Chris Kerr’s top 5 games of the year – 2025 Wrap-Up
Here’s to video games and the people who make them.
It's becoming difficult to think of a chipper way to sign off for the year, but my feelings can perhaps be boiled down to 'video games good, video game industry (kinda) bad.'
Even a cursory look at the headlines will tell you there hasn't been much to celebrate over the past 12 months, but that's perhaps all the more reason to shout about our favourite video games. Every title that makes it to market is a miracle in itself. The product of hard-working creatives who continue to pour themselves into an industry that feels more hostile by the day.
When you connect with a game, you're having a conversation with the people who made it. You're seeing the world through their eyes. Experiencing play from their perspective. It's a singular experience that we must strive to celebrate. Otherwise, what's the point of all this?
Baby Steps ( Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy / Devolver Digital)
Image via Devolver Digital
As I attempted to explain earlier this year, the true greatness of Baby Steps is that it left me questioning my entire existence by posing an excruciatingly simple but impossibly vast question: why do we do the things we do?
In video games, we often complete perfunctory tasks to progress quests, unlock gear, or chase high scores. Baby Steps offers nothing of the sort. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In fact, the punishing walking simulator actively tells players to avoid pursuing perceived goals. Do not spent hours climbing that crumbling tower. There is nothing at the top. No magical item. No life-altering vista. Nothing. So, why did I spend an evening trying and failing to do precisely that? I'll let you know when I figure it out.
Battlefield 6: RedSec – Gauntlet (Battlefield Studios / Electronic Arts)
Image via EA
I don't think I've ever included an individual game mode in this list, but Gauntlet is just that good. The knockout slalom is the lesser-advertised portion of Battlefield 6's freemium RedSec offering, which is largely centred on two Battle Royale modes (for duos and four-person squads).
Gauntlet, however, eschews the last-person-standing trend by instead asking eight squads to battle for supremacy in a series of rapid-fire, objective-driven rounds in which only the top teams progress. Eight squads become six. Six become four. Four become two. Until, finally, a victor emerges. The fast-paced tournament format works wonders in tandem with Battlefield 6's kinetic gameplay, which feels all the more intense in close quarters. Teams that fail to work together are quickly found out in modes that riff on classics like Capture the Flag and King of the Hill. it's a free-to-play affair that feels like a genuine steal.
Ghost of Yotei (Sucker Punch Productions / PlayStation)
Image via Sucker Punch
I bounced off Ghost of Tsushima when it launched in 2020. I remember adoring the world Sucker Punch had crafted while feeling the opening act was a tad too paint-by-numbers, both narratively and mechanically. I never made it more than about 10 hours before uninstalling, even the second time around.
Thankfully, Ghost of Yotei righted both of those wrongs. The sequel immediately drops players into the middle of a murderous revenge arc and maintains a welcome sense of urgency throughout. It's also far more generous where combat and exploration is concerned, letting players tune their playstyle with a wider variety of weapons, tools, and armour kits that demand mastery. It's all wheat and no chaff, and that's precisely what I crave these days.
Lumines Arise (Enhance, Monstars Inc. / Enhance)
Image via Enhance
Tetris Effect remains an absolute all-timer and one of my comfort games, so you can imagine my delight when Enhance announced Lumines Arise—a spiritual successor that takes the studio's own block-busting puzzler and ponders 'what if you were playing this in the middle of the Berghain?'
The answer is, of course, 'that would be fucking mint.' Sometimes you just want to lose yourself and play a proper Video Game. No thoughts, just thwomping beats, psychedelic visuals, and more vibes than one of those special cafes in Amsterdam. You'll be running this one back again and again and again.
Rematch (Sloclap / Kepler Interactive)
Image via Sloclap
Rematch bore into my brain with the herculean force of a Yeboah volley when it landed in April. I imagine quite a few eyebrows were raised when Sloclap, developer of martial arts brawler Sifu, announced it was whipping together a multiplayer soccer sim, but the studio delivered with the effortless finesse of prime Diego Forlan (if you know, you know).
The frantic football matches in Rematch, which see two teams of five players battle for bragging rights, deftly balance the need for constant teamwork and individual flair to create magic whether you're attempting to channel your inner Lionel Messi or Dan Burn. Last minute screamers. Game winning slide tackles. Clutch goalkeeping moments that'd make Gianluigi Buffon jealous. Rematch has it all in spades.