Huff

Deltarune Chapters 3&4

Yeah, sorry to also my favorite game of all time, but you are disqualified. This game is guaranteed the #1 spot the year Chapter 7 releases, but this is not that year. 

Despite that, these two chapters have performed a feat similar to what Tears of the Kingdom did and catapulted this game right past Ghost Trick into the top let corner of my tri-yearly favorite games mosaic. On my initial playthrough I can't deny I was just a tad bit disappointed because neither was another Chapter 2. Chapter 2 was released at a really important time for me, focused highly on my favorite character in the game (and probably like, second favorite fictional character ever), and had such a wide berth of aspects to it. Chapter 3 felt a little flat (I do not much care for the faux-NES gameplay) and Chapter 4, while very, VERY good went on a little too long.

 

But on a repeat playthrough, I think these are some of the most subtly fantastic parts of the game. The quest to find the Egg in TV World is legitimately insane and the "X marks the Spot" in that line made me burst out laughing. The subtle callbacks to bits of Undertale in the music (using the Uwaa~ motif for the Parental Settings room? Genius). The sudden change in the atmosphere when you're alone in the S-Rank room. That FUCKING part in Tenna's battle where the music soars with one last blast of "Please Love ME!". Chapter 3 is probably the weakest chapter if you just go through it without digging or putting in effort to find things to love, but one of the deepest if you do that little bit of looking. But even then, an OK chapter of this game still, like, blows most games outta the gawdamn water. 

 

Chapter 4 is a lot more linear, but I think it was the correct decision for Tony to tell us exactly where to stand so he could drop a 12-ton cartoon anvil on us labeled "13 AM". The feeling when you start walking up the stairs and Dark Sanctuary starts playing and the MIzzles pop in and out while singing the choir... And that last update from The Man Who Got Hands while Neverending Night plays creates such a different feeling than any of the other chapter ends. Insanely special. Also the Jackenstein fight lole.

 

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + Booster Course DLC.

Apparently this is the best Mario Kart ever made? I don't know if I agree, but I did enjoy my time with this game in the first chunk of 2025. Here's the thing: I detest the primary mode in Mario Kart. I am no fun and prefer Fox only, no items, final destination. Mario Kart is best enjoyed by me as a solo activity. So I made it a goal to play through all 96 (!) tracks in this game to see them all. Some are better and some are worse (mostly the Mario Kart Tour ones), but what I liked was how they were all a treat for the eyes and ears. Merry Mountain, Squeaky Clean Sprint, Yoshi's Island! Lots of great environments in this game. Only issue is that you can't really interact with or look at all of it due to the format of the game! Shucks, wish that could be fixed!

 

Also Pauline is my favorite Mario character and she's really annoying in this game because she keeps fucking belting out pieces of Jump Up Super Star every 3 seconds and it clashes with the music ughhhhh so I can't play her.

 

Jackbox Party Pack 11

Silent pretty much said it all above. All solid games, no duds, really great theming and aesthetics to all of them. I will add that Suspectives is great because half of our group puts on hardboiled detective voices and I get to call people "toots", "broad", "jack", and "kid" unironically for a few minutes. Also my preferred character in that game looks like Jerma.

 

Gorogoa

Rather beautiful indie game from a few years ago where you solve puzzles by overlaying images onto each other in a storybook/papercraft fashion. Didn't really jive with the gameplay that much, but it was creative and lovely to look at.

 

Logic Bombs.

I'll admit, this game is not here because I enjoyed it. I don't really get the appeal behind Minesweeper, Picross, and other "pure" puzzle games of this type. My love of puzzle games lies with first-person puzzlers and you will hear more about that later on. No, I love this game simply because I have a parasocial relationship with its developer and I am very proud of him for releasing this it. If you haven't watched MatthewMatosis' reviews and game analysis, you are in for a treat. I hope the next game he makes is more up my alley, but it is still a good logic puzzler for those so inclined (and who are smarter than me).

 

Botany Manor

You know that one meme about Disco Elysium being supposedly better if you stripped it of all meaning and it focused on a young witch in the alps searching for her neighbor's lost cat? This game is, like, the atmosphere that person wanted but without the part where you're a huge jackoff retard. And by that I mean it's very comfy. Almost feels like it started its life as the cover of a cozy mystery book that only a slightly depressed post-menopause woman would deign to pick up from its dusty Barnes & Noble shelf.A first-person puzzler where you play as an elderly botanist growing fantastical plants throughout her large and beautiful mansion by solving easy logic puzzles. Artstyle obviously copped from The Witness, but that's a good thing! It's got all the saturated colors and detailed architecture that I like. Only issues are, well, really big ones. Way too expensive for how short and easy it is in the end. I 100%'d this one in about 5 hours and it cost like $18 on sale. It was a nice little time, but it was not $18 of nice. If this goes on like a 65%+ sale it might be worth a pickup.

