5 Best Video Games Of 2025, Ranked

2025 was a stellar year for video games and a particularly robust one for indie developers. From immaculately crafted platformers to absolutely stunning RPGs, the year was a varied showcase for the industry. 2025 also marked the dawn of a new era for Nintendo as the gaming powerhouse launched its latest home console, the Nintendo Switch 2, complete with its own set of games. Simply put, gamers were eating good in 2025 with acclaimed new titles released throughout the year.

But even with so many fan-favorite games released in 2025, there are a handful that rose above the rest. These games completely reinvigorated franchises and genres while others reminded fans that solid gameplay outweighs technical presentation. This was a year when, pound for pound, indie studios were surpassing their major publisher counterparts, with the occasional exception to that trend. These are the five best video games of 2025 ranked, showcasing the industry at its finest last year.

The best game from a major publisher in 2025 was "Donkey Kong Bananza," which released in July, over a month after the Switch 2. A 3D platformer with a similar scope as "Super Mario Odyssey," the game follows a redesigned Donkey Kong as he travels to Ingot Island to recover precious Banandium Gems. This places him against the sinister VoidCo mining corporation, and they want the Banandium Gems and wish-granting Banandium Root for themselves. As Donkey Kong plows through enemies, using his new powers to wreck environments and dig through the terrain, he teams up with a teenage girl named Pauline.

The greatest Switch 2 title from the console's first year on the market, "Donkey Kong Bananza" is an absolute joy to play and a love letter to its franchise. In addition to its own exciting adventure, there are nods to the series' history, including gameplay sequences directly evoking "Donkey Kong Country" and the "DK Rap" from "Donkey Kong 64." The game's core mechanic of tearing through the largely destructible environments never loses its charm, providing players with plenty of cathartic fun. "Donkey Kong Bananza" feels like a rebirth for Nintendo's iconic gorilla but one that maintains the series charm as it introduces Donkey Kong to a new generation.

After "Hollow Knight" fans received the good news that the beloved 2017 game was getting a sequel, the follow-up, "Hollow Knight: Silksong," was finally released in 2025. The game's protagonist, Hornet, travels into an insectoid kingdom ruined by a mysterious contagion known as the Haunting. Hornet descends into the darkened realm, fighting the undead afflicted as she learns about her own history with the kingdom. In between rescuing survivors of the Haunting, Hornet moves to prevent the cataclysm's spread and restore the kingdom in the process.

"Hollow Knight: Silksong" contains all the side-scrolling platforming and hack-and-slash action of its predecessor, but dialed up to a more ambitious scope. In the eight-year gap between titles, developer Team Cherry has refined the gameplay, making the overall experience more accessible to newcomers. The developers have also made sure the sequel was well worth the wait, creating a more immersive and sweeping world to explore, with atmospheric detail. Outdoing its already impressive predecessor, "Hollow Knight: Silksong" is an instant masterpiece in modern Metroidvania experiences.

Classic puzzle games like "Myst" received a modern roguelike reimagining with the indie title "Blue Prince." The game opens with protagonist Simon P. Jones inheriting the remote Mt. Holly Estate, a sprawling mansion whose interior layout is magically rearranged every night. To complete his inheritance, Simon must locate and enter the mansion's secret 46th room, using clues gathered from rooms to solve this mystery. Players place rooms on a grid from randomly drawn tiles to progress, each containing their own features to help or hinder Simon's advance with each cycle.

"Blue Prince" has a strong melancholic tone that sets the mood and a genuine sense of reward as players solve each puzzle. The puzzles and clues, more than helping players advance, also build out the game's lore, including the history of the mansion itself. The rearranging mansion premise not only provides the gameplay with an enormous amount of depth, but a clear sense of replayability as no playthrough is quite the same. There was no other game like "Blue Prince" released in 2025, a hauntingly unique puzzle title that kept things fresh and thought-provoking.

The first "Hades" made video game history with the level of critical acclaim that it received in 2020. That set a high bar for the game's sequel, "Hades II," but the dungeon crawler more than exceeded expectations. The protagonist this time around is Melinoë, sister of the prior game's protagonist Zagreus and the princess of the ancient Greek underworld. When the Titan of Time, Chronos, launches an attack on the Olympians, imprisoning the House of Hades, including Zagreus, Melinoë moves to rescue her family and defeat the Titans.

"Hades II" features a more ambitious, time-bending story compared to its predecessor, befitting its time-controlling antagonist. This expansion is reflected in the gameplay, with players given the choice of multiple paths to take in order to proceed as they explore procedurally generated dungeons. The combat is similarly refined, maintaining the core mechanics while adding new features to add more gameplay depth. An appropriately ambitious follow-up that reinforces much of the original game's appeal, "Hades II" proves the 2020 title wasn't a one-and-done success story.

French studio Sandfall Interactive stunned the gaming community with its dazzlingly beautiful RPG "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33." The game's titular expedition follows a group of adventurers as they try to stop a magical figure known as the Paintress from her annual ritual of erasing elements of their society. As this group reaches their destination, they are ambushed by a mysterious antagonist, complicating their quest as they remain hunted by an overwhelming force. As the expedition ventures forward, they learn the history behind both the Paintress and their relentless pursuer.

"Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" is a game that feels like "Final Fantasy" while providing its own distinct twist on the RPG genre. This is particularly noticeable with its engaging take on turn-based combat gameplay, visually striking and fun to play all at once. Reflecting the game's Belle Époque setting, there is a strong emphasis on art that informs both the story and the jaw-dropping environments to explore. One of the best and most original RPGs in years, "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" stands proudly as the best game from 2025.