Well, truth be told, I haven’t played that many games that released in 2025. After filtering my Steam library through SteamDB, it appears I’ve only bought eight games that released last year – one of which was a freebie, another was some random Humble Steam key from a bundle I bought, a third that I barely even touched.

I often wait for a game to go on a substantial discount before I splurge. That being said, even though this list might not be as packed as the years of 2023 or 2022, it’s still a list nonetheless.

3. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4⌗

Thankfully, unlike it’s predecessor, THPS 3+4 released simultaneously on Steam with its EGS counterpart, and it doesn’t have the always-online requirement like THPS 1+2 has with the EGS version. There’s honestly not much to say here; it’s just the same HD re-skin that was applied to THPS 1+2, without any new content. Seems like some folks though have lamented that the remake has sort of destroyed the semi-open world nature that the original THPS 4 version had, without the two-minute run.

Additionally, for those of you that dislike AI, well…

Our team uses generative AI tools to help develop some in game assets.

In-game assets like what, though? Naturally, the Steam store page doesn’t comment any further on this.

Still, I miss the old THPS games, and I’m glad to see the big corpos at Activision not leave 3 and 4 behind.

2. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds⌗

This is one of those releases where it’s like, “Why support the greedy a-holes at the Big N when you can just get the same thing on a different platform, with different characters and cross-platform multiplayer?”

Although, I’m not going to lie – Sega has kind of milked its Sonic racing formula a few times over the past decade-and-a-half too. This is the fourth entry in the series. It’s also not the first attempt at trying to tie-in third-party characters. That being said, CrossWorlds is a worthy contender this time. It’s a bit difficult to describe the driving mechanics. But it just feels and plays like a solid kart racer. Plus, the return of the hover boards from the Sonic Riders series, as well as customization of your vehicles – from the individual parts that affect various racing attributes, to their colors – gives you incentive to continue to play the game after putting in a few hours. I love that they added Hatsune Miku as a free update – she’s my favorite go-to character.

A caveat, however, is there’s no proper story mode here. The closest thing you’ll get here is a “rival” for you to fight against for first place for each Grand Prix. And, seeing as this game is backed by the head honchos over at Sega, naturally the game is DRM-ridden with Denuvo. So no playing this with Kazeta, unfortunately.

1. Lego Party!⌗

I brought this game to a friend’s house a few nights ago. I should have recorded the moment where one of my friends was crying from laughing so hard. The reason for the laugh? My other poor friend was getting robbed of his studs by a bunch of monkeys attacking him.

This game is hilarious. The in-game commentary is pretty funny too, although at times it can be a bit cringe-y (“Are we gonna have to kiss the contestents to bring these frogs back to their Lego form?”). The voice acting is pretty decent for what it’s worth, from the item-seller lady in a hot dog costume that sounds like Baby Prunes from SpongeBob, to the James Bond-esque agent that steals studs or golden bricks from your rivals. It’s half the price of Super Mario Party Jamboree - Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV (I’m already getting a headache just trying to type the whole name for that out). And why settle on a franchise that’s constantly getting milked every year with some slightly different variations, when you can just get an alternative that’s available natively on PC, with crossplay, with free updates, without paid DLC?

Like CrossWorlds, though, there’s no story mode. That would have been a nice touch that some of the older Mario Party games had.

Other Noteworthy Contenders⌗

Metroid Prime 4 finally came out, only after 18 years since the release of Prime 3. I’m going to hold back my opinion on this game for now, as I may come back to it later with a dedicated review.

A Note Regarding the Commenting System⌗

Just thought I’d provide a quick update on the commenting system that LGC currently uses. It uses Cactus Comments. Unfortunately there are some issues going on with it right now; hence why no one can currently leave a comment on any of my posts. I am silently praying that the maintainer of the project eventually gets the backend working again, because there have been many precious comments of yours that I want to keep. Until then, I am looking into alternative commenting solutions.