After last year’s generally bland offerings, I didn’t expect 2025 to be much better but it turned out to be an excellent year for releases. As I noted in the liked post, part of the reason was the expectations for what is now well-known as the Nintendo Switch 2. This was the expected name but it wasn’t confirmed until early 2025. I shared my thoughts on the console back in July partially in response to general criticisms about the launch and especially the pricing. Part of this was valid but most of it wasn’t and as of writing, I haven’t felt the need to adjust my opinion and I wrote this prior to the release of many of the titles covered below.
I will be covering eleven games released this year (a record for me), and will begin with the new Nintendo releases followed by three other releases and the two remasters I played.
Mario Kart World
As hard as it is to believe, this is the first new mainline Mario Kart game in over ten years and the first one to go open-world following the trend of a number of more recent Nintendo releases. It also ups the racer count to 24 which makes for some very chaotic gameplay at times. There have been a lot of complaints about this but I generally enjoy the chaos that results from more racers. The best new feature though is the Knockout Tour which has players race across a large route covering multiple tracks and sees players slowly eliminated at checkpoints until one remains at the finish. This seems to be the most popular of the events online too but it is also fun in single-player.
The open-world itself can be traversed in single-player but it is quite bland on its own. There are plenty of collectables and challenges to be found as well as alternate costumes for manly of the characters but there is not much more to it than this. I feel this is the one aspect of the game that could have been done much better. Some updates have improved it but it is still less than it could have been.
Although I have completed the Grand Prix and played a fair bit of what the game has to offer, there is still a lot left to do. I got this more out of obligation as Mario Kart games tend to be evergreen titles and I don’t think this will be an exception long-term.
It perhaps isn’t enough on its own to recommend a new console but it is definitely one I recommend to anyone who has a Switch 2.
Donkey Kong Bananza
This was one of the big surprise announcements at the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct and quickly became my most anticipated title for the year. I was not disappointed on playing it. The core structure of Bananza is very similar to Super Mario Odyssey which is unsurprising given it was developed by the same team. The main and most significant way it differs is with the extensive environmental destruction. This amusingly saw it dubbed Red Faction: Gorilla as a play on words to Volition’s 2009 Red Faction: Guerrilla.
While the game was not particularly difficult, it was a very exciting and entertaining experience with a wonderful late-game twist. There is plenty to do outside of the main story and also plenty of call-backs to earlier titles. I recently went back to complete some of the post-game content and quickly became engrossed all-over again.
If I had to choose, this would be my overall pick for ‘Game of the Year’.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
This one was a bit of a surprise announcement but certainly a welcome one. Prior to this game’s announcement, I coincidently found myself playing a number of the Warriors titles this year including Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and even the original Fire Emblem Warriors. This is not as full of content as the last game (even excluding DLC), but it is otherwise a fun and rewarding experience. It is certainly the most visually and technically impressive game I’ve played in the series including what I’ve seen of the Dynasty and Samurai Warriors series too.
As mentioned, it is only really let down by the relative lack of content compared to earlier games. It has a good selection of characters that are almost all fun to play but all are unlocked during the course of the game. There are no special characters to be discovered post-game or indeed all that much more to do outside of optional scenarios and character upgrades. As of writing, there have been a couple of content updates so the game is still being supported. This a minor criticism though as I had a lot of fun with this and will undoubtedly return to it at some stage.
Kirby Air Riders
This is the fourth first-party Switch 2 exclusive released this year and one I honestly haven’t spent too much time with as of writing. I never did play the original Kirby Air Ride on GameCube so I can’t offer a comparison but I am very impressed with the visuals and overall presentation. I have tried most of the modes but have not yet tried the online features. I can say that I already like it but not much beyond this.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
I claimed I was done with the series after Pokémon Legends: Arceus in 2022 but to quote Colonel John Matrix, “I lied!” A major reason was that I have children and they wanted it and ultimately really enjoyed the game. Most of the criticisms I had of the most recent Pokémon games remain. The art design and visual quality is generally of low quality. There is no voice work and the monsters still make the same grating noises found on the original Game Boy. Z-A also has a significantly reduced scope with the whole game taking place within Lumiose City which was just one part of Pokémon X and Y on 3DS over a decade ago. The city is certainly expanded over what was present in these games but the vast majority of buildings are inaccessible and most of what there is to see will be seen in the first hours of the game. I understand this is largely true of the DLC as well.
With all the returning problems, the gameplay loop is still quite fun and certainly enough for me to see it through to the end. I haven’t played much of the post-game content but what I did play was generally enjoyable. It wasn’t one of my favourite games this year but it wasn’t bad a game.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was released in 2007 and left two hints at what was to come for the series going forward. One was almost entirely fan speculation in the form of an obscure in-game message that read ‘Metroid project “Dread” is nearing the final stages of completion.’ This apparently didn’t refer to any planned sequel but nonetheless eventually became the well-received Metroid Dread in 2021. Dread also became the long-awaited direct sequel to Metroid Fusion on the Game Boy Advance. The other more concrete hint was the appearance of the bounty hunter Sylux’s ship in a bonus scene at the game’s end. Sylux was one of the bounty hunters that appeared in the 2006 spin-off Metroid Prime: Hunters on Nintendo DS.
