Holiday gaming often rewards those who can slip a small, welcoming experience between family visits. Mark’s 2025 bonus picks capture that impulse with three titles that are almost purpose-built for dipping in and out over the holidays. They’re not mega epics; they’re the kind of games that reward a quick session, a dash of curiosity, and a return later without forcing a reorientation of your schedule. In short, they’re pleasant, repeatable, and quietly confident about what they do well.
Once Upon a Katamari, a Bandai Namco-published entry, reimagines the classic Katamari conceit as a historical tour. The player’s task remains simple in principle: roll up objects to form new planets and stars. This time, the routes through the cosmos are threaded with eras—Feudal Japan, ancient Egypt, the American West, the ice age—each packed with curiosities to lump into a larger ball. The twist this time around lands in the form of playful, surreal scenarios; one level reportedly places you in a war between samurai bears and cows, turning a classic chase into a quirky obstacle course. The broader loop still rewards chaining together stretches of movement, but it’s the historical vignettes and the oddball encounters that keep the pace buoyant. As you roll, you recruit the prince’s cousins to unlock more unusual, shape-modifying characters and equip cosmetic gear you find as presents. Among the roster, Ban-ban stands out as a small, doughnut-shaped character with a momentary spark of charm that resonates with the game’s playful tone. The central appeal is the sense that you’re sculpting the universe with a satisfying, bite-sized flow rather than grinding toward a single, rigid endpoint.
The surface of Once Upon a Katamari hides a few deeper checks on pace and density. The challenge is to grow the ball quickly while navigating the risk that certain crowding or “forbidden” items become unavoidable later on, depending on how you shape your route. The reward structure leans into quick, satisfying loops: a tomato-red balloon appears, a peculiar companion unlocks, a new cosmetic item changes the look of your ball, and the clock resets with another level select. It’s the kind of design that invites a casual, repeated engagement—ideal for a holiday window when you’re juggling family, friends, and a preferred gaming snack.
Ban-ban aside, the game’s charm rests in its balance of whimsy and design polish. The various historical settings feel distinct, not just as backdrops but as sets that shape the kinds of items you’ll encounter and the strategies you’ll discover. It’s not a game that demands a long commitment; it rewards curiosity in small doses, with enough personality to make you want to sample another era before the day ends. In the context of Mark’s selections, Katamari is the year’s most accessible nod to whimsy: a compact, well-made palette-cleanser that still manages to feel surprising and alive.
Stick It to the Stickman, from Free Lives, is the second highlight in this holiday pair-up—a roguelike that takes the familiar office-building ascent and subjects it to a satirical, escalating brawl. The premise is simple: you’re a stickfigure with a day job who, after a period of accumulated stress, climbs a tower of floors filled with homicidal colleagues. The objective is to reach the top and either replace your boss or defy the godlike overlords who govern your fate. The satire lands in the writing and the encounters, where corporate clichés collide with outrageous combat scenarios. As you ascend, you’ll encounter a roguelike progression—new character builds, randomly generated floor layouts, and purchasable upgrades that unlock new areas or alter how you approach the stairwell ascent. Weapons span from kicks and punches to more outlandish tools like chainsaws and fire extinguishers, each offering different synergies as you scale higher. The tonal balance is sharp: it leans into dark humor without overplaying it, and the mechanical loop remains deeply satisfying even as enemy density and floor variety increase. Free Lives has positioned Stick It to the Stickman as an ongoing work in progress; it’s in early access at the time of writing, with the studio continuing to add late-game features that refresh the central loop and push the difficulty curve in new directions. It’s a game that earns its punny premise with precise pacing and combat feel, making it a natural fit for short-to-medium sessions between seasonal commitments.
Promise Mascot Agency, from Kaizen Game Works, rounds out the trio with a slower, more atmospheric cadence. Nic (RPS in peace) first introduced the game as a mascot management sim that twists the usual management loop into something richly character-driven. The core setup follows Michi, a yakuza-linked figure, and Pinky, an angry, tea-obsessed mascot, as they establish a rural Japanese mascot agency amid a tense underworld backdrop. The game’s world leans heavily into mood: the rural town of Kaso-Machi is rendered with a quiet, almost cinematic attention to weather, light, and the micro-interactions of townspeople and mascots alike. The central loop—driving around to fulfill mascot jobs, negotiating with clients, and balancing cash flow—can feel hectic, but the payoff is in the texture of the world and the personalities that populate it. The two leads carry the game’s best asset: their distinctive voices, their evolving relationships, and the way their ambitions collide with the practical demands of managing a small business in a crowded, lively, and somewhat precarious locale. Mottsun, a mascot who champions a pungent offal dish with a gusto reminiscent of Red Dwarf’s Dave Lister, and Karoushi, a burnt-out ghost of office life who speaks in ornate, novel-like lines, give the town a sense of lived-in culture and humor that many management sims lack. While some players may wish for a tighter focus or fewer interruptions from the monetary grind, those who invest in PMA’s cadence will discover a game that rewards patience, observation, and a willingness to savor its rural quiet and its quirky cast.
Taken together, these three picks present a snapshot of 2025’s indie landscape as a whole: a willingness to experiment with tone and scale while preserving tight, repeatable loops that suit short play windows. Katamari emphasizes playful history and transformation, Stick It to the Stickman channels workplace absurdity into a satisfying climb, and Promise Mascot Agency leans into atmosphere, character, and micro-interactions that reward careful observation. Each title stands on its own terms, but they share a throughline: they’re built for immersion in small doses, and they reward the kind of play that folds smoothly into holiday routines.
In a year when big, sprawling epics can feel distant from the everyday, these games remind us that game design can thrive in intimate spaces—spaces that invite curiosity, humor, and a touch of tenderness amid the season’s bustle. They don’t pretend to solve every problem or deliver a definitive statement about the medium; instead, they offer delightful, well-crafted corners of the year that feel like a present you unwrap on a quiet afternoon. For players seeking a trio of experiences that are approachable, well-made, and quietly memorable, Mark’s bonus picks deliver a compelling trio that fits the Culture & Opinion frame: thoughtful, characterful, and very much of the moment.