10. The Ten Bells

Last year I said that I was very thankful that The Exit 8 (which now has a movie that I need to watch) had introduced me to the genre of Anomaly-Spotting Horror. Unfortunately it seems most of them suck huge ass and are Russian asset flips. Not this game though! It's short, but it has a story, a decent artstyle, and some scary spooks. I will say that all of the anomalies are very in your face and almost impossible to miss, which detracts from the game a bit. Exit 8's subtlety lent it a lot of its enjoyment.

 

9. Crashphalt

Crashphalt is a fun little indie game that's gone relatively unknown since its release in 2018 and ahahahahahah no can't do it. This is the game you install as the backdoor to play Undertale multiplayer online. Silent and I didn't finish this because I had to go underway near the end of our playthrough, but it's Undertale, and it's Undertale with my best friend. Fun way to play and having two Frisks just standing there and looking at stuff lent a lot of humor to the experience. Also, I pretty much only added this to the top 10 so the Ten Bells could be at place #10.

 

8. Secret Agent Wizard Boy and the International Crime Syndicate

I picked this game up from a /v/ thread about moments in videogames that are only possible due to the medium. Some anon stated that this game had a portion where you were expected to clip out of bounds to get somewhere. Unfortunately that ended up being false; the clipping area was simply unfinished. This game is, however, inherently funny and has a lot of potential. It's a sandbox where you play as a shitty Harry Potter expy in the gm_construct of Hogwartses. There's a story sure, but the game exists to fuck around with. It had just started to tap into the sociopathic wizard fantasy I wanted out of it when I played it with very strange and niche spells, and I think it's only gone further in that direction since I did. Will pick this back up once it hits 1.0 and is a little more stable and hopefully even more morally myopic.

 

7. Mindwave Demo

Ever since the latter half of 2007 there has been a giant Warioware: Smooth Moves shaped hole in the Warioware: Smooth Moves-shaped heart. Even the Switch Wariowares didn't fill it (and weren't very good if you remember my previous GOTY posts...)! But imagine my fucking shock when I open up a demo for a quirky indie game on Steam and get blasted with Tomorrow Hill 2. This is clearly and proudly a Warioware-inspired microgame collection game with its own characters and story, which are also very promising. What's with Wario where he just inspires people? That fat Italian is the muse of many, and I obviously couldn't be happier with how much I love Pizza Tower, like Antonblast, and am salivatingly awaiting this game's full release. I'm pretty sure I'm committing some kind of sin by placing a demo in my top ten but keeping the world-ender that is Deltarune chained up in its cabin basement prison. Ah well, my list my rules. Break it down white girl!

 

6. Rift of the Necrodancer

I think this marks the point where we start leaving the minor leagues. Like, these next few aren't gonna win the cup, but it'll be a damn good game if you ever saw one. Despite being lowest on the list of "real" games I actually played this year, I think Rift might have the most hours dumped into it out of all of these this year? I may have played a certain racing game a little more. This is the next entry in the Crypt of the Necrodancer series, following the titular entry and Cadence of Hyrule. This is a traditional rhythm game, which I have never been very good at. I do best with pure rhythm like Rhythm Heaven or with hybrid games like the original CotN, BPM, or Metal: Hellsinger. But I made it my goal to really practice at this game. And I succeeded! I'm still far below the talent of those who are truly into rhythm games, but I have gotten good enough to beat a lot of tracks on Hard, one or two on Impossible, and get a handful of Full Clears. This is similar to Guitar Hero and others of that ilk, but with a twist: the notes are replaced with the enemies of the CotN games and retain their movement patterns. It creates a very cool flowstate where you need to both accurately follow the song and logic out the notes' behavior simultaneously. The game's base soundtrack is quite solid and carries some new Danny B. originals, but the sauce lies in the custom tracks for me. Thankfully a lot of people are providing content on the workshop for those like me who are of a particularly mid skill level. My personal favorite is the custom track for the beautifully, infamously shitty Five Nights at Freddy's fansong "Jackie's Box". I have practiced that song so much that I am now ranked top 10 globally.

 

Also they made every woman in this game impossibly hot holy MOLY I need to fuck Dove right NOW.

 

5. Dispatch

You know what I have been missing all these years without knowing so? Telltale games. You know what this game is and I had no idea that it was going in? Yeah no points for getting it right. Dispatch is a game about Robert Robertson, a superhero going by the persona of Mechaman. One day a gang of villains put his mechsuit into the dumpster and the boy is too broke to fix it. He's put into the shoes of a Suicide Squad handler of a team of ex-villains to make ends meet. Honestly if I hadn't been tracking this game before it gained traction I'd have just expected some MCU or DCU slop, but Dispatch is surprisingly genuine and heartfelt. I really came to care for most of the crew towards the end of my time with them. The visuals are quite nice, I actually rather like the dispatching mingame each episode has a small taster of, and the writing is snappy and fun while also being surprisingly staightforward with its premise. No subversion for subversion's sake like most superhero media seems to flock to like Texans to the nearest Bucc-Ees. Good on them, looking forward to The Wolf Among Us 2 with refreshed optimism.

