The year 2025 delivered an extraordinary showcase for gamers, blending highly anticipated blockbusters with truly surprising indie gems. From grand open-world adventures to meticulously crafted roguelikes, Ars Technica’s definitive list of the top 20 video games of 2025 celebrates a diverse collection that captivated players and critics alike. This ultimate guide explores how familiar franchises pushed boundaries and how innovative new titles redefined expectations, cementing 2025 as a memorable year in gaming history. Get ready to discover the essential experiences that made last year so special.
Celebrating 2025’s Gaming Masterpieces
Gaming in 2025 was a vibrant tapestry of innovation and refinement. While some major sequels lived up to immense hype, a delightful surge of unexpected titles truly stole the spotlight. This mix provided both comforting familiarity and thrilling new challenges, demonstrating the industry’s boundless creativity. Many of these games launched with unprecedented polish, making them immediate must-plays for discerning gamers.
We saw established series bravely experiment, while smaller studios carved out entirely new genres. The collective experience offered something for every player, regardless of preferred platform or style. Whether you enjoy deep strategic gameplay or fast-paced action, 2025 offered compelling reasons to dive in.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
This latest entry from Ubisoft Quebec served as a comforting return to a beloved formula. Assassin’s Creed Shadows delivered a beautifully polished experience set in a grand, immersive world. It expertly blended familiar stealth and combat with stunning audio-visual presentation. Samuel Axon praised its ability to accommodate varied playstyles and skill levels. This made it one of the franchise’s strongest titles, proving that evolution doesn’t always require reinvention.
Avowed
Obsidian Entertainment’s Avowed immersed players in a uniquely unsettling RPG experience. As an envoy, your character faces pervasive hatred and mistrust in the Living Lands. This distinct premise challenged typical hero narratives, creating deep emotional resonance. The game truly shined with its action-packed combat, masterfully balancing magic, ranged attacks, and melee. It also offered flexible quest difficulty, allowing players to tailor their challenge.
Baby Steps
Defying traditional labels, Baby Steps transformed the “walking simulator” into an inventive, punishing challenge. Developed by a team including Bennett Foddy, it demanded meticulous control to simply stay upright. What began as a struggle evolved into habitual movement, mirroring real-life learning. The game’s relentless mountain presented continuous obstacles, with one misstep undoing significant progress. Yet, its absolutely gonzo story, exploring masculinity and perseverance, made the arduous journey worthwhile.
Ball x Pit
Kenny Sun’s Ball x Pit emerged as a compulsively addictive roguelike, blending brick-breaking with shoot-’em-up mechanics. Players launched streams of balls as weapons against an onslaught of descending enemies. The core loop involved maximizing damage through precise angles and evolving a growing arsenal of unique “special balls.” This game excelled with its extensive ball fusion system and deep semi-permanent upgrades, offering immense replayability and fantastic moment-to-moment gameplay.
Blue Prince
Blue Prince from Dogubomb defied easy categorization, delivering a mystery-solving experience unlike any other. Players built and explored a house by drafting new rooms daily. The primary goal was to find the elusive “Room 46” within a 45-room grid. Progress stemmed from accumulated knowledge across runs, leading to a complex web of puzzles. This game rewarded careful observation and even required real-life note-taking for its surprisingly deep endgame of political intrigue.
Civilization VII
Firaxis’s Civilization VII sparked debate at its launch due to significant shifts from the series’ “33/33/33” innovation rule. Despite initial bugs, the game boldly introduced new systems, moving beyond existing 4X genre conventions. Samuel Axon welcomed these changes, highlighting how Firaxis ingeniously solved longstanding design problems like “snowballing.” The result was a deep, addictive strategy experience, providing a fresh flavor for long-time fans. This addition solidified the game as one of the standout 2025 video game releases.
