Topic: Gaming Resolutions for the New Year 2025

@HallowMoonshadow Nice goals! I’ve been fairly good at your #1, and usually research and scrutinize games before playing them so I don’t end up with as high an abandonment rate as I used to. Still, I gave up on 3 games last year before completion, so it still happens from time to time.

As far as your #2, I love that idea. Like Peace, I do keep some gaming notes in my phone app as a reminder of some things. It’s fairly unorganized though and so I rely on my trophy list as a way to chronicle the year. But I might adopt a more structured record like you’re doing so I can quickly reference what I’ve done and my thoughts on the games of the year.

I do wish that Push Square had some kind of search function to look back on posts. When Ral and Rog had the review thread active and organized I really liked the way that they kept the index of reviews for ease of reference. But like you, I’ve dropped mini-reviews, thoughts, plans, and questions about games scattered across multiple threads in the forums and it’s really hard to go back if I want to remind myself what I’d said unless it was within the last couple weeks. Likewise, many other users have posted useful or interesting tidbits that I sometimes want to find again and it’s nigh impossible. Implementing a search function is probably a huge can of worms that I suspect ant & company don’t have the resources to solve. But keeping a copy for my own records of pertinent thoughts is a great idea. I’ll start it today!

@PeaceSalad These are great goals too! I really like the plan to try one game from a series that you’ve not played. AC and LAD/Yakuza are so multitudinous that sampling one game sounds like a good way to not be overwhelmed and perhaps it will spur a desire to go all-in. I didn’t make it an official goal but I had thoughts to do something similar with some of my blind spot series/genres — namely Monster Hunter (and MH-likes), the Mafia series, and the Tales series. But with all that I’m wanting to do this year I’m not sure I’ll get there. I’ll be really interested to hear how you get along with AC and LAD though, should you successfully get it accomplished! I have my own thoughts on both series.

Late to the party here, as I never really do resolutions, but I just made one today: Give my old GOG library some love. As I just finished watching Fallout on Prime, which didn't do very much for me other than making me want to play the games, I think my first dip into my GOG library will be the first Fallout. Haven't played it since it originally came out, so that should be interesting

Gaming Resolutions for the New Year 2025 by JamieOretro

Complete 12 1997 PS1 Games in 2025 (Finish One PS1 Game Every Month)

• January 2025: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Konami, first released on PS1 in March 1997).
• February 2025: Cool Boarders (UEP Systems, EU and US PS1 release in January 1997).
• March 2025: Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (Naughty Dog, first released on PS1 in November 1997).
• April 2025: Final Fantasy VII (Square, first released on PS1 in January 1997).
• May 2025: Grand Theft Auto (DMA Design, first released on PS1 in EU in December 1997).
• June 2025: Gran Turismo (Polys Entertainment, first released in Japan on PS1 in December 1997).
• July 2025: Herc's Adventures (LucasArts, first released on PS1 in July 1997).
• August 2025: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (Namco, first released in Japan on PS1 in December 1997).
• September 2025: Mega Man 8 (Capcom, US PS1 release in March 1997).
• October 2025: Mega Man X4 (Capcom first released in Japan on PS1 in August 1997).
• November 2025: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (Oddworld Inhabitants, first released on PS1 in November 1997).
• December 2025: Tomb Raider II (Core Design, first released on PS1 in November 1997).

Today is the 31st January, so hopefully I'm not too late to post my New Year 2025 gaming resolutions here. I'm celebrating a milestone birthday this year, so I'm feeling more nostalgic than ever in 2025.

I've been chatting with my mate about how 1997 was one of my favourite years in my life, partially because it was huge fun studying together for six months in South Carolina.

This means that 1997 is definitely my favourite year for alternative rock and punk albums, and it's also my favourite year of PS1 releases — hence my list above.

My other gaming resolution is to share my writing more often on X, and I'll join Bluesky too, because I've always been a bit embarrassed to self promote my reviews, but there's no harm in it really. Cheers everyone!

@LtSarge Hey there mate, since you were the one to start this Topic in early January, I was just wondering how you're getting on with your Gaming Resolutions for the New Year 2025 so far.

