Five Gaming Hits and Misses in 2025

We ended 2025 with the feeling that the industry finally found the balance between big productions and artistic creativity. It was the year the wait paid off for long-time fans, with sequels that respected the legacy of their franchises and new universes that left us speechless.

However, it wasn't all roses. We saw established studios trying to force genres where they don't fit and sequels that lost the essence of what made them special. The gaming audience is increasingly demanding and less tolerant of empty promises or broken releases.

We at UmGamer analyzed the calendar to separate the wheat from the chaff. See now the five successes and the five failures that defined gaming in 2025.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The year's biggest aesthetic surprise, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, broke barriers for the turn-based RPG genre. Developed by Sandfall Interactive, the game, with its Belle Époque-inspired art, reached an impressive peak of 144,000 simultaneous players on Steam in its debut week, a rare feat for a new intellectual property in this niche.

The biggest proof that Expedition 33 stood out in this universe is, of course, the consistently positive numbers on platforms and the nominations it receives from the public itself. However, in addition to that, the title became the biggest winner in the history of The Game Awards with nine wins – surpassing phenomena like The Last of Us: Part 2 and Baldur's Gate 3.

The success was so great that the developer has already confirmed free expansions for next year.

ARC Raiders

After several delays that left the community apprehensive, ARC Raiders proved that the extra time was well spent. The Embark Studios extraction title established itself as one of the most played first-person shooters of the year, maintaining a constant average of 150,000 active users – in addition to a historic peak of almost half a million players – on Steam alone, months after its release. The retro-futuristic atmosphere and the destructible physics of the environments won over players who were tired of the genre's monotony.

Unlike its competitors, ARC Raiders avoided controversies with abusive microtransactions, which earned it a "Very Positive" rating on Steam. The warm reception secured the game the Best Multiplayer award at the TGA, beating established giants in the market.

Split Fiction

Hazelight has once again proven that the cooperative genre is one of the most fertile grounds for innovation. Without the titanic budget of its competitors, Split Fiction won over audiences with sheer inventiveness, reaching one million copies sold in the first 48 hours.

The game's brilliance lies in the collision of worlds between the protagonists Mio and Zoe. The insane mix of genres, ranging from hack and slash to platform puzzles and rhythm games, ensured that the experience never became repetitive.

In addition to its technical innovation, the title was acclaimed for its pro-consumer stance, with no microtransactions and maintaining the famous Friend Pass – where you can play with your partner by buying only one copy of the game!

Hollow Knight: Silksong

Silksong not only finally launched, but it shattered records. On launch day, Steam experienced instability due to the volume of downloads, registering over 500,000 simultaneous players – according to SteamDB – the highest number ever seen for an indie Metroidvania. Team Cherry delivered a vast map and polished gameplay that justified every day of the long wait.

The title dominated discussions on forums and social media, achieving near-unanimous acclaim from critics and the public. The biggest difference lies in Pharloom's verticality, which demands total mastery of Hornet's acrobatic abilities. Combat is much more agile and aggressive compared to the previous game, and the new tool system brought a tactical depth that kept players engaged for dozens of hours, solidifying its place in the genre's history.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

Warhorse Studios maintained historical accuracy as a central pillar, delivering a recreation of 15th-century Bohemia that surprises with its level of detail. Unlike other fantasy RPGs, here the world doesn't revolve around the player; the routines of the NPCs and local politics happen with or without your presence.

The combat, a controversial point of the first game, received the necessary polish. Sword fights remain technical and require reading enemy movements, but now flow much more naturally and responsively. It's a raw, immersive experience where you need to worry about hunger, sleep, and cleaning your clothes before trying to save the kingdom.

The technical performance, far superior to the first game, allowed the community to focus on immersion, resulting in very high player retention and millions of copies sold in the first month alone.

MindsEye

The expectation for this new project was to rival GTA, but the reality was different. MindsEye arrived on the market with serious optimization problems, resulting in a record refund rate, and repeating the feat of Cyberpunk 2077 at its launch – causing Sony to make an exception and allow refunds.

The world, promised as revolutionary, was criticized for being empty and lifeless, far from the vibrancy found in Rockstar titles. The confusing narrative and the mix of disconnected themes alienated the audience, but the main factor was the numerous cases of bugs, which caused the number of active players to drop to less than a thousand in just two weeks. It was a reminder that ambition without technical execution cannot sustain a launch of this magnitude.

FBC: Firebreak

Remedy attempted to expand the Control universe into cooperative multiplayer, but despite high expectations due to a recent history of successful releases, the reception was lukewarm. FBC: Firebreak failed to capture the essence of mystery of the franchise, turning everything into a generic shootout.

Sites like Steam Charts and SteamDB state that the peak player count at launch barely reached 2,000, a disastrous number for a service-focused game. Reviews pointed to the repetitiveness of missions and the lack of depth in the lore as the main flaws.

In less than a month, the wait time to find a match became untenable, forcing the developer to announce plans to restructure the game.

Little Nightmares III

The studio change to Supermassive Games took its toll, but not for the reasons expected. Little Nightmares III lost the characteristic subtlety of Tarsier Studios, delivering an experience that fails to maintain the atmosphere of its predecessors.

Contrary to speculation about the cooperative mode, the main criticisms focused on the game's design: the puzzles were criticized as being at opposite extremes, either too obvious or based purely on frustrating trial and error. Furthermore, perspective issues and a lack of precision in gameplay make movement irritating, punishing the player with unfair deaths.

The game was also criticized for its short length, which, combined with the lack of fun, makes it unsuitable for the public, even in aggressive promotions.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2

The troubled development of Bloodlines 2 resulted in a product that divided opinions. The game was released with a campaign considered short and linear for the genre, where the player's decisions barely alter the course of the narrative. Unlike what fans of the original expected, the title abandoned RPG depth by imposing a pre-defined protagonist and removing the customization of classic clans like Nosferatu and Malkavian.

The absence of complex social mechanics and branching dialogues made the loyal World of Darkness fanbase cautious about the game. The peak player count was insignificant, and the studio The Chinese Room has already suffered enormous losses with the title, in addition to facing rumors of the cancellation of future DLCs due to its commercial failure.

Killing Floor 3

The game launched with little content and such an aggressive monetization system that it plummeted reviews. Despite the graphical improvements in Unreal Engine 5, the scarcity of activities and the attempt to sell basic weapons for real money caused fans to object.

Thus, the number of simultaneous players in Killing Floor 2 has surpassed that of the new release from its launch week to the present day, demonstrating total rejection of the adopted business model. The company promised changes, but consumer trust was already broken.

Unfortunately, we've seen great promises lost due to corporate decisions or lack of polish. At the same time, studios that prioritized art and innovation, such as the creators of Split Fiction and Silksong, reaped the rewards with awards and record sales.

The market has shown that cutting-edge graphics don't save bad gameplay or abusive practices. The end of 2025 makes it clear that the community values ​​quality above all else.

I am available for comments or suggestions.