The Best Game of 2025

Variety is, arsenic they say, the spice of life, and 2025 provided a fantastic array of antithetic video games. We’ve survived and extracted from the robot-ruled battlefields of Arc Raiders, adventured crossed the medieval lands of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and established mind-expanding exhibitions successful Two Point Museum. We helped Keeper’s sentient lighthouse lick puzzles, and unearthed the secrets buried successful Atomfall’s eerie England. But which of the year’s galore antithetic video games is worthy of being crowned the precise champion of 2025?

Every December, the IGN squad considers each the games they’ve collectively played and reviewed crossed the year, and votes connected which 1 they deliberation is the top of them all. Which 1 is the “Game of the Year”? Sometimes that prime is incredibly difficult. Other years, it’s easy. 2025 was the latter, with our victor securing astir three-quarters of the vote. But what is that near-universally admired game? That’s what we’re present to reveal.

Honorable Mentions

Before we tally down the games that made it onto our last shortlist, we’d similar to recognise respective different superb experiences that we’ve had this year. Hazelight Studios erstwhile again proved that it's the king of co-op with the fantastic Split Fiction, a originative enactment platformer that builds atop the successes of 2021’s It Takes Two with immoderate of the astir astonishing and innovative level plan that we’ve seen not conscionable this year, but this decade. There was immoderate absorbing innovation happening implicit astatine Konami, too. With Silent Hill f, developer NeoBards Entertainment took the series’ trademark oppressive fearfulness and blended it with a caller attack to caller crippled positive to make a singular communicative that deepens with each replay.

Talking of replays, that’s the sanction of the crippled for Ball x Pit, the brick-breaking roguelike from Kenny Sun and Devolver Digital, whose furious enactment had america coming backmost for 1 much tally clip and clip again. So agelong arsenic our clip wasn’t being stolen by Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, of people – Level-5’s astute blend of Animal Crossing’s cosy slice-of-life and The Legend of Zelda’s dungeon diving turned retired to beryllium a existent comfortableness crippled for america this year. The aforesaid could beryllium said for Ghost of Yotei, too, which rekindled blessed memories of 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima, but boosted each of that game’s bully ideas with adjacent deeper mechanics and much striking landscapes. It’s harmless to accidental that 2025 was beauteous bully for games, and we’ve not adjacent discussed the precise champion of them, yet.

Runner-Up - Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Exactly fractional of our shortlist for the Best Game of 2025 is made up of sequels that faced pugnacious challenges. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach arguably faced the astir hard one: however to crook a divisive “walking sim” into thing much universally beloved, without betraying its core, admittedly niche values? The answer, possibly unsurprisingly for a Kojima Productions project, was to look backmost to Metal Gear Solid and incorporated the state of The Phantom Pain into this open-world transportation simulator. A perpetually rolling conveyor loop of gear, from ladders and boots to coffin hoverboards and weaponised electrical guitars, ensures you ever person the tools to tackle Death Stranding 2’s missions connected your ain terms. While this is inactive a crippled fundamentally astir transporting items from determination A to determination B, nary 2 deliveries consciousness the same. An ever-evolving and adapting satellite sees journeys that erstwhile unfolded connected ft upgraded to marque usage of roads, ziplines, and yet monorails, with destinations pursued either via your ain pathways oregon by making usage of originative solutions designed by different players. Such a travel isn’t purely physical, either; arsenic you travel, your increasing squad supports you done an affectional ordeal that ponders the worth of quality connection. All this ensures that On the Beach yet fulfills the unsocial committedness of the archetypal Death Stranding.

Runner-Up - Hades 2

The originative juggernaut that is Supergiant Games apt could person simply recreated its 2020 roguelike hit, Hades, with conscionable a fewer mechanical upgrades and inactive received captious acclaim. And, connected the surface, that’s what Hades 2 appears to be. It takes conscionable a azygous scratch to uncover the information astir this incredibly ambitious sequel, though, which smartly rethinks and remixes galore of its predecessor’s fundamentals. Yes, this is inactive a crippled successful which you conflict arsenic acold arsenic you tin done the branching routes of a dungeon until decease forces you to commencement each implicit again, but caller protagonist Melinoë’s quest to termination Chronos, the Titan of Time, takes spot on 2 opposing routes. Every tally starts with a choice: ascend Mount Olympus, oregon descend into Tartarus. Each determination provides wholly antithetic bosses, biomes, storylines, and challenges, which solves the age-old roguelike contented of grinding repetition. Stuck connected a formidable boss? There’s an full different satellite to conquer instead. And conquer you will, equipped with the astir refined acceptable of skills and upgrades the genre has seen. This is simply a buildcrafter's dream, adjacent successful spite of the random quality of your God-given boons, and each tally is an accidental to mold Mel into a marque caller benignant of magic weapon. With unrivaled creation and music, and 1 of the tightest combat systems around, Hades 2 is simply a spectacular triumph.

