The Best Video Games of 2025
Some years feel like they drag on forever while you wait for the best video game releases, with just a few amazing gems sprinkled across each quarter. But 2025 wasn’t one of those years. From the jump, huge titles and smaller games poured out weekly. Major franchises like Monster Hunter and Assassin's Creed dropped new entries, and unexpected titles like Blue Prince and The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy were already generating awards buzz before spring was even over.
In fact, the sheer volume of 2025 releases led some people to mistakenly call it a disappointment—there were simply too many games to keep straight. This year gave us the return of Doom, two new RPGs from Obsidian, and three new Ninja Gaiden games. Classic games saw remakes, remasters, and re-releases, bringing Metal Gear Solid, Dragon Quest, and Final Fantasy Tactics back into the cultural conversation. Meanwhile, several popular single-player series branched out with co-op online spin-offs that expanded their worlds in unexpected ways.
But it was also the year that launched new behemoths, especially with Nintendo’s next-generation hardware hitting hard. In just six months, the Switch 2 dropped more major titles than the console had midway through its predecessor’s lifespan. Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, Kirby, and Metroid were back in full force, and updated versions of older games kept coming out like a study review session.
And naturally, it was another fantastic year for indies. Depending on how you define them, the most discussed titles included the RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the co-op 'friendslop' games R.E.P.O. and Peak, and, of course, the long-anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong, which became a meme just by existing.
Even games that used to rule the roost saw changes. Battlefield challenged rival Call of Duty with force, and the online gaming landscape momentarily became a friendlier place as players teamed up to control the digital chaos in the PvPvE survival space of ARC Raiders.
Plus, there were the games that didn't make it. PlayStation's next multiplayer effort, Marathon, was shelved and fizzled out, and Grand Theft Auto VI continued to test players' patience with delay after delay.
Bottom line: 2025 was an astounding year for gaming, and you can’t deny it, no matter what anyone says. It was a tough job, but Rolling Stone meticulously sifted through the glut of releases to select the 25 top games that defined 2025. Where did your faves land on the list?
For horror fans, the name ‘Silent Hill’ carries weight. It was one of the defining survival games of the early PlayStation era, and it saw a resurgence of attention with last year’s release of the highly anticipated Silent Hill 2 Remake. But now it’s Konami's turn to follow up, and Silent Hill f, the first full new entry in the franchise, delivers on the dread. Unlike previous series entries set in modern middle America, Silent Hill f takes players to the fictional rural Japanese town of Ebisugaoka in the 1960s. The story follows Shimizu Hinako, a teenage girl whose parents' fight precedes the classic fog rolling in—a signal for psychological and physical horror to commence. Hinako is burdened with the tragic backstory and fragile psyche typical of a Silent Hill protagonist, rooted in the trauma of domestic abuse, but the perspective of a young woman adds a unique angle to the series. The combat might feel a bit rough, but Silent Hill f stands as the most chilling and overwhelming horror game of the year.
In a year packed with highly anticipated sequels and all-new releases, it's easy to gloss over remakes and remasters that truly deserve another look. While updates like Metal Gear Solid 3 capably reminded us of the original’s charm, one remake brought a game back at a time when its story and themes felt more relevant than ever: Final Fantasy Tactics: Ivalice Chronicles.
Widely considered one of the best strategy RPGs ever, Final Fantasy Tactics eschewed the generic turn-based combat and romantic narratives typical of the genre in the '90s for a more intuitive and deep experience. The story follows two childhood friends who find themselves on different sides of a revolution, driven by global political strife and class divides. Ivalice Chronicles cleans up some of the clunky systems, updates the visuals, and adds newly recorded dialogue, but most importantly, it reintroduces one of the most intriguing and politically charged social allegories in gaming history. We didn't necessarily need the update, but it's the game we all deserved.
Traditional sports simulation games are still huge, with annual releases like Madden, NBA 2K, and EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA) dominating living rooms and esports stages. But there’s a special appeal to pure arcade-style sports. Just as franchises like NFL Blitz and NBA Jam once turned pro basketball into a literal fighting match, Sloclap's new stripped-down soccer game, Rematch, brings that feeling back.
