Author: CtrlAltNoob

Upon reviewing my year of gaming, I got a feeling that I was almost surprised to feel. Underwhelm. I cannot remember a previous year that I have played so many games that I either didn’t gel with or flat our didn’t like. Considering the amount of incredible games released in the last few years alone, it has left me to question my priorities.

It makes sense in a year where almost everything in my life has changed. I have had much less time for gaming, and the time that I did have was spent craving low energy, easily digestible experiences. I no longer have scheduled stream time to make my way through the games I am curious about, and I also now have a regular co-op buddy, which feels like I am experiencing an entirely new side of gaming.

Thankfully, now that I am settled after my move and after doing some reflection, I feel my appetite for variety coming back and a change in my priorities on the whole as a gamer. Great games are being released at a pace that I can’t even possibly hope to keep up with, so for 2026 I am pulling back. I am going to spend less time chasing historically important or interesting games, and instead choose the games that make me excited in the here and now.

Here are my top 10 experiences of the year that provided so much grounding, inspiration, time passage and laughter throughout the insane year that was 2025.

I do my game tracking on GG App, you can see all 30 of the games I experienced in 2025 here.

10. Coffee Talk & Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly

Coffee Talk is a coffee brewing and heart-to-heart talking simulator about listening to fantasy-inspired modern peoples’ problems, and helping them by serving up a warm drink or two.

Dust off your coffee machine and prepare your warmest smile to meet your customers again in the second episode of the much loved coffee brewing and heart-to-heart talking simulator; Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly.

I would like to establish early that I am not only ranking the games themselves, but the experience that I had with the games. Coffee Talk and Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly kicked off my gaming year at a time where I was sick with an awful flu. Laid on my couch, drifting in an out of consciousness, Coffee Talk patrons waited patiently on my TV for me to feel awake and well enough to serve another customer or two.

While this is not likely the intended experience, it was a case of the perfect game at the perfect time, and I will never forget the sense of comfort and company that the pitter patter of the rain, the lo-fi beats and the characters with their own problems gave me during a difficult and lonely time.

Also, fairytale/fantasy spilling into the world as we know it is such a fun setting. I want more of that in all different genres.

You can buy Coffee Talk here, and Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly here.

9. Wanderstop

From the creator of The Stanley Parable and The Beginner’s Guide comes Wanderstop, a narrative-centric cozy game about change and tea.

I got to play Wanderstop during my time with the LudoNarraCon 2025 games. I had already played the demo, and the full game did not disappoint. Every single content creator that I have heard talk about this game just got it. And I was the same. This is a game about burnout, and about self care.

Sometimes the game wasn’t exactly what I wanted it to be. It didn’t allow me to play in the way that I often like to. Doing everything at once, optimizing production and collecting everything I possibly can. It forces you to slow down and to only do what you need to. You can do more if you want, but only if you want to without any other agenda than enjoyment. This game is a statement about letting go and moving on, and little did I know that it was preparing me in a huge way for things to come in my own life.

The experience as a whole is a masterful of combination of a game amplifying its point through its mechanics. It might be the best example of this I have ever played, or at least the most useful and relevant one. In the end it wasn’t the characters that ended up staying with me, or the tea. It was the lessons that were forced on me by the act of continuing to play the game. And forcing myself to continue playing the game because I knew how much I needed these lessons. And I was right.

Finally, it would be a crime not to shout out Boro. What I wouldn’t give to have a Boro in my life. He is truly the best of the best and I am glad to have met him.

You can read my Wanderstop Impressions here.

8. Danganronpa 1/2 Reload

Hope’s Peak Academy—home to the nation’s best and brightest high school students…and your new prison. You and your classmates have been trapped here, forced into a winner-takes-all killing game. You’ll have to solve the mystery of the school to survive, but be careful what you wish for—sometimes there’s nothing more deadly than the truth…

You and your classmates at Hope’s Peak Academy have been brought to Jabberwock Island by your teacher. It seems fun at first…until Monokuma returns to restart his murderous game! Solve the island’s mysteries to escape!

