The Pizza Shop Presents: The Pizza Party!
Celebrating The Games I Played in 2025
So, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do for my end of year wrap up every year. The process of reflecting on things continues to be important to me and I want to take some time to remember the games that really stood out to me. The games that I still think about, the games I spent hours playing with friends, the games that told a story that I needed to hear. So this year, I'm reflecting on and celebrating some of the video games I played, on stream and offline. The only criteria for a game making the list is that I saw the credits (at least one time, shoutout to games with multiple endings). These are just lil peeks into the games that I played. If you're a member and you'd like to hear more about any of the games, let me know in the comments! Also, if you're interested in any of the games, all the headers are clickable. With that, let's dive into the 2025 Pizza Party!
Categories
- Standout Game
- Favorite Roguelikes/lites
- Favorites to Play with Friends
- Best OSTs
- Favorite Story
- Favorite Arcade Game
- Hardest Game of the Year
- Surprise Games
- Favorite Games to Relax to
- Favorite Idle Game
- Favorite Deckbuilder
- Favorite Games I Returned to
- Games I Didn't Get to
Standout Game (I Suppose This is my Game of the Year Category, aka the Game I'm Still Thinking About)
Okay, so I’ve become a puzzle gamer. I don’t know when or how this happened, but it did. I had been intrigued by Cipher Zero ever since the first trailer and screenshots released because the art style and music vibes just seemed really cool. When I loaded it up, I had no idea that I would spend the next 29 hours taking screenshots, writing rules on notecards, and just trying to get to the next train station in the game.
Cipher Zero is a logic puzzle that slowly builds its rulebook as you play the game. You have to learn by doing in this game, there are no hints, there is no text, there’s just you and the logic puzzles trying to figure out what the game wants. I’m not going to go too much into the different rules because I do believe that this game is best discovered slowly on your own. As accessibility goes, there’s not a lot that this game gives. They want people to figure it out on their own or to look up YouTube videos when they just can’t get a particular rule. I definitely looked up a YouTube playthrough of this game, there’s still just one rule that I can’t quite wrap my brain around.
It’s been 4 months since I played this game and I still think about the way that I was so focused on this game and the way that it layered the rules of its puzzles together. It’s rare that I’ll do physical notes for a game (I’m too scared to play Blue Prince, so I haven't tried it), but I had a notecard where I wrote out what I thought all the rules were for the game. I’d highly recommend checking this out. Cipher Zero is definitely the game that I’ve thought the most about during and after playing it.
Favorite Roguelikes
I mean, it’s Hades II, it was always going to make it into my recap. I love Supergiant Games. Their art style is beautiful, their writing consistently draws me in, and Darren Korb is an incredible composer. Hades II dropped out of Early Access this year and the game feels so much better to play than in the early days. I spent a lot of hours trying to learn the different weapons, even surprising myself that the Charon Axe is one of my favorites (I don’t usually like big, slow weapons).
I think that I preferred the story of Hades to Hades II, but I still loved how big Hades II is. There are so many more characters to meet and so many ways to change up your run if you don’t always pick the same goddesses and gods. There are some returning characters and it’s good to see how they’ve grown (or haven’t changed) since the original. I’m excited to finish up the last of the prophecies that I need to complete and make friends with all the different people (I have so many gifts left to give). But this will be a game that will be added into regular rotation when I want something that just feels good to play. Who knows, maybe I’ll even try to set some new personal bests as I explore the new worlds.
This was a late year addition to the list. Aboslum dropped on Oct 9. It has 2 player co-op (would love if they could bump that up to 4 player one day, but I get it). I initially got it because a friend and I have been looking for a new game to play and I had heard nothing but great things about this game. A friend tested it out and they said it felt good to play, so I picked myself up a copy and I’ve been lowkey locked in ever since.
Absolum takes place in an original fantasy world that players slowly learn about as they attempt to fight Azra the Sun King and restore balance. Over the course of each run, you'll learn more about the world and the characters and discover what's really happening in Talamh. It's always refreshing to see games that explore completely new worlds and Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, and Supamonks did a really good job with the world that they built.
Favorite to Play with Friends
This was my second most played game this year, according to Steam lol. Ember Knights is best played in a Discord call with a group of friends who have a commitment to being goofy while you play. It's got a really fun combat system that starts with core weapons that each player chooses at the start of the run, solid color combinations to make sure that you are looking at the wrong character at least 4 times each run, and spells that fill the screen with so much chaos that sometimes it won't even matter if you can see your character at all.
Ember Knights is just fun to play. There's a story happening in the background where you're trying to fight both a guy who wants to become a god and the god of the world that the first guy is trying to usurp. But, you can also have a pet named Geo who absolutely wrecks enemies, hydras, and/or giant magic rocks that you can throw at enemies. The possibilities feel a bit endless.
