2025 has been an auspicious year for gaming. The arrival of the Switch 2 shook things up, zooming off to a flying start with a completely re-thought Mario Kart and continuing to impress throughout the year with the return of old favourites and new adventures alike. Nintendo hasn’t entirely dominated, though — the wider gaming landscape has been packed with bold new worlds to explore, brilliant re-imaginings of undisputed classics, and striking sequels and spinoffs that evolve everything that came before. Read on for Empire’s ranking of the best 2025 had to offer!
The Top 10 Games Of 2025
20. AVOWED
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC
Having the likes of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout: New Vegas, and Pillars of Eternity to its name had already earned developer Obsidian Entertainment a reputation as a legendary developer of world-class RPGS — Avowed just reminded us why. Set in the same universe as Pillars, this stunning spinoff balances wild, high fantasy ideas – you play as the amnesiac envoy of a questionable emperor, investigating a bizarre plague while also being changed into a mushroom by your own contact with unknowable gods – with grounded, personal choices that make every decision feel important. Throw in diverse and genuinely interesting companion characters, a mesmerisingly beautiful world, and incredible combat, and Avowed makes for an action RPG that’s impossible to forget.
Read Empire‘s review of Avowed.
19. SUPER MARIO GALAXY + GALAXY 2
Platforms: Switch 2
What? Isn’t this the Games of the Year for 2025? Don’t worry, you haven’t slipped back in time – Mario’s brilliant gravity-defying adventures from the days of the Wii are just that good, even re-releases can force their way onto the list. Glossed up for the Switch and Switch 2 and running at stable frame rates, these planet-hopping platformers look the best they ever have, and the inclusion of the entire soundtrack for each game is a reminder of how good they always sounded. A few more extras from Nintendo wouldn’t have gone amiss – launching in September, the reissues were meant to mark Mario’s 40th anniversary – but simply having two of Mario’s finest outings available for the first time in years is enough to sing about. Wahoo!
18. KIRBY AIR RIDERS
Platforms: Switch 2
No-one had thought about the original Kirby Air Ride since it came out on the GameCube. No-one, that is, except for director Masahiro Sakurai, whose stubborn dedication to pink puffball Kirby’s forgotten spinoff resulted in one of 2025’s most delightfully weird outings. A racing game that breaks all the rules of racing games – vehicles constantly accelerate on their own, and you have to brake to build up bursts of speed, and that’s just scratching the surface – Kirby Air Riders keeps players on their toes with endless variety in its game modes. Expect everything from city wide battle royales to multiplayer minigames, road trip rallies to _Micro Machines-_style top-down tracks, and even a dose of deranged combat thanks to plentiful power-ups. Crammed with all the quirky charm Sakurai perfected after years helming the Super Smash Bros series, this is one of 2025’s most unexpected surprises – a kart racer like no other.
17. BLUE PRINCE
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
After inheriting a stately 45-room manor from an eccentric uncle, young Simon is faced with a strange challenge: find the 46th room. So begins one of the most unexpectedly captivating games of the year, a first-person puzzler built in the mould of adventure classics such as Myst. With a limited number of steps to be taken each day, planning your route through the mind-bending mansion by placing blueprints that redesign the layout is pivotal – but progress resets each night, and it’s only when you find that hidden room that the game starts revealing its deeper secrets. Each mystery solved only asks more questions, building up a world rich in lore and sinister historical events, and demanding you take one more loop through Blue Prince’s sprawling halls. A game to get lost in, sometimes literally.
16. DUNE: AWAKENING
Platforms: PC
Ignore the logo – this open world survival MMO is nothing to do with Denis Villeneuve’s cinematic soon-to-be-trilogy. Taking place in an alternate timeline where Paul Atreides was never born, you play an agent sent to the desert planet Arrakis with one goal: “find the Fremen, wake the sleeper”. Despite that huge swerve, this drinks deeply from original author Frank Herbert’s Dune lore, cramming in technology, politics, and world-building detail at every turn. It’s all blended with thrilling sandworm encounters, desperate sun-dodging scavenging runs, and brutal battles for resources in the PVP “Deep Desert” areas that let you leave your mark on this harshest of alien worlds.
