Good day Gamers! 2025 was a complicated year all around. Even though it was generally filled with more drama, layoffs, and failed activism in the gaming industry, there were some highlights that made the year still feel strong, or at the very least decent. We got gems like Clair Obscure Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight Silk Song which really gave triple A games a run for their money – especially considering how much value we got from those cheaper priced indie games.
In addition to indie titles shaking up the industry last year, another observation I made was that big triple A games / developers are just playing things WAY too safe. Because larger developers are not taking big risks and experimenting with creativity the way they used to, we are all suffering for it as fans and as creators. Doom The Dark Ages was supposed to be a game of the year contender in my opinion with all of the brutality and hardcore Viking energy the game had, you would have thought it was a slam dunk but it wasn’t.
It felt more reserved and easy, and also had way too many customizable settings for players that just made it feel like a joke. From the start you could tweak all the settings to the game (things like enemy damage, and player damage output) which makes you invincible without having to unlock those options, or even beat the game.
Trends like that (having too much accessibility options early on) makes those experiences feel like the developers didn’t take the game they made seriously, or at the very least, they felt their audience wasn’t capable of handling the game at a normal difficulty standard. (This is a deeper subject in gaming I will go into deeper in a future post).
At this point in time I’m only really looking forward to a handful of games coming out this year. My 2026 shortlist at the moment is: Resident Evil Requiem, Wolverine (with some hesitation), Grand Theft Auto 6, Forza Horizon 6, and Phantom Blade Zero. There are a few others I am really hyped for but those are my top 5 games for now.
In addition to being excited for new titles, I am actually more excited to see what new tech we will see this year in gaming. I’m excited for new streamlined PC parts, the new Steam Machine, and new screens. So far I’ve been noticing much higher refresh rate monitors, and I was also surprised to see that PlayStation was releasing a monitor of their own as well. While its specs are nothing wild in comparison to what you can buy now, its cool to see they are trying to push for an official PlayStation monitor to offer to their fanbase who is already leaning into the PC side of things.
As always gamers, thank you so very much for being here and reading this post, when you can be pretty much anywhere else. This post is just short and to the point – instead of breaking down each and every major title or highlight though, I’ll be writing about lots of those games from last year with (2025) in the titles of each post going forward. It’s just to save some time here.
I hope all of you have been having a fantastic start to this new year. Personally I am grateful to be alive in this new year, and as hardcore gamer, I’m hopeful that the gaming industry continues to course-correct and just focus on making awesome and memorable gaming experiences instead of getting involved in social expectations.
