The Impact Factor’s Top 10 Games of 2025
Hello void. You thought I would stop making these after we hit our 10th anniversary last year? Hah! Think again. Does this list mean less than ever based on the way I have been playing games? Also yes! Still, it is always a nice snapshot of my life in games. So let's get into it.
For the past several years, I have let you all know that I play fewer and fewer new games. This is even more true in 2025. For the first time, I feel like I have completely escaped from the "gameosphere" or zeitgeist or whatever you want to call it. I no longer follow games news, read reviews or editorial content. Hell, I don't even listen to podcasts -- the one anchor I still had in 2024. Working from home will do that to your podcast listening time. For that reason, I felt almost zero compulsion to play the newest-latest-best. This Top 10 list will feature 10 games, but speaking frankly, I only played 10 games that came out this year. Not really a big sample size.
So where has all that game energy gone? Well, let's summarize:
- I still play my daily grind fixtures Genshin Impact and Marvel Snap. I enjoy both quite a bit, but I would be lying if I said that it was their strongest year of content.
- The latter, Snap, is on the bubble. What has been my monthly grind to achieve the top rank (Infinite) has slipped away. It's not that the game has gotten any worse, but I spent 50% of 2025 devoting that card game energy elsewhere....
- That elsewhere? Magic: The Gathering. With the June release of Final Fantasy: MTG through the rest of the year I was hooked. The Commander format was where I spent the majority of my time. Across my wife and I, we built 8 decks. We play 1-2X / week with our friends. I did sealed, draft, standard. For those of you that know me, my love of Magic: The Gathering goes as far back as my love for video games. Perhaps even further, as my parents seemed more amenable to me playing a physical game than being lost in the digital worlds of Super Nintendo.
- Magic: The Gathering remains one of the best games ever made. It so totally absorbed me from June-December, video games fell to the background. I am so excited to continue playing Magic in 2026 with friends and family.
10. Scarlet Hollow
I am not sure this one even counts, but I assume they released a new episode this year? Early access alpha stuff gets wonky. Regardless, Scarlet Hollow is a narrative adventure game my wife loved and finally convinced me to play. I'm only ~1.5 episodes into this dark Appalachian horror mystery but I am excited to see where it goes next. There are some genuinely creepy, tense moments and I expect it will only get better.
9. Marvel: Cosmic Invasion
A fun, breezy retro-styled side scrolling beat 'em up featuring an eclectic mix of Marvel superheroes. I had a blast playing this in 4-player local co-op on Christmas. We played, and completed, the whole thing in 2-3 days. It is a short experience without much depth, but it is hard to top a silly chaotic ride through the multiverse of Marvel with a great group of people. Nova / Storm is the best combo btw.
8. Sword of the Sea
Old Impact Factor would have loved this quiet, thrilling and beautiful indie exploration adventure through a desolate land, to return the ocean to a desolate world. All while surfing on a hover-sword. Modern me? Eh. I liked it, and the game is gorgeous. It never fully hooked me, though. Getting through its 5 hour runtime took longer than I would like to admit. Still, in its best moments I was completely enthralled by the high velocity sand surfing and rich beauty, earning its spot on this list.
7. Split Fiction
From the team behind Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and It Takes Two comes another two-player couch co-op experience bursting at the seams with creativity and fun. Split Fiction feels like an improvement in almost every way compared to It Takes Two, which ranked very high on my past list. For one -- I don't hate the characters. Whoo! Split Fiction constantly reinvents itself throughout. My wife and I didn't get to finish this one, as we got distracted elsewhere, but I am excited to put a bow on this in 2026. I suspect it may have been higher on this list had we rolled credits.
6. Mario Kart World
What a whirlwind of a month this game was. For me, this is the best a Mario Kart has been. Fun tracks, great driving, new mechanics to give you the edge (grinding, wall riding, etc.), plus all our favorite Mushroom Kingdom guys, gals, and everything in between! This is another fun, frantic 4-player local experience this year. My wife and I were transfixed on getting max stars on every cup. Mario Kart World is simple, fun, easy to pick up and almost impossible to master. What else do you need?
5. Dispatch
Dispatch was a fun surprise! Telltale-styled narrative adventure games were a longtime fixture of our household gaming (The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands, etc). Dispatch tells the story of hero turned superhero dispatcher in charge of a ragtag bunch of former villain ne'er-do-wells trying to find a better way. The dispatching gameplay itself is serviceable, but where the game really shines is the writing, dialogue, and performances. It was a blast to return to this world every week for a month to see where the story went. Hoping for a Dispatch 2!
4. Borderlands 4
It is more Borderlands. Perhaps this is unhelpful to share, but that is just about all I need. My wife and I love this world, the frantic gunplay, the loot loop. All of it. Borderlands 4 is the strongest entry since our favorite, BL2. For the first time we were able to play not split screen (her on PC, me on PS5) and it was a game changer. I had such a phenomenal time and wish we would hop back in to play more. It is still installed, hoping for some new expansion to ship us back to Kairos.
3. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
As someone who never really got into Metal Gear Solid, I was shocked at how much I enjoyed the first Death Stranding. From a gameplay and mechanical perspective, Death Stranding 2 (On the Beach) is better in every way. It is so satisfying building delivery routes: highways for open areas, ziplines for treacherous terrain, launch points for gliding across snowy mountains. The world was bigger and better than ever in this sequel. The plot did not quite work for me, but that almost did not matter when the act of playing was so fun.
2. Monster Hunter Wilds
Another year, another seemingly controversial Capcom pick for a high ranking entry on my list. Many in the Monster Hunter community view Wilds as a failure -- a weak base offering with little room to grow. I did not see it that way. Sure, I was not as hooked as I was for Monster Hunter Worlds, but I still put close to 100 hours into this within 1-2 months. That's a LOT for me. I woke up thinking about builds, pushed myself to hunt increasingly difficult beasts, and even engaged with true endgame farming for the first time. Maybe this is grading on a curve, but any game that compels me to play it every day until I "beat it" earns a high ranking for me.
1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
From its earliest showing, Expedition 33 looked like something tailor made to appeal to my tastes. A high-fidelity, dark fantasy turn-based RPG from a new studio? Sign me up. I am so happy to report that this far exceeded my expectations. Expedition 33 has crunchy, satisfying turn-based combat that rewards timing-based prompts (parry, dodge, QTE for damage bonuses) and hyper granular character builds. I loved the sad, dark painted world steeped in grief and whimsy. Expedition 33 had best-in class performances from its main cast, which made the twists and turns of the plot hit even harder. The game also knew how to not overstay its welcome -- I managed to complete this is less than 50 hours, including optional endgame challenges. I was completely enthralled with Expedition 33. It was one of the few games this year I could put down until I completed everything. Congrats Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 -- you're my Game of the Year!
