Three 2025 Releases Taylor Regrets Skipping

There are a lot of games to play, and not much time to keep up. By the end of the year, I’m constantly wondering how I missed out on some of the year’s best releases, but who can’t relate? Work, friends, family, and the never-ending slew of daily life nonsense keep us all pretty busy. So, I’m going to run down three games I wish I played in 2025 that I can hopefully catch up on in the early months of 2026.

Mafia: The Old Country

While working on my review for Madden NFL 26, I completely missed out on what many called a surprise hit of the year. With a finite run time and compelling story, Mafia: The Old Country sits at a 74 on Metacritic and earned Game Awards nominations.

Here’s the thing: because I know it’s a concise experience, I keep thinking I’ll get to it and play through it eventually because it’s not a time sink. However, I’m basically committing a fallacy by saying its compelling length is why I can put it off. Hopefully, I can give it a fair shake in 2026.

Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion

I got so into Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar for my review that I completely skipped over the follow-up to one of my favorite OG Switch titles. The opposite problem to Mafia: The Old Country is happening here. I know I could easily put over 30 hours into Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion, but do I want to invest that time? It’s sort of ridiculous, but I can’t wrap my head around that investment.

Will I put that many hours into Fortnite and Disney Dreamlight Valley in January 2026? Yeah, probably more. So why not play a game I’m almost positive I’ll like instead of the same two live-service games that eat up my free time? I couldn’t give you a good answer; I’m broken inside.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

The release of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater also came at a tough time in peak review season. This is a remake of my second-favorite Metal Gear Solid game, so how did I not play it? It’s not like I have an issue with remakes and the fact that I’ve technically already played them. I put 45 hours into The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered without blinking.

I do attribute some of the hesitation I’m feeling about jumping into the likes of Snake Eater is that I’m worried I won’t love the game as much as I did the first time. I can’t explain it, but I almost don’t want to risk the memory I have of first booting up the original Snake Eater and feeling like my gaming life was changing.

There’s still time to return to these games, but as many of you know, a backlog only seems to grow. Any games you missed out on from 2025? Let us know in the comments what game is at the top of your backlog!