The year of 2025 has been absolutely amazing for gaming, and I am here for it. From new and interesting Otome to some amazing Indie hits, it’s been a stellar year.

Here are my top picks:

Dispatch: I know, not starting with E33 is shocking. But Dispatch is a wonderful game that has deserved all its recognition. In fact, this one may peak my top 10 games, ever. If you’re reading this, you are likely fond of story-rich novel-based games, and honestly, this one isn’t far from that. It’s an amazing, yet somewhat emotional story that has absolutely amazing comedy to it that knows when it’s time for comedic relief. If you’re not one for gameplay and just want to enjoy the story, that is also very possible with a tweaking of the settings. This is my favourite game of the year, and I would recommend checking it out, especially if you loved the old Telltale games.

Herdling: There’s a chance you may not have heard of this one, and if that is the case, I might have to tell you to check it out. It’s a wonderful, impactful adventure about a simple wanderer who finds some poor creatures lost and stranded. Your job is to guide them to safety as you navigate complicated and dangerous terrain. They trust you like their own, and bonding with them is a beautiful experience.

Illusion of Itehari: Unfortunately due to a rough year, I have not managed to dig into many Otome, especially not newer ones. Itehari, however, is one that I had managed to start diving into. I find the premise interesting, the characters have fantastic art, and some are very interesting. Otome switch enjoyers who don’t know of this one, it is worth checking out.

Honorable Mentions:

Clair Obscur Expedition 33: I am sure nothing needs to be explained here. A beautiful world, an amazing story and stellar combat system. Worthy of what it won this year. The only reason it’s not in my top picks, is I don;t think there’s anything I can tell you that you’re not already aware of. You’ll never regret playing this masterpiece.

Hades II: The sequel to what I consider my favourite game. Fantastic, fun, and a worthy successor.

CABALL: sunset hour: A surprising, yet welcome sequel to what was a great story to experience. I even mentioned in my review for the original CABALL, my need for a sequel!

Ardency: Heart of the Rebellion: While not released this year, Ardency is a nice indie Otome I tucked into late this year. It introduced me to a lovely character called Claudin, who is certainly one of my top Otome love interests.

Most Anticipated of 2026:

Lovebyte.exe is 100% up on my list to enjoy in the future. I’m a big fan of Nochi Studios and their visual novels, and I need to play more!

TOUCHSTARVED is one that I am sure we are all eagerly waiting on. With some delightful romance options, and a story that seems right up my alley. How could I say no?

With such a wonderful year, I cannot wait to see what 2026 brings. I already see many things on the horizon, be it visual novels or otherwise I cannot wait to get stuck in to.

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2026. I hope those hot love interests treat you well!

Even though I played a lot of otome games this year only one actually made it onto my list.

1. Mistonia’s Hope -The Lost Delight-: is the only otome game I played this year where I loved absolutely everything about it. Especially the MC Aprose I love a MC that has skills and doesn’t just run blindly into danger without preparation. The LIs were pretty great too but Ascot is the one that totally stole my heart. The rest of the games on my list aren’t technical otome games even though they’re love interests involved.
2. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar: Not a brand new game but a wonderful remake of the original I never got the chance to play. I literally had to chart out who I wanted to marry because I wanted to marry all the dudes in the village lol
3. Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma: To me Rune Factory is like a mix of farming sim but with some turn based action which is I felt like the game was basically made just for me lol. Guardians of Azuma definitely didn’t disappoint me the only downside to was that I felt like the game was kind of short. But other than that I absolutely loved the game. Literally couldn’t decide who to marry lol

For games that came out in 2025:

Comfort & Warmth was by and away my favourite. Streets ahead of anything else. The only other one I played that deserves highlighting came out in Dec 2023, and that was Dreamwalker. Excellent piece of drama with nice romance line if you chased it.