 

4. Pools

This is a simple one to clear up. You know all those Youtube shorts and Tiktoks and other brainrot that focus on the wrong version of the backrooms. Like haha scary monster shit? Like this, citing one of my favorite videos on the world wide web:

 

 

As fucking funny this video is, it really encapsulates how the majority of people have misinterpreted what makes the Poolrooms/Backrooms so compelling. I'm in it for the aesthetics, dreamlike absurdity, weird noneuclidean geometry, and feeling of isolation and solitude. I'm pretty sure I started a thread on this very forum like a decade ago called "Loneliness in Gaming" and Raz made a little fun of me? Regardless, that love of solitude in games has remained. And Pools has scratched this itch among others. It's a straightforward and pure interpretation of the Poolrooms with no monsters or jumpscares, just droning ambience and your mind making it creepy. Add in fun Easter eggs and impressive setpeices and you've got a winner. They even added in an extra DLC chapter for free! Looking forward to more from these devs. Only gripe is that the controls and visual settings are sub-par and always feel a little oily to look at.

 

3. Mario Kart World

Apparently this is the worst Mario Kart ever made? Or at least it would be if you were to listen only to the Internet's opinions. From what I've heard, the online is riddled with flaws, people hate the item balance and track choices, and so many other issues. But I mentioned above how I detest the base gameplay of Mario Kart, and I am eating good. 

 

I'd be hard-pressed not to say that MKW's open world is the second-best Nintendo has put out, only barely behind BotW's. Sure, Knockout tour is a fun and cool take on the formula and Grand Prix has one extremely kino moment, but the meat of what makes MKW special lies in the open world. The whole game's theming around advertisements and road trips and roadside attractions is intertwined with its open world, and it really feels like you're coasting down route 66, ready to stop and look at the world's biggest ball of yarn or something equally stupid. I've gotten about 85% of the collectables in the open world, and continue to drive around aimlessly looking for more. The chill feeling and style of the journey is something really special, and to someone who doesn't like the classic formula, this fresh new take on the franchise is a godsend.

 

This game also has my favorite moment out of any game this year. More than Ralsei's speech or the Snowgrave scenes, more than reaching room 46, more than seeing that big fat fuck at the end of Bananza. That moment where you start off at Peach Stadium and race down that straight line, only to be treated to the view of rainbow road and hear this godly, insanely beautiful track start to play... and eventually as you begin lap 5 and swirls of green, purple, and orange surround the final phase of the music track.... Ludokino at its best. This Rainbow Road is now my second favorite video game music track of all time, and will remain there for years.

 

EDIT: In my 2 AM stupor, I forgot to mention the rest of the soundtrack. I believe this game should hold the title for best ensemble soundtrack of all time. This beats out any smash bros and I am like 90% sure it was a Mario 40th anniversary album before being put into this game. It will probably get its own top ten in the favorite music tracks down below.

 

2. Donkey Kong Bananza & Emerald Rush DLC

Silent has summed up most of my feelings. It's fun to be a big dumb ape and crush everything! The game is fun, stylish, cute, and how the fuck does it work? Amazing.

 

What I'd like to touch on are two parts of the game that I didn't expect to enjoy quite so much: The story and the roguelike DLC mode added to the game a couple months after release, Emerald Mode.

 

Emerald mode is a well-crafted post-michelein star meal creme brulee' designed as a delicious last bite to fill up those who want MORE of this game. It's a great way to really prove your mastery of the game's mechanics, and feels right at home with the rest of the game. Was it endgame content cut out and repackaged for $20? Mmmmmaybe, but I really enjoyed it, and I have since maxed out the progression on it. High entry cost, but I don't regret a minute or dollar spent on this DLC.

 

The other thing is the story in the base game. Yeah, yeah who cares about story in a Mario game........... fuck yuo.............. The plot of Bananza was surprisingly heartfelt and touching, and I think it really owes that all to the single fully-voiced character in the game, Teenage Pauline. Like I said above, Pauline's always been my favorite Mario character. I was a pretty big fan of the Mario vs Donkey Kong line of games, thought the busty bombshell in Odyssey was really fun and hot, and she's cool in Mario Kart. Her younger iteration here is the heart and soul of the game, as is the jock brother-kid sister relationship she and DK build through the game. All of the getaway conversations she has throughout exploring the layers adds a LOT to her personality as a goofy, excitable kid who loves what life has to offer. Her motivation is basic kid's game plot stuff, but she's just a very charming character personality and designwise. I won't lie that the ending scene where she waves DK off got to me just a little bit. Now they just need to port that personality over to her adult self and we'll have a new breed of female mainline Mario character: one with a personality.

 

1. Blue Prince

Yep, here it is. Silent said it best above. The most Witness and Outer Wilds-like game I've played since those two, but what it reminded me of was, similar to his experience, a puzzle book I owned in my youth. The Eleventh Hour was a picture book full of puzzles, hints, and ciphers that I adored as a kid. One was tasked with figuring out the culprit of a meal heist, choosing between a host of animal suspects. Blue Prince is the closest I've come to feeling that cryptic, "how far does this shit go?" puzzle nirvana since. I won't go too deep, but reaching Room 46 is act one of four, and I've loved every step. If you like puzzles at all, play this game. Maybe I have superhuman patience, but the RNG barely annoyed me at all. Keep with it and there's an insane wealth of depth to this game. Truly a masterpiece, and one of my favorite games of all time.

