Rock Paper Shotgun’s Ollie’s Bonus Games of the Year 2025 offers a window into what stood out in a sprawling year of releases. In this Advent Calendar-style curation, the top four chosen titles were Arc Raiders, Silksong, Clair Obscur, and Hades 2, with many other strong contenders left off the final cut. The curator even notes that shifting placements might have changed outcomes, a candid reminder that fan-driven lists operate as both guide and game. Taken together, the selections form a barometer of taste: bold, varied, and at times self-aware about the quirks of curation in a crowded market.
Among the standout inclusions and near-misses, Elden Ring: Nightreign stands out as a particularly intriguing experiment — a roguelite remix that still carries the DNA of FromSoftware’s original world. Nightreign is described as an unexpected progeny, retooling tempo with quality-of-life improvements that speed runs while preserving the map’s awe and the thrill of exploration. It’s a tighter, more polished package that aims for streamlining without abandoning the sense of discovery that fans associate with the base game. While it will never match the handcrafted majesty of Elden Ring, the variant demonstrates how an established world can be reimagined without dissolving its core identity.
Word Play is highlighted as a Balatro-esque word game that has most players reaching for the keyboard with a grin. The aim is straightforward: meet score targets by submitting words from a grid of letter tiles, but modifiers, multipliers, and a “number-go-up” rhythm keep the pace brisk and engaging. It’s praised as slick, intuitive, and challenging in equal measure, a party puzzle that translates well to both family gatherings and online play sessions. The takeaway here is not novelty for novelty’s sake but a solid, accessible pillar of modern word games that can spark conversation and friendly competition alike.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is described as a mammoth, a truly excellent RPG that nonetheless drew some debate for not appearing in the Advent Calendar itself. The piece centers on a memorable early mission set inside Trosky Castle, where the player is stripped of gear and must navigate a ticking clock to save a friend named Hans. The challenge blends physical maneuvering with nuanced diplomacy, inviting players to piece together a mystery at their own pace while observing the castle’s inhabitants carrying on with their daily lives. The quest is lauded as one of the writer’s favorite recent experiences for its openness and the freedom it affords in solving problems.
Demon Bluff Playtest surprised the author with its successful translation of social deduction into a solitary format. The game frames the player as the orchestrator of a deck where each card represents a person who may lie or tell the truth, and outcomes hinge on revealing or interpreting those hidden identities. Players use each card’s unique skills to uncover information, all while the challenge remains whether the information is trustworthy. The reviewer notes spending more time with the playtest than expected and now regards Demon Bluff as one of their most anticipated titles, a testament to how effective social bluffing can feel even when the setting is a single room with a screen.
Taken as a cultural artifact, the Advent Calendar functions as a compact mood board for 2025’s gaming landscape. It weaves together blockbuster ambitions with intimate, ideation-driven experiments, signaling a year that balanced expansive worlds with bite-sized pleasures that communities could share across streams, chats, and co-op sessions. The format invites readers to examine not only what developers delivered, but how a year of discussion around those releases unfolds in public spaces. It is a reminder that culture through games thrives as much on discourse as on gameplay, and that a well-curated list can prompt new conversations about what kinds of experiences a community values most.
Overall, the selections emphasize a year filled with both depth and playfulness. The quartet at the top — Arc Raiders, Silksong, Clair Obscur, and Hades 2 — anchors the imagination while Nightreign, Word Play, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Demon Bluff illustrate the breadth of experimentation and social play that defined 2025. As culture and opinion writers reflect on this era, the Advent Calendar stands as a compact record of a vibrant, diverse, and occasionally paradoxical gaming year.