Danganronpa 1 & 2 were such a journey, and not always a positive one. These games are so difficult to recommend with all of the caveats I feel like I need to explain. But despite that, they made it onto my top 10. In a year that I felt the need for light, low stakes games, these games delivered. I mean.. the stakes are high for the characters, but for me they worked perfectly as popcorn thrillers.

I can’t say I really enjoyed my time with Danganronpa 1. I didn’t like the mini games, the characters were difficult to like, and by the end I found the individual cases a lot more satisfying than the overarching plot. I was almost put off playing the sequel, but I reached a time in the year where I needed something familiar but new, and that is where Danganronpa 2 stepped up.

The sequel was so much more enjoyable than the first in every way. Having already learned the gameplay loop from the first game and knowing that I needed to set it to easy mode for a more enjoyable experience, it was much easier to dive in and immediately embrace and enjoy the wacky nature of everything that was going on. I found much more joy in theorizing this time around, and while the end fell flat for me, I spent so many more hours enjoying what I was doing that I do have the desire to try the third game sometime.

Monami was also a fantastic addition who I adore with all my heart.

You can buy Danganronpa 1/2 Reload here.

7. The Cat Lady

The Cat Lady follows Susan Ashworth, a lonely 40-year old on the verge of suicide. She has no family, no friends and no hope for a better future. One day she discovers that five strangers will come along and change everything…

I started The Cat Lady a long time ago. I played for a couple of hours, which was just long enough for it to be a gut punch when the game crashed and lost my save file. Years later, I finally felt ready to give it another go.

It is sad, depressing, harrowing, and goes to some really dark places. While there could be a conversation to be had about using these extremely dark ideas mostly for puzzles and vibes, I personally switched off from that and decided to embrace the atmosphere and allow myself to be entertained. At the end of the day, it is a horror game and the surreal and very real mixed together set a tone that I could really get on board with.

It feels strange to talk about enjoyment in a game with such distressing content, but I really enjoyed the puzzles. It is not often that I make it through a point and click adventure without a guide, but I managed just fine and enjoyed the variety that each chapter brought.

I am glad I finally have this one under my belt after enjoying what I played all of those years ago.

You can buy The Cat Lady here.

6. Tunic

Explore a land filled with lost legends, ancient powers, and ferocious monsters in TUNIC, an isometric action game about a small fox on a big adventure.

Tunic is a game that I knew I wanted to play ever since I played the intro during my 12 Days of Game Pass series. But for some reason, I put it off and put it off and put it off. I almost missed it this year but as I was reaching the end of my Backlog Resolutions list, I was left with little other choice than to finally give it its fair shot.

It didn’t take me long to turn on invincibility mode and the further I got through the game, the more justified I felt in my decision to do so. While the combat will definitely be for some people, it wasn’t for me. I do think it is important to note that this game stands up perfectly well as an exploration and puzzle game without engaging in the combat any more than you need to. If said combat would be a deal breaker for you, you need not worry as there a numerous accessibility options to tailor it to your prefered difficulty. And I urge you to do so if that is at all a concern to you. It would be the biggest shame to miss out on such a uniquely crafted puzzle experience.

I had heard that there was something special about Tunic and as I got further and further into the game, I was slightly concerned that I was not catching onto what that was. If you find yourself in the same boat, just keep playing. The giddy relief and excitement when I finally did get it is why I would recommend this game to anyone that gets a kick out of puzzles. I haven’t played another game like it and I am not sure that I ever will again.

You can watch my first impressions of Tunic here.

5. Killer Frequency

Killer Frequency is a first-person horror puzzle game set in 1987, that puts you in the role of a late-night radio talk show host in small town America whose callers are being stalked by a mysterious killer.

