#expelled!

10. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019): Medieval Anime High School Chess - now with fewer "it's fine, she's actually 1000 years old" dragons.

I played this game a whole lot on release, finishing two of the three paths available. When the DLC came out, I picked it up and started my third playthrough, this time as Black Eagle House. I wanted to save the evil bisexual wizards as a treat for last, y'know? But somewhere along the way, after finishing all the DLC content, I burned out on the game and didn't finish it. Fast-forward to the start of December, I had quit my job, had a new Switch 2, and was scrolling through my Switch software. So I reinstalled FE:3H, started the Black Eagles storyline all over again, and made it through this time. I don't know if this is the best Fire Emblem game ever, but it's the one I've sunk most time into. My fondness for ridiculous anime bullshit has remained strong over the years, and it was nice to just be able to sink into the world of Fodlan again. I can't really see myself playing it for a fourth time - I'm not good enough or patient enough to want to do a Maddening Difficulty run - but I'm glad I returned to it one last time.

9. Expelled! (2025): How DARE you accuse me of this thing that I absolutely did.

I'd actually forgotten that I played Expelled! this year. I haven't played Overboard!, though I'd always meant to, but when Expelled! dropped it looked like so much fun I decided I'd just skip straight to the new one without playing the original. And it was a delight! I enjoyed every minute of the 8 hours I spent playing it. It was funny and charming, and clever enough to thoroughly hook me for the few days I spent with it. Over those 8 hours, I got all the endings, unlocked all the achievements, and saw pretty much everything the game had to offer - and then I stopped thinking about it until I opened up my Steam library this morning to work out what I was going to put in this list. But that's okay - not everything needs to be a 133 hour odyssey. In fact, 8-12 hours is probably my sweet spot for a game these days. Another one that I don't think I'll ever play again, but the time I spent with it was time well spent.

8. Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood (2023): Hubris is a word for cowards.

I bought Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood on sale the year it came out, and then proceeded to not play it until May this year. I'm a sucker for cosmically powerful magic-users shaking the bones of the world and tearing down the thrones of heaven, etc etc, so I was hooked pretty quickly. But, like with Expelled!, I played it through a few times and then felt like I'd seen most of what it had to offer. I think I have one more runthrough left in me, where I try and craft the finest and most puissant of tarot decks, and make sure everyone gets the future that they deserve.

7. Silksong (2025): Shaw!

I am extremely bad at Silksong. And I haven't come anywhere near close to finishing it. But it's still a game I played this year and, while I might not have loved every moment I spent with it, I'm looking forward to the day that I finally pick it up again. I put it down not that long after I started, as work and other games took up my attention, but now I'm unemployed, have a Switch 2 for convenience, and have all the time I need to finally git gud keep playing until I finally hit the wall where my tired 30-something reflexes fail me. I haven't got that much to say, really, and everything I could say has been said by others more eloquently, but it would be irresponsible of me to not list it here, y'know?

6. Citizen Sleeper (2022) : They have TTRPGs on computers now?

I bounced off Citizen Sleeper when I first tried to play it, despite multiple people assuring me that it was extremely my shit and that I would love it. I couldn't quite wrap my head around the mechanics. Until this year, when a friend told me that it was just Blades in the Dark, and then it clicked and I lost the next few days down the Citizen Sleeper rabbit hole. What a beautiful fucking game. The music, writing, and visual aesthetic all come together to produce one of the best gaming experiences I have had in a very long time. I haven't picked up the second one, but come this time in 2026, I expect it to make a well-deserved appearance on my GOTY rankings.

5. Misericorde Volume One (2023): I think I'm detecting some homosexual undertones to these nuns.

I had never heard of Misericorde until the GOTY thread for last year, but I played it off the strength of people's reviews in the thread. Barely a videogame, I suppose, but an excellent murder mystery novel with a banging soundtrack. I was sucked in immediately, and read the whole thing in one sitting. I had every intention to go back and re-read it to pick up on everything I was sure I missed (I am no closer to figuring out the solution to the various mysteries dangled in front of me as Sister Hedwig, World's Worst Nun Detective, is) but after I finished reading it, I saw that…

4. Misericorde Volume Two (2024): All Toxic Nun Yuri, All The Time.

...Volume Two was scheduled for release the very next day. The soundtrack is just as good (Xeecee needs to hurry up and publish it on Bandcamp, I wanna give them money and listen to more nuncore trip-hop on the go), the writing is even better, and the convent's fucked up social dynamics are even more fucked up than you could possibly have predicted. A+ visual novel experience. Like Volume One, it's still barely a video game, but I don't think it would work nearly as well as it does in a different medium. I don't know when Volume Three is going to appear, but I will buy it the minute it's available, and very happily return to this world of fucked up gay nuns doing weird and suspicious shit. And this time, I'll re-read both Vol 1 and 2 in advance. Maybe I'll figure things out on my own. But I suspect I won't, and that I'll love the whole thing anyway.

3. 1000xResist (2024): There is a you that remains and remains and remains (in my top ten forever).

I'm another one who was introduced to 1000xResist via last year's thread. I bought it with enough time to spare that I could play it through before voting closed, and so it was number one on my list last year. I finished replaying it last night, exactly a year after finishing it for the first time. I thought about not including it in my top ten, instead giving it an honourable mention, but all thoughts of that approach vanished as the credits rolled. It's become one of my favourite games of all time, and I plan on replaying it every December. So why shouldn't I give it my hard-won points? The "are videogames art?" debate is long-dead, but this game (alongside Disco Elysium) proves that they can be Capital-L Literature. Not a perfect game, but one that - if it resonates with you - will stay with you forever. I've bought and gifted it to multiple friends, and have convinced at least half a dozen others to play it. Hekki Allmo.

2. Pokemon Legends Z-A (2025): "Sorry, I'm gonna be late for work. It's the - yeah, it's the giant angry lions that are on fire, they've melted my tires again."

Ever since I was a child, I wanted a giant 3D free-roaming Pokemon game with real time battles. And here it is! Like every Pokemon game ever, it's a bit of a mess, undercooked in some ways and overthought in others, but you know what? I don't give a shit. The thrill of running around Lumiose, dressed as God's Perfect Lesbian, Cher from Clueless, or the Head of the Poke-Yakuza, with all my best pokemon friends alongside me just wipes away any complaints I have. Sure, they'll come back again when I think about them an hour after putting the controller down, but they all disappear again when I boot the game back up again. It also has a charming cast of characters who are as deep as a puddle, but are still cool and my friends - plus the DLC lets me dress as them now. And Jacinthe's theme is the best bit of music from a Pokemon game in years.