15. SILENT HILL f
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
If a Silent Hill game doesn’t take place in literal Silent Hill – the New England town that became a lynchpin for horror gaming from the moment Harry Mason first stumbled into its fog-shrouded confines back in 1999 – is it really a Silent Hill? That was the gamble Konami took with this quasi-reboot, which transplants the series to 1960s Japan and introduces 16-year-old Hinako Shimizu as its unlikely protagonist. No-one needed to have worried – Silent Hill f maintains the chilling ambience players love, continues to explore the darker edges of human emotion through twisted metaphors, and throws in some mortifying new monsters for some good ol’ jump scares. The use of Japanese mythology and folklore – including Hinako’s slipping into a shadow dimension filled with Shinto shrines – gives the game its own unique visual identity, but a taut yet beautiful score from returning composer Akira Yamaoka serves as a throughline to the series’ roots. Silent Hill’s fresh start may have taken it back in time, but helped re-establish it as a titan of Japanese horror gaming.
14. FINAL FANTASY TACTICS: THE IVALICE CHRONICLES
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
The Mario Galaxy duology weren’t the only older games demanding attention in 2025, as this long-awaited remaster of a “lost” Final Fantasy game proved. A turn-based tactical RPG first released on the original PlayStation, it never saw release in Europe in its original form. This updated outing brilliantly corrected that oversight, packing both an “Enhanced” modern version boasting updated visuals and voice acting, and a “Classic” mode that painstakingly recreates the original after its code was lost. Whichever version you opt for, the tale of Ramza Beoulve, pivotal figure in a bloody civil war, still stands as one of gaming’s finest, a deep exploration of class, politics, religion, and capitalism that feels even more pertinent now than it did nearly threedecades ago. Backed up with one of the richest, most complex combat and character developments ever to grace the genre, this remains a masterpiece.
13. DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH
Platforms: PS5
Empire may have been too harsh on Death Stranding 2 when it first landed. Hideo Kojima’s bonkers carryathon – where Norman Reedus stars as Sam Bridges, a freelance courier schlepping unwieldy deliveries around a post-apocalyptic Australia – remains divisive, but as the year’s gone by since the game’s June release, it’s cemented its position as one of the finer outings from the auteur developer. It both elevates the precise stacking mechanics of the original (which, trust us, is actually more fun and satisfying than it sounds!), makes navigating the bizarre world more interesting, and throws in more action for good measure. The more time you spend with the game, the more you realise just how confident it is in itself, too – the work of a creator finally given the freedom to do exactly what he wants with his work, no matter how strange it may be. Elevated further by an all-star cast including Léa Seydoux, Nicolas Winding Refn, Troy Baker, Elle Fanning, and even Frankenstein director and Kojima best pal Guillermo del Toro, Death Stranding 2 is going to be remembered for years.
12. DONKEY KONG BANANZA
©Nintendo
Platforms: Switch 2
Despite being developed by the same team as the original Switch’s Super Mario Odyssey, Switch 2 exclusive Donkey Kong Bananza could scarcely be more different. Sure, they’re both meticulously designed platformers where the cartoon hero is rewarded for chasing down shiny trinkets, but where Mario engaged in his typical elegant, precise gymnastics, Donkey Kong gets to smash everything – and really, isn’t that the cathartic release we all needed in 2025? Beyond brute force antics, DK’s latest was a seriously impressive showcase for Nintendo’s latest console too, with massive worlds to explore that could be permanently deformed and reshaped as you tore through damn near everything. With the addition of DK Island and Emerald Rush via a paid DLC pack in September, adding a new explorable area tied to the great ape’s history and a roguelike mode respectively, Bananza firmly earned its position here, and as arguably Donkey Kong’s greatest game ever.
11. ELDEN RING: NIGHTREIGN
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Nightreign shouldn’t work. It blends the roguelike gameplay loops of Hades – try, die, try again – with a dash of Fortnite’s ever-diminishing battle areas, and serves it up as a glorified boss rush game. It’s a million miles from Elden Ring’s precisely crafted world with its deep lore and tactically demanding battles. Yet somehow, this three-player co-op experience makes complete sense once you play it. Movement is massively accelerated, letting you zoom around its beautifully gothic world with supernatural Parkour skills, while eight distinct character classes force creative team tactics, figuring out which skills and abilities best complement each other. In breaking down hunts for its intimidating “Nightlord” bosses into three in-game days, there’s ample opportunity to test those group strategies, racking up kills against grunts to level up enough to stand a chance against their masters. Even then, you probably won’t make it – but Nightreign proves so compelling, you’ll leap right back into the fray after each near-inevitable defeat, begging for more punishment.
