The end of year is generally a joyous occasion for most, on account of being able to spend time with loved ones, along with the extra free time away from adult responsibilities to dive into hobbies and interests. It is, some may say, the most wonderful time of the year for gamers!
With the holiday season in full swing, we took to Game Rant’s polls to ask our valued readers which games they would be firing up on their gaming systems most. The options were a plethora of highly-rated titles from this year, and the results came with the odd surprise!
These Are the 10 Highest-Rated Games of 2025, and 6 Aren’t Even Nominated for GOTY
The 10 highest-rated games of 2025 include six titles that did pick up a nomination for Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025.
Clair Obscur Was The Most Popular Holiday Game, But Didn’t Win The Poll!
The dust certainly hasn’t settled on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s success and, well, not so positive news of late, and the folks at Sandfall are well and truly enjoying the fruits of their labor during the game’s post-GOTY second wind. It wasn’t, however, the number one pick when it came to our recent poll here on Game Rant.
Which highly-rated 2025 game will you be playing the most over the holidays?
- Other (a 2025 game not on this poll) — 40% / 322 votes.
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — 20% / 160 votes,
- ARC Raiders — 18% / 146 votes.
- Battlefield 6 — 10% / 81 votes.
- None (no time to play games this year) — 5% / 42 votes.
- Hades 2 — 5% / 39 votes.
- Blue Prince — 3% / 22 votes
Taking the top spot this week was, in fact, none of the games listed! This isn’t necessarily shocking, as 2025 was a really stacked year for games, and top picks like Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and surprise smash-hit Dispatch would all fall under the “Other” banner. Despite its success and accolades, even a giant like Clair Obscur can’t compete with a team like that!
Of the named options, it comes as no surprise that the TGA Game of the Year scores the top spot, but what is a little unexpected is how close of a contest it was with extraction shooter ARC Raiders. The other surprise hit for this year continues to grip its playerbase, and will have certainly benefited from recent updates to keep players engaged.
While a good chunk of our readers unfortunately couldn’t make the time for games this year, there was a nice spread of genres to round out our results. Of the three remaining games, most players were flocking to Battlefield 6, the best-selling game of the year, followed by the best Action Game of the Year, Hades 2. Last, but certainly not least, is Blue Prince, who was recently crowned the king of the Indie Game Awards.
With 2025 almost in our rearview mirror, we look to the future and what next year has in store for gamers. There’s already an absolutely stacked cast of titles on the horizon, so we want to know: which 2026 release are you most looking forward to?