Game of the year is subjective to taste. And, whilst we’re sure all you dear readers watched the official GOTY awards, here on Gamezebo, we like to host our own. So, without further ado, let us welcome you to our Gamezebo 2025 Games of the Year picks! Here, you’ll find some unexpected titles, and maybe even something new to play over the holidays.
This means our selections aren’t picked based on consensus, but on what we played and thoroughly enjoyed this year. So, expect the unexpected! You won’t see obvious titles such as Expedition 33. At least, not from our staff who like abstract and niche games.
This also isn’t our first rodeo with yapping senselessly about our favourite titles, so we encourage you to step back in time and have a browse of our Favourite Games of 2024.
Horror girly popping in to gush about my favourite game of 2025, Silent Hill F. As someone who has become infatuated with the franchise, it was obvious that I was ecstatic to try out the new entry.
For starters, it’s the first Silent Hill game to take place in Japan, and to top it off, it’s set in a quiet and serene town inspired by the real-life location of Kanayama in the Gifu Prefecture.
Silent Hill F largely takes place in the fictional town of Ebisugaoka, with visits to the Dark Shrine in the otherworld. Much like when the protagonists of the previous games enter the decrepit and downright creepy versions of the town of Silent Hill.
Following Hinako as her world turns upside down, she must go on a journey of rediscovery, if you can even call it that. She goes through a reckoning of sorts, the traumatic experiences taking a toll on her as you progress through the game.
While many fans were worried about this modern iteration not feeling like Silent Hill, I think F has proved that the franchise is well and truly back.
It still feels like a Silent Hill title, but with updates to already-existing mechanics and new ones alike. Despite not being set in the town of Silent Hill, Ebisugaoka embodies the frightening and uncomfortable atmosphere of the psychological horror series.
My true GOTY would have to be Deltarune CH 3+4, despite not having played it myself. Yes, I know, I know, the games journo hasn’t played a game. Har har.
To be transparent, I’m godawful at bullet hells, so I live vicariously through wonderful streamers who give me the story and playthrough without me having to do anything. Snapcube, if, for some reason, you’re reading this, thank you so much.
However, as that isn’t a fair choice, I’ve instead had to think hard about what games released this year that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. As someone who is often fashionably late to games and loves a lot of ancient releases (like Minecraft, Portal, Atlyss, etc), this leaves me with one clear winner.
I was so excited when I heard about the OFF Remaster. This game meant a lot to me when I was younger, despite not fully grasping the intricate undertones. OFF is a simple puzzle game with a very unique art style. The world itself is richly coloured, yet not overly detailed.
In contrast, the character sprites are monochromatic but highly detailed. Almost grotesquely so.
You follow The Batter, a bloke dressed as a batter who is self-aware that he is a mere puppet of the player. He seems indifferent to this, so long as you aid his conquest to expel spectres from each zone.
Whilst reliving this game, I realised just how genius the worldbuilding and intentions of OFF are. I can’t spoil the plot, but I will say if you choose to play, keep a notebook on hand for the puzzles and be ready to have incoherent passages just as insane as the very characters you meet.
The combat is also pretty fun, as you have to watch out for cooldown timers and try to think ahead of your enemies. I especially loved reliving the Zone Guardian boss fights. Japhet is, and always has been, my favourite.
For me, the OFF Remaster is my GOTY choice because it feels like a love letter to my younger self, who loved this game, even if she wasn’t entirely sure what the plot was. It’s nostalgic, yet has a breath of new life thanks to the newly composed soundtrack with the help of Toby Fox and Camellia. My goats.
Admittedly, a lot of the games I played in 2025 didn’t release this year. However, I do have a favourite (apart from Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4… yes, I’m with Sho on this one!), which is Hunter x Hunter Nen x Impact. I had the privilege of being able to review the game, too. While it has a few small issues when playing online, I don’t mind that, as I hardly play online anyway.
As a fan of Hunter x Hunter, it was a lot of fun creating my perfect team of characters to take into battle. There are a variety of game modes to play in, and I usually make friends grab another controller to play with me. This was my first ever fighting game, too (I’ve never played Smash Bros, criminal, I know), and I had a lot of fun with it.
