Over the year, I've been keeping track of my favorite games and books from the year, and today, I'm ranking the top three.
If you’ve read my Google Sheets Tracking post, you should know that I love tracking my media consumption. I track it monthly, but more importantly, I track my media consumption on a yearly basis to see what was the best things I consumed that year, and what absolutely sucked.
That’s the goal for today! I’m gonna look at my completion list (specifically for games and books) and showcase everything that I consumed, from the bangers to the flops. I’m gonna prioritize games and books since those are the things I primarily talk about on this Substack.
Games I’ve Completed in 2025
Shockingly, despite writing so many posts about video games this year, I barely got around to completing anything. I rarely do get a lot of time to finish games in general, but this year was real rough in the gaming department of my brain.
I get in my head a lot about trying to finish my games on time, as if there’s a time limit to the games I play, and frankly, it causes me to stop playing more often than not. So, my goal for next year is to just play the damn games and not worry about a time limit. We’ll see how that affects my completed games list for 2026 when I make my 2026 Game/Book Completion Wrap-Up post next year.
I should mention real quick that these are only games that I deem completable. That generally means a game where I can roll credits to a single player campaign. If a game’s main function is to be a multiplayer game, and there really isn’t a completable single-player campaign (e.g. Among Us, PEAK, etc.), it wouldn’t count. Other games I don’t count are racing games (e.g. MotorStorm, SSX, etc.), party games (e.g. Mario Party), or farming sims/simulation games in general (e.g. Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, etc.). So, while I did spend a hell of a lot of time this year playing SSX On Tour and MotorStorm Arctic Edge, I wouldn’t count those toward this list.
I should also mention that these are games I played this year, not games that released this year. I don’t really get around to playing recent releases that much, especially since I have such a large backlog of older games that paying attention to modern releases would smite me on the spot.
In total, I completed six games this year, with a total of 97 hours of gameplay. Kind of sad comparably to previous years, but I did do a lot of reading comparably. Is it fair to rank six games on a 3rd-1st place basis? Probably not, but I don’t have much to work with here.
Though, a fair thing to note: I’m currently in the middle of playing 999, Metroid Prime 3 (and now 4 :/), and Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. I feel like these should be mentioned here as games I’ve played in 2025, just not games I’ve finished, because I did spend a good amount of time on them as well. Also, I did play of the Devil this year as well, but since the game itself isn’t done, I can’t really count it as a part of “games I’ve finished.” Though, if I could, it’d 100% be my number 1 game of the year, easily.
My Top Games of 2025
Honest to god, this might be the most f!cked up list out there for top games, simply because I just wasn’t finishing games this year. Truly not in the cards for me, apparently. I got too greedy about being upset at only finishing 10 games last year.
First up, let me get some honorable mentions out of the way. I played and completed Flicky this year, an arcade-y Sega Genesis game which actually made me want to rip my hair out. The physics of this game make no sense, but I absolutely cannot stop thinking about it. It sucks, and you should play it.
My second honorable mention is Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. Genuinely a cute game that I’m shocked not a lot of people talked about. It was cute and quick, generally not super high stakes, so definitely worth the time in my eyes. Sure, was the story kinda bland? Maybe, but I always saw it as a similar game in the vein of Link’s Awakening, since it’s using the same engine as the remake, and it nails the same vibes. For what it’s worth, it’s a pretty expansive world to travel around in, and like I found the dungeon-like areas to be quite intuitive, so I appreciated it.
3rd Place
My 3rd Place game of the year is Shadow Generations. Not Sonic x Shadow Generations as a whole, because I never got around to finishing Sonic Generations. But man…what a game. The movement in this game is truly like none other, and honestly, playing Shadow Generations made me want to play the hit PS2 game Shadow the Hedgehog so bad (which, thankfully, I do own and can play, if only I had a functioning PS2).
This was the first game I finished this year, so very funny that it made it this high on the list, but also, it didn’t really have much of a competition. It was a lot of dumb fun, you can sprint through it blisteringly fast and it’s quite easy to get caught up in the challenges the game wants you to complete, instead of actually finishing the level. And with Shadow’s abilities like Chaos Control, there were so many movement options to complete a level, and so many ways to move around the map, that the gameplay truly never got boring. And like, lore-wise, I thought it was pretty sound. I haven’t really finished a lot of Sonic games to like really understand the lore, and like honestly, this game answered so many questions I just didn’t care to look up, so I enjoyed it. Again, I gotta play Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Adventure 2 now.