Marvel Rivals

Yes, yes I know this is rich coming from the only Overwatch 2 player in the year of our Lord 2026, but I didn't enjoy this game all that much. Overwatch is really undervalued for the quality of its visual and audio design, and those were my top issues with this game. Everything is so muddled! Could barely tell what heroes were on the map, there were 4 blue-clad blonde white women, and I just didn't have much fun. Very cool takes on the Marvel cast though, hope they do more with this set of designs.

 

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

Bad and bland walking sim I've had in library for like five years made by the people who made Dear Esther I can't even dunk on this properly because it ran at like 15 FPS on my decent PC. I want my money back from 2021 or whatever.

 

Pokemon Legends Arceus

Yeah, finally gave this a solid try and bounced off of it after like five hours of trying. Just doesn't gel with me and is remarkably ugly. I do not like open-world Pokemon and I want to fuck Irida.

Best girls:

-Blonde Blazer

-Pauline

-Irida

-Malevola

-Abbie

-Dove

-Carol Holiday

-Noelle..................

 

Best men:

-Flambae

-Donkey Kong

-Gerson Boom

 

Best protagonist:

Robert Robertson

Mario Kart World:

 

Mindwave Demo:

 

Rift of the Necrodancer:

 

Dispatch:

 

DK Bananza:

 

Blue Prince:

 

Pokemon Legends ZA: (I am choosing to include this because I like this track that much:

 

Deltarune Chp 3&4 (Choosing different tracks from Silent to showcase the variety.......

 

Thank you to copy/paste as well.

 

Top Priority:

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Metal Gear Solid...

Control

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes

 

Most interested:

Onimusha(s)

Persona 3/4

Not for Broadcast

No More Heroes(es)

Night in the Woods

Nine Sols

Metaphor: ReFantazio

Halo Reach & ODST

Half Life Alyx

Black Mesa

DDLC

Devil May Cries

Road 96

Red Dead Redemption 2

Lolipop Chainsaw Repop (/w music restoration mod)

ENA: Dream BBQ

Black Mesa

The Cabin Factory

Metroid Dread

Paper Mario TTYD

Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask

 

Medium Interest:

Perfect Tides

ULTRAKILL

Titanfall 2

SBCG4AP

Pyre

Mullet Madjack

Carrion

Bayonetta

Animal Well

Void Stranger

Tiny Glade

Lofi Spirit Sessions

Penny's Big Breakaway

Onirism

Metroid Prime Trilogy

RE4

Killer7

Chicory: A Colorful Tale

Cast n' Chill

 

If I have time:

Monster Prom

All the Yakuzas

Spiritfarer

Rain World

Hunt Down the Freeman

Trepang2

Fran Bow

Fight Knight

 

Don't want to finish until Deltarune Chapter 7 is out because they probably have similar endings:

OMORI

 

Frontlog:

Bioshock 4...

Judas...

Deltarune chp 5

Haunted Chocolatier

Rhythm Heaven Groove

Tomodatchi Life Living the Dream

Woon?

Mouse: PI For Hire

Big Walk

 

Buckshot Roulette

I think this is one of those meme games people talk about sometimes. Maybe I can be a twitch streamer if I keep it up? But no, Buckshot Roulette is a cool, stylish little game and has the second lowest resolution textures out of the games I will be talking about in this post. It's a cool little russian roulette (with a shotgun) simulator that plays like rock-paper-scissors with card counting and powerups. Pretty fun to count shells on my fingers while playing and the visual and audio design is good. Recently got a perplexing competitive multiplayer update, so I'd like to have some weird matches with my boys. Maybe I will sap my skill out of Disc Jam and be autistically talented at it? Probably not.

 

Yakuza Zero

I'll be honest in that I've only played through about four hours of this, which amounts to one main story mission and a few side stories. I liked what I played of it though! It just kind of got away from me... I'll pick it up again in 2025. I still wanna play LAD and it feels dirty not to give the existing games their due diligence.

 

Tunic

Another game I've only played a few hours of. It's... been a very, VERY hard year and I have not felt up to tackling a game that requires so much attention and is pretty hard. I know it does cool as fuck meta/Outer Wilds-ey shit, but I'm just not at the point in my life where I can give it the respect it demands. Same reason I haven't played Dark Souls-I can't handle that frustration and stress when I'm just trying to fuck around at the moment :L

 

Summerhouse

A fun little game about building two-dimensional houses in pixel vistas while lo-fi music plays. Ahhh. There's not much gameplay to this, but screenshots of this game always look incredible. I think there's additional house parts and NPC residents to collect, but I got my fill with the hour or so I played. More fun as a toy than anything else, but it's a very comfy toy that indulges my love of cozy architecture.

