Let’s say it now. “Indie and double-A games dominated the conversation this year.” Over the past few years, this has started to feel more like the new rule than the exception. Sure, there’s no shortage of big-budget blockbusters in 2025, and some of them made it onto this list, but it seems like every month there’s a “smaller” game, from Clair Obscur and Dispatch to Blue Prince and Schedule 1, that has swallowed up much of the online conversation. In fact, in January, most people couldn’t even guess half of Steam’s top 10 bestsellers of the year.
Of course, popularity alone doesn’t guarantee a title as the best PC game. So we looked back at the past 12 months with discerning eyes and decided on a list of 10 games you really should play. These are the most loved PC games of 2025, with entries from across the PCGN crew.
‘s Top 10 PC Games of 2025
Here are our favorite PC games of the year, ranked by .
10.Hades 2
When Hades 2 first released on Steam last spring, it was as close to a full-featured early access game as you would expect to play. Even before the 1.0 release, it was much bigger than the original. More bosses, more weapons, more NPCs to chat with, and even a second path to becoming braver have been added.
By the time the last full-length roguelike arrived in September of this year, Supergiant had added plenty of reasons to come back. There’s another weapon to master, a major boss to defeat on Olympus, and more materials to find. Hades 2 is now about twice the size of the first game.
It’s not all about scale. While it can be overwhelming to have so many things to track, the near-endless variety makes every run more enjoyable. Before the upper world of Olympus faces the real challenges, the underground world will teach you the ropes. The combat is fast and satisfying, the story is full of personality, and its progression is perfectly orchestrated. You’ll probably want to go for “just one more shot” like you did in Hades 1. However, now more than ever, you need to learn deep levels of complexity and nuance.
tom hopkins
9. Split Fiction
Where It Takes Two brings sanity, Split Fiction brings style. Hazelight’s latest installment is their best yet, taking the split-screen co-op format to a whole new level. As I mentioned in my glowing Split Fiction review, Mio and Zoe’s sci-fi and fantasy world is vibrantly brought to life with gorgeous visuals and fun, sometimes tricky puzzles, but the story of their friendship and ultimately sisterhood is empowering without ever feeling overwhelming or in-your-face.
My partner and I spent hours riding through Tron-inspired streets on neon-lit motorcycles, starlit walking through gorgeous fantasy landscapes, and running around like farting pigs destined for slaughter. Well, the last part may not have been as uplifting as the rest, but it was certainly a new experience. Either way, Hazelight is really good in Split Fiction and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Written by Lauren Berg
8. Ark Raiders
In a world where countless new multiplayer games died before their first birthday or never reached 1.0, Ark Raiders bucked that trend. Making a post-disaster survival-oriented extraction shooter game palatable to the masses is no easy task, but Embark Studios has executed it perfectly. Sleek yet reliable aesthetics. Scary and challenging robot enemies. A free loadout system allows you to save yourself from even the worst loot-hiding nightmares. Fairly simple third-person gunplay – these elements combine to create something familiar, but never watered down. But the biggest benefit of the Ark Raiders is the community they’ve built in just a few weeks.
The extraction genre often calls for bloodlust and a survival of the fittest mentality, but Ark Raiders is an exception. Of course, those players still exist, and they too can thrive thanks to Embark’s matchmaking system, which tends to place PvP-focused loot demons in the same lobbies as each other. But if you’re progressing through the game at a steady pace, you can also say hello in prox chat or yell “Don’t shoot!” When you ping, you’re likely to encounter one of the healthiest moments of emergency. I’m very competitive when it comes to shooters. I like to embarrass other players, spill blood, and enjoy victory (as much as my limited skills allow). But when it comes to Ark Raider, you don’t have to think that way. If I get into the mood, I’m sure I’ll start exploding. But the great thing about this game is that most of the time it’s satisfying without twitching your trigger finger.
As mentioned earlier, Embark has managed to satisfy even the most hardcore grinders. The expedition system and its accompanying elaborate challenges give high-skilled players something to focus on and the thrill of account wipes without forcing it on the entire player base. In my personal opinion, Ark Raiders is the best new multiplayer series of the year, and with further acclaim, I believe it could be the best of the decade.
Jamie Hoare
7. Routine
Routine is the best single-player survival horror experience coming in 2025. Let’s not forget the year that the new Silent Hill movie was released. What’s even better is that this is a fairly accessible horror game, even if you don’t like blood and gore.
By taking everything that made Alien Isolation great and cutting it down to a tidy 6-7 hours (Isolation’s running time is its biggest flaw), Routine nails the atmospheric horror in a haunting way. When they arrive at the lunar station where they have been called for a simple job, they discover that the crew is missing. Will they manage to make it out alive or will they succumb to the same mysterious fate? There are enemies here, and the toughest ones actually appear early in the game, but you should avoid them rather than confront them head-on. Instead, the fear instilled throughout Routine comes from loneliness, the increasingly daunting letters left behind by those who came before, and the impact of the night breaking the dense silence. That, and an array of satisfying and challenging puzzles are all that stands between you and your escape in any way possible.
daniel rose
6. Battlefield 6
Battlefield 6’s multiplayer is so good that it made us all forgive and forget about the campaign, which is largely the opposite of what we want from this series: fluid, moment-to-moment action with gunfights and vehicles. A wild sense of scale across a (sufficiently) large map. A sudden, eye-opening moment that would once have been a cutscene.
