Another year, another avalanche of games that promised the moon and mostly delivered… well, a decent view of the stars. 2025 felt like the industry catching its breath after the post pandemic scramble — fewer earth-shattering blockbusters, more confident indies filling the gaps with clever ideas and laser-focused execution. AAA spent big on spectacle but often tripped over its own ambition, while smaller teams reminded everyone that joy doesn’t ned a nine-figure budget. No single title rewrote the rulebook this time, but the hits landed cleaner, the experiments bolder, and the collective output made for a year where standing out meant doing more with less. So, which ones made the Jump Dash Roll shortlist? Let’s dive in.
Ghost of Yōtei
Is there anything more satisfying than a sequel that doesn’t panic about reinvention, but calmly, confidently improves almost everything you loved the first time around? Ghost of Yōtei is that game. Trading Tsushima’s rolling fields for Ezo’s sharp ridges and snow-choked passes, it gives Atsu a world that feels as hostile as it is achingly beautiful. The verticality is the quiet star here: routes curling up and around cliffs, frozen streams doubling as stealth paths, bamboo forests hiding shrines and bounties just out of sight. Movement is smoother and more assured than Jin’s ever was, even if the occasional sticky ledge reminds you Sucker Punch hasn’t entirely exorcised the platforming spirits. Then there’s the wolf — an understated but brilliant addition that turns exploration and combat into a low-key duet rather than a solo act.
What really elevates Yōtei is how all of this feeds back into Atsu’s story. The Yōtei Six give the game its spine, but it’s the flashbacks and family fragments that put muscle on the bones, letting you slip between past and present in a way that makes every duel feel personal rather than perfunctory. Not every new toy lands — the painting system is more “gentle thumb exercise” than spiritual reflection, and a few bounties do slip into box‑ticking — but the highs dwarf the missteps. Between the spyglass-guided wandering, gruesomely satisfying “Miike mode” combat, and some of the most breathtaking vistas on PS5, this is that rare open world which feels curated rather than bloated. Ghost of Yōtei doesn’t chase revolution; it refines, sharpens, and quietly walks off with the samurai crown.
The Jackbox Party Pack 11
By rights, The Jackbox Party Pack 11 should be running on fumes by now. Eleven numbered entries, a small clutch of spin-offs, and a million Friday nights later, you’d forgive Jackbox for phoning it in. Instead, this year’s bundle feels weirdly energised — a five-game line-up that remembers the core brief (i.e. “make people laugh quickly”) while still sneaking in a few experiments. Doominate is the headliner icebreaker, handing you innocent prompts and daring you to ruin them in the most catastrophically inventive ways possible, before asking you to “fix” the carnage later. Legends of Trivia is the long-overdue glow-up for their quiz formula, fusing co-op RPG progression with collaborative answering in a way that makes everyone feel clever even when they’re arguing over which country actually has that weird flag.
The rest of the pack rounds things out with varying degrees of success, but crucially, nothing feels like dead weight. Cookie Haus scratches the drawing itch with sugary chaos, forcing players to wrestle limited icing tools into “recognisable” creations that rarely resemble what anyone intended. Suspectives is the slow burn: part personality test, part friendship audit, it takes a game or two to click but pays you back with quietly savage realisations about how your mates really see themselves. Only Hear Say stumbles in the living room, its microphone-based chaos better suited to online play than one room of overlapping shrieks. Even so, when a pack delivers two instant keepers, one grower, and a dependable doodling mode, it’s hard to complain. Jackbox Party Pack 11 proves the formula still works: give people phones, prompts, and just enough rope, and the night largely takes care of itself.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered (PC)
The Last of Us Part II is objectively one of the best video games ever created. Although there are plenty of titles that are subjectively better, and an equal amount that are more enjoyable, there aren’t many that are as masterfully crafted as it. Naughty Dog’s best creation has super satisfying gameplay, graphics that are lifelike without being in the uncanny valley, and a perfect narrative. It’s a depressing title that has best-in-class combat and one of the best stories ever written. Not everyone has enjoyed, or will enjoy, the game. But you’d be hard pressed to find anyone besides an internet troll who has any actual criticisms for it. The Last of Us Part II is to video games what The Godfather is to film, and Ulysses is to books.
Its remaster doesn’t actually change anything about the game. It includes improved visuals, and the roguelite No Return mode, but that’s it. The only notable difference between the version that launched this year and the one that came out half a decade ago is that it’s finally on PC. That probably doesn’t matter to the vast majority of gamers, but for everyone who is too lazy to buy a console, it means being able to play a title that’s better than words can describe.
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle (PS5)
While we initially had reservations because of the first-person perspective and the clunky transitions, The Great Circle has earned its spot on the list because it is a masterclass in character authenticity. MachineGames didn't just put a fedora on a generic protagonist; they painstakingly recreated the Indy we’ve watched for decades — from the weary posture and the way he points at relics to Troy Baker’s phenomenal embodiment of Harrison Ford’s wry wit. In a year of gaming, nothing quite matched the goosebump-inducing moment when the Raiders March swelled during a daring escape, or the sheer intellectual satisfaction of cracking a complex ancient puzzle that required actual brainpower rather than just following a waypoint.
It’s a must-play because it dares to be different — giving us a scrappy, improvised combat system that feels like Indy making it up as he goes along, rather than a polished superhero. Despite the frustrations of a period-accurate map that occasionally had me lost in the Vatican, the technical polish on the PS5 and the immersive use of the DualSense made this the most memorable, atmospheric adventure we’ve embarked on all year.
