Game review: Saving 2025, Loading 2026: A year-end reset

From the Belle Époque surrealism of an AI-embattled RPG to the 8-bit nostalgia of Contra, we look at the games defining our downtime. 

Now Playing

A Masterpiece—or Just Overhyped?

Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam Deck, and PC)

Kicking off this year by finally playing last year’s Game of the Year—or at least the most talked-about one. The developers’ use of generative AI made it the most controversial game of the year. The hype almost forces you to fall in love with Clair Obscure: Expedition 33, and maybe that’s why I ended up absorbing all its flaws along with the praise. The turn-based combat is undeniably ambitious, but it also made me wonder why they used it in the first place. Did that gamble pay off? Probably.

Playing Clair Obscure feels like watching a high-budget sci-fi film—until the gameplay cuts in. Hard. The battles are punishing, the skill-crafting endless, and suddenly it’s like Netflix forcing unskippable ads into the middle of a great movie. The catch is, you must sit through them if you want the story to move forward.

Mysterious draw

The premise is simple but heavy: a mysterious being paints a number on a massive obelisk, and each year, people tied to that number vanish. Yes, very Thanos-sy. Humanity responds with expeditions to stop it. Characters A, B, and C enter the scene, facing boss fights, experiencing losses, and making sacrifices—the usual cycle. The prologue works. It grounds the characters. sells the stakes, and it builds enough emotional weight to make you care. The world design is stunning. Lumiere feels like old London filtered through a Hollywood lens. The voice acting is top-tier, giving the cast personality and making immersion effortless.

Detached battle play

Then combat starts—and everything shifts. For a moment, I honestly wondered if I swapped game discs. The battles feel detached from the story’s tone. Between juggling layers of character skills, weapon upgrades, and a heavy dependence on parrying, the experience turns more exhausting than rewarding. You get killed, you repeat, you practice parrying the enemy-specific attacks, and you continue. Win—continue—die—repeat. It’s frustrating, especially because the game clearly has so much potential.

And let’s be honest: turn-based combat feels like a relic at this point. If the developers had leaned into something closer to FFXVI’s battle system, Clair Obscure might’ve been my personal Game of the Year. As it stands, it’s a beautiful, ambitious game that constantly pulls me in—only to push me away when it matters most. 

Kinda feels old but glad it does

Despite its missteps, Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 is the kind of game I’m still glad exists. Its flaws are loud, sometimes frustrating, and impossible to ignore—but so is its ambition. Despite its occasional stumbles, this game stands out in an increasingly risk-averse industry. And honestly, I’d rather wrestle with a bold, imperfect vision than coast through something safe and forgettable.

Games-on-the-go

Most Downloaded in the Planet for 2025

Block Blast! — (IOS/Android)

In a country where playtime is squeezed between jeepney rides, MRT delays, coffee breaks, and quick “wait lang” moments, the most addictive games aren’t always the loudest. Sometimes, they’re the ones that simply fit into everyday life.

In 2025, Block Blast! did exactly that. At first glance, it looks almost too simple: Tetris-like pieces, a clean grid, and one clear objective—fit the shapes to clear rows and columns. No complicated tutorials, no timers yelling at you, and no pressure to compete. Yet once you start, it’s hard to stop. 

Brain booster—anytime, anywhere

The gameplay itself is calming but mentally engaging. Placing each piece feels almost meditative, like organizing your thoughts after a long day. At the same time, it subtly boosts brain activity. You’re constantly planning ahead, visualizing space, and making small strategic decisions without even realizing it. It works offline too, which makes it ideal in a country where mobile data can be unreliable. No signal? No stress.

Its biggest strength is accessibility. Anyone can pick it up in seconds, whether you’re a seasoned gamer or someone who rarely plays. Yet it still delivers that satisfying moment when everything clicks and the grid clears perfectly.

In a mobile gaming scene filled with noise, this game stands out by being quiet, thoughtful, and respectful of your time. And maybe that’s why it became Apple’s most downloaded game of 2025—because it understands how Filipinos play: on the move, in short bursts, and constantly looking for small moments of calm.

Classics Reloaded

Looking Back at the Side-scrolling Shooter Gem 

Contra—(Nintendo Family Computer)

The granddaddy of all gaming codes: Up, Up, Down, Down, B, A, Select, Start—instantly transporting every 80’s kid back to the time when their most valuable possession was not a cell phone but a game console, specifically Nintendo’s Famicom. 

The golden cheat code belongs to Konami’s Contra—a game that didn’t ask if you were ready to dump everything in the real world for hours of gaming. No cheesy intros. It just dropped you into a jungle of bullets and expected you to survive. The Konami Code quickly became the ultimate rite of passage for gaming nerds everywhere, an acknowledged protocol with the same reverence as Super Mario Bros.’ hundred lives. Contra wasn’t just played—kids memorized it, the whole shebang: the cheat codes, weapons, stages, and boss fights—tattooed into the brain like a sacred mantra.

Classic co-op, old-school bromance

What truly cemented Contra’s legendary status was its co-op: two players, shoulder to shoulder, sharing a single screen and one mission—often sweating under the heat of the TV, with electric fans blasting at the back just to keep the system from overheating (it’s an 80’s thing).  

In an era when gaming was mostly a solo affair, Contra transformed the Famicom into a shared battlefield—siblings, cousins, and friends shouting at the TV, arguing over that missed jump or who will snag the legendary Spread Gun.

The action was nonstop. Side-scrolling stages shift into vertical assaults, keeping players on edge. And its DNA was pure ’80s cinema—Rambo, Commando, Aliens, Predator, even The Terminator—all distilled into pixelated muscle and firepower.

For every ’80s kid, Contra isn’t just a game. It’s a core memory, permanently etched in 8-bit explosions.

 

 

Playing Clair Obscure feels like watching a high-budget sci-fi film—until the gameplay cuts in. Hard. 

 

 

READ: