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This year has been a wild one for the video games industry. Surging prices, the looming impact of artificial intelligence, huge job losses and a consolidation of platforms have – in some ways – made the world’s biggest entertainment category feel less stable than ever as we move towards a future of streaming, subscriptions and convergence.

Yet it’s also been a year of incredible games, which speaks to an irrepressible appetite for creativity, innovation and storytelling across experiences of all scales.

I’ve always been a grazer when it comes to games, bouncing from one to the next rather than committing to a few extensive adventures or diving deep into a social setup. And in a year like this one – with so many games, but also with so much going on otherwise – that’s meant I’ve been less inclined towards punishingly hard, gruellingly long or very involved games.

Instead, I’ve been looking for exciting takes on comforting favourites, well-told stories, and above all games that respect my time. Which is why you won’t find the big online shooters or *Elden Ring: Nightreign *or Clair Obscur or even Hollow Knight: Silksong in the list below. I played them all, but they didn’t get their hooks in me.

Here are my top 15 games from a very busy year.

The Drifter has the makings of an iconic Australian story.

The Drifter

**PC **Combining contemporary storytelling with the creaky conventions of the point-and-click adventure genre, this piece of Australian sci-fi noir is an ambitious spiral of surprise, suspense and gut-punch revelations.

The story follows Mick Carter, haunted and houseless, as he stumbles into an awful conspiracy as well as a time loop that keeps him from dying. Presented in a stark and simple pixelated style, it exudes foreboding and does a lot with precious little. Balancing fantastical terror with heartbreakingly grounded tragedy, and elevated by Adrian Vaughan’s gravelly and occasionally untethered voice performance as Mick, The Drifter subverts expectations at every turn, right up to the final unbelievable reveal.

Ball x Pit doesn’t sound like it should work, but it really does.

Ball x Pit

Game Pass, PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox If there’s one genre I didn’t foresee getting a 2025 makeover, it’s *Pong *or Breakout-style paddle-ball action. But by smartly integrating more contemporary design – like several games on this list, it makes use of a roguelite structure, meaning you play many randomised versions of the game and unlock new capabilities and understanding over time – Ball x Pit turns ball-bouncing into a strategic and satisfying affair. Wielding the ball as a weapon you take on an onslaught of enemies, and as you level up you choose new balls and abilities that can reveal powerful synergies and combinations, until you’re mowing through hordes with flaming, infectious, duplicating spheres of death.

The island of Hokkaido, then called Ezo, is a magical setting in Ghost of Yotei.

Ghost of Yotei

PS5 Set in early 1600s Japan, Yotei is an incredibly well-realised epic of interactive samurai cinema. While it could have been just another big-budget turn-your-brain-off semi-open-world adventure, where you’re guided across a sprawling map ticking off objectives while constantly upgrading, the slower pace and focus on free exploration gives* Yotei* a lot more soul. Combat is precise and bloody, the revenge story is familiar yet personal, you feel connected to nature, and Ezo itself is beautifully detailed, from the coastal areas where tiny crabs pop in and out of the mud as crashing waves send towers of spray over glittering rock pools, to wind swirling clouds of leaves and falling blossoms.

Mario Kart World’s open roads bring a brand new vibe to the classic franchise.

Mario Kart World

Switch 2 Nintendo’s latest console arrived not with a Mario platformer or Zelda adventure, but a kart racer. And while living up to the juggernaut Mario Kart 8 is an impossible task (it grew to contain 96 tracks and sell 76 million units), World is a smart left turn that places its 30 circuits within a massive explorable continent. Grand Prix and the new Knockout mode are now continuous coast-to-coast affairs, resulting in an absolutely chaotic road trip feel with 24 competitors.

The varied locations from cities to deserts to oceans are filled with Mario references and familiar enemies, transform from day to night, and are accompanied by an incredible genre-spanning soundtrack.

Dispatch is like an eight-episode series of prestige TV, except you have some influence on its progression.

