GotY 2025 - Biggest Surprise

We all want to play great video games. This hobby of ours is not a cheap one, and it also asks a lot out of us in terms of how we spend our time. So it's oftentimes easy to stick to tried and true titles that you know you will like, or have played before. That makes these surprise games that much more exciting when we discover a gem we had hopes for, but weren't entirely sure what to expect. 

Welcome to the CGR Team's day one 2025 Game of the Year reflections, starting with our biggest and most pleasant surprises. 

Nick: Epic NPC Man Nice Day for Fishing

I love the source material for this game, as I’ve been a fan of Viva La Dirt League for years now. I think their skits are often hilarious and as I pointed out in my review, this video game did a fantastic job capturing that mirthful magic with expert callbacks to the web episodes. What I did not expect, was a reasonably solid RPG baked into all of that fan service. I mean, on the surface it’s a game about fishing. It’s not an incredibly deep RPG, but this title surprised me with systems that were more interesting and progression that was more carefully thought out than I had been expecting. The end result was a game that I found a joy to play.

 

PY: Warriors Abyss

I love, and I mean LOVE a good musou. That should be no surprise to long time readers. If one is coming out, I’m generally trying to wrestle it away from Nick.

But Warriors Abyss had me question if a roguelike approach was really a good idea for the chaotic hacking, slashing and power attack moves that we’ve all come to love since the days of the PS2.

Yes, yes it was. Top down isometric view, keeping everything that makes a musou a musou, this shift in direction had me coming back every day after work just to TRY to make it further. With no permanent leveling in place, your unlocks for extra attack power, defense and new characters would have had me nailbiting if only my fingers weren’t so busy hitting almost every button on the controller!! 

Susan: Drill Core

Drill Core was not on my list of anticipated games this year, and somehow I played more of it than I was expecting. It's a 2D game that allows you to defend the generator while still collecting precious minerals in the mines below. To do all that, you get resources to buy different turret types that will defend your generator. You also buy different buildings like the lab and the barracks which help you upgrade your workers and weapons as well as hiring more people to get the job done. To push the drill further down, you must make a quota and then decide whether or not you can handle going deeper into the core. 

What was interesting about the game was that you could get all sorts of upgrades and paths that help fit your playstyle and I loved how much you could actually do to be successful during each level. But part of what made the game surprising was how long I could play in a single mission without it feeling boring. You have to worry about enemies underground as well as above ground. At various points, you get to face a boss creature that gets more terrifying each time you find them. Hopefully, you're prepared for that sort of thing.

Anyways, I was genuinely surprised that this is the sort of game that I enjoyed because I kept thinking to myself 'just one more level lower'. It was around 4 or 5am one night that I said to myself that I needed to stop playing and go to bed. I could have kept going but by that point I was just sleepy and putting it off. Drill Core surprised me, I played a bunch of it, and I almost lost sleep. If that's not an endorsement for this game, I don't know what is!

Valerie: Reus 2

This game, Reus 2, that I reviewed was a surprise for me. I hadn't played a God game before, so there were new parameters for me to get used to. The building part of the game was definitely familiar because I've played all sorts from Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom to Space Engineers and more. 

Well, having more than one 'god' with each being a different elemental was fun for sure. It certainly made for a fun time trying to figure out what goes with what. There were a lot of clues, hints and tips on each popup screen describing what it was, what it can do, and what to mix it with. Definitely a game I will come back to time and again.

Richard: Lumo 2

More of a surprise because I didn’t even know a sequel to Lumo was being developed, but here we are! An upgrade in puzzles, and character height, Lumo 2 was not only a title I somehow managed to completely miss news of, but also the gameplay was adjusted in ways I wasn’t expecting. Lot’s of fun though, if you want a rough puzzle platformer that’s old-school hard, definitely Lumo 2 is a good pick.

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Games of the Year 2021 - Biggest Surprise

Starting off with a bit of a different format this year, our Games of the Year 2021 are going to start in a bit of a reverse order keeping the best for last, so without further ado, here are our staffs picks for their biggest surprise of 2021!

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

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Pierre-Yves: The Vale: Shadow of the Crown

The Vale: Shadow of the Crown was perhaps my biggest surprise because I really didn't think that it could be done this well. Very limited in the terms of titles out there at the moment like it, The Vale is an audio based action adventure where there's nothing to look at on the screen. Designed to be put into the shoes of the protagonist, you are as blind as they are and are reliant on nothing more than the sounds around you and how fast you react to them. The development team did an amazing job here and I really hope to see more accessible titles like this one in the future.

