MotionRec
New ideas for platform puzzlers are pretty hard to come by in 2025, but MotionRec blew me away. A game in which you record your little robot dude’s movements, then “play” them back elsewhere in the level. Need to cross a huge gap to a high platform? Record him moving up a flight of steps, then replay that before the void. Ta-da! It’s so enormously clever, and becomes ever-more elaborate and involved as its 30 levels progress. (And yes, it’s lying about being 15 levels long.) What might start off feeling like it’s a little too simple is all a terrifying bluff.
Its black-and-white aesthetic is used tremendously smartly, and the pixel art is an evolving joy, all supporting one of the smartest, most original games I played this year. —John Walker