• Comfort & Warmth Review
• Dreamwalker Review

My top 5 games of this year are:

• Phantom of the Twilight – Phantom of the Twilight is a delicious otome set in 19th century London. A gruesome murder has been committed to someone you care about so you set out, with help to find the murderer, maybe also finding romance along the way.
  • Review
• The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) – Dive into this lore-rich VN inspired by Irish and Celtic myths in The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe). Meet the rival factions of the Seelie and the Unseelie Courts, while trying not to get intertwined in their ongoing trifles. Find friendship and maybe romance along the way.
  • It is in early access but what is there I adore so far.
  • Review
• Falling for Yaoguais – You thought you were applying for a job at an amusement park. Turns out it is a trap set by some powerful (yet handsome) yaoguais to lure humans as food…I knew those job benefits sounded too good!
  • An otome that took me by surprise but really enjoyed.
  • Review
• Eternal Glory (early access) – Nine years ago a curse inflicted you, a curse that took away everything and everyone you loved. Now returning to the scene you see three men observing the remains of your once childhood home. And not just any three men but heads of the Divine Organization. Wondering if they can help you rid yourself of this curse you decide to accept an invitation into the Divine Organization.
  • Gorgeous artworks, well done voice acting and a very compelling story. Eternal Glory despite being in early access is an easy recommendation.
  • Review
• Teddy’s Haven – You are “thee” shop all the mages and magical beings visit when in the town of Ursa to get all their magical needs.
  • This game has changed so much since I first reviewed it. It has so much magical charm. You can gather resources, craft magical items to sell, design your store, travel around the realm collecting items and meeting magical creatures. Truly a game not pass up for those that love some magic in their lives!
  • Review

Up and Coming stuff I am looking forward to in 2026:

I have some otome’s I have personally kick-started I am looking forward to and some others by some fave devs. My list includes Lost in Limbo, Dual Chroma, Imperial Grace, and Spell Candle. I enjoy the developer ENDYSIS very much and her gothic style of visual novels and art. Her upcoming The Last Winter Knight and Snow White Ashes are both on my list of want-to-reads.

For non-visual novels selections my most highly anticipated game of the new year is House Flipper Remastered. I am a huge House Flipper lover and this one tops my want list of 2026.

Top Game(s) of the Year:

Visual Novel/Romance-based:

1. Love and Deepspace
   • I haven’t played much otome games besides Love and Deepspace just because of how accessible it is and I just adore the 3D art style and animation. The game released Caleb earlier this year and the story just got even more exciting. Previously, the four characters released last year (2024) were quite linear in terms of personality: Xavier is the spicy but cute guy, Zayne’s the stubborn but mature one, etc. But Caleb’s arrival to the roster brought a more dynamic and complex personality. Caleb had a pre-existing yet ambiguous relationship with the player and Infold took advantage of that, letting players develop their own ideas throughout 2024. Thus his arrival on 2025, it played on that player “nostalgia” to drive the main story forward, showing the extent of the power of the primary antagonist of the game: creation and control. But of course, since it’s an otoge, there’s sprinkles of hope that the player can have a happily ever after with their husbandos. Besides that, Infold has released many new memories and outfits, showcasing not only graphical prowess but also animation quality. 
2. Homicipher
   • I only found out about Homicipher from a specific artist (iykyk). Technically it’s not an otome game but I’m going to put it here just because of a handful of “romance” ending and just because it’s a visual novel -and I didn’t play a lot of otoge this year. The game tickled my brain in the right places: problem solving and mystery. The art style is intense but yatsunagi’s writing made what’s supposed to be frightening monsters into likeable and adorable characters. It’s a quirky kind of game that places the player in the shoes of a “not-so-innocent” character, to escape or explore this other world accessible only to outcasts, most of whom are psychopaths. I love it just because of how unique it is and the characters were all adorable.
3. Date Everything!
   • I’ve only played the demo so I can’t say much besides that’s it’s definitely my top 3 visual novel/romance-based game of the year. What stood out the most to me was the movement mechanic: navigation in a 3D environment, which not a lot of romance-based games utilize. The cast includes mostly notable actors that you may recognize from games such as Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Genshin Impact, and Mass Effect. The art style is colourful and the story is iconic.

Other Games:

