The 10 best video games of 2025 so far – half year report

2025 is already half over but it’s been a great year so far for quality games, including Monster Hunter Wilds and Split Fiction.

Not only is the summer heatwave over but so is the first half of the year and while the games industry is filled with ominous news at the moment, from more job losses to an increasing focus on AI, the quality of games has been incredibly high. Especially as the second half of any year tends to be the busiest.

To focus on that quality we’ve create a top 10 list of the year so far, which is all the more exciting because there were several 7/10 games that didn’t quite make the cut but are still worth seeking out, such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, The First Berserker: Khazan, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Death Stranding 2.

Add in yearly sports titles like WWE 2K25 and F1 25 and you’ve got the makings of a classic year. Especially since, in keeping with the rules for our full Top 20 of the year, we don’t include remakes or remasters. So the below doesn’t include the Oblivion remaster or Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition.

10. Revenge Of The Savage Planet

PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC

Given the curse of indie sequels, where none of them seem to sell well no matter how good they are, we’re not sure how some of these games have fared financially, but Revenge Of The Savage Planet is a great sequel to 2020’s Journey To The Savage Planet. Both are 3D Metroidvanias, which is still very rare, but it’s hard to understand why given how enjoyable Revenge’s combat and traversal is. The puzzles are just the right side of taxing and the game’s sardonic sense of humour elevates it further.

9. Two Point Museum

Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC

The Two Point series of business sims have been going on for a while now, with a clear evolutionary path all the way back to Theme Hospital and Theme Park in the 90s. Being put in charge of your own museum is a new idea though and it works perfectly within the established template, with a very British sense of humour and art design very obviously inspired by Wallace & Gromit’s Aardman Animations. As an extra bonus, Two Point Museum is very welcoming for new players and the console controls work extremely well.

8. Monster Train 2

Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC

With Slay The Spire 2 out in early access this year, deck-building games are likely to become a hot item again, although it’s hard to imagine any of them being much better than this impressive, roguelike sequel. Monster Train 2 features several levels of strategy, in a very literal sense as you defend a multi-floor train from monsters, using abilities and creatures described by collectible cards. In that sense it doesn’t sound any different to a dozen other similar games but the complexity of the systems and the fast-paced and easy to understand interface elevate it above the rest.

7. Bionic Bay

PlayStation 5 and PC

Indie games are renowned for their originality and sense of experimentation but in truth a lot of them are inspired by the same narrow group of games, whether it’s Slay The Spire or classic platform puzzlers Limbo and Inside. Bionic Bay is more action-based than those and its main gimmick, of a teleporter you can use to swap places with other objects, proves almost infinitely versatile. Other abilities, such as controlling time, are introduced gradually and the game constantly manages the feat of making its obstacles seem completely impossible, right up until the point where you figure them out and it all seems so obvious.

6. Blue Prince

Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC

The problem with many puzzle games is that they sound impossibly boring when you describe them and yet they’re anything but when you actually play them. The premise behind Blue Prince is very odd, in that you’ve inherited a mansion whose room layout you can change by laying down a blueprint as you explore, with the hoping of reaching as far as a secret hidden room in the far north of the building. Nothing about the concept makes any real-world sense but it’s a wonderfully engrossing roguelike, as you gradually learn the rules and systems that allow you to make sense of the bizarre situation.

5. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC

Citizen Sleeper 2 is not a game that’s going to sell itself via its screenshots or gameplay videos, but this is one of the most compelling narrative experiences of recent years. It’s essentially a mix between a visual novel and a role-playing game, where the story is dictated by the choices you make but also the role of a die. That makes it sound trivial, but you have to be very careful about how you use your limited dice rolls, creating difficult decisions in the branching story. The writing is excellent and while the graphics may look boring the presentation is actually very striking and immersive.

4. Monster Hunter Wilds

Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC

Currently the best-selling game of the year, which if nothing else proves that the breakthrough hit of Monster Hunter: World was not a one-off. Although the game’s attempt to focus on storytelling doesn’t really work everything else is in Monster Hunter Wilds is a useful evolution of the series, with the best open world environment so far and the handy new Seikret mounts. Focus mode also helps to make combat feel more tactical, as you target individual body parts, while also making it more accessible for new players. In what is a great year for co-op games, Monster Hunter Wilds is one of the very best.

3. Mario Kart World

Nintendo Switch 2

Slightly lower down the list than many would have expected, given the perfection of Mario Kart 8, but while Mario Kart World is an excellent game it’s certainly not perfect. The strange way it (and Nintendo’s marketing) handles the open world element still doesn’t make much sense but the actual racing, and the new Knockout Tour mode, are fantastic. Despite concerns that the 24-player races would be too chaotic it works extremely well, with the new, wider track designs creating a very different style of game to Mario Kart 8, which alone is a great achievement given how boxed in the Mario Kart concept seemed to be.

2. Split Fiction

Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC

They say launching a new IP is difficult but the team behind It Takes Two are starting to make it look easy. The basic idea of playing a series of mini-games with another player (who doesn’t need to own a copy of the game) is the same as their previous titles, but Split Fiction’s levels are much more involved than before, going well beyond just a mini-game. The game is constantly switching genres, from third person shooter to platformer to puzzler, and genres (the story involves novelists being trapped in their own fantasy and sci-fi worlds) and while it seems like it should all be too disorienting and confusing it works perfectly, no matter how experienced the person is you’re playing with.

1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC

Although it’s tempting to describe Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as a surprise hit this may end up being one of the least controversial game of the year nominees in a long while. A Japanese role-playing game created in France, by a group of ex-Ubisoft developers, this is an impossibly assured debut game that reinvents many older tropes and mechanics, including turn-based battles and an overworld map, for the modern day.

Despite the strangeness of its set-up the story is also very compelling, mixing fantasy with very relatable character struggles. Whether it’ll end up being the best game of the year by the end of December is hard to say but it’s going to have to be a hell of a game to beat it.

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