2nd Place
My 2nd Place game of the year is Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Honestly, I wrote up a whole review on this game, so there really isn’t anything new I can add to the conversation here, but I will say that Metroid Prime 2 was exactly the kind of game I needed to play to get me back into gaming after taking a long break in the summer.
Prime games in general are so atmospheric, and are really good at using the world-building and environment to tell the story, while also giving space for you to scan every goddamn item in the game to see what the hell is going on. Aether is such a lived in world, and I can fully see why people love this game. And god, the areas you get to explore in this game are so vastly different from the ones in Prime 1 on Tallon IV, like such an awe-inspiring game, if not quite contrived in certain game mechanics that pissed me off.
1st Place
Finally, my 1st Place game of the year is Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Which, deserved as hell, frankly! This game took me two years to complete, and I did a mini-review of it a couple of weeks back for Sunday Mini Stackin’, but still a banger of a game. Almost didn’t get it done this year, so this is kind of a last minute addition.
Path of Radiance does the core Fire Emblem experience so well, I wish it was more widely available for people to play. And while a lot of people do like to complain about how easy it is, for what it’s worth, I think it makes a phenomenal game to get into the series with (and frankly, a great one to learn how permadeath works). Very memorable characters, very memorable maps, decently memorable story (considering I still remember a good chunk of it after 2 years), and an almost flawless game.
Goals for Next Year
My gaming-related goals for next year is to finish more games outside of the Nintendo sphere. I spent a good chunk of 2025 picking up a bunch of PS3 and Xbox 360 games, so I’ve got quite the backlog to start up. Though, I do have some games that I’m still in the middle of that will take priority (Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, Metroid Prime 3, Other M, Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones), my main goal is to prioritize the PS3 and Xbox 360 games in my collection.
Mostly, I really want to play Final Fantasy IX and X, though not exactly PS3 games, still feasible options for me to play. It’s so funny to me that I have like 4-5 Final Fantasy games, but can also say that I’ve never finished a Final Fantasy game.
Also, I’d like to finish more games in 2026, which I don’t know how feasible that is given that I don’t know what my schedule will look like. But, considering the last 4 months, I think aiming for one game completed each month might be doable. Or, at least, upwards of completing 10 games by this time next year. I’ll probably update on this goal over on my Bluesky and Tumblr, primarily, so check them out sometime!
Book I’ve Finished in 2025
Comparably, I’ve finished quite a few books this year. I figured a system that works really well for me to actually read frequently, which was such a great thing because I used to rarely find the time to read. I got a Kindle at the end of 2024, and because I don’t think it’s financially sound to buy a bunch of ebooks at full price for me, I send over Libby ebooks courtesy of my local library. Then, because the of the Kindle e-ink display, I can pick up my Kindle first thing in the morning and read, instead of blinding myself with a light to read a physical novel.
This system works super well by not only forcing me to not pick up my phone as soon as I wake up in the morning, but I also get to support my local library, which is always a plus. And I mean, the fruit of my labor is shown in the fact that I’ve read 20 books this year, not including manga because I don’t think it’s fair. It takes me a lot less effort to read a manga/comic, so I’m not gonna count it here (plus, it’s hard to rate individual books in a series).
My Top Books of 2025
Firstly, yet again, I’d like to get a couple of honorable mentions out of the way. Compared to my games, I actually have quite the competition here, so these will actually be honorable mentions that just barely missed the mark for me.
I should first mention I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, as that book changed my perspective on Nickelodeon shows as a whole, but introduced how rough being a child actor was. I don’t read a lot of memoirs, it’s definitely not my favorite genre, but this memoir was quite fascinating to read. It was very interesting to see the psychological effects that devout religion has on a person, and the mental gymnastics a child makes to justify their parents actions as “normal,” especially if that child is separated from other children their age. As someone who’s quite interesting in knowing how other people live their lives and how their upbringing warps their brains, this was a phenomenal read.
I want to also mention The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang, because I did spend multiple months reading this series, and if I didn’t mention it here, then what would’ve been the point of suffering through this entire series? The Poppy War as a series was rough, dreadful, but The Poppy War (as in the first book in the series) was honestly such a good read, it gave me way too high of hopes for the rest of the series. I love how awful of a character Rin is, and how she struggles to fit in at the academy, and the impending doom of a war looming over the story. The humanity that is lost in war, and everything that Jiang stands for as essentially Rin’s gateway to the gods. The story is really well done in this one, and I highly recommend reading it and none of the other books. While I’m here, I might as well mention Yellowface as well, since R.F. Kuang is just so good at writing the most miserable, hated characters in the world.
