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The must-play action-adventure games of 2025 are dynamic, unique masterclasses. Different genres of games serve a wide range of purposes to the discerning player. When I'm playing a grand strategy title, I'm ensconced in a virtual library, breathing in the scents of mahogany, tobacco and leather.
GamesRadar+ presents Year in Review: The Best of 2025, our coverage of all the unforgettable games, movies, TV, hardware, and comics released during the last 12 months. Throughout December, we’re looking back at the very best of 2025, so be sure to check in across the month for new lists, interviews, features, and retrospectives as we guide you through the best the past year had to offer.
When I play a game like The Return of the Obra Dinn, you might as well give me a meerschaum. But when elements of the best action games find confluence with the sense of exploration governing the best adventure games, something magical happens. Enter: the action-adventure. This genre is all about getting into a spirit of mad excitement and at the same time, unraveling a plot that keeps you engaged until the final reveal.
It's a broad church. There's been a ton of action-adventures from this year that have hit all these notes, but ultimately, we've got to whittle this down to a top five; the truly peerless titles. Whatever kind of action-adventure antics you love, whether whimsical or dramatic, there's something here that you'll love.
5. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Developer: Konami
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X
One of only two games that I know of that actually uses a Greek delta in its title, the other being the excellent ΔV: Rings of Saturn, MGS Delta feels like coming home. For those who have been under a cardboard box for the last 20 years, Metal Gear Solid 3 is widely regarded as the best in a brilliant series, and it's easy to see why. The game's pristine Cold War vibes, survival elements, and an iconic range of enemies make it an absolute classic, and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is the best way to play it.
It is a rigid remake, but a stunning one, bringing out the beauty of the jungle like never before. Whether you're returning to Snake Eater as a practiced veteran of European Extreme or want to take on the Cobra Unit for the first time, you'll find the vicious brutality of the jungle exciting, engaging, and cinematic.
4. Ninja Gaiden 4
Developer: Team Ninja, Platinum Games
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X
It's kind of hard to believe that until this year, it had been a long 13 years since the last Ninja Gaiden game, and nearly 18 since the last one that you'd actually want to play. What a joy it is, then, that Ninja Gaiden 4 is a breath of fresh air for the franchise, picking up from the second game and running with it. Ryu Hayabusa, the long-time protagonist of the series, is joined by a new ninja, Yakumo, who comes equipped with extremely strong blood powers.
This isn't the only way it truly feels like an evolution for the series, either. Team Ninja being joined by PlatinumGames means that, as Oscar Taylor-Kent said in his review, it "can feel as much a successor to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance as it is a perfect passing of the torch forward for Ninja Gaiden." A sensational game that helped breathe life back into a franchise that had lost its way.
3. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Developer: MachineGames
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X
In true Indy fashion, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has broken into the treasure vault of this top five list by dint of its PS5 debut in April, five months after its Xbox and PC launch. If you've yet to check out this game, you're in for an absolute treat. Indiana Jones games have been few and far between, despite the franchise's legendary status, and the Great Circle feels like an extremely fitting instalment. Complete with Nazi fighting, treasure hunting and whipcracking, it feels truer to the franchise than the last two films have, that's for sure.
Coming to us from Wolfenstein veterans, MachineGames, gunplay takes a backseat, as brawls are the order of the day. It's perhaps the most straightforwardly adventuresome game on this list, and one that you'll be able to pick up relatively cheaply in upcoming sales, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled!
2. Hollow Knight: Silksong
Developer: Team Cherry
Platform(s): PC, Switch, Switch 2, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One
Few indie games can reach the level of anticipation that Hollow Knight Silksong garnered, and fewer still are able to make good on all that hype. Silksong, the long-awaited sequel to 2017's Hollow Knight, is bigger, tougher, and more colorful than its predecessor. Players step into the shoes (wings?) of Hornet, as we traverse Pharloom, where cute bugs become not so cute thanks to a silken plague called the Haunting.
Acrobatic and intense gameplay lets you take down even the toughest bosses, though, if you're like me (i.e., fairly mediocre at it), some bosses will require a whole fistful of tries. It's varied, too, with each environment boasting its own sets of challenges. Silksong is a rare example of a game that managed to well and truly live up to its hype.
1. Donkey Kong Bananza
Developer: Nintendo
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch 2
The Switch 2's launch line-up wasn't particularly spectacular, but one month later, this absolute bundle of joy was released, and we've been enjoying it ever since. The first Nintendo-developed DK game since Jungle Beat, Donkey Kong Bananza does for the big ape what Super Mario Odyssey did for Mario way back in 2017, and unleashes him in a sandbox with added destructibility.
It's great fun to smash your way through Bananza's world, and its strong variety helps keep the game fresh through to the end. Aside from this big attraction, Donkey Kong can also transform into a variety of different forms to solve puzzles and platforming challenges. The Switch 2's current killer app, Bananza is a deserved winner of this category, and a game that ought to be played by every Nintendo fan around.
See how your favorites stack up in our list of the best games of 2025
