20(25) Games You Should Have Played

0:00 Well, 2025 certainly has been a pretty

0:05 surprising year for video games, hasn't it?

0:08 Who could have expected that the breakout genre of the entire year would

0:11 be the artfully named Friend Slo with a game that led the charge,

0:15 Peak, being essentially a game jam entry

0:17 that not even its developers expected to get popular.

0:20 It's definitely not sunk in yet that Silkong, you know,

0:22 the game we all used to joke about being

0:24 in development hell that was never going to get released,

0:26 not just actually came out, but was better than we [music] expected.

0:29 Nobody foresaw a bunch of blasts from the past suddenly becoming relevant again.

0:32 Cart races are back.

0:33 Delta Rune emerged from the darkness to double in size.

0:36 Plus, Telltale style games have returned from the dead,

0:38 and they're actually good now.

0:39 [music] And most surprising of all,

0:41 one thing that absolutely nobody saw coming was the fact that the highest

0:45 profile game of the year ended up being a JRPG of all things,

0:48 and one that is assued the typical aesthetic trappings

0:50 of the genre to paint a picture of a mythical,

0:52 eerie fantasy world known only as [music] France.

0:56 It's been a hell of a year.

0:57 But if there's one thing that unites all of these stories,

0:59 it's that 2025 has been the year where the scrappy underdogs

1:02 [music] of the games industry have been in their absolute ascendancy.

1:06 Where the big companies are eating themselves

1:07 from the [music] inside out with bloated games,

1:09 endless delays, and constant layoffs,

1:11 indie devs and smaller studios [music] have been releasing hit after hit.

1:14 And I genuinely don't think that indie games in general have been

1:17 as high-profile or as consistently high quality in a very long time.

1:20 There have been so many great titles released

1:22 this year in a whole bunch of different genres.

1:25 So much so that it's been really hard to keep up.

1:27 And while that's mostly a good thing,

1:29 it's also meant that a bunch of awesome creative titles that in any other year

1:33 would be luxuriating in the spotlight right

1:35 now haven't been given their time to shine.

1:37 And that is where I come in.

1:39 Every single year, I take it upon myself [music] to troll

1:42 through the giant pile of underappreciated niche hidden gems of the last

1:45 12 months to assemble a big list of the 20 games

1:48 from this year in no particular order that you should have played,

1:51 but that you probably [music] didn't.

1:54 All with the aim of boosting the profile of some

1:56 of the year's best games that didn't get the attention they deserved,

1:58 highlighting some cool titles in smaller genres that don't get much coverage,

2:01 and showing you some [music] plain old weird

2:03 stuff that I just feel the need to share.

2:05 As always, this list is going to focus on creative, interesting,

2:08 [music] and underappreciated games,

2:09 not the most popular ones that you've already heard of.

2:12 So, I'm telling you now, yes,

2:14 I also thought Hades 2 and Kingdom Come 2 and Arc Raiders 1 were good,

2:19 but you probably already heard and/or played them.

2:22 So, they don't belong on the list, do they?

2:24 And to give you some extra help,

2:25 because I really do think you should play these games,

2:27 I'll also tell you the cheapest price I

2:29 could find for them in the obligatory winter sales,

2:31 plus whether they have a demo or not,

2:33 because that's another surprising thing from this year.

2:35 Demos are back.

2:36 Uh, where did they go originally?

2:37 No idea, but it's good to see them return.

2:39 Anyway, let's get this list started with the very first game, Abselum,

2:44 which is an old school beat him up that takes some classic

2:46 retro combat mechanics and jumps them forward like 30 years into the future.

2:50 Now, I could waste a bunch of time

2:52 telling you that Abselum is absolute dynamite to play,

2:54 but quite frankly, look at this[ __] You can already tell it's super satisfying.

2:58 What you might not guess, though, is that all of this footage so far is

3:01 from just the first of four equally big worlds.

3:04 Abselum has an absurd amount of lovingly crafted levels

3:07 and an insane spaghetti network of branching paths connecting them all,

3:11 each with their own bespoke combat encounters, evolving quests, and bosses.

3:14 Truly, I do not know how they managed to make this game so big,

3:17 whilst also making it a rogike and still keep it feeling so tight.

