Top 25 of ’25: BALL x PIT

I’m so glad that Nintendo promoted this one, because I don’t think I would have ever heard of this awesome little roguelite otherwise.

  • Release Year: 2025
  • Developer: Kenny Sun and Friends
  • Platform: Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, PC

I honestly don’t even know where to start with this one. More than anything I want to make a joke about how there’s no time travelling in this game, but I doubt anyone would really get it. And also, I’m not at all confident that there isn’t any time travelling in this game, given how many unexpected little features it has packed in.

BALL x PIT has a story, though it’s not as deep as it seems (lol get it?). There was once this place called Ballbylon, which was stuck by a meteorite (you know it’s a meteorite because it had the ‘rite’ stuff to get through the atmosphere), leaving a giant, gaping hole in the land where it once stood. People started to gather from far and wide to descend into the depths of the crater in search of fame and riches. Or so I think. Look, the opening was short and I saw it a long time ago and there hasn’t been a lick of plot since. It’s not important.

What is important, is the gameplay. Of course. BALL x PIT plays a lot like Breakout, but a little more hectic. You control a character, which acts as sort of a paddle, and launch balls up the screen at monster-shaped blocks that are constantly spawning in. Hitting a monster enough times will pop it, but if a monster makes it to the bottom of the screen, it will attack you, and your goal is to survive to the end of the stage. Each stage also has two mini-bosses, which are basically just DPS checks, and a main boss, which are all unique fights that add a bit of a bullet hell component to the game.

As you defeat monsters, they’ll drop experience points, and upon level up your character will gain a random stat point and be able to choose from three upgrades. Upgrades come in the form of new balls, each with their own special power like causing AOE lightning strikes or freezing monsters temporarily; and passive upgrades that will do all sorts of things from increasing critical damage when you hit a monster from a certain angle, to spawning statues that heal you, to allowing your shots to pass through enemies. You’ll also see a little swirly vortex thing from time to time that can either upgrade your gear or give you the option to fuse your balls to create bigger, more deadly balls with multiple special effects. And here I never thought I’d say the phrase “fuse your balls”.

In between rounds, you’ll use money and resources you’ve gathered to begin rebuilding Ballbylon. This little town-sim part of the game makes me think of Actraiser, but fortunately your settlement never gets attacked by demons. Over time you’ll clear the land and add a wealth of buildings to your thriving little civilization, most of which will offer buffs to your characters and unlock new features of the game. There are others that will help you farm additional resources, and probably the most exciting ones are those that unlock new characters. There are a total of 16 characters in BALL x PIT, and each one has a gimmick that makes them play a little differently from the rest. Or, radically different from the rest, in certain cases. What does that really mean? I highly recommend you play the game yourself to find out!

Though I wouldn’t say that BALL x PIT is the best roguelite I’ve played, it’s definitely the one that I’ve found the most difficult to put down. The rounds are short, so it’s never devastating when you lose. The unlockables are constantly flowing, which makes it seem like you’re always accomplishing something; and unlike most roguelites I’ve played, they don’t just add more gear to the level-up pool, but can be entire new features that can change the game and make you feel so much more powerful. It’s great fun, and I’m going to keep playing it for some time to come.

Top 25 of ’25: Deltarune

So this game gets to live in a weird spot as the only one on the list that I have and also haven’t played before. How is that possible? Read on to find out!

  • Release Year: 2025
  • Developer: Toby Fox
  • Platform: Everything

Alright, so Deltarune, like so many Telltale games before it, has been releasing one chapter at a time. They are not mere weeks or months apart, however. Chapter 1 came out way back in 2018, and I played it on release. Chapter 2 didn’t come out until 2021, and I played both chapters at that point. Then, on Switch 2 release day this year, Chapters 3 and 4 both came out together! And I played all four of them back-to-back-to-back-to-back. It was lovely.

