Last year, there was but one game that got my entire group minus one person (there’s always that one FF7 hater, isn’t there?).
It’s an incredible achievement, but it’s such an obtuse game that I’ll admit I didn’t enjoy it (made me realize I need things to be a bit more… Bethesda dumb… with this genre perhaps), but I’m also simultaneously so glad it exists for the people that did love it.
Re: Game of the Year: Best PS5 Indie Game of 2025
@DennisReynolds Lost Crown is also fantastic. Might be the best game Ubisoft has ever made.
Re: Game of the Year: Best PS5 Indie Game of 2025
@DennisReynolds I’d say it’s like an Ori and the Will of the Wisps type of sequel. It doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it refines what made the original so strong, just by adding more flexibility to the gameplay and progression. Silksong, however, is far more customizable than even Ori and the Will of the Wisps. As far as I’m concerned, Ori and the Hollow Knight games are the Castlevania and Metroid of the current era.
Truly glad the genre is still doing as strong as it is, given how so many genres from the NES/SNES have vanished.
Re: Game of the Year: Best PS5 Indie Game of 2025
@DennisReynolds You could say that about any game though. Same videos will exist for Clair Obscur too. And they’ll probably come in the first half of next year. It’ll be all the people farming clicks for trashing Metroid Prime 4.
For me, Silksong was sort of perfect. It was very obviously a sequel that started as an expansion, but its larger and more expansive and open version of the original Hollow Knight, in my opinion. It might have been the most fun game I’ve played this year. I typically play about 5-10 metroidvanias a year and it’s my favorite one I’ve played since probably Metroid Dread. I think, if it didn’t have the Hollow Knight connection, it probably would’ve found similar success to Nine Sols, which still did pretty well for itself.
Re: Game of the Year: Best PS5 Indie Game of 2025
@DennisReynolds Totally disagree. Silksong’s a bonafide classic. One of the best games I’ve ever played. I don’t think it got enough credit for what it was. Feels like the “it’s too hard” movement sort of killed the game’s momentum and it deserved better than that.
Re: Game of the Year: #9 - The Alters
@SeaDaVie That would be the most rational list, so I hope you’re wrong! I’m rooting for some twists to the GotY narrative. Just saying, but Pushsquare issued 3 10/10 reviews this year and none of them were Expedition 33. It seemed that Baldur’s Gate 3 was a lock in 2023, but Spider Man 2 ended up winning. Also, Rebirth was one of the most popular games by the public last year, but it was quite low in the top 10, and that’s just the last two years, so you never know what might happen here.
The Alters is an interesting twist in itself. I… only played it for approximately 30 minutes and never returned back to it. The curse of Gamepass before cancelling my subscription, I suppose. I remember feeling like I’d like it more on PC and just didn’t go back. I think I should go back perhaps!
Re: 007 First Light's PS5 Release Date Has Been Pushed Back a Couple of Months
Well, I was on the fence about this one, and now I will be on the fence for longer.
Re: Reminder: Astro Bot Has the Best Christmas Level on PS5 and It Isn't Close
I miss the consistent Astro Bot updates. If that was how live service games worked, Astro Bot would’ve been IT for me and my family. Love the Christmas level. The game literally never missed a single beat. Everything it did was premium gaming.
Re: Game of the Year: Best PS5 Remake or Remaster of 2025
Delta’s sort of a boring pick. It’s a bit too faithful a remake. After the FF7s and REmakes of the world, I sort of want something else out of remakes nowadays, personally. But hey, if you’ve never played MGS3, there’s no excuse now!
Re: Game of the Year: #10 - Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
I’ll be honest: I didn’t really like this one. I thought it was chaotic in the wrong way and I didn’t enjoy the crossover madness on it either.
But hey, I was genuinely surprised day 1 of the top 10 posts, which is part of the fun!
Re: Game of the Year: Aaron's Top 5 PS5 Games of 2025
@Max_the_German I would, but I usually make a personal article for friends, so I’m a weirdo. I can submit to Sammy if he wants it 😂
Re: Site News: Our Annual Game of the Year Bonanza Starts Now
Can’t wait to see your top 10 list and the variety in the rest of the personal lists. It’s going to be probably the most interesting and divisive year in a long while for these. Let’s all be on our best behavior in the comments section 😂
Re: Game of the Year: Aaron's Top 5 PS5 Games of 2025
@Max_the_German I dunno, man. I love these lists. Sure, there’s negativity, but it’s fun to post a year end list and I genuinely look forward to see what the team here thinks every year. Pushsquare does GotY better than most publications. Given how divisive this year has been, it’s going to be fun to see where the GotY coverage goes.
