Superheroes, ronin, insect warriors, and postal service workers. Whatever your fantasy this year, PlayStation could deliver it. But which PS5 game was the best? We at IGN have voted and picked out what we think are the five most worthy of recognition from across 2025, naming one of them the very best PlayStation game of the year, as well as shouting out a few honourable mentions that were very close to making the cut.
In an era where console exclusives are a dying breed, as Sony’s competitor, Microsoft, has shown us more than ever over the past few months, we’ve made the decision this year to branch out and open up the criteria for what can win our platform-specific awards. These aren’t the top five Sony exclusives, but the top five games that were released on PS5 in 2025, full stop. So, without further ado, let’s get on with it and crown the best PlayStation game of 2025 before we all die of old age.
Honorable Mentions
One of the best games from early in the year was Hazelight’s Split Fiction, the endlessly inventive co-op action platformer that just narrowly missed out on a top-five spot. Also just missing out are a pair of 2025’s breakout indie hits, Blue Prince and Ball X Pit. These two couldn’t be more different from each other, though, with the former brain-bending mansion full of puzzles a much calmer affair than the brick-breaking chaos of the latter. And then there’s two big shooters that came along at the end of the year. Battlefield 6’s multiplayer has seen it return to the glorious, huge-scale carnage that fans wanted, and Arc Raiders has proven a massive success thanks to its “just one more extraction” nature. Rounding out on honourable mentions are a pair of games that like to do things a bit differently when it comes to narrative: Atomfall and Silent Hill f. Both create uneasy worlds in their own ways, and we admire them for their freeform and steadily revealing approaches to storytelling, respectively.
Runner-Up – Hollow Knight: Silksong
It finally happened. 2025 was the year that Hollow Knight: Silksong saw the light of day, and what a relief that we not only got to play it, but it was also extremely good. Team Cherry’s much-anticipated sequel may be a whole lot more punishing than the original, but it is still home to that same magic, which can be found all over its sprawling, bug-sized world full of secret nooks and crannies. The platforming pathways to get to those places are tight and challenging, with new lead, Hornet, showing off a fresh batch of skills stemming from her fundamentally game-changing diagonal dart. But it’s in combat where she really comes into her own, promoting a more aggressive style of play which lets you take the fight to Silksong’s bestiary of bosses. These tough creatures of all shapes and sizes with nasty tricks up their sleeves may have presented some of 2025’s biggest roadblocks, but persevere, and the glory waiting behind them leads to one of this year’s greatest games.
Runner-Up – Dispatch
Superhero drama Dispatch manages to recapture the magic of those Telltale-esque episodic visual novels that we all fell in love with a decade or so ago. Following the story of Robert Robertson, a hero who is nothing without his now-destroyed mech suit, it’s a heartwarming tale of redemption that isn’t without its fair share of bite, too. Managing your many relationships, both personal and professional, as they intertangle at Robbie’s place of work, the Superhero Dispatch Network, is key, as is making sure your team of down-and-out supervillains successfully try their hand at crime-stopping.
This half of the game adds a real-time sim management wrinkle to each chapter, as you boost the skills of your squad and send them out on missions that match their skillset. From the hot-head Flambae, to the internet’s new favourite demon Mommy, Malevola, you’re in command of a vibrant and varied bunch that each offer a fun dynamic to each and every scene they’re in. But it’s outside of the SDN office monitor that Dispatch really comes to life, as Robertson’s life crumbles around him, and your best attempts at rebuilding it are hidden behind dialogue choices. What comes of its cast of characters, headlined by Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul as Robbie, and with Laura Bailey’s Invisagal stealing most scenes, is up to you. One thing that is guaranteed, though, is a great time.
Runner-Up – Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
In many ways, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach finally fulfilled the promise of its flawed predecessor. Creator Hideo Kojima’s second slice of post-apocalypse delivery adventures dialled up the action, echoing his past Metal Gear Solid successes, whilst still maintaining that singular, lonely vision of a disconnected world. Taking Sam Porter Bridges to Australia, On the Beach hands you a much expanded range of combat options, from silenced sniper rifles to homing missile mechanical dogs, and permits you to go about completing its many, many postal orders however you’d like. This freedom is not just a combat feature, but is reflected in how you go about navigating each of these treacherous delivery routes, too, with new ways to travel over stormy deserts and raging rivers, including huge, looming monorail systems and bonkers coffin hoverboards.
But the weirdness is just one aspect of Death Stranding — and there’s no shortage of it this time around, thanks to Troy Baker’s excellent return as villain Higgs — as its themes of love and loss ultimately dominate, no matter how large the spectacle on screen. Lea Seydoux is subtly brilliant as Fragile, and drives the story from start to finish as the connections between herself, Sam, and baby Lou are steadily revealed. It’s a fantastic example of a vision come to life, and easily one of the best PlayStation games to have come out in 2025.
Runner-Up – Ghost of Yotei
Following up on 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima was always going to be a challenge, but developer Sucker Punch rose to it impressively well with Ghost of Yotei. This sword-slashing epic borrows everything that we loved from its predecessor, but improves on almost all of it in a multitude of fun little ways. The pulsating combat opens up further, with new weapons and skills introduced to deepen its familiar dodge, block, parry, and swing system. Among those additions is the highly satisfying disarming mechanic that has your protagonist, Atsu, send her enemies’ blades flying from their grasp. But it’s this wandering ronin’s story that drives Yotei’s momentum, turning a simple tale of revenge into something much more beautiful as you explore each corner of its historical Japanese map and soak in both the audio and visual majesty on show
Winner – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Surprise! Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has won another award. It really is that good, though, isn’t it? Sandfall Interactive’s ode to Final Fantasy of years gone by takes that age-old formula and thrusts it firmly into 2025 with lashings of style, soaring music, and a battle system that melds classic turn-based RPG mechanics with exciting real-time elements, making each and every encounter a thrill. All of that style would be nothing without substance, though, and while its combat excites from moment to moment, it’s Clair Obscur’s poignant story and layered cast of characters that make it live long in the memory. Jennifer English is pitch-perfect as Maelle at the heart of Expedition 33’s plot, with Ben Starr’s Verso a wonderful foil as its twisted themes of grief and what it is to love are untangled. All played out in front of a ticking backdrop of the Gommage — a yearly tolling doomsday clock for anyone of a certain age — it’s wonderfully cinematic, making it fit right in alongside many of Sony’s first-party blockbuster offerings.
Taking inspiration from the original PlayStation’s library of Japanese RPGs and bringing those ideas into the future, thanks to an all-timer video game story supported by a combat system as satisfying as it is nuanced, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the clear winner of our award for Best PlayStation Game of 2025.
What was your favourite PS5 game of 2025? Let us know in the comments! For more IGN awards, you can check them all out in one place here, including our picks for the best Xbox and Nintendo games of the year.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
