2025 was a year stacked with tremendous video game releases. There was truly something for everyone. It was extremely difficult narrowing my list of favorite games to just 10, but here are my personal top 10 games of the year 2025.
10. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
As one of the leading Death Stranding evangelists on staff, I was excited to play the sequel to the genre-defining game. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach did not disappoint. The game allows players to continue the virtuous mission of delivering packages while reconnecting a fractured society. Kojima Productions deserves high praise for delivering amazing graphics and best-in-class character models.
9. Battlefield 6
There has been a multiplayer FPS game hole in my heart for many years. While Halo Infinite briefly filled that void, I have patiently waited for a proper shooter game to show up. Battlefield 6 has served up an amazing experience filled with destructible environments, fun vehicle gameplay, and the REDSEC battle royale mode that had me rushing to buy a new PC. I haven’t had this much fun playing a Battlefield game since Bad Company 2. It’s so good to have a new FPS game that I can just jump into whenever I feel like it with a group of friends or even when I feel like solo queueing up with random jaboofers.
8. Hollow Knight: Silksong
Hollow Knight: Silksong lived up to the hype that many long-anticipated sequels fail to do. It builds on the original game’s formula with an even greater attention to detail and the game quite literally broke the Internet when it crashed all digital video game storefronts on its launch day.
7. Ball x Pit
I am hopelessly addicted to Ball x Pit’s gameplay loop. The game appears simple on the surface but combines the brick breaker formula with a city builder skill tree and tons of different power-ups and characters to choose from. It’s one of the best indie games to ever ship and just one of two Devolver Digital games to show up on my list this year.
6. Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Pokémon Legends: Z-A was a delightful surprise in a year packed full of amazing video game releases. The latest entry in the Pokémon series truly evolved gameplay with its new real-time battle mechanics. The story is also extremely well-written and the gameplay loop had me coming back every day until I rolled credits.
5. Donkey Kong Bananza
Donkey Kong Bananza is the most fun I had playing a video game all year. The voxel-powered destruction fest appealed to my inner Kong. The game’s amazing art style, fantastic music, and unique level designs all amplified the fun as I chugged along toward the ending.
4. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond could have been a casualty of a long development cycle that saw the project scrapped and rebooted, but it ended up being my favorite Nintendo Switch 2 launch year title. The game builds on the franchise’s staples with cool new weapons, puzzles, and even a sweet motorcycle. Pair that with another amazing Nintendo soundtrack, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond beat my expectations.
3. Doom: The Dark Ages
Doom: The Dark Ages builds on the previous two franchise entries with awesome new gameplay driven by a parry mechanic, chainsaw shield, and some other heavy metal weapons. The scope of the battlefields create some of the most fun moments I have ever had in a first-person shooter.
2. Dispatch
I have not really cared for the Telltale Games formula for years, but Dispatch got its hooks into me early on with a compelling story, great characters, a striking art style, and actually fun minigames. The core dispatching and hacking minigames kept me engaged and I loved the challenge of figuring out who to send on whatever calls. The game also presents players with a wonderful branching narrative that creates a ton of replay value. I can fix Invisigal, you guys. I swear.
1. Skate Story
I absolutely love Skate Story. The game was basically built for me. Read my review for an extensive breakdown. The game’s combination of a stunning art style, absurdly hilarious narrative design, banger soundtrack, and perfect gameplay mechanics landed it on the top of my game of the year 2025 ballot. Sam Eng deserves high praise for delivering the best skateboarding game of all time.
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