The 16 Best Video Games of 2025

Cursed painters, shifting mansions, samurai revenge sagas, and a decades-late metroidvania sequel all landed the same year. Some are quiet indie surprises, others are the biggest names in gaming going bigger. Which will win?

1. 1
   Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

   A French turn-based RPG about an expedition racing a painter's yearly curse, widely called the breakout game of the year.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

   A grounded medieval RPG sequel praised for its historical detail, though its steep difficulty curve divided players.
   780pts
3. 3
   Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

   Kojima Productions' sequel expanding the delivery-and-connection gameplay across a new Mexican and Australian landscape.
   738pts

   BE
4. 4
   Hollow Knight: Silksong

   The long-awaited sequel to the acclaimed metroidvania, following Hornet through a new kingdom of silk and song.
   691pts
5. 5
   Split Fiction

   Hazelight's co-op adventure from the creators of It Takes Two, splitting two writers between sci-fi and fantasy worlds.
   571pts
6. 6
   Elden Ring Nightreign

   A cooperative roguelike spin-off of Elden Ring built around three-player runs against a shrinking, escalating map.
   511pts
7. 7
   Blue Prince

   A puzzle-mystery about a shifting mansion that rearranges its rooms each day, compared favorably to Inscryption.
   443pts
8. 8
   Doom: The Dark Ages

   A medieval-set prequel to the Doom reboot trilogy, trading mobility for heavier armor and shield-based combat.
   365pts
9. 9
   Donkey Kong Bananza

   A 3D platformer built around large-scale terrain destruction, marking Donkey Kong's first major starring role in years.
   365pts
10. 10
    Cronos: The New Dawn

    Bloober Team's survival horror about a time-traveling Traveler merging with the enemies it kills.
    365pts
11. 11
    Ghost of Yotei

    Sucker Punch's open-world samurai sequel set generations after Ghost of Tsushima, following a new protagonist's revenge.
    365pts
12. 12
    Mario Kart World

    Nintendo Switch 2's launch racer, opening the series' tracks into one connected open world for the first time.
    365pts
13. 13
    Monster Hunter Wilds

    Capcom's latest entry pushing the series into more dynamic, weather-shifting open habitats and seamless expeditions.
    365pts
14. 14
    The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

    A full remaster of the 2006 RPG rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5 while keeping its original quests and world intact.
    275pts
15. 15
    Silent Hill f

    A survival-horror entry set in 1960s rural Japan, exploring repressed small-town relationships beneath its monster design.
    170pts
16. 16
    Keeper

    A surreal puzzle-adventure from Double Fine about a walking lighthouse, carrying the studio's usual handcrafted whimsy.
    170pts

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