Best OSTs
meltycanon has one of my most listened to video game OSTs for this year. When Spirit Swap said that they got lofi beats to match 3 to, they really meant it. There is just something fantastic about the OST that meltycanon made. Yes, it fits really well within the game, keeping you locked in to what's happening, but it also does a great job of helping me focus on different tasks.
Part of it is that there is also just so much love that was put into Spirit Swap by the entire team. The world is beautiful and filled with so many excellent characters, the game mechanics are easy to pick up and hard to master, and the game exudes joy. I'm also now besties with Pookie and it makes me so happy, I love them. I highly, highly recommend picking this game up because it's a celebration of so much and also the OST is excellent. Go play it.
This game not being more recognized for its soundtrack feels a bit like a crime. Even the game wants you to stop and listen. They put in a Steam achievement that's just to listen to the opening song from start to finish! They know they have something excellent here. ASADI made an OST that I just want to keep coming back to. I wish they'd release it on Bandcamp so I could just have it to play when I want to.
As a whole, Rogue Prince of Persia doesn't do a lot that's super new to the genre. The parkour aspect of moving through the levels feels great when it's active. The branching story tree is a really cool way of keeping track of how the story builds upon itself. Combat wise, it feels fairly similar to Dead Cells and games like it. I would generally recommend taking a look at the game, but even if you don't, you should find a way to listen to the music.
Favorite Story
I've thought about South of Midnight a lot since I started the game and eventually rolled credits on it. The story was unlike anything else that I played this year or ever, to be honest. The world of Hazel Flood is something to be appreciated. There’s a blend of wildly magical beings and creatures and stories mixed with the most mundane of things like getting a new pair of track shoes. The story kicks off quickly as Hazel must race to find her mom who was washed away with their house as a hurricane hits their town.
Over the course of the game, you meet such fantastic beings like a giant storytelling catfish, living trees, a mountain sized spider-woman and you explore how they fit into the world. This game is heavy about grief and the things that people will do to save (or harm) the folk that they care about. I don’t want to get too far into it because I think you should play it.
My one caveat is that South of Midnight was published under Xbox and they are currently being boycotted by the BDS Movement (you can read more about it here). While I highly recommend picking this game up and experiencing the magic that they created, I would also advise waiting until after the boycott has lifted.
Favorite Arcade Games
I love Xtris. Fletch Makes Games released it earlier this year and it's a great test of focus and button pressing dexterity. In Xtris, your goal is to try to collect the shape that pops up as quickly as possible. There's a leaderboard to show how you stack up against other Xtris players and there are very fun unlockables. For instance, the lil icon I'm trying to collect when the timer starts is a piece of pizza. This is a great way to pass the time on the Playdate if you have one.
I generally don't play a lot of arcade style games. I prefer titles that have a clear starting and end point (even when those points can be experienced many times like in roguelikes). However, I also respect a game that knows that its purpose is to give you something that's very easy to pick up and put down when you've got just a few minutes to play a round. I am cheating a lil with this game, I haven't yet rolled credits on it. But, as an arcade game, I've decided that it's okay lol.
Graceful Explosion Machine does exactly that. It reminds me of an evolved Galaga or something similar. You play as a lil ship making your way through different levels. Each level is set to loop through it until you're able to kill all the enemies either with style or, like me, panicking and running out of energy so you have to wait till you can fire your gun again. I spent a lot of time playing this on my Switch Lite before bed and have really had a great time with it.
Hardest Game of the Year
Alright, so Silksong almost didn’t make the list lol. My only criteria for this Pizza Party was that I had to roll credits at least once in the game. I did not think that I was going to be able to roll credits on Silksong before the end of this year. As the title of this section suggests, Silksong is difficult. Most of the enemies do double damage, the environment is out to kill you, there are approximately 1 million arenas, and the bosses are all doing the most (minus Cogwork Dancers, I love you Cogwork Dancers). Overall, I am still enjoying Silksong. I have rolled credits on the first ending (on December 28) and now I get to do a bunch of side quests and increasingly difficult fights in order to get to the other endings.
Silksong is a beautiful game. The art really draws you in and each area feels like you’re entering an entirely different world. There are a lot of religious overtones in the game, so be aware of that going into it. There’s basically a religious cult kidnapping Weavers for some reason (I haven’t discovered it yet because I think that’s locked behind a different ending). I love exploring the different areas, but good lord, I would love at least a couple of accessibility settings. There are so many flashing lights that make some attacks wildly difficult to see and, to be honest, I am in favor of sliding scale difficulty. I get that the game is supposed to be hard, but I do not think that it should feel impossible and sometimes Silksong really feels impossible. I’m really not sure that I would recommend Silksong to most people, tbh. It’s a solid game, but it demands a lot of the player in a way that sometimes feels unfun. It still makes my list of favorites for this year because I have accomplished a lot in the game, but good lord, this game is difficult.
