🥇 Game of the Year 2025: The Best Games

Published 26 August 2026 · updated 1 September 2026 · list data as of 7 October 2026

Long-awaited sequels landed, and a couple of newcomers walked straight past them. These are 2025's highest-rated releases, ranked by combined critic and player scores, with a vote threshold high enough to keep the list honest.

This list is ranked by combined critic and player scores. Who actually collected the most Game of the Year awards in 2025 is a different question — Meta Awards counted them across thousands of outlets, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 came out on top.

1. 1

   Kingdom Come: Deliverance II2025

   93 / 100Role-playing (RPG)SimulatorAdventure
2. 2

   Donkey Kong Bananza2025

   91 / 100PlatformAdventure
3. 3

   Hollow Knight: Silksong2025

   91 / 100PlatformAdventureIndie
4. 4

   Death Stranding 2: On the Beach2025

   91 / 100ShooterAdventure
5. 5

   Hades II2025

   91 / 100Role-playing (RPG)Hack and slash/Beat 'em upAdventure
6. 6

   Split Fiction2025

   90 / 100PlatformPuzzleAdventure🛋️ Split-screen up to 2
7. 7

   Clair Obscur: Expedition 332025

   89 / 100Role-playing (RPG)Turn-based strategy (TBS)Adventure
8. 8

   Blue Prince2025

   89 / 100PuzzleStrategyAdventure
9. 9

   Ghost of Yotei2025

   88 / 100Role-playing (RPG)Adventure
10. 10

    Dispatch2025

    86 / 100Point-and-clickStrategyAdventure
11. 11

    ARC Raiders2025

    85 / 100Shooter
12. 12

    Mario Kart World2025

    85 / 100RacingAdventure
13. 13

    Doom: The Dark Ages2025

    85 / 100Shooter
14. 14

    Deltarune2025

    84 / 100MusicPuzzleRole-playing (RPG)
15. 15

    The Alters2025

    83 / 100SimulatorAdventure

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