The broad strokes of the plot are as such: Kris and Suzie are a human and monster that happen to become friends when they are pulled into an alternate reality, also known as the Dark World. There, they meet friends and foes alike, and learn that someone or something is plotting to open up dark fountains all over the Light World to cover it with darkness. Their destiny, along with prince Ralsei of the Dark World, is to seal the fountains and prevent certain doom.

Every chapter has a specific theme based around Light World objects, and Chapter 3 is by far my favourite of the bunch. In this one, you become a contestant on a game show, where each round involved playing a very Zelda-style retro video game. It’s only a small portion of the entire chapter, but it was such a cool idea and very distinct from an of the other chapters’ gimmicks.

Chapter 4 is a little more in line with the first two chapters, having similar gameplay, but with its own new mechanic of climbing walls. However, this is the chapter where you spend by far the biggest portion of your time in the Light World, as opposed to the other chapters, where you’re in the Dark World 95% of the time. This, I think, is also the chapter that spends the most time pushing forward the overarching story, rather than focusing on a more chapter-specific plot.

The combat system in Deltarune is pretty standard RPG fare, at least at a glance. You select the attacks you want your guys to do, and then they do them. But when enemies attack, the screen becomes something of a bullet hell shooter, and you have to control a little heart icon and dodge incoming projectiles. Not only does this add a lot of fun and action to battles, but it gets absurdly creative as the game progresses, and the secret boss of every chapter is maddeningly difficult. You also have the choice to spare just about every foe you meet, which will unlock some additional options, and maybe even change the story a little? I don’t know for sure, I’ve never once actually killed an enemy – it’s always more interesting to figure out how to spare them instead.

Chapter 1 and 2 set such a high bar that I was actually a little worried about how I would feel about 3 and 4, but much to my delight, Deltarune is a game that just keeps getting better. As the characters continue to develop, and more pieces of the story come into place, it just gets more and more interesting. It’s all driven by the same sense of humour and heart that Toby Fox first wowed the world with in Undertale, so I don’t know why I was ever worried, really. It’s going to be a long wait for the rest of the chapters.

Top 25 of ’25: Monster Hunter Wilds

You know there were too many good games released this year by the fact that I never went back to this one for any of the post-launch updates.

  • Release Year: 2025
  • Developer: Capcom
  • Platform: PlayStation, Xbox, PC

I would say that a few years ago, I was a very diehard Monster Hunter player. Even all the way up to Monster Hunter Rise, I was hugely obsessed with the series, and would dump hundreds of hours into each release. While I did play Monster Hunter Wilds a ton for the first month of its life, I was quickly distracted by other games and haven’t ever gone back to it. That’s not to knock Wilds in any way: it’s amazing and I enjoyed every moment of my time with it. I just can’t be laser-focused on a single game anymore these days.

MH Wilds, I guess has a story of some description. I couldn’t tell you what it is, because I actually wish there wasn’t so I could just focus on playing. There’s some annoying wiener kid, and wyvern milk, and, uh… Mewtwo clones of monsters, or something? I dunno, it doesn’t matter to me. Every time someone started talking in this game, I wished they would hurry it along so I could get back to the hunt. In retrospect, I guess maybe I didn’t enjoy every moment of my time with Wilds, but I meant that in terms of gameplay.

And gameplay! This game has it! And it’s so gooooood! It’s not especially different from any other Monster Hunter game, but as you would expect from a sequel, it smooths down some rough edges from previous games to make the experience that much better. I do think that some of the changes are a step back from Rise, like removing the wirebugs and replacing your dog with a chocobo, but overall it’s still immensely satisfying to play. And if you need the rundown on what that means: you pick an oversized weapon, and then go out to slay humongous monsters that overpower you by like a million times. It’s Boss Fight: The Game, basically. You can also go online to team up with up to three other hunters, and I can happily say that the online experience has been excellent, at least for me.

