Pubity fans have named action-adventure game Ghost of Yotei as 2025’s game of the year in its latest knockout competition.
The past 12 months has been a great one for gamers. We have seen the launch of a new console – Nintendo’s Switch 2 – as well as a raft of amazing games that have proved exciting, challenging and, for some gamers, frustrating.
But which game is the best of 2025? To find out, Pubity turned to its millions of fans to find out. Using its established ‘you decide’ knockout format, 16 of the best games of the year were pitted against each other head-to-head, with the winner progressing to the next round, until there was a final winner.
So which game scooped the title? Read on to find out.
Winner – Ghost of Yotei
Action-adventure game Ghost of Yotei took the crown, beating Doom: The Dark Ages by taking 62% of the vote in the final. The game, a sequel to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima, is set in 1603 where the player is Atsu, a mercenary seeking vengeance against the ‘Yotei Six’ who murdered her family 16 years ago. Released on the PS5 in early October, by the end of November more than 3.3 million copies had been sold.
Runner-up – Doom: The Dark Ages
The latest entry in the long-running Doom franchise shows there is plenty of life in the slayer yet. Doom: The Dark Ages, the eighth main entry into the franchise and is set years prior to 2016’s Doom, where the player takes the role of the Doom Slayer, who this time is trying to save humanity in a war against Hell.
Doom: The Dark Ages was positively received by gamers and critics alike and had 3 million players in its first week, making it the biggest launch in developer id Software’s history.
Semi-finalists – Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and Battlefield 6
Another action-adventure game made it to the last four, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. The central characters from the first game return, including Sam, Fragile and Higgs, with the action set 11 months after the first game but this time they go on a quest to find other survivors in this post-apocalyptic version of Australia.
Another first-person shooter made it to the semis – Battlefield 6, the 18th entry into the long-running series. This time, the storyline involves a conflict between a fractured NATO and a private military company. It sold more than 7 million units in its first three days, making it the biggest launch in the history of the franchise.
Quarter-finalists – Ninja Gaiden 4, Split Fiction, ARC Raiders, Assassin’s Creed Shadows
The vanquished quarter-finalists included action-adventure Ninja Gaiden 4, which is regarded as a return to form for the series. A direct sequel to 2012’s Ninja Gaiden 3, this time gamers can play as a new character, Yakumu, although Ryu Hayabusa, the series protagonist, is also playable.
Split Fiction is a multiplayer-only game, which follows a pair of authors who get stuck in the world of their stories when they are connected to a machine designed to steal creative ideas.
ARC Raiders is a third-person extraction shooter, which can be played solo or in teams of two or three. On release, it was reviewed positively by critics and gamers alike, for its mix of technical impressiveness and fun gameplay.
The final quarter-finalist was Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the 14th game in that series. Set in 16th century Japan, it focuses on a struggle between the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order.
The rest
Then there were those that fell at the first hurdle. The games beaten in the last 16 were: Call of Duty Black Ops 7, Peak, Hades II, Blue Prince, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Elden Ring Nightreign and Clair Obscure: Expedition 33.
