I played through the following JRPG/JRPG-adjacent games this year:
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
- Fire Emblem Engage
- Trails through Daybreak 2
My two favorites were FF16 and E33, but I'd be hard-pressed to pick one over the other. I enjoyed FF16 quite a bit more than I thought I would, despite all the negative word-of-mouth I heard about it. At this point, I view E33 as a very impressive freshman effort from a new studio, but lacking some polish. That soundtrack, though, will stand as one of the top works of the decade, I'm sure of it.
In other genres, I continued playing Honkai: Star Rail, and I finished:
- 1000xRESIST
- The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures
- Hades 2
- Kaizen: A Factory Story
- The Last of Us 2
- Pathfinder: Kingmaker
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
This one's easy: I thought Hades 2 was damn near flawless, and easily the best game I played this year. My biggest complaint about the game--the ending--was actually addressed in the first post-live patch, so that's cool.
Overall, I'd call this a fairly average year for me. Outside of Wrath of the Righteous being super disappointing, no big surprises, either. Maybe a little unexciting, just your usual good and bad.