I’ve been wanting to make a post for the end of the year, but it’s been difficult deciding exactly what to do. Since award shows are pretty popular, I figured I’d do something similar in blog form. Release date doesn’t matter, but as long as I engaged with it within the last year, it should be fine.
Video Games
The “I like it, but I’ll play it later” Award”
Winner: Valkyria Chronicles
This is the only screenshot I have for Valkyria Chronicles.
It’s no surprise that many of us with a Steam backlog often forget about the many gems we’re sitting on that are just waiting to be played. I have the entire Devil May Cry series and a couple of new releases from the last few years that I’ve completely forgotten about, too.
However, Valkyria Chronicles had been sitting in my backlog since … December 25, 2014. I think someone must’ve given it to me for Christmas or something. Well, I actually didn’t launch the game until December 27, 2024! That’s over 10 years later!!
Why is it on my 2025 awards list? Well, the last time I played it was January 1st, 2025. This game went the entire year having only been played once. It’s a little embarrassing, actually. I genuinely think it’s a very nice turn-based strategy game. The reason I stopped playing was probably because of fatigue.
My stamina for strategy games is a bit on the lower side. Last time I played, the missions were starting to get longer and I probably suffered a loss on a mission that I invested a considerable amount of time into.
That being said, I really like this game. The characters’ unique personalities really have to shine since they’re all wearing the same colors. Part of me was curious about the rest of the series, but I’ve heard they’re not as solid as this first game.
Here’s to playing more Valkyria Chronicles in 2026!
Disappointment of the Year Award
Winner: Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land
They cooked with these menus, though.
Disappointment is a very harsh word … I’ve considered changing the name of the award but I have to be honest about my feelings towards Atelier Yumia.
I’m always open to trying something new and I was actually very pleased with the character designs and some of the voice acting. However, I noticed that Gust had decided to pursue something in their game design that they began experimenting with in Ryza 3.
The third and final Ryza game adopted an “open-world” game design.
Previous Atelier titles had small to medium-sized maps with nodes where you can collect ingredients for your alchemy recipes. With the enormous size of the maps in Atelier Ryza 3 and Atelier Yumia, it seems that there’s a lot to collect … but in realty the diversity of the ingredients themselves isn’t much.
Additionally, in the style of open-world game design there are “pop up” missions that appear as you travel and a bunch of markers all over the map that only exist to pad out your playtime. There are upgrades tied to some of these locations as well, but it honestly feels like a chore. I really dislike open-world games …
That aside, I think the story is pretty average. I haven’t finished the game, but there wasn’t anything that had me wanting to stay up late on a work night to unravel the story.
The biggest cause of friction aside from the open-world game design is probably the crafting system. I was very used to Atelier Ryza’s crafting system that actually evolved with each entry of the “Secret” series. Atelier Yumia … I think I understand, but the game encourages you to not even bother understanding.
You can auto-craft a lot of the equipment and not really pay attention to the ingredients you’re using unless you’re playing on a higher difficulty or care enough to do so.
There’s a lot of Quality of Life that I think would benefit the average RPG, but this is an Atelier game … it’s a game where you spend like half of your time crafting and the other half battling. Why is the CRAFTING being dumbed down?
Well, I think I know why. It’s more accessible. I suspect that Ryza’s popularity has garnered an interest in the Atelier series. In order to remain competitive they decided to release a game that’s very friendly to a large demographic.
Yep, seen this too many times already.
Oh well, that’s enough of Yumia. OH WAIT. I really like Lenja, she’s the cutest character in the cast and I’d kill for a plush or figure of her. Please save her from this game!!
Indie Game of The Year Award
Snezshinka: Sentinel Girls 2
This is a sequel to Marfusha: Sentinel Girls, which was also a pretty awesome game. However, Senzshinka vastly improves upon the first game and continues the story of two sisters who live in a totalitarian regime and are dragged into a war to defend it. The game is so fun, I actually downloaded it to take a screenshot at first, but ended up playing in Endless Mode for a bit.
It’s a twin-stick shooter / defense game where you stop waves of robot war machines from invading the country. Aside from the many types of weapons, there are also special tools and gadgets that can help you reach the ending of the game.
However, my favorite part is the companion mechanic. Companions can be hired by selecting their card as an upgrade option if a character’s card appears between rounds. Each companion specializes in a type of weapon and also has their own story that happens in parallel with the main story. Completing the story with a companion will result in one of several endings the game has to offer.
This increased the game’s replayability for me because since the characters were very charming and I wanted to know more about their lives in this totalitarian regime.
I’m a huge sucker for anime girls with guns, so this game really itched a scratch for me. It doesn’t ask a lot from me either. The controls are very simple, it has replayability, the story and game world are interesting, and the music is actually really good!
Here’s my favorite track:
Please check out Marfusha and Snezhinka if you can! I highly recommend it if you want to play something that’s light and arcade-y.
Honorable Mentions
There are video games that I also want to let other people know about. I could easily create an award for each of them, but I would be here writing all night!
Final Thoughts
There were a lot of incredible games this year, but I was also really busy and didn’t get to play as many as I wanted. In recent years, my focus has slowly moved away from AAA and towards smaller studios/teams. Not only is it more affordable, but the games are also very focused in what they want to do instead of trying to please everyone.
If you noticed that I played Death Stranding 2 and didn’t write anything about it … it’s a game. I’ve been a fan of Hideo Kojima’s work for a very long time and respect him as a creator, DS2 was not as memorable to me as the first game was.
I’ve mentioned Full Metal Daemon: Muramasa several times on Bluesky and made an entire post about it on my blog, so I didn’t want to write about it again.
2025 was a very strange year for video games for me. It’s probably the year where I’ve looked back and played things on my backlog instead of purchasing the hot new game.
FOMO cured? I hope so. Nah, I think it’s just a change the types of games that I play.
I realize that I play a lot of live service games nowadays. Currently, my main game is NIKKE but I play GFL1 and 2 on the side. They’re pretty incredible time sinks in my opinion.
Ah well, have a happy new year!