3:20 Abselum has to be played to be believed,

3:21 and you'll know that I was right about everything when you fight

3:24 this blunderbust rocking undead dwarf king

3:26 to a Mick Gordon composed thrash metal track,

3:28 all while playing as a magic wizard frog.

3:31 It's glorious.

3:33 In a similar throwback vein, next up we have Pivistrello and the Cursed Yo-Yo,

3:37 which can only be described as a firstp party

3:39 Game Boy Advance game yanked from an alternate timeline.

3:42 The thing that the dev team have really nailed

3:43 here in terms of evoking that classic Nintendo charm,

3:46 is how literally everything in the game always

3:48 feeds back to the core mechanic of the yo-yo.

3:50 Whether [music] it's combat or puzzle solving

3:52 or getting about by riding the damn thing around,

3:54 Pipistello never distracts from the brilliantly satisfying puzzle of how

3:57 you're going to ricochet and maneuver the thing around the screen.

3:59 With each new Zelda style ability adding

4:01 another little wrinkle that keeps things fresh.

4:03 Pipista when the Cursed Yo-Yo is a perfect mix of retro charm and modern

4:07 smooth design with some unexpectedly great

4:09 writing and boss fights in there, too.

4:10 So, why don't you walk the dog all the way around the world

4:13 and 360 yourself into one of the breakaway games of the year.

4:18 Um, those were all yo-yo words in case that um in case that wasn't clear.

4:23 And following that, we've got Demon School,

4:25 which is what happens 9 months after Into the Breach

4:27 and Persona 2 get drunk and decide to make out.

4:30 I don't know how I could possibly make that any more clear,

4:32 but I'll give it a go, I guess.

4:33 Demon School is a game of two halves, split between an easy,

4:36 breezy life sim game and an incredibly [music] puzzly

4:39 tactical battle mode where you've got to optimize your moves

4:41 and combine abilities together in order to eliminate a bunch

4:43 of demons in as short a time as possible.

4:45 But that doesn't really describe its charm.

4:47 Demon School's appeal comes entirely down to how

4:49 much you get its incredibly earnest vibe.

4:52 The characters are all cringey misfit we widows.

4:54 It's a love letter to 1990s anime and horror.

4:56 And it does not take itself seriously at all,

4:58 but that light irreverent tone and its

5:00 rockhard tactics balance each other out really

5:02 well and is sure that you can never get burned out on either half.

5:05 Demon School is great and also the soundtrack

5:07 slaps [music] as you can hear right now.

5:09 In a similar strategic vein, we've got The Altars,

5:13 a game all about getting to know yourself.

5:15 Namely, by making a bunch of clones

5:17 yanked from hypothetical realities and putting them

5:19 to work mining toxic metals on a lethal alien planet so that you don't die.

5:23 The Altters is a brutal experience in more ways than one.

5:26 With the game's time management gameplay,

5:27 pushing your skills and the sanity of your clones to their absolute limits.

5:30 But where it really shines is in the personalities

5:32 and interactions you get with all of Jan's alternate selves.

5:35 They aren't just faceless robots like in most management games.

5:38 Each one has their own personality, like the traumatized minor or the amoral

5:42 scientist or the insufferably smug wife guy gardener.

5:45 And navigating all their quirks and relationships is just as much

5:48 fun and just as much of a challenge as trying to survive.

5:51 I've barely covered all the twists and turns of the story

5:53 because that's something you should really experience for yourself.

5:55 Please do give it a go.

5:57 Okay, screw Counter-Strike.

5:59 Forget League of Legends and chess, more like for chumps.

6:02 The esport of the future is here and it is Q up.

6:05 A game that uses high-tech venture capital funded

6:08 super science to simulate a perfectly fair coin flip.

6:10 Meaning that only the absolute most skilled [music] players are able to triumph.

6:14 Except of course when something completely impossible like

6:17 you getting three heads in a row happens

6:18 and the head developer emails you to apologize

6:20 for the quantum supercomputer that runs the game breaking.

6:23 QU up is, as you may have guessed, a work of satire and it's written by the same

6:26 people who made Universal Paper Clips and it

6:28 pokes fun at everything from web 3.0 an ow

6:31 shitification to bizarrely overco complicated video game progression systems,

6:34 but it graduates from being an empty mockery by hiding a genuinely

6:38 fantastic incremental game within its

6:39 funny writing and seemingly random gameplay.

