Halfway through 2025, here are the 6 best reviewed games so far

2025 is halfway over, making now a great time to look back at the best-reviewed games of the year so far. While the final list at the end of 2025 will likely look quite different, with more Switch 2 games and PlayStation exclusives like Ghost of Yotei still coming in 2025. Potential heavy hitters on the Switch 2 include Donkey Kong Bananza and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, but the list so far does include a couple of games available on the Switch 2. For this list, I'm using the Metacritic list of best-reviewed games so far in 2025, and I've bundled two games into a single list item, but that will make sense once we get there.

6 Despelote

A short narrative indie with incredible visuals

It might surprise you that one of the best-reviewed games of 2025 so far is an underrated gem, but Despelote has managed to be both. A short, narrative-focused indie game, Despelote follows a young boy in Ecuador in 2001, as the country qualifies for the World Cup for the first time. It has a mix of photo-realistic backgrounds with 2D characters and objects. It captures what it feels like to be a child in a way that few games truly do, and it also has some interesting physics with some items, like soccer balls. It's relatively short, so even if it doesn't sound like your kind of game, it's worth checking out. It only has 259 reviews on Steam at the time of writing, but is the seventh best-reviewed game of the year with an 89 on Metacritic. If for no other reason, check it out to play something unlike the vast majority of other games.

5 Death Stranding 2: On The Beach

Hideo Kojima has done it again

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach is the sixth best-reviewed game of 2025 so far, sitting at a 90 on Metacritic. The reviews for Death Stranding 2: On The Beach have been stellar, praising the game for continuing on with the most interesting aspects of the original, with great acting, surreal and strange storytelling, and a strangely compelling package delivery system. The sequel polished up the combat and provided a few ways to lessen the tedium of delivering packages for players who didn't enjoy that mechanic in the original. It's a massive, graphically impressive game, with all the off-the-wall storytelling that you would expect from Hideo Kojima, the artistic vision behind Metal Gear Solid. While PS5 exclusives are few and far between, there will be at least one in the game of the year conversation at the end of 2025.

4 Split Fiction

A co-op masterpiece

Split Fiction, the latest co-op game from Hazelight Studios, the makers of game of the year winner It Takes Two. Split Fiction is another cop-op required game, following two writers who have been sucked into digital versions of their own story ideas. While the story is not the reason, it's the fifth best-reviewed game of the year with a 91 on Metacritic, thanks to its creative gameplay sections. You are often switching between different types of gameplay, doing platforming, shooting, flying on dragons, or even playing as pigs. These constant introductions of new gameplay elements, including different tasks for each player, create a game where you are constantly surprised and delighted. While it does require two people to play, it has local co-op and, if you want to play online, it has a friend pass system that allows two people to play using one paid copy.

3 Blue Prince

A roguelite puzzle game

Blue Prince is the fourth best-reviewed game of 2025 so far, sitting at a 92 on Metacritic. This puzzle-focused game combines elements from roguelites and deck-builders into a game that feels wholly unique. In Blue Prince, you inherit a mansion. In one condition, you reach the hidden Room 46. The way you do this is by placing rooms in the ever-changing mansion each day, so you can find a path to the hidden room. It has puzzles of all sizes, some in individual rooms, and others spanning the whole mansion, requiring multiple runs to fully solve. It also has a ton of endgame puzzles after you roll credits, so anyone who loves to dive into the deep end of puzzle games like The Witness will love Blue Prince.

2 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

The turn-based RPG that broke the mold

It's unlikely that the cultural moment that followed the release of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 passed you by if you care about video games. A turn-based RPG inspired by active battle systems from games like Mario RPG, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the third best-reviewed game of the year, sitting at a 93 on Metacritic. It's a deeply compelling narrative about grief and death, and even if it doesn't quite nail the landing, it's captured the minds of RPG fans. It also has a deeply compelling combat system, that integrates parrying into its combat as a core element. The build possibilities are wild, the characters are deep and interesting, and it has a visual look that is dream-like, in a compelling way. It's so compelling that people who don't like turn-based RPGs like this one, leading to its critical success.

1 The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild

It does feel like cheating

The number one and two best reviewed games of the year are old games, which is why they are sharing a spot on the list. The Switch 2 paid upgrades, which enhance these open-world games to run at a consistent 60 FPS and 4K resolution, attracted new reviews for these games. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom were already some of the best-reviewed games of all time, and those initial reviews are counted here, making these two games feel like cheating to have at the top of the list. But that's how Metacritic does it, and considering that Nintendo had the confidence to consider these Switch 2 launch games, they should be mentioned, even if it's unlikely that they will be appearing on too many game of the year lists at the end of 2025.

A solid year so far

Even if two old games take the top two slots, it's been a pretty good year of games so far. A few heavy hitters that didn't make this list but have the potential to be in the game of the year conversation, like Monster Hunter Wilds, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and Monster Train 2, rounding out the first half of the year. There are tons of games still to come, and some of the biggest games of the year won't arrive until this fall, so this list might look quite different by the time 2025 is done.