Surprise Games
I’m gonna be honest with y’all. I’m not even really sure why I picked up Beyond the Long Night. I don’t really play twin stick shooters and I try to avoid bullet hell games because it gets way too difficult for me to see what’s happening on the screen. But let me tell you, I am so happy that I did. This was the most charming game that I played this year. In this game, you play a lil explorer homie who is trying to escape the mountain where people are trapped in an endless timeloop. You collect a bunch of silly power ups and meet a full cast of characters who are all trying to exist in the world as best they can. There’s an annoying child (literally named Annoying Child lol), a positive affirmations cow rancher, and more.
It took me a long time to get used to the controls and wrap my brain around what the game wanted me to do, but I truly think that’s because I’m just not as familiar with the genre. This game was so much fun, I spent a lot of time streaming it at the beginning of the year and probably more time playing it offline lol. There’s a story that you discover as you go through different attempts. But really, this game is charming and the most fun when you just try out the different power ups and essentially become a god.
I’ve started to really enjoy puzzle games; puzzle platformers in particular. I picked up Moonleap on a whim during a Steam sale and it was definitely one of my favorites this year. In Moonleap, you are tasked with navigating levels that change every time you jump. Sometimes, you’re asked to collect flowers. But mostly you’re trying to avoid hazards and make it through each level.
It’s a shorter game, taking me just about 3 hours to complete. I thought it was the perfect length. For folk who want to get 5 stars on every level, there is also a rating system based on how many jumps it took you to complete each level. I originally thought that the rating system was some sort of elaborate text puzzle that I would need for the end of the game. But it turned out that I was just doing poorly in each level lol. But what matters to me is completing each stage and I had a lot of fun doing it.
Games to Relax to
Do you want to play a game that’s about cleaning up after a company that lowkey ruined a planet and then dipped while also making friends with the cutest lil ocean homies? If yes, Loddlenaut is for you. I backed Loddlenaut on Kickstarter and was super excited when I finally had the chance to play it earlier this year. Loddlenaut is one of the cutest games that I’ve played. The lil loddles are precious and you can evolve them into different loddles depending on the food and environment they are raised in. I appreciate that the story doesn’t shy away from the fact that the company that you are cleaning up after really did a number on the planet before deciding that they wanted to go wreck a new planet. It felt good to play a game that was focused on restoring an area. It’s important for us to remember that, if we work for it, it is possible to fix some of the mess that we’ve made on our own planet.
This was another late addition to my game library this year. I have the physical board game as well, but I was really looking forward to a way to play with my friends online since it's usually a little easier to figure out our schedules for a game night. In Beacon Patrol, you're working together with the other players, or on your own, to explore tiles. On the Steam version, there are three different modes to play, the regular board game mode, an exploration mode, and a creative mode. So far, I’ve only tested out the board game and exploration modes, but I’ve really been enjoying it. The rules are easy to pick up, the goal is to explore tiles to score points. The way you explore tiles is by placing 4 tiles orthogonally, and different tiles score for different amounts of points. It’s a really chill, co-op game to play either solo or with friends through Steam Remote Play.
Favorite Idle Game
Okay, I’m cheating a little with this one because I’m not sure if it has credits that I could roll with this one lol. But this is one of the prettiest games that I played this year. I love that there is an active mode and an idle mode. I’ve learned again this year that it helps me focus to have something moving around on one of my screens while I do tasks. Cast N Chill is the perfect vibe for that. When I need to take a break from my task, I can put the game in active mode and do some fishing for myself, when I’m locked into work, I put it in idle mode and my homie will continue to catch fish (and have a better time than I am).
The pixel art is honestly a huge reason that I was drawn to this game. The world feels dynamic and goes through sunrise to sunset as you spend time fishing. The light changes really make the world feel more alive. If you love fishing minigames like I do, I would definitely recommend picking up Cast N Chill as a great way to spend an afternoon just fishing. As I was writing this, I saw that they are also coming out with local co-op and DLC early next year!
Favorite Deckbuilder
I love this game. You play as frogs who are trying to escape the dungeon. This game is more of a dice-builder than a deckbuilder, but the same principles apply. The player gathers dice that work together to defeat monsters and events to make your way out. It’s fun figuring out how to lay out the dice to best work together, while paying attention to how the enemies will respond to your different attacks.