Re: Game of the Year: Aaron's Top 5 PS5 Games of 2025
I really like seeing Arc Raiders as a GotY. While I still don’t feel I’ve gotten enough time with the game to evaluate it accurately, it is such a unique game and should be an example for what future multiplayer games could be. Great list!
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s list, as I expect we’ll be seeing a lot of unique picks, and I really can’t even guess how the top 10 will go for Pushsquare, which is always fun.
Re: PS5 Fave Expedition 33 Stripped of Indie Game Awards, But Not for the Reasons You May Think
Happy to see Blue Prince won the award. I know this is a dumb reason for it, but Blue Prince simply didn’t get enough credit for being what it was this year. I enjoyed it far more than E33. Happy to see other games get some well deserved praise.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 612
Just beat Metroid Prime 4. Fantastic game. Time to finally compile that personal year end list.
Onto some assorted oldies like The Sims 1, SimCity 3000, Adventure Island 2, Rampage Universal Tour, Half Life, etc, whatever I feel the random urge to play the rest of the year.
Re: Dave the Diver's In the Jungle DLC Around 10 Hours Long, Turns it into Animal Crossing
I’m down for more Dave the Diver. Loved it so much on PS+ I bought it. I remember it sort of carried the first half of 2024 for me when I felt like I was in a deep gaming drought following the completion of Rebirth.
Re: Ghost of Yotei Wins Big in PS Blog's Game of the Year Awards
Best graphical showcase: Ghost of Yotei? Get outta here. It’s top 10, but no way is it the best graphical showcase.
I like Yotei more than E33, sure, but the brand loyalty is coming a little strong in this batch.
Re: PS5 Wins a Nightmarish November for All Console Hardware in the US
Affordability is a hoax in the US, you know? So I’m sure this is a dollar store Christmas for a lot of families. There wasn’t any substantial deals this year either, so there wasn’t much incentive to buy consoles or accessories. I’d imagine the resale market might’ve been thriving this year though.
For me, I got my son a Portal and myself a Steamdeck, so we contributed a little bit, I suppose, but this was also the first year where we bought a game for my daughter for the Switch, but no games for my son or myself, so it’s sort of an odd year in total for our gaming spend.
Re: The Game Awards Keeps On Getting More and More Popular
It feels like the Game Awards have been around a lot longer than that. Didn’t they used to have celebrity hosts or am I fever dreaming another timeline?
Regardless, good for Geoff. The show’s always a fun spectacle, and one of the few instances where I feel like gaming unifies as a culture for a second, even though there’s disagreements on who wins the awards. After all, we all just want to see game trailers and imagine a deeper, more robust backlog.
Re: PS5, PS4 Compilation Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection Adds 7 More RPGs to Your Stacked 2026
@PuppetMaster I always feel like Megaman is bigger than it is, I suppose. 2 million copies is sort of small when you compare it to Resident Evil and some of the big sellers these days. I mean, Silksong’s at 7 mil this year, Clair Obscur hit 5 mil, etc. The Blue Bomber feels more iconic than those tiny sales numbers.
Re: Hogwarts Legacy Tops an Absurd 40 Million Copies Sold
The game’s fantastic for what it is. My son went back and started it a couple weeks ago and honestly… I was sort of impressed all over again with the game. It’s no Red Dead Redemption 2, but it is still quite impressive. I’m not sure if it’s been the lull of massive releases the last two years or what, but I felt like maybe I underrated the game at release.
Re: PS5, PS4 Compilation Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection Adds 7 More RPGs to Your Stacked 2026
@3DixieKong I can see what you’re saying and I sort of agree with it, but for me, the feeling of the game feels more Megaman to me. It’s esoteric, I know, but that’s just me. It could be because Battle Network and such is an alternate timeline and the logic of my brain just separates the two even if it doesn’t need to.
Re: Talking Point: With Expedition 33 Winning Best Indie Game, What Does 'Indie' Mean to You?
Self-published games are indies. Clair Obscur is a AA. Its simple.
Like Dave the Diver before it, I wouldn’t qualify it as an indie and the award should’ve gone to Silksong or Hades, and more authentic indies should’ve been nominated. After all, the award should exist to give lesser known games exposure. The E33 victory lap did a disservice to gaming as a whole this year by cheapening the value of other games for the sake of praising a game that had the fortune of releasing in a year that didn’t have a TLOU 2 or Elden Ring, etc to compete against.
