I know what you’re thinking.
“Gosh, what a hilarious April Fools’ joke, Westen.”
But here’s the thing. Yes, today is April Fools’. But this list is for real. I am genuinely about to rank the top 10 lists that I have made. This list has been requested by many for years, and I think today is a ridiculous enough day to finally make it happen. I always talk about how devoted I am to ranking things, and today’s list will forever be the ultimate proof of that.
On a day when many websites might try to lead you astray, BigNerdGaming is here with AUTHENTIC ranking content. Enjoy the list! Every list is linked in the title if you want to relive some of my past ranking glory. Let’s get to it!
10. My Top 10 Games With a Metacritic Score of 76 or Less
I like when I’m able to make a list that tells a story of some sort. Sometimes that story is about me, but in this case, it was a broader point about review scores and gaming taste. I compiled this list after loving Rise of the Ronin, despite it only getting a 76 on OpenCritic. I wanted to make a list showcasing more games that I loved with scores that low, and how a lower review score isn’t always the end of the world and doesn’t always mean you shouldn’t try a game.
Generally, when I make lists that go through my entire history of gaming, I spend some time scrolling through all of the games I’ve played in order to make sure I don’t miss anything. This list took another level of work, as I went through the Metacritic scores of each year from 76 down to find games that I enjoyed that didn’t have great reviews. In the end, I think that work paid off, as this is a pretty fun list with a wide variety of lesser known games that meant something to me.
9. The Top 10 Games That I Didn’t Expect To Like, But Did
This was a fun one to reflect on. I also think this is another one that tells a bit of a story, which is always a nice bonus.
One of the biggest things I pride myself on as a gamer is my ability to enjoy almost any genre out there if the game is good enough. But I didn’t reach that point by accident. It has come by stepping out of my comfort zone time and time again. This is something that Xbox Game Pass made a lot easier in recent years, as it didn’t also tie any financial risk to the decision.
Completing a game that I didn’t expect to like always gives me an extra bit of happiness. I’m proud of myself for trying something new, and I’m excited by the possibilities now that I’ve unlocked a new genre or subgenre. This list was a great way to think about some awesome memories.
8. My Top 8 Games I Abandoned in 2025
This has become a yearly segment for me, and I think it’s a pretty neat concept.
I usually start at least 50 games a year. Probably more than that. While I play plenty of nice and short indie games, there are many more games I play that are freaking massive. Thanks to limited time, there’s plenty of games each year that I don’t finish.
Obviously, any game I didn’t see through to the end probably has a few issues. But in many cases, I still had a lot of fun with it. I am not someone who thinks I need 70-80+ hours with a game for it to be worthwhile. If I get 40-50 hours for $70, that’s pretty damn good in my book! That’s real value in terms of cost to enjoyment time! So this list is my way to honor some games that I liked but that probably won’t be on my year-end top 10 list. It is also another list that sends a message, and that is that you don’t have to finish a game for it to have had value and been very enjoyable.
7. BigNerdGaming’s Top 20 Moments of 2025
I love this list because I just don’t really see any major outlet doing it.
Basically, once I finish a game, I think back on my experience and try to remember any moments that really wowed me. Sometimes they are gameplay related. Oftentimes they are story related. From there, I rank them based on how much they wowed me. In 2025, Death Stranding 2 and Expedition 33 dominated the top of my list, as those games had several amazing moments, especially near their endings.
I think what I enjoy about this list is that it really takes me back to that year more than anything else. I can look back on my 2025 moments list and immediately get transported to my time playing Expedition 33 last year, for example.
I also liked my 2025 list because I changed how I did it, and I think it worked out better. In 2024, any time a great moment would happen, I would chart it on my notepad file immediately. In 2025, I only would only chart moments after I beat the game. My logic was that the great moments would stick with me, and sure enough, it worked. I also formatted the list in a way so people can skim it without getting spoiled. This was a lot of fun!
6. My Top 10 Video Games With No Combat
This list was fascinating to make because it really makes you reflect on how ingrained combat is in video games. I’ve played a nice variety of games over the years, but it took real work and a lot of scrolling through my old libraries to figure out this many great games without any combat at all.
I also like this one because it’s a relatively unique list that I haven’t seen a lot of people attempt over the years. This has been a pretty consistent Google performer for me, thanks to that. It also has several games that I don’t get to spend a lot of time talking about, and anytime I can find different games to talk about with my many lists, it makes me happy.
