The Top 5 Games of 2025 (So Far)

My favorite new releases ranked

As we approach the summertime, I thought it’d be fun to do a little check-in and ramble a bit about my favorite new games of the year so far. Normally, this is a bit of a lull in the yearly onslaught that is the new release calendar — and it probably would be the same this year if not for the impending launch of the Nintendo Switch 2.

No, I didn’t pre-order one, but thank you for imagining the question and sending it through your phone/computer.

Here are my five favorite games from the year so far, ordered with the best one at the top because I’m different like that. Like any important personal list, this ordering may very well change by the time the end of the year rolls around. It’s already got a couple of things on it that surprised me with their quality, and I’m hopeful that the rest of the year will have some cool unexpected games as well.

I started my third character in Avowed. I imagine I’ll keep quietly playing this in the background alongisde other titles for years to come. PC screenshot taken by the author.

1 — Avowed

I love Obsidian’s games going all the way back to the founding of the studio decades ago, but Avowed might be my favorite. It’s technically the third game in the Pillars of Eternity series, and it benefits from that franchise’s lore and mechanical systems in a big way even though it switched genres from tactical turn-based combat to a modern action RPG.