In the blink of an eye, we’re already halfway through the year. And that means there’s a whole six months’ worth of gaming content to catch up with, too.
Though this year hasn’t seen a massive outpouring of AAA titles like, say, 2023 (hello, Baldur’s Gate 3), there’s still been plenty to enjoy. We’ve had JRPGs, co-op multiplayers and, most pleasingly, a slew of standout indie titles addressing everything from burnout to ancient family mysteries.
Narrowing them down is a hard job, but in the interests of optimising all of our busy lives, we’ve done it. Here are the best games of 2025 so far.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur has already been hailed as the best title of the year, and for good reason: it’s a massive, ambitious fantasy RPG that sticks the landing. Developed by French studio Sandfall, it’s set in the land of Lumiere: a place where every year, a goddess called the Paintress marks down a number. Everybody who happens to be that age then dies in an explosion of petals. Naturally, this has to stop, and soon enough leading man Gustave is leading an expedition to defeat her once and for all. The studio has been open about the fact that this is intended to be a tribute to Japanese games, and it shows: there’s a lot of Final Fantasy in its DNA, from the turn-based combat to the melodramatic story that unfolds as you spend more time with your companions. The game itself is pleasingly slim - only 35 hours long - but the combat is exceptional and the world dense with secrets to uncover.
Split Fiction
Gaming studio Hazelight’s first launch since 2021 more than lived up to the success of its predecessor, It Takes Two. This co-op game put players in the shoes of Zoe and Mio, budding authors who are sucked into simulations of their own work. As they work to escape it, Hazelight throws the kitchen sink and then some at their many, many levels: no two are the same, and the sheer inventiveness (and variety) of ideas on display is breathtaking stuff.
Read our review here
Doom: The Dark Ages
Can’t go wrong with a bit of Doom. The veteran game franchise dropped its latest title since 2020’s Doom: Eternal this year, but this version is hands down the best title in the series for quite some time. Players assume the role of the Doom Slayer, who is tasked with the job of saving humanity (no biggie) by basically laying waste to as many demons as possible. The result is glorious chaos – a gun-toting, horde-bashing good time, with great weapon upgrades and an ear-drum shredding heavy metal soundtrack. Hell yeah.
Wanderstop
This gentle cozy game couldn’t be further away from the demon-slaying madness of Doom, but it’s just as fun – and packs a surprisingly potent punch. It’s a story about burnout, you see, and the main character, Alta, is a fantasy arena fighter who has hit a losing streak. When she passes out from exhaustion during a quest, she winds up at a tea shop called Wanderstop. The end result is an insightful examination of why we keep pushing ourselves, the dangers of doing too much and why it’s okay sometimes to stop and rest for a bit. Breathe out… and try not to feel too seen.
Expelled!
This little gem of a game is a murder mystery with a very Agatha Christie-esque premise: it’s set in a 1920s boarding school. Verity Amersham has just been accused of murder (did she do it? It’s hard to tell) and as you try and prove – or disprove – her innocence, the game takes you back through the events leading up to the murder again and again. Each one reveals something different, all the NPCs have their own motives (and secrets) and manipulation is the name of the game. The drama is juicy, the morality is murky. Excellent stuff.
Blue Prince
Layers upon layers (upon layers) of secrets reside within Blue Prince. It’s a puzzler that looks simple on the surface – a teenage boy, Simon, inherits his great-uncle’s stately mansion – but gradually opens up to reveal a deliciously complex conceit. For Simon can only claim his inheritance if he manages to make his way through the estate’s ever-shifting rooms to find the hidden 46th room. And while the game isn’t much for hand-holding, figuring your way through room after room full of helpful power-ups and tips is addictive as heck.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
For fans of masochism only. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a sequel to the beloved 2018 title, and one that lands us back in the medieval German kingdom of Bohemia. Henry, the blacksmith’s son done good, is back… and in the first minutes of the game, he and his companion (the lovably awful Sir Hans Capon of Pirkstein) get robbed and end up with nothing. What follows is a grind through bandit camps, historical politics and a fair bit of thievery as Henry and Hans slowly slog their way back to hero-dom. Expect to fail. A lot. But the wins feel sweeter for it.
Read our review here
Monster Hunter Wilds
Capcom’s hit Monster Hunter series has never looked so good. The game does what it says on the tin: find monsters, hunt monsters, but the studio has now perfected the formula. Frustrating elements from past games have been removed, and the end result is sleek and stylish, with a massive open world to explore (which also changes with the seasons), the addition of a second weapon and a new focus mode. Best of all, there’s no filler quests: every single one compels you go out and hunt as many gigantic monsters as possible. Even more impressively, all these fights are genuinely gripping stuff: an early fight with a Doshaguma, for instance, soon lands you in a lightning storm, surrounded by other monsters.
South of Midnight
It’s not perfect, but still: playing South of Midnight is an extraordinarily fun experience. An Xbox original game, it’s set in the Deep South and dives deep into its mythologies, its lore and history – not something you often see in video games. Our hero is Hazel, a young girl who discovers that she’s a Weaver: a person with the power to heal ancient wrongdoings by defeating spectral monsters known as Haints. And while the gameplay is a bit repetitive, the game’s message of love and loss is compelling – and the animation, which leans on stop-motion style graphics, is gorgeous.