Instead of controlling a full team of 11, Rematch scales things down to 3v3, 4v4, and up to 5v5, putting players in third-person control rather than top-down. The gameplay is aggressive, rules like fouls, penalties, and offsides are thrown out, and since all the action takes place in a virtual indoor arena, you can even use the strategy of bouncing the ball off invisible walls. Sloclap made their name with complex fighting games like Absolver (2017) and Sifu (2022), and that experience carries over to Rematch, making it feel less like soccer and more like a combat game based on soccer.
It’s undeniable that the cyberpunk setting is perfectly optimized for RPG storytelling, whether in early graphic adventures like Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher (1988) or the tabletop game Cyberpunk that inspired the modern video game classic Cyberpunk 2077. And now the Citizen Sleeper series carries that torch. But unlike actual cyberpunk games, this indie duology leans far more heavily on TTRPG design than action.
Citizen Sleeper 2 is set in the distant future after humanity has colonized the stars, casting the player as a digital consciousness inside a synthetic body. Sleepers are the underclass, performing physical labor, primarily for the corporate overlords, and this time, the setting is an asteroid belt station. After running afoul of a gang, the Sleeper is severely damaged, and the player must escape and explore whether freedom is anything more than a dream. The game is largely visual novel in form, with player-chosen actions playing out in text and the theater of your mind, with success and failure determined by dice rolls. It’s a deep solo tabletop journey, complete with synth-wave music and all the cyberpunk vibes.
This year was a banner year for co-op games, from 2D beat 'em ups to two-player puzzle games, and even Call of Duty campaigns that only truly shine when you play with a buddy. But the most anticipated co-op experience was Split Fiction, an action-adventure from Hazelight Studios. This is the team that made 2021's award-winning It Takes Two, and like their previous work, Split Fiction forces players to employ teamwork to get through harrowing platforming challenges and co-op puzzles, all while unraveling an emotionally engaging story.
The story begins as two writers, Mio and Zoe, participate in an experimental simulation at Raider Publishing—a move that could transform their careers. But an unexpected turn leaves them trapped inside a program that feels more real than reality. Each level is themed around one of the writers’ fictional worlds (Zoe is fantasy, Mio is sci-fi), and as they navigate genre tropes and clichés, the two must cooperate and grow closer to find their way home. The mandatory co-op can test the strength of a relationship, but provided players share the same goal, Split Fiction is a satisfying experience that builds teamwork.
Few things make you feel as smart (or as dumb) as a hardboiled mystery game, and Blake Manor’s Séance implants that feeling again and again throughout its runtime. Set on Halloween 1897, the player steps into the shoes of Detective Declan Ward, an outsider invited to a gathering of colorful occultists at a manor in Western Ireland. Two days before the gathering, a woman named Evelyn Deane disappeared, and it’s now Ward’s job to solve the case and figure out what happened to her.
Despite the manor's spooky setting, the game's visuals are made approachable by its comic book aesthetic. Illustrated characters exist as 2D images within an explorable 3D world. With only 48 hours to solve the crime, players must manage their time, as every action deducts one minute from the clock, making every decision crucial. As you interrogate guests and gather clues through observation, the case’s multiple threads weave together on a virtual corkboard. Blake Manor’s Séance shows that what you see is not all there is, and multiple playthroughs are essential to discover every twist.
The inherent beauty of game design is that you can create any experience imaginable. What if you wanted to relive childhood memories from the perspective of your eight-year-old self? It sounds like expensive therapy, but Despelote’s delicate storytelling gives players a chance to experience the formative moments of another person's life. The game is a first-person walking simulator set in Quito, Ecuador, during the country’s push to host the 2002 FIFA World Cup. It recreates the autobiographical experiences of co-developer Julián Cordero, and its dreamy visuals recreate the city using scanned photos, with people rendered as paper sketches cut from memo pads. There’s no real objective beyond kicking a soccer ball around and enjoying this cultural time capsule, including moments like Julian’s parents arguing at the dinner table with the sound of the match playing on TV. By the end, with reality bleeding in in meta ways, the whole experience feels like a documentary—a direct entrance into someone else's mind.