I know that you had a challenging target to finish 50 games, with five titles in particular as your focal point (Borderlands 2, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Xenoblade Chronicles). I also know that you had some caveats such as playing more Souls-like games, and completing at least ten games on PS+ Extra/Premium, which all fits into your plan to finish 50 games.

I was thinking that it's good to keep this Forum Topic active, so I mentioned it in my recent WAYP 569 gaming plans this weekend.

My personal 'Gaming Resolutions for the New Year 2025' have actually expanded into becoming threefold, by focusing on three targets.

First of all I aim to complete twelve 1997 PS1 Games in 2025, then secondly I want to self-promote my writing for Push Square more on X and Bluesky — including learning more about how the Jamie O'Neill's Reviews page works on OpenCritic — and third of all I'm amassing quite a large backlog of PS Store sale games, which will build a bargain PS4 and PS5 library list for me to focus playing each weekend during Push Square's What Are You Playing? features.

I hope that your 'Gaming Resolutions for the New Year' are going well. Best of luck, and nice one!

It’s time to revisit my progress, with the first quarter of the year closing soon. Let’s see if I’m on track:

1) Play 4 newer games, defined as releases from 2024 or 2025.

Having started Star Wars Outlaws, I can say I am at 1/4 on this. So on target so far.

2) Play at least 20 games total

So far I’ve played 6 games in 2025, on track at 30% of goal to date.

3) Play 2 of the remaining first party AAA single player games that I have missed.

Not done anything here yet. 0/2.

4) Embrace a little impulsivity - Play 2 games that I currently don’t have plans to play

I’ve already accomplished this. I started 3 games already that weren’t on my original schedule. I’m way more impulsive than I thought I would be.

5) Return to some games from the past: reattempt 2 games I never finished, and replay 2 favorites.

1/2 on the reattempts with my completion of RE4. And 0/2 for the replay. So one fourth of the way is roughly on target.

——————

Fairly pleased with my progress. There’s a couple of those goals that I might struggle to get done, but so far 2025 is shaping up to be a great year. It’s really flying by though. I can’t believe we’re approaching Q2 already. If only life had a pause button… 🫤

Ah, the resolutions which I suck at! Good to see people getting things done though.

For me, it's a mixed bag.
Fewer sports games more RPGs. I guess I started pretty well with this one. I finished another old playthrough of Kingdom Come Deliverance from about the final third of the game, but also found some side quests I'd not done before (which were fantastic) and did the main DLC's with Band of ***** being the best of the bunch. Rode off with Hans about 2 weeks before KCD2 came out, so pretty well timed, too. Snuck in a little Sniper Elite between, I believe.

And since then most of my gaming has been Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and only just recently the very occasional sports games thrown in just to break it up a bit and to stay somewhat social with that lot. But I have very much limited that to next to no sports games at times. The only games to get a little run out so far were FC25 and EA PGA Tour (which still looks like a better game than the latest 2K effort, somehow)

Finish more games
We don't talk about this one 😅 I mean, I finished KCD again, I finished Indiana Jones, and I will certainly finish KCD2 at some point... and I'm sure i'll finish AC Shadows, as I managed to finish the 4 latest AC's across the years. So that's one thing. But I also still have Hogwarts, The Last of Us, Horizon FW, AstroBot 😬 SW Outlaws, Rift Apart, Starfield, Sniper Elite (not bothered about that really, but it filled a gap) all between 10 and 60% complete, and I've not even started GoW Ragnarok, Dragon Age VG, and AC Shadows, with Yotei, Death Stranding, GTA6 etc etc etc etc etc to come 😭

Play more Indies
I really want to, but I'm bad enough at playing AAA games. I will buy Nobody Wants to Die and Thank Goodness You're Here. NWtD will probably have to wait until a rainy November, now. But Thank Goodness could be a casual summer game??? 🙃

Buy the games that I really want to see being made, and buy them at release at full price, even if I don't intend to play them right away I bought KCD2 collector's edition and KCD2 digitally as well. I will buy AC Shadows for release day, I'm sure (that's actually today, so I've just bought it as I type this to stay true to my word haha) a lot more games due this year, so I have no idea how I'm going to play them all, but whatever 😅 the most important to me will be played and finished, the others will wait and maybe get partially played and then finished later, replacing some of other games I've partially played that are of a lower priority??? 😅 but the important thing is, I will make sure to buy them because I know they are games I want to play and 2025 is stacked!