1. R.E.P.O
   • Absolutely obsessed with this game just because of how cute the little semibots are. The little voice modulators and the effects makes for a lot of funny moments with friends. The arrival of the monster update reminded me that this was also a horror game. I just love how the developers are so passionate about their game, creating mini skits and not to mention the trailer was fully handmade, that’s dedication.
2. Shadows of Doubt
   • I’m just a sucker for detective games. I’ve put off purchasing shadows of doubt just because of the gameplay screenshots which looked so complicated and cluttered. But after purchasing the game on sale I was obsessed. The game truly places the player in the shoes of a private detective. The strength of the game lies in its uniqueness and how manual everything is, the weakness lies in the NPC interactions where everything is limited to a set of dialogue that sometimes may not be applicable. Regardless, I still find myself wanting to return to the dystopian world of Shadows of Doubt. The game was recently updated in September 2025 with added gameplay, which makes me hopeful that the devs plans to add more or perhaps work on a sequel that could expand the world and/or add factions or NPC relationships, I’d love to have an informant that I could pay to collect witnesses or information I may have missed.
3. Best Served Cold
   • I’ve only recently come upon this after playing Shadows of doubt -consider it my detective-phase. The game, at its core, is a visual novel with added gameplay mechanics that contributes to the aesthetics and the fun factor. The game is set in an alternate world that’s reminiscent of the 1920s prohibition era. You meet beautiful and interesting characters, get to know them, and solve a crime to help your fellow detectives who may or may not be in your best interest. The game is an underrated gem with passionate developers, I highly recommend checking it out!

Most Anticipated Game for 2026:

• Paralives
  • I’m a sucker for life sim games, I bought Inzoi and am thoroughly enjoying it, especially the Cahaya DLC, but as many have said, it left a lot to be desired for a life sim game. I’m looking forward to the creativity and player-friendly core of the game.

So I have not really finished many games this year since I did not have much chance to play any games. I think I’ve only played maybe 9 games total and finished 2 of them. Out of the two games I did finish, I would say 1 of those was in my top picks:

• CABALL: sunset hour
  • I loved the first game and was so excited when this game came out, that I just had to play and finish it right away. I do hope the dev decides to come back to the game and story world at some point, because there are still plot points left unsaid.
  • Review

Some of the games I did play this year, but have yet to finish:

• Pokemon Legends Z-A
  • When I first got the game, I was having an absolute blast with it. I’ve not been up to date with the Pokemon games, so it’s been awhile since I’ve really played one. I don’t really care for the game mechanics of this game specifically for many reasons, but I was having fun with some of the story elements and characters. I don’t think this game would have ended up on my top picks list, but from what I’ve played it’s been enjoyable. I’m in the current grind of trying to get 1000 battles in for the Shiny Charm.
  • At this moment in time, I have no interest in the DLC. The story for it might be fun, but from what I’ve seen for the gameplay parts, I just don’t really have the need to play it now (especially for $30).
  • It runs surprisingly well on the original Switch.
• Illusion of Itehari
  • I’ve only played about maybe halfway through my first route (Tobari). It’s not been bad so far. I do enjoy the setting and characters, but for some reason, it just feels kind of middle ground? It’s not really grabbed my attention (aside from the art) or given me any kind of spark so far. I’m hoping that’ll change, but only time will tell as I get the time to play through the game.
• B-PROJECT RYUSEI*FANTASIA
  • I loved watching the B-Pro anime because of the characters and have been wanting to give this game a play for the past year and a half. I’m only a few hours in (it seems like a very long game and has two endings that split basically in the beginning), but I’ve enjoyed the story so far. It is a bit slow, but a lot of this game really does shine.

Games that released this year that I want to play, but didn’t have the chance:

• Criminally Yours
  • Yandere…need I say more?
• FREEDOM WARS Remastered
  • I played this game back on the Vita and although I never finished it back then, I’ve been really excited to play this game again so when it got a remaster released it was an obvious buy for me. Hopefully I’ll be able to play it soon.
• Dark Nights – Reflections
  • I’ve yet to play the base game for this as I was waiting for this DLC to release first. This is on my list of games to play in the new year, as I’m super excited for it. Hopefully I’ll get to it in January or February.
• Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
  • I loved Rune Factory 4 and this game really piqued my interest when it released. I hope that I can get a chance to play it sooner than later. Although I’m not sure if I’ll get this on Steam or wait until I get a Switch 2 and play there.
• Road to Empress I
  • I’ve never played an FMV game. They’ve never quite interested me, but when this one released, there was something about it that really grabbed my attention. The reviews seem to be quite positive as well, so I’ll be excited to give this one a try some day.
• Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter
  • So I do own the original version of all 3 Sky chapters, yet I’ve never played them. Then they announced the remaster for the games, and I figured I’d hold off. I’m still considering playing the original versions too, but I’ll need to do some research into if it’s really that different or not. Supposedly the 2nd Chapter is going to release next year too.