I detail all this to point out how long you would have had to be invested in the series to follow all this. Someone born on the day Metroid Prime 3: Corruption released would now be a legal adult in most nations and would have no reason to be aware of any of it. Nonetheless, the eventual release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond after development was restarted some years ago finally completes what began back in 2007. Anyone following the series for that long now has closure but it is perhaps bittersweet.
Prime 4 was not a bad game but it was disappointing. Retro Studios captured the visuals and gameplay of the earlier games but fumbled with a number of design decisions. The main example is the inclusion a largely superfluous open-world desert and the new “Vi-O-La” motorcycle used to traverse it. These are mainly used to clumsily extend the game’s length as a number of fetch quests have you travelling back and forth or around the desert to collect upgrades or other MacGuffins. Backtracking for items is at the core of the series but the way it is done here is more irritating than anything.
This leads to the other problem which are the NPCs. There is one in particular named Myles MacKenzie was about as popular with most players as Jar Jar Binks was in The Phantom Menace. In previous Metroid games and for the most part in this, an upgrade or new item is useable on collection. A number of upgrades in this require Samus to travel all the way back to Miles to have it installed before story progression is possible.
Finally, the game’s story is unsatisfying — especially the ending. Sylux was not very developed in Metroid Prime: Hunters and so needed that character development here. Yet he only has spoken dialogue in the game’s climax and doesn’t appear in-person at all outside of the beginning and end. There is an unlockable cutscene that adds motive to his antagonism towards Samus but this doesn’t help anyone just playing from beginning to end as most players will be.
If you’ve followed commentary on the game at all, what I have written above is common sentiment and I don’t apologise for sharing it because it is true. Nonetheless, I would still recommend it to anyone that has been playing the series as long as I have; just curb your expectations.
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Sega announced a little while back that they would be bringing back some of their dormant IPs so a new Shinobi was expected at some point but whether it would be a worthy successor was certainly a consideration. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance was developed by Lizardcube who previously developed the excellent remake of Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap and Streets of Rage 4. They have continued the trend here with very detailed hand-drawn assets that distinguishes their work from the competition.
For some reason, developers of more recent Shinobi games have got the idea that they are supposed to be really difficult. This originates with the 2002 PlayStation 2 Shinobi game which was notoriously so. Close to a decade later, the 2011 title on 3DS (also simply called Shinobi), while returning to the side-scrolling roots, was also very challenging. The earlier console titles on Mega Drive certainly presented a challenge but were not particularly difficult games and Art of Vengeance seems to take most of its influence from these and Shinobi III in particular, while still being more challenging.
There are options to make the game easier but I left the standard difficulty in place on my playthrough. Initially, I wasn’t enjoying it as the levels are quite long and combat arena sections are overly frequent. Once I’d got the rhythm of the combat system and earned a number of upgrades, I found myself really enjoying it. Though the levels are indeed lengthy, there are frequent checkpoints and levels can be exited and entered with the option to start at or quickly travel between these checkpoints once you reach them. This makes hunting for collectables and upgrades later on a lot easier later too.
I really enjoyed this and am looking forward to the DLC content that is supposed to come early in 2026.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
I had almost forgot this game came out this year but my review from earlier this year covers everything I want to say. With the year over, Warhorse’s selling out did nothing for official recognition as the game was overlooked in every category it was nominated in at the ‘Game Awards’.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
This is by most accounts greatest game of the year and the greatest of all time if you consider winning the most ever ‘Game Awards’ to qualify. As with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle last year, I made use of Microsoft’s 1$ Xbox Game Pass promotion to play this and I’m now a good way into it. The art design certainly deserves high praise and it has been very enjoyable thus far. It reminds me of Lost Odyssey and it seems the creative director was influenced by that title.
I may do a full review of this but for now my main criticism is the melodrama and “Millennial Writing“. This isn’t nearly as bad as that found in other titles and the characters are all generally likeable.
It remains ridiculous that this won in the ‘Indie’ categories but it certainly deserved to be a contender for ‘Game of the Year’. It isn’t my GOTY but unless something changes to make me hate the game between now and the end, I would definitely recommend it.
REMASTERS
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD
This was originally released on the Wii before later getting a 3DS port. This is the best version of the game and I enjoyed playing through it again. There are a few technical issues and the co-op doesn’t work quite the way it did in the original but it is still a great game.
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
I wrote a review of this which covers all I have to say about it.
There isn’t a whole lot I am currently looking forward to for 2026. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave certainly looks promising. Grand Theft Auto VI will probably dominate the awards season if it sees release but I’m not interested in it personally. There are no doubt a few yet unannounced games I’ll be discussing at the end of the year but time will tell!