6:42 QUP is one of my biggest surprises of the year and there's,

6:45 you know, a roughly 50% chance that it will be for you, too.

6:49 Next up, we have Of the Devil.

6:51 One of the most stylish and slick visual novels that I have ever played.

6:55 taking place in a richly realized cyber

6:57 hunk surveillance state where you have to play

6:58 as a defense attorney getting people acquitted

7:00 of crimes that the cops would rather you didn't.

7:02 If that sounds like an Ace Attorney game,

7:04 by the way, uh you'd be dead on the money.

7:05 It's basically that but better polished and with more lesbians.

7:08 Of the Devil is incredibly funny and it's poker inspired investigation

7:11 and evidence proving mechanic where you get rewarded for reading all

7:14 the supplemental materials and for pushing your rhetorical luck is such

7:16 a great narrative conceit that really ties the whole thing together.

7:19 Also, you've got no excuse not to play it because

7:21 the first demo episode is basically a standalone 90-minute experience,

7:25 and it's completely free.

7:27 The other two entries of a planned five are around 10 to 15 hours each.

7:30 And if you can believe it, they're both even better.

7:33 If you don't give it a read, you will break my heart.

7:35 If your first thought upon hearing the idea Space Invaders deck

7:39 building rogike was that it's the silliest idea in the world,

7:42 then you would be 100% right.

7:44 But that fact is also the secret ingredient of why Starvaders work so damn well.

7:48 It takes two well-established concepts and mashes

7:51 them together by cranking everything up to 11.

7:53 You will be regularly clearing entire screens of enemies in a single turn.

7:57 You don't get money just for playing.

7:58 Your cash comes from how high you can stack your combo meter.

8:01 And every boss in the game is some

8:02 sort of screen filling high concept wackiness like

8:05 this one that makes you play chess or this one that's just a bunch of[ __] bees.

8:08 Starvaders is a game that writes a delicate

8:10 balance between depth and chaos by leaving no

8:13 mechanical stone unturned and never ever saying no

8:16 to whatever overpowered build idea you come up with.

8:18 And that is why it stands out in an incredibly busy marketplace.

8:22 If you thought things were getting fireball less silly,

8:25 then you'd be wrong because Magic Missile, the next game is Mage Arena Freeze,

8:29 a multiplayer wizard dueling simulator where you have to shout the name

8:32 of your spells into the mic IN ORDER TO DARK BLAST cast them.

8:36 The whole game is dead simple,

8:37 but it is great fun running around blowing up your friends

8:40 and playing with all the weird and wacky spells and items.

8:42 Most of which are kind of useless, but serve only to make an already worm

8:46 dumb silly game even dumber and even sillier.

8:49 Uh, of course, this does come with the caveat

8:51 that if you're on team filthy sorcerer,

8:53 then I, a proud warlock until the day I die, want nothing to do with you.

8:57 Oh.

8:57 Oh, yeah.

8:58 By the way, there is a portal

8:59 style teleport mechanic because of course there is.

9:01 The game is dead cheap, so it shouldn't be too hard for you to rustle

9:03 up a few wizard friends for some magical madness.

9:06 Fireball.

9:08 For some more low-fi goodness, we've got Abiotic Factor.

9:11 And I want you to pay very close attention when I say this.

9:14 Abiotic Factor is the single greatest

9:16 survival game ever made outside of Minecraft.

9:19 And that might sound like hyperbole, but in my opinion, it is 100% true.

9:23 The only reason why this game is not

9:24 in the top three is because it's too popular.

9:26 Rather than just dumping you in the woods somewhere,

9:28 Abiotic Factor sees you trying to survive

9:30 in the ruins of a Black Mesa style science facility,

9:33 hopping through portals to weird monster filled worlds and improvising

9:36 weapons and tools out of a mix of office supplies,

9:38 looted diagnostic equipment, and bits of aliens.

9:41 With the premise serving as the backdrop

9:42 for an incredibly intricately designed world, some really creative encounters,

9:45 and an emphasis on clever solutions,

9:47 and thinking like a scientist over run and gun gameplay.

