Summary:
Game Informer asked its readers a simple question that always turns into a spirited debate: what was your favorite game of 2025? The answer came back loud and clear. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 landed at the top of the reader-voted list, and it also walked away with Game of the Year at The Game Awards, which gives it that rare “people’s champ meets trophy case” glow. But the fun part is not just who won. It’s what the full top 10 says about the year we all lived through with a controller in hand. We can see how 2025 leaned into sequels that didn’t play it safe, long-awaited releases that finally had to prove themselves, and a handful of fresh ideas that squeezed into the same conversation as the heavy hitters.
Nintendo’s presence in the top 10 is also a neat little reality check. There’s only one Nintendo title in the reader top tier, and it’s Donkey Kong Bananza, which shows up because it’s genuinely charming, not because it’s wearing a famous name like armor. That detail matters, especially with Nintendo Switch 2 in the mix, because it suggests players are rewarding games that feel confident and complete, regardless of platform loyalty. If you’re the kind of person who loves lists, we’re going to savor the rankings. If you hate lists, we’re still going to get something useful out of them, because a reader poll like this is basically a weather report for the gaming year: it won’t tell you what you must like, but it does tell you what everyone was talking about while you were busy trying to finish one more quest, one more run, or one more “just five minutes” session that somehow lasted two hours.
The Game Informer readers have spoken
There’s something oddly satisfying about a reader-voted top 10, because it’s less about perfection and more about personality. This isn’t a jury trying to tick boxes, it’s a crowd answering with their hearts, their habits, and their very human biases. That’s why Game Informer’s results feel like a time capsule of what 2025 actually played like for a lot of people. We see big, confident sequels sitting beside games that earned their spot through pure word of mouth, and we see hype-heavy titles that didn’t crumble under the pressure. If you’ve ever tried to explain your favorite game to a friend who “just doesn’t get it,” you already understand why polls like this spark conversation. They’re less of a final verdict and more of a mirror. And sometimes that mirror shows us a haircut we didn’t expect.
How the voting worked and why that matters
Before we start treating the ranking like it’s carved into stone, it helps to understand what the poll is actually measuring. Game Informer didn’t just ask people to shout one name into the void. Readers submitted their top five games, and the results were compiled using ranked positional voting, which rewards consistent high placement rather than a tiny group of ultra-loud fans. That little detail is a big deal because it tends to surface games with broad, steady love, not just games with a passionate niche. In other words, a title that lands in a ton of top fives can beat a title that is somebody’s absolute number one but barely shows up elsewhere. It’s like a potluck dinner: the dish everyone enjoys usually wins the night, even if one person brought the spiciest, weirdest masterpiece.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as the runaway favorite
When a game tops a reader poll and also dominates an awards show, it stops looking like a fluke and starts looking like a moment. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 clearly hit that sweet spot where style and substance actually hold hands instead of arguing in the car. The big reason it feels so sticky in people’s memory is that it doesn’t just do one thing well. It leaves an impression in multiple ways, so even if you came for the combat, you might stay for the world, and even if you came for the mood, you might end up obsessing over the characters. The reader-voted win also suggests something simple but important: a lot of players finished it and felt good about that time spent. That’s a harder achievement than it sounds, because 2025 was stacked, and attention was the real final boss.
What a Game Awards sweep changes and what it does not
Winning Game of the Year at The Game Awards puts a spotlight on a game, but it doesn’t magically rewrite why people loved it in the first place. What it does change is the size of the conversation. A win like that pulls in curious players who might have skipped it, it boosts confidence for anyone sitting on the fence, and it turns a “you should play this” recommendation into a “how have you not played this?” moment. But it’s worth keeping our feet on the ground. Awards don’t guarantee personal enjoyment, and they don’t erase the fact that tastes are messy. The real value of the sweep is the signal it sends: this game connected across different groups, from voters to critics to players who simply couldn’t stop talking about it. That kind of overlap is rare, and it’s why Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 feels like the headline of 2025 rather than just another popular pick.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and the pull of grounded role-play
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II sitting near the top tells us something about what players wanted in 2025: weight, consequence, and a world that doesn’t feel like it’s handing out participation trophies. The appeal here is the feeling of living inside a place that pushes back. You don’t just breeze through a power fantasy, you earn your progress, and that makes every little victory feel like it actually belongs to you. That kind of design is not for everyone, and it doesn’t try to be. Yet the reader ranking suggests a lot of people were in the mood for something more tactile and grounded, especially in a year full of larger-than-life spectacle. It’s like choosing a hearty meal over candy. Sure, candy is fun, but sometimes you want something that actually sticks with you.
