The PCGamesN Game of the Year Awards 2025

Say it with me now: "indie and double-A games dominated the conversation this year." Over the past couple of years, this has started to feel less like an exception and more like the new rule. Yes, there was no shortage of big-money blockbusters in 2025, some of which earned a spot on this list, but from Clair Obscur and Dispatch to Blue Prince and Schedule 1, every month seemed to deliver a 'smaller' game that then gobbled up the lion's share of the online buzz. In fact, I'd wager most folks would never have been able to guess even half of Steam's top ten best-sellers of the year back in January.

Of course, popularity alone doesn't secure you a place among the best PC games, so we've looked back over the past 12 months with discerning eyes to settle on a list of just ten games you really should play. These are the PC games we loved the most in 2025, with entries from across the PCGN crew.

PCGamesN's top ten PC games of 2025

Here are our favorite PC games of the year in ranked order, as decided by PCGamesN.

10. Hades 2

When Hades 2 first released on Steam last spring, it was as close to a feature-complete early access game as you're likely to play. Even before the 1.0 release, it was much bigger than the original. More bosses, more weapons, more NPCs to chat to, and even an entire second path to brave.

By the time the full, final roguelike game arrived this September, Supergiant had added plenty of reasons to jump back in. Another weapon to master, major bosses to beat in Olympus, and more materials to find. Now, Hades 2 is about double the size of the first game.

Scale alone isn't everything, and the sheer number of things to keep track of can get overwhelming, but the near-endless variety keeps every run exciting. The underworld teaches you the ropes before the Olympus overworld presents you with the real challenge. The combat is fast and satisfying, the story is full of personality, and its progression is perfectly tuned. Just as you probably did with Hades 1, you'll want to shoot for 'just one more run.' More than ever, though, there's a deep level of complexity and nuance to learn.

Tom Hopkins

9. Split Fiction

Where It Takes Two brings the wholesome, Split Fiction delivers the style. Hazelight's latest is its best to date, taking the splitscreen co-op format to a whole new level. As I said in my glowing Split Fiction review, Mio and Zoe's sci-fi and fantasy worlds are brought to vibrant life with gorgeous visuals and fun, occasionally tricky puzzles, while their story of friendship and eventual sisterhood is empowering without being overwhelming or in your face.

My partner and I spent hours zipping through Tron-inspired streets on neon-bathed motorbikes, walking on starlight in gorgeous fantasy landscapes, and darting around as farting pigs destined to be slaughtered. Okay, maybe that last part wasn't as uplifting as the rest, but it was certainly a new experience. Either way, Hazelight has truly outdone itself with Split Fiction, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

Lauren Bergin

8. Arc Raiders

In a world where countless new multiplayer games have perished before their first birthdays or never reached 1.0, Arc Raiders has bucked the trend. Making a post-disaster, survival-oriented extraction shooter palatable to the masses is not an easy task, but Embark Studios has executed it perfectly. A slick yet believable aesthetic; terrifying, challenging robot enemies; a free loadout system that lets you claw yourself back from even the worst loot stash nightmare; fairly straightforward third-person gunplay - these elements combine to create something accessible but never watered down. However, Arc Raiders' greatest boon is the community it forged in just a matter of weeks.

While the extraction genre often demands bloodlust and a survival-of-the-fittest mentality, Arc Raiders is an anomaly. Of course, those players still exist, and they can thrive too thanks to Embark's matchmaking system, which leans towards putting PvP-focused loot fiends in the same lobbies as each other. But if you take the game at a steady pace, say hi through prox chat, or even throw up a 'Don't Shoot!' ping, you'll find yourself in some of the most wholesome emergent moments. I'm a competitive-minded soul when it comes to shooters - I like to embarrass other players, to spill some blood, to taste victory (when my limited skill allows). But with Arc Raiders, I don't feel compelled to think that way. If the mood takes me, then sure, I'll start blastin'. But the beauty of this game is that, most of the time, it can satisfy me without making my trigger finger twitchy.