Killer Frequency severely exceeded my expectations. Could there be a more silly premise than this? You are a small town radio host, and something happened to the police so 999 calls need to be redirected to your radio station, on the night that a serial killer is on the loose. It is so beautifully dumb and that is what makes it so great. If you enjoy B horror then you have to play this game.

The fate of every caller lies in your hands as you try to solve the puzzle of their survival, live on air. Success is not guaranteed and failure can be fatal for the poor, unlucky caller who received you rather than any other competent emergency service. You are doing this while trying to solve the mystery of the serial killer, and most importantly, keeping the station running smoothly.

I streamed this one and I do feel that it enhanced the experience even more. Live streaming my live broadcast of trying to help people during the worst moments of their lives proved to be both stressful and somehow absolutely hilarious. Not forgetting that we are also situated in the same town as the ongoing massacre. Tension was high.

Games like this are a prime example of why I like to try games for myself regardless of the hype level. I haven’t heard much discussion around this game but yet it provided one of my favourite experiences of the year. I wholeheartedly recommend getting together a group of friends and playing this for Halloween. You are guaranteed stress, laughs, drama and a good time.

You can watch my full playthrough of Killer Frequency here.

4. Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3

MATCH DNA BUBBLES IN AN UNDERGROUND LAB TO KEEP YOUR PSYCHIC CLONE FROM INVADING YOUR MIND AND TURNING YOU INTO A CANNIBAL. This is the match-3 survival horror comedy RPG metroidvania you didn’t know you needed.

I talk a lot about underrated games. I think Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 is the most underrated game of the year, if not one of the most underrated games that I have ever played. I went in with no expectations. The only reason I even booted it up is because I had promised my Twitch chat a meme stream of LudoNarraCon 2025 games with silly premises. I played the first hour (alongside Building Relationships and A Week in the Life of an Asocial Giraffe), and it was an absolute hit.

I cannot sing this game enough praises. The writing is clever and hilarious. It isn’t just the typical ‘lol meta’ jokes that I have come to see so often playing through as many demos as I do. The entire game feels like an extended bit that just keeps on giving all the way through to the very end. Not only that but the gameplay itself is fun too. They turned Match-3 into a super fun turn based battle system that never gets tiresome as every fight is different, tailored to the circumstances you are in. The branching narrative is fun to navigate too. While it is in a visual novel style, it still feels like true exploration and puzzling. You never know what is going to be around the corner, and usually it is something stupidly delightful.

It truly is the match-3 survival horror comedy RPG metroidvania that I didn’t know I needed. Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 is officially up there in my all time funny games list alongside Tales from the Borderlands and Astrologaster.

You can watch my first look at Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 here.

3. Blue Prince

Welcome to Mt. Holly, where every dawn unveils a new mystery. Navigate through shifting corridors and ever-changing chambers in this genre-defying strategy puzzle adventure. But will your unpredictable path lead you to the rumored Room 46?

I am surprised that Blue Prince didn’t end up #1 of the year for me. While I was absolutely thriving during my playthrough, distance has reminded me that there was something missing that didn’t allow this game to linger with me like I hoped it would. Once I hit credits I lost all desire to continue seeking out any secrets. I had no interest in following along the story of the mansion, and the vibes didn’t keep me coming back for more. Having said all that, I am eternally grateful to have been able to play Blue Price at launch and join in the puzzle solving mania.

It’s often a coin flip whether I will click with a puzzle game, especially games that require a notebook. I have always wanted to but they often go over my head, feel a little too complicated or require a little more thought than my patience allows. Not Blue Prince though. The first layer of puzzling in Blue Prince was like it was made for me and my wavelength alone. The micro puzzles of the rooms, the macro puzzle of making it to Room 46, the mini macro puzzles along the way, and the continuously refreshing puzzle of resource management to allow you to even attempt the rest of the puzzles. This was all a perfectly overwhelming amount of puzzling that kept me coming back for more. Even discovering that something was a puzzle was a joy, then solving the puzzle brought second joy.

