New Year, Old Games
2025’s been shaping up to be a grand year for games. Between massive AAA releases and smaller indie titles, it seems like the year is looking to be one to remember. Unfortunately, I’ve already been building something of a backlog.
Chronic game-buying is a terrible condition to have in general, and that means it’s time for me to hit the pile of stuff I’ve accumulated throughout the last couple of years and finally give these games a chance. Luckily, some of the things I’ve been planning on doing coincidentally got a couple of interesting updates, which means that I now have an excuse to go back and play those games I’ve neglected for so long. I’ve got five resolutions in mind, all of them related to this idea of finally crushing some of the weight of the backlog down to something more manageable. So without further ado, here are my gaming resolutions for 2025!
1. It’s Time to Get Action-y
Despite the last couple of years being something of a resurgence for the traditional action game genre, I’ve never really gone back to play a lot of those classic titles. While I have most of the Devil May Cry series, Bayonetta, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance under my gaming belt, a lot of the more niche and more obscure titles have left my sight throughout the years. I’ve heard rave reviews for God Hand and the Ninja Gaiden games but I never really gave them much thought other than a passing “wow, those sure look cool” here and there.
So for 2025 I want to rectify this. Instead of buying the next $70 AAA game that’s a billion hours long with a buggy launch that’ll take months to fix (looking at you, Monster Hunter Wilds), I’m going to take my time and play a bunch of PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and Xbox 360 games and learn more about the world of arcade-inspired character action games. There’s a lot of stuff out there, and I’d like to try some of it—if not most of it!—this year.
2. Embrace the Wonderful World of RPG Maker (and Free Japanese Indie Games)
A lot of people will know RPG Maker as that engine that a lot of classic horror adventure games were made in, from Yume Nikki to Ao Oni. While these works are influential and important, I want to give a bunch of lesser-known RPGs made in that engine a fair shake.
Recently, I’ve become aware of this cool-looking title called Valcross, a mech-themed full-on RPG that was made over the course of five years. This, frankly, sounds awesome, and I want to take the time to explore this side of the industry that’s not really all that well known. I’m sure there’s a bunch of hidden gems in places like Freem and other Japanese indie game sites, and I can’t wait to find them all.
3. FINISH STUFF!!!!!
Probably my biggest weakness in the way I engage with games is that I barely finish things! I structure stuff in my head as “games for X and Y,” meaning that I have one game that I dedicate to playing on my PC, another that I dedicate playing on my PS5, etc. Usually this allows me to focus hard on one thing at a time and lets me actually finish stuff, but sometimes my wires cross and I indulge in trying all sorts of stuff just for fun. By the time I finish this binge, I have five unfinished games just on one console! It’s terrible!
So, once again, I want to fix this. I want to try to be more focused, more active, and more interested in the stuff I finish. If I play a game, I must finish it fully unless it bores me to tears. I think it worked quite well last year, and I’ll try to keep this up for 2025.
4. Play as Many Retro Games as I Can Muster
This kind of ties in with the first resolution, but I want to make this goal a bit broader given it doesn’t include only action games. Last year, I finally got around to playing the first Final Fantasy through the Pixel Remaster collection and it opened me up to the wonderful world of older RPGs. I kept thinking these games would be out of my reach given how obtuse and convoluted their online reputation have become in recent times. But Final Fantasy taught me something really important: these people are wrong. If you meet these games on their own terms, and go out of your way to do stuff that modern games have stopped asking players to do, there’s a vast and wonderful world or unique experiences waiting for you even through their older ways.
So in 2025, I want to go bigger. I want to try out all the Dragon Quest games for the NES I haven’t played, and I want to finish up the first five Final Fantasy titles and see what other great adventures await me in this series that I’ve neglected for so long. I’m sure it’ll be one journey to remember for the rest of my life, and I’m ready to take it on.
5. Leave Gacha Behind for a While
While I wouldn’t call it something I necessarily regret investing my time (and some of my money) into, I think it’s finally time to let my gacha gaming times pass me by. I’ve been an avid player of Fate/Grand Order since 2017; it’s been with me through ups and downs. During the pandemic, it more or less kept me sane as I struggled through the loneliness of the lockdown, giving me a lot of time to read and explore the characters I grew to love for years. It’s a very special game for me.
However, after last year’s disastrous release of the latest story chapter in the Japanese server, and the lack of news for the writer’s next visual novel, I’m more or less done with giving Fate/Grand Order the time of day for a while.
The game is supposedly going to end, so perhaps later this year, I’ll go back and try to see if they manage to stick the landing after how awful they’ve been managing the release of the latest chunk of story chapters. But right now, I want to let my head clear up and go enjoy other stuff that has nothing to do with playing daily or having FOMO or what have you. I’m sure this will even give me enough time to finish up Witch on the Holy Night and Tsukihime!
What a Year We Could Have
Gaming resolutions are interesting beasts. We begin each year hoping we explore more of this grand medium and try our best to capture as many experiences as we can, be it trying to finish more games or experience new genres. More and more, I feel consumed by this beast of an idea, of trying to be a better person through the act of play, to be more mindful and more open of what I want to experience, of what I think is interesting. 2024 was a year of issues for me, but I hope I can grow past that and make 2025 one of the best years yet.
Do you have any gaming resolutions for 2025? Let me know in the comments!
