Let’s just say 2025 has been a pretty interesting year, and I think that goes for most of us. Chances are if you’re here, reading this, video games are one of the ways you relax, acting as an escape of sorts when things get tough or stressful. If that’s the case, then you’re like me! My busy year was filled with dissertation writing, moving back home, and generally trying to plan my future. It gave me plenty of stress, but gaming in my free time (and, admittedly, when I should have been doing university work) really helped take the edge off.
Over the past few years, my gaming style has moved even more heavily into a focus on achievement hunting, and 2025 was no exception. Funnily enough, note-taking and spending hours working on one single achievement in a game brings me a lot of joy and a sense of calm, even if that might sound more stressful than relaxing.
The list of games in which I’ve hunted for achievements this year has been a nice mix of brand new releases and older titles. According to Steam Replay, I got 125 achievements this year across 12 games — fewer than I was hoping for, but about what I expected. These are some of my favorite games I played this year — along with some of my favorite achievements in them — listed in alphabetical order. Spoiler warnings below when applicable!
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
I’m starting off this list with a game with a slightly different achievement hunting mechanic than any of the others. Every so often, I remember 2020’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons exists, and it manages to consume almost all of my free time for a couple of months. It’s usually around this time of year, when it’s cold and damp outside, and all I want to do is curl up on the couch and do some cozy gaming.
While New Horizons doesn’t have the same style of achievement hunting as the other games on this list, I’ve recently gotten back into working on filling the in-game museum with every fossil, bug, fish, and piece of art, and my process for doing so is not so different from how I work on Steam achievements or PlayStation trophies. I’ll admit I have somewhat neglected the museum in the past, so I’m hoping this sudden motivation to complete it will continue on into the new year until I can eventually complete it in its entirety!
Platforms: Nintendo Switch (coming soon to Switch 2)
MSRP: $59.99 (Nintendo Switch), $64.99 (Nintendo Switch 2)
Baldur’s Gate 3
When it first came out in August of 2023, Baldurs Gate 3 quickly made its way into my top five games of all time, and since then has successfully stayed there. The massively complicated role-playing game has a great deal of pretty difficult achievements. The notable is “Foehammer,” requiring players to complete the game in Honour Mode (which, if you don’t know, is basically the hardcore permadeath mode), and I have not yet managed to do it.
Despite these tricky and more time consuming achievements, there are some that I really did enjoy the challenge in getting them. To name a few: “First Blood” (Kill Orin while her cultists are performing their ritual), “Crash Landing’”(In the Wyrmway, wait until the dragon is mid-flight, then knock it out of the sky), and “Jack-of-all-Trades” (Multiclass into every class in one playthrough without asking Withers to change your character) were a lot of fun.
However, my all-time favorite Baldur’s Gate 3 achievement (and the one I found the most frustrating at the same time) was the “Pest Control” achievement, which asks the player to kill the spider matriarch before her eggs hatch. I think I ended up spending a good few hours trying to have Gale stealthily walk across the web bridges pre-combat, and use his Area of Attack spells on the patches of eggs before the spider matriarch could initiate combat properly. This was a bit of a janky approach, but it got the job done eventually. This one took more attempts than I’d care to admit, but any fellow achievement hunters know that those are the most satisfying once they’re finally done.
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
MSRP: $59.99 (PC), $69.99 (console)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Finally, the first game on this list that was actually released this year! I absolutely ADORE Expedition 33, so much so that I handmade an Esquie cosplay for Halloween, and I’m thrilled to see developer Sandfall Interactive’s very well deserved sweep at The Game Awards earlier this month.
I’m not alone in loving Clair Obscur. Even the least achieved “Connoisseur” (Find all 33 music records) has a 10.5% player completion rate. I’m currently working on the “Sprong” achievement, which is received upon beating the boss of the same name. Usually, I would see an achievement with a 33.5% completion rate and assume it shouldn’t be too difficult, but “Sprong” has been giving me A LOT of trouble so far.
As of December 2025, I’m still quite far from 100%-ing Expedition 33, but there will be no stopping me once I have time to get back to it to work on some of the more time consuming achievements (as long as I don’t get distracted by Lorien Testard’s incredible soundtrack).
