I’ve updated my Video Games Journal to include everything I’ve played and enjoyed in 2025.

My Top 5 this year was all about indie games (played on my Steam Deck).

Hollow Knight: Silksong being my GOTY is a surprise even to me as I fully expected to hit a wall and bounce off it as I’m usually turned off by punishing games. But I found myself incapable to stop playing and kept trying to beat every boss until I fully completed it. The gameplay never felt unfair, and even when getting brutally murdered again and again I could feel I was slowly learning the rythm of every fight which kept me going. The art, music and lore were also perfect. I can’t recommended it enough even if you think it’s not going to be for you.

Blue Prince came highly recommended by my favorite video games podcast and is certainly the most creative game I played this year. I spent hours in Mount Holly Estate trying to solve every puzzle, find every little piece of lore (and there’s a LOT of it) and master the unique room drawing gameplay.

Blue Prince reignited a new love for puzzle games and luckily for me The Séance of Blake Manor came out quickly after. That game is the perfect video game equivalent of the weekend long Murder Parties I used to attend. The thrill of discovering everyone’s motive, combing through rooms, even the 2 day time limit, everything was there in addition to a super interesting setting and time period (1897 Ireland).

Dispatch made the list as it came at the perfect time to distract me from heavy personal stuff. The story immediately hooked me and the gameplay of the dispatching itself was fresh and engaging.

Crow Country gave me my fix of Survival Horror this year. They nailed the PS1 retro vibes and the puzzles and survival horror gameplay were both very solid, a hidden gem.

Hardware

The Steamdeck was my main gaming platform this year but I bought the Switch 2 to keep playing Nintendo exclusives. I enoyed Donkey Kong Bananza even if it was a little bit too easy and replaying some old favorites with better framerate and nicer hardware. The Switch 2 really makes the Steamdeck look and feel a bit clunky if I’m being honest (except when looking at the screen, even if the colors are better than expected it’s a blurry mess in motion).

I upgraded my PC’s GPU right on time before the big AI hardware apocalypse and got a 5070 Ti at a great price before it simply disapeared! . As a result I expect to play more PC games in 2026 starting with Expedition 33 and Resident Evil: Requiem.