Superheroes, ronins, insect warriors and postal workers. Whatever your fantasy is this year, PlayStation can make it come true. But which PS5 game was the best? Here at IGN, we voted and selected what we consider to be the five most worthy of recognition from the entire year of 2025, naming one of them the best PlayStation game of the year, as well as awarding several honorable mentions that were very close to qualifying for the finals.
In an era where console exclusives are becoming a thing of the past, as Sony’s competitor Microsoft has shown us more than ever over the past few months, this year we’ve made the decision to expand our business and open up the criteria to determine what can win our platform awards. These aren’t the five best Sony exclusives, but the five best games that were released on PS5 in 2025, period. So without further ado, let’s get on with it and crown the best PlayStation game of 2025 before we all die of vintage age.
Honorary distinctions
One of the best games from the beginning of the year was Hazelight’s Split Fiction, an endlessly inventive co-op action platformer that narrowly missed out on making the top five. Two of 2025’s breakout indie hits, Blue Prince and Ball X Pit, are also simply missing. However, the two couldn’t be more different from each other, as the former’s breathtaking, puzzle-filled mansion was much more peaceful than the brick-shattering chaos of the latter. And at the end of the year, two great shooters emerged. Battlefield 6’s multiplayer returned to the glorious, massive-scale carnage that fans had come to expect, and Arc Raiders was a huge success thanks to its “one more extraction” nature. Rounding out the honors are two games that like to do things a little differently when it comes to narrative: Atomfall and Silent Hill f. Both create troubled worlds in their own way, and we admire them for their free-form and constantly inventive approach to storytelling, respectively.
Second place – Hollow Knight: Silksong
It finally happened. 2025 was the year Hollow Knight: Silksong saw the lightweight of day, and what a relief it was that not only could we play it, but it was also exceptionally good. The long-awaited sequel to Team Cherry may be a lot more tedious than the original, but it still holds the same magic found throughout its huge, worm-sized world full of secret nooks and crannies. The platforming paths leading to these locations are narrow and challenging, and the modern main character, Hornet, shows off a modern batch of skills derived from her diagonal arrow that fundamentally changes the game. But it’s in combat where he really comes into his own, promoting a more aggressive playstyle that allows you to take on Silksong’s bestiary of bosses. These tough creatures of all shapes and sizes with nasty tricks up their sleeves may have presented some of the biggest obstacles in 2025, but don’t give up and the glory that awaits will lead you to one of the best games of the year.
Second place – shipping
Superhero drama Dispatch manages to recreate the magic of Telltale-style episodic visual novels that we all fell in love with about a decade ago. Following the story of Robert Robertson, a hero who is nothing without his now-destroyed mech, comes a heart-warming story of redemption that is not without a pinch of spice. Managing the numerous relationships, both personal and professional, that intertwine in Robbie’s workplace, the superhero dispatch network, is crucial, as is ensuring that the team of fallen supervillains successfully try their hand at stopping crime.
In this half of the game, real-time simulation management has been added to each chapter as you level up your team’s skills and send them on missions that match their skill set. From the heated Flambae to your modern favorite internet demon, Mom, Malevola, you command a energetic and diverse group, each offering a fun vigorous in every scene they appear in. But it’s outside the SDN office monitor that Dispatch truly comes alive, as Robertson’s life falls apart around him and his best attempts to rebuild it lie behind his dialogue choices. What comes out of the cast of characters, led by Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul as Robbie and with Laura Bailey’s Invisagal stealing most of the scenes, is up to you. However, one thing is certain – time well spent.
Second place – Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
In many ways, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach finally lived up to the promise of its flawed predecessor. The second installment of creator Hideo Kojima’s post-apocalypse delivery adventures ramped up the action, building on his previous successes in Metal Gear Solid while maintaining that unique, solitary vision of a disconnected world. Taking Sam Porter Bridges to Australia, On the Beach offers a greatly expanded range of combat options, from silenced sniper rifles to mechanical dogs with homing missiles, and allows you to complete as many, many postal orders as you want. This freedom is not only a combat feature, but is also reflected in the way you navigate each of these treacherous supply routes, offering modern ways to travel through stormy deserts and raging rivers, including huge, looming monorails and crazy coffin-style skateboards.
But strangeness is only one aspect of Death Stranding – and there’s no shortage of it this time, thanks to the excellent return of Troy Baker as villain Higgs – because ultimately, themes of love and loss dominate, no matter how gigantic the spectacle on screen. Lea Seydoux is subtly brilliant as Fragile and drives the story from start to finish as the connections between her, Sam and little Lou gradually reveal themselves. It’s a fantastic example of a vision coming to life and certainly one of the best PlayStation games to come out in 2025.
Second place – Yotei Spirit
A sequel to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima was always going to be a challenge, but developer Sucker Punch handled it impressively well with Ghost of Yotei. This sword-slicing epic borrows everything we loved from its predecessor, but improves on almost everything in a variety of fun ways. Pulsating combat opens up even further with modern weapons and abilities that deepen the familiar system of dodging, blocking, parrying and swinging. Among these additions is a very satisfying disarm mechanic where your hero, Atsu, knocks his enemies’ blades out of his grasp. But it’s the story of the wandering ronin that drives Yotei’s vigorous, transforming a straightforward tale of revenge into something much more attractive as you explore every corner of the historic Japanese map and absorb the aural and visual majesty on screen
Winner – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Surprise! Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has won another award. But it’s really that good, isn’t it? Sandfall Interactive’s ode to Final Fantasy from years gone by takes this age-old formula and pushes it strenuous into 2025 with forceful styling, gripping music, and a battle system that combines classic turn-based RPG mechanics with invigorating real-time elements to make every encounter a thrill. However, all this style would be nothing without substance, and although the combat excites from moment to moment, Clair Obscur’s touching story and multi-layered cast of characters make it memorable. Jennifer English is perfect as Maelle at the heart of the Expedition 33 plot, and Ben Starr’s Verso is a wonderful film in which the twisted themes of grief and what it means to love unravel. All set against the ticking backdrop of Gommage – the annual doomsday clock that ticks for everyone over a certain age – is wonderfully cinematic, making it a perfect fit for many of Sony’s own blockbusters.
Taking inspiration from PlayStation’s original library of Japanese RPGs and carrying those ideas into the future, with a timeless video game history supported by a combat system that’s both satisfying and polished, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the clear winner of our Best PlayStation Game of 2025 award.
What was your favorite PS5 game in 2025? Let us know in the comments! Find more IGN Awards here, in one place, including our best Xbox and Nintendo games of the year.
Simon Cardy is a senior editor at IGN who can mostly be found hanging around open-world games, watching Korean cinema, or moping about the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