(And maybe sack off any subs, depending on how I use them this year)

I've already let game pass expire! Hallelujah! If I want to dip into the catalogue again and it's not on PS I might consider it, but the exclusives are coming to an end it seems anyway, which was the only reason I got it in the first place as it was a way to play the few exclusives I was finally going to be interested in 🤦‍♂️ PS Plus continues as I will occasionally still use it for online, and the catalogue is there if I need any casual in-between games I'm not sure about. That Rick and Morty talking gun game, for example.

I still need to be a better gamer, that much is known 😭 I don't know how anyone can get through such serious volumes of games. Part of it, for me, is the games I most enjoy are f***ing massive and I like to take my time with them and stick to one large story game at once too, so I never get around to rattling through a bunch of games in a year, but then some people will finish off massive RPG's in 2 to 3 weeks and I'll be like "you mean 2 to 3 months, right?" 😭😅 and by that point the next game I'll want will be out and there will be no room for anything else.

I hope everyone else has much more success with their lists, if that is what makes them happy, anyway. If not, just keep enjoying gaming, regardless of any plans, because games are great 😁

Bloody hell… a quarter of the year done already! A little bit of progress in regards to my goals has been made. I’ve already got an Assassins Creed game done with the short but sweet(ish) Assassins Creed: Liberation Remastered (I’ll be playing Assassins Creed: Rogue Remastered in the second half of 2025 also) and another Uncharted cleared with the excellent Uncharted 2.

I’ve also managed to start one of the other series that I’ve been meaning to start for the longest time by having recently finished and really enjoyed the original Darksiders. My first Devil May Cry is on the horizon too, as I’m currently on #218 plats and intend on it being #225.

The most satisfying gaming successes for me in this first quarter wasn’t even added to my resolutions though… namely clearing a few trying platinums from 2024 that were hanging around like a bad smell. I’d started Final Fantasy XIII, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Suicide Squad at various points during the latter half of 2024, with every intention of their respective platinums being gathering virtual dust by the turn of the year… but for various reasons this didn’t happen. Well they’re all done now and not only that, I’ve caught up and overtook my schedule for 2025, so pretty happy so far. 😎

Played through one of the planned two Assassins Creed games this year - Liberation is done and I’ll probably play Rogue in August.

Finished off Final Fantasy XIII from last year but haven’t yet made a start on the original Final Fantasy nor XIII -2, which I still have lined up for later this year.

Still planning on playing Mass Effect 2 in the second half of the year.

Uncharted 2 is done but I’ve moved Life is Strange: Before the Storm to next year. I also traded in Livelock for one of the Housemarque twin stick shooters, as it had multiplayer trophies… and there was a few of us all ready to go on it at the same time.

The ones that I’m most happy about making a start on were the Resident Evil and Devil May Cry. I’ve had both services knocking about my backlog for years… and in all honesty was a bit intimidated by the first games of both. Resident Evil due to the sheer number of playthroughs needed and Devil May Cry because of the notoriety of how difficult the platinum is. Managed to get both done in the same month though, with the latter being for a milestone too.

Decided to push my next foray into Yakuza into next year too… as I just feel the games are so similar and the plats so huge… that a two year break between entries feels more appropriate than most other series.

Pretty happy with what I’ve got done in Q1and Q2 though… and managed to get a shed-load of games with multiplayer requirements done too, which is always an extra relief. One of which being The Division, which was nice to check off the list as I plat’d 2 a few years back and it completes the series… and also it turned out to probably be the best game I’ve played so far this year, which was a nice surprise.

Believe it or not, we’re closer to the beginning of 2026 now than we are to the beginning of 2025.