CloverPit
Kyle Orland described CloverPit as a “fancy slot machine simulator” that proved unexpectedly addictive. This “Balatro-like” roguelike immersed players in the vagaries of luck, manipulating odds and leveraging trinket synergies. Its charming PS1-style spooky-horror presentation added a unique layer to the simple premise. As arcane secrets slowly unfolded, the game hinted at deeper goals beyond mere money accumulation, making its hypnotic loop incredibly compelling.
Consume Me
Consume Me, by Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson, ingeniously disguised a compelling interactive narrative as a mini-game collection. It sensitively portrayed a suburban Asian-American teenager’s struggles with academics, family, romance, and body image. The game brilliantly integrated these conflicting demands into its resource management gameplay. Tasks like creating balanced meals became literal balancing acts, making Jenny’s story an empathetic and engaging semi-autobiographical experience.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2: On the Beach expanded on its unique “package delivery” gameplay with crucial quality-of-life enhancements. Robust fast-travel and improved vehicles made traversing its strange, post-apocalyptic world more approachable. The sequel maintained its signature “Kojima vibes” with quirky mechanics, cinematic cutscenes, and a bizarre yet cohesive narrative. It deeply explored themes of grief, healing, and human connection, amplified by a powerful soundtrack and superb mocap performances.
Donkey Kong Bananza
Nintendo EPD delivered a true showcase for the new Switch 2 hardware with Donkey Kong Bananza. This platformer truly redefined expectations for the iconic ape. Its endlessly destructible environments offered cathartic gameplay, allowing players to punch and tear through almost every surface. The game brilliantly echoed Super Mario Odyssey‘s design, filling every corner with collectibles and challenges. Despite minor framerate hiccups, its imaginative, malleable world provided constant engagement.
Doom: The Dark Ages
Id Software’s Doom: The Dark Ages marked a significant shift for the venerable shooter series. Instead of constant dodging, the game emphasized shield blocking and parrying incoming attacks. This “zig instead of zag” approach blended surprisingly well with the classic circle-strafing and weapon-switching mechanics. The more open-world design rewarded exploration for completionists, offering a fresh take on demon-slaying.
Dragonsweeper
Daniel Benmergui’s Dragonsweeper brilliantly reinvented the classic Minesweeper formula. It integrated RPG elements, where numbers on the grid indicated total enemy health instead of mere mine counts. Players managed limited health, strategized attacks, and used items to eventually defeat the titular dragon. This added intriguing layers of logical deduction and resource management, offering satisfying challenges for puzzle enthusiasts.
Elden Ring: Nightreign
FromSoftware’s Elden Ring: Nightreign offered a “twisted perversion” of its predecessor, transforming the slow-paced RPG into a fast-paced, co-operative experience. Designed for three players, it focused on quick leveling and punishing bosses within 45-minute sprints. While purists might argue its deviation from the original, the game successfully condensed the Elden Ring “vibe” into a tighter, highly enjoyable format. It provided a perfect excuse for friends to explore the Lands Between together.
Ghost of Yotei
Sucker Punch Productions delivered a visually stunning narrative with Ghost of Yotei, building on the legacy of Ghost of Tsushima. This revenge tale, set on the Japanese island of Ezo, evolved into a deeper story through its compelling characters. Optimized for the PS5, it featured a massive open world free of tedious fetch quests or loading screens. Its “razor-sharp” combat demanded quick reactions, emphasizing parrying and timing. Erika Ishii’s phenomenal voice work for Atsu made the journey unforgettable.
Hades 2
Supergiant Games’ Hades 2 expanded on its critically acclaimed roguelike action with a compelling new spell system. This added significant depth to the moment-to-moment combat. The game truly distinguished itself with deeply integrated musical moments, including a memorable rock-opera boss fight. Players guided Melinoë, daughter of Hades, through her quest for self-discovery, fleshed out by rich interactions with a captivating cast of gods and demigods. Hades 2 quickly became a benchmark for top video games 2025.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
After eight years of immense anticipation, Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight: Silksong delivered a beautiful and expansive follow-up. It meticulously broadened the bug-scale underground universe with painterly 2D art. The sprawling, labyrinthine map invited extensive exploration for hidden power-ups. Despite its punishing difficulty, the game offered creative solutions beyond pure reflexes. Even partial playthroughs left players with countless memorable moments.
