KUALA LUMPUR: As we welcome 2026, we still can’t get over what an exciting year 2025 was for the video game scene.
The year saw major debates around artificial intelligence (AI) in game development, a string of delayed big-budget releases, and price hikes across the global gaming market.
Despite the latter, it was still a bountiful year for video gaming.
To say 2025 was packed with top-tier releases would be an understatement. We saw a slew of triple-A titles, alongside the launch of a new Nintendo console with a healthy line-up of exclusives.
Price hikes did affect the global gaming market, but gaming remains relatively affordable if you know where to look. Here are our top 10 games of 2025.
1. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound (PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch)
Who would have thought that bringing in the team behind the acclaimed Blasphemous metroidvania titles to reinvigorate 2D Ninja Gaiden would result in a certified platinum hit?
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound understands the assignment and executes it flawlessly. Tight controls, gorgeous 2D pixel art and animation, excellent level design, escalating difficulty, and a Hard mode that truly pushes players all come together, backed by a stellar soundtrack that channels the late-80s and 90s Ninja Gaiden classics for a modern audience.
Game Kitchen and Koei Tecmo kept things simple, introducing new playable characters while delivering a sublime 2D action experience that lands squarely in home-run territory.
2. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series)
This year’s awards darling earns every accolade it receives. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a visually and sonically stunning fantasy role-playing game with a deeply engaging combat system filled with customisation options and varied playstyles.
Its difficulty curve is fair but demanding, requiring players to learn enemy patterns and attack cues. The narrative begins with emotional weight and builds towards genuinely heartbreaking decisions that challenge players’ perceptions of reality after investing hours in its richly realised world and characters.
Crucially, the game respects its audience, allowing players to draw their own conclusions rather than forcing definitive answers. It is a masterclass title and one of 2025’s finest achievements.
3. Donkey Kong Bananza (Nintendo Switch 2)
This should have been the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch title, not a refurbished Mario Kart release priced at US$80.
The team behind Super Mario Odyssey reimagines Donkey Kong as a fully-fledged 3D experience, with highly destructible environments designed for the ape’s raw strength. While platforming and Bananza form-switching play supporting roles, the core joy comes from tearing through levels, reshaping terrain, and forging improvised paths.
Pauline proves to be an excellent companion, grounding the chaos with wit and charm. Donkey Kong Bananza also boasts one of the best final stages and boss fights of 2025, rivalled only by Clair Obscur and Silent Hill.
4. Dispatch (PC, PlayStation 5)
While Telltale-style adventure games may have oversaturated the market in the past, their absence has been keenly felt.
Dispatch, created by former Telltale developers, blends narrative-driven adventure with light simulation elements. Players assume the role of Robert, managing a low-tier superhero team made up of reformed villains while navigating branching storylines and mission assignments.
The fusion of interactive storytelling and simulation works seamlessly, delivering a compelling episodic experience filled with surprises and sharp writing.
5. Pipistrello & The Cursed Yo-Yo (PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch)
Pocket Trap’s inventive top-down metroidvania revolves around Pippit, a yo-yo expert forced to partner with his enigmatic aunt, who also happens to be the yo-yo itself.
Traversal and combat revolve around creative yo-yo mechanics across a puzzle-heavy cityscape. The game is packed with memorable set pieces, including an on-stage battle against a Link cosplayer, an underground mecha fight, and even a football match with increasingly absurd restrictions.
Its climactic timed platforming gauntlet and final boss cement this as Pocket Trap’s finest 2D work, and a loving tribute to the Game Boy Advance era.
6. 1998 – The Toll Keeper’s Story (PC)
You don’t need complex mechanics to make a powerful game. Indonesian studio GameChanger delivers a poignant narrative experience set during the late-1990s unrest in Indonesia, when the history-changing riots happened.
Players take on the role of a pregnant tollbooth worker caught between duty, survival and moral compromise. The story is blunt but emotionally resonant, compelling players to make uncomfortable choices to protect their family amid political turmoil.
7. Rift of the Necrodancer (PC, Nintendo Switch)
Rift of the Necrodancer transforms the franchise into a lane-based rhythm experience that is instantly addictive in short bursts.
By adapting familiar characters and mechanics into a new rhythm-focused format, the game offers clever single-player challenges and post-launch content that justifies further investment.
Its presentation and inventive minigames elevate it above many indie rhythm titles.
8. Skate Story (PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch)
You play a glass demon on a quest to consume moons through skateboarding tricks. Absurd? Absolutely.
Skate Story blends surreal aesthetics, humour and surprisingly engaging mechanics as players grind through hellish environments on a skateboard. It is stylish, relaxed and endlessly atmospheric, rewarding experimentation and patience.
If there were an award for pure vibes in 2025, this would take it.
9. Lumines Arise (PC, PlayStation 5)
Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s return to Lumines is both unexpected and triumphant. Borrowing the audiovisual spectacle of Tetris Effect, Lumines Arise delivers a mesmerising synaesthetic experience built around its signature block-clearing gameplay.
Every action pulses in harmony with the soundtrack, creating a hypnotic rhythm puzzle experience that can also be enjoyed in VR. This is another top-tier “vibe” game of the year.
10. Umamusume: Pretty Derby (iOS, Android, PC)
Cygames’ global release of its long-running free-to-play hit finally brings Umamusume to a wider audience.
Set in a universe where racehorses are reimagined as anime horse girls, players train and race characters inspired by real-life thoroughbreds, complete with dramatised backstories.
From icons like Special Week to cult favourites like Haru Urara, progressing through their careers and narratives across multiple modes makes for a surprisingly compelling experience.