As with all good creature-focused games, Monster Hunter Wilds introduces a whole new crew of beasties to slay. While I have to admit that the roster is quite a bit smaller than I would have liked, and is about half returning or palette-swapped monsters, the new ones are all super cool. Some of my favourites include a new dinosaur turkey known as Quematrice; an angry fire gorilla that I thought was a kappa at first, Ajarakan; and the imposing flagship monster, Arkveld. The final boss was also a really awesome fight, but for some reason Capcom decided not to let players replay said fight until it was unlocked in an update at some point down the line.

Like I said at the start, I haven’t given myself a chance to boot up the game since Capcom has released any of the free updates throughout the year, but as I understand it, there’s a lot of even cooler content in the game now. Maybe one day I’ll get to it, maybe not. Either way, I definitely got my fill of Monster Hunter Wilds, and it’s given me many pleasant memories. By far one of the best games I’ve played all year when it comes to pure fun, even if it did stop a little to often to try to make me care about the story.

Top 25 of ’25: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment

It’s not the only musou game I’ve played this year, but it’s a helluva lot better than the other one.

  • Release year: 2025
  • Developer: Koei Tecmo, AAA Games Studio
  • Platform: Switch 2

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is the third game in the Hyrule Warriors series, if you don’t count all the re-releases of the first game, and it’s kind of the fourth game in the “Wild” era of the Legend of Zelda series. It’s not my favourite of either category, not by a long shot, but it is a lot of fun to play, and it does a great job of filling in a lot of the story and character that was desperately missing from Tears of the Kingdom.

To that end, Age of Imprisonment tells the tale of what happened to Zelda after she travelled back in time at the start of Tears of the Kingdom. Or, moreso, it fleshes out the details of what happened during that era. We get a much better idea how Ganondorf seized control over Hyrule, what happened during the imprisoning war, and how Rauru and the sages finally managed to put an end to it. And also it actually gives Rauru and those sages a lot more screentime and personality (and names) than Tears of the Kingdom did.

There is also a fun additional story that follows a Korok named Calamo and a mysterious Zonai construct as they travel about and cross paths with Zelda, Rauru and the the gang. Despite seeming like they would be almost more comic relief than anything, this duo actually ended up being my favourite characters in the game, and they really added a lot to the climax and ending. Like, if they had been absent, I don’t think that I would have found the finale nearly as satisfying as I did.

The gameplay is pretty standard Warriors-style hack-and-slash action. So you run around, beating up hundreds of weak little monsters, then come up against some stronger monsters, and when the story calls for it, an actual boss from time to time. Unlike the original Hyrule Warriors, there really isn’t much focus on capturing bases in this one, and I feel like that’s a bit of a miss. Age of Imprisonment’s missions are all pretty much the same formula, and it could have used a little more variety in objectives. It’s still fun, but could have been more fun.

There’s also a sizeable roster of characters to play with. Half of it is comprised of important, story-centric characters like Zelda, Rauru, and Calamo, while the other half is composed of more generic citizens of Hyrule. It was kind of weird to see all these “lesser” characters at first, but they all play fairly differently, and as such you’re guaranteed to find at least character from any given race you really like to play as. My personal favourites were the mysterious construct, the Gerudo sage Ardi, and the Zora sage Qia.

Age of Imprisonment also has an absolutely massive amount of content to play through. The main story is 6 chapters long, and five of those chapters are made up of multiple missions that take an average of about half an hour each. Then every time you clear a main mission, it seems like about a dozen sub-missions appear on the map. Some of those are shorter combat stages, and some of them just require you to turn in some resources to give one of your characters an upgrade. And then you beat the game and the map gets completely covered in additional things to do. Again, it’s not quite as dense as the dozens of adventure maps in the original Hyrule Warriors, but you certainly get your money’s worth from this one!