9:50 Abiotic Factor is the Half-Life spin-off we never got.

9:52 And after playing it, you'll never want to go back to mining

9:55 for iron ore for the millionth time ever again.

9:57 You can even get an overpowered crowbar.

9:59 Play it.

10:01 For a game that is about getting dumped in the woods,

10:03 I can recommend Baby Steps.

10:05 A game that seems upon first glance to be a gimmicky gag title about playing

10:08 as a guy named Nate who is so incompetent

10:10 that you've got to move his legs for him, but is actually so much more.

10:13 See, Baby Steps isn't just an amusing premise

10:16 with some really great improvised comedy cut scenes.

10:18 It's also a genuinely fantastically designed

10:20 and really challenging platformer that's way,

10:22 way bigger and more nuanced than you'd expect.

10:25 The narrative goes in some actually quite

10:26 heartfelt directions that I don't want to spoil,

10:28 and the awkward controls and brick wall difficulty are used

10:31 to tell a story about perseverance in the face of failure,

10:33 the driving nature of ego, and the ways in which outside pressure defines

10:36 who we are much more than we'd like.

10:38 Also, it's got a bunch of donkey men with their dicks out,

10:41 so there's something for everyone.

10:43 After that, we have Skin Deep,

10:45 a comedy immersive sim where the most reliable weapon in the entire

10:48 game is throwing a conveniently placed box of pepper at an enemy,

10:51 jumping on his back in the confusion,

10:52 and ramming him into enough furniture that you can knock him out,

10:54 pull off his head, and flush it down the toilet.

10:57 Yeah, the entire game is built around slapstick improvisation.

11:00 And in doing this, Skin Deep actually fixes

11:03 a problem that a lot of similar stealth games have.

11:05 by making you really weak and by making enemies really tough.

11:08 Skin Deep forces you to get creative rather than just

11:10 shooting everyone in the head and calling it a day.

11:12 Every single level is built around a different fun gimmick

11:15 like a library that has weaponized book security checkpoints you

11:17 can use to kill enemies or a launcher map with lots

11:19 of slippy soap that you need to fight back with.

11:21 And so no two takedowns or stealth gauntlets feel the same.

11:24 It's great.

11:25 Also, your mission is to rescue a bunch of space

11:27 cats just in case that's going to, you know, seal the deal for you.

11:31 For an entirely different first-person shooter, we have Mortar,

11:35 which if you are remotely familiar with modding, has a very distinct look.

11:38 And that's because it's a game that's running

11:40 on a heavily modified version of the Doom engine.

11:43 Yes, the one from 1993.

11:45 Mortar's greatest strength lies in its art design and its variety.

11:48 Every single one of its dimension hopping levels

11:50 has a pretty much unique cast of enemies,

11:52 and is set in an absurdly creative and gorgeous local that all

11:56 managed to tell a cool story with some very minimalist world building.

11:59 Not only that, the game's got like 20ish

12:01 awesome boss fights and just as many weapons.

12:04 Mortar is a testament to just what can be

12:05 accomplished using elegant tools and a whole lot of imagination,

12:08 and you would be very hardressed indeed to find a better shooter from this year.

12:12 Next up, we've got Wonders Stop.

12:15 Now, I am one of those people that has an intense aversion to anything cozy.

12:19 I am a stressed machine.

12:21 I need to work and push myself and never slow

12:24 down because if I ever take a breath, then I'll stop.

12:26 And if I stop, then what if I [gasps] [clears throat]

12:29 Anyway, Wonderstop is a game created for people just like me.

12:32 You play as a wounded swordwoman forced against her will to take a break

12:36 with the world of Wonderstop and its proprietor

12:38 borrow actively resisting your efforts to find a challenge.

12:41 And that's because the game is a meditation

12:42 on burnout and our relationship with our own vulnerability.

12:45 If that seems like it's going to be a bummer,

12:46 don't worry because the game is written

12:48 by the same guy who wrote the Stanley Parable.

12:50 So, it's super funny, endlessly incisive, and genuinely touching at times.

12:54 If One Stop sounds like the most boring game ever,

12:56 and it certainly did before I played it,

12:57 then it was in fact made with you in mind.