Runner-Up - Hollow Knight: Silksong

The eight-year hold for Hollow Knight’s sequel did the expectations astir Silksong nary favours. This wasn’t conscionable 1 of the astir anticipated indie projects of each clip – galore large bid with decades of past would envy this benignant of attention. Some would accidental it’s thing abbreviated of a occurrence that Silksong met (and arguably exceeded) those expectations, but the world is anchored successful originative talent, wide vision, and exceptional art. This is 1 of the astir beautifully drawn video games of the generation, packed with haunting caverns, overgrown dungeons, and myriad much unmissable vistas. Such regions are not conscionable pretty, but precision-engineered to supply immoderate of the champion platforming challenges this broadside of Celeste and Super Meat Boy. And astatine the bosom of each level are the exhilarating brag fights that are partially liable for Silksong’s fiendish reputation. Yes, this is an unapologetically challenging escapade that stings arsenic fiercely arsenic immoderate of its insectoid characters. But it ne'er strikes unfairly, and its elegant Metroidvania representation ever offers an alternate route, should a foe beryllium excessively imposing. In a satellite wherever hard games person possibly go thing of an oversubscribed format, the thought of a situation being genuinely worthy the symptom has possibly worn a small thin. But successful Hollow Knight: Silksong, developer Team Cherry truly has crafted a treasure worthy warring for.

Runner-Up - Blue Prince

The roguelite is thing if not an incredibly malleable genre. You tin marque an enactment RPG roguelite, a shooter roguelite, a paper crippled roguelite, adjacent a puzzle roguelite – though that second 1 is surely rarer than the others. Joining that tiny roster of looping head-scratchers is Dogubomb’s Blue Prince, an elegantly crafted labyrinth successful which the corridors are each of your choosing. Every caller tally is, fundamentally, an effort to find a mysterious hidden country wrong a sprawling mansion wherever each caller enclosure you participate is chosen from a random enactment of blueprints. But that wide extremity is yet little important than the galore secrets that await successful each caller effort – country combinations that unlock clues to further mysteries, and breathtaking discoveries that deepen the house’s story. Its random quality is the archetypal obstacle, arsenic gathering rooms successful the close bid is each but intolerable erstwhile you don’t cognize which blueprints you’ll beryllium dealt. But soon you realise that the existent situation is successful logic, pattern, and connections. And erstwhile you yet spot the good lines that nexus its galore ideas together, it instantly becomes wide however immaculately constructed Blue Prince is.

Runner-Up - Donkey Kong Bananza

When Nintendo launched the archetypal Switch, it did truthful with the unfastened world-redefining Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. And truthful with Switch 2, the unit was connected to trade yet different ground-breaking motorboat model game. Nintendo took connected that ngo rather virtually with Donkey Kong Bananza, successful which your halfway enactment with the satellite is to shatter it into tiny chunks. We’ve had games with destructible environments before, but there’s thing rather similar Bananza’s implicit demolition of its levels, which someway inactive negociate to support their Mario-grade craftsmanship adjacent aft having been pummeled to pieces. That terrain is filled with buried collectables, and excavating them often requires the completion of clever challenges that consciousness satisfying to lick each azygous time. The banana connected apical of this platforming delight, though, is the duo of DK and Pauline, whose pairing is not lone charming, but besides mechanically powerful: the titular Bananzas, activated via catchy songs, crook you into unstoppable brawling machines that tin easy decision monkey, monster, and mountain. It’s possibly Nintendo’s best-ever powerfulness trip.

Winner - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

There’s thing undeniably nostalgic astir Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Its turn-based battles, party-driven story, and linear exploration are distinctly old-school successful nature, and undeniably indebted to the RPG greats of yesteryear. There’s possibly nary different crippled retired determination that wears its emotion for Final Fantasy arsenic proudly arsenic Expedition 33 does. But with its debut game, Sandfall Interactive has done much than wage homage to the past – it has demonstrated a scholarly knowing of wherefore those games succeeded, and however their ideas tin beryllium revitalised.

Within the model of a traditional, Japanese-style role-playing game, the young workplace has created a distinctly modern instrumentality connected the genre. Breathtaking combat encounters request some split-second, real-time reactions and cautious turn-by-turn tactical planning. Daunting bosses are flooded by astute (and sometimes enjoyably exploitative) usage of a heavy perks strategy that empowers you to alteration your set of adventurers into a battalion of unstoppable heroes. And the archetypes utilized for each enactment member, from elegant fencers to destructive mages, are defined not conscionable by weapons, but by bespoke conflict mechanics that guarantee each quality feels similar a distinct, unsocial personality.

Sandfall’s artistry is not constricted to its awesome combat systems, though. Clair Obscur transports you to a breathtaking satellite wherever each show and dependable feels genuinely fresh. Its distinctly French, Belle Époque-influenced creation benignant is dissimilar thing successful the genre, arsenic is its unthinkable music, composed by Lorien Testard, which is destined to play alongside Nobuo Uematsu’s champion enactment successful the video crippled concerts of the future. But it’s Expedition 33’s profoundly affecting, emotionally resonating communicative – and the powerfully drawn characters who unrecorded and endure done it – that leaves the top mark. In a satellite wherever a deity extinguishes swathes of ever-younger radical connected an yearly basis, what does it mean to survive, grieve, and, ultimately, proceed on? The answers to those questions changed not conscionable Clair Obscur’s characters, but its players, too. This is without a uncertainty the year’s astir talked-about game, and it comes arsenic nary astonishment that it didn’t conscionable triumph IGN’s end-of-year vote, but stole it by a landslide.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is IGN’s Best Game of 2025.

Congratulations to Sandfall Interactive, and besides to each of the studios whose games were nominated and recognised arsenic portion of our end-of-year awards. Did we take your favourites, oregon bash you deliberation we missed a worthy winner? Let america cognize successful the comments, and beryllium definite to cheque retired our afloat database of awards to spot who other we honored successful our round-up of the precise champion of games, movies, TV shows, and much from crossed the year. But for now, we anticipation you had a superb clip with the fantastic games of 2025, and we’ll drawback you for adjacent much successful 2026.

Matt Purslow is IGN's Executive Editor of Features.