 

Pokemon Sword

Thin fucking ice, GameFreak. I got this because I grabbed two other used games at gamestop and there was a buy two get one free sale. I'm remiss to say... I kinda enjoyed this a fair amount. I still think GF as a whole is one of the worst companies this side of WOTC, but this game was a lot more enjoyable than Scarlet/Violet for me, which only has it beat out in new mons and the rivals. Galar is pretty comfy and it doesn't look like miserable dogshit? Like, it's still rough compared to its contemporaries, but it captures the world of Pokemon much much better than SV did. And the music is probably up in my top few gens in terms of music? There's some good tracks as listed below. The only other thing it really excels at is the gym league setup, which really makes it feel like a true event. I still think I liked the island trial system from SM, but the spectacle of the gym challenge was pretty good. I'll run through the DLC for my wife Klara some time.

 

Payday 3 DLC

Game's still going pretty well. New heists are the best in the game. Great music still.

 

Pizza Tower Noise update

I like Peppino more, but he's tons of fuckin fun to play. Good shit.

10. Flipwitch: Forbidden Sex Hex

UH OH.

 

Yeah, like I said last year with The Coffin of Andy and Lely, I have no qualms with listing games that made the list for explicit content. It's pretty good quality, which is all I'll say on that front. But the rest of the game really suprised me with how competent it is. The base gameplay isn't too much to write home about, but the level design is varied and interesting, the sidequests are pretty fun, and the art (not sexy) and music are honestly phenominal. Like. I don't really know, but the devs made a fetishized hub city full of animal girls who want to fuck the protagonist feel really REALLY comfy and kind of lived in. There's a good amount of collectibles to keep one playing for a while and the bosses are pretty good (masochist boss gains HP from being hit which is a good touch). It's just a competent metroidvania all around, a genre with which I am generally unfamiliar so I may have low standards and/or be easily swayed by tits.

 

Ahem.

 

9. The Exit 8

They haven't added sex to this game yet. Exit 8 is a streamer bait game for sure, but it's one that appealed to me when I saw RTGame play it, so I closed the video and grabbed it for myself. The setup is that you're walking down a hallway in a japanese underground train station and are trapped in an endless loop of noneuclidean spaces. To get out, you have to identify if there's an anomaly in the hall or not-turn back if so, keep going forward if not. Some of them are creepy, some are funny, and a couple did make me yelp out in fear and get my housemates annoyed with me. Good little game worth the $2 I paid. I'm mostly happy this introduced me to the genre of anomaly-spotting horror games, which are just the type of horror I can vibe with. I'm a pussy when it comes to jumpscares and whatnot, but this kind of unsettling atmospheric game is just up my alley and hits the sweetspot of scary but not stressful.

 

8. Mouthwashing

The other horror game on this list. Its position on this list is tenuous and based off of vibes since I just finished it about 15 minutes ago. An indie darling, what struck me most was the very cool setpieces and visual treats toward the end of the game (both conceptual and some very neat ways of playing with the game's intentionally faux-PS1 graphical fidelity and  aesthetic). The characters are also good (Anya cute), so much so that I think I might just go read some fix-it fanfics sometime to indulge in some wish-fulfillment happy endings for them. Not to say I disliked the tragedy and horror that befalls them in the game-the game just did a very good job of making me care about them in such a short time that I want just a little bit more. Great job in making the protagonist a hateable slimeball while keeping other characters flawed and not paragons in comparison to him.

 

7. Hades II

Woah. This far down? But Huff, didn't you play 400 hours of Hades 1 and already have >100 hours in this one? Haven't you notedly praised the music, gameplay improvements, art, and every other piece of the game? Yeah, I have, but it really comes down to one thing in the protagonist.

 

Now, Mel is a good character. Her design and voice acting are both great. She's written well. But she's not Zagreus, god damn it! Zagreus is   my favorite protag in games ever and his snarky-to-some but otherwise polite and cheeky personality makes the first game very fun. Melinoe gets made fun of in-universe like two separate times (by Chaos and Dionysus) for being boring compared to Zag and like... yeah? Why joke ab out it instead of just making her more entertaining? It isn't bad in the slightest, but I find the rib-jabbing joke of "heh, isn't our protag so grounded and serious compared to the previous one haha WINK" painful. In addition, I know the story isn't complete yet, but I find the character relationships and story beats to be much less satisfying than Hades I. There is nothing in the game currently that is 10% as powerful as Zagreus fighting his way out of hell time and time again just to have a few minutes with his mother before dying in her arms over and over while this gut-wrenching track plays. In Hades II that track is remixed into elevator music and plays when you have to look at Dionysus' gigantic leopard-skin bound package (it's a great remix, just kind of retroactively taints (haha) the piece a little...).

 

All that aside, the game is superb. Even if there's only three weapons I really like from the lineup, that's about as many as I had in the first game. Boons generally feel better (though another criticism I have is that the visual design for boons and the UI is a severe downgrade from Hades 1. Gone are the stylized emblems and codified boon images, in are the fucking mobile game looking sprites, sigh) even if the duos probably need more tweaking and labbing. The zones are all very fun and the bosses are pretty much all incredible (but I think the third one on the underworld path is a little lame). Another issue I have is that the devs are removing cool parts of the game in the name of accessibility...? Chronos used to unpause the game and talk shit to you if you paused during his fight. People complained that their wives left them or whatever because they couldn't accept a loss in a roguelite or wait two minutes to scratch their nose or whatever. Ugh, I'm being unfair, but it was my favorite touch in the game and it was removed because dipshits on the internet don't enjoy videogames in the same exact way I do.

