
End-of-year list articles are always a source of great joy. Looking back on the year and reflecting on the best moments from the past 12 months is a great way to revisit some wonderful things you may not have thought of in some time.
Nowhere is this truer than with game music. So many soundtracks, so many games — how can you possibly listen to them all? Well, don’t worry, we’re here to help.
While it’s downright impossible to highlight every single soundtrack worth giving a spin, we've compiled for your viewing pleasure what we feel are the 10 best PlayStation soundtracks of 2025. Let's get listening — uh, listing, that is.
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10. Lumines Arise
Enhance games always, always knock it out of the park in the music department. Between incredible art direction, meticulous attention to detail, and pulsing, hypnotic, rhythmic visuals, any game that Tetsuya Mizuguchi puts his name to is sure to be a treat. This is as true as with the revival of Lumines, a game that essentially does for Lumines what Tetris Effect did for Tetris. And the results — courtesy of Hydelic and Takako Ishida — are divine.
9. Ball X Pit
With a gratifying and insane gameplay loop that combines roguelite and city-builder, it might be easy to overlook just how good Ball X Pit's music is. Amos Roddy delivers a score that's full to bursting with life and energy, dutifully walking the tightrope of seriousness and silliness that the game delivers on. Plus, the unique pairing of mechanics allows the game to incorporate a truly lovely dichotomy of high energy and softer introspection.
8. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Gordy Haab has proven to have his finger on the pulse when it comes to Lucasfilm. Having delivered multiple incredible Star Wars soundtracks in years past, he’s now done the same for the famed hero with the bullwhip. The music Haab has created for this title feels perfectly at ease alongside the works of John Williams. Just as Troy Baker’s performance captured the spirit of the titular character, the soundtrack perfectly captures the spirit of the films.
7. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
The long-awaited sequel to Kingdom Come: Deliverance is bigger and grander in nearly every way. And this applies just as much to the soundtrack. Once again featuring a score from Jan Volta and Adam Sporka, the music of the title has a rich, classically orchestral sound to it, and is immaculate at creating a feeling of place when it comes to exploring 1400s Bohemia. Much of the music is tinged with a hint of danger and malice, but the score always makes sure to leave room for something a little bit more playful and upbeat when called upon.
6. Dispatch
Who said episodic gaming was dead? From a team of former Telltale devs, Dispatch, an adventure game about sending superheroes out to remedy crimes they’re best suited to, is a breath of fresh air. The soundtrack, courtesy of Andrew Arcadi and Skyler Barto, is equally refreshing. It offers some rather surprising choices, largely forgoing that classic Hollywood sort of superhero sound. Instead, the music leans more into a synthy, industrial sound, though not without unexpected detours. You’ll get a glimpse of things ranging from yacht rock to piano ballads to pure ambient horror. It’s an intoxicating mix.
5. Hollow Knight: Silksong
After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the follow-up to Hollow Knight is here. The original release featured an amazing score from Christopher Larkin, and they have returned to provide music to the follow-up, which is every bit as worthy a successor. Silksong has a gargantuan soundtrack nearly double the size of the original release, but the lush, exhilarating melodies with a touch of gothic flair are no harder to come by.
4. Ghost of Yōtei
Ghost of Tsushima had a beautiful, expansive soundtrack that was the perfect accompaniment to Sucker Punch’s immaculate open-world title. Making incredible use of percussion and woodwinds, the soundtrack has a very unique sound, so it’s perhaps even more impressive that Yōtei manages to separate itself. While it doesn’t forego its lineage entirely, the follow-up to Jin Sakai’s journey has a bit more of a lone-gunman feel to it. Toma Otowa’s score makes use of motifs that offer almost a western, cowboy-esque feel, but utilises the appropriate instruments of the region. And the end results are nothing short of spectacular.
3. Sword of the Sea
Austin Wintory never seems to take a day off. Teaming up with Giant Squid for the third time, following Abzu and The Pathless, the score for Sword of the Sea is a fascinating one. While Abzu is a slower, aquatic title, and The Pathless is action-heavy, Sword of the Sea is something of a skateboard game? And the end result is a soundtrack that seems to dip a little farther into the electronic umbrella than we’re used to hearing from Wintory, but as a texture on top of the type of piano and stringed arrangements we’re used to from him. The soundtrack has breathtaking beauty and a very striking leitmotif, sure to make your ears prick up at multiple points through your playthrough.
2. Silent Hill F
It’s always a treat to get new Silent Hill music. Akira Yamaoka’s original score for Silent Hill 2 is one of the greatest of all time, and Silent Hill F allows for a fascinating new exploration of what the property can sound like. The end result is a soundtrack truly unique among the franchise, featuring music from Kensuke Inage, as well as Yamaoka himself. The underlying ambient energy remains consistent with much of the property, but the massive shift in locale allows for an entirely new portfolio of textures and sounds to help define what it means to be in Silent Hill.
