It has been a year of both turmoil and triumph in the video-game industry. There was bloodletting as mass lay-offs continued, and big titles such as Grand Theft Auto again saw their launch dates delayed. But the newly released Switch 2 defied downward trends to score another huge success for Nintendo, with an estimated 12 million units already sold. Amid these upheavals, the quality of games remains high. Here’s our pick of the 10 best of 2025 overall, plus the three best Irish games of the year.

10 best games of 202510: Lost Records: Bloom & RagePlayStation 5, PC, Xbox Series X and Series S

There was a lot of 1990s nostalgia in video games in 2025, from a remastered Metal Gear Solid to the booming market in vintage consoles and handhelds. But no other game did a more convincing job of recreating the heady days of grunge, tie dye and pre-internet freedom than this gauzy third-person adventure in which a now middle-aged woman looks back at a lost summer in 1995. Lost Records has the gossamer-like quality of a faded Polaroid – a cliche in itself but one that this hugely emotive mystery brings powerfully to life, with a gripping script and a moving soundtrack.

9: SunderfolkPlayStation 5, PC, Switch

Many video games have tried to recreate the tactile experience of a board game on screen. Sunderfolk arguably comes closest by fusing phone- and screen-based gameplay. Your phone holds your hand of cards, through which you select actions to move your character in a fantasy tabletop universe inhabited by sentient animals. Though this sounds fiddly in theory, it works a treat in practice. The story leans towards the “swords and whiskers” genre popularised by Mouse Guard, Mice and Mystics, Mausritter and more.

8: South of MidnightPC, Xbox Series X and Series S

With its richly evoked fantasy bayou setting in the American South, this third-person action-adventure game is a triumph of atmosphere. When Hazel’s mother is carried off in a supernatural flood, she must step through the looking glass into a nightmarish mirror image of her home in the Louisiana swamplands. The Southern Gothic vibes are dialled all the way up as she navigates treacherous marshes and fights shadowy demons. Largely conventional gameplay places it somewhere between Prince of Persia and The Last of Us: there’s a lot of digital parkour and some grinding boss fights, but it’s the atmosphere that will keep players coming back to this baroque bayou.

7: The DrifterPC

For gamers who lack the patience or hand-eye co-ordination to master Elden Ring or the latest Resident Evil, the point-and-click genre is a satisfying safe space. Forget lightning reactions: all you need is quick wit, as proved movingly by this evocative retro-caper. It blends the energy and soundtrack of a classic John Carpenter movie with a satisfying conspiracy storyline – think Big Trouble in Little China meets The X Files. And the pixelated visuals are a joyful journey back to simpler times.

6: Artis ImpactPC

This lo-fi adventure evokes the top-down spirit of classic Zelda games, telling the story of a young woman (and her robot sidekick) tasked with saving their community from an incursion by evil AI machines. It brilliantly mixes chirpy humour with a deep sense of melancholy, while the gameplay is challenging but never frustrating. Turn-based combat is simple and effective, and the artwork is gorgeous, especially during the comic-book-style cut scenes.

5: Death Stranding 2: On the BeachPlayStation 5

All the way back to Metal Gear Solid, Hideo Kojima has been the great, auteurist maverick of video games. Think a supernerdy David Lynch crossed with Akira Kurosawa. He brings that same assuredly bonkers touch to the sequel to Death Stranding, from 2021. Once again the player fills the shoes of Norman Reedus as the actor traverses a postapocalyptic world where his mission is to deliver packages. Yes, you’re a glorified courier, albeit one equipped with a psychic baby whose bleatings warn of the arrival of impending baddies. Bonkers as anything yet delivered with zeal by the maverick Kojima. He is also the closest thing in gaming to a true Hollywood insider, with Elle Fanning leading the cast and George RR Miller, the Mad Max creator, on the way (taking up the baton from Guillermo del Toro, who starred in part one and returns here). In what other universe would Léa Seydoux pop up to explain the game mechanics and provide a mission briefing?

4: Hollow Knight: SilksongPlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, PC

Released without fanfare (or review copies for journalists), this sequel to the beloved gothic platformer Hollow Knight became an instant phenomenon. It doesn’t do anything radically different from Hollow Knight: once again you play as a beetle-like creature that must navigate a multiscreen 2D underworld, solving puzzles, negotiating platforms and battling bosses. But the visuals are brilliantly melancholic, and the overall effect is mesmerising.

3: Indiana Jones and the Great CircleXbox Series X and Series S, PC, PlayStation 5

Indiana Jones was released on PC and Xbox in 2024 but on PlayStation only in 2025, which is why it’s on our countdown. Whether or not it qualifies as a 2025 game, it’s a stunning return to the pulp universe of Raiders of the Lost Ark – and much better than the last two Indiana Jones movies. The Last of Us actor Troy Baker does an uncanny imitation of Harrison Ford as Indy travels from the catacombs beneath the Vatican to Shanghai in the midst of the Japanese invasion of Iran, all in an attempt to prevent the Nazis from gaining a secret weapon that could devastate humanity. The first-person format is brilliantly immersive, and the mix of puzzles and combat across a series of semi-open worlds will make you feel as if you’ve swung by rope into a classic Indy romp.

2: Silent Hill fPlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, PC

Forget compelling gameplay or brilliant combat: Silent Hill has always been about vibes. That has never been truer than in the case of the latest entry in the series. It takes a risk by moving the setting from the contemporary United States to 1960s Japan, with the player taking on the part of Shimizu, a schoolgirl. Fleeing a troubled home life, she is plunged into an uncanny world of chittering monsters, foggy streets and a mysterious figure in a fox mask, with results that unfold like a mix of the original Ring movies and the horrific manga of Junji Ito.

1: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, PC

This turn-based role-player is set in an alternative-universe late-19th-century Paris, where a malevolent sorceress is devouring the city’s young. To stop her, our heroes must venture into her psychedelic realm, a gorgeous neverland populated by clockwork monsters and shadowy demons. Evocative voice acting (the cast includes the Daredevil/Kin actor Charlie Cox) is combined with innovative combat that requires both strategic nous and quick reactions. The difficulty ramps up alarmingly halfway through, but the game’s dreamlike otherness will ensure that, no matter how far you progress, the hauntingly beautiful Clair Obscur will stay with you.

Three best Irish games of 2025The Séance of Blake ManorPC

This murder mystery set in a big house in Connacht 50 years after the Great Famine is an engaging mix of Agatha Christie and Irish social history, with compelling gameplay in which the player must grill a cast of potential suspects who have gathered to commune with the dead.

Ready or NotPlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, PC

The Cork-based developer Void Interactive has outdone itself with this tactical first-person shooter that puts you in charge of a Swat team trying to apprehend suspects in a fictional American city.

Prologue: Go Wayback!PC

The Donegal developer Brendan Greene forever changed gaming when he created PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the 2017 battle royale megahit that was the direct inspiration for Fortnite. His latest game, available now in early access, is an immersive single-player survival game that generates a different map every time you play.