5. My Top 10 Games Enhanced By Fatherhood
I actually wrote this one a month before I posted it on the blog. I put it together as a “blog vacation” post to put up once my second child was born.
I enjoyed putting this one together because it was a great way to reflect on how both my life and the way I interact with art have evolved in the years since my first child was born. I could connect with all of the games on this list before becoming a father, but they all hit on another level now, and it was cool to think about which games had hit harder than they would have otherwise.
I’m a realist about being a parent. I don’t think you need a child to have a meaningful life, but I would also encourage anyone who wants to become a parent to take the plunge, even if it’s scary, because it truly adds a beautiful element to life. Also, as this list showcases, it makes art better! Parenting is pretty cool! Now excuse me while I go and wipe my child’s ass.
4. My Top 10 Video Game IPs That I Wish Were In Different Hands
This might be one of the most creative lists I’ve made, and I really love how it came together. In this list, I came up with 10 IPs that I think are being misused. Now, I think that could have been a fun enough list on its own, but what makes this one special is that I also brainstormed a dev/publisher that I wanted to take control of it instead. This one took a lot of playing around with, and I think it came out really well.
Also, one IP on the list has already been revived since this post! I’ll take 3% credit.
3. BigNerdGaming’s Top 10 Video Games That Influenced My Life
I had several people tell me that this was possibly the best list I have ever done, so I guess it has to be pretty high up here.
BigNerdGaming is obviously a gaming blog, but it’s also a true extension of myself. I do this blog for many reasons, but one of them is that I like having a lot of written work out there for my daughters to look at one day. I know that if my parents had something like this, I would be fascinated by it, and I hope my kids feel that way one day.
Because of that, it’s important for me to have the occasional post that is more about life than gaming, or that at least intersects gaming with life. This list is clearly one of my most direct examples of this.
This is also a fun list because it has a lot of weird games that I don’t usually have opportunities to talk about. It’s also fascinating to kind of look into my own mind and remember how games have shaped me over the years. Sometimes, they shaped me in ways I didn’t think about as much at the time, but upon reflection, it’s clear how certain experiences have stuck with me. I think this list did a great job of giving those insights into my life.
2. BigNerdGaming’s Top 10 Games of 2025
I’d say I play more video games than 99.9% of people. I think I touch more games in a given year than a lot of gaming journalists who do this as a job. There are a few reasons for that. First off, I almost exclusively focus on video games in my free time, so obviously, that allows me to play a lot of games. I also very rarely get caught up in multiplayer games or other games that I’d call “time sinks.” This gives me the opportunity to experience many more games over the course of a given year.
This means that I take a lot of pride in my top 10 games of 2025 list. When I post my top 10 games of the year, I have played a lot of freaking games across genres and budgets to get there. I think people know that, which is why this tends to be the list that gets the most clicks on social media for me. I can hype dozens and dozens of games over the course of the year, but this list is the ultimate way to “put up or shut up.”
I loved this 2025 list in particular because it was so indie heavy. I refuse to give preferential treatment to indies when ranking or rating things, but it does make me a bit happier when indies perform at a level where I can show them the love they deserve. 2025 was one of the best ever examples of that, and it’s exactly why I took so much pride on this one.
1. The 2025 BigNerdGaming Awards
The entire existence of BigNerdGaming is in part to create these awards, even though they honestly don’t get nearly as many clicks as most of my other year-end lists. I think most people can’t wrap their heads around why someone would want to rank all of the video games they played in such specific ways. But that’s OK. The BigNerdGaming Awards are for the true sickos. The ones that live for this shit.
As I kind of talked about in my “moments” list, the BigNerdGaming Awards are a product of true devotion and commitment. Every time I finish a game, I go to my Notepad file and start updating every category based on where I would rank the game. I also occasionally tweak them after some time passes, though I trust myself in general not to be a prisoner of the moment when I update my ranks.
This is my ultimate way to celebrate the year that was in gaming. While I do love how my “top 10 games of the year” forces me to only celebrate 10 games, this list lets me celebrate a good chunk of what I played in a given year. I believe my 2025 list had 30 different video games featured in some way. All of the different categories allow a lot of games to shine. Even games that I didn’t necessarily love can often do well in a specific category. That’s what makes the BigNerdGaming Awards great.
Also, they are the ultimate proof that I am sicker than anyone when it comes to ranking. Absolutely no one can top me in my devotion to ranks, and now, this list has shown that yet again. Thank you for partaking in my madness, and I hope you have a safe April Fool’s. Unfortunately, nothing else you look at today will top this masterpiece.
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