Shadow Labyrinth shows that it understands what it takes to be a solid Metroidvania, thanks to its varied environments and gameplay, but it lacks finesse and polish in its execution.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 is a fresh hit of nostalgia, though it doesn’t land quite as hard as the first remake. Iron Galaxy has clearly put in a solid effort to bring the games into the modern era, but a few things still slip through the cracks.

Robocop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business is a great follow-up to its 2022 predecessor. While it’s an expansion with a few imperfections, it easily delivers more than enough value for its modest price tag.

Somewhere inside Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact there’s a fantastic game waiting to shine. Unfortunately, a sparse character roster, minimal single-player content, and a lackluster online experience so far keep it from truly standing out. I sincerely hope the post-launch content can polish things up a bit — even if it’s just for the few hardcore players who’ll stick around that long. As it stands, the game doesn’t offer enough single-player content to convert Hunter x Hunter fans into fighting game players, nor is it polished enough to satisfy those who already are.

Donkey Kong Bananza is the second must-play title of 2025 for Nintendo Switch 2 owners. From start to finish, the game puts a smile on your face—one that won’t fade even after the credits roll. Bananza offers a great deal of freedom, features a fantastic soundtrack, and looks stunning 99% of the time. Add to that the excellent platforming elements and the unique twist of the transformations, and I can’t help but wholeheartedly recommend this game.

Despite a few caveats, Against the Storm remains a game that grabs you and doesn’t let go. It’s challenging, tactical, and consistently fresh. The combination of city-building and roguelite elements works surprisingly well, and it feels like the developers have chosen depth over spectacle. The balance between threat and reward, control and chaos, makes every run exciting. You have to think, plan, and endure – and if you fail, you fail with a lesson in your back pocket.

Without spoiling anything, I can say that the plot of Ruffy and the Riverside ends with massive sequel bait. I sincerely hope developer Zockrates Laboratories gets the chance to actually make that sequel. I'm not saying that because Ruffy and the Riverside is such a great game – quite the opposite. The game does control smoothly, has a cool art style, and a fantastic soundtrack. More than anything, though, the ‘swap system’ deserves a place in a better title than this one. Now that the characters, world, art style, and game systems have been established, the studio just needs to tie them together in a better way in a follow-up. There’s clearly a lot more potential in the world of Ruffy than this game manages to deliver.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a game that exceeds even my wildest dreams in terms of production value. It is by far the most visually stunning game I’ve seen on the PlayStation 5, accompanied by a soundtrack from Woodkid that reaches similarly impressive heights. The game has clearly taken past criticism into account, resulting in a much more accessible experience. Death Stranding 2 is certainly no walking sim, although it does start at a walking pace. Beyond that, it’s a groundbreaking game with an emotionally gripping story, making it one of the best PlayStation 5 exclusives to date. Meanwhile, Elle Fanning and Troy Baker manage to steal the show – their performances alone are reason enough to play the game.

With Sonic X Shadow Generations, Shadow brings his own set of levels that can easily match the quality of Sonic's. Thanks to Shadow's many interesting superpowers, some of these levels even manage to surpass that level of quality. However, it also exposes a bigger problem within the franchise. Even the best-designed levels in the series don’t always shine due to inherently imprecise controls and mediocre camera work. As such, Sonic X Shadow Generations is an excellent celebration of everything Sonic has achieved over the years—but it also highlights what needs improvement in the future.

FBC: Firebreak offers strong co-op gameplay, solid gunplay, and an atmospheric world, but is held back by repetitive missions, low difficulty, and a lack of communication options. For 40 euros, it's fun for a few evenings, but it lacks a compelling reason to keep coming back.

Raidou Remastered makes the slower, heavily outdated original a lot more accessible, allowing its atmosphere to be experienced more easily today. At the same time, it has to make significant changes to the original framework to achieve that. I’d love to see the second game get a remaster as well, but if Atlus truly wants to make the subseries relevant again, it would be better off launching an entirely new title. If Raidou Remastered has taught me anything (again), it’s that Raidou is more than worth it.

Cyberpunk 2077 is just as impressive on the Nintendo Switch 2. It includes the fantastic base game and its equally strong expansion, and it runs remarkably well. The game looks stunning — especially in handheld mode — and performs great, particularly when you enable the performance mode’s framerate boost. In handheld mode, the analog sticks lack a bit of precision, making motion controls almost essential. It's a shame you can’t dynamically switch between gamepad and mouse controls. Still, Cyberpunk 2077 is a fantastic experience that will keep you engaged for many hours in a beautifully crafted world.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma introduces unusually major changes to the Rune Factory series. At the same time, it keeps the core largely intact: you’re still doing mostly the same things as in previous titles, only this time most of the repetitive tasks are delegated to your villagers. As a result, the game can focus more on story, action, and adventure — and it works out well. It respects the player’s time better, and the improved combat systems and interesting environments do not disappoint. Not every Rune Factory fan will appreciate this direction, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s exactly what the series needed.

I find it hard to say whether Tears of the Kingdom is worth revisiting on the Switch 2 for returning players. I haven’t had that experience myself, after all. Plus, the €10 upgrade only gets you a higher resolution, HDR, and a more stable framerate — nothing that truly shakes things up functionally. That said, I do expect that almost anyone with a save file from 2023 still has plenty left to do before reaching 100%. For new players or returning Zelda fans who walked away from Breath of the Wild disappointed back then, I’d say: give it a chance. After playing Tears of the Kingdom, I’m still not entirely convinced — I’d love to see a brand-new, traditional Zelda on the Switch 2. That said, I’ve come to appreciate the direction Zelda took in 2017 a lot more now.