Most Anticipated Game Releases of 2026:

• Salvus Aries
  • I backed this one on Kickstarter, so I’ve been eagerly anticipating this one for awhile after every backer update comes out. Hopefully it shouldn’t be too too much longer until it’s full release. I’m going to assume it’ll be sometime during the middle-half to later part of the year, with a better guess at Q4, but it is kind of hard to fully tell at this moment. Either way, I can’t wait.
• Chromatic Agape
  • Character customization, villains, yanderes, this game really speaks to me and I’m so excited for it to fully release.
• Hakuoki SSL
  • I’m so excited that this is finally getting an officially release after all this time. I actually bought the game to play the fan-patch for the Vita a good while back, but never got around to it. Now I don’t have to mess with it on my Vita, although I may have bought the JP Vita version for nothing, lol. I don’t know much about the game aside from the setting, but I am a big Hakuoki fan. It was one of the first reverse harem anime that I discovered and learned it was based off a game and it sent me down the spiral that is otome (that and Amnesia). I can’t wait to give this game a go.
• Homura: The Crimson Warriors
  • As a fan of Hakuoki and these kind of settings, this one getting an English localization definitely gets me hyped up and excited to play it. I’ve not looked too much into it, but the art, characters and settings have already sold me on getting it around release.
• OVER REQUIEMZ
  • I really like darker settings and the Wizard of Oz was one of my favorite movies as a child. I really enjoy the setting and also enjoyed the game Ozmafia, which is an Oz sort of setting as itself. Having a game full of yandere’s is just an instant buy for me. This is probably my most highly anticipated game for 2026. I’ve not looked more into the game to avoid spoilers, but man am I so excited.

There are so many more games I can add to these lists, but I had to choose so that I didn’t go on and ramble too long and make this page already even longer than it is. But man, there’s just so many good games that released this year and that will release next year.

I rarely play games when they first release, so most of what I played this year probably isn’t new to other people. Of the top five I listed, only #3 was released in 2025. Still, I’d like to share what was new to me this year.

Top Games:

1. Your Turn to Die -Death Game by Majority-
   Here’s a game where early access has been done right. Chapters for this have been released over the past handful of years. Only one is left, and since it’s supposed to come out soon (according to the dev at least), anyone who hasn’t played it yet might be best off waiting. That being said, I started it early in the year when there was no ETA for the ending, and I don’t regret it. Honestly, even if the last chapter never came out, I wouldn’t regret it. I’ve already gotten way more than my money’s worth from what already exists.
   • A lot of people say that if you like Danganronpa, you’ll like Your Turn to Die. That’s not an unfair comparison, but Your Turn to Die stands so strongly that it doesn’t need Danganronpa comparisons to bolster it. It takes the essence of Danganronpa’s plot (a bunch of people trapped in a closed environment and being urged to kill each other) and changes it into something new. Here, a group of people is being forced to play a different kind of death game. Each stage of the game leaves no room for negotiation: at least two people are doomed to die. Knowing that not all of these characters are going to make it to the end is devastating because they are all written so well. It is so rare for me to say this, but I like every single character in the main cast. Compare that to Danganronpa, where there are some characters I absolutely despised mixed in with outstanding ones. Your Turn to Die‘s cast has plenty of flaws, yet for me, their complexity makes them all stand strong.
     
   • The gameplay expands with each chapter, showing the developer getting more and more creative as the game goes on. That being said, it’s a visual novel at its core. There are some choices that absolutely matter and change the course of the story. This gives it some great replayability on top of everything else. The music’s rad, especially during the elimination games. While the graphics have an anime style to them, they’re distinct as well, and the coloring in particular is striking. I like the sprite work as well, especially when it lends to some of the more horrifying moments. Speaking of which, there are some jumpscares in this game. I normally hate jumpscares, but they’re used quite effectively here. If you have trouble with jumpscares but still want to play this, it’d be easy enough to have someone (heck, I could if anyone’s interested) list where they occur for proper preparation. Otherwise, as a certified “jumpscares are cheap and I mostly hate them” person, know they’re not just thrown in for quick horror here.
     