13:00 Another game about anxiety that is entirely different in tone is Consume Me.

13:05 And you wouldn't expect an autobiographical game about eating

13:08 disorders and compulsive behavior to be very much fun.

13:10 But god damn, if Consume Me isn't one

13:12 of the most whimsical games of the entire year.

13:14 Consume Me sees you living out Jenny's life day by day

13:16 in the form of a whole bunch of short snappy mini

13:18 gamess that task you are balancing her limited time alongside

13:21 the everinccreasing demands of her personal

13:22 life and unhealthy obsession with food.

13:24 The thing that consumed me really shows off is

13:26 the way that game mechanics and tactile interactions can

13:28 be used to convey feelings and narrative so much

13:30 better than boring old text and cutscenes ever could.

13:33 And the game is constantly finding new ways

13:35 to surprise you with clever mechanical metaphors like

13:37 this miniame about an awkward first kiss

13:39 or this one about trying to read without getting distracted.

13:41 Consume Me is cute.

13:42 [music] It's creative.

13:43 It's charming and like Eggbow, it will never be out of style.

13:48 Oh, what's that?

13:48 You want to play the new game?

13:49 Yeah, it's uh streaming on Heie.

13:51 It's on Glump.

13:52 It's literally on Jigjack.

13:54 Oh, wait, no, it's on Blippo Plus,

13:56 a very strange uh not quite game that baffles me that it even exists.

14:00 Blippo Plus is a window into an Alien Planet TV

14:03 catalog inspired by 1980s cable with medical drama starring clones.

14:07 Pop culture gossip of shows that don't exist.

14:09 Alien cooking recipes, painfully uncool teenage programming,

14:12 an extraterrestrial version of Sefax,

14:14 something that I am too young to really understand what it was.

14:16 And of course, the beloved movie franchise, The Fighting Trillions.

14:21 There's not much in the way of game mechanics in Blippo.

14:23 You just sort of sit back and watch as the story

14:25 lines gradually unfold with each new package of shows.

14:27 But what you're really there for is the absolute high concept

14:30 madness that the insane theater kid weirdos that made this thing created.

14:33 And it is an endlessly compelling watch

14:35 with a surprisingly wellrealized and coherent setting.

14:38 You live to challenge the wizard another day.

14:40 Onward to your next adventure.

14:45 Oo isn't just the game with the most fun title to say of the year.

14:48 Oo is also one of the best puzzle games

14:50 of the year and one that thrives on its total design elegance.

14:53 The only mechanic in the entire game is to put down a bomb and then blow it up.

14:57 That's it.

14:58 And every puzzle in the game uses that dynamic in progressively

15:00 more interesting and nuanced ways that are constantly blowing your mind

15:04 with new emerging bits of complexity that let you do things

15:06 and think in ways that you never would have considered before.

15:09 Seriously, I'm trying not to spoil things here,

15:11 but using your bomb as a rocket booster is really only the beginning.

15:14 Oo is only a few hours long, but there is not a grammar fat on the whole thing.

15:17 Every single puzzle teaches you something new,

15:19 and there's no crafting systems or peruncter combat mechanics.

15:22 It's pure puzzle design goodness that you can beat in a single sitting.

15:25 It's great.

15:27 Metro Gravity is another puzzly game,

15:28 but it's also a Metroid Vania which is all about um gravity.

15:32 Crazy, right?

15:33 The single greatest feat of Metro Gravity comes in the form of its level design,

15:37 which takes the form of mindbending labyrinths that you can walk on every

15:40 side of and that are at first really hard to get your head around.

15:43 But that all eventually resolves into these really fun to navigate

15:45 spaces that are totally different from any other Metroid Vania you've

15:48 ever played and that only get wackier with all the physics-based

15:51 powers you gradually gain access to like grapples and gravity beams.

15:54 And if that weren't enough, the game also has a pulse pounding

15:57 rhythm-based combat system that turns the boss fights,

16:00 which are often a bit of a weakness in these kinds of games,

16:02 into what almost music video style dances of parries and dodges,

16:05 which push your timing and your navigation skills to the absolute limit.

16:08 And of course, it doesn't hurt matters that the game is gorgeous as well.

16:12 Okay, that is 17 games from 2025 that you should have played.