Door Kickers 2: Task Force North
There aren’t a lot of “casual” strategy games on the market. Regardless of what specific sub-genre of the genre you enjoy, the vast majority of titles that put you in control of AI from an overhead perspective require an ungodly amount of time to learn. They’re almost all time sinks that, for better or worse, will keep you playing until the wee hours of the morning. There are a few that don’t, but as a rule, they aren’t very good. Door Kickers 2: Task Force North, however, can be easily enjoyed in 20-minute-long increments, and it also doesn’t suck. More than that, it’s one of the best quasi-RTS games available to buy. The title is a perfect blend of small-scale strategy and military simulation, and while it isn’t innovative in the strictest sense of the word, its systems work far better than they do in the titles that inspired it.
Door Kickers 2 is a fun, and more importantly, easy to play strategy game. Whereas XCOM requires a week off work to get into, and Civilization will keep you pressing the next turn button until 2 a.m., Door Kickers 2 is perfect for when you just want to unwind. You can play it in small bursts at a time, or spend an entire Friday night in a co-op session with your mates. And you’ll have the same amazing experience either way. Kicking down doors, taking down terrorists, and equipping your troops with the latest and greatest pieces of military hardware in the game is perpetually satisfying. There’s a near endless amount of content in Door Kickers 2, and every bit of it is worth experiencing.
The Alters
When time is tight and there are dozens of games to wade through, a title really has to capture both attention and imagination to justify the investment. Thankfully, The Alters, while not a home run, is still one of the most unique gaming experiences we’ve had in recent memory. Its blend of base building, exploration, resource gathering, and time management means there’s pretty much something here for everyone. It does suffer slightly from trying to do all the things, but we wouldn’t say any of them are weak either. We’re also suckers for a good, pulpy sci-fi story, and The Alters ticks all the boxes: conspiracy? Check. Made-up wonder element? Check. A dysfunctional crew? Check. It’s all here, and it’s all good fun.
The Alters’ ace in the hole is its replayability. By changing who you pull out of your human 3D printer, you alter (pun very much intended) how easy or difficult things are going to be, not to mention the fact that each Alter brings something unique in terms of dialogue and interaction. Decisions have real meaning and weight, and who you choose to create genuinely matters. The Alters occasionally tries to be a little too clever and could have benefited from focusing on one or two of its many hats, but it still manages to create something genuinely distinctive — and that alone deserves recognition.
The Seance of Blake Manor
The Séance of Blake Manor is a richly knotted gothic mystery that treats time as both a resource and a source of tension. Set over two days in a storm-battered Irish hotel hosting a Halloween séance, it casts you as PI Declan Ward, following guests on their own secretive routines as you dig into a disappearance, family curses and occult grudges that refuse to stay buried. Every conversation, clue and bit of snooping advances the clock, so you’re constantly weighing up whether to tail a suspect, pore over a journal or slip into a locked room, knowing you’ll inevitably miss scenes elsewhere. That structure, combined with strong writing and excellent voice work, turns Blake Manor into a dense, living diorama of interlocking motives and folklore‑tinged personal tragedies.
What makes it an obvious choice for our list is how thoroughly it commits to letting you be the detective. Rather than auto‑solving threads, it asks you to connect evidence in Ward’s notebook, build hypotheses about each guest’s secrets and then confront them with your conclusions, all while the séance looms ever closer. The time pressure can look intimidating at first, but in practice it’s generous enough to encourage careful thinking without feeling suffocating, and multiple endings plus a wealth of optional scenes make repeat visits genuinely rewarding rather than purely completionist. It’s an absorbing, beautifully structured supernatural puzzler that not only sells its haunted house, but also delivers one of the most satisfying detective fantasies of the year.
Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator
The device you’re reading this article on, regardless of whether it’s a state-of-the-art gaming PC or a 10-year-old mobile phone, has thousands of times more processing power than Apollo 11’s Guidance Computer. The components of the earlier manned American space launches were even more basic, but you wouldn’t guess that by playing Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator. That’s because the game is all about the insanely complex systems required for space flight, almost all of which are realistically modeled and implemented in the title. Even though you can freely fly around The Moon and Earth, you’ll be too focused on the control panel of your spacecraft to enjoy the view.
This is not a title for the faint of heart. It’s a simulator in the strictest sense of the word, and it’s one that makes Microsoft Flight Simulator look like an arcade game. You have to do literal rocket science in Reentry, and memorise the locations and functions of hundreds of different buttons within the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft. Although the game has one of the best series of interactive tutorials in the history of the medium, it will still take you hours just to learn how to get your ship off the ground. Once you do, though, you’ll feel more satisfied than you should be able to after playing a video game. Reentry lets you not only experience mankind’s greatest achievement, but forces you to earn the right to do so.
Created by a single developer, Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator is a testament to what makes the medium so important. It catalogues some of the most important events in human history, and allows you to play through them. Not everyone will enjoy the title. It’s impossible not to marvel at it, though. The game is expertly crafted, and extremely satisfying. You’ll likely never go to space or become an astronaut in real life. Playing Reentry - A Space Flight Simulator is the next best thing. And you owe it to yourself to buy it, so it won’t suffer the same fate as the often forgotten American space launches of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
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