Game of the Year: Stephen's Top 5 PS5 Games of 2025

Our individual Game of the Year articles allow our lovely team of writers and editors to share their own personal PS5 picks for 2025. Today, it's the turn of assistant editor Stephen Tailby.

5. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance

This year has been so rich with fantastic games that some of them, despite their quality, will simply not get their due recognition. I think Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is one of those; a truly excellent side-scrolling action platformer that I couldn't put down earlier this year.

It mostly comes down to the combat for me. I seriously love the rhythm and flow of the fighting. It feels super tight to control, but there's a fluidity to it that allows you to create some delicious combos, and the suite of tools and magical abilities at your disposal make you pretty unstoppable. Throw on top some extremely good art and animation, and it looks and feels like nothing else in 2025.

It isn't without fault, but I loved it from start to finish.

4. Dispatch

I had to give Dispatch a nod. Playing this through with my partner is one of the highlights of the whole year. It's akin to watching a great animated TV show, but intertwined with a fun management game that takes some surprising twists and turns. It's very sharply written, well acted, and features top-tier animation; if it was "just" a show, I'd have liked it, but those Telltale-style choices, quick-time events, and the dispatching itself all flesh it out into something more.

There's just a great eye here for compelling character work, especially. It's hard not to fall for the whole ensemble by the end, and that's thanks to some great writing and interesting dynamics. It's resonated so strongly with so many for a reason.

I think a testament to the game's quality is that my partner has mentioned playing through it a second time, making different choices. Reader, that has never happened before.

3. Split Fiction

It Takes Two was great, but for me, Split Fiction takes that co-op formula to the next level. The story is totally daffy, but what it does is set up a realm in which developer Hazelight is able to present you with pretty much anything, and it's put to exceedingly good use.

From a gameplay standpoint, it's just relentlessly impressive throughout. Not only are you and a buddy experiencing fresh mechanics and ideas around every corner, but all of those concepts are produced to a bafflingly high quality.

How are all of these disparate parts so cohesive and polished? It's an extremely slick video game that has so many standout moments that it can make other games feel dull by comparison. It's a proper rollercoaster ride of an adventure that never stopped surprising and delighting right to the end.

2. Lumines Arise

When Lumines Arise was announced, a switch went off in my brain; oh yeah, that's right, I love Lumines! I had sort of forgotten all about it, but I really do love it, and the idea of this excellent puzzle series being given the Tetris Effect treatment was so exciting.

Thankfully, my faith in Enhance was well-placed, because the game is wonderful. It's so full of life and colour in much the same way as Tetris Effect, only it's even more in sync with its soundtrack thanks to the series' core mechanics.

With so many extra features, a fun competitive multiplayer mode, and a wide variety of stages to revisit, it's something I've been regularly returning to since release because it's just such a feel-good place for me. It's one of those games that's staying on the SSD long-term, no question.

1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

I hesitated to put this game as my number one, as I knew most would be doing the same thing. However, if I'm being honest with myself, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the game that's surprised me the most and stuck with me the most in 2025.

I'm not typically much of an RPG person, but something about the game's presentation, combat, and unusual story roped me in. I'm very glad it did, because I was hooked from the very beginning. I didn't expect the characters to win me over, or the storyline to take so many mad turns, or the combat to be so diverse and malleable; all of this added up over the course of dozens of hours, and in the end I just loved it.

There are rough edges and things to criticise, but the game transcends all that thanks to its offbeat charm and a story full of heart. Of all the games I've played this year, this might not be the absolute best thing I played, but it's undoubtedly the most memorable, and I can't wait to see how the series evolves.

What do you think of Stephen's personal Game of the Year picks? Feel free to agree wholeheartedly, or disagree politely, in the comments section below.