Your favorite game of 2025 might be out already

It may be more the plight of a games journalist than the average person to get caught up in every new release there is to consume. But if you are someone who awaits each new title with bated breath, January is a great time of year to take a gander at your backlog. Personally, I used the Steam Winter Sale as an excuse to add a few more 2024 titles I didn’t get to earlier — Satisfactory, Trash Goblin, and some even older releases like Firewatch and Dave the Diver. I also picked up Tiny Glade at the end of 2024 and started my first Baldur’s Gate 3 run in August.

Nothing about it being 2025 now makes these games less excellent. In fact, I find an extra satisfying feeling in playing games that aren’t new — like I’m finally part of the club that knows how amazing Firewatch is. It’s like reading a classic novel. So if you, too, have a daunting backlog, I say start with the oldest game and work forward — or pick up a game you’ve taken a long break from. It’s never a bad idea to remember what made you fall in love with a game, or a genre, or a developer, no matter what big titles are on the horizon. And hey, maybe you’ll find your 2025 game of the year in the process.