Vote now for March 2025's TA Playlist game We’re going off the beaten path for this month’s poll with four games from genres that have never featured on the TA Playlist!The TA Playlist Team Published 14 Feb 2025 FollowtopicsTA PlaylistCommunity eventThe TA Playlist Team We hope you (and maybe even your Valentine) are having a good time-solving test chambers in this month’s co-op TA Playlist feature, Portal 2, but it’s time to leave the Aperture Science facility for a bit and vote for next month’s featured game. And now for something completely different… In the words of the immortal Monty Python, whose film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, we wanted to go entirely off the beaten path for the March TA Playlist selections. By its very nature, Playlist tends to focus on games that have some interesting mix of strong narrative and solid gameplay, which gives us some interesting things to discuss in the forums but also limits us in the type of game we might pick. TrueAchievements recognizes 54 distinct genres (not counting all the sub-genres for Sports), but only about half of them have been represented by games on the Playlist.For this month, we’re throwing that out the window, and picking some highly-rated games from genres that might not otherwise be a good fit for Playlist. Some have no story at all, while others use gameplay mechanics that just tend to go overlooked. The only thing they have in common is that the games are extremely highly rated by the community, so whatever gets chosen this month, the Playlist community will be in for a treat. Which game will you choose? BalatroRepresenting the Roguelite, Collectible Card Game, and Card & Board genres is one of the surprise hits of 2024, Balatro. Developed by LocalThunk and published by PlayStack, this poker-themed deck builder took the world by storm, winning all sorts of “Best Indie Game” and “Mobile Game of the Year” awards, as well as being the first solo game project ever to be nominated for “Game of the Year” at The Game Awards.The poker roguelike. Balatro is a hypnotically satisfying deckbuilder where you play illegal poker hands, discover game-changing jokers, and trigger adrenaline-pumping, outrageous combos. Combine valid poker hands with unique Joker cards in order to create varied synergies and builds. Earn enough chips to beat devious blinds, all while uncovering hidden bonus hands and decks as you progress. You’re going to need every edge you can get in order to reach the boss blind, beat the final ante and secure victory.Balatro has an impressive 4.65 rating out of 5.00 here on TA, with nearly 17,000 tracked gamers playing along. It is a long road to completion, with only 83 tracked gamers having earned all 31 of the game’s achievements and estimates in the 300 to 500-hour range, but by all accounts, you’ll love every minute of your time with this addictive and innovative title.DredgeIt’s probably no surprise that we haven’t featured a game in the Fishing genre on the Playlist before, but that all might change with the next nominee, DREDGE, developed by Black Salt Games and published by Team17 Software and Fireshine Games in 2023.Captain your fishing trawler to explore a collection of remote isles, and their surrounding depths, to see what lies below. Sell your catch to the locals and complete quests to learn more about each area’s troubled past. Outfit your boat with better equipment to trawl deep-sea trenches and navigate to far-off lands, but keep an eye on the time. You might not like what finds you in the dark...Dredge currently sits at a 4.45 out of 5.00 rating on TA, with over 17,000 tracked gamers, almost 900 of which have gone on to complete all 60 of the game’s achievements – 40 from the base game, and another 20 spread out across two DLC packs. The full completion is estimated to take 20-30 hours.AI: The Somnium FilesThe third nominee for March, AI: The Somnium Files, represents the Visual Novel genre. Developed and published by Spike Chunsoft in 2021, this futuristic murder mystery puts you in the shoes of Kaname Date, a detective with the ability to enter people’s dreams to search for clues, as you track down an elusive serial killer.One rainy night in November, a woman's body is found at an abandoned theme park, mounted on a merry-go-round horse. She had been stabbed repeatedly, and her left eye was gouged out. Kaname Date of the Metropolitan Police Department arrives on the scene. He recognizes the woman. Suddenly, he hears a noise from inside the merry-go-round. He breaks into the merry-go-round's central column to find a young girl. And in her hands, she grips a bloody ice pick...AI: The Somnium Files has a very strong rating of 4.31 out of 5.00 stars according to the TA community, and it also has the most completions of this month’s nominees; over 3,000 of the almost 19,000 tracked gamers who’ve played this game (around 16%) have gone on to unlock all 45 of the game’s achievements, which is estimated to take around 20-25 hours.Unicorn OverlordOur final nominee for March, representing the Real Time genre, is another one of 2024’s most talked-about games, Unicorn Overlord. Developed by Vanillaware and Atlus, and published by SEGA, this tactical RPG won the Award for Excellence at the 2024 Japan Game Awards, and was nominated for Best Sim/Strategy Game at The Game Awards.ATLUS x Vanillaware presents the rebirth of tactical fantasy RPG. Fight against fate and embark on a royal adventure to regain your reign alongside trustworthy allies. Unicorn Overlord combines the timeless tactical RPG genre with overworld exploration and an innovative battle system for a unique epic fantasy experience in the iconic Vanillaware style. Traverse a vibrant world, assemble units and direct them into exquisitely animated battles. Perform heroic deeds and grow renown throughout the five nations. Cultivate a grand army with over 60 unique characters, from humans and elves to massive beasts and heavenly angels With a stunning TA community rating of 4.69/5.00, Unicorn Overlord stands as the highest-rated title in this month’s list, although only around 4,500 tracked gamers have started the game, with just over 1,000 (24%) completing all 51 achievements. The TA community estimates a full completion should take 50-60 hours.So, which of these highly-rated games from unused genres should we play in March 2025? Do you like going off the beaten path with the selections once in a while, or should we stick to the tried and true TA Playlist formula? Place your vote and let us know your thoughts in the comments! As always, if you have any suggestions for future Playlist games or themes, be sure to drop them in the TA Playlist Game Suggestion Thread for possible inclusion in a future poll! And remember, you can leave a substantive comment about Portal 2 in this month’s Spoiler and Spoiler-free threads to earn your TA Playlist badge for this month!Which game should the community play for March 2025's TA Playlist? Balatro Dredge AI: The Somnium Files Unicorn Overlord Log in or Register to vote TA Playlist Written by The TA Playlist TeamThe TA Playlist is a monthly community event. Everyone votes on which of four games to play, and then we all play through it in the following month. There's a dedicated hub to discuss everything about the game, from story beats to gameplay tips – and of course, you can track your achievement progress during the month as well. TA Playlist was created by Mark Delaney and is now run by Miles, Nici and Chewie.