1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
At number one, what else could it be, really? Clair Obscur is one of the best RPGs in recent memory from a shockingly small team out of France in Sandfall Interactive. And though it's been talked about extensively throughout the year at this point, it also happens to have an extraordinary soundtrack. Between exquisite utilisation of strings, accordions, and especially the vocals of Alice Duport-Percier, the soundtrack demands your attention at every opportunity. And that’s saying something, as the official score from Lorien Testard clocks in at over eight hours. Don’t let that intimidate you, though; this is a journey you want to take.
This year was absolutely stuffed with incredible music, and as we said, it’s nearly impossible to whittle the list down to just a top 10, so we wanted to highlight a couple of late cuts before we go.
Honorable Mentions:
- Despelote
- Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
- Sid Meier's Civilization VII
- DOOM: The Dark Ages
- POOLS
- Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
- Blue Prince
So, what do you think of our 2025 soundtrack list? Any glaring omissions? Would you have ordered things differently? Or are you pleased with our choices this year? Get a nice harmony going in the comments section below.





Comments 24
To a T deserves some love. Perfect Shape? Giraffe Song? C’mon, it’s an incredible soundtrack. Super underrated.
Even if you don't like Clair, there's no denying it has the best soundtrack of 2025. No you can't have no opinion or subjective view on this, it didn't really have any challengers, it simply has the best soundtrack this year period.
Alicia was my most listened to piece of music this year. I can't speak too much on the other soundtracks listed here, but I thoroughly enjoyed Expedition 33's.
And as a cellist myself, it was nice hearing the cello featured so heavily
Really happy to see Silent Hills OST come second, I unironically listen to it at work which creeps out my colleges lol
It may only be an expansion, but Lies of P Overture should be included in the honourable mentions - the music is incredible throughout, and there is a piece late on that really excels.
No other game came close to this DLC for me this year, in terms of music, and I'm quite partial to good music in games.
There was a performance at TGA which sounded absolutely horrendous - I had to skip it, so I didn't even discover what game it was.
It wasn't
or
which are my top three.
@TheArt
I haven't heard any of it so it is definitely possible, and before the mass psychology event of the award season I heard from my brother that he was surprised how people praised the game's soundtrack. He didn't rate it highly. That was a few weeks after launch long before the award season.
But I personally think there are some great music coming out of this year's games. For example, KCD or Ghost of Yotei. When Ghost of Yotei premiered on Spotify, I added the whole album to a 'best soundtracks compilation' and I haven't even played the game yet which usually helps the liking along.
I would absolutely put Cronos The New Dawn on the list. If not for Expedition 33 it would get my vote
If Sword of the Sea wasn't on this list, I would have started a riot.
Should have been number 1 though. Clair Obsure's music was honestly kinda mid.
Dispatch and Silent Hill F are the standouts for me this year, might even buy the soundtracks if they're available.
I like the Clair soundtrack a lot. It was my third favorite soundtrack of the games I played this year, with Unicorn Overlord and Soul Hackers II on top (if you played the latter, don't act like you didn't linger in the COMP Smith shop just to jam).
Yeah E33 is no 1 no contest, one of gamings best scores.
Dispatch would be my top with Death Stranding 2 a close second and Stalker 2 rounding out my top 3 for me at least of what I played this year
i found clair obscur music to be aggressively irritating and turned it off after a few hours.
@EfYI Funny how KCD2 is my goty but I don't really recall any of its tracks. 😅
@TheArt
> No you can't have no opinion or subjective view on this <
This is the kind of ignorant statement which makes the internet so unappealing to me these days. Do you really believe that there is such a thing like objective assessment of art?
Blue Prince had a lovely ambient ost.
Lovely game.
Clair Obscur is a worthy winner.
Claire Obscur is the best choice in my opinion. It’s a soundtrack I listen to on a regular basis, and that’s rare for me. With that said, I’m glad Silksong is on the list. I thought it had a very good score, particularly during its final boss fights.
COE33 had some great musical moments, but the overworld song really was pretty annoying — so much so that I turned the music off for much of the game.
All good scores. Can’t really go wrong no matter what order these are assigned to, they’re all really high quality soundtracks that add a lot to the experience of each game. Hats off to the dudes and dudettes plonking at synthkeyboards and conducting orchestras and mixing in the background; job well done!
E33 haters assemble
If Expedition 33 wasn't in the picture, Ghost of Yōtei would be my pick for the best score of the year. It has a spaghetti western vibe that I love and there are so many catchy melodies. Lumines Arise's soundtrack is awesome too. Hades 2 and South of Midnight aren't on PS5 yet, but the music is very high-quality in those as well.
That being said, E33 has one of my top 10 game scores of all time. It's the obvious winner by a gigantic margin.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound has banger soundtrack and it's not even in honorable mention? Geez 😔
Happy new year everyone!!
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