The King Is Watching
Hypnohead’s The King Is Watching streamlined the often-complex real-time strategy genre. Set on a single 5×5 production grid, players managed resources and military units under a king’s limited gaze. This design created a constant, all-consuming juggling act of critical decisions. The game’s self-selecting difficulty system rewarded players for pushing their limits. Its bite-sized runs made failure less frustrating and encouraged continuous improvement through semi-permanent ability expansions.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Warhorse Studios refined its predecessor’s slow-burn experience into an incredibly immersive RPG with Kingdom Come: Deliverance II. The game meticulously crafted medieval Bohemia without magic, immersing players as Henry of Skalitz. Every story beat and side quest enriched the world and characters. Combat emphasized patience and timing over brute force, making every physical or verbal battle carry significant weight. It shaped Henry’s experience and the world around him.
Mario Kart World
Nintendo took a “huge gamble” with Mario Kart World for the Switch 2, transforming traditional tracks into a vast, interconnected open world. The “Free Roam” mode stood out, offering hundreds of mini-challenges and collectibles. Players explored a surprisingly detailed map, making every corner an adventure. While some changes to Battle Mode were perplexing, the Free Roam experience provided dozens of hours of joyful exploration.
Sektori
Kimmo Lahtinen’s Sektori finally delivered a twin-stick shooter that rivaled the addictive thrill of Geometry Wars. It advanced the basic premise with an elegant “strike” system, allowing quick dashes through enemies. This created an excellent risk-vs-reward dynamic for scoring and survival. An excellent Gradius-style upgrade system and varied bosses kept gameplay fresh. Paired with an amazing soundtrack and polished visuals, Sektori promised years of frenetic, engaging action.
Frequently Asked Questions
What were the defining trends in the top 20 video games of 2025?
The top 20 video games of 2025 showcased a powerful dual trend: the successful delivery of highly anticipated AAA sequels and the emergence of innovative, genre-defying indie titles. While blockbusters like Civilization VII, Avowed, and Death Stranding 2 refined existing formulas, games such as Blue Prince, Baby Steps, and Ball x Pit surprised players with unique mechanics and narrative approaches. This blend offered both comforting familiarity and exciting new experiences, enriching the overall gaming landscape across various platforms.
Which 2025 titles offered truly unique or genre-defying experiences?
Several 2025 video game releases pushed boundaries with their unique design. Blue Prince created a mystery game around dynamically building a house, defying easy categorization. Baby Steps redefined the “walking simulator” with its punishing yet profound movement mechanics. Avowed crafted an RPG where the player is intentionally disliked, fostering a distinct narrative. Roguelikes like Ball x Pit (brick-breaking/shoot-’em-up fusion) and CloverPit (a slot machine simulator with hidden depths) also offered fresh takes on established genres.
How did highly anticipated sequels perform in 2025, and were there any notable delays?
Highly anticipated sequels largely met or exceeded expectations in 2025. Civilization VII sparked discussion with its bold innovations, Avowed delivered a compelling narrative, and Doom: The Dark Ages offered a fresh combat twist. Death Stranding 2 enhanced its unique predecessor with crucial quality-of-life improvements. Notably, Grand Theft Auto VI was a major title expected for 2025 but was ultimately delayed into 2026. Despite this, the year still proved to be a strong showcase for established franchises.
The Enduring Legacy of 2025 in Gaming
The best games of 2025 collectively paint a picture of an industry unafraid to innovate while honoring its roots. From the meticulously crafted worlds of Ghost of Yotei to the addictive loops of roguelikes like Hades 2, the year was packed with exceptional experiences. Whether you were revisiting beloved franchises or discovering unexpected new classics, 2025 delivered genuine value and entertainment. This remarkable collection sets a high bar, leaving us eagerly anticipating what future years will bring.