Outside of single-player, the game is a confident game that oscillates between nerve-wracking intensity and explosive lightness at high speed, whether you’re lying on your stomach in the mud desperately trying to survive a brutal bombing, or you’re one of the lucky ones having death raining down on you from above. With countless variables at play, fortunes can change in the blink of an eye, so you’ll have a hard time remembering just one boring match. Yes, it can be frustrating and stressful at times, but failing badly makes you want to come back even stronger.
cameron bald
5. Dispatch
Dispatch Wednesdays brought me the biggest high of 2025, as AdHoc Studios’ ultra-powerful episodic narrative brought joy and inspired despair in equal measure every week. The Telltale ethos is alive and well, and I haven’t felt this way about a similar game since playing The Wolf Among Us all those years ago.
Robert Robertson III, also known as Mechaman, finds himself in a pinch when his mecha suit is destroyed. Robert, a helpless human, must adapt to life after the hero. That is, until the Superhero Deployment Network (SDN) offers him a deal to transform his ragtag team of villains into bona fide heroes and remake their suits. Although it sounds easy in words, managing the chaotic nature of the Z Team is anything but easy.
Dispatch is a triumph of storytelling, managing to expertly blend raw humor and strong moments while subtly weaving in the little idiosyncrasies that make the characters feel real. This is only enhanced by great performances from the cast, which includes Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, Critical Role mainstays like Matt Mercer and Laura Bailey, as well as off-piste performers like Young Gravy and Jackseptic Eye. There’s a real mix of acting experience, but everyone gets the job done.
aaron down
4. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Open-world games sell for ten pennies these days, and what once felt like an expanse full of chance and intrigue has slowly become the norm for most games. So unless it’s Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Open Space doesn’t make for an interesting game. Set in 15th century Bohemia, you play as Henry of Skalitz on a Boy’s Life camping trip with your new best friend Sir Hans.
Epic intrigues, murder mysteries, drunken nights, and secret war plans abound. If you’re like me, you can play dice for hours in the rain. This is less a power fantasy and more a loose “what if” simulation of medieval life. Yes, I would grow a nice mustache, and yes, I believe I can talk about how to get into positions of power. The beauty of KCD2 is its openness. It’s the freedom to go about your work as you see fit and fool around as much as you like. The beautiful world is wide, dense, and feels alive. It is an honor to step into Henry’s shoes. I encourage everyone to put themselves in that position.
paul kelly
3. Hollow Knight Silk Song
Hollow Knight was always going to be impossible to imitate, but who can blame Team Cherry for taking eight years to make a sequel? After all, it wasn’t stalling. It simply polished the silk thong to near-perfect shine. Care and love are present in every square inch of the fur room, from the way the rosary hits the ground and rolls to the gentle chime of a hornet’s bell as it passes by.
That attention extends to platforming and combat as well. Its predecessor was the most satisfying action platformer I’ve ever played, until Silksong stepped in and made it feel outdated and clunky by comparison. Hornet’s toolkit is simple yet versatile, giving her incredible maneuverability and control. It’s necessary because the environments and enemies pick up where Hollow Knight left off, constantly forcing you to rethink your approach. But I never felt it was unfair. Rather, every “wall” becomes an opportunity to try something new.
Above all, Team Cherry understands the appeal of the best Metroidvanias and fully trusts players’ desire to explore without being pushed in every direction. And it rewards you almost every time, whether it’s an off-hand NPC encounter or a giant zone lurking behind a wall you’ve traversed dozens of times before. Silk Song made me laugh. It made me sad. That surprised me. It ended up staying in your hand even during the main boss fight. This is a better sequel to one of my favorite games than I could have ever hoped for.
ken allsop
2. Blue Prince
The Blue Prince comes in waves. It’s a little Eureka game with gradual profits. While perhaps not the sexiest selling point, this roguelike puzzle game manages to instill a sense of curiosity and a thirst for order like nothing I’ve ever played before. I have to enter the house at the beginning of each day and find my way to a particular room. That’s the goal.
The trick here is that the house in question is a blank slate. You choose one of three random blueprints as you enter each room, and each run cleanses the layout of your house. There are plenty of reasons to time out on a run these days: dead ends, locked doors, puzzles that make you squint the first time you see them, but what Blue Prince does astronomically well is reignite that curiosity with every little discovery.
Scratching the surface of the Blue Prince is like scratching an itch. By satisfying my curiosity, I am able to acquire knowledge and learn more deeply, which in turn feeds back to myself. Blue Prince is a puzzle game that makes you feel very clever, but equally makes you feel a little slow to understand, and I think that’s pretty special.
paul kelly
1. Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is more than just ‘s Game of the Year. That is also my biggest regret for 2025. You see, even after a modest pre-release marketing campaign, Expedition 33 is on a slow burn. It’s a portrait of Belle Époque melancholy that begins innocuously and is painted over with broad strokes of Unreal Engine 5’s realism. And then the rose petals dance. Opera soundtrack. The resolute sound of a cane striking the ground is as memento mori as time itself. And death, and the revelation that Sandfall Interactive had delivered something special.
My fellow JRPG fans may not want to hear it, but the truth is that Expedition 33 achieved the impossible. It shattered the widespread perception that turn-based games were a slow, heavy framework left over from the 90s amidst the dominance of Soulslikes and action RPGs. Its system of dodges and parries fills the liminal space between turns with a dynamism comparable to real-time systems, repurposing it as a stage for powerful character moments that land like gut punches.
The 33rd Expedition was so consumed with grief and loss that it could easily have been a tragic disaster. Rather, the seriousness of the script and the naturalistic performances by the all-star cast veer the film away from despair and toward tentative hope, even if it comes at the cost of great courage and personal sacrifice. The story of Expedition 33 is at once singular and universal, a product of its time. I don’t regret playing it. I regret not picking up what Sandfall Interactive announced sooner. Then I wish I had more time to tell you all about it. I haven’t forgotten the irony. C’est la vie.
Nat Smith
That’s the summary of GOTY 2025. Keep an eye on the future with easy access to our list of upcoming PC games from 2026 onwards.