16:17 And I know what you're thinking.

16:18 Didn't I promise 20 games?

16:19 And yes, you would of course be right.

16:21 But these three games coming up right now are a little tiny bit different.

16:24 See, where the previous bunch were in no particular order,

16:27 these ones are my top three creative,

16:29 unique, and noteworthy titles from this year.

16:33 But before we get to them, and to build a little bit of tension,

16:36 we do have some very special architects 2025 industry awards to give out.

16:40 So, let's just rattle those out nice and quick, shall we?

16:43 First up, best indie game,

16:44 and that obviously goes to Clare Obscure: Expedition 33.

16:48 Oh, well done, guys.

16:49 Best AAA game that, huh, also goes to Expedition 33.

16:53 Uh, right.

16:54 Game of the Year then is okay.

16:56 Clare obscure.

16:57 Uh, best actor is not even Jennifer English.

17:00 It's just it's just the game.

17:02 Uh, let's let's keep it moving, guys.

17:04 Best RPG, Clare Obscure.

17:06 Best multiplayer game, Clare Obscure.

17:08 What the what?

17:09 Best game from last year.

17:10 Best game that's a sequel to Hollow Knight.

17:12 The Oscar for best picture.

17:14 The[ __] Nobel Peace Prize.

17:15 What the[ __] is happening?

17:16 Oh my god.

17:17 Oh my god.

17:17 Who put this here?

17:18 The best The best name on my birth certificate [laughter] is Clarab.

17:22 Okay,[ __] it.

17:22 No.

17:23 I'm skipping to the end.

17:23 I'm skipping to the end.

17:24 Oh no, no, no, no, no.

17:26 Best game made in France.

17:27 Oh, okay.

17:28 The winner of the best game made in France is Assassin's Creed Shadows.

17:33 Oh my god.

17:34 Congratulations, guys.

17:34 Well done to all the nominees.

17:35 You love to see it.

17:36 Ah, these sorts of award nights really bring the industry together.

17:38 brings a tear to the eye.

17:40 Anyway, with the actually important games out the way,

17:42 let's move on to three titles that weren't created by current or former members

17:45 of the mainstream games or film industry and are

17:47 therefore entirely undeserving of your love or attention.

17:50 In case that wasn't obvious, that was a joke.

17:52 They're good.

17:53 Let's get started with The Bizarre.

17:55 A game that I have dumped over 250 hours into and it

17:58 still calls me back almost every day for another run.

18:01 The Bizarre is one of the most deep, rewarding,

18:03 and compulsive auto battlers that I have ever played.

18:05 And that's because more so than any other game of its kind,

18:08 it leans into the idea that if everyone is overpowered,

18:10 then everything is balanced.

18:12 In The Bizarre, you play as one of currently six different heroes,

18:14 each with their own totally distinct item pools

18:16 and are tasked with using those items you

18:18 buy in shops or steal from monsters to build

18:20 out a toll of weapons, food, and friends.

18:22 And at the end of each day, you and your items get pitted against the ghost

18:25 of another player to see who comes out victorious.

18:28 It's a deceptively simple setup,

18:30 but within that framework is an incredible degree

18:32 of depth with every character having an endless variety

18:34 of synergies and strategies that you need to toy

18:36 with on the fly to maximize your power.

18:38 Like Pig, who plays with speculative property investment, or Mac,

18:41 who transforms alchemic reagents into powerful enchanted items, or Jules,

18:45 who needs to make sure her food items the right temperature, or Douly,

18:47 who can assemble a giant bug mech,

18:49 which is a mix of Power Rangers and Exodia from Yu-Gi-Oh.

18:52 Because the bizarre has so many items, passives,

18:54 and enchantments, truly no two runs feel the same.

18:57 And it's very hard to force a particular build,

19:00 meaning you have to improvise around what you get

19:01 by finding some entirely new way to break the game wide

19:04 open and assemble some crazy combo every time because that's

19:06 the only way you're going to survive into the later days.

19:09 Finally, seeing between the lines and figuring out

19:11 an interaction you've never considered before feels amazing.

19:13 And The Bizarre is the only game of its

19:15 kind that I feel truly meets that potential.

19:18 And even better, the devs have finally sorted out the game's

19:21 monetization after like a year of it constantly changing price.