Time for an accounting:

1) Play 4 newer games, defined as releases from 2024 or 2025.
2/4 so far with Lost Records and Star Wars Outlaws (50%)

2) Play at least 20 games total
So far I’ve played 9 games in 2025, so I think I’m only slightly behind schedule (45%)

3) Play 2 of the remaining first party AAA single player games that I have missed.
Still not done anything here yet. 0/2. (0%)

4) Embrace a little impulsivity - Play 2 games that I currently don’t have plans to play
Easily accomplished this. I started 4 games already that weren’t on my original schedule. Impulsivity personified (100%)

5) Return to some games from the past: reattempt 2 games I never finished, and replay 2 favorites.
1/2 on the reattempts with my completion of RE4. And 1/2 for the replay with my spontaneous come back to Returnal. Although I’m not doing a full replay but returned to do the add-on content of the Tower that I never did before; slight stretch to qualify for this goal but I’ll take it. (50%)

——————

Not too bad so far this year. Overall I’m about halfway to my goals and the year is just past the halfway mark.

@Th3solution pretty good progress bud! Out of interest, what are the remaining AAA games that you’ve missed? Are those the games we’ve chatted about before like Days Gone, Assassins Creed origins etc.?

God, I suck.

I'm now subscribed to Game Pass and PS Plus. Game Pass was almost a protest purchase due to the fact I could sign up for a year or more of their games for the cost of The Outer Worlds 2. But they really are just being used as stop gap to try stuff out while I f*** about not knowing what I want to play. Which is probably what subscription services should relegate themselves to. Older games I've missed out on, casual games to fill the gaps between other releases etc.

I'm still buying games I know I want day 1 or pre-ordering in some cases. I accidentally bought FC26 instead of Death Stranding 2 though, which is poor form from me 🤦‍♂️ Although I was lingering over the Collector's Edition pretty bad (I really want that Dollman chain!) but even I can't really do the mental gymnastics required to make it seem like it is worth £150 on top of the game for one little keychain 😂

I have completed Mafia 1 & 2 on top of KCD2 🤷‍♂️ but now I've only gone and started playing FC25 again because it is easy to get a quick dopamine hit rather than commit to another full story that I fear I won't finish, and going back to games I've not finished is a tough sell. AC Shadows got way too spread out and repetitive, I can't assassinate 80% of the population of Japan for crying out loud, Ubisoft! And the fact the main quest kind of leans into the assassination target circles of doom just got a bit off-putting. They have finally gone too far with it, I think. Also, going back to the Hub is a pain in the ass on such a large map. Fast travel shouldn't be that frequent and necessary and annoying (all hail Dragons Dogma 2) (GoY also seem to be stepping up big time with their mobile camp announcement!)

AC Shadows and Oblivion are perhaps relegated to casual games I might play every so often, I think. I doubt very much I could complete one, let alone 2 before Ghost of Yotei. BG3 is also a casual game for every so often, but it is just better at its role, having played it once through already. Honestly, I feel like i'm more likely to finish BG3 again before Oblivion or Shadows, I just like it more and thinking about doing that doesn't fill me with dread like the others haha, even though i'm barely even playing it lately and am still in Act1.

My next project will maybe be trying to get back in to CyberPunk to finish that, and then I can start the DLC, I will need to play a few side quests to familiarise myself with the controls and my build and its game mechanics, though, as first time out I jumped out of a moving car multiple times trying to handbrake turn and crouched down at a guys crotch instead of hitting him in the head with my gun 😂

Gaming!

@graymamba Yeah, It’s the Sony first party games that I’ve not yet played — Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok, Days Gone, and Astro Bot. We could now soon add Ghost of Yotei. I suppose I could also include MLB The Show, but it’s not in my wheelhouse of interest. And also, depending on the “first party” definition, I’ve not played Death Stranding 2, Helldivers 2, Stellar Blade, or some other Sony published exclusives (Nioh and Nioh 2, Rise of the Ronin, etc). Really my goal was there to motivate me to mop up some of those first 4 that are from the first party studios that I’ve not got around to yet. My schedule had me playing HFW in Aug and DG starting in Oct, but I’m not sure if I’ll get to them. I should get at least one of those 4 done but if all goes well maybe 2. Perhaps pivoting to doing GoWR and Astro would be better since those are shorter. 😄

@Th3solution well if I’ve learned one thing from managing an almighty backlog it’s that there really isn’t any rush… and all those games will still be there in 2026 if the mood takes you.