Finally, I will also really quickly mention The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez. It was a genuinely really well-written book that had me at the edge of my seat, and I adored how the author had sequences of 2nd person point of view (POV) in it, as that is my favorite POV to write in and I wish authors did it more. It’s so interesting. Only real qualm with this book is that it can be kinda slow at parts, and it ended up taking me quite a long time to get through.
3rd Place
My 3rd place book of the year is Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Which, like, I definitely didn’t hear a lot of people talking about. I found this book on my library’s home page on a whim, and it ended up being one of my favorite books this year, so go to your library!! Librarians know what the f'!ck they’re talking about!!
Klara and the Sun is a sci-fi novel, but not a super-intense sci-fi novel like a lot of other books in the genre. It’s close enough to reality that there aren’t a lot of terms that the average reader wouldn’t be able to pick up on. It’s about this future in which some androids are used to help raise children, and it’s told from the perspective of one of these androids named Klara. Klara isn’t chosen to be someone’s android until later in her life, so much so that a newer and better generation of androids take over the store she’s in. She’s eventually chosen by a sick child, and helps take care of the child as she grows sicker, as Klara grows a strange relationship with the sun itself. Without spoiling, this book is a phenomenal and quick read about the passage of time, love, and the break-neck pace that technology is evolving.
2nd Place
My 2nd place book of the year is Morning Star by Pierce Brown, but I will honorably mention the rest of the original Red Rising Trilogy because holy shit, what a phenomenal series. Though, by far, out of all of the books in the series, Morning Star was by far my favorite.
It’s kind of hard to talk about the final book in a trilogy and why I like it without spoiling the book, but if you like more intense sci-fi and spaceship battles, you’ll love the Red Rising series. Morning Star wraps up the trilogy in a breathtaking way, and the ending will genuinely shock you. Everything is wrapped up into a neat little bow, with room to expand. I love the characters in this series, and I can’t wait to dedicate a good chunk of next year to finishing out the second trilogy.
1st Place
Finally, my 1st place book of the year is Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab, and it really isn’t a competition here because god damn. What a book. I feel like I’ve been enlightened, truly, like I need more people to read this book and I’m not joking.
Okay, well, that’s a bit of an overstatement because I know there’s people out there that won’t like this book, and just aren’t the target audience. I, on the other hand, am the exact target audience for this book, and it’s wild how it took me until November to read it.
I think, for what it’s worth, Bury Our Bones is so evocative in it’s storytelling, and the way it’s pieced together with the past and the present keeps you on the edge of your seat as you try to figure out what who Lotte is and what happened to Alice, it’s phenomenally done. I will say that the ending is a little bit strange compared to the rest of the book, like it almost felt rushed, but without spoiling, I definitely did not expect that to happen for sure iykyk. Honest to god, I might write a review on this book in the future sometime, full of spoilers because I don’t know how else to talk about this book without spoiling something. I will say I think I get why I ended like that, but it was certainly a choice. Still a phenomenal read, like I desperately need to buy this physically so I can re-read it and savor every word.
Goals for Next Year
My reading-related goals for next year is to finish more books on my physical TBR list, to be completely honest. I have about 17 books on that list, which is relatively decent, but hard to finish when I have Libby ebooks coming in all the goddamn time. A couple of them are manga and light novels, so they shouldn’t be too hard to pick up and finish in one setting.
If I get off my phone earlier at night, there’s like a good 2 hours there where I can read a physical book without the light of a book light burning my retinas, so it’s feasible.
Also, I really want to re-read The Locked Tomb series, mostly in anticipation for Alecto the Ninth (whenever that releases), but also because my brother read the series not too long ago, and I realized I barely remembered what happens in it. For it being my favorite series, that’s quite embarrassing.
And that’s about it for 2025! What a strange year for me; I truly thought I’d have something going on the entire time, and yet nothing happened for so many months. I think it was a pretty good year for books, but I’ve definitely had better years for games. Truly, I couldn’t play a game just to play it, like I had to pick games that would be quick plays. I had to play to get it done, like to check a box, instead of actually enjoying myself, and that’s not fun, so we’ll see what 2026 has to offer in the video game department.
Lemme know what you thought of my top books and games of the year! And what three books/games were your absolute favorites?
And as always, see you next week!
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