Game 1 - Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2: I can imagine this would be a disappointment for fans of the original, but the story was enjoyable. The combat left a bit to be desired, especially in how ability cool down was managed. Worth a go but not great.

I would do anything for a Wadjet Eye Doctor Who game 😭

Time for the also definitely important and not at all pointless and silly patented "RikPlaysStuff Bonus Games Awards" of 2025! These ones admittedly are not Clair Obscur free because I'm not a monster 🤣

It's that time again, the most important awards in gaming: The RikPlaysStuff Gaming Awards! Without further ado my top 10 games of the year, 100% guaranteed to be the only correct top 10, and 100% Clair Obscur free! (It would have been like, 12?)

Gaming stats 2025: ✅ 112 games completed ✅ 58 games completed for the first time 38 PS5 games 11 PS4 games 28 PC games 11 Switch games 5 Switch 2 games 5 GB games 2 GC games 3 N64 games 1 Wii U game 1 NES game 2 PS1 games 2 PS2 games 2 3DS games 1 DS game 🏆 21 Platinum Trophies

Game 112 - Syberia The World Before: Fit one last game in before the year ended and finished with one of my favourites. A perfect ending for a series that means a lot to me, and I loved it just as much on a third time through. The best game in a fantastic series.

Game 111 - Outlaws: A great updated version of an underrated Lucasarts classic. Really manages to feel like a playable western while still in the confines of an old FPS. The Sawmill level sucks tho 🤣

Game 110 - Duck Detective The Ghost of Glamping: The first one was so much fun that minutes after playing it I loaded up the second and went through the sequel too. Perfect for a winter afternoon off. More of the same as the first but that's exactly what you'd want.

Game 109 - Duck Detective The Secret Salami: A charming and cute game with the same kind of fill in the blank gameplay as Golden Idol. Very short but very entertaining.

Game 108 - The Drifter: Another incredible point and click game from 2025, a year absolutely teeming with them. Moves at a breakneck pace (with one chapter being a notable exception to this) in a genre where that is a very hard thing to do. Love the writing and art, Mick is such a great protagonist.

Game 107 - The Moment of Silence: Interminably yappy, and while technically improved on Druids somehow they manage to completely fuck up the one thing they had right in that navigation is a complete disaster. The story is...fine? I'm scared to go back to Overclocked now which I liked at release.

Game 106 - A Vampyre Story: Bill Tiller's gorgeous art isn't quite enough to push this past it's quite baffling design. The idea of slowing 90% of the actions you take in a comedy point and click game for the sake of explaining how big things go in inventory is not worth it. Unfulfilled potential.

Game 105 - The Mystery of the Druids: Oh dear. It really is quite bad 🤣 Enjoyable in the right setting (with friends taking the piss out of it) but otherwise definitely not worth your time, although penultimate action you take in the game might be the funniest thing in any game ever.

Game 104 - Strange Horticulture: A perfect game for relaxing on the sofa and enjoying identifying the plants, uncovering the story of the demonic presence haunting the area. On the easy side but a chill time and a surprisingly compelling story.

Game 103 - Tales of Xillia: A perfectly fine remaster (after patching) of one of my favourite games in the series. I love this cast of characters and specifically Jude is one of my favourite Tales characters to play as. Hopefully a remaster of the second one isn't far behind.

With all the great releases in 2025, Rosewater may have flown under your radar. Now’s the perfect chance to catch up on the critically acclaimed IndieCade nominated adventure! Get Rosewater for 20% off during the Steam Winter Sale: store.steampowered.com/app/1226670/...

One of the ways it’s most obvious that Limited Run Games are much more concerned with making money than they are with their claim of games preservation is that every single game they publish digitally has separate purchases for the PS4 and PS5 versions.

"I don't care what anyone says, I like that movie."

Got the hair did for Christmas :3

Game 102 - Broken Sword The Sleeping Dragon: Still in my opinion a great example of how to move a 2D adventure game into 3D. I’ll not pretend there aren’t too many box puzzles but outside of that this is a great game and one of my favourites to replay. Also this is Nico at her best.

Game 101 - Broken Sword The Smoking Mirror: Probably the weakest game in the series in my opinion. It’s gorgeous to look at, but it’s short, the puzzles are only ok, George and Nico don’t always feel in character and the series penchant for affectionate stereotypes crosses an uncomfortable line.