 

I'm very much happy with the game and am excited for the rest of it to be dropped, but there are just some elements that bewilder and annoy me in their execution.

 

6. Scarlet Hollow

AKA Slay the Princess' less popular big sister. This is the game that they put on hold and made Slay The Princess to further fund. And their marketable side project became one of the most popular and highly-rated indie games of the decade. Oops! All bangers!

 

Scarlet Hollow hits a specific few notes right to appeal to me specifically. I already knew the writing and art would be good going into it from StP, but it's mostly the combination of cryptids, mysterious small-town Americana spooks, and the choose-your own adventure storytelling that really drew me in. I've only done one playthrough as I write this, but I will go back and play a couple more when the next chapter drops because there is an INSANE level of variability to the game and its story. From the character creation to small details and relationships being tracked over multiple chapters, it's a marvel of narrative design and I want to experience the variability myself instead of just reading about it on TVtropes. Stella best girl.

 

5. Antonblast

GODDAMN SON OF A BITCH!

 

The other brother in indie Wariolikes we have been waiting on. I've been waiting for this game for a year or two, but missed the release date until Silent reminded me LOL. It's good! Whereas Pizza Tower was like 60% Sonic and 40% Wario Land 4, Antonblast is 50% Wario Land 4 and 50% Crash Bandicoot 2/3, which is something I didn't expect. I'll admit I was initially disappointed it wasn't just more Pizza Tower, but it was around the Poolrooms level (my favorite) that the gameplay clicked for me. It's not perfect, but it's quite fun. I don't think I have the desire to master the game like I did PT, but I think I will play it enough to get all the unlockables and stuff. The later levels are frustrating and the final boss drags on just a little to long though (it's still a great boss fight), but the rest of the game is quite a fun experience. Great music, too!

 

4. Katawa Shoujo

Yeah, I'm cheating. It's the 4chan cripplefucking VN we all know and love, freshly and unexpectedly released on Steam this past summer. I think 9 years ago I had a Lily Satou avatar on this very site, and nothing has changed. I love my wife Lily Satou. I've only replayed her route so far, but I at least want to play Hanako and Rin's next since I never went through theirs at the end of the day. It's just. Lily's story is so fucking perfect man. I cry every fucking time.

 

If you haven't played this game, go get it on Steam (the R18 patch is simple to install and is on the game's itch.io page as well if you don't mind H-scenes). It's a very important part of internet and indie dev culture and is simply a poignant and heartfelt story about living with disabilities and just how little they matter to who one truly is. If I had to have one complaint, it's actually that the H-scenes feel a little... forced? Like they feel distinctly like a reward for progressing and were put in because that was the expectation for VNs at the time... or maybe that's the Katawa dick speaking. Regardless, go play this fucking game. You'll get Emi first.

 

3. Sonic x Shadow Generations

This year I have realized that this image is the most correct thing in the fucking universe:

Over the past two weeks like 75% of my media consumption has involved Shadow the Hedgehog in some way or form and it's because he fucking rules!!!! Shadow's so fucking cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fuck. God damn I love Shadow.

 

Back in like 2006 or whatever, I was starving for any kind of game with shooter mechanics because I only had Nintendo consoles (and didn't know about Metroid Prime), and Shadow the Hedgehog was the closest I could get. Even though that game was mediocre, I loved it and that love of Shadow has stayed since. This new game, a side campaign alongside a remaster a la Bowser's Fury, is great! I haven't played a huge amount of Sonic games (Sonic 1, Heroes, Advance 1, and Unleashed is my track record), but this game stands out as the best mechanically that I've played. I had the drive to get all the collectables, which speaks to the quality of the game's movement since half of that time consisted of searching around the hub world. In addition, the story is the right balance of edgy, sincere, and interesting. Good stuff all around, grab it even if you've played the original Sonic Generations.

 

2. Balatro

Silent pretty much said it best. Addictive, great gameplay and presentation that is the perfect toy for fiddling around with when you're doing something else. I am also our resident non-ironic clown lover and adore the themes of the jokers and the clown and jester imagery all through the games. Twitter currently has a trend of people dramatically illustrating some of the Jokers via their gameplay functions, and it's my favorite art trend of the year.

 

GOTY: Slay The Princess - The Pristine Cut

Another cheat, but if the Game Awards can nominate Shadow of the Erdtree, I can perform the cognitive torsion to allow myself to give GOTY to a hand-drawn and incredibly well-made expansion to one of my favorite games of all time.