19:24 So, you can now buy it guiltfree or try the new demo

19:26 which will explain how the game works better than I ever could.

19:29 Get on it.

19:30 Second of our top three is a little game that turns out

19:33 to be much much bigger than you ever could have originally thought.

19:36 And it goes by the name of Blue Prince,

19:38 which given that most of the game is focused around a blueprint

19:42 is a pun that it took me about 30 hours to realize existed,

19:45 which really sums up the game as a whole.

19:47 Uh, I'll be upfront here.

19:48 Blueprints is neither a perfect game nor is it a game for everyone.

19:51 What it is is absolutely uncompromising about its vision and utterly unique.

19:56 For those not in the know,

19:57 the game is all about assembling randomly drawn room tiles

19:59 to build out the layout of the weird mansion that you've inherited.

20:02 With each room having its own secrets and puzzles and hidden interactions,

20:05 which you'll need to uncover and master if you want

20:07 to reach room 46 at the very top of the house,

20:10 which rather than being the end of the game,

20:11 is really only the beginning of an absurdly deep rabbit hole that will

20:15 reveal more hidden layers and secret

20:16 interactions than you ever thought possible.

20:19 Blueprints is a game that absolutely does not hold your hand.

20:21 And far from being centered around any one puzzle type,

20:24 it has some totally out of left field

20:26 and completely arcane conundrums that can and will totally

20:29 blindside you if you've not been taking diligent

20:30 notes or recording your entire playthrough like I did.

20:33 But nestled within the seeming hostility

20:36 of the game is an experience like no other.

20:38 One that genuinely rewards nonlinear experimentation and lateral

20:41 thinking where every clue has a purpose and where

20:43 [music] mastering the systems and hidden rules

20:45 of the house will always pay off in the end.

20:47 Blueprints is the ultimate challenge for seasoned

20:50 puzzle heads and is worth playing if only

20:51 for one of the most satisfying Eureka moments I've ever felt in any game ever,

20:55 which was of course opening a garage door.

20:58 It's a much bigger deal than it seems.

20:59 Blueprints is a truly fantastic game that I think some people

21:02 wrongly assume would be a rogike when it very much is not.

21:05 Please give it a go because when I played it,

21:07 it literally took over my brain and entire life for like 2 weeks.

21:10 And I mean that in only the most complimentary way possible.

21:20 Hey, what's up guys?

21:22 It's your boy Dan Gaming coming at you

21:24 live with a hot new horror game, Look Outside.

21:27 I mean, you know me, Dan Nation, I'm uh pretty impossible to scare,

21:30 but let's just say I don't think some RPG maker game is going to Oh.

21:39 OH.

21:40 CHAT.

21:40 CHAD, I WAS WRONG.

21:41 CHAT, I WAS WRONG.

21:42 I WAS WRONG.

21:43 CHAT, LOOK.

21:43 DUDE, DUDE, you just got to use the jump attack.

21:45 No, the jump attack.

21:46 This guy's super weak to it.

21:47 Trust me, he's so weak to jump attack.

21:49 Just do it.

21:50 It's like objectively correct, my man.

21:51 Like my whole chat is telling me just use the jump attack.

21:54 Just Yeah, there we go.

21:55 Jump attack.

21:55 Oh no.

21:56 No.

21:56 Flame belch.

21:56 Flame belch.

21:57 Oh god.

21:57 Cringe, dude.

21:58 Oh, you're so[ __] bad at this.

22:00 __] Oh my god.

22:02 Finally a decent party member.

22:03 I can tell me and Phipe are going to the moon with this one.

22:06 Dan N.

22:07 Uh, okay.

22:08 Uh, small channel update.

22:10 Uh, me and Phipe aren't going [music] to be working together going ahead.

22:13 Um, he's uh taking a break from social media.

22:16 Uh, wood, guys.

22:18 Uh, am I right?

22:20 Am I right?

22:20 Uh, uh, step on me, mommy.

22:22 [laughter] Uh, everyone here in the apartment

22:26 is is they're they're totally laughing, guys.

22:28 Uh, I um I don't think it's getting uh picked up on the mic.

22:31 Uh, it's got to be a glitch or something.

