Every January, we each pick our choice for Game of the Year and discuss what exactly made it stand out above the rest.  But this is the very first year since the tradition began that I, well…I didn’t play any new games.  Sure, I did play a lot of games.  Just none that were released in 2025.  And it wasn’t for lack of options.

Last year, Delatrune chapters 3 and 4 were released.  And although I had been following the game since Chapter 1 and was quite curious where the story was headed, the release came and went.  For whatever reason, I didn’t bother to play either chapter, nor did I watch playthroughs online.  Maybe someday.  Maybe…  And then, after years and years of waiting, we also saw the release of not one, but two, long-anticipated games, Hollow Knight: Silksong and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.  These should have been a huge deal.  And they were…for everyone else.  But me.  I’ll probably get Silksong someday.  I’m just not in the mood for a really difficult game right now.  As for the latter…

Well, you see, I’ve been hearing word that Metroid Prime 4 is not the sequel we’ve all been waiting for.  There’s been backlash concerning some rather…chatty NPC’s, many people don’t enjoy the open desert portion, and…you know, none of that even matters.  Because, in all honesty, I don’t think I would have bought the game had it been the greatest Metroid game the world has ever seen.  A big reason for this is due to the fact that I just can’t bring myself to spend $70 on a video game.  I did it once before with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.  The game is massive, I figured, and I’ll get my money’s worth.  But I didn’t.  TotK was…fine.  But after already exploring this massive iteration of Hyrule back in Breath of the Wild, I found myself deeply regretting the money I spent on TotK.  I haven’t regretted the purchase of a game so much since I bought some of the Kingdom Hearts handheld spinoffs.

Now, I know I’m not the only one.  A lot of people these days can’t justify the price tag of modern, AAA games.  Of course, the poor economy is partly to blame.  And game prices rising to $70 or even $80!  (Why, it feels like just yesterday that I was wrapping my mind around $60 games, after an entire childhood spent paying $50.)  The good thing is, while AAA gaming is starting to become too expensive for the average person, indie games are far cheaper and are often higher quality.  Over the years, I’ve managed to buy, and play, far more games than I used to when games only cost $50.  And yet, that doesn’t really explain why I passed on Deltarune or Silksong, does it?

The other major issue, that is solely a “me issue”, is life.  My life has, frankly, been in turmoil for the last couple of decades.  Major advances have been made in recent years, yes, but I am still definitely not where I want to be.  Nevertheless, every day that passes is a day closer to the future I long for.  And as I look forward to that bright, beautiful future of mine, my view of gaming has changed.  Gaming has gotten me through a lot of hard times.  As a child, sometimes fictional characters were my only friends after another long-distance move where my real friends were, once again, left behind.  It makes sense why I might have a closer relationship with video games than even the average gamer.

But I also want more out of life.  For so much of the past few decades, I’ve had little to look forward to but the next game release.  But now, there’s been a shift.  I want a new home.  A new community.  New relationships.  And as my mental state grows to one day accommodate a life beyond what I ever could have hoped and dreamed for, my relationship with video games has changed.  Their priority has been lowered, while my love for them has simultaneously stayed the same.  Paradoxical perhaps, but true.

Do I still want video games to follow me into my new life?  Absolutely.  I love the old games I cherish.  And of course, I’d love to discover new favorites.  But why spend $70 on a single experience when I could have bought multiple indie games for the same price?  Or when I could have…gone out to eat with a friend or bought some paint to decorate the walls of my future house or spent the day at a local amusement park.  When I could have taken a walk through nature for free or gotten an ice cream and just sat on a bench somewhere, enjoying the weather.

The great thing is, I don’t have any regrets.  I’m not looking at the price tag for Metroid Prime 4 and shaking my fist and lamenting, oh, if only I had more money.  If only, if only…  I’m currently at a place in my life where I lack a lot of things I want.  And a $70 video game that I’ll spend 10 hours on, or even 100 hours, might be something I lack, but it’s not something I want.  When I’m 80-years old, do I want to look back on my life and remember fondly the people I spent time with or the varied experiences I enjoyed…or when my life flashes before my eyes, do I want to see a still image of a TV screen as various games speed across its surface?

With that said, I do still play games.  And I’m sure that the 80-year old me that I envision reminiscing over my past will still find time to pop in a disc or cartridge into some ancient, well-loved console after a wonderful day spent outdoors with friends instead of on a couch or in front of a computer screen.  But enough speculating about my future.  Let’s reminisce about how I spent 2025 as far as gaming is concerned.

Well, let’s see here…I caught up on a few FNAF games I had been missing out on.  I played The Talos Principle and pondered over what it means to be human.  I enjoyed the colorful, medieval beauty of Trine 1-3, and I enjoyed the teamwork of two yarn buddies in Unravel 2.  I decorated vacation homes in the Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC, Happy Home Paradise, ranging from the elegant to the silly.  (You want a “sad cafe”, Naomi, well then it’s getting a bathroom of nothing but squat toilets!)  And I revisited some of my all-time favorites in the form of Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, where a boy in size 20 shoes saves the worlds from darkness with the help of Donald Duck and Goofy.

That’s right, 2025 was a great year for gaming.  And I didn’t play anything new, and I barely spent any money.  What matters, though, is the quality of our experiences, not the price of said experiences or how modern they might be.  After all, they say the best things in life are free.  And sometimes, the best games are indie ones that periodically go on sale for $5.