Like last year 2025 has been a busy year in gaming, with so many games coming out that I wasn’t sure what to add to this list, I even planned to add honorable mentions but I had as much games on that list as I did on the actual top five list, so I wanted to be fair and do only five games like always.
Many games this year also came from smaller studios that took a lot of fun, creative liberties with the genres the games were centered around.
From horror, platformers, great soundtracks, to RPGs, here are my top five games of 2025.
5) The Lonesome Guild
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC
Release Date: October 23, 2025
I was quickly invested in the Lonesome Guild when I began reviewing it, as I promptly fell in love with the story and the themes of the game, which convey that you’re never alone, you will have friends there for you to fight against that feeling of loneliness.
I loved each character that joins your party from the hot-headed Ran Tran Trum to the aloof and mysterious Mr Fox, as well as Davinci, Ghost’s first friend that they meet at the start of the game, with an inventive mind.
Each of them had their own little mini story that Ghost learns about throughout the journey, which is personal to them in some way and for which they try to help them, with Ran’s story about his brother being my favourite.
The Lonesome Guild is a different type of RPG to play, where you outright go up and punch the enemies that stand in your way. I liked this gameplay and how satisfying it felt taking down enemies, especially when you make your characters powerful with accessories or give them new power-ups when you increase their relationship with Ghost. Exploring the world of Etere itself was fun, with the different regions colorful and full of life.
Like with my review for the Lonesome Guild, I highly recommend playing it when you have time, especially if you’re a big fan of RPGs with heartwarming stories that aren’t afraid to tackle certain themes.
Check out our review of The Lonesome Guild.
4) Lumines Arise
Platforms:PlayStation 5 (with PS VR2 support) and PC
Release Date: November 11, 2025
Lumines Arise, despite being a different type of game than Tetris, is still a worthy spiritual successor to the Tetris Effect, with its heart in its incredible soundtrack. While I may had trouble trying to get perfect squares during my playthrough of Lumines, I still loved each and every stage thanks to the songs in each of them.
Kymara’s Wash Away is still my favourite song in the game, and I’m definitely going to be listening to the soundtrack when it comes out in February. Still, until then, I’m going to replay certain levels again thanks to Lumine’s Playlist mode, which allows you to play each stage in your preferred order.
As mentioned, the game’s soundtrack comes out in February. Still, it is now available to pre-order, and you can also listen to Hydelic’s Arise and Only Human, as well as Dreamland, the music that plays on the last stage of level two, via various music apps.
Check out our review of Lumines Arise.
3) Rusty Rabbit
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC
Release Date: April 17, 2025
As a big fan of Gen Urobuchi’s work, I was excited to hear he was making a game with a cute, Sylvanian Family-like cast of bunnies. I wanted to try it out to see what the story was like.
Despite Rusty Rabbit being a lighter story than his other works, I really enjoyed it. However, the gameplay could be frustrating at times, it was still fun exploring the junk filled underground world underneath the Mountain, as well as Stamp’s search for his missing daughter, and finding out what exactly happened to her and why she walked out on her father all those years ago.
I also loved the game’s dedication to Peter Rabbit, to the point that it’s an in-game religion you learn more about as you progress through Stamp’s journey.
The game’s cast isn’t something to overlook either. I did know going in that Stamp would be voiced by Kiryu Kazuma himself, Takaya Kuroda, who does an excellent performance. Other members of the game’s Japanese cast included Fairouz Ai (Jolyne Cujoh & Power from Chainsaw Man), Akari Kito (Nezuko Kamado), Yu Kobayashi (Lucina from Fire Emblem, Houjou Satoshi, Kanon from Umineko, and Luka Urushibara), and Hiroki Yasumoto (Yasutora “Chad” Sado), voicing my favourite character in the game, Stamp’s bar buddy Luc, who gives him side quests to go on.
The game’s English cast is just as good as its Japanese cast, with David Hayter, Bryce Papenbrook, Nolan North, Yuri Lowenthal, and Kayli Mills amongst them.
Not a lot of people have been talking about Rusty Rabbit since its release, which is a shame because it was a fun mecha experience, and I’m actually excited to see if Urobuchi makes more work that’s more comedic or less dark in the future because Rusty proves he can do it well.
Check out our review of Rusty Rabbit.
2) Ghost of Yotei
Platforms: PlayStation 5
Release Date: October 2, 2025
I was a big fan of Ghost of Tsushima. When Yotei was first announced, I couldn’t wait to go and explore the various regions of Ezo with Atsu, played wonderfully by Erika Ishii in the game’s English track and Fairouz Ai in the Japanese track, taking up the mantle of the ghost 329 years after Jin Sakai first did, now as an Onryo.
While the story felt more personal with a smaller cast compared to Tsushima being about repelling an invasion and requiring a large set of characters to recruit in stopping the Mongols, the character’s in Yotei that stick with Atsu until the very end of her adventure were great to the story, with Oyuki from Teshio Ridge probably being the second best character in the game other then Atsu herself as I loved the arc that involved her.
While I won’t go too much into the story itself, Ezo is just as beautiful to explore as Tsushima was. I’m happy that Sucker Punch put great detail in bringing it to life in game form, as they did with Jin’s story. I’m looking forward to seeing who will take out the Ghost Mantle next, what other part of Japan will appear next, and what history will be covered.
Check out our review of Ghost of Yotei.
1) Silent Hill F
Platforms:PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC
Release Date: September 25, 2025
I didn’t bat an eye when Silent Hill F was first announced, given Silent Hill’s reputation at the time as a stagnant franchise with recent games being of poor quality (and this was before the two remakes came out, which gave some hope that the franchise could be saved). Still, the end of the announcement trailer revealed that Ryukishi 07 would be working on it.
Having loved Higurashi and Umineko and those being my favourite visual novels of all time, I wanted to see how he would make a great story set in the Silent Hill universe, he did an excellent job and the funny thing is, this game doesn’t even take place in Silent Hill at all.
Hinako was an excellent protagonist as she went through absolute hell trying to gain freedom and independence for herself, searching for her friends. At the same time, her town turned into a hellish Silent Hill-esque landscape around her.
Silent Hill F is probably one of the franchise’s most fantastic entries, and now my favourite. It’s even up there in my top favourite games of all time now.
I’m glad that we’re getting good Silent Hill entries again with this and Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake. After the abysmal Silent Hill Ascension and the mixed reception that Short Messages got, the franchise has been on a good streak recently.
Check out our review of Silent Hill F.
