It’s December! And since Geoff Keighley’s awards show also happens this month, that means it’s time for awards season here at Retcon as well. I’ll be real with you, my only real experiences with Game of the Year discussions were during my time at The Escapist and Twinfinite. At those outlets, the editorial team would typically pick a bunch of candidates for the coveted Game of the Year award, along with various categories like Best Story/Narrative or Best Action-Adventure Game. We’d release a spreadsheet with all the nominees, have the rest of our staff writers and freelancers vote on them for each category, and call it a day.
Much like the TGA categories, these are all, in my view, nonsense. As games have evolved, it’s become increasingly difficult and impossible to sort games out into neat categories like these. And you certainly won’t find any silly categories like Games for Impact on Retcon. What does that even mean, Geoff?
So for Retcon’s very first Game of the Year awards, I’m limiting it to just one category: Game of the Year. And what does that mean? Well, to put it simply, I’ll be listing my top five favorite games of 2025 based on how much I enjoyed playing those games. Sometimes, simple is just better. Full disclosure: Games that I played and reviewed earlier in the year for other outlets pre-Retcon may be included in this list. That means games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II or Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (spoiler alert: Expedition 33 is nowhere near my list of top five games of the year) could be considered for Retcon’s Game of the Year award.
This list will not include remasters. So games like Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles will, unfortunately, not qualify, which is a shame because this was my first time playing it and I was hooked. Remakes of older titles are fair game, as these usually add completely new features or drastically change up the story. So games like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater could be considered.
With all that out of the way, let’s get into it.
Honorable Mentions
- Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
- Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
- Demonschool
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
- Octopath Traveler 0
First, here are the honorable mentions! Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter was a big one for me. After trying (and failing) multiple times to get into the Trails series, I’m so glad that the Trails in the Sky remake is what made it stick.
This year has been an embarrassment of riches for RPG lovers too, with games like Demonschool, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and Octopath Traveler 0 all coming out in the same year, catering to a wide variety of players. Demonschool was my big surprise of the year, and despite its missteps and glitches, I vastly enjoyed the tactical RPG chewiness it offered me. Octopath Traveler 0, on the other hand, sated my never-ending appetite for turn-based combat JRPGs, though I did find myself missing the dual-job system from its predecessors. Octopath Traveler II fans will be glad to know that I have opted to give it another chance after beating Octopath Traveler 0. So far, so good. This is my fourth time trying Octopath Traveler II and the stories are finally starting to click with me after clearing the Chapter 2s for each character.
On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve got Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, which helped to scratch my western open-world RPG itch. I reviewed this one for The Escapist at the start of the year and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a huge improvement, gameplay-wise, from its predecessor. I love eurojank as much as the next person, but too much of it can be a real downer. While the clips you’ll see from this game are mostly comedic ones highlighting the ridiculous dialogue and glitches, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II can be surprisingly moving at times too. It helps that the world and story are heavily shaped by how you choose to play Henry, and the result is an impressive RPG that feels rewarding every step of the way.
Konami also continued its nostalgia comeback this year with yet another remake of a beloved game. This time around, it’s Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. There’s not much to say here if you’ve already played the original, save for the fact that it’s still an incredible stealth game and a landmark title in video game history.
5th Place: Ball X Pit
When I tell you this game had a chokehold on me, I mean I spent almost every waking hour I had playing it. My productivity went down the drain with Ball X Pit installed on my Switch 2, as I was constantly gripped by that “one more run” feeling that would just result in hours disappearing into thin air.
But what is Ball X Pit? Think Brick Breaker and Pong, with a dash of Loop Hero and Vampire Survivors. Runs consist of shooting out balls with special powers that morph into monstrosities like mosquitoes, vampires, and beams of holy light. When you’re not out doing runs, you’re building up a little base camp and upgrading structures to permanently improve your stats and unlock new characters. When you’re in the zone, Ball X Pit transforms into a symphony of metallic clinks and satisfying squelches. What’s not to love?
4th Place: Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Death Stranding was one of my favorite games of 2019 and I thought it was genuinely innovative and unique in how it was able to make an entire game out of fetch quests. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a direct follow-up, but with a heavier emphasis on combat and a more straightforward story.
