The 9 Best Video Games of 2025: Standouts & Why
• Key Takeaways:
- 2025 delivered a diverse slate: roguelikes, narrative RPGs, platformers, and experimental indie hits.
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the Game of the Year for its storytelling, score, and character ensemble.
- Hades II, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Absolum refreshed roguelike and beat ’em up design.
- South of Midnight and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 pushed narrative depth on culture and history.
Why 2025 mattered for games
2025 saw studios large and small prioritize craft over spectacle. Indie teams and veteran developers delivered tightly focused experiences that resonated with players and critics alike.
Genres diversified: roguelikes evolved, turn-based RPGs returned to character-driven narratives, and platformers embraced collectathon design with ambitious verticality.
Top picks and what makes them special
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — Game of the Year
Clair Obscur, developed by a team of former Ubisoft developers, won praise for marrying Belle Époque-inspired worldbuilding with a haunting score and memorable cast (Maelle, Verso, Monoco, Lune, Sciel, Esquie). Critics lauded its full-package approach to story, voice work, and art. — Brian Tallerico
Hades II — Roguelike excellence
Hades II builds on Supergiant’s formula with Melinoe as a compelling lead and tight run-based design that rewards incremental improvement. Portable play on hardware like the ROG Xbox Ally X made quick runs feel ideal. — Brian Tallerico
Hollow Knight: Silksong — Metroidvania mastery
Team Cherry’s Hornet-led sequel deepens lore and level design while delivering punishing boss encounters. Its creativity and addictive loop earned it a place despite controversial difficulty spikes. — Brian Tallerico
Absolum — Roguelike beat ’em up
Guard Crush Games fused beat ’em up fundamentals with roguelike buildcrafting, vibrant art, and a soundtrack that elevates every run. Absolum’s ‘‘just one more’’ appeal marks Guard Crush as a standout studio. — George Yang
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector — Tabletop in space
Amping up tabletop mechanics, Citizen Sleeper 2 gives players a ship to explore and introduces stress and glitch dice systems that encourage risk-reward play while maintaining thoughtful writing. — George Yang
Donkey Kong Bananza — Platformer spectacle
Nintendo’s Bananza expands the collectathon template with vertical playgrounds, surprising narrative turns, and nostalgic chemistry between Donkey Kong and Pauline. — George Yang
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 — Moral complexity
Deliverance 2 stands out for its historical fidelity and willingness to explore antisemitism, queer relationships, and the lived experience of social outcasts in medieval Bohemia. — Josh Broadwell
Silent Hill f — Psychological replay value
Silent Hill f centers Hinako’s internal life and asks players to replay multiple times to unravel the town’s horrors, delivering deep psychological and gendered themes. — Josh Broadwell
South of Midnight — Folklore and healing
Compulsion Games blends Gullah Geechee folklore with 3D platforming to examine trauma, storytelling, and empathy. Watch the developer discussion and trailer: https://youtu.be/qx3TQ7KCzpc?t=42 — Josh Broadwell
Final note
Across studios such as Supergiant, Team Cherry, Guard Crush Games, Compulsion, and major publishers, 2025 rewarded thoughtful design: strong writing, inventive mechanics, and games that feel like complete artistic statements.