Playing alongside a friend trying to cryptically talk about our discoveries was a rare experience that I don’t have often but enjoyed immensely. I respect everything that the game has achieved, despite the inexplicable feeling that I never want to play it again. Reaching those credits without having cheated flooded me with an incredible satisfaction that I am sure to be chasing in other puzzle games for years to come. There is no doubt that this is a special game, I think it is going to take some introspection to discover why it didn’t rocket its way into my all time favourites.

You can read my demo impressions of Blue Prince here.

2. A Space for the Unbound

A magical adventure about two high school sweethearts set at the end of their school days – and the end of the world. Explore a crumbling town and help friends face their inner demons, which could be the key to stopping reality itself disintegrating. And don’t forget to pet the cats.

A Space for the Unbound is the next game that I started during my sick period – mentioned in the Coffee Talk section above – and extended through into my every day life. It is another one of those games that I didn’t know that I needed but happened to play at exactly the right time.

At first, I was just enjoying the adventure of it, discovering life at a different pace to my own in a place that I will likely never experience. The occasional unsettling moment kept me hooked through the first 80% of the game, and otherwise I just found it pleasant. Little did I know that the final chapter was going to absolutely destroy me, while also somehow rebuilding me at the same time. I cannot understate the impact that this had on me at the time, and going forward, and I know it has done a similar thing for others too.

This game hits some devastating topics such as depression and grief in ways that are relatable, and also with an entirely new perspective to me, hence the crushing impact. It would be both spoilery and way too personal to go into specifics so I will avoid that. It is almost one year on and I still think about what I learned, how I changed, and am grateful that I played this game when I did. If anyone is feeling defined by their grief, stuck in the past or lost in themselves, I recommend giving this game a shot.

You can buy A Space for the Unbound here.

1. Sons of the Forest

Sent to find a missing billionaire on a remote island, you find yourself in a cannibal-infested hellscape. Craft, build, and struggle to survive, alone or with friends, in this terrifying new open-world survival horror simulator.

Having being only very loosely on my radar, it is to my surprise as much as anyone’s that Sons of the Forest takes first place on my favourite game experiences of 2025. When my friend approached me about playing together I reluctantly jumped on the chance. In the past I had seen hilarious clips of people tackling The Forest, and I know that I can cope with minor horror so long as I have company.

This game is an absolute playground for emergent gameplay/antics/hilarity/bullshit/pick your noun. The start is difficult, surviving encounters by the skin of your teeth, but exploration proves fruitful at a very satisfying pace, consistently providing more and more goodies and surprises to enhance your survival experience. This good pace extends to the enemies too, gradually becoming more difficult, and equally more grotesque. This game is fantastic at body horror. Even playing with friends, walking around at night with nothing but a torch, an axe and the sounds of the forest proved to be a spooky experience, as did exploring our initial caves.

Then came the building… The building was so satisfying and immersive that we spent 80 hours in our playthrough of this game. A good majority of that was spent building a whole-ass mansion. Log by log and stone by stone, we rose from the bottom. It didn’t matter who the sons of the forest were anymore, we were the kings of the forest.

The story was over the top nonsense, which was the icing on the cake for such a silly, fun experience. It is a horror game that is not afraid of letting the players have fun. My biggest regret is not having clips of some of the most ridiculous moments. I am very optimistic about the prospect of Forest 3 based on so many decisions that the devs made that enabled this game to be the game that it turned out to be.

You can buy Sons Of The Forest here.

Realising and finally accepting that I am never going to be able to play all of the games that I want to play in my lifetime is helping to drive the changes that I aim to make going into 2026. I am no longer going to avoid games that I know will be great because I am frightened of getting too absorbed (yes, I do this) or because I want to save them for content, just in case. I will play them whenever the fancy strikes, and urge others to do the same.

Life is so short and games are abundant, I already know I am going to play some absolute bangers in 2026, and I can’t bloody wait.

top 10 games experienced in Other years

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