Dispatch

PC, PS5 Produced by team members from Telltale, known for *The Walking Dead *among other series, this is a gripping and hilarious interactive TV show set in a world of superpowers. As a former hero now working a desk job routing corporate capes-for-hire, you mentor and manage an ungrateful band of reforming villains. Between shifts that play like a tense management sim and drama that carries all the violence, sex and swearing of a prestige streaming series, you make choices that shape the narrative in satisfying and unexpected ways. The writing’s sharp, the animation’s excellent, and voice performances are top-notch, especially from experienced leads Aaron Paul, Jeffrey Wright and Laura Bailey.

Space godess bounty hunter Samus Aran is back and doing what she does best in Metroid Prime 4.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Switch, Switch 2 Metroid Prime is a singular series, with first-person gameplay focusing more on exploration and platforming than shooting. And Beyond is the best the series has been since the 2002 original. The gorgeous visuals and haunting choir-forward soundtrack are updated, but the satisfaction of finding new gear and learning about a dead civilisation by scanning objects remains. The world of Viewros is filled with awesome areas, from the heavy metal album cover of a motorcycle factory at Volt Forge to a quiet and sinister frozen autopsy lab at Ice Belt. And it still feels great to inhabit the form-shifting body of Samus Aran, the galaxy’s deadliest and most detective-like bounty hunter.

Fans of Skyrim who don’t mind a smaller-scale adventure will be delighted by Avowed.

Avowed

Game Pass, PC, Xbox Expanding the setting of nerdy PC series Pillars of Eternity into an accessible swords-and-sorcery adventure, Avowed is compact by genre standards, but it’s also a potent and focused masterclass in RPG story and design. Against amazing scenery – bustling towns to subterranean grottos – and alongside a growing roster of companions, there’s a constant sense of progression as you upgrade your choice of melee weapons, guns and spells, making decisions that shape your character’s place in the world.

Crunchy first-person combat will please action fans who wouldn’t usually go for high-fantasy jaunts, but the stories of heart and heritage lurking just underneath are impossible to deny as they emerge.

You and your partner will never know what’s next in Split Fiction, but you’ll always be working together.

Split Fiction

**PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox **Evolving Hazelight’s co-operative and manic two-player gauntlet gameplay, last seen in It Takes Two, this game also blends sci-fi and fantasy worlds to make for one of the great modern split-screen experiences. The cringy writing and one-note storytelling is almost more grating this time around, given the entire narrative is supposed to revolve around authorship, but the constantly innovative scenarios balance that out. As amateur writers Zoe and Mio, who’ve ended up in a virtual world composed of their respective stories after a tech giant’s botched attempt to steal ideas from their brains, you’re frequently given new powers, abilities and concepts to play with as you collaborate, communicate and combine.

Pro Skater veterans will appreciate the movement in Sword of the Sea, but it’s also a game any player will enjoy.

Sword of the Sea

PC, PS5, PS Plus Gorgeous, meditative games have long bridged a gap between indie fans and art-enjoying non-gamers, glossy graphics and moving music focused on vibes rather than challenge. Here, the team at Giant Squid (*The Pathless, *Abzû) take the formula to new heights. Director Matt Nava and composer Austin Wintory — frequent collaborators since 2012’s Journey — craft a stunning cinematic experience of sand, sea, song and spectacle, but there’s also a tactile joy in the easy Tony Hawk-inspired gameplay. As a wraith on a mission to revitalise a barren land, you glide, grind and spin your way through unbelievable fantasy scenery, forging a connection between your silky movements and the transforming world around you.

Saturday morning cartoons meet old-school beat-em-ups with a contemporary twist in Absolum.

Absolum

**PC, PS5, Switch **Any ’90s kid raised on Golden Axe and Final Fight knows the value of a side-scrolling brawler. But while *Absolum *has those mechanics down to an art, its most genius stroke is implementing a roguelite structure. Each time you die, your progress earns you alternate paths, more powerful mid-run upgrade options and even new playable characters, which all make your next run more viable and exciting.