I’ll say it again, Age of Imprisonment doesn’t really hit the heights of the games it’s derived from, but it’s definitely solid when judged on its own merits. I very much appreciate how it fills in Tears of the Kingdom’s backstory and then some, and the gameplay is a little repetitive but has enough different characters to mess around with and carrots to chase that it never gets boring. I’ve happily sunk more than 50 hours into it already, and I fully intend to keep going until it’s 100% cleared.

Top 25 of ’25: Pokémon Legends: Z-A

I think I’ve called a handful of games on my list controversial already. Though none of them hold a candle to this one.

  • Release year: 2025
  • Developer: Game Freak
  • Platform: Switch, Switch 2

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is my favourite game in the franchise. It was a breath of fresh air in a series that was increasingly feeling like it was never really going to make any major changes. It was a huge game that focused on exploration and catching more than battling. And then the first teaser for Pokémon Legends: Z-A dropped, which made it look like it would all take place in one city? I wasn’t sure what to expect from such a scaled-down game, but I knew it wasn’t going to hit the same.

This game does, in fact, all take place within the walls of Lumiose City, the largest city in the Kalos region. You play as a no-name teenager who shows up in Lumiose for no real reason at all, immediately get robbed, and then swept up with a bunch of local weenies. You’re given lodgings at a hotel run by a very tall, very old man, in exchange for investigating what’s going on in the city that’s causing Pokémon to randomly mega evolve and (potentially) go nuts. Also there’s a battle tournament. Multiple battle tournaments.

While Z-A is in fact, a much smaller game than Arceus in every way, that did not at all take away from the fun that I had with it. Lumiose may not be a huge city, but it’s structured like a gigantic maze, and I spent tons of time just running around aimlessly. Well, maybe not completely aimlessly. There are items of various rarities scattered all about the place, and the more valuable ones often require you to navigate fun, little parkour courses and jump around from rooftop to rooftop. For me, the experience of simply moving around the game world means a lot, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A did not disappoint in that aspect.

Now the battling, on the other hand… is also super fun. Pokémon battling is now, for the first time ever, a real-time affair, where you’re running around the battlefield and issuing commands to your Pokémon without any breaks in the action. It’s wild and frantic, and sometimes quite difficult. It’s also even faster than the battling was in Arceus, which already seemed to move at lightspeed compared to the non-Legends games. The main battle tournament that takes place at nighttime, the Z-A Royale, is far too addicting, not only being the main source of battles in the game, but also constantly challenging you to push just a little harder for more rewards.

And then there are the new mega evolutions. I was very afraid of what Game Freak might do with the new megas, but I genuinely think they’re all fantastic. Well, almost all of them. Some are cool some are goofy, but most importantly, they all fit the Pokémon very well. For all the cost- and corner-cutting that Game Freak may do, they are top of class when it comes to creature design.

I played Pokémon Legends: Z-A for a little more than 40 hours before I finally finished the main story, and after that, I was flabbergasted by the number of little icons on the map denoting sidequests that I had left to do. And then there’s the post-game content. And then there’s the DLC expansion that just came out and I’m having extreme difficulty tearing myself away from. I’m having an absolute blast with the game, despite the fact that it’s not nearly as ambitious as its big brother.

Top 25 of ’25: Kirby and the Forgotten Land + Star-Crossed World

Okay, so the full title is actually: Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World. But I’m not typing the whole thing out. Never again.

  • Release year: 2025
  • Developer: HAL Laboratory
  • Platform: Switch 2

Yes, I did play this game in 2022 when it was released on the original Switch, and ever since then I have been trying to convince myself that I needed to play it again. Fortunately, Nintendo heard my call and not only remastered the game to look better and run smoother on Switch 2, but they also packed in a nice little bundle of extra content. Score!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, Forgotten Land is Kirby’s first true game in three dimensions, and it, somewhat fittingly, starts with him and most of his Dream Land friends being sucked through a wormhole into another dimension. There, Kirby meets a floaty little bunny thing named Elfilin, who joins in the quest to save all the Waddle Dees from the nefarious Beast Pack.