This was a huge year for French studio Dotemu, the retro revival specialists. Known for modern sequels to classic series like Streets of Rage 4, the studio dropped a host of top-tier 2D retro games this year, but one stood out. Absolum, the publisher’s first wholly original IP, features a fantasy inspiration that will feel familiar to anyone versed in D&D or its derivatives. Co-developed with Guard Crush Games (who also worked on Streets of Rage 4), this side-scrolling action game features a combat system and beautifully illustrated visuals that feel like a natural evolution of the genre.
Absolum is set in Talamh, a world where magic is outlawed. Designed for one or two players, you choose a character that blends fantasy races like Elves and Dwarves with traditional classes like Wizard and Rogue. At its core, the joy is in the combat itself—punching, kicking, and juggling foes in the air like a coin-operated arcade game—but Absolum incorporates a rogue-like structure, forcing players to complete the entire game in a single run, complete with selectable branching paths and randomly generated enemies. You could call it Hades meets Streets of Rage, but that doesn't quite do justice to one of the best modern beat 'em ups.
The fighting game community has been spoiled by the genre’s recent renaissance. New entries in Street Fighter and Tekken dropped to huge acclaim in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and 2025’s new challenger hits deep for SNK fans. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, the first new entry in the classic fighter series in 26 years, brought the sister series of Street Fighter back into the spotlight with a bang.
Anyone who has played a 2D fighter in the last 30 years can easily pick up City of the Wolves. Like most modern fighting games, it offers plenty of quality-of-life features that allow complex combos and special moves to be executed easily. The comic book-inspired graphics are flashier in a way that feels timeless, exaggerating all the action while maintaining speed. While there was much criticism regarding the inclusion of controversial football star Cristiano Ronaldo as a player character, putting aside that immersion-breaking choice, it’s great to see an underdog series like Fatal Fury getting its proper due.
Sometimes, it’s fun to play something truly dumb. Ninja Gaiden 4 is exactly that. One of three Ninja Gaiden titles released this year, this latest 3D entry ramps up the speed and aggression on already flashy violence thanks to co-developers Team Ninja and PlatinumGames.
The story follows new protagonist Yakumo, a member of the Raven Clan, tasked with saving Tokyo’s Sky City from the endless toxic rain pouring out of the carcass of a freshly slain Dark Dragon. His journey brings him into conflict with series regular Ryu Hayabusa, who is only briefly playable in the late game. While this disappointing decision is mostly regarded as a marketing blunder, the rest of Ninja Gaiden 4 is a bloody adventure filled with excess. While recent action games have moved towards strategic swordsmanship, this series, once the standard for the genre, reminds players that too much is never enough—especially when you’re power-drill punching your way through the belly of a dragon.
The facade of realism in online shooters has crumbled. Many players want an experience that is at least slightly grounded, something more foot-to-earth than Inception-esque sci-fi or Simpsons knock-offs. This is where EA’s Battlefield 6 steps in, returning the competitive game to a more realistic footing. Once a franchise competing with Activision’s annual shooter/live service ecosystem, Battlefield has always prioritized teamwork and role specialization, encouraging ways to contribute beyond simply racking up kills.
Players must choose between classes—Assault, Recon, Engineer, and Support—each with unique abilities. While other games reward killstreaks with the ability to call in an airstrike, Battlefield 6 rewards players with the experience of actually driving the vehicles and raining down fire, or even clinging to the back seat, desperately keeping a plane in the air with a torch. The story mode is simplistic, offering a slight whiff of politically neutral patriotism, but the thrills offered by the 64-player online modes are easily best in class for the genre.
"This list is triggering people because they included The Hundred Line (a game that doesn't exist) but snubbed Kingdom Come 2 (a real anticipated game). Also, Donkey Kong Bananza fans are salty it didn't take the top spot."
#FunContinue Browsing
