The best PlayStation game of 2025
Superheroes, ronin, bug warriors and postal staff. No matter your fantasy is that this yr, PlayStation can ship it. However which PS5 recreation was one of the best? We at IGN have voted and picked what we predict are the 5 most worthy of recognition in all of 2025, naming one in all them one of the best PlayStation recreation of the yr, in addition to calling out a number of honorable mentions that got here very shut to creating the reduce.
In an period the place console franchises are a dying breed, as Sony’s competitor Microsoft has proven us greater than ever in current months, we have made the choice this yr to department out and open up the standards for what can win our platform-specific awards. These aren’t the highest 5 Sony franchises, however the prime 5 video games that have been launched on the PS5 in 2025, interval. So with out additional ado, let’s get on with it and crown one of the best PlayStation recreation of 2025 earlier than all of us die of outdated age.
Honorable mentions
The most effective video games from the beginning of the yr was Hazelight’s Cut up Fiction, the endlessly ingenious co-op motion platformer that narrowly missed out on a spot within the prime 5. Additionally lacking are a pair of 2025 indie hits Blue Prince and Ball X Pit. These two could not be extra completely different from one another, nevertheless, with the previous mind residence stuffed with puzzles, a a lot calmer affair than the chaos of the latter. After which there are two massive shooters who got here in on the finish of the yr. Battlefield 6’s multiplayer has seen it return to the wonderful, large-scale carnage that followers craved, and Arc Raiders has confirmed a large success due to its “simply one other takedown” nature. Rounding out the honorable mentions are a pair of video games that love to do issues somewhat in a different way on the subject of narrative: Atomfall and Silent Hill p. Each create unsettling worlds in their very own methods, and we admire them for his or her free-form and regular exploratory approaches to storytelling, respectively.
Runner-up – Hole Knight: Silksong
Lastly it occurred. 2025 was the yr Hole Knight: Silksong noticed the sunshine of day, and what a aid that we not solely received to play it, nevertheless it was insanely good. Group Cherry’s long-awaited sequel could also be way more punishing than the unique, nevertheless it’s nonetheless residence to the identical magic that may be discovered all through its huge, insect-sized world stuffed with secret nooks and crannies. Platform paths to get to these locations are slender and difficult, with the brand new bullet, the Hornet, exhibiting off a recent set of talents derived from its game-changing diagonal arrow. However it’s in battles the place it actually comes into its personal, selling a extra aggressive playstyle that permits you to take the struggle to Silksong’s greatest bosses. These sturdy creatures of all styles and sizes with nasty methods up their sleeves could have introduced among the largest obstacles of 2025, however persevere and the glory that awaits results in one of many largest video games of the yr.
Second place – Dispatch
Superhero drama Dispatch manages to recapture the magic of these Telltale-type episodic visible novels all of us fell in love with a decade or so in the past. Behind the story of Robert Robertson, a hero who’s nothing with out his now-destroyed mech go well with, is an exciting story of redemption that can be not with out its fair proportion of chew. Managing your many relationships, each private {and professional}, as they intertwine in Robbie’s office, the Superhero Dispatch Community, is crucial, as is making certain that your group of super-controllers efficiently attempt their hand at crime-stopping.
This half of the sport provides a real-time sim administration wrinkle to every chapter as you stage up your squad’s abilities and ship them on missions that match their talent set. From the hot-headed Flambae, to the Web’s new mother favourite, Malevola, you are answerable for a energetic and various forged that every carry a enjoyable dynamic to every scene they’re in. However it’s off the SDN workplace monitor that Dispatch actually involves life, as Robertson’s life crumbles round him, and your greatest efforts conceal behind him. What comes of its forged of characters, headlined by Breaking Dangerous’s Aaron Paul as Robbie, and with Laura Bailey’s Invisagal stealing many of the scenes, is as much as you. One factor that’s assured, nevertheless, is a superb time.
Runner-Up – Dying Stranding 2: On the Seaside
In some ways, Dying Stranding 2: On the Seaside lastly lived as much as the promise of its flawed predecessor. The second installment of creator Hideo Kojima’s providing of post-apocalyptic adventures ramped up the motion, echoing his previous Metallic Gear Stable successes whereas nonetheless sustaining that singular and lonely imaginative and prescient of a world torn aside. Taking Sam Porter Bridges to Australia, On the Seaside offers you a vastly expanded vary of fight choices, from silenced sniper rifles to mech homing missile canines, and allows you to full heaps and many postal orders nevertheless you need. That freedom is not only a fight characteristic, it is mirrored in the way you navigate every of those treacherous supply routes, too, with new methods to journey over stormy deserts and raging rivers, together with huge monorail programs and terrifying coffins.
However weirdness is just one side of Dying Stranding – and this time there is not any scarcity of it, due to Troy Baker’s good return because the villainous Higgs – as themes of affection and loss finally dominate, irrespective of how massive the spectacle is on display. Lea Seydoux is totally good as Fragile and drives the story from begin to end because the connections between her, Sam and child Lou are always revealed. It is a improbable instance of a imaginative and prescient realized and simply probably the greatest PlayStation video games to return out in 2025.
Second place – Ghost of Yotei
Following up 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima was at all times going to be a problem, however developer Sucker Punch stepped up impressively with Ghost of Yotei. This sword-slashing epic borrows every thing we beloved from its predecessor, however improves on virtually all of it in a bunch of enjoyable little methods. Pulsating fight opens up additional, with new weapons and talents launched to deepen its acquainted system of dodging, blocking, swapping and swinging. Amongst these additions is the very satisfying disarm mechanic that has your protagonist, Atsu, ship her enemies’ blades flying out of their arms. However it’s this wandering ronin story that drives Yotei’s momentum, turning a easy story of revenge into one thing way more lovely because it explores each nook of its historic Japanese map and immerses itself within the audio and visible magnificence on show.
Winner – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Shock! Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has gained one other award. It is actually that good although, is not it? Sandfall Interactive’s ode to Last Fantasy of yesteryear takes that age-old formulation and thrusts it firmly into 2025 with type kicks, loud music, and a battle system that fuses traditional turn-based RPG mechanics with real-time thrills, making each encounter thrilling. All that type could be nothing with out substance, nevertheless, and whereas his struggle thrills from second to second, it is Clair Obscur’s poignant story and multifaceted forged of characters that make it reside lengthy within the reminiscence. Jennifer English is ideal as Maelle on the coronary heart of Expedition 33’s plot, with Ben Starr’s Verso a beautiful foil as its twisted themes of grief and what it means to like are unraveled. The whole lot performs out in opposition to a fast-paced backdrop of Gommage – an annual doomsday look ahead to anybody of a sure age – is extraordinarily cinematic, making it match proper in alongside a lot of Sony’s flagship first-party choices.
Taking inspiration from the unique PlayStation library of Japanese RPGs and bringing these concepts into the longer term, due to an all-time online game story supported by a fight system as satisfying as it’s nuanced, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the clear winner of our Finest PlayStation Recreation of 2025 award.
What was your favourite PS5 recreation of 2025? Inform us within the feedback! For extra IGN awards, you may test them multi functional place right here, together with our picks for one of the best Xbox and Nintendo video games of the yr.
Simon Cardy is a senior editor at IGN who can largely be discovered immersing himself in open-world video games, indulging in Korean cinema, or obsessing over the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Comply with him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
