Gabriel Deleon’s Top Ten of 2025 Sans Metroid Prime 4 | Winter Spectacular 2025
Hey there, stranger! I’m Gabriel Deleon (“day-lay-own”), Podcast Producer, Editor, and occasional host of 8-4 Play, where we talk about all things Japan, games, and Japanese games! I was fortunate to meet Lexi when they visited Tokyo this year; when they approached me to write for startmenu, I couldn’t help but say yes!
Every year around this time, I like to review my year in gaming and share some thoughts with those who are willing to read them. The timing this year means we miss out on Metroid Prime 4, which would probably rate highly, but that doesn’t mean the remaining top ten here are slouches! Overall, I’ve played 23 games this year (at the time of writing), and I’ll be presenting to you my top ten in reverse order. Each game will have the system(s) I played it on, as well as their year of release, because not every game came out in 2025.
10. Lumines Arise (PC, PS5; 2025)
Best VR Experience, Most Difficult
I’m a sucker for a good VR romp, so when Lumines Arise was announced, I knew I had to get my hands on it! Having never played a Lumines game before, it turns out I am terrible at Lumines! After fifteen hours, I still have yet to break a C rating, barely clearing stage 3 of Journey mode. It’s the VR experience that keeps me going back for more.
Arise is an elegant example of how VR takes a game’s foundation and raises it to a new level. Lumines is ultimately a simple game, but when you get lost in the music, surrounded by amazing visuals, you start to feel the game on a plane that cannot be matched. That feeling enables a virtuous cycle of improvement in order to experience new stages.
9. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (Nintendo Switch 2, 2025)
Best Performing Musou, Most Mash Friendly
Having been disappointed by its predecessor, I find Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment an upgrade on just about every level. It’s the best performance in a Musou game I’ve ever played (the framerate is inconsistent, but it does trend higher/smoother), and the spectacle continues to live up to previous games. The story and how it’s presented is probably the best improvement with character-driven cutscenes that expand upon the relationships in a surprisingly wholesome way.
While moment-to-moment gameplay feels like the familiar button-mashing of previous Musou games, sync-strikes add to the spectacle and encourage new character combinations between missions. The game’s Aside Quests encourage exploration of different mechanics, which give the game a small layer of depth underneath overwhelming action, while out in the field of battle. The game doesn’t ask too much from the player, but it still delivers on an entertaining foray into the lands of Hyrule in ages past.
8. Two Point Museum (PC, 2025)
Best Management Game, Most Laughs
Two Point Museum, in a rare feat, scratched my itch for management games for the whole year! Usually, I dabble in two or three management games over the course of 12 months, but there was no need this year! Whether it was figuring out how to completely decorate a new botany wing or simply trying to fit another dinosaur skeleton into the main lobby, the game’s feedback for my actions was quick to parse and react to. While I was not a huge fan of the expedition system and how it tied to collecting new exhibition pieces, I appreciated that it forced me to build out a workforce that was robust and able to handle anything that the game would launch at me.
It’s probably the funniest game I played this year, with dry British writing and visual gags that all landed. Several times, I caught myself suppressing giggles on the train while playing on my Steam Deck. It’s a funny, challenging, management game that achieves a solid balance, “painting” a museum and managing one (especially when I prefer the latter).
7. Pokémon Legends: Z-A (Nintendo Switch 2, 2025)
Best Collectathon, Most Impressive Pokémon Game
This was arguably the Pokémon game I wanted to come out on the GameCube but never got. Running with my Pokémon, seeing wild ones I could capture with just a toss of my Pokéball, real-time battles, and a rather compelling story that asks interesting questions about living in a world filled with Pokémon (though its answer is a bit…flat). This game is eight-year-old-me’s fantasy come to life!
I will also shout out the multiplayer – something I originally wanted to avoid, but the only way to get the mega evolution stone for Greninja was to participate. With real-time battles where positioning matters, the multiplayer feels a lot more interesting than just rock-paper-scissors.
Most importantly, Legends Z-A also ended the 15-year gap since my last shiny Pokémon! While finishing the Pokédex, I (literally) stumbled upon a Shiny Magikarp! That encounter alone means I’ll always have a soft spot for this game, and the Legends series is now on my radar!
6. Monster Hunter Wilds (PC, 2025)
Best Way to Protect Nature, Most Fun with Friends
Monster Hunter games will always have my attention, whether they are on the smaller scale like Monster Hunter Rise or the large production ones like Monster Hunter Wilds. It’s weird to say Wilds came up short despite me spending so much time when it came out earlier in the year but, well, it came up short. The game’s performance on PC was a mixed bag, being better than the consoles is nice, but still having a poor framerate and muddy visuals makes the experience hard to be overly enthausatic about. The story was nothing special and dragged on with forced walking sections. And the gameplay, I feel, suffered by making decorations – the way for a character to further enhance their character – limited to either weapons or armor, reducing the potential variety one can make in customizing their builds.
These make it sound like the game was bad, but in fact, I still had a great time. Wilds was probably the best game I had played with friends, whether it was learning how to tackle monsters together or simply guiding a friend through their first encounter with a new fanged beast. Getting into hunts was streamlined such that it was quick to get in-and-out of hunts, making it easy to surpass Hunter Rank 200 – something I’ve never done in a Monster Hunter game before. Despite the issues, it’s still a solid entry in the series’ history, even though it lacked the staying power for me.
5. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (PS5, 2025)
Best Pokémon Adaptation, Most Ridiculous Final Act
Death Stranding was my favorite game of 2020, so when Death Stranding 2 was announced, I decided to go in blind, ignoring all trailers and media coverage so I could get to experience Hideo Kojima’s latest work raw. Death Stranding 2 reminds me of when games would come out, the developer team took all their learnings, and then made the sequel not just bigger, but also better and more polished. I think the key aspect for me enjoying Death Stranding 2 so much was playing the first Death Stranding. Lore is already established, so there’s more time for character and plot development. Mechanically speaking, knowing you could route your delivery in a straight line but you definitely shouldn’t, was key to enjoying the traversal (not to mention getting access to vehicles earlier).
Best of all, the game still has that charm that comes with Kojima’s games. Death Stranding 2 introduces the ability to capture giant tar monsters and then sic them on other giant tar monsters. Considering all the trouble tar monsters gave me before, it was great to finally give them someone their own size to fight. Then the Godzilla-style Kaiju music kicked in, and I had to pause the game while I laughed. Kojima is willing to let his games get silly in a way that most big-budget games don’t these days. It was only reinforced when playing the final act, which I will not spoil here. Let’s just say, I went from “Oh, this is ridiculous” (positive) to “Oh this is ridiculous” (negative), back to “Oh this is ridiculous” (extremely positive).
4. Dyson Sphere Program (Early Access, PC 2021)
Best Way to Accidentally Time Travel, Most Fun to Optimize
If you find yourself addicted to logistics games to the point you develop self-destructive tendencies, do not play Dyson Sphere Program (DSP). If you are the type of person who likes to get lost in your own head as you solve logistics problems to the point you don’t realize it’s been six hours, give DSP your money. I cannot praise this game enough. Your objective is to climb the tech tree to build a Dyson Sphere, a sci-fi device that can absorb and utilize the energy generated by a sun. To do this, you harvest resources, and turn those resources into other resources, and so on. As you scale up, you explore other planets in the solar system (and eventually the galaxy) to harvest new resources needed as you progress your tech. It’s very reminiscent of Factorio, but 3D instead of 2D.
Even though it's an Early Access title, the game’s foundation is rock solid with great performance. The game lets you design your own Dyson Spheres, allowing for a lot of creativity, and features a clever blueprint system that makes it easy to reproduce factories that you are proud of (or want to import from others!) DSP was probably the game I played the most this year, and it was difficult to pull me away to play other games.
3. World of Warcraft: Legion Remix (PC, 2025)
Best Victory Lap, Most Nostalgic
I used to play World of Warcraft (WoW) a lot in college. These days, I will check in for a few weeks and then move on. As a limited-time event, Blizzard launched Legion Remix, a sped-up experience of the 2016 Legion expansion. The goal of the Remix event is twofold: get extremely powerful (far beyond what’s normally capable) and use that power to unlock armor appearances, mounts, and toys that are available in the rest of the game.
Remix served as both a nostalgia trip and a victory lap (well, in my case revenge tour). Thanks to the power scaling, players could tackle the hardest raid difficulty in a group of 20 people – something that normally takes months to beat – and conquer it all in roughly 20 minutes! Most of that time is spent running from boss to boss! Toppling bosses that I struggled with nine years ago was cathartic; seeing encounters I originally never saw was delightful. Remix was the perfect answer for someone like me who doesn’t have the time (or will) to commit to the time demands of Modern WoW but still wants to see all the content.
2. Silent Hill f (PS5, 2025)
Best Story, Most Scares
I didn’t expect much from Silent Hill f but last year’s Silent Hill 2 remake earned enough goodwill that I decided to give it a shot. I am glad I did because Silent Hill f left a lasting impression despite the hangups I have with the game. The game’s story, eerie setting, and monster design really added up to a satisfying horror experience. Movement felt methodical but not laborious, and managing resources was always a compelling choice. The accomplishes quite a bit with what it does.
I have come to the conclusion that I like horror games. It’s taken me years of dabbling and soul searching; finally, Silent Hill f tipped the scales. I can now look at myself in the mirror and say, “Yeah, this is you!”
1. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles (Nintendo Switch 2, 2025)
(My) Game of the Year
This game, man. This game. Rarely does a game give me such a lasting impression. Even more rarer is it that a game captures my attention from sunrise to sunset. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles was just that for me. I never played any of the previous iterations, and rather than kicking myself for being late to the series, I am grateful to be able to pick and experience such a carefully put-together, well-crafted experience.
The game looks beautiful; the translation, extremely polished. It’s easily the best package I’ve spent money on. As someone who does not have a strong affinity for the more medieval style of Final Fantasy games, this one stuck with me well after rolling credits.
Thanks again to Lexi for giving me this fun opportunity to write this article. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed getting screenshots (which would be a lot). And don’t forget to catch new episodes of the 8-4 Play podcast; new episodes come out every other Friday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast feed of choice!
