Chloe’s Top 5 Games of 2025

5. Q-UP

Get it? It’s like “queue up”. This took me longer than I want to admit to realize. Q-UP is a satire of modern live service eSports games that is also a Rube Goldberg machine assembly simulator. There are games I played for longer and, to be honest, probably had more fun with in the moment (Silksong is definitely going to be a notable snub in that regard), but Q-UP is a unique experience that I don’t think anybody’s ever gonna take a second swing at. The writing is a little on-the-nose and will depend on your tolerance for another joke about NFTs in the year 2025, but I think they land well enough. Q side. UP side.

4. Deltarune

Yeah, yeah, this one’s gonna be on everybody’s list. Whatever. Toby Fox has still got it, and despite Chapters 3 and 4 both having a weakness in my opinion, (Chapter 3 runs a little long; Chapter 4 is a little too serious overall and could maybe use a little more of the levity that Chapter 3 has too much of?) Deltarune is an excellent time that lives up to the standard set by Undertale and Deltarune Chapters 1 & 2. Tenna isn’t as funny as people think he is. Jackenstein is way more fun than he has any right to be. I hope the next chapter comes out soon. What else is there to say?

3. Deadlock

This one’s kind of a stretch because it didn’t come out this year, but most of my playtime of Valve’s extremely slick-feeling alpha playtest MOBA/shooter hybrid happened because of the major update this year. Plus it technically isn’t even out yet, so can’t it be on game of the year lists every year until then? Whatever. Deadlock feels really fun to move around in, and I think this is the kind of game that is going to ruin people’s lives if they weren’t previously into MOBAs. Having the playerbase vote on which character gets added next was a genius move to cause a bunch of campaigning and fan art and the like. The voice lines are really fun to repeat. The darkness creeps ever closer as the Drifter walks among them.

2. Demonschool

Demonschool is going to be a game that I am passing out to my friends via Steam gifts for the rest of my life because I need people to play this game. A Persona-style game by way of Into the Breach’s tactical combat with a delightfully queer ensemble cast (only one of whom gets annoying), Demonschool has a writing style that is going to bounce some people off hard, but is going to suck other people in. I firmly find myself in the latter camp. The friendship between Faye and Namako is really heartwarming, and I kind of wish I could just see more of their adventures. I mean I guess I can, I’m writing fanfiction, but you can’t play Into the Breach on Archiveofourown yet. Can you become a speedrunner of a 30 hour RPG?

1. Blue Prince

Anyone who’s played Blue Prince could probably figure this out from the opening of this list. (The original plan for this list had me drawing up custom rooms for each game on the list, but as always, my reach exceeds my grasp.) Much like Q-UP, Blue Prince is a game I really don’t think is ever going to be done again. It’s hard to talk much about the game without spoiling how deep its depths truly go, but it’s a puzzle-roguelike with an emphasis on the puzzle. If you want to spend 3 months of your life debating whether to take Storeroom or Pantry as your first pick and repeating a set of phrases that somehow mean more to you than life itself, you should play this.