The attempts do tend to be on the longer side. I usually spend about an hour on each attempt. But it doesn’t feel like that much time is passing as you play. It’s currently in Early Access and they’re constantly working on new additions to the game. Most recently, they added in a bunch of potions to use as you play, which is a fun new aspect of the game. I’m looking forward to seeing how the game continues to grow and what it will look like once it’s fully out of Early Access. If, like me, you are a fan of deckbuilders and also frogs, I would highly recommend picking this game up.
I fell into the Balatro trap at the beginning of this year. Y’all, I don’t even actually know anything about poker lol. But there I was, spending way too much time on Switch and iPad playing this card game. Balatro is an excellent way to spend an afternoon where you just want to watch the numbers go up as high as possible. It takes a decent amount of strategy as you try to figure out which order to have your jokers in and which cards or hands you want to invest in to make them better.
I convinced a few friends to try it out and they also got locked into the game. It was fun being able to talk to folk about the different decks that I was trying out (I committed to the Black and Yellow decks as the ones that I was trying to clear all the stakes with, don’t be like me, the Black deck is no friend to us). I still pick up Balatro every once in a while, but I am currently stuck on Gold Stake, so it’ll be a bit before I make any more progress on it. But it definitely makes the list for getting me to lock in for many hours in the first part of this year.
Games I Returned to
This game has a permanent spot on my PlayStation. I wasn’t really into a lot of skating games growing up. We didn’t really have video games in the house until I was in my double digits, I think. But when I first saw the trailer for OlliOlli World, I knew I wanted to pick this game up. It’s bright and colorful and has just the right amount of lock in to keep me engaged and not thinking about everything that’s going on. The music is mostly lo-fi to keep you company as you try to get through increasingly difficult levels.
My only real complaint with the game is that there is a distinct difficulty jump towards the end of the game where you’re just expected to start getting over 1 million points (not hyperbole) to beat the local high scores and I’m just not that good at the game normally lol. My other complaint is that the studio was closed and, to my understanding, no longer benefits from the sales of the game. Big companies gotta stop shutting down smaller game studios once they’re acquired. We’re losing so much of the talent and potential for new games because of greed. I’d love to see another OlliOlli game in the future, but that seems unlikely at this point.
Y’all, they’ve put so much love into this game. As I’m writing this, they’re working on adding another character to the game from their latest Kickstarter and they’ve recently released DLC where the proceeds go to help support an animal charity. The combat is some of the best out of any game that I have played and the pixel art is beautiful. I own this game on my PC and my Playstation and it is so much fun to just pick up and play. It’s also compatible with Steam Remote Play Together, so it’s a great time to load up with a friend. I will say that the amount of info that the game has for each of the spells and different pick ups can be a lil overwhelming if folk aren’t used to the game, so be prepared to either explain what’s happening or help folk pick a loadout.
This is a game that will probably also keep a permanent download on my PC and consoles. It’s a great game to pick up and play for just a run or two when you’ve got an hour to kill. I will warn you that it does usually take 40-60 mins to get through an attempt, which does sometimes feel a lil long. But by the end of the run, you usually do so much damage that you feel unstoppable. I’m still trying to get all of the different endings, so I’ll be playing this game for a while.
The Rest of the Games I Played this Year
To be honest, I didn’t play as many games this year as I thought I would. Getting a Steam Deck definitely helped me get through a few games that I don’t think I would have played otherwise. I liked all of the games that I played this year, even the ones that I haven’t had the chance to finish yet. So, in case you were curious, here’s the rest of the games that I played that didn’t get a lil more of a feature for the Pizza Party.
January
February
March
- Core Keeper
- Leap Year - March - Completed
- Naiad - Completed
- Dawnfolk
April
May
- Golf Peaks
- There's No Dragons - Completed
- Ship of Fools
June
- Monument Valley - Completed
- Raven Star - Completed
- Eternal Strands - Completed
July
- Lone Fungus - Completed
August
- Mainframes - Completed
- Frogsong - Completed
- A Short Hike - Completed
- Shovel Pirate - Completed
- Guilty as Sock!
September
- Hades
- Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores DLC - Completed
October
November
December
- Despelote - Completed
- Even the Ocean
- Frog Detective 1: The Haunted Island - Completed
- BALL x PIT
Games I Didn't Get to
I was gifted a few games and picked up a few games that I just didn't get the chance to play in 2025. These are the games from my backlog that I'm really looking forward to diving into in 2026.
A puzzle game that looks like it has a lot of charm and a cute story to go with it.
A Mesoamerican fantasy RPG with turn-based and real-time combat that tells a story of revenge.
This was my favorite Steam Next Fest Demo that I played this year. A clever puzzle game made of lil panickers.
A lil boat game where the goal is to clean up oil spills in the area.
A seek the difference game where you play as a robot with a broken lens.
That's it for the Pizza Party this year. Thanks for checking out all these games with me. I'm excited to see what 2026 brings us!
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