Laik's Top Ten of 2025: Gaming

 It's late November, and so it's once again time to look back on the year and reminiscence about ten or so games I had played that resonated with me for one reason or another. Starting with...

 

Sonic Generations X Shadow Generations

 To say that I refound the love I once had for the Sonic the Hedgehog series again would be a complete understatement. Since my rekindling with the franchise earlier this spring, I had not only gone on to replay nearly every game currently available on modern platforms, but also several fan games and spent an absurd amount of money on merchandise! 

Ignoring the typicaly janky slop that Sonic Team was putting out in this area, what put this game on my list was the Shadow Generations portion of the package. Something that felt like it was developed by a completely different team from the one that duct taped Sonic Generations together. Shadow Generations not only looked great, but felt amazing to play. And while it still focused far too heavily on the boost mechanics, Sonic Team hit a really good medium with the minute to minute gameplay.

Streets of Rage 4 

 I don't know how or when it happened, but beat-em ups became one of my favorite genres this year suddenly, starting with my picking up Streets of Rage 4 on sale one day on the eshop before the Switch 2 launched. Man oh man, if the characters were just a tad bit faster in how they moved, this game would probably have found itself in my top favorite games of all time, period. Not only did it feel and look good, but it sounds incredible as well.

Donkey Kong Bananza

 One of Nintendo's best games period. Wish it had launched with the Switch 2 rather than a month later, but whatcha gonna do? Easily my game of the year for 2025. So much fun. Moving.

Super Mario RPG Remake

A fantastic remake of an already incredible game, with expanded gameplay, in-game content and a more fleshed out soundtrack by the original composer. Definitely my preferred way to play this one now(But only really because it's the only way to play it on my Switch 2 right now...)

Paper Mario

 Two Mario RPGs in one year? Oh yeah. I really wanted to get the original Paper Mario game under my belt before tackling the Thousand Year Door remake at some point, so I fired it up on the N64 Classics app and finished it in about 20 hours. 'twas a fun little time, and it was nice getting to experience a Nintendo 64 game for the first time in modern day, as there isn't many opportunities like that left for me.

Story of Seasons Grand Bazaar 

 I understand why they stuck with the Grand Bazaar title for this. But man, they could have easily given the game a new subtitle as this felt like not just a massively overhauled "remake" of the original DS title, but felt like an insanely fresh and well-developed approach to the series as a whole. I wasn't specificaly fond of the bazaar portion of the gameplay, but the production values kept me stuck in.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

 While I'm not going to say that this is the final game I played on my Steam Deck, it was definitely the last one I played on it this year. A wonderful experience marred by poor performance on the Deck. Cannot wait to replay this next year on the Switch 2.

Freedom Planet 2

 Combining the gameplay and aesthetics of Sonic the Hedgehog (Classic) with elements of Rocket Knight Adventures and the story of a Saturday morning cartoon from the 90s and you get this insanely fun and lengthy 2D sidescrollers with a bunhc of lovely, charming characters and some of the best 2D graphics we've seen in years.

Live A Live

 Another game that had been on my To-Play list that I never got around to buying on Steam, but managed to win a cheap Switch copy in an auction. I don't usually vibe with games like this and the Octopath games due to how segmented progression and story feels, but this does it--at least the remake does--in a way that eventually makes each individual vignette feel worth it in the end. Great battle system, fantastic soundtrack and a really good wrap around story.

Sonic Racing CrossWorlds 

 Of course I wasn't going to let this list wrap up without the blue blur making another appearance, y'know? Had it not been for this game and its crossover approach to the franchise, I doubt I'd have the Crossworlds Traveler series with Laik and his friends to write. On top of that, the fact that this released not only the same year as the first new entry in the Mario Kart series, but was the overall better game, is simply astounding.