 

I said most of what needs to be said last year about the basics of the game. Of the insane range and performances of the two voice actors, the interesting and intriguing writing, the immaculate and insanely well-made art (bonus points for being black and white with a splash of red, my favorite color trope), the lovely music, and EVERYTHING else about the game. The best part about the update are the three new routes, which consist of one standard but high quality route (The Cage), one that does something every fan has been wanting since the game released (The Princess and the Dragon), and one that feels like the ultimate romantic tragedy route (Happily Ever After). My fave is the middle of those three. Just like. Play this game. I haven't stopped thinking about it since I played it a year ago man. Incredible work of art.

Cyberpunk 2077

Man... I'm sure I'll play this game all the way through eventually. But as it stands I played for like three hours and got bored. I just need to get into the headspace, but it didn't grip me. Also it feels like Jackie was wasted as a character. I loved him :(

 

Fallout New Vegas

YEAH I KNOW. Dude I just hate fallout. It's not fun!! I have tried to play this game four times and I have hated the early game so much every time. I think the only hope left for me is slapping true god mode on, but fuck, I don't think I'd have fun even then. I will just watch retrospectives and let's plays instead.

 

Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore.

I wanted to like this game so bad, but it really misunderstands what makes its selling point, the CD-i cutscene style, so beloved. They didn't get the smoothness or the stilted writing correct and seemed to think that intentionally corny writing and low-quality art sufficed. Agh. Still glad it came out but it fell short of being very good at all.

 

Taiji

It's another Witness...? Mmmmmm no. I can see where it gets its ideas and the inspiration is obvious, but Taiji really fell short for me in the whole nonverbally teaching game mechanics sector. I'm sure it's a good game, I just didn't care for it.

Flipwitch: Bubble Beat, Tengoku Love, Waves of Nostalgia

(NOTE: THIS GAME'S WHOLE OST FUCKS AS HARD AS THE PROTAGONIST GETS AS SUCH)

 

Hades II: The Silver Sisters, Witch of Shadows, Olympus Aflame

 

Antonblast: Turnin' Up the Heat ...In Cinnamon Springs, Idle Hands ...In the Mysterious Glasshouse, Commit to the Bit! ...Vs Freako Dragon, The Mad Mall B, Hell Manor

 

Sonic x Shadow Generations: White Space, All Hail Shadow (Final Boss Mix)

 

Payday 3: Siren Rush, Pump n' Dump

 

Katawa Shoujo (I am cheating again (it is actually the whole OST I love it to bits)): Ah Eh I Oh You, Everyday Fantasy, Concord

 

Musica del Balatro (Aka theme of Huff winning two Pub Quizzes in a Row) as mentioned in Silent's post

 

Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut: The Princess and the Dragon, An Empty Void That Dared to Dream It Was Alive, I Meant It

 

The Princess and the Dragon (StP:TPC)

Happily Ever After (StP:TPC)

Anya (Mouthwashing)

Hecate (Hades II)

Stella (Scarlet Hollow)

Lilly (KS)

Monster Prom

Pools

Perfect Tides

The Sonic part of Sonic Generations

All the Yakuzas

ULTRAKILL

Titanfall 2 campaign

Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People

Spiritfarer

Rain World

Pyre

All the Onimushas

Persona 3 and 4

Not for Broadcast

All the No More Heroes

Night in the Woods

Nine Sols

OMORI

Mullet Mad Jack

Metaphor: ReFantazio

Hunt Down the Freeman....

Halo: Reach

Halo ODST

Half-Life Alyx

Black Mesa

Doki Doki Literature Club

All the Devil May Crys

Control

Carrion

Bayonetta

Animal Well

Obviously there are three big additions to the list and one instance of me barefaced cheating to get more slots. Not... necessarily in the order they're presented on the chart, but rather by the list below.

