Every year demands that gaming media and fans alike sink hours and hours into the latest and greatest – and with good reason, when you have so many quality releases like 2025 has had.

However, away from all the great games that came out this year, what have we actually played this year?

Enjoying video games isn’t always about the biggest releases of each year anyway, despite the cycle of those releases dominating the Zeitgeist; often it’s preferable, and deeply enjoyable, to go back to a classic or favorite from the past, catch up on a big game from recent years, or just continue playing your favorite live service game.

Below, the TechRadar Gaming team comes clean on what we’ve really been playing, focusing on games that aren’t just 2025’s latest and greatest.

Diving back into the wasteland

Whenever I wasn’t playing a game for review this year, I’ve been busy re-exploring the world of Fallout 76. The recent PlayStation Wrap-Up confirmed that it was comfortably one of my most played titles over the last 12 months, and given how much has gone on in the game, it’s not difficult to see why. With the second season of the Fallout TV show on the way, I’ve had a craving for more of the series’ universe, and this live-service instalment is the perfect thing to satiate it.

Sure, it wasn’t the best in the series when it arrived back in 2018, but it’s steadily grown into an expansive MMO experience that’s been well worth my time. The year kicked off with the massive Ghoul Within update, which introduced some cool new quests that let you transform your playable character into a Ghoul. Ghouls play very differently from humans, with exclusive perks and a unique Feral meter to manage in place of the usual hunger and thirst.

Getting to grips with my new virtual undead life was a lovely little challenge, and this was just the start. The Gone Fission update hit a few months later and added fishing, complete with loads of aquatic creatures to collect, and I still haven’t managed to find them all. This latest major content addition, Burning Springs, dropped at the start of December too – introducing a whole new area, loads of quests, and even the iconic Ghoul from the show.

It’s been a brilliant time, and I know that I’m going to keep plugging away at everything it offers in the coming months.

Dashiell Wood, Gaming Editor

Trailing the dawn

Yep, pretty unsurprisingly for me, it’s Final Fantasy 14 Online. Dawntrail, the MMORPG’s current expansion, might not be the best when it comes to the main scenario questline (even though you have to remember it’s going up against the generational combo of Shadowbringers and Endwalker on that front). But it’s difficult to argue that Warriors of Light haven’t been eating damn good when it comes to the expansion’s roster of features and quality-of-life updates.

Large-scale content like Occult Crescent and Cosmic Exploration – this expansion’s long-form modes for relic weapon and crafting/gathering, respectively – have kept me logging in day after day. Meanwhile, the Arcadion raid series has been perhaps my favorite of any expansion, and is set to explode in Patch 7.4 with a finale with a track penned by Beartooth and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.

I haven’t been this enthusiastic about the game in quite some time. When it arrives on December 16, Patch 7.4 will also (finally!) be removing the majority of Glamour restrictions, meaning you can don the appearance of any piece of armor (besides starting race gear) without job or level limitations.

We’re on the cusp of Dawntrail’s twilight, and the next expansion looms with an announcement expected in April 2026 at Final Fantasy 14’s North American Fan Fest event. And I can’t wait for whatever’s next.

Rhys Wood, Hardware Editor

A year of demon killing, witchering, and walking

I have played a bunch of 2025’s best this year, but have somehow managed to squeeze in some belting experiences around them, from indie revisits to Actual Indy, from bombastic shooters to DLC add ons, as well as some multiplayer fun. These are where I’ve spent most of my time when not in the 2025-release mines.

First up is a big shout-out to full, unadulterated playthroughs of Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal. I’d put these two off for too long anyway, but after attending a preview for Doom: The Dark Ages in March over in Germany, it was finally time to queue up the first two in an attempt to complete a straight playthrough of the triumvirate – which I did. It also gave me excellent, fresh reference points to compare this year’s The Dark Ages to, which was interesting.

In short, Doom (2016) is comfortably my favorite of the three, but I do prefer The Dark Ages and its excellent shield combat over the Mario-style platforming-fest that is Eternal.

I spent a lot of time in Death Stranding: Director’s Cut after my Doom-athon, too, and had to bail from a complete playthrough because life got in the way – pesky life. However, it remains a non-2025 game highlight of the year for me, and I can easily see myself sinking back into that and then meandering into Death Stranding 2: On the Beach afterward, too.

Even in a matter of mere weeks, I have racked up some incredible hours in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt this month (December) with a fresh, long-overdue playthrough – my first basically since it came out in 2015 – as my Christmas or Holiday game. I have absolutely embraced this majestic, genre- and generation-defining game once again and have zero regrets for finally recommitting to it, a 10-year-old game even in the face of 2025’s best.

Lastly, to tickle the multiplayer itch, my buddies and I have been exclusively on older games – we often are, though, to be frank – and have finally sunk hours into finishing Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, then crushing bugs by the thousand in Aliens Fireteam Elite, before spending a bunch of hours most recently in Payday 3. Throw in some co-op Diablo 4 and Dying Light 2 time as well, and it’s a fine mix of not-2025-game multiplayering.

Rob Dwiar, Managing Editor

Hello darkness, my old friend

As Evergreen Editor at TechRadar Gaming, it’s my job to stay on top of the biggest and best AAA and live service games throughout the year. Unfortunately, I actually spent hundreds of hours in No Man’s Sky once again, and you know what? I regret nothing.

No Man’s Sky received its most transformative update earlier this year, adding Corvette ships, which can be heavily customized and shared with a group of friends. You even sit down in your ship and can get up and walk around whenever you want, opening up the ability to exit in space and float around in glorious, existential darkness. Skydiving can now also be triggered by leaping from your Corvette’s docking bay, and there’s even an onboard terminal where you and your friends can take on group missions.

I say this every year, but No Man’s Sky is one heck of a game. Thanks to constant updates, I always find myself jumping back in, and 2025 was no different. It even came to Switch 2, allowing me to take the full experience on the go. Couple that with the fact that I picked up a PSVR 2 over Black Friday and, well, I’ve spent a lot of time in No Man’s Sky lately. I’m betting 2026 will be a huge year for the game, and with teases of Hello Games’ next project, Light No Fire, starting to trickle in, I can’t wait to see what’s next from one of the best indie studios around.

Jake Green, Evergreen Editor

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Rob is the Managing Editor of TechRadar Gaming, a video games journalist, critic, editor, and writer, and has years of experience gained from multiple publications. Prior to being TechRadar Gaming’s Managing Editor, he was TRG’s Deputy Editor, and a longstanding member of GamesRadar+, being the Commissioning Editor for Hardware there for years, while also squeezing in a short stint as Gaming Editor at WePC just before joining TechRadar Gaming. He is also a writer on tech, gaming hardware, and video games but also gardens and landscapes, and has written about the virtual landscapes of games for years.