Gaming
2025 was a memorable gaming year for me—I purchased the Nintendo Switch 2 Super Mario Kart World bundle within a couple of weeks after its global release! 🎉 I also bought, played, and completed many games.
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Xbox Series X)
- Split Fiction (PC)
- Assassin’s Creed Shadows (PlayStation 5)
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Nintendo Switch)
- Ghost of Yotei (PlayStation 5)
- Borderlands 2 (PC)—some DLCs are in progress.
- Borderlands 3 (PC)—some DLCs are in progress.
- DOOM (2016) (PC)
Out of these, Split Fiction was the standout game for me—I played it twice, once each as Zoe and Mio. I also had a lot of fun playing Assassin’s Creed Shadows (as much as one could playing a formulaic Ubisoft game) and the Borderlands games co-op with my cousins. I managed to complete DOOM (2016), many years after buying it, and it was intense fun. Ghost of Yotei was a big disappointment—even though I completed it enough to get the platinum trophy, it felt like a regression after Ghost of Tsushima, which I loved. The Zelda game was enjoyable too, but I couldn’t unsee how similar it was to BOTW in not-so-good ways, and my open-world fatigue did not help either. The Indiana Jones game was fun, but it never reached the peaks that it could have.
- Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo Switch 2)
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (PlayStation 5)
- Nier Automata (PC)
- Balatro (iPad)
- Mario Kart World (Nintendo Switch 2)
- Hollow Knight (Steam Deck)
- Deep Rock Galactic (PC)
- High on Life (PlayStation 5)
While the new Donkey Kong game started off great, it wore off quickly. The sameness of the game (it is so much like Super Mario Odyssey) and the open-world fatigue made me abandon it close to the end of the main story. I also played Nier Automata for some time and went farther than the past few failed attempts, and the game premise opened up to become more interesting, but not interesting enough to keep me playing. I got Mario Kart World as a part of the Nintendo Switch 2 bundle and started playing it recently, and I, as a series newcomer, am pleasantly surprised at how much depth it has, and it has been enjoyable. The split-screen coop mode is very good, but it has unacceptable frame rate dips with 3-4 local players. After hearing a lot of positive reviews (and warnings about its addictiveness), I also played Balatro on my iPad enough to complete one win and then stopped there because of how addictive it was. Close to Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release, I also replayed Hollow Knight to ~40% completion. Deep Rock Galactic continued to be a fun co-op game that I played occasionally to fill gaps.
My game backlog grew significantly this year, thanks to me purchasing more and more games. Most of these games were purchased during sale events.
- Steam
- RoboCop: Rogue City Alex Murphy Edition
- 1000xRESIST
- Death Stranding Director’s Cut Upgrade
- Kingdom Come Deliverance missing DLCs
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Hades II
- Detroit: Become Human. Double-dipped on Steam after PlayStation.
- Steamworld Heist 1 + 2
- Operation Tango. I have played it when it was on PlayStation Plus but wanted to own it on Steam.
- Kingdom Come Deliverance || Royal Edition
- Sea of Stars
- High on Life + DLC bundle
- Hogwarts Legacy: Digital Deluxe Edition. I have played this fully on my PlayStation 5 but wanted to have it on Steam.
- The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
- Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered
- GOG – these purchases were primarily to get the DRM-free editions of games that I already owned on other platforms.
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Deluxe Edition
- Metro Exodus Gold Edition
- Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – Aiko’s Choice
- DOOM (2016)
- PlayStation 5
- Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition
- Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered upgrade
- Death Stranding 2
- Nintendo Switch / Nintendo Switch 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
- Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush
- Xbox Series X
- Xbox Series X
- Persona 5 Royal—I played and completed the base game when it was on Game Pass, and I bought this to complete the DLC.
- Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition. Even though I own this on PC, I wanted a couch gaming experience.
- STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order Deluxe Edition—I played this when it was on Game Pass and wanted to finish it.
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard Deluxe Edition
Following the tradition of purchasing at least one physical game during each work trip, I purchased the PlayStation 5 version of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Death Stranding 2 during the trips this year.
Overall, I am happy to have completed 8 games this year, keeping up with the average since 2015, and playing many more. I hope to carry the momentum into 2026 and have more fun with video games! 🤞
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