As mentioned, Embark has somehow managed to keep the die-hard grinders happy too. The Expedition system and the elaborate challenges attached to it give high-skill players something to focus on and the thrill of an account wipe, without having to enforce it on the entire playerbase. Arc Raiders, in my personal view, is the best new multiplayer series of the year, and in increasing measures, it's convincing me it could be the best of the decade to boot.

Jamie Hore

7. Routine

Routine is the best single-player survival horror experience to come out of 2025 - a year that delivered a new Silent Hill entry, let's not forget. Even better, this is a fairly accessible horror game if you're not big on blood and gore.

By taking everything that makes Alien Isolation great and slimming it down to a tidy 6-7 hours (Isolation's runtime is its biggest flaw), Routine nails haunting atmospheric horror. Arriving on a moon station, called here on a simple job, you discover the crew are missing. Will you somehow get out alive, or will you succumb to the same mysterious fate? There are enemies here, the toughest of which actually appear in the early game, but they're to be avoided rather than confronted head-on. Instead, the fear instilled throughout Routine comes from the loneliness, the increasingly daunting letters left by your predecessors, and the occasional bumps in the night that break the dense silence. That and a series of satisfyingly challenging puzzles are all that stand between you and escape - in whatever form that may be found.

Danielle Rose

6. Battlefield 6

Battlefield 6's multiplayer is so good that it made us collectively forgive and forget about a campaign that was largely the antithesis of what you'd want from this series: fluid, ever-changing action in firefights and vehicles; a wild sense of scale across (sufficiently) large maps; and the type of spectacular, emergent moments that would once have been cutscenes.

Outside of its single-player, it's a confident game that oscillates at speed between nerve-shredding intensity and explosive levity, whether you're on your belly in the mud desperately trying to survive a vicious bombing run, or you're the lucky one raining death from above. Your fortune can change in the blink of an eye when there are countless variables at play, so I struggle to remember a single dull match. Frustrating or stressful, sure, but any brutal failures just make me want to come back swinging all the more.

Cameron Bald

5. Dispatch

Dispatch Wednesdays gave me some of the greatest highs of 2025, as AdHoc Studios' superpowered, episodic narrative brought joy and elicited despair in equal measure from week to week. The spirit of Telltale is well and truly alive, and I haven't felt this way about any similar games since playing The Wolf Among Us all those years ago.

Robert Robertson III, aka Mecha Man, finds himself in a pinch when his mech suit is destroyed. Powerlessly human, Robert now must adapt to post-hero life. That is, until the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN) offers him a deal: turn a rag-tag team of villains into bona fide heroes, and they'll rebuild his suit. It sounds simple enough on paper, but managing the Z-Team's chaotic personalities is anything but easy.

Dispatch is a storytelling triumph, somehow managing to deftly blend its coarse humor with intense moments, while subtly weaving in tiny idiosyncrasies that make its characters feel real. This is only elevated by incredible performances from its cast, which includes Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul, Critical Role mainstays like Matt Mercer and Laura Bailey, and even off-piste choices like Yung Gravy and 'Jacksepticeye.' It's a real mix of acting experience, yet everyone nails the assignment.

Aaron Down

4. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2

Open-world games are ten a penny these days, and what once felt like an expanse full of opportunity and intrigue slowly became the norm for most. Open space does not an interesting game make, unless you're Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, that is. Set in 15th-century Bohemia, you play as Henry of Skalitz on a Boy's Life camping trip with his new best friend, Sir Hans.

There's an epic plot, murder mysteries, heavy nights of drinking, and plenty of secret war plans. You could also do what I did and play dice in the rain for hours on end. It's less of a power fantasy and more of a loose 'what if' simulation of medieval life - yes, I'd grow a lovely moustache, and yes, I believe that I could talk my way into a position of power. The beauty of KCD2 is its openness; it's the freedom to go about your business as you see fit and faff about as much as you like. Its beautiful world is both wide and dense, and it feels alive. It's a pleasure to step into Henry's shoes, and I suggest you all get to it.

