Your 2025 Game of the Year

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I do one of these each year as always like to see what others have enjoyed the most for the year.

I've actually played quite a lot of games released this year for a change and although I've put more hours into it and am still absolutely addicted to Battlefield 6 my vote has to go to Expedition 33.

The story, the gameplay, the soundtrack, all 10 out 10. Haven't been totally into such a story driven game since The Last of Us on PS3.

What is your GOTY for 2025?
 
This has been a backlog year for me, the only 2025 game I've really put much time into is Nascar 25.

I did start Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and based on the first few hours that would be my GoTY. I only bailed because I knew it would end up monopolising all my gaming time.
 
Split Fiction

Granted it was not as whimsical as It Takes Two for me, but the game captivated my wife and me from start to finish. We started it early in the morning and finished late that same night!

There's no dearth of good games this year but I always end up enjoying the ones that make me feel like a child, awed at new worlds to explore and delighted by small discoveries. One can probably see this pattern in my personal GOTY over last five years as well:
2021 - It Takes Two
2022 - Gran Turismo 7
2023 - Hogwarts Legacy
2024 - Astro Bot
2025 - Split Fiction
 
For me its Stellar Blade. Its the complete antithesis of the recent committee-designed garbage that ends up sanitised and watered down for so-called "modern audiences".

Also my racing game of the year goes to Umamusume Pretty Derby. Every time I see my horse girls winning gives me great satisfaction and the races constantly have me praying for my training to pay off.
 
Is it a cheat to say the remasters of Mario Galaxy and Mario Galaxy 2 on Switch 2? Yes? Oh well. Two of the greatest games ever made, nicely updated and rereleased for a whole new generation to enjoy. Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza are both good games, but where’s that last sprinkling of magic? For me it’s just not there. I appreciate what they’re aiming at with MKW but for me it doesn’t nearly touch the perfection of MK8 Deluxe, somehow. So both of those slightly left me disappointed even though both are objectively excellent games.

In terms of racers, there’s nothing I can vote for really. F1 25 was a pretty decent addition to the series, sure, NASCAR 25 is the best NASCAR game for years, am I forgetting anything much? Maybe Project Motor Racing can stake a late, late claim.
 
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