   • Your Turn to Die has cemented itself as one of my favorite games of not just this year, but all time, and I highly recommend it to anyone even slightly interested. Heck, I even cosplayed my favorite character from it this year! I’m not sure how I’ll feel about the final chapter when it comes out, but it would have to massively drop the ball to make me feel any less about the game overall, and I have faith the dev is going to close things out well.
2. Gnosia
   First things first, let me clarify that this game is absolutely not for everyone. It has a gameplay loop that many wouldn’t find entertaining. I gravitated toward it and found it oddly addictive, which I honestly didn’t expect. Still, if you’re interested in giving Gnosia a go, I recommend trying it on Steam so that you can refund it within the first two hours if it doesn’t click. Sadly it doesn’t seem to have a demo or I’d point toward giving that a go instead.
   • The concept behind Gnosia is to have a one-person Mafia/Werewolf game. Each ’round’, your character is either a human or a Gnosia. If you’re a human, you try to figure out who in the crew is a Gnosia before you (and ideally your other companions) are murdered by said Gnosia. If you’re a Gnosia, you attempt to get other humans to be accused of being Gnosia while killing crew members each night. Unlike a multi-person game, there are skills and strategies you can use against the AI that make certain lines of play more viable. I wouldn’t say that someone who loves Mafia/Werewolf will necessarily love this. The social interactions and adapting against real people is a different ball game. However, if someone likes the game structure and enjoys strategizing against the computer (which I did), then Gnosia‘s gameplay is quite fun.
     
   • I’m not going to say anything about the characters and story. Gnosia has a unique way of portraying both and I feel it’s best to go in blind. The music’s quite nice, though there aren’t that many tracks, and I absolutely love the artwork. It’s a gorgeous style that has a great mixture of bright and soft colors. I’m pretty bad at describing art, so I’m not sure what to call this style, but it’s one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of the game.
     
   • Gnosia is harder to recommend to people without knowing their gameplay tastes, but it’s one I loved and am happy to put in my number two slot for games I first played this year. There is also an anime, which I’m glad is at least giving exposure to the game. I haven’t actually seen it yet because I always feel nervous about game-to-anime adaptations, but given the story structure, it COULD be really well-suited for an episodic structure. Here’s hoping they do it justice; I’ll check it out at some point.
3. FriendShapes
   Yes, really. I may not have gotten to finish my review for it yet due to life being ridiculous this year, but I assure you, the game deserves more attention than it gets. Well, from the right crowd, at least. FriendShapes is a bizarre RPG that makes me think of games like Earthbound, LISA, OFF, No Delivery, and Undertale. I’m not comparing the stories or characters directly to those, and in no way am I saying fans of those will love FriendShapes. My point is that they all have this strange air to them that sets them apart from other games. It’s very hard to describe without experiencing others in this ‘genre’. They can be a huge hit or miss. For me, FriendShapes is a hit.
   • You play as a character who is in a bizarre world that has distorted areas. You have to go into those areas to learn more about the setting and what your end goal is. The story is not laid out for easy consumption. If anything, it might frustrate players due to being obfuscated in a lot of ways. I feel the story answered enough questions to satisfy me while leaving other parts to my imagination. It does mean that I can’t give an easy summary though. Some of the side characters really hooked me, that much I will say.
     
   • The graphics capture the atmosphere of this dark and unsettling world beautifully. I especially loved the designs of the creatures you run into. Each Shape is distinctive in appearance, though even more than that, the soundtrack makes them stand out. Every one of these Shapes (which you face in ‘encounters’) have their own music, and that music gives them a lot of personality all on its own. The Shapes also have different ways to interact with them. For example, you could run into a wounded Shape and help mend its injury, or you could mess up and cause it to run away, most likely bleeding out elsewhere. That’s a benevolent Shape; not all of them are, and they can get very freaky very quickly.
     
   • Hopefully I’ll have my full review of this submitted soon. That’ll go into more depth and help readers decide if FriendShapes is a game they might find interesting. As for me, I’m grateful that this was the game I picked out of the list I was given. It left an unforgettable impression and is a game I want to point more eyes toward.
     
4. Collar×Malice
   Oh my GOSH it was hard to decide whether to put this in slot three or four. FriendShapes is such a different game from Collar×Malice that it’s like comparing apples to carrots. My guess is 99% of otome fans would prefer Collar×Malice by a landslide. I put FriendShapes above it primarily because of how unique it is and how much it’s remained buried in my mind. This is a favorites list after all, not a ‘order of how I’d recommend these to people in this group’ list.
   • I’ve been wanting to play this otome for ages. I finally got to do so this year. It’s my second favorite otome that I’ve played so far (Cinderella Phenomenon being my first). My love interest order is Shiraishi>=Kei>Sasazuka>Enomoto>Yanagi, but this is the rare otome where I actually liked all the love interests to some extent. Yanagi falls last just because I found him less interesting than the other four (not helped by his route being the dullest of the lot). I cried during the routes of the top three I listed. That may not be saying much since I cry a lot at stories, but I was very invested!
     
