In 2025, video game reviewer Michael Robertson time-travelled, found joy in mainstream junk and missed the memo on how good Balatro is.
What surprised you this year?
The Hundred Line: Last Defence Academy. With the company Too Kyo Games going into debt to finish this game, I was prepared for a flop and the closing of the studio. Imagine my shock when the game is actually great. With literally 100 endings, solid tactical gameplay and several completely different and wild storylines, the game is a deconstruction of time travel in the best way possible. I’m excited for the next game, as well as creatives from Too Kyo Games being brought back for Danganronpa 2×2, a remake of Danganronpa 2 with a new storyline coming this year.
What was the most derivative or cliched yet the most enjoyable?
Battlefield 6’s campaign is a hunk of junk, and yet the multiplayer was just so fun to get into. Of course, it’s a long-running series, the mutliplayer has been honed to near perfection at this point, but damn, it is fun to run around shooting people for a few hours, sometimes witnessing some crazy stuff that only large-scale multiplayer really can deliver.
When did you lose yourself the most?
DELTARUNE chapters 3 and 4, hands down. No other game made me take a day off work and I played it all day. The continuing story of Kris, Ralsei and Susie hit a breaking point, with new revelations, new fan-favourite characters, a new bangin’ soundtrack, answered questions and then threw even more questions at us. The next chapter will probably release this year but it’s already torture having to wait.
What made you really think?
A playtest for Demon Bluff, a single-player werewolf-like deduction game where you have to find the Demons and Minions from the Villagers and Outcasts. It’s a very simple game on its face. Demons lie, Villagers don’t. Spot the logical differences and stab the Demons. Then it starts going crazy. Characters that change other characters. Corruption that makes Villagers lie to you. Very specific rules that specifically interact with this one very specific scenario. All these little rules snowball into just one village that can last tens of minutes as you run through every reality to narrow down the truth. I love this game so much I don’t want to pick it up again because I don’t want to burn myself out for the true release this year.
What annoyed you?
Finding out that Balatro is actually a game that was worth playing all this time! I played the demo before release in 2024 and had fun but didn’t think it was anything too special. Then the internet blew up about it, and I shrugged. "I’ll play it later but I’ve got other things right now". Then I got a message from a friend I would never expect to play it, and a few weeks on, I’m clearing Antes like the rest. It’s another simple game with magnifying complexity as you unlock Jokers and change your strategies over and over again. I eagerly await for the next update to see how this game evolves.