Now here’s the controversial part: I think thins is the best Kirby platformer ever released. Yes, better than Kirby Super Star. I know I must sound like a crazy person, but that’s just the way that I feel. Forgotten Land’s jump to 3D was maybe a bit overdue, but I’m glad that HAL took their time doing it because they NAILED it. The stages are fairly linear, yes, but just having that freedom to run around a bit more makes the game feel so much more satisfying, and really freshens up the Kirby formula without changing it drastically.

Playing the game again was wonderful fun, although if I’m perfectly honest, I don’t notice graphics well enough to really have any idea how much it’s been remastered from the original release. This one looks exactly the way I remember the old one looking, but I’ve heard other people say it’s better! The new Star-Crossed World expansion is also pretty good, but very much left me wanting more. While it is fun, and exciting, and does a lot with mostly re-used assets, it is also painfully brief. I wasn’t expecting an entire second campaign or anything, but it was definitely over too soon.

So now I sit here writing this, and I can’t help but wonder: when am I going to be able to fit in another playthrough of Kirby and the Forgotten Land? The cycle begins anew. Or, like, we’re back at some point of the cycle again, anyway. Hopefully I’m able to put aside some time for at least one more run before Switch 3 comes and we get a re-remastered version.

Top 25 of ’25: Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic

Look, I said that the last one would be the last indie horror game, and what I meant was, it was the last horror game with no budget. Steel Wool Studios is an independent developer, but they’ve got Scott Cawthon money to make their games with.

  • Release year: 2025
  • Developer: Steel Wool Studios
  • Platform: PlayStation, PC

No lies, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool FNAF fanboy. This was always going to happen. But I think, more than anything, the leap in quality over Security Breach is what is securing Secret of the Mimic‘s place on this list. I don’t even have words for how much better this game is than its older brother. Like, Security Breach was almost as much of a dumpster fire as Cyberpunk 2077, and Secret of the Mimic is improved significantly in every single way.

Secret of the Mimic does a very ballsy thing and strips away years upon years of FNAF lore to take place as the very first game in the timeline. You play as a poorly-treated Fazbear Entertainment technician, assigned to retrieve something seemingly quite valuable from the run-down old headquarters of a competing mascot company, Murray’s Costume Manor. Over the course of the game, you’ll learn that the place isn’t quite as abandoned as it first seems, and slowly unravel what happened to MCM and how it ties into the greater FNAF canon.

The gameplay is kind of like a Metroidvania Lite, with a little bit of puzzle solving, a sprinkle of mini-games, several hide-and-seek sections, and a number of harrowing chase sequences. So, Resident Evil 7 without any guns. It keeps things fresh by always throwing something new at you, and I appreciate that you’re generally pretty free to explore the Manor at your leisure. It’s a pretty small map, but it never feels that way because it’s very tightly designed, and there are so many details and secrets to find all over the place.

Now, let’s talk lore. That’s what you come to the FNAF series for more than anything, right? Don’t get me wrong, Secret of the Mimic was a blast to play, but this is the kind of game where I’m much more invested in the audio logs and documents scattered about. And Secret of the Mimic does not disappoint! Where Security Breach barely told a story at all, Secret of the Mimic nails it, and re-contextualizes so many things that to call it mind-blowing would be an understatement. And the penultimate sequence, when you find yourself in the you-know-where? Muah! The fanservice is strong with this one.

All in all, Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic was a very satisfying game. The world was interesting and fun to explore, the story was as wild as ever, and the animatronics became genuinely terrifying again. It was more than I expected, though to be fair, my expectations weren’t exactly high. But it was a great time, and I look forward to someday finally taking the time to find all the collectibles and get the secret ending.

Top 25 of ’25: The Mute House

Final indie horror game on the list here, but I promise to you it’s a good one. Maybe even the best of the bunch (depending on your tastes).