Paul Kelly

3. Hollow Knight Silksong

Hollow Knight always seemed like an impossible act to follow, so who could blame Team Cherry for taking eight years to deliver the sequel? As it turns out, it wasn't stalling; it was simply polishing Silksong to a near-flawless sheen. From the way rosaries bump and roll across the ground to the gentle tink-tink of bells as Hornet glides past them, there's a care and love present in every square inch of Pharloom.

That attention extends to the platforming and combat alike. Its predecessor was the most satisfying action-platformer I've ever played, right until Silksong stepped in and made it feel dated and clunky by comparison. Hornet's toolkit is concise but versatile, giving her incredible mobility and control - and you'll need it, because the environments and enemies pick up where Hollow Knight left off and constantly push you to rethink your approach. Yet it never once feels unfair; rather, every 'wall' becomes an opportunity to try something new.

More than anything, Team Cherry understands what makes the best Metroidvanias tick, and it trusts fully in players to want to explore without being pushed in every direction. And nearly every time you do, you're rewarded, whether it be with an off-hand NPC encounter or a giant zone lurking behind a wall you've passed a dozen times before. Silksong has made me laugh; it's made me grieve; it's dropped my jaw in wonder; it even made me stay my hand midway through a major boss fight. It's a more brilliant sequel to one of my favorite games than I would ever have dared to wish for.

Ken Allsop

2. Blue Prince

Blue Prince hits in waves; it's a game of incremental gains and small eurekas. Not the sexiest sell perhaps, but the roguelike puzzle game manages to imbue a sense of curiosity and a hunger for order like nothing else I've played. I enter a house at the beginning of every day and must find my way to a specific room. That's the goal.

The trick here is that the house in question is a blank slate. I choose one of three random blueprints as I enter each room, and the house layout is wiped clean after every run. Dead ends, locked doors, puzzles that make me squint my eyes when I first see them - there are many reasons why I might call time on my latest run, but what Blue Prince does astronomically well is reigniting that curiosity with each small discovery.

Scratching the surface of Blue Prince is like scratching an itch. I arm myself with the knowledge to forge deeper by sating my curiosity, which in turn feeds back on itself. Blue Prince is a puzzle game that makes me feel very clever and a bit slow on the uptake in equal measure, and I think that's pretty special.

Paul Kelly

1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just PCGamesN's Game of the Year. It also doubles as my biggest regret of 2025. See, even after a modest pre-release marketing campaign, Expedition 33 is a slow burn. It starts innocuously, a portrait of Belle Époque melancholy daubed in the broad strokes of Unreal Engine 5 realism. Then, a flutter of rose petals; an operatic soundtrack; the resolute echo of a cane striking the ground, as much a memento mori as time itself. Then, death - and the epiphany that Sandfall Interactive has delivered something special.

My fellow JRPG fans might not like to hear it, but the truth is that Expedition 33 has done the impossible. Amid the supremacy of soulslikes and action RPGs, it has shattered the widespread perception of turn-based games as a slow and ponderous framework best left in the '90s. Its dodge-and-parry system suffuses the liminal space between turns with dynamism on par with its real-time counterparts, repurposing it into a staging ground for powerful character moments that land like a gut punch.

Expedition 33's preoccupation with grief and loss could very easily have turned it into a dismal slog. Instead, the earnestness of its script, coupled with naturalistic performances from its all-star cast, pivots it away from despair and towards a tentative hope - even if it comes at the cost of great courage and personal sacrifice. Expedition 33's story is simultaneously singular, universal, and a product of its time. I don't regret that I played it. I regret that I hadn't picked up what Sandfall Interactive put down sooner, so that I could have had more time to tell you all about it. The irony of that is not lost on me. C'est la vie.

Nat Smith

And that's it for our GOTY 2025 roundup. Keep an eye on the future by making a quick trip to our list of upcoming PC games for 2026 and beyond.