2025 champions of the backlog
So many good games, so little time to play them! Sometimes, the backlog can fall by the wayside when focus shifts to big new releases, and this year, there was no shortage of them. Thankfully in 2025, I was able to push through and get to a fair number of games I've been wanting to play for years now. But when it comes time to celebrate the best games of the year, should backlog titles be ignored just because they were released in a prior year? I certainly don't think so. They deserve their moment in the spotlight because, in some cases, these games accounted for some of the best experiences of the year, right alongside my personal game-of-the-year contenders. So, here are the top five games from my 2025 backlog.
#5 - Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the definition of a game in time. Picture this: It's 2020, and Covid-19 has just locked everyone in their homes for the foreseeable future. So, what better time for Nintendo to release a game designed from the ground up to transport you to an Island Paradise so that you can forget about the chaos of the outside world? Even without the pretense of the pandemic, ACNH would have sold gangbusters on the power of its storied legacy alone. Back in 2020, I played this game like it was my job. However, slice-of-life games were never really my thing, so eventually, I moved on from it. But even still, it remained a game that I constantly found myself wanting to return to; I just needed a compelling enough reason to do that. That reason came in June of 2025 when the Switch 2 thundered onto the scene. While I bought the Switch 2 for Kirby AirRiders, I decided to fill the time before that game's launch by jumping back into ANCH. In 2025, ANCH became my podcast game. My game to relax with after a long day at work. My game to dedicate a cozy Friday night in with. I found joy in completing my daily chores around the island, as well as a genuine sense of accomplishment from bringing various visions of mine like amusement parks and robust flower gardens to life. It was a game that felt easy to check in daily with, and for those reasons, ANCH has earned a place on my inaugural Champions of the Backlog list!
#4 - Forza Horizon 5
Having not grown up in the XBOX ecosystem, Forza was always a series that was on the "other" console, therefore, I never played it -- until now! From the opening moments of the game, Forza Horizon 5 captures you with its undeniable brand of enthusiasm for the sport of racing, celebration of Mexican landscapes and culture, and blistering fast arcade racing fun. Whenever I needed a game where I could just load in and know I'm going to have a good time, this was that game. I've never been more excited for a new racing game than I am for Forza Horizon 6 in Japan!
#3 - Octopath Traveler II
Octopath Traveler II? Surely I'm not just skipping over the first game am I? You'll just have to stick around to find out. Octopath Traveler II is on this list, particularly in this spot, because of how it deepened my love for the JRPG genre that was first cultivated in its predecessor. It has some of my all-time favorite video game soundtracks from composer Yasunori Nishiki, some of my all-time favorite video game protagonists in characters like Partitio the Merchant, and one of my all-time favorite narrative formulas -- one that was greatly refined and evolved from the first game. If Square Enix were to just keep releasing Octopath Traveler games, repeating this formula over and over again, I wouldn't complain. In fact, I would be absolutely elated.
#2 - Black Myth Wukong
Typically, I tend to avoid games whose core gameplay design is built on a foundation of difficulty. But sometimes a game leaves a powerful enough an impression that the walls I've built to protect my enjoyment of this medium come crumbling down. A 2024 GOTY nominee, I knew this game had something special. Hours, no, minutes into my first play session revealed why Black Myth Wukong became such a force of nature in that year's gaming landscape and beyond. Black Myth Wukong is more than just a game. It's a spectacle. A challenge whose beauty lies in your ability to conquer the seemingly impossible mountain it beckons the player to climb. It's an experience that cleverly and masterfully explores what would happen if Sun Wukong's tale had taken a drastically different path than what was portrayed in its source material, Journey to the West. Despite these qualities, I nearly gave up on it after hitting what felt like an impossible wall about halfway through, but I'm glad I gritted my teeth and pushed through it, or else I would have missed out on what went on to become my favorite gaming experiences of 2025.
#1 - Octopath Traveler: 2025 Champion of the Backlog
This game sat in my backlog for years in large part because I was always trying to keep up with the newest releases and never had the time to jump into a game of this size, but also because I found myself intimidated by the genre. At the time, I knew nothing about JRPGs and was completely out of my element when it came to turn-based combat. The reason why Octopath Traveler sits in this spot, despite the sequel being a stronger experience in nearly every way, is that it was the game that opened the floodgates to a genre and style that I have since come to deeply love. This game's story, music, combat, and overall experience are simply magical, and when I look back at my 2025 backlog gaming journey, I'll remember it for how Octopath Traveler captivated me while opening my eyes to an exciting new type of experience.