Hades II and the kind of sequel that eats your free time
Hades II landing so high is no shock to anyone who has ever said, “One more run,” and then looked up to realize it’s somehow tomorrow. The magic is not just in how it plays, but in how it keeps giving you reasons to stay. A great roguelike loop feels like a spinning plate you can’t stop watching, because every attempt teaches you something, rewards you with a tiny upgrade, or drops a new story beat that makes you curious again. Sequels often struggle because they either change too much or play it too safe. Hades II feels like it understands the assignment: keep the hook, widen the toy box, and make the player feel clever for mastering it. If 2025 was a crowded party, Hades II was the person telling stories in the corner that somehow drew a whole crowd without even trying.
Hollow Knight: Silksong and the rare case of hype paying off
Some games carry hype like a backpack full of bricks. It can slow them down, weigh down every review, and make every tiny flaw feel like a scandal. Hollow Knight: Silksong had that kind of pressure, because expectations weren’t just high, they were practically floating in the clouds. A top-ten placement in a reader poll suggests it didn’t just arrive, it landed. Players clearly found something worth the wait, and that’s the key point. It’s one thing to be anticipated, it’s another to be loved once it’s finally in people’s hands. When a long-awaited release actually earns its spot, it reminds us why waiting can be exciting instead of exhausting. Think of it like a sequel to your favorite meal. If it tastes right, you’re not thinking about the years you waited. You’re just quietly happy you ordered it.
Ghost of Yōtei and why cinematic adventures still hit hard
Ghost of Yōtei ranking in the upper tier shows that players still have a big appetite for games that feel like playable cinema, as long as the action stays sharp and the world feels worth exploring. The draw is often the mix: a strong atmosphere, a sense of place, and a story that keeps you moving forward even when you swear you’re “just going to clear one more objective.” These games work when they make you feel present, not just impressed. If you’ve ever wandered off the main path because the horizon looked interesting, you get it. A reader poll spot like this suggests Ghost of Yōtei didn’t just look good in trailers. It delivered that “I can’t stop thinking about it” feeling that people bring up weeks later at lunch, when someone mentions the game and suddenly everyone has an opinion ready to go.
Nintendo’s top-ten presence through Donkey Kong Bananza
One of the most interesting details in the reader ranking is that Nintendo only shows up once in the top 10, and that single representative is Donkey Kong Bananza. Even better, it didn’t sneak in at the bottom out of politeness. It landed sixth, right in the thick of the conversation, surrounded by heavy hitters. That placement makes it feel less like a “Nintendo slot” and more like a genuine vote of confidence. It also hints at how competitive 2025 was. A lot of great games didn’t make the top 10, and plenty of beloved franchises ended up outside the spotlight. So when Donkey Kong Bananza holds its ground, it suggests the game earned it with charm, momentum, and that classic Nintendo knack for making something feel simple on the surface while staying surprisingly rich once you’re playing.
Donkey Kong Bananza on Switch 2 and why it charmed voters
Donkey Kong Bananza being a Nintendo Switch 2 title matters, but not because of console tribalism. It matters because new hardware often brings a loud “look what we can do now” phase, and that can sometimes overshadow the basics: do we actually want to keep playing? The reader vote suggests we did. Donkey Kong’s energy is a big part of it, because a good platformer feels like a playground that keeps inventing new ways to surprise you. The other part is tone. A lot of 2025’s top games are intense, demanding, or emotionally heavy. Donkey Kong Bananza offers a different flavor: playful, punchy, and easy to fall in love with without needing a fifty-hour commitment to appreciate it. It’s the friend who shows up to the party with snacks and immediately improves everyone’s mood.