Gameplay-wise, Death Stranding 2 builds upon the foundations of its predecessor while also giving players more tools to mess around with. More importantly, however, unlike its predecessor which loved bombarding players with proper nouns and gibberish, Death Stranding 2 has a much simpler emotional core. Sam’s motivations are easier to understand and relate to, and choosing to center the story around a small group of characters you travel with was a smart decision. As a result, it’s far easier to get attached to the characters and story, especially when paired with such a moving soundtrack and stunning environments.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Death Stranding 2 does completely whiff the ending by overstaying its welcome and resurrecting themes and characters that should’ve stayed dead. But when you’ve got killer songs from Woodkid and particularly affecting performances from stars like Lea Seydoux and Elle Fanning, there’s a lot you can forgive.
2nd Runner-Up: Dispatch
After suffering from severe burnout from Telltale’s narrative-driven games, I wasn’t sure Dispatch would do much to change my mind. But it totally did.
I’m sure a big part of it is due to me managing my own expectations when it comes to games like these, but Dispatch really nails the workplace sitcom structure and is genuinely one of the funniest feel-good games I’ve played in recent years. From your typical tsundere misfit to bat boys who screech every couple seconds to “see” around them, Dispatch‘s cast runs the gamut of every crazy character type you can think of.
It also helps that the voice cast is so impressive too, with Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul taking the main stage as the mature and naturing Robert Robertson the Third, who’s been tasked with whipping a Z-team of supervillains into shape and turning them into bona fide superheroes. There’s action, there’s romance, there’s drama! It’s everything you could possibly want out of a superpowered workplace sitcom.
Runner-Up: Hades II
Coming back to Hades II years after seeing the true ending of Hades felt a lot like returning home. Yet I’d also be doing Hades II a grave disservice by saying it’s just more Hades. Hades II is an evolution of what made the first game so compelling. It offers up more of the quick, reactive-style gameplay you got with Zagreus, along with a wholly new play style that’s more focused on good positioning and tactics with newcomer Melinoe. I completed a number of runs without ever using Melinoe’s arguably harder-to-use channeling mechanics, but found a whole new world of possibilities opening up to me once I embraced them.
Going past the gameplay, Hades II is just such an incredibly ambitious follow-up in all aspects that succeeds on all fronts. It’s a game that will move you and surprise you not just with its sheer size, but with its clever wit as well. I never thought I’d want Supergiant to make a sequel to any of their games, but with Hades II, I’m glad they did.
Game of the Year 2025: Silent Hill f
As an Asian woman who is lowkey obsessed with stories about Asian girls achieving self-actualization, Silent Hill f being a story about an Asian girl achieving self-actualization is totally my jam. I’d long given up on the notion of a Silent Hill game impressing or surprising me in the 21st century; in fact, Silent Hill f wasn’t even on my radar until Konami unexpectedly offered me an early review code for it (thank you, Konami, truly).
In that sense, you could say Silent Hill f was my surprise hit of 2025. Set in Showa era Japan, Silent Hill f tells the story of Hinako Shimizu, who must fight back the horrors that have suddenly engulfed her sleepy hometown in Ebisugaoka. It doesn’t take long for you to realize that the monsters aren’t the scariest part of the game. Instead, it’s the psychological trauma and abuse that comes with being a woman born in a scarily patriarchal society that demands that your entire identity be stripped down and broken into pieces. It’s about filial piety at the cost of self-preservation. It’s about blood triumphing over individualism. It’s about the fear of losing your voice, of having to keep up appearances and conforming to what society expects of you and compromising over and over again until you’ve lost what little you were given in the first place.
Silent Hill f doesn’t seem to have done very well in western circles, though that doesn’t surprise me. After all, this is a very Asian-centric game that delves into themes of familial bonds and friendships and how toxic they can be under the wrong circumstances, while weaving in folkloric elements to help reinforce its thesis. Because of this, Silent Hill f has become one of the most nuanced and thematically layered games I’ve ever played.
I don’t expect the vast majority of players to understand why Silent Hill f is so brilliant and powerful. This game wasn’t made for them. But for the people it was made for, it is everything.
Congratulations to Silent Hill f for winning Retcon’s Game of the Year 2025 award! Very well-deserved, if I may say so myself. But of course, if you have any violent objections, feel free to send them my way and tell me why I’m wrong. Just don’t expect me to actually change my mind or anything like that.
