Looking back on what I actually played this year, I would probably ave to say either Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader or Hades. Both I played for the first time this year and played almost obsessively for a month or two.
Rogue Trader was super fun, and I spent more time playing it than I did Hades (completing everything the game and first DLC had to offer took a bit over 98 hours vs my 88 hours in Hades). I definitely need to replay it at some point soon. Unfortunately, the devs announced they've been using gen ai for early parts of the process for their next game, so I won't be able to play the next game by the studio that made my all-time fave. (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous)
I've been recommended Hades probably a dozen times before I ever actually played it (thank you to my friend who played it for the first time while I was visiting them and got hooked. I spent so much time watching her, and then immediately came home and bought it for myself), and damn, for once a piece of media that actually lives up to the hype. I avoided it for so long because I'm really bad at anything that requires me to be fast, but Hades is okay bc it's mostly just... button mashing. (My strategy is basically just "dash-strike nonstop", which made my first attempt at played Hades 2 an utter failure bc the dash works VERY differently.)
Bonus mention to Solasta: Crown of the Magister, which I wouldn't necessarily is a good game, but has been fun. I started playing on December 26th, and I now have exactly 28 hours in it. Unfortunately my characters are already almost max level (11/12), and I still have a LOT of game left to go.
(This is a very common problem for me in RPGs. In BG3, I usually hit level 12 shortly after arriving in Act 3. Not leveling up for so long is really SAD and BORING. (I'm a mechanics/build-lover, so leveling up characters is one of my favorite parts of any game. Shoutout to Rogue Trader which has 55 levels. SO much fun for me. Also shoutout to Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous for letting you go all the way to level 20, plus the 10 mythic levels. I'm tired of capping games at level 12. Give me 7th-9th level spells, you cowards!!!)