  • Release Year: 2025
  • Developer: December Blues Games
  • Platform: PC

Listen, we all know I’ve got a thing about old-school survival horror games. I’ve already done a whole spiel about the original Silent Hill, and as good as (most of) the Resident Evil remakes are, my heart will always pull me towards the PS1 originals. And so while it has nicer graphics than those classics, The Mute House really won me over by being very much made in the same vein as them. It’s even got the fixed camera angles!

The story follows a young police officer, searching a spooky old mansion for her missing sister. However, what she finds there is much more deadly: zombies! And also some other random mutants and monsters. You know, the usual. There’s also a mysterious fellow lurking about in the shadows, and it’s unclear whether he’s here to help or hinder your quest. All you can know for sure is whatever is written down in the notes you find that tell the backstory of the manor and the folks who used to live there.

Gameplay is… well, it’s classic survival horror. Run around the mansion, looking for keys to unlock doors, items and clues to solve puzzles, and whatever meager scraps of ammo you can find. As always, unraveling the giant puzzle box that is the game is the most satisfying part, but having to deal with all the monsters in your way can be good fun too. Especially if you pay attention to the tutorial! There’s actually button you can use to free-aim so you can target monsters’ weak points, but I did not realize that until I had finished the game and started a second run, and it made life so much easier. Not like too easy or anything, but way less frustrating!

Speaking of frustrating, that’s a good way to describe most of the bosses. Each one has its own gimmick, which is exactly how bosses should be, but they are all absolute units and will chew through your stocks of ammo. One boss you can actually beat without firing a shot if you’re clever, but I can’t say that any of the others have much more to them than to unload all your bullets into them and hope they die before you run out of heals. But hey, that’s part of the challenge, right?

Aside from the whole free-aim thing, I don’t think that The Mute House really does anything especially unique with its premise, but it’s does everything well. The puzzles are good, there are a handful of cool secrets to find, it has some genuinely frightening moments, and the difficulty is balanced very well. There’s even an unlockable hard mode, which I did play immediately after finishing the game, because I liked it so much.

Honestly, I would like nothing more than to get a console port of The Mute House so I could play it in an environment that’s not my computer desk. It’s a great little game that you can run in around two hours, and I absolutely would if I could do so from the comfort of my couch. Yeah, the free-aiming would be a little harder to implement for controller, but that’s exactly what Switch 2’s mouse controls are for! Anyway, I really adored this game, and I would recommend it to anyone who even a faint appreciation for old-school survival horror.

Top 25 of ’25: Vampire Survivors VR

While it’s not the only VR game I’ve played this year, it’s the only one I’ve spent more than like an hour with.

  • Release Year: 2025
  • Developer: Radical Forge
  • Platform: Quest

Vampire Survivors is nothing new; it’s been out for a few years, have been ported to almost everything under the sun, and has spawned a fair number of copycats. However! In 2025, it mysteriously got a VR version, which is not something that I ever really knew I wanted, until one day when I put on my headset and it was all like “Hey we’ve got Vampire Survivors now!” And because I am more than happy to own Vampire Survivors on as many machines as possible, I bought it right away.

Now, we all know how the game works, right? You pick a character and a stage, which then has you fending off never-ending waves of monsters for as long as you can. Defeated monsters drop experience points, and when you level up, you get to choose from a new weapon or item that will help you keep fighting the good fight. Your gear can level up to become more effective, and eventually you’ll even be able to evolve your weapons, which will make them even better at slaying hundreds of thousands of monsters. Then if you manage to survive for 30 minutes, the grim reaper shows up to kill you instantly and the game is over.

There is a little more to it than that, and Vampire Survivors has a lot of secrets to discover, but that’s the gist of it. In between rounds you can use coins you earn in battle to upgrade your stats permanently and unlock new characters, each with his or her or its own special trait. There’s a bestiary where you can read about all the monsters you’ve slain, and a compendium of all the items, weapons, and evolved weapons you’ve discovered. Maybe there’s even more buried in there, I don’t know. For all the hours I’ve spent playing different ports of this game, I’ve never unlocked everything.

