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Blatantly stealing an idea, and just doing a pinned running thread of good/interesting games I've played this year. Fair warning, I have a ginormous backlog (who doesn't?) and am trying to catch up on some old shit this year.

Started the year off with: BALL x PIT (2025, Kenny Sun) Tons of influences/genres mashed up here: twin-stick shooter, bullet hell, randomized builds (don't call it a roguelite :P), and light city-builder. Fun and addictive early on, but overstays its welcome a bit, and 100% achievements was grindy.

Thronefall (2024, Grizzly Games) RTS-lite with a bit of tower defense. By day, spend gold to build your town's economy, hire soldiers, construct walls and towers. By night, direct troops and defeat waves of invaders. All buildables have preset spots, so strategy comes from resource mgmt / ordering.

Talented (2024, TurtleFox Games) Randomly generated skill trees! The trees are absolutely massive and can even be multi-floored; use your chosen skills to defend a fixed position against conveyor belts of enemies. The combat is simple and verges on auto-battler, but it's unexpectedly addictive.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (2025, Sandfall Interactive) The closest thing we've gotten to a classic turn-based JRPG in years, with fantastic voice-acting and scripting, but also an example of being brave in writing and presenting stakes so dire that not everyone is guaranteed to walk away happy.

Terra Nil (2023, Free Lives + Clockwork Acorn) Chill puzzle game about environmentalism and terraforming -- start with a barren or polluted land, place equipment and take actions to rehabilitate/restore it and encourage nature to return, then clean up and recycle that equipment to leave no trace.

Cairn (2026, The Game Bakers) A mountain climbing sim where you move one highlighted limb at a time (QWOP-style) to move from hold to hold, set pitons, find safe leans to rest, and forage for supplies. (Also a touching sad story about determination, obsession, and being understood.)