   • Everyone else here has probably already played this, so I don’t see much point in saying a lot else. Just in case, I’ll give a short story summary. The heroine, a rookie police officer, gets caught by a terrorist organization and has a poison-filled collar placed on her. The only way she can get the collar off is by working with five hawt dudes-erm, fellow officer-or-related-to-the-law-enforcement guys. Their mission is to bring down the terrorist organization. Yes, the terrorists are forcing her to… try and catch them. It makes sense in context.
     
   • The heroine does things in this VN, so good for her, she gets a high ranking on my heroine list. The side characters had me invested, especially in Enomoto’s story. The character designs are great, I liked the music (especially during the summary scenes), and the translation had… uh… more typos than I want to admit. Sadly, that seems to be more of an industry standard at this point. At least I only got pulled out of the story a handful of times by those mistakes; that’s more than I can say for some mainline otome games.
     
   • Collar×Malice has a setting and characters that really gelled with me, and that puts it above most other otomes for me. If an otome lover here hasn’t tried it yet and has a sliver of interest or more, then get to playing it! It’s a staple for a reason. I’ve got the fandisc and plan to play that in 2026, though given some things I’ve heard about the translation, I’m a bit worried about that one. Guess we’ll see how it goes!
     
5. Cassette Beasts
   I’m a sucker for creature collectors. Growing up with Pokémon, Digimon, and Magi Nation locked me into that genre for life. I haven’t played many indie games of the like, but of what I have played, Cassette Beasts is my favorite. It takes the essence of Pokémon and transforms it into something that stands on its own. This comes with its share of positives and negatives, but the former outweighed the latter for me.
   • The mechanics of Cassette Beasts have a lot of interesting elements. The most obvious, if to judge by the title, is that you use cassette tapes to copy the monsters you run into. This allows the player character and their party members to transform into the monsters. As such, you aren’t capturing and raising creatures, but becoming them and fighting as a transformed being. If you like the bonding experience of specific creatures (as I do), then that element isn’t here. Transforming is pretty darn rad though. As a sort of way to make up for the lack of monster friendship, you get to bond with your party members in social link-style scenes. You also can choose a party member to romance, which includes gay relationships if you so please.
     
   • Other cool variations of classic creature collectors include stickers, the elemental chart, and bootlegs. First, stickers give your monster forms moves and can be swapped between tapes. This lets you change strategies on the fly, especially since each tape has seven sticker slots to experiment with. Second, the elemental chart isn’t a straightforward damage increase or decrease. It has chemical reactions instead. Some examples include: Fire causing Plastic to change its type to Poison, Metal causing Ground’s defense stat to go down, and Air being used three times on Glass causing it to shatter and die instantly. Third, bootlegs are variations of monsters that have different elements, meaning you can theoretically find a copy of any monster as any element that you wish. I loved these ideas; they really separated this game from the crowd.
     
   • The story was basic but nice. There are boss monsters that are extremely freaky to look at, something that I definitely didn’t expect going into this bright and vibrant world. I liked all of the party members to at least some extent, even if I feel like they could’ve used more development. One of my favorite parts is the music, which is absolutely phenomenal. The regular music would already make this one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard, but they go beyond that with the vocals that occur when you fuse. Oh yeah, fusion is part of this game too. Enjoy the 16,900 combinations you can make, some of them are neat while others are absolutely hideous!
   • Cassette Beasts is absolutely worth picking up if you like creature collecting. If you’re looking to get into the genre, I’d say it’s a good starting point, especially with it having a lot of clear tutorials and a nice learning curve. It’s got enough content to keep you busy for a long time. Also, Pombomb is best boy, I will not accept debate on this matter.