Dispatch, Blue Prince, and ARC Raiders as the “new blood” energy
The lower half of the top 10 is where the list gets extra fun, because it shows readers weren’t only rewarding the biggest brands. Dispatch, Blue Prince, and ARC Raiders sitting alongside giants suggests players were also hunting for something that felt fresh. These are the kinds of games that often spread through recommendation chains: one person tries it, loves it, and suddenly three more people are downloading it because “trust me.” That’s how the best surprises move. A reader poll picking up those titles is a strong sign that 2025 wasn’t only about the obvious blockbusters. It was also about games that sparked curiosity, pulled players into a new style, or simply felt different enough to stand out in a year packed wall-to-wall with releases. In a way, this is the list telling us, “Yeah, we love the big stuff, but we also like finding gems.”
How we can talk about favorites without turning it into a shouting match
Lists like this can bring out the best and worst in us, usually within the same comment thread. The best version is when we use it like a conversation starter, not a scoreboard. “Oh, you loved that one? Tell me why” is always more interesting than “Your pick is wrong.” A reader poll is basically a group selfie. It’s not meant to capture every angle, and it definitely doesn’t mean your personal favorite suddenly matters less. If anything, it gives us a shared set of reference points. We can celebrate the games that clearly connected with a lot of people, while still leaving room for the weird personal picks that only make sense to you, like that one game you played at 2 a.m. during a rainy week and now associate with pure comfort. That’s not a flaw. That’s the point of playing.
How to read the full top 50 without turning it into a checklist
If you peek at the full top 50, the smartest way to use it is not as homework. It’s a menu. You don’t need to try everything, and you don’t need to “catch up” to be allowed to have an opinion. What the extended list gives us is context. It shows what readers were excited about beyond the top 10, which genres had momentum, and which names kept popping up across different tastes. It also helps explain why the top 10 looks the way it does. When a year is stacked, the top spots often go to games that are both excellent and widely played, while smaller or more niche favorites might cluster lower even if they’re brilliant. So if you’re browsing that list, treat it like a recommendation shelf from thousands of strangers. Grab what sounds good, skip what doesn’t, and don’t feel guilty about it.
Conclusion
Game Informer’s reader ranking for 2025 doesn’t just crown a winner, it paints a picture of what players valued this year. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 taking the top spot, while also claiming Game of the Year at The Game Awards, makes it feel like the defining title of the season, the one people will still bring up when 2025 nostalgia hits. At the same time, the rest of the top 10 shows a healthy mix: demanding role-play, endlessly replayable action, long-awaited releases that delivered, and a single Nintendo bright spot in Donkey Kong Bananza that proves joy still competes with intensity. If you agree with the list, it’s a fun victory lap. If you don’t, it’s still useful, because it points straight at the games that shaped the conversation. Either way, it’s a reminder of the best part of gaming: we all played different things, but we can still meet in the same chat and compare notes.
FAQs
- What did Game Informer readers vote as their favorite game of 2025?
- Readers put Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at the top of the list, making it their overall favorite in the 2025 ranking.
- Where did Donkey Kong Bananza place in the reader top 10?
- Donkey Kong Bananza placed sixth, and it was the only Nintendo game in the top 10.
- Did Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 also win Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025?
- Yes. It won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025, reinforcing its momentum beyond the reader poll.
- Why do sequels dominate so much of the top 10?
- Sequels like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Hades II, and Hollow Knight: Silksong built on strong foundations and arrived with huge audiences already paying attention.
- Is the full top 50 worth checking if we only care about the top 10?
- Yes, because it shows what else readers loved beyond the headline picks, and it’s a useful way to spot games you might have missed.
Sources
- Game Informer Readers Top 50 Games Of 2025, Game Informer, December 16, 2025
- Every Winner At The Game Awards 2025 – The Complete List, Game Informer, December 11, 2025
- The Game Awards 2025: the full list of winners, The Guardian, December 12, 2025
- Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo, July 17, 2025
