The end of the year is generally a joyous occasion for most, due to 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 might 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'd put off on their gaming systems the 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 received a Game of the Year nomination at The Game Awards 2025.
Clair Obscur was the most popular holiday game, but didn't win the vote!
The dust certainly hasn't settled Clair Obscur: Expedition 33s success and, well, not-so-positive news of late, and the folks at Sandfall are certainly enjoying the fruits of their labor during the game's second wind after GOTY. However, it wasn't the first choice when it came to our latest poll here at Game Rant.
Which highly rated 2025 game will you be playing the most over the holidays?
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Other (a 2025 game not included in this poll) — 40% / 322 votes.
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 — 20% / 160 votes,
- ARC Raiders — 18% / 146 votes.
- Battlefield 6 — 10% / 81 votes.
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None (no time to play games this year) — 5% / 42 votes.
- Hades 2 — 5% / 39 votes.
- Blue Prince — 3% / 22 votes
Taking first place this week was actually none of the listed games! This isn't necessarily shocking, as 2025 was a really stacked year for games, and top picks that Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and a surprise hit Dispatch would all fall under the “Other” banner. Despite its successes and accolades, even a giant Clair Obscur can't compete with a team like that!
Of the options named, it comes as no surprise that TGA Game of the Year takes the top spot, but what is a little unexpected is how close a contest it was with the extraction shooter ARC Raiders. The second surprise hit of the year continues to grip the player base and will surely have benefited from the latest updates to keep players engaged.
While a large portion of our readers were unfortunately unable to make time for games this year, there was a nice spread of genres to round out our results. Of the three remaining games, most players flocked to Battlefield 6the best-selling game of the year, followed by the best action game of the year, Hades 2. Last but certainly not least is that Blue Princewho was recently crowned the king of the Indie Game Awards.
With 2025 almost in our rearview mirror, we look to the future and what the next year has in store for gamers. There's already an absolutely stacked crop of titles on the horizon, so we want to know: which 2026 release are you most looking forward to?