22:35 You know, Dan fans, I've been thinking maybe this isn't the regular sort

22:38 of Lovecraftian and horror experience that slips

22:40 into the easy trap of bleak nihilism,

22:42 but it's actually about how though even though the world seems

22:44 to be falling apart and people are changing in chaotic ways,

22:47 that we're still united by a common desire

22:49 to form communities and to understand each other.

22:51 And so long as we hold on to that, we'll always be oh my god,

22:55 poop for 20, thanks for the gift sub, dude.

22:57 Nice.

22:59 Uh, okay guys, another channel update.

23:01 I decided to look outside.

23:02 And yeah, I know the lamestream media keeps saying

23:06 you're not supposed to do that, but uh look,

23:08 uh the channel's been growing lately.

23:10 I've been growing lately.

23:11 Dan army, I'm going to be real with you.

23:12 I think it's time I started branching out.

23:14 And so from now on, uh I think I'm only

23:17 going to be taking donations in the form of bone marrow.

23:20 So, uh look guys, no, trust me, it's not going to hurt.

23:23 So, just hold still and then once I've eaten you,

23:25 we can both look outside together.

23:27 I mean, it is it's so beautiful, guys.

23:30 It's like 10 amaranths.

23:32 And then when you've looked into the giant eye in the sky,

23:34 finally you'll understand that we were all meant to be.

23:37 Oh[ __] Poof420 with another gift sub.

23:40 Oh, appreciate it, dude.

23:41 Well, there you have it.

23:43 20 games that you, yes you, should have played in the year 2025.

23:48 We've had some excellent strategy games, some great puzzlers,

23:51 some awesome retro throwbacks, and even some very heartfelt games indeed.

23:55 There have been a bunch of great games this year

23:57 and so picking out this list has been really really hard.

23:59 The original short list was like 80s something games long and I

24:03 was making changes to this list right up until the last minute.

24:05 So hopefully you found at least one game

24:07 that you've either not heard of before but sounds

24:09 cool or that you've been convinced to give

24:10 a go as a result of my idiotic rambling.

24:13 If all you take away from this whole thing

24:14 is an excuse to spend some money on the sales,

24:16 then as far as I'm concerned, it's a job well done.

24:19 Of course, if this list of 20 games isn't quite enough,

24:22 then I might know where you can find

24:24 another five games that you should have played,

24:26 and it's by supporting the channel.

24:28 Throw a few bucks my way, and in addition to the usual credits,

24:31 early access, and behind the scenes videos,

24:33 you'll also get an extra secret special reserve collection

24:36 of games that I really wanted to put in this video,

24:38 but couldn't quite squeeze in.

24:39 So, if you'd like to see them, give me some cash.

24:42 My supporters are the people who make this whole thing possible.

24:44 And so I very much appreciate any hypothetical

24:47 support that you might be willing to give.

24:49 But if I'm honest, I appreciate the very real

24:52 support of these fine people just a little bit more.

24:55 and they are agent Maxwell, Ali Wright,

24:58 [music] Andrew Lebrono, Ala 94, Baroness, Caroline,

25:02 Bobby Constantin, Amend, Cosmix 360, Daniel Medz,

25:06 Daniel Ersin, Durk, Jan Carbeld, Diglettier, Dell Ellie,

25:11 Ectton, Edward, Franklin Woods, [music] Edwina the Space Bun,

25:14 Eric Walston, Eugene, Bulkin, Fibaxi, Furious, Hulk, Gascll, How, Heckit, Noah,

25:21 I support trans rights, Jacob Dylan, Riddle, Jin,

25:24 oid Justin Dent Kevin help us combi leap year everyday Luke Kakorin Mason

25:33 54 Maxim Philipov Mark Valant may

25:36 contain fox-like [music] substance Mika oi Michael

25:39 Cike Oxong Mike Ox medium Nate

25:43 graph Oliver Marhoa Patrick Roberg Peter Thomasick

25:47 reedex regal wedex seslux silver fulfy

25:51 Tyler Duncan Timothus Beex sec Whimsical Wisp, Zack Brandt Meer, and Ciao.

25:58 Okay, see you next year.

26:00 I'm exhausted in case you can't tell from my voice.

26:02 Time to pass out for a week.

26:04 Bye.