There are scenes leading up to battles that are like watching the anime, and during fights, each character has unique abilities that resemble their Nen in the show.
It’s only fair to add my honourable mention, as it’s my all-time favourite game that I’ve played this year, despite it not having been released in 2025. It’s no secret that I love Attack on Titan, and I had no idea there was a game on Nintendo Switch until a few weeks ago.
You can fully customise your character and their outfit at the start, and then you’re thrown into the Scouts. The game follows the canon storyline, starting with you in Shiganshina when the Titans first attacked. You then enter training, which is when you learn how to use ODM gear. I will admit, it’s hard to get used to. But there are different training sessions you can attend with your squad (filled with characters in the show) to get better.
When you aren’t training or on missions, you can walk around the barracks speaking to characters. As your friendship level increases, you unlock bonuses and boosts with that character. It took a while for me to reach the part in the story where Hange was available, but I ran straight to them and boosted it as high as possible.
This is a must-play if you’re a fan of Attack on Titan. I love being able to speak to all my favourite characters, despite no Yelena being in it. More Yelena content in 2026, please!
Am I being a bit basic? After this RPG wiped the floor with most titles this year at The Game Awards it seems like a bit of a cop out to say it’s my favorite… but I’m also not one for lying.
Now, I’m not going to say the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is for everyone. If you don’t enjoy the typical trappings of JRPG gameplay there’s a good chance it won’t resonate with you. Personally, as someone who grew up the genre I got into it with no problem, and I found the combat system made turn-based battles far more exciting and feel less like menu-based fighting. As someone who played a lot of Fromsoft games and still never really got parries down, I still managed to hold my own. Audibly shouted ‘YEAH’ a few times when managing to successfully keep all my squad undamaged from a barrage of enemy attacks.
If you enjoy the genre though, or probably even if you’re neutral to it, then you’ll find loads to enjoy in the superb atmosphere, imaginative setting, top-notch voice acting, and story that genuinely caught me more than most RPGs do. I was already tearing up before the end of the prologue.
It’s a genuinely enjoyable game that feels both nostalgic and fresh.
My GOTY is a title I’ve waited years for – my whole adult life in fact, Blood Fresh Supply. I grew up watching my Dad play a variety of creaky DOS-based boomer shooters on our old Windows 95 PC, but there was always one title I never got to revisit in my adult years. Until now.
In the last twenty years, I’ve played Doom to death and gone through Duke Nukem 3D until the one-liners have grown old and tiresome, but Blood was the title I saw my Dad play back in the day that has always stuck with me. The oppressive yet still lighthearted B-movie horror atmosphere, the brutal violence, and sky high difficulty level made it a game that was as interesting to watch as it was to play.
Or so I thought. Now, thanks to the game finally coming to Switch, I’ve revisited and got to play it myself. And it’s better to play than I could have ever hoped for. It’s a shooter which you don’t get much of nowadays, with a truly varied and challenging enemy set, effortless level design and flow, and incredibly satisfying action. Throwing a bundle of TNT around a corner and sending a whole stack of cultists flying through the air screaming, is what games were made for.
It also goes to say I’m much better at the game than my Dad was back in the day. I don’t think he even got past the second level. Sorry Dad.
It is often said that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the people who say this are wrong. The lowest form of wit is the pun, and people who make puns are the lowest form of life in the universe.
Blue Prince is a rare exception to this rule. Even though the title is a pun – and a misleading one at that, implying the presence of a strangely pigmented prince who never actually appears in the game – it’s hard to be critical of anything about Dogubomb’s masterful take on the roguelike formula.
In case you don’t know, Blue Prince sees you attempting to claim your inheritance – an impossible mansion – by returning to it every day and trying to find the elusive 46th room. You do this by opening doors and choosing from a selection of blueprints for rooms that you create as you go. When you run out of steps or accessible doors, your attempt is over for another day.
It’s a Groundhog Day mechanic that sounds boring but isn’t. While many of your attempts are doomed to result in frustration, with you failing to get any closer to your goal and losing everything that you’ve collected, every so often, some breakthroughs make the going easier on subsequent days.
Blue Prince gradually opens up like a flower as you explore its ever-changing landscape, uncovering secrets, unlocking new features, and learning more about the mansion that you quite possibly will never inherit.
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