Check out our full review of The Vale: Shadow of the Crown by developer Falling Squirrel Inc. and publishers Falling Squirrel Inc. and Creative Bytes Studios for the Microsoft Xbox Series X.

Richard: Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights

I won't lie, the only reason this is in Biggest Surprise and not Game of the Year for me is because I hadn't heard of it. Ender Lillies is a wonderful blend of Metroidvania and soulsborne gameplay, with a heavier lean towards metroidvania, and I loved every second of it. This was the Metroidvania I had been missing in my life, and I can't express how thoroughly I enjoyed all of it except the chains and waterfalls that look like the background but aren't.

Check out our full review of ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights by developers Live Wire, adglobe and publisher Binary Haze Interactive for the Sony Playstation 4.

Susan N.: Mini Motorways

Sometimes simple is better, as is the case with Mini Motorways. I had been introduced to its sister title Mini Metro a while back and I really wasn’t convinced about the game. However, when given the opportunity, I jumped at the chance to give Mini Motorways a shot and I enjoyed every minute of it. The game strips away all of the cosmetics that hide any potential flaws, which is something that certain titles do and manages to challenge the players in an organic way. Mini Motorways is an incredibly simple game that can be frustrating at the same time and it shocked me as something that I would enjoy. Maybe it was the simplicity or maybe it was the increasing difficulty level, but regardless I was surprised by Mini Motorways. The game is perfect for a wide range of ages and I love the challenge of beating my high score.

Check out our full review of Mini Motorways by developer and publisher Dinosaur Polo Club for the PC (Steam).

Nick: Wingspan

I’m not sure if Wingspan qualifies as a ‘surprise’ when it came out of nowhere for me. I knew next to nothing about this title when it first released, and I came into it with almost no expectations. What I found instead was a surprisingly deep card game, based on a board game, with a charming nature aesthetic and tons of replay value. 

Check out our full review of Wingspan by developer and publisher Monster Couch for the Microsoft Xbox One.

Robert: Star Citizen

In rare form, seemingly perpetual technical alpha, “Star Citizen” by Cloud Imperium Games has managed to break away from their more traditional mold releasing quarterly patches that, since Alpha 3.7 have largely just been downhill- however, with the rebalancing of ship-borne weapons, capacitor gameplay, medical gameplay, a slew of new straight-to-flyable ships, the release of the long-awaited Crusader Mercury Star Runner and Aegis Redeemer, and a slew of technical achievements, that 2021 though rough at times for CIG, he been a standout year for the independent gaming giant. From new missions that introduce new loops, or the first implementation of the long-talked of “Death of a Spaceman”-based mechanics (which tie nicely into the new Actor Status that tracks metrics like hydration, oxygen levels, heart rate, G-forces/force reactions, etc.). Each and every year Star Citizen keeps growing- is it becoming too big to fail? We’ll just have to wait and see.

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Games of the Year 2020 - Biggest Surprise

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

 

Nick: Fairy Tail 

I really didn’t have much of a history with Fairy Tail before this game, having seen bits and pieces of it in the past and enjoying what I encountered, but that was about it. Despite a rather confusing start to the game (likely due to my relative lack of familiarity with the material), what I did find was a thoroughly enjoyable JRPG that had me wanting to uncover every little nook, cranny and secret along the way. I spent way more time with this one than I had expected to, and enjoyed every minute of it. 

Pierre-Yves: Mortal Shell

Mortal Shell is one of two Soulslikes or Soulsbornes on my lists for this year. Having replayed Dark Souls and Dark Souls 3 while finally getting around to almost Platinuming Bloodborne (FINALLY almost there), I didn't have super high expectations but this was something that blew me away this year. Mortal Shell, instead of relying on RPG mechanics allowing you to just power your way through if you're having a hard time instead forces you to make due with what you have as each Shell that can be occupied can only be slightly upgraded leaving the rest in your hands. It's not the hardest once you get the hand of everything but it was damned fun and with the new types of challenges that it brought to the table there's no way it couldn't have been on this list.