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
MSRP: $49.99
Dispatch
Yet another incredible indie debut from 2025! Dispatch is probably the game on this list whose achievement hunting process I enjoyed the most. The superhero narrative experience itself is pretty short (each playthrough only takes 7-8 hours), which is helpful for achievement hunters such as myself, as 100%-ing this game requires a minimum of three playthroughs, making different choices in terms of romance, the major decision regarding Shroud at the end, and which heroes you want on your team, among other things.
Some of the achievements were bugged and previously unattainable, but they all seem to have been rectified now, despite incredibly low completion rates for some of them (namely “H4ck3d by R0b3rt,” for succeeding on every hacking level available in the game). I love that the process of getting these achievements isn’t too repetitive. Many of Dispatch‘s achievements require completely different player choices, allowing me see all the different scenes in the game.
In my first playthrough, I went into the game blind (finishing the final two episodes on the day of their release, in an attempt to avoid any spoilers) and I romanced Invisigal, succeeded as a mentor, cut Coupé (and then grew to love her in my second playthrough — she makes an incredible hero AND an awesome villain), replaced her with Phenomaman, and yes, made Shroud pay for all of his wrongdoings (come on, I had to, he messed with Beef!), all of which warranted different achievements. On my next playthrough, I made the complete opposite choices (except sparing Shroud, thanks to Invisigal).
I don’t remember the last time a game made me feel so strongly about playing it right upon release. The staggered episode release schedule definitely helped, but my desire to avoid spoilers and go into my first playthrough without any outside information was palpable.
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5 (coming soon to Switch and Switch 2)
MSRP: $29.99
No, I’m Not a Human
For the final 2025 release on this list, we have first-person horror visual novel No, I’m Not a Human, and it’s been a whole lot of fun to hunt in this one. The game is short and easy, enabling many replays. I’m currently only about halfway done with the achievements, but considering I only have a total playtime of five hours so far, I feel like I’m making pretty good progress. The game has eight distinct endings, and each of them is tied to at least one achievement, so working my way through them all might take a little bit of time.
Most of the achievements I’ve managed to complete so far were super easy, as a lot of them were fulfilled while I was just playing normally. I did have to put a bit more intention into completing the “House of the Living” achievement, trying to find a balance between only letting “guaranteed humans” in and not ending up with nobody inside when the Pale Visitor showed up, following FEMA taking my new houseguests for experiments (trust me, all of this makes sense if you play it).
Platforms: PC
MSRP: $14.99
Stardew Valley
Ah, yes, Stardew Valley, the perpetual thorn in my achievement-hunting side. Don’t get me wrong: This is one of my all-time favorite games, but some of these achievements are incredibly tough. Getting “Perfection” and reaching the summit now officially being an achievement on Steam has given me a lot more work to do, but I’m refusing to give up, because I know when I finally do it (probably 500 hours later), it will be the most satisfying gaming experience I’ll ever have.
If you’ve read my “Beginners Guide to Achievement Hunting“ piece, you already know that I love using notebooks and spreadsheets for working on more tricky achievements. Stardew Valley is one of those games that I genuinely think I would have no chance at ever completing without taking notes to keep track of my progress. The cooking- and crafting-centric achievements alone would be so much harder without such bookkeeping, as knowing exactly how much of each cooking or crafting ingredient I need to make every single recipe in one go makes getting these achievements significantly easier (and a lot more fun)!
Platforms: PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
MSRP: $14.99
Venba
Venba is a delightful short narrative cooking game I played for the first time earlier this year. The art style is gorgeous, and the story was a beautiful exploration of reconnecting with your culture and family history. Beyond that, the achievements are fun and generally pretty simple to complete, making for a nice, relaxing, achievement hunting experience. The hunt doesn’t always have to be a slog!
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch
MSRP: $14.99
And there you have it! This was my 2025 in achievement hunting, all wrapped up in one place. It’s immensely satisfying to look back on my year of gaming and see everything I have been able to play and complete this year, and I’m eager to see what awaits us in the realm of gaming in 2026. Happy hunting!
Scarlet (she/they) is a U.K.-based writer who recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in English and film from Manchester Metropolitan University. She loves a wide variety of games, but has a soft spot for horror games and cozy indie games. She loves achievement hunting and is passionate about queer stories being told in video games. She primarily plays games on PC, but sometimes dabbles in console gaming, usually on the Nintendo Switch with games like Animal Crossing and Mario Kart.