@Th3solution
Play Sword of the sea next month, “free” (not free) on PS Plus Extra.
Most likely a shortish game which will tick many of your resolutions.
But yeah, play Days Gone.

@graymamba Indeed, mate. As the backlog grows I’ve been following that philosophy more and more. I’m not quite as far back as the PS3, but I’m spending a lot of time on the big titles from 2023 and before. Thus my goal to at least play a few “newer” games. I’ve no less enjoyed Baldur’s Gate 3, RE4 remake, FF7 Crisis Core, and even older stuff like Dark Souls 2 over the past year, but there is a certain zeitgeist with a new title that adds a unique element of fun. But the fact is that playing a game a launch gives you the worst version of the game at the highest price. It makes no sense to do for most titles. Still, my thinking was that strategic game time planning should allow me occasional dips into new game territory.

@CaptD I will keep my eye on Sword of the Sea. Although I have fond memories of Journey, I do think it’s slightly overhyped. It was a good and unique experience, but not really an all-timer for me. SotS is supposed to channel that Journey energy and so we’ll see if it looks worthwhile.

Days Gone is definitely on the shortlist though. I have the unexpected hangup of whether to splurge for the new PS5 remake or just play the original version which I “own” via PS+. From what I have read, the new remake isn’t really much of an upgrade except for the new hoard mode.

Time has really blown by. I can’t believe I haven’t done a goal update since July, and here I find myself at the end of the year. I actually haven’t made much progress toward my goals in the second half of the year as I did in the first half. But here’s an accounting:

1) Play 4 newer games, defined as releases from 2024 or 2025.

4/4 - Accomplished! (Lost Records, Star Wars Outlaws, Sword of the Sea, and The Invincible). It’s a stretch to include Invincible but I did boot it up and have played it for a short time and just haven’t finished it.

2) Play at least 20 games total

I’ve played 13 games in 2025 (65% of goal)

3) Play 2 of the remaining first party AAA single player games that I have missed.

Large failure here. 0/2.

4) Embrace a little impulsivity - Play 2 games that I currently don’t have plans to play

Easily accomplished this. I started 6 games that weren’t on my original schedule.

5) Return to some games from the past: reattempt 2 games I never finished, and replay 2 favorites.

1/2 on the reattempts (I’m counting RE4) And 1/2 for the replay (with going back to do some post game add-on content for Returnal)
——————

Overall a 66% achievement rate. Not great but not terrible.

I really lost some momentum in the second half of the year. Still, an enjoyable gaming year all the same. I already have some ideas for 2026 goals. 😄

Embrace a little impulsivity (I'm stealing this)

• Find a lot of Indies that I missed, and maybe finish Death Stranding 2. Maybe try a big franchise finally like The Last of Us. 2024 (if the App is right) was thirty four games, mostly small and fast and thrilling like Lawn Mowing Simulator. Maybe finally try a Spiderman game too, maybe finally try Alan Wake, more Indies, maybe make the switch from Flight Simulator PC to console. Finally watch one of those Sonic movies, it counts as gaming. Buy yet more gaming novels and art-books, maybe try Chiaroscuro Expedition 33 since everyone on the planet seems to have recommended it. Also maybe the RPG Ravix seems to be addicted to. Possibly read a Witcher book so I can speak Witcher with said Ravix.

I did alright all things considered… the only blots on the copybook being that I never played a Housemarque twin-stick shooter this year (I slotted in one from a different studio called LiveLock instead) and that I decided to keep my playthrough of the Yakuza series bi-annual, rather than upping the pace to annual. All other resolutions done… together with an equalled pb of 50 plats.

edit. Reading back, I didn’t actually play Life is Strange: Before the Storm this year… and I can’t remember why. Will remedy that in 2026.