Re: PS5, PS4 Compilation Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection Adds 7 More RPGs to Your Stacked 2026
@PuppetMaster exactly my sentiments. I always felt like this series and Battle Network felt like they weren’t exactly Megaman. It’s not that they’re necessarily bad games, just that they look and feel off to me, which is probably because they were trying to make Mario a Pokemon game to use a blunt analogy.
I’m not the biggest fan of the ZX series either, but I’d argue that at least they had the proper DNA still present.
I wonder if Capcom is aware of how important Legends is to the fanbase. I get the feeling it didn’t sell as much as we’d imagine.
Re: PS5, PS4 Compilation Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection Adds 7 More RPGs to Your Stacked 2026
@Porco Surely they’re doing something with the Legends games! I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re just waiting for 2027 to go all out on Megaman’s anniversary with a Legends collection with the new game.
Re: PS5, PS4 Compilation Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection Adds 7 More RPGs to Your Stacked 2026
I would trade all of these games and Battle Network games for one Legends game.
Re: Pragmata Seemingly Off to a Strong Start as It's Added to Over 1 Million Wishlists Worldwide
Haven’t had a chance to play the demo just yet, but I’m looking forward to trying it. Not sure what platform I’ll be purchasing this one on yet. This was the best looking game to me at the original PS5 Showcase, but if it’s on a cartridge for Switch 2, that might be the route I go with it if performance is comparable. I expect I’m going to preorder this one.
Re: Disappointment as PS2 All-Timer SoulCalibur 3 Launches on PS5, PS4 without Trophies
Honestly, I’d be fine if no games had trophies.
Re: Poll: What Are Your Most Anticipated PS5 Games of 2026?
1. Control 2
2. Pragmata
3. Resident Evil 9
4. Mina the Hollower
5. Halo on PlayStation 5 for the sheer novelty of it
Outside that, we’ll see what Xbox games come over to PS5 because Fable is exciting too. I’m looking forward to Bubsy 4D, of all things. GTA6 might be #6 for me, but I’m not sure about it. I’ve got a weird feeling about this next GTA game and I can’t quite describe it. Tomb Raider’s up there too, and maybe 007. I’m not 100% sold on the Bond game, but I’m contemplating. I feel the same about Dawnwalker.
I’m going to try to reduce my gaming to buying 1-2 games a month and next year looks like a good year to do that, with a AAA and indie balanced per month possibly.
Re: PS5 Players Will Want to Watch Xbox's Developer Direct, Confirmed for January
@BarantisFiramuur Maybe for you.
Wolverine, Tokon Souls, Saros, and Marathon
vs
Halo, Gears, Forza Horizon, Fable, and most likely Clockwork Revolution and State of Decay
I mean, I don’t like Marvel, so I get your point of view if you like that, but, for me, Fable alone is more interesting than the total PS first party line-up next year and I’m definitely buying Halo… on PS5 for the novelty of it. If Intergalactic was a 2026 title, that’d be a different story.
Re: 'If I Don't Belong in the Games Industry, I'll Have to Look Elsewhere': Keita Takashashi Moves Back to Japan After To a T Flopped
Support games that do something different. If we don’t throw our support into unique games with unique ideas now, the industry will continue to siphon into games they care more about engagement than fun. We’re at a dangerous point in gaming history where every day the executives of gaming companies are looking for safer games with more monetization for the benefit of their shareholders. I get that To a T may not be for everyone, but neither are a lot of games. Sometimes games do need support and exposure and unfortunately that’s not being given to games such as this.
For what it’s worth, To a T was one of my favorite games this year. I preferred it even to the latest Katamari game too. It’s a unique game with a fantastic soundtrack and I do hope that Takahashi’s able to get a lifeline, so he’s able to continue creating his own idiosyncratic vision of gaming. We need these kinds of unique voices. Also, the game is great for kids as well. My 8 year old was able to beat the game no problem and my 4 year old loves to watch it.
Re: Poll: Vote for Your PS5 Game of the Year 2025
@Marquez I’m just hoping for diversity from Pushsquare. I trust the staff here. Lol. And I know Nintendo Life’s going to be forced to deliberate between Bananza and Silksong, which is much more to my personal taste!
The sad thing is I won’t be able to escape E33 this holiday season either thanks to the Dorito Pope. As a resident gamer of the family, I’m going to be asked about this game A LOT in the very near future because of the coverage the game gets.
The most lethal one would’ve been “Take a shot every time you’re bewildered by something.” Man, I would’ve been toasted by Megaman getting a sequel, only for it to be a 2027 announcement!
Re: Poll: Vote for Your PS5 Game of the Year 2025
@lazarus11 Yeah, I sort of get the vibe that that’s how a lot of people are feeling about the game. The constant hype cycle for it has certainly made my friends sour on it. I don’t think I’ve ever quite seen a game get SO MUCH continuous coverage. Not even Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate 3 (to use modern examples) got this level of coverage and both of those games seemed bigger, culturally.
I get the vibe that E33 was a lot of people’s first JRPG.
Re: Poll: Vote for Your PS5 Game of the Year 2025
@Marquez it’s not the most professional thing, of course, but I’m sure there’s a lot of people that feel jilted about the Game Awards this year, so I can understand their viewpoint. I know my watching party was rolling eyes at all the awards Expedition 33 got. We’d all played E33 and we all liked it, but even those amongst us that liked it most were starting to get snarky about the game winning so much. Glad we didn’t make E33 wins a drinking game because we contemplated it. We also contemplated making gatcha trailers a drinking game though. Lol.
I don’t remember my group getting like that when TLOU, Part 2 won everything though, and we were a bit divisive on that game. Got to be honest, if the hype train didn’t sit solely in E33 station, it would’ve been interesting to see what else would’ve won things.
Re: Poll: Vote for Your PS5 Game of the Year 2025
@Marquez Edited the word, must’ve misspelled it elsewhere too!
I honestly don’t want E33 to do badly. I just want to see other games have success. I liked the game when it launched, but I thought it was a bit more average than most others, I suppose. There’s no rewarding exploration, there’s the whole tossing a new antagonist faction toward the end without developing them at all thing, there’s the definite burn out on parrying towards the end of the game type of thing for me, of course, but realistically I’m tired of the continuous hype cycle the game has received this year. I get that some people really love the game. I do. But it just feels like everywhere you turn, there’s been an E33 story basically exalting the game and I’m just a little spent on it. Could be PTSD from the time I went to the grocery store wearing a Final Fantasy shirt and someone wearing an E33 shirt randomly started talking to me, telling me how much better E33 is than FF when I completely disagree with that. Again, I liked the game, but I’m oversaturated with it, and I also feel it’s not very nice to “celebrate the industry” by giving it all the awards when there’s a decent amount of games this year that deserve awards. I didn’t even like KCD2, but to say it’s not the best RPG this year? To not credit Silksong as indie game of the year (let’s be real, if E33 is an indie, you might as well lob Death Stranding up there as an indie)? I’m droning, but I’m just ready for another year where there’s discussion instead of a single game being practically groomed into winning all awards.
And thank you for checking out the rest of my list. I try at year end to get notice out toward lesser known titles that I’d enjoyed throughout the year. Hope there’s a hidden gem you enjoy in my list! There’s plenty of fantastic games to recommend this year. There’s been well over 20 games on the 7/10+ spectrum for me that I’ve played, which is a pretty solid year, in my opinion.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? - Issue 611
Probably a mix of Metroid Prime 4, Öoo, Level Devil, maybe Arc Raiders as I race to complete games just in time for a year end list. I’ve got Seance of Blake Manor to fire up too, but I’m not certain if I’ll squeeze that one in for end of year or not. I’m prioritizing Prime 4 and loving it.
Also, maybe SimCity 3000. On a whim, I played it a bit last night and it’s sort of deeply relaxing. I’m going to try my best NOT to play anything else retro as well, but it’s sort of comfort food this time of the year.
Re: PS5 Players Will Want to Watch Xbox's Developer Direct, Confirmed for January
Looks like Xbox has a more compelling first party line up than PlayStation does next year. I’ll be watching… and buying the games on NOT Xbox.
Re: Poll: Vote for Your PS5 Game of the Year 2025
A couple of my favorite choices were sort of omitted in the voting this year for me.
Here’s what I voted for:
1. Death Stranding 2
2. Silksong
3. Blue Prince
4. Arc Raiders
5. Absolum
I would’ve voted for To a T, Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo, and Once Upon a Katamari over the last two options though when it comes to PS5.
Can’t wait for the gommage to come and scrub E33 out of the GotY discussion. I hope our humble community can give literally any other game GotY.