The heavy subject matter full of big questions, the stressful gameplay loop, and the consequences of a failed mission make The Alters far from an easy game to get through. However, it’s also one of the most original and emotionally impactful games I’ve played in a long time. On paper, a game where you survive by working together with your own clones sounds incredibly ambitious—especially for a relatively small studio in Poland. But with The Alters, 11 Bit Studios has once again delivered a fantastic, grim, and deeply engaging survival title.

Dune: Awakening might just be one of the most challenging, difficult, and entertaining survival games I’ve ever played, with the survival aspect standing out head and shoulders above the rest. However, the combat, story, repetitiveness, and the sheer number of bugs are genuinely disappointing. Still, if you're a fan of the Dune universe or simply love survival games, Dune: Awakening is a must-play.

FAST Fusion is a delightful racer with lightning-fast gameplay and some cool new mechanics. The game doesn’t offer a huge amount of content, but that’s perfectly fine for a price of 15 euros. Once again, FAST proves to be the ideal racer to alternate with Mario Kart. Visually, the game runs incredibly smoothly, although I do hope the image quality in handheld mode gets a bit of an upgrade through a patch.

Mario Kart World is the ultimate evolution of the series, bringing together everything that worked before into one ambitious game. Racing feels more creative than ever, and despite a few setbacks, it’s an impressive experience.

All in all, the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a decent little game that you can finish in an afternoon. The tech demos are fun to try out, and the minigames are fairly amusing as well. However, when it comes to the quizzes and the hidden object sections, the game really misses the mark for me. I definitely wouldn’t spend money on it—especially since it's essentially just an interactive manual and tech demo. In that regard, Nintendo could learn a lot from Sony, which bundled a far better game disguised as a tech demo for free with the PlayStation 5.

The extra content isn't particularly special, but the minigames do help position To a T more as a game than an experiment. Still, it contains all the experimental craziness you’d expect from Keita Takahashi. To a T is once again an absurd trip that only Keita Takahashi could create. It’s not the longest or most profound game you’ll experience this year, but it overflows with charm, humor, and Takahashi’s unique personality.

Monster Train was already brilliant, but this sequel streamlines the experience while making it fairer and more challenging. I thoroughly enjoyed the wealth of options and the constant sense of progression as you unlock new content. Every run can play out completely differently thanks to the many variables, and there’s plenty to dive into with challenge runs and other optional modes. Factions have strong synergies, and there are countless paths to success. The new art style and soundtrack are impressive, but the true star is the gameplay – a must-try for any fan of tactical games, deckbuilders, and roguelikes.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time feels like it was made by fans of the original with the mindset: let’s fix everything that could be improved and make what was already good even more fun. And in my opinion, Level-5 has absolutely succeeded. The game is accessible yet impressively deep. Each of the fourteen different Lives has something unique to offer, and the game is packed with fun activities, quests, and secrets to discover. Longtime fans already know that Level-5 has delivered plenty of great RPGs in the past, but I didn’t expect the leap in quality over the original to be this significant. Then again, these are the kinds of surprises we gamers live for.

Elden Ring Nightreign is a bold and surprisingly successful evolution of the Elden Ring we know. With this co-op spin-off, FromSoftware proves that the world of Elden Ring also thrives in a more social setting, without compromising on challenge or atmosphere. In fact, the presentation during certain boss fights might even surpass the original, precisely because so much attention has been paid to it. The addition of teamplay, roguelite elements, and nostalgic bosses from earlier titles results in a game that feels both familiar and refreshing.

F1 25 offers a very complete package this year. The new features are all focused on the sport itself, and Braking Point is once again exceptionally entertaining. Codemasters hasn’t changed a great deal compared to last season, but every tweak hits the mark. It’s a shame that PSVR2 owners are still being left out. With the major 2026 changes on the horizon, F1 25 is an excellent way to say goodbye to the current generation of cars.

Despite minor frustrations, *Roadcraft* manages to deliver an engaging and unique experience. By focusing more on restoring infrastructure than driving in the absence of it, there's less immediate challenge compared to its predecessors. After all, it’s less about carefully steering a massive truck up a narrow mountain trail, and more about making that mountain accessible through thoughtful planning. It’s surprisingly fun and varied work—but you do need to have patience for it.

DOOM: The Dark Ages has turned out to be an excellent shooter, even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of DOOM: Eternal. What remains is a stellar shooter campaign that feels more like the original DOOM games, crafted by the masters of the genre. And that’s more than enough to keep me satisfied until the next installment.

Sunderfolk is a unique RPG, and not just because of how you control it. Choosing and placing attacks via your phone makes everything feel more tangible than with a controller, and it also provides more information between turns. It's built for multiplayer, so make sure to play with one or more friends to get the most out of it. The systems run deep, from building your deck and picking the best card, to making sure the Fate cards deliver the best buffs and the least harmful debuffs. Missions vary, and above all, the game looks charming and delightful, backed by a great soundtrack and, most importantly, brilliant voice acting that truly captures the feel of a Dungeons & Dragons session.

Dozens of hours later, I have to conclude that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remaster is—and remains—a fantastic game. The frustration from crashes or poor performance quickly gives way to nostalgic enjoyment. That feeling of wanting to complete just one more quest or self-imposed task still holds strong after all these years. Oblivion might not be the best game of 2025, but it will probably be the one I spend the most time with this year.