2025 has been a pretty damn spectacular year for games already, and we’re only halfway done.
Whether you’re in the market for splashy AAA romps or craving something totally fresh and unexpected from the indie scene, you’ve definitely had plenty to feast on over the last six months.
It of course remains to be seen if 2025 will be a true banner year for the books, what with so many marquee titles still set to release, such as Death Stranding 2, Mafia: The Old Country, Silent Hill f, Ghost of Yōtei, Metroid Prime 4, and so on.
But even from the first half of the year alone, the path towards Game of the Year already feels like it’s been pretty firmly fleshed out, with a couple of obvious contenders which could very well go the distance.
Everyone’s gaming tastes are different of course, but factoring in a balance of genres across all platforms, these are the games that you absolutely, positively need to play in the second half of 2025 if you haven’t picked them up yet. You almost certainly won’t regret it…
The third entry into the rebooted Doom franchise is another banger, and while there’s no real consensus on which of the three games is the best, prequel The Dark Ages is in the very least a gloriously entertaining face-melter of an action game.
Less an evolution of Doom Eternal than an experimental side-grade, The Dark Ages slows down the combat speed considerably for a more strategic experience, while also ditching Eternal’s wildly divisive emphasis on frustrating platforming.
And while The Dark Ages absolutely has its own polarising aspects – namely its parry-heavy combat as well as the lack of double jump and air dash – it’s neat to see a series like Doom still trying to reinvent itself when it could so easily just play the hits.
With its more grounded gameplay style, diverse level design, and phenomenal musical score, Doom: The Dark Ages is another killer franchise entry from iD, even if your mileage may vary on precisely just how good it is compared to Doom 2016 and Eternal.
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