Game 100 - Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars: My Kickstarter copy finally arrived! A classic, and the updated visuals in the reforged edition are lovely. The Everyone’s Buzzing trophy can get in the bin though 🤣

Game 99 - The Curse of Monkey Island: My favourite game ever. It’s gorgeous, funny, the music is great, the puzzles are etched into my mind. I’ve played it at least once a year since I first got it.

Game 98 - Syberia 3: Replaying this, I think it was a little underrated. It’s definitely the worst Syberia game, but it still has some stuff going for it. The scale of some of the environments is impressive and while the retcons are awkward, they were worth it to get us to Syberia 4.

Game 97 - Monkey Island 2 LeChuck’s Revenge: Another classic that’s played every year. Every time I play this I’m struck by how gorgeous the backgrounds are. Adventure gaming in its ideal form.

Game 96 - The Secret of Monkey Island: I play it every year, and every year I have a great time. It’s just so fun 🥰

Why when Double Deckers are so delicious, are Dinky Deckers so shite?

I know, “what is an indie game?”, but I sucks a bit when Clair Obscur gets *both* indie game awards when so many games are struggling to get noticed.

Do you think Todd Howard is the result of a boy who wished to be big at a pier fortune telling machine

In 5 years we are going to be pointing to how grey loads of games are now and laughing they way we do at the PS3 gen piss filter

We know a few other things you’re a big fan of Mr Harbour

The irony of an actor giving an award to Arc Raiders lol

Milla we love you. Announce Monster Hunter 2 please it would be so funny.

I’m booing this. The best narratives of the year didn’t even get nominated. Old Skies, Rosewater, and Séance of Blake Manor are the first three that come to mind.

I’m glad Lorien Testard won for his role in convincing people the story of Clair Obscur was better than it was, completely deserved

lol Geoff saying “see you guys did win something” as if it was worth the Silksong devs travelling to see him speedrun their award

Congrats to the Best Game winner at #TheGameAwards - The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery. I didn't think the same game could win every year since 2014, but somehow you pull it off

Game 95 - Kirby Air Riders: Took a little while to click with me but now I can’t stop playing it. Just pure fun, without a doubt the best party game of the year. Packed with content and really unique.

Game 94 - Ghost of Yotei: Stunning, not just because of the fidelity of the graphics but because of great art direction. Really fun, one of the best open world games I’ve played in years. Dense with content and most of it is actually fun too. The blueprint for this kind of game going forward.

Game 93 - Syberia 2: Not as good as the first one, feels more like the end chapter that was cut off than a full game in its own right. Still gorgeous and Kate is up there with some of my favourite video game protagonists ever.

Game 92 - A Case of Fraud: After playing Roottrees I wanted another game along those lines and this really scratched that itch. I liked the way it slowly presented you with new information at set intervals increasing the complexity in a measured way. Plus I like that you had to identify the pets 🤣

Krampus has met his Max…

Game 91 - Foolish Mortals: An enjoyable and attractive point and click game. Personally I felt like it had a little *too* much reverence for the past with a lot of things having been obviously inspired by the classics to the point of it feeling a little like a greatest hits album of other games.

Game 90 - The Roottrees are Dead: A self contained In Memoriam crossed with Return of the Obra Dinn. I had a total blast sitting over a couple of evenings with @metapaddington.bsky.social searching for clues and filling out the family tree. If you liked Obra Dinn, definitely play this.

Game 89 - Syberia Remastered: A full remake of a classic, except when there’s a cutscene and it’s just the old cutscenes again. The result of Microids shutting the studio working on it and then bringing in another team to finish up the rest. It’s Syberia so it’s good, but it could have been great.

Game 88 - The Dagger of Amon Ra: I love the art direction, but the game itself is kind of a mess. Not to mention some of the voice acting choices made 😬 The weird characters are entertaining and more detective games should have a quiz at the end to make you prove you understood the mystery 🤣

Game 87 - The Séance of Blake Manor: Basically perfect. It’s so good, the story is compelling, the performances of the cast are fantastic, the atmosphere is top notch and I enjoyed it more than any other game this year. Deserves to win every game of the year award. You *have* to play it. Go. Buy it.

Game 86 - Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter: A wonderful remake of an amazing game. Gorgeous art direction, a nice update to the battle system make and some quality of life improvements make this almost perfect. The only flaw is that the localization is a little bland compared to the original.

Game 85 - Luigi’s Mansion: Still as charming and fun as ever, but I have to admit on replay the Boo hunt is a little frustrating with them constantly switching rooms. Not a big deal since the game is so short but worth mentioning. I really need to play the sequels properly.

Yaaaaaas more Darkside Detective wooooooo