This is from one of the teams responsible for 2020’s Streets of Rage 4, so it’s no surprise it feels incredible in both one and two-player modes, and it has excellent hand-drawn art. But the addictive and rewarding looping structure is the highlight.

Rather than looking and playing like something from the ’80s, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance brings the spirit of the series to 2025.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

PC, PS5, Switch, Xbox Brawler fans ate well this year because the other studio responsible for Streets of Rage 4, Lizardcube, turned its talents to a different classic Sega franchise; transforming Shinobi into a gorgeous action platformer built on melee combos, double-jumps and air dashes that feels right at home in 2025. It’s fast, the swordplay and kunai-throwing is brutal, and there’s a really nice sense of progression as you select abilities, upgrades and magic to craft your own custom version of ninja master Joe Musashi. Levels are long and sprawling but distinct, with a smattering of nostalgic nods for old fans, and I loved returning to each one as an overpowered killer to collect every last optional treasure.

The title makes even less sense in a game that doesn’t feature eight core paths, but the third Octopath Traveler game may be the best one.

Octopath Traveler 0

**PC, PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox **Nobody does turn-based RPGs like Square Enix, and recently the publisher has pumped out hit after hit utilising its dreamy HD-2D graphical style and smartly updated takes on classic design. This third Octopath Traveler keeps the gratifying combat that lets you exploit enemy weaknesses by holding back and then hitting hard, but it centres the narrative around one single point (rather than eight), and a group of characters rebuilding their town after a massacre. The town-building gameplay offers a sweet twist and a sense of permanent progression, not to mention an excuse to introduce dozens of new party members, and the old-school Final Fantasy vibe is as intoxicating as ever.

Each level in South of Midnight is accompanied by an improvisational bluesy musical performance that builds in complexity as you near the climax.

South of Midnight

Game Pass, PC, Xbox Of all cinematic genres, magical realism is one ideally suited to game adaptation, and here it’s done immaculately. A gorgeous faux-stop-motion adventure with light combat that blends the rich folklore of the American south with devastating stories about the folks who’ve lived there, it’s an unmissable experience. When a hurricane displaces Hazel’s community, she ends up connected to the grand tapestry, an ethereal world on top of our own.

Experiencing horrific but human stories through magical means, reweaving the negative emotions left behind to heal spirits, and contending with a number of mythical creatures, she’s a powerful and empathic protagonist on a brilliantly realised journey. The soundtrack is also phenomenal.

Donkey Kong Bananza brings Nintendo’s ’80s-era icon to the fore once again.

Donkey Kong Bananza

Switch 2 One of gaming’s original superstars, DK has long been relegated to B-tier status, but what a stunning return Bananza is. This is from the team behind 2017’s excellent Mario Odyssey, but DK has a more kinetic and aggressive energy, with punches and rolls sending him barrelling through almost entirely destructible landscapes. Levels are broad and filled with goals, where you’re free to dig, climb and destroy as you like, evoking some of the best recent Mario and Zelda games. With powerful transformations, gratifying exploration, a memorable finale and a charming sidekick (a young version of original Donkey Kong damsel Pauline), this is easily up there with the best 3D platformers.

Following the original Hades is a Herculean task, but this game does it in style.

Hades 2

PC, Switch, Switch 2 With incredible combat, beautiful art, great writing, a masterful roguelite structure and engaging Greek god story, this sequel is an utterly addictive dungeon-crawler. From the interplay between Melinoe’s various powers and weapons to the way relationships grow and react, it nails practically every element. In a perpetual battle against Chronos, Titan of Time, you move through and beyond the underworld with support from the Gods of Olympus, who offer your choice of boons to enhance your combat and movement for each run. If you fail, it’s back to square one, but it all feels effortlessly like a continuing narrative, thanks to the genius way permanent upgrades are paced and conversations are triggered.

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