The year is done, the dust has settled, and the trophies have been handed out. 2025 will go down as one of the most mechanically diverse and emotionally impactful years in gaming history. From the massive scale of open-world epics to the tight, polished challenge of indie darlings, this year had something for every player.
But while the competition was fierce only one title delivered a perfect storm of art, emotion, and flawless design and I bet you can guess what it is before readiing any further.
Here are the ten games that defined My 2025, counting down to the undisputed, tear-jerking champion.
10. Hades II
Developer: Supergiant Games | Genre: Rogue-lite Action RPG
The impossible sequel that stuck the landing. Hades II refined the ‘just one more run’ loop with a richer, darker world and the compelling story of Melinoë, Princess of the Underworld. Supergiant’s genius lies in making every failure feel like progress, weaving narrative threads and resource accumulation into every death. With an expanded pantheon, stunning characterisation, and Darren Korb’s signature pumping soundtrack, it delivered an experience so polished it’s practically liquid gold.
9. Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Developer: Game Freak | Genre: Action RPG
The beloved franchise continued its evolution with Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which focused entirely on the grand redesign of Lumiose City in the Kalos region. The shift in setting to a single, futuristic metropolis, available on both Switch and Switch 2, was divisive, but the revamped, real-time battle system and the triumphant return of the fan-favourite Mega Evolutions made it a massive seller and a critical success for its fluid fights and open-ended exploration of the urban environment. It’s a bold step that proves the Legends sub-series is where the biggest mechanical risks are being taken.
8. Dispatch
Developer: AdHoc Studio | Genre: Episodic Narrative/Strategy
The high-tension surprise hit of the year. On paper, managing a dysfunctional team of ex-supervillains from a progress bar shouldn’t be compelling. But Dispatch is a masterful ‘choose your own adventure’ that keeps you on your toes, juggling four heroes on mandatory rest, five separate crimes ticking down the clock, and the constant stress of Waterboy somehow flooding the city. It packs a metric tonne of heart and sharp writing into a low-power, high-stakes premise.
7. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Developer: Warhorse Studios | Genre: First-Person RPG
A true gem for the patient player. Deliverance II strips peasant-turned-nobleman Henry of Skalitz back to his rags and challenges him to unite a kingdom amidst civil war. This is a historically grounded, deeply immersive, slow-burn RPG. You manage hunger, mend armour, and even visit the bathhouse for a charisma boost. Its faithfully recreated 15th-century central Europe is a rich, compelling world that rewards tactile gameplay and consistent realism over fantasy spectacle.
6. Split Fiction
Developer: Hazelight Studios | Genre: Co-op Action-Adventure
Hazelight Studios, masters of the couch co-op, delivered another mile-a-minute adventure by swapping marital strife for feuding authors Mio and Zoe. Thrown into their own genre-blending stories by a villainous, AI-obsessed tech bro, players must cooperate to solve constantly evolving puzzles across wild, high-octane set pieces. It’s endless, accessible fun that, while perhaps not as fresh as its predecessor, throws some truely amazing ideas at the wall and sticks to nearly all of them.
5. Ghost of Yōtei
Developer: Sucker Punch Productions | Genre: Action-Adventure
A worthy successor to Ghost of Tsushima, this sequel is another cinematic masterpiece. Following Atsu, a rōnin on a path of revenge across the breathtakingly scarred landscapes of Ezo, it poses a deeper question: Can those who live for vengeance truly be alive? The combat is thrilling and the open world is arguably the most stunning vista in all of gaming this year, with every guiding wind and golden songbird pulling you toward a point of interest.
4. Hollow Knight: Silksong
Developer: Team Cherry | Genre: Metroidvania
Seven years in the making and worth every second of the excruciating wait. Playing as the nimble Hornet, this sequel enhances the Metroidvania genre to new heights with springy, fast-paced, at times frustrating but always methodical combat. The kingdom of Pharloom is dense, beautifully drawn, and unforgivingly challenging. It’s a testament to frame-perfect technique, forcing players to master Hornet’s diagonal needle dash for both bouncy attacks and satisfying parkour traversal across its deceptive map.
3. Donkey Kong Bananza
Developer: Nintendo EPD | Genre: 3D Platformer
Pure, unadulterated, old-school fun. Bananza proved that Nintendo’s old-school approach of producing a high-quality, polished game that always puts fun first, still works. DK’s core mechanic of destroying the entire world around him to smash through to the planets riches never wore off. It was a joyous, unpretentious blast that reminded us why we fell in love with games in the first place, completely free of the live-service rubbish that defines so many modern blockbusters.
2. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Developer: Kojima Productions | Genre: Action-Adventure
Gaming’s most wonderfully brilliant creator, Hideo Kojima, returned with a sequel that trades the original’s meditative delivery loop for a harder lean into action and stealth, all set across an unsettling Australian barren landscape. Stranger, punchier, and more overtly cinematic, On The Beach is a sprawling, high-concept epic that blurs the lines between video game and cinema while asking poignant questions about connection in a hyper-linked, yet fractured, world.
1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Game of the Year)
Developer: Sandfall Interactive | Genre: Turn-Based RPG
Clair Obscur didn’t just win Game of the Year; it redefined what a modern RPG could achieve, sweeping the awards season and setting a new benchmark for narrative and art direction. Following Expedition 33, a desperate mission to stop ‘The Paintress’ from erasing life at an ever-decreasing age, the game wraps players in a French inspired world that is both breathtakingly beautiful and utterly heartbreaking. Its precise, brutal, and utterly addictive turn-based combat, enhanced by real-time parries and quick-time events, ensures that mastery is as rewarding as the story itself. This is going on my holiday replay list and I expect the tears will flow equally as much as the first journey. Not just a “Game of the Year”, it’s “Art of the Year”, “Media of the Year” whatever you want to call it, this title should be experience by everyone.