Susan N: Minecraft Dungeons

Okay. I’ll be the first to say it. I’m not a Minecraft fan by any extension. Anyone that knows me knows that I generally don’t play games that have no end goal. This year, Minecraft Dungeons released and I was over the moon about it. Here is a game with all the same graphics and creatures loved by millions of people in all age categories, but now it is packaged in an RPG format. I’m totally here for this specific version of Minecraft because it harkens back to the old Diablo games. (You know, when Diablo was still good…) Players can get gear, battle monsters, and follow an actual story line. Minecraft Dungeons even has a couple of DLCs available for greater challenges and new mobs! This is a Minecraft game I can get behind and I didn’t even see it coming! Thus, it is my biggest surprise of 2020. I didn’t expect there to be a Minecraft that I would like and yet, here we are. 

Richard: Keen: One Girl Army

I'll admit, when I saw Keen: One Girl Army I was like "meh, I like puzzle games, this looks a little lower end, but I guess I'll give it a go". I was pleasantly surprised. The gameplay is smooth, level designs are both intuitive yet challenging, and the bonus objectives were both reasonably yet difficult enough to really add that extra level of challenge for those who want it. Heck, I even got my dad playing it,  and he was having fun.

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Games of the Year 2019 - Biggest Surprise

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Nick: Wreckfest

The definition of fun, Wreckfest caught a lot of people by surprise - myself included. The carnage is impressive and the physics just make the chaos that much more interesting. I had few to no expectations for this title coming in, so my unadulterated enjoyment easily made this my biggest surprise of the 2019.

Pierre-Yves: Fade to Silence

Sleeping hit? Maybe? It's not the only entry into my 2019 Games of the Year that is far from perfect, but, it was fun to play and I appreciate what it went for. End of the world. Check. Crazy assed demons that came out of nowhere? Check. You're all alone? Not quite as you start off with your daughter at the base but can find others to bring back in order to help out. Balancing a rogue like survival where you really have to work hard to carry something over to your next life and pushing forward to be able to build new items and structures, it was rough, but it was like a diamond in the rough.

Robert: Star Wars: Jedi - Fallen Order

Let's be real here a minute, even though Respawn was behind Fallen Order we all had our concerns with EA at the helm. After the letdown that was Star Wars: Battlefront and the absolute affront to gaming, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, I went into Fallen Order with a lot of trepidation. While it is not as good as many say (to be frank, even our very own head cheese, Nick, was far, far too nice to it), Fallen Order was a huge surprise because it was actually good. Shallow, linear, dull gameplay, horrible camera angels, a fake progression tree, and the absolute worst gameplay element that I have seen in gaming (those damned slides) aside, Fallen Order was largely adequate. Why is "adequate" a surprise? Because EA was at the helm and their history of hating consumers combined with an incredibly notorious stance of disrespect for all things Star Wars and well 'nough said. Still, for all of its shortcomings, Fallen Order is a fun 13-15 hours of lightsaber stabby goodness.

Susan N.: Islanders

Alright I have to say that I ended up getting a cute little game called Islanders during 2019.  It looks like it's a simple game but it can get complicated in its own way. Players start on a large island. They can choose a path for their citizens to take like the lumber pack or the farming pack. Which ever path you take will give you access to buildings related to the pack. And your objective is to hit the total score with those buildings. Each building will award more points when close to certain buildings where others require a more solitary location. As you build up the island, it get progressively harder to acquire points. If you do manage to reach the point threshold, then you have the option to move to another island. Get the idea? The casual strategy thrown into this cute little game surprised me, and I absolutely love playing it. It's actually a neat game to stream because you can have viewers vote on which pack you open. Honestly, it is awesome!

Richard : World End Syndrome

Whenever I get a visual novel style game to review, my first thought is generally "oh boy, what's this one gonna be?". World end syndrome totally threw me for a loop with its engaging story and characters, the aura system, the beautiful "live 2D" scenery, and the fact that the illustrators actually made side and back portraits for the characters. I was honestly expecting something rather bland and cliche, but I ended up with something I didn't want to put down.

Natasha: River City Girls

Omg... I loved this game. I'm usually one to shy away from beat em' ups, but this takes the cake, adds a bucket load of extra cream, sugar and spice, then throws it in your face. Wow... that's one hell of a cake. The style, characters and music are to die for and this is one game I'll gladly play with a friend.

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