Sadly, the VR version doesn’t add a whole lot to the mix. Mostly you just get to look around 3D environments while you’re poking around the menus. The actual gameplay takes place in a 3D area based on the stage you’re on, but the game is played on something of a tabletop within that area, so it’s exactly the same as you’re used to. The one really nice touch is that all the sprites and environments are in three dimensions on that tabletop, which gives the game at least a little more depth than the flat versions we’ve all become accustomed to. And maybe there’s more to it as you progress, I don’t know, but I do hope there are at least a couple more surprises that make use of the VR setting.

So while the core gameplay of Vampire Survivors hasn’t changed in its transition to virtual reality, it has done at least one very important thing: made me spend dozens more hours playing Vampire Survivors. And hey, as a little bonus, since the Quest 3’s battery life is so ass, I only end up playing for about two hours at a time, and don’t lose entire days to it. Which I absolutely would if I were given my way, because one of the hardest things to do in life is to stop playing Vampire Survivors.

Top 25 of ’25: Ramona

Don’t worry, folks, we’re almost through all the indie horror games on the list. Just one more to go after this.

  • Release year: 2025
  • Developer: Doesn’t Matter Games
  • Platform: PC

I won’t even pretend that Ramona is on my list for any reason other than I have a real soft spot for Doesn’t Matter Games. Ever since Lost Alone, I’ve played every release, for better or for worse. Ramona, fortunately, is definitely in the “for better” column. It’s not the only game that Doesn’t Matter Games has released this year, but it is the best one, being the most stable and bug-free of the bunch, and having its very own little camera gimmick to make it stand out from the rest.

Like every other Doesn’t Matter game, Ramona is a haunted house simulator. Or a large-scale virtual escape room. An “escape house”, as I like to call it. And I consider that to be a good thing. That little niche is right where I like to be. This one casts you as a reporter investigating the home of the titular Ramona, who had once run a shelter for orphaned children. But she seems to have fallen on hard times after having been accused of being cruel and abusive to said orphans. What’s the truth behind the stories? That’s what you’re there to find out!

I called this game an escape house for a reason: most of the gameplay revolves around you searching the house for clues to puzzles, which, when solved, will unlock a box or cabinet that grants you a key for a locked door or an item that you’ll use for another puzzle, which will unlock a box or cabinet… so on and so forth until you’ve finished the game. Many notes are strewn about the place, in true horror game fashion, some of which tell you pieces of the story, and some of which contain puzzle clues. Some even have both! And lastly, if collecting is your jam, there are dozens upon dozens of photographs of streamers hidden all over the house for you to find and collect. This has been a bit of a staple of Doesn’t Matter games for a while now, and one day, in a future game, I hope to be on one of these collectibles.

To speak more to the “haunted house” part of my initial description of the game, there are jumpscares all over the place in Ramona’s house. Getting jumpscared or lingering in the dark too long will fill your anxiety meter, and if it tops out, you die. But staying near a light source for a while will slowly bring the meter back down. Thankfully, Ramon doesn’t have any janky combat systems that you’ll have to deal with or patrolling monsters you that you need to avoid. However, if you allow noisy appliances (that set themselves off randomly) to create too much noise, Ramona herself will appear to kill you dead. Fortunately, all it takes to deter her is a single well-placed flash from the camera you pick up about halfway through the game, so dying really isn’t much of a threat.

Running around Ramona’s house, solving puzzles and jumping at scares, is maybe not the deepest experience, but it’s one that I find great joy in. Being free to figure it out at your own pace, without any sort of time limit or enemies makes it almost kind of a cozy horror game, too. Or maybe that’s just me, because this is my preferred aesthetic. Either way, Ramona was a solid little game, and I can definitely see myself going back to it again in the future.