10. DOOM: THE DARK AGES
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Playing like a heavy metal album cover brought to life, Doom: The Dark Ages throws the nameless-yet-iconic Doom Slayer into the depths of hell for a medieval shootout against the damned and profane, centuries before the sci-fi tinged invasions of Earth and Mars. This non-stop thrill ride trades the (inexplicably) sprightly mechanics of 2016’s DOOM and 2020’s Doom Eternal for a more tank-like approach, this version of the Doom Slayer wandering apocalyptic battlefields like a moving fortress, soaking up damage with a new “Shield Saw” before flinging it around to dissect enemies like a demon-slicing Captain America. Gloriously gratuitous in every sense, this is a hell of a good time.
9. MONSTER HUNTER WILDS
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
The Monster Hunter series continues its upwards trajectory from niche favourite to mainstream juggernaut with this hugely ambitious outing. Wilds does everything bigger – larger environments to explore, more ferocious beasts to track down, lizard-emu mounts called Seikrets to aid traversal and ride into battle, and the meatiest story of any entry to date. As an expeditionary force of hunters venturing into the uncharted Forbidden Lands, you’ll discover a lost civilisation and uncover ancient secrets, making for a barbarian fantasy world brought brilliantly to life by the first ever fully-voiced cast of characters. Best of all is the overhauled combat, taking what was already a strong point for the series and elevating it by allowing you to dual-wield any of the dozen-strong weapon types for hugely customisable play styles. Far more approachable and accessible than any Monster Hunter before it, without sacrificing any of the smart tracking and hunting mechanics that long-time fans love, this is one to go wild for.
8. THE OUTER WORLDS 2
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Set in an alternate timeline where the future is dominated by monopolistic mega-corporations and fascist autocracies – no, really, it’s an alternate timeline – the original The Outer Worlds established itself as a solid but somewhat predictable sci-fi action RPG when it dropped in 2019. Six years on, and The Outer Worlds 2 brilliantly fleshes out the world its predecessor established, keeping the same satirical edge to its setting, but building on the framework of the underlying game. Everything from combat to visuals feels improved, but it’s in how deftly this folds in its true role-playing credentials that most impresses. Every decision has weight, from how you spec out your custom protagonist – with some skills opening up or locking off avenues to solve problems later – to how you treat your companions, ensuring each playthrough can branch in millions of directions. Developer Obsidian’s best game since Fallout: New Vegas.
7. HOLLOW KNIGHT SILKSONG
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC
“Man […] does not deny suffering as such: he wills it, he even seeks it out”, wrote famed funster Friedrich Nietzsche in 1887. If he’d been around for video games, Nietzsche would have definitely been one of the millions of players who spent the eight years between the original, brutally challenging metroidvania Hollow Knight and its long-awaited follow-up pining for developer Team Cherry to make them cry again. Silksong doesn’t disappoint: while it’s another masterfully designed, beautifully animated, hauntingly soundtracked adventure through a world of gothic insects, it’s unapologetic difficulty is going to cause tears. Like its predecessor, it places exacting demands on players – eking your way through the underground kingdom of Pharloom as arachnid warrior Hornet often feels like fighting the tides, with ultra-precise platforming challenges, rock-hard regular enemies, and seemingly impossible bosses. That just makes each little victory feel all the sweeter though. It’ll probably pissyou right off, but you’ll keep crawling back for more.
6. KINGDOM COME: DELIVERANCE II
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
If Avowed — with its magic and mushroom people — is the fantastical, fairy-dust-sprinkled take on first-person RPGs, Deliverance II is the gritty, grimy, gore-soaked counterpoint. The kind of game where you’re less likely to end up channelling ancient powers than battered, broken and face-down in horse shit. Following the fortunes of blacksmith’s son Henry (no mystical destinies here), this medieval simulator has you navigate the political intrigues of 15th century Bohemia, dropping you head-first into a game that’s part narrative role-play experience, part survival game and part immersive history lesson. The world can feel overwhelming and the learning curve is steep, but throw yourself head-first into its unforgiving world and you’ll be swept up in a story of scheming, betrayal and revenge that you won’t want to end.
5. SPLIT FICTION
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Switch 2
Developer Hazelight Studios is arguably the master of co-op adventures – previous outings It Takes Two and A Way Out are some of the best in the genre – but Split Fiction may have perfected the form. As aspiring authors Zoe and Mio, trapped in VR recreations of their own stories, players flip between the science fiction and fantasy worlds favoured by each creator, combining their unique abilities in each one to escape. It’s a game of constant reinvention – each main chapter takes players through one of the women’s books, but frequent side stories through their abandoned drafts regularly mix things up, delivering rapid-fire bursts of wild imagination, experimenting with ever-shifting play styles and hopping between gloriously inventive storytelling beats. The mandatory co-op factor may be a small hurdle – although generous game-sharing features help overcome that – but with a friend at your side, this is easily one of 2025’s finest.