1. Ghost Trick is still up there! I have not yet played all the way through the PC port as of this writing but hey! My favorite game ever is now the most accessible it's ever been. And Capcom makes VERY high-quality ports for its VN-like games. Pick it up now!! Last time I said that Ghost Trick was in a precarious position of being usurped by Deltarune if Toby released chapters 3-5 and they were at least as good as Chapter 2. Guess what hasn't happened yet LOL. But given the previews, I think Shu Takumi's masterpiece will have to abdicate its throne before the next 3x4 of mine is created. God willing holy shit.
2. Deltarune and Undertale have been consolidated into one space. While Undertale is undeniably the more complete and better experience right now, I have been excited to see the entirety of Deltarune since almost exactly six years ago when Mr. Fox told us to download a mystery .exe. and not talk about it for a few days.
3. Outer Wilds, with the Echoes of the Eye DLC is almost the perfect game. I think it might honestly be the most important piece of media in general made in the last few years. When I originally played OW back in like 2021 or 22 or whatever, I loved it, but it didn't make its way into the top 12 after I finished. Echoes of the Eye released and it smashed its way up to 3rd favorite of all time for me. The first time you enter the DLC area and view your surroundings was one of the few times I've unironically been in awe at a game. I tend to kind of keep myself in check, but I legit just took my hands off the mouse and stared. And then it got even better-it plays with all the strengths of the medium of games in a superb fashion. The ending cutscene of the DLC is also insane and I cri evry tim.
4. I'm not sure much more needs to be said about Disco Elysium. Do I prefer the original voice actors in the first cut and think the narrator constantly yapping in my ear is annoying? Yes. Is the fanbase one of the most aggravating known to mankind and need to internalize Homo-sexual Underground themselves? Yeah. Will the four splinter cells of ZA/UM perform leftist inter-warfare on each other until nothing is left but the parasites who killed the studio? Also yes. But all of that will never take away what we have, which is the finest piece of literature I've had the pleasure of playing.
5. Before I played TotK, BotW stood somewhere around, like, 6th or 7th on my list. I take them as a package deal, but also... kind of the exact opposite. In any case, they are brother games and combined, they deserve a spot in the top 5. A lot of people think TotK is BotW with a few Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts glued on, but I think they're very different games. BotW is much more of a chill and subdued experience, which is why it's still my favorite of the two. It's all about the exploration and nature and solemn and peaceful atmosphere. TotK, for better or worse, is much more gamey which isn't to my preference, but it makes for an objectively more engaging and interesting experience. In any case, TotK's highs (Final boss and Master Sword pull) pulled enough weight to rocket these two into the coveted space of the front page of my Backloggd profile.
6. God it is so close, but Pizza Tower was just inches away from pulling off a P-rank and making it into the top 5. But hey, we all know what a kickass game it is. Like my good buddy Silent said, it's probably the most fun VIDEO GAME to just go and PLAY. Getting Pranks is a perfect game experience and what Sonic wishes it could be. The Noise update was also an incredible way to make the whole thing fresh again too.
7. The Witness is still here, but Jonathan Blow's next game hasn't appeared in the three years it has kept its spot. Huh? Wasn't he making a sokoban game? Christ. For as perfect and precisely crafted this game is, Blow sure is a dipshit. Where's that video of Soulja Boy playing Braid that got him super mad. Also even though I didn't care much for it, the fact that he didn't recognize The Looker as a labor of love for The Witness is really funny.
8. I'm still playing through it, but I think The Pristine Cut boosted Slay the Princess up to this spot. I knew it had managed to eak its way onto the list when I first played it back last Christmas, but the new content has really perfected it in my eyes. As its one of the newest games on here, I won't spoil it for anyone, but it's a horror-comedy VN that deals with a ton of themes and tropes I adore. monochrome with a splash of color, repetition of story beats and fate, change vs stagnation, the power of belief and perception... god it's such a special game. Like before, Thorn and Razor best girls, but The Princess and the Dragon is a new favorite of mine.
9. Persona 5 Royal was once described by me as my favorite game that I never wanted to play again and now I have played through it two more times. I fucking despise the SMT/Persona gameplay, but like I've sated before, this game knocks it out of the park on presentation. The music, menus, visual flair, UX and UI, and everything else that isn't the turn-based combat is perfection and glory. Thankfully I can slap it on easy and the Switch version comes with the DLC personas and I can just Myriad Truths my way through everything.
10. Woaahhh, it's Bugsnax! Standing as the one game I've put any time and effort into learning to speedrun, Bugsnax is a personal favorite of mine. I was captivated the moment we saw it in that State of Play or whatever and even braved the land of Epic Games Launcher to play it on release. It's very fun, has a lot of love put into it, and can be pretty poignant or scary when it puts its mind to it. The DLC, Isle of Bigsnax, is pretty good too! I own almost all of the plushies that Fangamer sells fore this game.
11. Bioshock 2 is the best game in the series. I think that 1 has the best plot twist, but that its gameplay is rough and certain sections of the game hold it back. I think that Infinite's story is dogshit when it isn't minutes 5-30 of the game (note: the game is only good between the pod breaching the clouds and choosing a baseball at the raffle) but that its environmental art design is so special it almost makes up for everything else. Bioshock 2 is a happy... not medium, but strong as hell entry that gets everything right. The gameplay is the best in the series, the characters and story are very good and dare I say more consistently great than Bioshock 1's, and the art design and atmosphere are as strong as ever. People think this game has a bad story and characters because they don't think about anything beyond "would you kindly" and it shows. Go watch the Zero Punctuation for Bioshock 2 and you'll see the parroted opinion that most people who aren't dedicated Bioshock fans hold.
12. Over the past year or two I've been considering making a little shitty comic where Hotline Miani and Furi fight each other for ownership of this spot on my top 12 and they end up killing each other while Katana Zero wins by doing nothing. But that sounds stupid. Furi is still great even though the devs only make slop now (who the FUCK cares about Cairn), and Hotline Miami is still a good game but has suffered the Seinfeld effect where it inspired so much other stuff that iterated on it where it feels basic now. Katana Zero is an incredible tactical game and I'm insanely interested in the legendarily delayed DLC. The hard mode is what really earned it its spot here. Perfect example of how difficulties should be. It has unique mechanics and enemies and really puts one to the test. One day I will complete a hard more no-slowmo playthrough.

Runners-up include Katawa Shoujo, which was THIS close to beating out KZ (might be on there next year tbh I love my wife Lilly that much), Portal 2, Hades 2 (maybe when it's finished), BG3, A Hat in Time, Celese, Furi still, The Talos Principle, and The End is Nigh.