It’s that time of year again: Mariah Carey is fully defrosted, "I haven't seen you since last year" begins to form in the mouths of your unfunniest friends, bi-annual existential dread sets in, and enough best-of hot takes are published to power a small country with the furious energy they get in responses. Thus, it's my turn to add a video game list to the annual pile — except this one's about the delightfully creative spoofs that shaped several anime stories across 2025. This year's crop of literal anime games may not be as plot-central as they were in the 2023 edition , such that I've had to hit skip on the full meta approach, but there’s a broader variety of genres beyond the usual MMORPG in its place to add to your backlog. Coffin Genre: Horror Mystery Visual Novel RELATED: Marin’s Cosplay Closet: Completed Costumes Featured in My Dress-Up Darling My Dress-Up Darling goes the extra mile in detailing made-up media, bringing to life a list of cosplay influences that includes an erotic dating sim, a magical girl anime, a fighting game, a slice-of-life manga, a comedy anime and, most recently in Season 2, a horror mystery visual novel called Coffin . The game’s story is set in a convent where nuns are being killed one by one, and it’s up to the player to figure out who’s behind it. An innocuous description on its own, but you know a recommendation is a banger when the recommender hits you with “I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about it ” That's exactly what happens to Wakana, who decides to marathon all seven hours of Coffin in one night. The descent into madness starts with a suspect line of dialogue and escalates into full gore, skin-crawling lines and meta terror, depicted through a whole suite of gorgeous pixel art. A discussion of the game's mature themes between the cosplay group follows to create a truly compelling concept. Otokogi Koala Fighters!!! Genre: Fighting Game A British character living in Japan, obsessed with an Australian animal and voiced by an American? That's globalization, baby. Yes, Lily in Cultural Exchange with a Game Centre Girl loves a fierce-looking mascot named Otokogi Koala above almost all else. The critter from Down Under is far from endangered, appearing as all manner of merchandise and as a character in not one, not two, but THREE different video games throughout the show. We get to see brief snippets of Otokogi Koala VR and a co-op action game called Otokogi Koala ACT before we get to an entire episode dedicated to an arcade fighting game called Otokogi Koala Fighters!!! . If you want to see a spotted cat, a gorilla, a fox, a shoebill, a chicken and a kangaroo beat each other up at a local tournament, or hear dialogue about mechanics and how a bug is a feature, then this is the one to lock in for. Tricycle Race 9 Genre: Racing RELATED: How WIND BREAKER Highlights Shonen’s Best Features Speaking of koala video games… in a moment that feels reminiscent of the Yakuza series, the members of Bofurin sit down with the guy they just beat up to fulfill his long-held wish of playing video games in the penultimate episode of WIND BREAKER Season 2. Tricycle Race 9 for the definitely-not-a-Nintendo-Switch features split-screen multiplayer, characters on three-wheeled vehicles and track obstacles for players to avoid; it's fun for all the (found) family. Super Rumble Land Genre: Platformer If you spend more hours watching other people play games than playing games yourself, then Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show is the anime for you. The original series opens on Miko, a wannabe streamer, being invited to a mysterious playtest event with money and sponsorships up for grabs, where she and a variety of influencers compete in a "super-reality" version of a Fall Guys -like game called Super Rumble Land . If party platformers aren't your thing, though, you can join the Great Old Ones in watching their half-willing participants engage in schoolyard tag, an escape room, a quiz show, a tower defense game and a raising sim — all with real-world consequences beyond what you might expect. FPS Genre: First-person Shooter For another game with a consequential outcome, look no further than There's No Freaking Way I'll be Your Lover! Unless… and its untitled first-person shooter that decides whether Mai or Satsuki get ownership of Renako, or if they all just remain friends. Harrowing prospects, I know. "FPS" is an arena shooter in the vein of Call of Duty , and its brief 3D modelled depictions of gameplay, akin to the level of detail in 2023's Protocol: Rain , feature sprinting, vaulting, cover fire and weapon pickups as the three girls try to pick each other off in an abandoned industrial area. The most interesting aspect is that, judging from Renako and Satsuki's screens, the game can be played in either first-person or third-person perspective, so you can enjoy Gordon Freeman-ing your crush’s head in whichever way you please. Eternal Nations Genre: 4X Strategy "Managing domestic affairs is lots of fun!" The majority of transmigrated-into-the-world-of-a-game stories seem to occur in the scope of an MMORPG (e.g. Overlord , In the Land of Leadale ) or otome visual novel (e.g. I'm in Love with the Villainess , Trapped in a Dating Sim ), so there's an immediate hook when Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin opens with the protagonist being reborn in a world akin to a 4X strategy game called Eternal Nations . With his favorite character as his confidante and right-hand woman, King Takuto deploys a scout unit and workers, engages in diplomacy, adopts new citizens, considers the Tech Tree and bemoans his starting location in just the first two episodes; a sequence all too familiar to players of the 4X genre, and one that Takuto revels in. Ruminate Genre: Indie Puzzle Adventure RELATED: 10 Animated Webcomic Adaptations to Add to Your Watchlist Is it possible to play a game wrong? You might have watched a video essay on the topic or pondered it yourself, but Let's Play has a simple answer: Yes. Sam publishes Ruminate , the game she slaved over through college, on a self-publishing platform called Indigineer, only for her long-time favorite ViewTuber to completely misunderstand the gameplay and trash it on stream. His fans then take it upon themselves to review-bomb the game and drop its score from 8.4 to 0.3. In Sam's own words during her (imaginary) confrontation with Marshall: " Ruminate is an adventure puzzle game, not one of those combat-focused RPGs you play. My game can’t be beaten with violence." If that doesn’t already sound intriguing enough, she remarks in the next episode, "It's not that the monsters in Ruminate can't be defeated. It’s that they shouldn’t be," and the few clips we see show cute 2D graphics to go with it. As someone who plays far more indies than triple-A titles, I don't think I’ve ever wanted to play a fake video game more. Let’s Play showcases the kind of passion-fueled innovation that makes indie games so appealing, and that love of play is reflected in the anime's visual style as well.