4. HADES II
Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Switch, Switch 2
2020’s roguelike dungeon crawler Hades became a breakout hit thanks to its gorgeous art, gripping skill-based action gameplay, and surprisingly horny cast of gods and demons drawn from Greek mythology. In many ways, Hades II repeats the formula, swapping out underworld god Zagreus for his witch-goddess sister Melinoë but keeping the addictive core mechanic of blasting through legions of the damned as you inch ever deeper through the bowels of hell before inevitably dying and reincarnating to try again. However, a new “Magick” system for Melinoë to incorporate alongside the hack-and-slash melee combat and returning, randomised boons from the Olympians, feels like a major evolution in how the game operates. With more variety and freedom in how you carve a path to your ultimate goal of vengeance against the Titan Chronos, Hades II is a rare sequel that wholly improves on its predecessor. Months on from release, its siren’s song call of “just one more run…” is still luring players to their doom – and they’re loving every second.
3. MARIO KART WORLD
Platforms: Switch 2
The Switch 2 roared off the starting grid with this hugely impressive open world racer, the biggest and most elaborate Mario Kart game ever. Think Forza Horizon with a Nintendo twist, as a staggering 50 characters – some drawn from the obscurest depths of Super Mario lore – zoom around the Mushroom Kingdom. The open world format allows for new race styles, with marathon 24-player elimination races stretching the length and breadth of the world joining the familiar circuit races and multiplayer battles. It’s the moments between races that really burn rubber though. Driving off into the horizon and just seeing what’s out there is a joy, and Mario Kart World constantly rewards your curiosity with hidden challenges, alternate costumes, and collectible stickers to customise an ever-expanding fleet of vehicles with. The perfect launch game for Nintendo’s newest console, and one players will be coming back to for years.
2. GHOST OF YŌTEI
Platforms: PS5
Set hundreds of years after Ghost of Tsushima, developer Sucker Punch’s second slice of Kurosawa-inspired adventure evolves on its already brilliant forebear to become one of the best games of the year. Yōtei introduces a new “ghost”, Atsu – left for dead years earlier by a band of warlords known as the Yōtei Six, she’s grown into a seasoned warrior and bounty hunter driven by a thirst for revenge. While its action credentials are unquestionable, this is far more than a violent jidai-geki drama – there’s a gripping and brilliantly paced story that unfolds, examining Atsu’s history and character with nuance and respect. There’s exquisite beauty in the world she inhabits too, and unlike most open-world games it’s all on display for you to take in and explore, rather than polluted by a sea of objective markers. While it bears some unfortunate coincidental similarities to Assassin’s Creed Shadows – both set in feudal Japan, both centred on a non-linear quest to take down a cabal of murderous enemies, both offering plenty of open-world distractions – Yōtei’s singular focus on Atsu’s journey puts this a cut above.
1. CLAIR OBSCUR: EXPEDITION 33
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC,
It’s hard to think of superlatives that haven’t already been thrown at Clair Obscur, the gorgeous belle époque-inspired RPG that’s utterly dominated the conversation since it launched in April. It topped Empire’s mid-year ranking, and nothing in the six months since has come close to dethroning it. Sandfall Interactive’s French fancy has wowed players with its breathtakingly beautiful yet grief-stricken world, complex and multifaceted characters (brought magnificently to life by the likes of Charlie Cox, Ben Starr, Andy Serkis, and Jennifer English), and a story packed with genuinely unpredictable and often emotionally savage twists. More impressively, it’s practically single-handedly re-energised turn-based combat as a contemporary gaming mechanic, combining it with demanding parries and blocks, plus endlessly customisable character skills, to create something that feels both reassuringly familiar and refreshingly innovative. With the arrival of an end-of-year update adding more hard-as-nails bosses, powerful new weapons, and fresh areas to explore, it’s easy to understand why it’s mesmerised players all year long – Expedition 33’s tapestry is a true work of art.
This list was compiled, edited, and written by Empire’s Digital Editor-in-Chief — and self-professed great big nerd — James Dyer, as well as Empire’s resident game reviewer and general gaming guru Matt Kamen.