Honorable Mentions:

1. Illusion of Itehari
   I’m only a route and a half into this one so far, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played of this otome. The route I finished, Tobari’s, involved the entertainment district, basically getting into how prostitution is relied on by ‘criminals’ of this dystopia and is looked down upon by the upper class for multiple reasons. It’s not a subject I see often in these kinds of games, and I found it to be an interesting starting point for the world building. Tobari himself landed in the ‘love interest I liked but probably won’t be my favorite’ category. I’m only partially through Awayuki’s and have three more routes after, but I’m eager to continue… mostly. I already hate one of the love interests (Yori) and I doubt his route will change that, but hey, four out of five love interests I want to see the stories of is a good ratio for this sort of thing.
2. Old Skies
   This is the newest point-and-click adventure game from Wadjet Game Studios. The dev of the Blackwell series (my favorite point-and-click adventure game series, period) made it, so I am sure I’ll love this one. The clarification here is that I only played a bit of it so far while it was in beta. I was able to help with a bug discovery and wrote up some thoughts I had on the plot as far as I got, but I haven’t actually given the completed game any time yet. Still wanted to shout it out because what I did play in the (mostly finished) beta was already great!
3. Zero Escape: The Nonary Games
   This is the first two from the trilogy of Zero Escape games. I played through the first game in the series, only to have my computer die before I could finish the second. Absolutely loved the first, though the computer version does miss out on a crucial thing that only the DS can portray. I was enjoying the second as well, but don’t want to rank it in my favorite games due to not finishing it yet.

Rapid-Fire Other Good Games That Didn’t Make It But You Should Play Them If You Like These Genres:

• A Little to the Left
  • Lots of fun puzzles here. My OCD brain enjoyed it, though some answers were a bit obtuse to me.
• Adios
  • The perfect way to be a pig farmer working for mafia body disposal. Why? Your character’s bound to die, but you won’t, so you get all the benefits of his crushing guilt without being murdered!
• Buckshot Roulette
  • Like gambling with some added strategy due to item usage? Cool, play this. It’s addictive, and shooting the creepy-as-heck dealer is very satisfying.
• The Letter
  • Good horror VN with tons of choices. Definitely not for those who dislike playing horror. Enjoyed the number of characters you follow and the various outcomes.
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
  • An interesting enough ‘walking simulator’. Worth a playthrough if you enjoy story-based ‘walking simulators’. Has some recreation scenes due to being a detective.
• Unpacking
  • Super relaxing puzzle/house set-up simulator that tells a surprisingly noteworthy story through some words and many objects.
• What Remains of Edith Finch
  • Most unique ‘walking simulator’ (gosh we need a better term for these types of games) that I’ve ever played. I was fascinated by this one. Absolutely recommended to anyone who’s even remotely fine with the genre.

Only Play These If You Really Want a Good Laugh:

• No Recollection
  • WHY is this VN like twenty hours long? The answer is that three-fourths of the dialogue are the MC repeating himself multiple times. No kidding, there was at least one part where he said the same thing three times in a row in different ways. The visuals are hilarious and the story has some bonkers moments, but it’s not worth the slog (unless you’re streaming for someone, like I was, which kept me sane as I ranted at the length).
• The Lucius Trilogy (Three separate games, just putting them in one place together)
  • The demake is not included because that’s actually a decent puzzle game. These games are unintentionally hysterical and worth watching a playthrough of if you want to see a creepy six-year-old kill NPCs in over-the-top fashions. All of them land in So Bad It’s Good for me (yes even the third one).

Worst Game of the Year Thanks I Hate It:

• Raccoon the Miner
  • Terrible version of Picross, doesn’t make pictures and can’t be solved logically at times. Also has an achievement that takes way too many hours. The raccoon is creepy, blow it up please.

Most Anticipated Games of 2026:

1. OVER REQUIEMZ
   I love retellings of fairy tales/stories in a similar vein. Wizard of Oz-based otome with extremely dark themes? Well, to be fair, the original Wizard of Oz was pretty darn dark, but I’m all for this. I’m curious to see if my prospected favorites (Molly and Kaize) will actually be said favorites.
2. Volontés
   I backed this one, so I’m looking forward to seeing it! I’ve been deliberately avoiding information to go in as blind as I can, so that’s all I can say right now.
3. The Second Reproduction… maybe?
   Is this coming out in 2026? I have no idea. I never played the original and have been interested in it for a while, so hearing it’s getting a remake with a potential English translation puts this on the list hypothetically. If it’s going to be later than 2026, then my excitement will just have to wait.

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Thanks for reading my rambling! Happy holidays and here’s to a great upcoming year!