Video games are a medium of change, and that’s including how we play them. More and more, modern games are getting updates months and even years after their release dates. Players, in turn, keep coming back to these games as much as — if not more so — than new games releasing that year.
That’s why starting in 2025, InBetweenDrafts is expanding our end-of-year coverage to go beyond the brand-new games of the year. What’s old is often new in this space, and we should make sure to celebrate those creators’ hard work just as much. We love these games not only for what they have been, but for what they’ve evolved into. Maybe it’s a new feature or mode, brand new stories to tell, or even just some performance improvements. Whatever made us fire up these games in 2025, they were worth it.
Here, in alphabetical order, are the best updated games of 2025.
Balatro
Balatro might have come out in 2024, but the 2025 Friends of Jimbo update dropped in February, so it counts for this year! For what’s billed as a simple card game, Balatro is so much more. When I first started playing, I didn’t realize that so much thought went into each decision I had to make. The Friends of Jimbo updates are also such a terrific way to give little shout-outs to other games that the devs probably like. If I had a hugely successful game like this, I’d definitely do the same. Plus, the gambling aspect, with card packs and Jimbos, activated the gacha player part of my personality. Who doesn’t love ripping open those card packs between each round? [Kayla Chu]
Balatro is available on PC/Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Baldur’s Gate III
And here I was under the impression that I wouldn’t be setting foot back in Faerûn for a bit longer. But Larian Studios had other plans with the release of the final major update for Baldur’s Gate III, Patch 8. Naturally, I had to take the new subclasses and spells for a spin. With the addition of cross-play, my friends can no longer use the excuse that they do not have a PC in order to start our “Oops, all drunken monks” campaign. They still haven’t acknowledged my Steam invite—their loss. I have been lost in photo mode anyway, thanks to the massive mod community support that also got added this year to the game. These updates serve as a final and honest non-AI generated last hurrah. [Drea H.]
Baldur’s Gate III is available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and macOS.
Deltarune
Despite three whole chapters being in development, there’s a strong case for Deltarune as a complete game simply based on the additions of Chapters 3 and 4 this year. These chapters highlight what new boundaries Toby Fox can push now that he’s leaning more on a team rather than his own skills. Both chapters are full of new graphical tricks and mechanics while digging deeper into what makes Deltarune deeper than its more famous counterpart.
These new characters and explorations take the game further away from just an Undertale counterpart. On top of this, the new chapters have some of the funniest moments in either game, or really of any game this year. As the package it is now being sold for, Chapters 1-4 comprise a compelling story all on its own, almost as a “Deltarune Part 1” and has enough meat on the bones to be worth buying in now. [Travis Hymas]
Deltarune is available on PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch/Switch 2.
Final Fantasy XIV
Like most critically acclaimed MMOs, there is always an update. This year, Final Fantasy XIV reaches the end of the Dawntrail expansion, and it ends with a reward. The years-long cries from players for universal glams have been heard with the final patch of the year. Now, the Warrior of Light can strut in style through the world, no matter what their job is. While the current story following essentially a hospice child cosplaying as an Ascian isn’t that exciting, the Arcadion raids are fun. These culminate in an ending scored with a slapping song (by Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello and the band Beartooth) and a Metroid-inspired styled final boss that will likely have an intense Savage fight in 2026. With only mysteries on the horizon, surely it can only go up from here. [Drea H.]
Final Fantasy XIV is available on PC/Steam, Playstation 5, and Xbox.
Hades II
Hades II is receiving its fair share of praise for its crazy level of polish. That accomplishment is far more celebratory when accounting for the game’s early access period. Supergiant Games already understands so much from the original game’s development, but continued to challenge themselves throughout each major update on the way to 1.0. It is special seeing entire sections of the game come together real time; from character placeholders and sketches evolving into complete artwork to major plots and locations spring forth over and over again. That’s an experience that players waiting for the full release simply won’t really get to enjoy. As is always the case with the Hades games, the journey is the point. [Travis Hymas]
Hades II is available on PC/Steam and Nintendo Switch/Switch 2.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Nintendo Switch was certainly stretched to its physical limits with the awe inducing physics at play in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. For a small, 2015 era Nvidia Shield equivalent and using only three cores of the four at all times, to run Tears on the go with overall stable performance in less than 30 Gigabytes is nothing short of miraculous optimization scarcely found outside of Nintendo EAD.
Needless to say, both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom’s upgrade packs for the Nintendo Switch 2 on launch make stunning use of the updated hardware. Gone are the stuttering frames when using ultrahand or compromised resolutions with stable 60FPS and 4K resolution that take full advantage of the console’s new HDR abilities when docked, but real time loading is immensely improved.
Nintendo then went above and beyond with adding content using the Nintendo Switch app in the form of Zelda Notes. This second screen content added more content to search for in the form of Zelda Memory logs that players can listen to while hiking Hyrule and finding significant monuments, and most game-changing is the GPS tracker that guides players to a nearby destination of interest to help the otherwise overwhelming hunt for all 9999 of those elusive Korok seeds. [Evan Griffin]
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo Switch 2 Edition is available on uh, Nintendo Switch 2.
Love and Deepspace
The only New Year’s resolution I’ve managed to keep is logging into Love and Deepspace every day to check in on my Tamagotchi boyfriends. The addition of sleeping to the quality time feature probably comes off as overkill for any but the super fans of this otome delusion. However, it’s very satisfying, to my poor spouse’s misfortune, to hear several sleeping men coming from my phone. The single and multi banners with their refreshed mini games show that Infold/Papergames are working on pushing the boundaries of not only what the game can do, but also where the community desires to have their experiences taken. At this rate, it seems inevitable that a VIP envelope — for spending a certain amount of money in-game — arrives at my doorstep. [Drea H.]
Love and Deepspace is available on iOS and Android.
Magic: the Gathering: Arena
Sure, Magic the Gathering: Arena gets the benefit of its updates primarily from getting to replicate the physical card game’s booster releases. And yes, most of those releases in 2025 are absolutely banger sets; from the crossovers with Final Fantasy and Avatar: The Last Airbender to new in-canon explorations of multiplanar racing and space operas. Being able to play with these cards on demand is a real treat.
What stands out more is the vast improvement of the client itself. Over the course of 2025, Arena’s overall performance across all platforms improved dramatically. Animations are smoother, frame rates are consistent, and the crashes have all but ceased. While things aren’t perfect yet, the experience is now far more in line with the competition. With the expansion of formats, features, and rewards for physical play, Arena moves away from being a compromise to being a worthwhile part of a Magic player’s diet. [Travis Hymas]
Magic the Gathering: Arena is available on PC/Steam, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Ultrakill
New Blood’s early-access release a few years in is famously heralded as one of the all-time great frenetic retro action shooters to get your blood pumping. It’s a hell-spawned, dystopian sci-fi setting that’s an idyllic breeding ground for ideas, catapulting players into what genuinely feels like the next step in the boomer shooter/arena shooter genre. What is genuinely unique about Ultrakill, however, is its smartly honest and staggered update timeline, as the fandom around the game has been able to pour hours of play and replay into the game’s existing content. It only has two of its ultimately three acts featured in its runtime.
In the winter of 2025, the game also got an insane graphical overhaul, a kick in the pants for performance, and new high-profile soundtracks with the inclusion of tracks by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. New Blood’s pulse on the community is so strong that the fan created line “May Your L’s Be Many And Your Bitches Few” caught on fire so much that the line got patched into the game and turned into a merch line. [Evan Griffin]
Ultrakill is available on Steam in Early Access.
Let us know your favorite update games of 2025 here.
