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2025 has delivered plenty of roleplaying hits, from breakouts like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to two new RPGs from legendary studio Obsidian Entertainment. Per usual, some interesting options have also flown mostly under the radar, like Keep Driving and Artis Impact. If there's a single game that's most deserving of more fanfare, however, it's almost certainly Stray Children. Released on October 30, Stray Children comes from the creators of games like Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, Chulip, and Rule of Rose. If you're not familiar with any of those, you're certainly familiar with games they influenced, like Undertale. The team at Stray Children developer Onion Games is known for breaking the rules in memorable ways, and that alone should be enough to make its newest RPG the center of attention. Stray Children Is A Fascinating 2025 RPG One glance at the Steam page for Stray Children should honestly be enough to sell it. Like Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, every screenshot of the game is bursting with unique detail and an unmistakable atmosphere. From relatively banal suburban environments to psychedelic fish scenes, Stray Children isn't afraid to display the further reaches of imagination. It calls itself a "bittersweet, fairy tale RPG," and it's capable of being every bit as odd as fairy tales were before Disney ever touched them. Stray Children's quiet arrival isn't a random release. Onion Games announced the development of a new RPG in 2020 and unveiled it as Stray Children in 2023, so there's been plenty of time to prepare. Without the backing of a juggernaut publisher like Square Enix or Bandai Namco, it's simply less likely to cross the paths of RPG enthusiasts. Skipping Stray Children Could Be A Huge Mistake Anyone who appreciates Earthbound or Undertale, however, would be doing themselves a disservice to ignore Stray Children. Modern anti-RPGs have cleaned up a lot of the genre's rough edges, but Onion Games is capable of both keeping with the times and maintaining a more fascinating array of idiosyncrasies. It's only been a day since Stray Children's release, so it might be a while before players uncover all of its depths. Whether its the best RPG of the year will come down to personal taste, and I'm sure Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will outpace it this awards season.
