Ongoing Reviews and Game of the Year 2025

2025 has turned into a busy one! Particularly when it comes to games.

We had one gaming goal this year, which was to complete a JRPG. That was knocked out of the park, and we finished Final Fantasy VII Remake in pretty short order. Followed-up by starting Final Fantasy X which has proven to be so much better than anticipated.

But, we’re at the time of year where all these games come into contention for Game of the Year, and new releases come out of the woodwork to make it a tought task. It’s a great place to be, and in 2025 we’ve managed to stick into new stuff, clear old stuff and get a lot more written for the site.

 

Ongoing reviews

The tricky part of coming to the close of 2025, is trying to get through everything we wanted to, for review. With 3 or 4 games currently in rotation, plus anything else that comes up.

It’s a nice problem to have, for sure. So we’re doing our best to get through them and provide a consistent level of content.

Our “last of 2025” games that are making the cut for review are:

• Hades 2
• Ghost of Yotei
• Battlefield 6
• Death Stranding 2

We’re also still regularly playing new content for Monster Hunter Wilds and Two Point Museum. There’s this case of game living well-beyond release now, and it’s amazing. But, it means taking time over other stuff. So there’s a balance to be struck.

The above games will all have 2025 review content between now and January. With the intention of them being as in-depth as possible. But we might have to look at the usual approach and see if we can expedite things without dropping detail.

 

2025 Game of the Year

Here’s a bigger one, and one of the reasons we need to get all these reviews done. They could be contenders for Game of the Year 2025!

Beyond that, we’ve had a good run of games this year and the current short list looks somthing like this:

• Monster Hunter Wilds
• Two Point Museum
• Spider-Man 2
• Jedi Survivor
• NBA 2K25
• Hitman: World of Assassination

Combined with all the potential in the list of games currently under review. We have our work cut out for us.

Remeber at ninjarefinery.com we include games that have been played this year, not just released this year. Largely because we can’t keep up year on year with every release. But also, because so many games have long lifespans now, with massive roadmaps for updates and new content. We want to take everything into account where we can.

 

2025 Omissions

A couple of games aren’t being considered, with pretty clear reasoning if you read the reviews. However, I think you’ll see that one of the games we’re not considering, will likely do well in general at other sites and publications.

Blue Prince came out of nowhere, blew people away and I suspect a lot of conversations will revolve around it. Indie darling, took the world by storm etc.

It’s a good game, no doubt. But ultimately of everything we’ve played in 2025, it doesn’t feel like a good fit here. You can read the review to understand why, of course. But trust us, it doesn’t deserve a seat at the table.

We’re ignoring the JRPG we finished too. Not becasue we want to, but because Final Fantasy VII Remake was largely disappointing. There’s Rebirth to play, too, and it feels like a chore we’re putting off until some other day. Looks and sounds incredible, combat is fantastic. But the moment to moment gameplay is dull and if we’re investing 40 hours of our life, we expect to have a good time.